Now in its seventh year as an East Coast, midyear junior version of the annual monster CES gathering in Las Vegas, CE Week also helps the consumer electronics industry keep pace with the tremendous rate of innovation and technological advances that just can't wait for the big Vegas event.
CE Week brings together suppliers, inventors, investors, entrepreneurs, dealers, distributors with print, online and broadcast media. The five-day event includes two days of exhibits by more than 170 companies.
The first exhibition day, June 25, was hot and humid in Gotham. Conditions inside the Metropolitan Pavilion/Altman Building were more welcoming -- and busy. Plenty of traffic in the aisles, and just as exciting, a plethora of new ideas and products at the tables and in the booths.
Here are just some of the fresh new products and concepts that we encountered at the show -- we will provide extended coverage on several of these in the near future:
Netgear -- It introduced the Nighthawk X6, an AC3200 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Gigabit Router. The Nighthawk X6 is basically three routers in one; a 2.4-Ghz band handles legacy Wi-Fi devices, a second 5-Ghz band works best with dual band Wi-Fi devices, the third band, also 5-Ghz, will deliver the best performance from newer dual-band AC Wi-Fi products. As more consumers live in homes that contain an assortment of networked products including appliances, smartphones, computers, tablets, televisions and more, the versatility and power of the Nighthawk X6 can be seen as a solution to the tangled web at home.
Pioneer -- It is launching the AppRadioLIVE iPhone app. In conjunction with a Pioneer in-car receiver, the app brings maps, media, news and a calendar to more than 1 million Pioneer AppRadio or AppRadio mode-compatible receivers. Pioneer musters all of this content from partner providers including but not limited to Inrix, Yelp, Rdio, Stitcher, Feedly, Facebook and Open Weather Map. Some of the search and texting features include a safety lockout -- they will not work unless the software detects that the parking brake has been set.
Elio Motors -- A new automobile company, it is introducing a new American-made "green" car that looks retro and Jetsons-friendly simultaneously. Check out these specs -- the Elio has three wheels (two in front and a centered tailwheel), two seats (one front, one back), a 3-cylinder gas engine, and gets 84 miles per gallon on the highway (49 city). It will be available for delivery in September 2015, and the manufacturer claims that more than 22,000 have already been reserved. Oh, and the price? A mere bag of shells -- $6,800 with a 5-speed stick shift, or $7,400 with an automatic transmission. Is this the second coming of the first VW Beetle?
