Laura Mooney
Arts Editor

eeks ago, on 7 January 2014, Las

Vegas was once again home to
one of the world’s largest technology
conventions, the Consumer Electronics
Show, where the most well known names
in the technological universe gathered to
show off their latest triumphs, and causied
all us tech geeks to mop up our drool from
the floor. Featuring the best of the best in
television, gaming, cellular, and much more,
the four-day event provides the average
consumer the opportunity to gain insight
into what their favourite companies have
been spending all their time on, and allows
them to sneak a peek at the products that
will be released in the upcoming months.
while many of the products presented were
simple improvements from past devices,
some of the featured technology has
been causing quite the excitement in the
techie world, with many people waiting in
line with a handful of bills and anxiously
waiting to get their hands on these just
announced products. Here are some of the
best gadgets found at this year’s CES:

Oculus Rift - Taking the title of “Best of
CES,” the Oculus Rift 3D virtual gaming
headset was one of the most talked about
items at CES, and still has a good part of
the internet buzzing about it. While this
particular piece of technology has been in
the works for nearly a decade, never before
has the world been this close to owning the
piece technology in their own home, and
at CES the prototype called “Crystal Cove”
was made available for everyone to test.
Featuring a 1080p display, this amazing
piece of equipment will change the face of
gaming as the headpiece takes you inside

the game as never before. Now gamers will
be able to view the game’s environment
from all angles, instead of just the typical
side-to-side view, you will now be able to
look up, down, and every angle possible to
gain a full view in the world of the game.
The Oculus Rift also features seamless
viewing; with virtually no lag or
hesitation in the world the

user is experiencing,
the game appears
more real than

any prototype
presented

in the past.

The great

thing

about this

product

though

is that

it is not

strictly for

games. The

Oculus Rift

is also being
marketed for use in
teaching labs, where
medical students could use

simulations to practice surgeries

and basic medical procedures. All in all this
product won Best of CES for a reason, and
the consumer world clearly cannot wait to
get their hands on this amazing gadget.

Audi A7 Piloted Driving- The world is one
step closer to having vehicles that can
drive you, with just the touch of a button.
Audi premiered its newest adjustments

to its autonomous driving program, now
implemented in the beautiful A7, to crowds
of people, some of whom were lucky
enough to get a test drive. While semi-
autonomous cars have been on the road

for a few years now, including vehicles
that can self-parallel park, Audi’s A7 is
the first completely self-driven car to hit
the convention scene. What makes the A7
even more appealing is the fact that its
sensors are all neatly hidden in the body
of the car, making it appear as though it
were any other car on the road. This is
a huge leap forward seeing as
the only other autonomous
car on the road is the
infamous Google car,
which is equipped
with the rather
large, rather
conspicuous,
detector on
the roof. For
those lucky
enough to get
a ride in one of
these awesome
Audis, they
were treated to
demonstrations
of its ability to
manoeuver with ease
through (at this point) light
traffic, while recognizing speed
limits, and even using facial recognition
technology to tell if the driver was nodding
off or not paying attention, to which the
car would issue an alert to the driver.
So while Audi did not provide an exact
date that the self-driving car would be
released, this is the first major leap towards
production that has been shown in the past
couple years, but they assured the public
during their conference at CES that once it
is finally released, it will be just as fantastic
as everyone has imagined.

iPhone Equipment- The iPhone in general
has become famous for not only the phone

(TS

2014

itself, but also the infinite amount of things
you can get to add on to your phone, and
this year at CES, there was more than one
single add-on that stood out. First up is the
Mophie Space Pack, a case for the iPhone 5
and 5s that not only adds additional battery
life to the iPhone, but also adds additional
memory. In terms of the iPhone, the one
major complaint heard from nearly every
user is the inability to alter the amount

of space one has on their iPhone, but now
with the simple addition of the sleek Space
Pack it adds up to an additional 32GB by
just putting the case on your phone. These
fantastic cases are already available for
order and judging by the reaction of the
fans at CES, they will be selling fast. One
other fantastic tool for the iPhone shown
at CES was the immensely popular iPhone
stun gun case. Essentially the stun gun case
is exactly what it sounds like, a case that
fits snugly over your iPhone, and turns it
into a high-powered stun gun. While the
company Yellow Jackets introduced this
product last year, this year they presented
it with even better safety precautions,

as well as the option to order one with

a stronger charge for those who want

their phone to be an even more powerful
weapon. Although this particular item may
not be the most practical, you still have to
admit that it is definitely cool.

The Consumer Electronics Show is the place
to go for those who want to be the first to
have access to some of the best new gadgets
that the top electronics companies have to
offer, or even just to get a glimpse at what
the future holds for technological advances.
Either way, CES is a fun way to see just how
far we have come in the way of technology,
and is a great way to pick up a piece of that
advancement for ourselves.