The CES gadgets that caught the eye

The smart devices just keep on coming. Here's a few more that grabbed attention at CES.

The Rollkers:

If you’ve decided Rocket Skates aren’t for you, maybe you’d prefer Rollkers. Billed as “electronic under shoes”, the French company envisages commuters carrying the Rollkers in their bags - they’ll be lightweight enough to do it - and clipping them on when they need to get somewhere a bit faster. They look a bit like electric roller skates, and come with a battery. The product is only a prototype, but the company claims those using the Rollkers will find their average walking rate clocking in at around seven miles per hour. It’s a bit like having your own portable travelator, which after a week in Las Vegas, doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

SleepIQ Kids

This, believe it or not, is a smart bed. And to think you’ve been surviving up until now with your regular old dumb one. So what does a smart bed do? In this case, it monitors your child’s sleep and let you know how well they are resting, or not as the case may be. It uses sensors to watch everything from breathing and heart rate to movement, and feeds that information back to your smart device.

It can also be adjusted, raising the head of the be for example if a child wants to read or needs to have their head raised because they have a stuffy nose.

There are lights built into the base so you can have soft light in the room until they’re asleep and then turn it off remotely, without having to go into the room and risk crawling out commando style when they stir.

Of course, most parents will tell you that they don’t need an app or a smart bed to tell them how often their child has been out bed; their children generally aren’t that stealthy and even if they are, they usually give themselves away when they climb into yours and spend the rest of the night with their foot in your ear.

Nymi band:

Using your fingerprint as security is already old news. A new band is using your heart information to protect everything from your passwords to your payment information.

The Nymi band uses a biometric authentication technology that uses your unique ECG readings to confirm your identity.

It’s worn on the wrist, with a core that has encrypted hardware to protect communications from the device.

There’s haptic feedback so you’ll know when log-ins or other transactions have been approved. The band must stay clipped to you to work; if the band is cut off or otherwise removed, it can’t be used until you reauthorise it and it recognises your heartbeat again.

The Parrot Plant Pot:

As the type of person who has two extremely hardy plants that have managed to withstand weeks of neglect (but only just), the idea of a smart plant pot is seductive.

The Parrot Pot will water your plant for up to a month all by itself, using sensors to figure out when it needs watering and when it needs to be left alone. It will share information on temperature, fertiliser and how much moisture is in the soil with an app on your tablet, giving you a good idea of how well (or not) your plant is doing.

This isn’t new territory for Parrot. The company already has a sensor, FlowerPower, that will warn you when your plant needs attention, but the Parrot Pot goes a step further and will water it for you.

It’s got a two-litre reservoir, so you can leave it to look after things while you’re on holidays. No more asking your odd neighbour with the boundary issues to water your plants while you’re away.

Plus, it’s got a database of about 8,000 plants that it can access, so chances are your spider plant will be in safe hands.