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Looking to form a stronger bond between man (and woman) and machine, BMW showed off its latest concept car, the i Vision Dee — which stands for "Digital Emotional Experience" — a four-door rolling slice of the future with a Head-Up-Display extending across the full width of the windscreen. The literal highlight was the multi-colored, fully variable, and individually configurable exterior, which is divided into 240 E Ink segments, each of which is controlled individually.
An exercise bike that doubles as a work desk but also the kind where you generate enough electricity by peddling to power the machine and charge devices — why hasn't anybody thought of this before? An LCD display and a companion smartphone app provide information to help riders stay on track during exercise regimes or work periods and can be set to "Working Mode" or "Sport Mode" depending on the user's area of focus. Take that, Peloton.
Billed as "the world's first Awareable," this so-called smartwatch differentiates itself from the competition by … offering the user no way to tell the time. Bear with us. The watch was created by company founder Hylke Muntinga, who replaced the traditional watch face with ancient stones. Buried beneath the opaque surface are bio-technology sensors that track your mental and physical health and offer real-time feedback on how to restore balance. Stop watching the clock and cherish the moment, you know?
You know what your kitchen is missing? "A cutting board with an integrated flatscreen." Good guess — that's exactly what we were thinking too. Riding high off a successful Kickstarter campaign, the brains behind the BLOK envision a Peloton for your kitchen, where you can chop carrots and tune into cooking classes without having to look up from your meal prep. The subscription-based services include live and on-demand cooking classes and are paired with a smartphone app. Bon Appetit.
If "urine" need of a hands-free analysis of a certain bodily fluid, the Withings team has got you covered with this pebble-shaped urinalysis device that sits in your toilet and can give you an immediate snapshot of the body's balance. The removable cartridges are made of a dozen test pods containing specific types of biomarker tests to detect and monitor a wide variety of health information, along with actionable advice for health improvements.
Your kids are clamoring for a four-legged friend, but you're dreading the commitment. Why not turn to a digital dog with the Dog-E, which stole hearts at CES. Family members can create and save individual user profiles that correspond to unique puppy personalities, from energetic and playful to cute and shy. The accompanying app for iOS or Android devices lets you teach the new dog old tricks like responding to claps or giving you blissfully slobber-free kisses. What starts as an all-white toy blooms into a colorful canine as its personality develops — throw this dog a bone!
It was only a matter of time before artificial intelligence came for the baby buggy, resulting in the Ella, which offers autonomous functionality like the ability to rock the stroller back and forth to send the little one off to slumberland. A built-in battery aids braking or pushing the pram uphill, but with a $3,300 price tag, you're going to have to dig deep into your baby bag if you want one.
This truly must be the season of the disco kitchen makeover, with flatscreen cutting boards and now, from LG, the Mood Up fridge, which lets users choose from a wide range of vibrant colors for its LED doors and play music via its built-in speaker as per their personal tastes and moods. Through the company's ThinQ app, users can choose from 22 colors for the upper door panel and 19 colors for the lower panel. But wait, there's more: When the speaker is playing audio, the LED panels can change colors in sync with the music.
Like a Swiss Army knife for desktop nerds, this gadget combines an expansion hub, wireless charger, 4K Microsoft Teams Certified webcam, light, and rotatable arm in a single device — listed for $329. The 4K/30fps webcam has autofocus and can be placed in different locations on the lighting arm depending on individual lighting preferences, while the base of the lamp has a flip-out, Qi-compatible 15-watt charging pad for smartphones, a 20-watt USB-C port, and a 65-watt USB-C port for powering laptops.
