Snapkeys, 3D Printers, and Smart Watches Emerge at Last Week’s CES

Tablets may be all the rage now but Smart Watches, Snapkeys and 3D printers have emerged from the recently concluded CES as things to keep a close eye on in the coming months.

A year ago 3D was the ‘in’ thing. Avatar was still cleaning up at the box office. Manufacturers were falling over themselves to crank out 3D displays and TVs,  and Nintendo was busy with its 3DS.  Over the last few months a new 3D market has started to emerge; 3D printing. CES showcased the Replicator by MakerBot Industries and the more affordable Cube by 3D Systems.

3D printers use spools of ABS Plastic as their ‘ink.’  They are able to construct or ‘print’ 3D objects from designs you create yourself or download online. Both companies provide thousands of designs for users, many of them free. Has your child ever lost a crucial Lego piece? Have you wished that some obscure comic book character had an action figure? The use cases for a 3D printer are endless but initial price and the lack of full color “printing” may give some pause.  The Cube prints in one color and costs about $1300 while the $2000 Replicator will be able to use two colors simultaneously.

 Watches Get Smart

Another emerging product category is the smart watch. Dick Tracey – ask  your grandfather who that is – must be smiling somewhere. These new devices bring to life the vision of a watch that does everything. When Apple unveiled the new design for its popular iPod Nano a new cult soon developed. The device’s shape and size made it a perfect candidate for a super watch. The practice became so popular that Apple refreshed the device to include 16 watch faces. It also predominantly displayed its watch credentials on its official website.

The Nano may indeed be able to convert into a super watch but to call it “smart” is probably pushing things too far. You can’t install apps on the device, so you are limited to the features that are baked in. The real emerging smart watches attempt to satisfy that demand. They are able to install and run apps on a device that primarily serves as a timepiece and fashion statement.

Why would you even need such a device? Geek nirvana aside, such a device does have practical everyday uses. As smart phones become larger they also become less convenient to hold or keep out all the time. For many, their smart phone resides in a pocket or purse most of the day. Imagine a situation where a call comes in while you are busy with another activity. With a smart watch that is synced to your phone you could glance at your wrist and decide if the call is important enough to take or not.  You could also check your text messages without ever reaching for your phone. What about emails, the weather or even Twitter updates? A well-made smart watch may indeed be a device that gains traction. Still you have to ask yourself – would you want to be caught dead wearing the thing?

Italian Maker Blue Sky Brings Style to the Smart Watch

Style is important when deciding on a device that will be constantly worn and visible. The I’m Watch by Italian maker Blue Sky is a well-designed device that can justify its existence as a standalone fashion-centric watch. Its curved glass display, aluminum body and wide variety of color options make it as much of a pleasure to wear as it is to use. The device is Bluetooth-enabled and syncs to your phone, displaying call information. The device runs Android 1.6 which allows you to install and run apps that you download from its own store. The apps are specifically designed for the reduced screen size so you won’t have to worry about compatibility. It seems that Blue Sky has covered all the bases. Available apps include weather, email, stock updates and clients for Facebook and Twitter. Innovation and style comes at a premium though, with the I’m Watch currently slated at $299. If other manufactures follow Blue Sky’s lead and prices come down this is a category that may very well go main stream in the near future.

This is Not Your Parents’ Keyboard…

Speaking of products aiming for mainstream acceptance; Snapkeys has displayed a minimalist keyboard that takes aim at qwerty keyboards on touch devices. Using their own predictive technology, the company claims to have developed a system that is 99% accurate even though it uses only 4 main buttons. For comparison, current T9 based predictive text interfaces all use at least 10 keys and are  less accurate.

There have been other attempts to defeat the classic qwerty layout for touch devices but Snapkeys take a novel approach by regrouping the letters using a new system they have devised. The new system places letters into four shape groups. Letters like T or I fall into the one point group. The two point group contains letter such as H and N. There is also a “wide base” group with L , S and others. Finally, there is the closed circle group that contains O, P and R etc. The system seems arbitrary at first but look closer and a pattern seems to emerge. For instance, the major vowels O, I, U, and A, are all in different groups. R, S, and T – three of the most commonly used letters in the English language – also fall in different groups.

Sources at Snapkeys say that their goal is to ultimately replace the traditional layout and not just co-exist with it.  Strangely, there are no plans for an app. The company is said to be focusing on partnerships with wireless carriers worldwide and plan to have their keyboard on new devices soon.