Two days before the show doors open, CES provides a sneak peak for the press. The three-hour event is called CES Unveiled, and it’s a chance to get a first look at some of the products that will soon be on the show floor.
At this year’s CES Unveiled, there were two Bluetooth products designed specifically to communicate with the iPhone. This will likely to be a big trend at the show, given the ease of installing apps onto this popular mobile phone.
One of the products is O’Car from Oxygen Audio. It lets you control all the usual car stereo functions over Bluetooth using your iPhone’s touch screen. In addition to functioning as a high-end car radio, you can play your iTunes music library, listen to Internet radio stations, make hands-free calls and access your favorite iPhone apps for your car.
The second Bluetooth-to-iPhone product is the Smart Baby Monitor from Withings. The baby monitor part of the product includes a high-resolution 3-megapixel camera, extra-wide-angle lens and infrared LEDs for night vision. Using your iPhone, you can see and hear your baby, control the music that plays in the room, and receive alerts to your baby’s sleep disruptions as signaled by excessive movement or sound.
Another interesting Bluetooth product shown at CES Unveiled is designed to solve one of the biggest complaints with cell phones: missed calls. The pipSqueak from seekerpnd.com is a small device that notifies you by vibration or sound whenever your mobile phone receives a call. A screen on the pipSqueak shows the identity of the caller. If you need extra time to answer the call, you can tap a button on the pipSqueak, and a recorded voice will notify the caller that you will soon be answering the call. If you don’t want to take the call, you can press and hold the button to send the call directly to voicemail.
If you’re wondering why CES Unveiled is held two days before the show opens, you can understand why the press is so tired at the end of CES. For us, the four-day tradeshow is a six-day tradeshow, as we have two extra days of press events and press conferences as a build-up to the actual show.