Seven CES 2015 products that will impact business
Lenovo's ThinkPad Stack
Lenovo rolled out a new line of ThinkPads that were updated with the latest Intel processors. Along with those updates came the ThinkPad Stack, a set of four modules that sit on top of each other and share a power stack. The modules---one for a Bluetooth speaker, a power bank, access point for 4G phone connection sharing and a 1 TB hard drive---connect wirelessly to ThinkPads. The ThinkPad Stack's business use cases are a bit fuzzy, but you could see a team sharing it at a conference or off-site meeting. Going forward it'll be interesting to see how the ThinkPad Stack sells.
CES 2015 Highlights
Intel RealSense
CES 2015 was the coming out party for RealSense, Intel's gesture and voice control system. CNET referred to RealSense as Intel's play to make the Minority Report more of a reality. RealSense will be embedded in a bevy of computing devices in the months to come, but perhaps the most interesting uses revolved around collaboration. An iRobot demo of Ava, a telepresence robot created in partnership with Cisco, highlighted how RealSense would work in the enterprise.
CES 2015 Highlights
Intel Curie
Intel also highlighted Curie, a button sized computer designed for wearables. Intel is open sourcing Curie and trying to rally developers. Wearables have been a consumer development, but there are business implications for everything from marketing to big data to enterprise applications. As wearables become more powerful, the business cases swell.
CES 2015 Highlights
HP's Zvr virtual reality system
The HP Zvr is billed as a step toward "true holographic viewing" and a test drive of the display was notable because it allowed you to manipulate content, dissect frogs, inspect the inner workings of the heart and play with architecture options. Obvious verticals would include education, engineering and training. What's unclear is whether HP and partner zSpace can build an ecosystem of applications.
CES 2015 Highlights
Dell XPS 13
Dell rolled out a lineup of new laptops targeting everything from business to consumers to gaming. The Dell XPS 13 packs a 13-inch screen into a smaller body that would be more suited to a 12-inch screen. Dell pulled off its feat by making the bezel around the screen almost invisible. The MacBook Air will be revamped with a similar approach, according to reports. The overall theme for road warriors is that they'll have more screen in a smaller and lighter shell.
CES 2015 Highlights
Panasonic Smart Mirror
Panasonic showed off its Smart Mirror, which looks like it'll be a cross-selling staple for retailers and other consumer focused enterprises. Availability and pricing were unavailable, but Panasonic and others are likely to join a crowded field in the future.
CES 2015 Highlights
3D printing advances
Makerbot rolled out a new system that will enable more composite materials to be used to make things like hammers and wood products. 3D Systems bought botObjects. And HP said that its 3D printers would be powered by Intel. The underlying theme of CES was that 3D printing would go mainstream. You can bet that 3D printing will have a much larger impact on the enterprise and SMBs, which will benefit the most from the developments at CES 2015.