This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas continued the trend we’ve highlighted in years past towards new and exciting connected devices for the home. Of particular note this year is the integration of other key technology segments.
Voice Assistants
TCL’S Roku-Enabled “Alto” Smart Soundbar
As evidenced by the proliferation of Amazon Echos and Google Homes throughout the world (not to mention the iOS counterpart, Siri, introduced over 6 years ago), the sprint towards Star Trek-level voice control continues unabated. CES this year highlighted hundreds of devices powered primarily by Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa (with Microsoft’s Cortana bringing up the rear and Apple’s Siri practically non-existent), with one of the most practical and useful being a Roku-enabled Smart Soundbar by upstart manufacturer TCL. Instead of stumbling with multiple remotes to control the volume, picture settings, or navigation on your connected streaming devices, you can simply ask Roku to “watch Netflix” or “play Pandora” and it will immediately perform the command and control any devices needed to do so.