CES 2016: The Coolest Security Products
- By Sydny Shepard
- Jan 08, 2016
The International Consumer Electronics Show, otherwise known as CES, is the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Held in Las Vegas every year, it has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for more than 40 years.
This year, the security industry has made a splash. A noticeable trend is devices that connect you to your secure home, even when you aren’t there. These three products give users a sense of security and peace of mind, something all homeowners wish to have.
EyeLock
Do you have a hard time remember your PIN, or spend unnecessary seconds at the ATM looking for the right card to pull from your wallet of plastic? If EyeLock has its way, you eventually won’t have to worry about those things anymore.
EyeLock has created a prototype automated teller that has no keypad, card reader or screen. Known as the Irving Concept, it uses an app instead. When a user comes close to a compatible ATM, the machine will identify them based on their smartphone’s wireless signature. From there, they place their eye up to the iris scanner. The ATM will then be able to identify if the user is the same as their wireless signature, if so, the cash requested will be dispensed.
According to EyeLock, Irving transactions take about half the time of conventional ATM transactions, plus the matching itself is both narrower and shallower than regular automated tellers.
Ring Video Doorbell
If you ever wished to know who was ringing your doorbell when you aren’t home, then this device is for you. The Ring Video Doorbell is a battery-operated security camera with the ability for two-way talk. The camera is connected via an app to your smartphone, so when someone rings your doorbell, you can remotely view who is at your door and even speak to them through the device.
The company has also put out a secondary product, the Ring Stick Up Cam, that you can install to create a ring of security. The weather-resistant and wire-free mount camera also comes with a talkback feature and notifies you via app when there is motion detected in the area of the camera. From there, you can view the disturbance and speak up if needed.
“With the talk back feature, you could just put it on the side of your house, get an alert at work that there is motion activity outside and yell at a suspicious person, ‘Get out of here!’ and they won’t even know who you are,” founder Jamie Siminoff said.
Roost
Roost has one of the more affordable, ingenious CES inventions, an add-on to a regular smoke alarm that makes your smoke detector “smart.”
The attachment is connected to an app on your phone which notifies you if ever you smoke alarm is set-off when you aren’t home. The device will also notify you if the batteries in one of your detectors are low, eliminating the annoying 3 a.m. chirp that sounds like it may be coming from at least three different places. The app also allows you to snooze false alarms, in case all you did was burn the toast, again.
“Your old smoke alarm has just been brought to the modern age,” Roost’s Chief Marketing Officer David Henry said.
About the Author
Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.