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CES Offers a Full Plate of the Latest Technology and a Cookie

So much to see! The consumer electronics show in Las Vegas — aka 2015 International CES — offers the sprawling, overwhelming spectacle of a world’s fair while showing off the newest in technology that ordinary folks can get their hands on. The January tradition makes waves outside Las Vegas, sending a large number of announcements across reporters’ desks.

Here is just a sampling of what San Diego County companies and their partners revealed, starting Jan. 5:

North County-based Viper showed off its SmartStart 4.0 app, which makes an Apple Inc. watch or an Android-based watch into a remote-control device for a car. Drivers can swipe at their watch face to start or lock their automobiles. Better yet, they can speak to the watch, locking the car with a voice command. There is also a function that helps people locate their cars in big parking lots or other unfamiliar places. In addition to a connected watch, SmartStart works with a smartphone. Viper systems are priced at $149.99 and up.

Viper is part of Directed, which got a new president as of Jan. 1. Tarek Kutrieh previously worked as Directed’s CFO and COO. Directed, of course, is the car alarm and auto electronics firm founded by the businessman turned lawmaker, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista). Directed is privately held.

CES gave South Korea-based LG Electronics a platform to unveil the first phone to have Qualcomm Inc.’s most advanced Snapdragon processor at its heart. Hidden away in the LG G Flex2 is the Snapdragon model 810 processor, with its eight-core, 64-bit central processing unit. Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) announced the chip in April. The LG phone makes a fashion and ergonomic statement with its slightly curved profile. The business said that it will make the G Flex2 available in South Korea at the end of the month and will introduce it to other markets soon after.

Qualcomm itself made several announcements at CES, many of them very technical, but it appealed to the home technology tinkerer with its Snapdragon Cargo — a flying, rolling robot that uses a Snapdragon processor. People can build it themselves with plans from Qualcomm. The business also offered its latest vision of the Internet of Everything. That’s the idea of interconnected objects, such as the previously mentioned watch and car. Qualcomm exhibited two concept cars — a 2015 Maserati Quattroporte GTS and a 2015 Cadillac XTS — each equipped with a Qualcomm processor, plus modems and GPS chips, providing a variety of driver navigation, information, communication, entertainment and safety services. (OK, remember me saying that all this technology is stuff that ordinary folks can get their hands on? The Maserati doesn’t count.)

The San Diego chip company offered updates on hardware and content providers using AllPlay, its platform for sending audio wirelessly, and the business offered details of new health care partnerships with Novartis AG and Walgreens Co. (Nasdaq: WBA). As of Jan. 7, there was no significant news on how Qualcomm might resolve its antitrust issues in China.

The Las Vegas show also featured Novatel Wireless Inc., which introduced a new electronic device to track vehicles and monitor driver behavior. Novatel Wireless (Nasdaq: MIFI) touts its MT 1200 as a competitively priced, reliable and advanced gadget that can be the center of a usage-based auto insurance plan. The system can report its location by tapping into GPS as well as Russia’s version of the GPS satellite cluster (called GLONAST). Another feature is a three-axis digital accelerometer, making it able to detect hard cornering or hard braking.

LifeProof — which has made a business building cases that resist water, snow, dust and shock — introduced a new case with a built-in battery, which not only shields an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone 6 from the elements, but effectively doubles its battery life. The company, now part of Otter Products LLC, also unveiled an accessory line. Speaking of accessories, MadCatz Interactive Inc. (NYSE: MCZ) showed off its latest video game peripherals, including a new version of its R.A.T. gaming mouse.

Finally, Taiwan-based XYZprinting Inc., which has its U.S. office on Waples Drive, showed off a 3-D printer that builds up food, bit by little bit. Media accounts tell of it making specially shaped cookies and chocolates. XYZprinting is part of the Kinpo Group, an electronics conglomerate that claims $30 billion in annual revenue. The business markets its 3-D printers under the name da Vinci. The cookies coming out of the XYZ food printer in Las Vegas still needed a trip through the oven to bake, according to Cnet editor Dong Ngo, who was at the convention and had a chance to sample the results. However, those people who like their cookie dough straight out of the bowl would, I imagine, be the same people who ate it straight from the printer.

Send San Diego technology news to bradg@sdbj.com.

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