CES 2024: Some of the most weird and the wonderful tech innovations and gadgets unveiled so far

From hairdryers that use light to dry your hair to the latest air taxi concepts, CES 2024 is brimming with new tech. Here’s our pick of the crop.

The 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is well underway this week in Las Vegas with an expected 130,000 attendees flowing through its doors.

At the annual tech convention, tech companies around the world are boasting their latest technologies – and this year, it ranges from hairdryers to air taxis.

Here are some of the weird and wonderful gadgets gaining attention at the world’s largest tech fair so far.

L’Oreal’s hairdryer that uses infrared light

L’Oreal has developed a hairdryer that uses a combination of infrared light and air, unlike the traditional thermal rods to dry hair faster.

“We’ve created a whole new way to think about how to use a hairdryer,” said Guive Balooch, the global managing director of augmented beauty and open innovation at L’Oreal Research.

“By having the light, it allows you not only to be able to heat the air more efficiently… It also gets your hair to be 59 per cent visually smoother, so you get more hydrated hair, smoother hair, and less damage,” added Balooch.

The cosmetics company says the AirLight Pro uses up to 31 per cent less energy compared to conventional hairdryers.

The handheld device can be controlled using an app when users want to change temperature or styling settings.

BMW’s automated valet car parking

German automaker BMW has invited visitors to try its new concept car BMW iX. One of its new features includes automated valet parking which allows teleoperation.

This means a teleoperation driver can park a car without sitting in the vehicle.

BMW says the underlying tech can be used for both an autonomous driving system and a remote-controlled valet parking system.

When controlled remotely, the concept car can go up to 10 km/h. Cameras on the vehicle send out video images to a teleoperation workplace where the images are displayed.

The control commands then are sent back to the vehicle via a wireless network.

“There are quite a few use cases… They [It] could be applied at assembly plants, it could be applied for rental cars, it could be applied for car sharing vehicles. But there are also further other use cases for the end customer. When you can think of being driven while you do your emails or whatever,” said Thorsten Schmitt from BMW.

Creating an AI twin for content creators

A California-based firm Hollo AI’s new app is designed to generate AI twins for people just in minutes.

The company hopes that its app will help content creators’ time-consuming jobs and help them connect with fans around the world without a language barrier.

“We built this as the idea that a creator, a user, could make money while they sleep and interact while they sleep. So their fans can engage and talk to them in 29 different languages,” said Rex Wong, the CEO of Hollo AI.

All you need is your selfies and voice memos, and the app will churn out a ‘Chat GPT’ with your personality in minutes, says Hallo AI.

“Social media is not a 9 to 5 job. It’s a 24-hour job. There’s no breaks. So I definitely think having Hollo AI, will definitely give me a little bit of a break because now they’re not only having me like face-to-face, but they’re having me on their phone 24-7,” said McKenzi Brooke, a Los Angeles-based content creator.

Hyundai showcases its air taxi

Supernal, Hyundai Motor Group’s air taxi subsidiary, showcased its new aero taxi, S-A2 made for affordable, everyday passenger air travel.

The 4-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) is designed to cruise 193 km/h at an altitude of 457 m.

It has eight all-tilting rotors and Supernal says the battery-powered aircraft should operate quietly in comparison to traditional helicopters.

“The beauty of it is it’s all powered by a battery. So, no emission. And because the rotors are smaller, blades are smaller and distributed, so it’ll be quieter, Much quieter than the helicopter,” said Jaiwon Shin, president of Hyundai Motor Group and CEO of Supernal.

Shin says the company will target primarily urban areas because currently the routine commercial operation of aircraft-populated areas has been limited.

“It will be supplemental to ground transportation by opening the skies over our cities,” added Shin.

The president of the company says it’s set to enter the market by 2028, by which time, he believes, regulations should be ready for such air travel.

Foldable OLED displays from Samsung

Samsung Display says its latest foldable OLED displays are tougher than ever.

They have successfully gone through an array of tests – from folding in extreme temperatures to basketballs bouncing on its panels.

“What we have been able to achieve is the highest military standards. From temperature shocks like high 60 degrees to -20, acceleration, drop test, as well as icing to make sure that the user is confident that the OLED foldable display that you buy is going to be perfect no matter what the user scenario is,” said Chirag Shah, Senior Director of Marketing Business Development at Samsung Display.

The company says OLED displays are more suitable for vehicle interiors compared to LCD screens because they are less affected by freezing temperatures.

“OLED offers a very customised ability and flexibility to customise a display,” said Shah.

“There is a passenger information display. There’s a cluster information display. We have side or e-mirrors that are available,” he added.

The annual CES trade fair runs from January 9 to 12 this year.

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