Top 5 of 2017’s finest upcoming gadgets (that might have missed your tech radar)

The world is spinning at the same speed as always, but we humans are innovating faster and faster every year. AR/VR, Mobile devices, IoT, and Wearables are just a few product categories in which we are innovating like crazies and where gadgets are born.

As a true tech-head, I really dig all those innovations. A part of me craves to dive right in and buy all this stuff. Luckily for my wallet, I’m able to keep a lit at it and always ask myself the question what a purchase would add to my life, my work and my workflows.

Nevertheless, 2017 is promising to be a year full of new cool gadgets and I want to share 5 of the coolest things around that will be available for sale this year and are innovative and/or really worthwhile.

Check out more after the break.

 

 

#1 Footloose wearable gadgets with a screen

Vixole

There is a new wearable trend coming for 2017 and it’s called: shoes. You read it right, shoes. Not ordinary shoes but gadget style innovative shoes. Like watches, they’re on the move to become connected, electronically equipped and enhanced wearables.

Where Shiftwear is promising a shoe that you can design using an ePaper screen panel on the side to enhance the look, Vixole is bringing it one level further by not only providing shoes with a screen but also sensors that can track your foot movements.

Both brands enable you to display a static or sequence animated graphic on your shoe making it your very own shoe and/or get some attention towards your otherwise standard footwear.

#2 The flying selfie stick

Passport Pulling out that stick of yours, wrapping your smartphone in it. Only to get it pairing via Bluetooth and hoping that the moment supreme hasn’t passed already. Don’t you hate selfie sticks? I know I do.

While the whole flying drone innovation sector is interesting and really nice to keep track of, most devices want too much and aren’t really good at anything. That’s why I love the Passport’s simplicity: It is a drone that you can unfold and with the push of a button it flies around and makes an image or video of you. Check out
Passport her
and tell me you don’t prefer this solution over that ugly selfie stick.

#3 The robot that guards your house and entertains your kids

Kuri I know, actual robots for the masses will take quite some time to get right. Although there is enough technology for hardware, humanoid interactions and AI around it will take us some time to get it all right and deliver an electronic butler on your doormat.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any solutions upcoming that will aid your household in some simpler aspects. One of the biggest issues is creating an entity that you really would like to have wandering (or, in this case, driving) around your house without being creepy.
Mayfield Robotics might just be working on the right solution for us robot lovers. And that solution is called Kuri. A loving little robot that doesn’t pretend to be human but interacts in a kind and loving way. It will help you guard your house, check up on your dog and entertain you and your kids while playing podcasts or music. Ain’t that sweet? Check the little guy out on this website. This might seem a gadget at starters, but it could evolve into more if the market adopts this little one en-masse.

#4 The new kind of paper

RemarkableTablets have been around for some years now and they have been going hard. A lot of people discovered that tablets are just the device that they need. They proved to be more than a gadget and a lot of people trust on their power and diversity to get their work done, play games or enjoy other kinds of entertainment.
But that doesn’t mean that sometimes reading an eBook or draw a doodle is all that you need.
Because tablets don’t aim to be just a paper replacement, now a product is underway that claims to be just that. Check out Remarkable on this website. It basically is a tablet that focusses on eBooks and digital paper functionality. It looks amazing and slick and could really fill a need for people that don’t want the overkill that tablets bring.

5# Augmented Reality viewpoints

Shima

There are a lot of Augmented Reality innovations and gadgets out there. I’ve mentioned some cool innovations in my blog posts here and here. And the AR market will catch on fire in 2017 because of all the major companies that are bringing their stuff to the masses.
But for me, sometimes the more subtle products that grab my attention. Products that have added functionality but that don’t show those abilities from a mile away.

Take Laforge Optical’s Shima for instance: cool AR glasses that look and work just like regular (prescripted) glasses but really add value because they integrate navigation, entertainment, and social interaction elements while projecting relevant information on your view. Check their cool AR product out here and decide for yourself. It’s a really slick gadget IMO.

There you have it: the top 5 of cool new gadgets that will be available in 2017. Some are more known than others. But their focus and scoped functionality might be just the thing that will make them a bigger success than all those allround products that get featured day after day.

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