Moen announced fully wireless watering controllers and sensors at CES 2023. End users can control their sprinkler controller using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and can monitor their water usage.
The system is smart enough to allow for changes to the schedule due to seasonal patterns, and to skip watering days due to real world weather.
The controllers are available in both 8 and 16 zone models, and start at a price of $180, while the sensors start at $70 and are sold separately.
Afeela: A Sony / Honda EV
Source: Sony
Sony and Honda showed off a jointly built electric vehicle first announced in October that they expect will go into production in 2026.
The plan to position the car in the luxury segment and expect it to compete with brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, ad Audi. Owners are also expected to pay a monthly fee to access some of the car’s features, immediately making it less appealing and more objectionable.
The car will have a entertainment focus, hence Sony’s involvement, so expect a mediocre car at luxury car prices that willl charge you extra every month to access the built-in Playstation.
Honda is also partnering with GM to build more normal electric cars.
Volvo and Polestar’s high def maps
Source: Volvo
Volvo and Polestar EVs will be getting more highly detailed maps that will feature things like lane markers and barriers, bike lanes, and signs.
The maps themselves will be provided by Google’s “HD Maps”, so expect them to become available in other vehicles as well, and they will play a part in the car’s driver assist system.
At the moment, it’s not known how Google produces the HD maps, so they may not be available everywhere for a while.
Aska’s flying cars
Source: Aska
Aska’s drone-like flying cars are on display at CES, and the company’s founder says FAA approval is coming soon.
The flying cars have a price tag of around $800k, but the company’s goal is to set them up as fleets of flying taxis to be deployed in various cities.
Without the obvious ability of autorotate or plane in case of an emergency, the expected FAA approval may never come. We’ve been seeing human sized drones for years at CES and so far none have managed to transition to the real world.
Lights that respond to your shows
Both Nanoleaf and Phillips are showing off lighting that adjusts to what is on your TV with the goal of providing a more immersive experience.
Phillips has been doing this for a while via backlit TVs, but the new versions are smarter. Nanoleaf’s uses a camera to study what is on the TV and react to it and will start at $99 when it goes on sale in the second quarter of 2023.
Phillips offering will cost $130 and will rely on a app, which makes it much more likely to stop working in the short term, since a one time payment doesn’t make for a sustainable pricing model for software that needs constant maintenance.
Dave Graveline is the founder, Host & Executive Producer of "Into Tomorrow" in addition to being President of the Advanced Media Network".
Dave is also a trusted and familiar voice on many national commercials & narrations in addition to being an authority in consumer tech since 1994. He is also a former Police Officer and an FBI Certified Instructor.
