CES provides peek into a hyperconnected world with smarter devices

Technology in the near future will let one control lights in the house while still in the car, shop straight from the refrigerator door, and will be marked by the presence of increasingly smarter and internetenabled devices, revealed companies, including Ford, Samsung, and Bosch in press briefings at the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES.

The CES, the world’s biggest consumer technology fair, underway at Las Vegas, draws some 3,600 companies and over 150,000 participants from 150 countries.

The event also showcased advances in virtual reality, drones, high definition TVs, wearable gadgets and the importance of tightening security in a world with ever more webenabled objects.

Tech company Cisco expects 50 billion more objects will be connected to the internet by 2020.

Among the major announcements Tuesday was automaker Ford’s tieup with ecommerce giant Amazon to connect the car with the “smart home.”

The integration of Ford cars with Amazon’s system for the control of intelligent homes, called Amazon Echo, will allow users to open the garage door before reaching home, control house lights, thermostats, home security system and other devices from the car.

Ford CEO Mark Fields said in a press conference at Las Vegas they are eager to offer this to consumers towards the end of this year.

Ford also announced it was planning to triple the number of autonomous vehicles, Ford Fusion Hybrid, to 30, in California, Arizona and Michigan, to speed up its plans for developing selfdriving cars.

“This gives us the auto industry’s largest autonomous vehicle development fleet,” said Ford Chief Technology Officer Raj Nair in the press conference.

Fitbit, manufacturer of electronic wearable devices, also launched its own smartwatch Tuesday, pitting it against the Apple Watch, but failed to convince Wall Street investors causing Fitbit shares to fall 18 percent.

Meanwhile, Samsung grabbed attention with its new smartfridge, which includes a touchscreen which one can use to shop.

Chinese manufacturer Huawei introduced its new high end mobile phone, Mate 8, which besides other features, allows 17 hours of HD video recording and has a 16 megapixel camera.

Also making their debut at CES will be the muchtalked about smart showerhead, which warns against excessive water usage; appconnected sports shoes that help regulate foot temperature and have selftying laces; and “OMbra,” the first smartbra, developed by a San Francisco firm to help monitor female users’ physical activity and vital signs, besides Hairmax, a laser treatment claiming to restrengthen weak hair.