FOR A DESIGN lover, CES can be a—how should we put this—challenging experience. Several hundred vendors from around the world fill not one, but two convention centers on the Las Vegas Strip with every gadget you can imagine—and a few you can’t. (Like, say, a dental floss dispenser with a microchip. Seriously.) The sheer quantity of stuff on show can make the search for compelling designs feel like hunting for an affordable cocktail at the Venetian. And yet, if you can look beyond the hoard of bright, plastic wearables, there’s some legitimately smart designs to be found. Here are the 10 most intriguing products from this year’s show.
01
Sevenhugs Smart Remote
With its new Smart Remote, Sevenhugs makes a cogent case for universal remotes. The gadget connects to a proprietary indoor positioning system that triangulates not only its location in space, but which of more than 25,000 connected devices it’s pointing at. Aim it at a lamp and it might pull up Hue’s app interface. Point it at your TV, and Roku’s UI will appear. That kind of contextual awareness could make a fragmented smarthome experience feel more simple and unified—and a little more like home.
