14 January 2022. Technology | Off grid
The useful things that were demonstrated at CES this year. Getting by off-grid
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#1: The useful things that were demonstrated at CES this year
CES, once known as the Consumer Electronics Show, has just come and gone in Las Vegas. It’s still the biggest show of its kind in the world, perhaps because it abandoned the “Consumer Electronics” tag a while ago so any technology producer could take part.
For my money generally, it’s been becoming less relevant by degrees—there was a time when it mattered, as a futurist, to know what was being launched at CES. Maybe not any longer. As evidence of this, The Verge had a long discussion of the coming chips for desktops and laptops, and sure they sound better. Are they going to reverse the long-run sales decline of desktops and laptops? (Yes, I know there was a blip during the pandemic). Well, probably not.
But Techcrunch allowed its reporters to pick one favourite new piece of tech from the show (scroll down), and I’m going to share some of these. They all, potentially, deal with substantive problems.
1. Mercedes-Benz’ car of the future has a much more efficient battery—although for the moment it’s still a concept car:
Mercedes-Benz revealed Monday the Vision EQXX, a concept vehicle that is meant to showcase what the automaker’s electric future will look like.... The EQXX is a halo car, which Mercedes said during a digital reveal ahead of the CES tech trade show went from idea to prototype in 18 months. The vehicle is meant be the foundation for its future electric vehicles. ... The end result is a vehicle that Mercedes says can travel 620 miles on a single charge and boasts 95% efficiency, which means 95% of the energy from the battery ends up at the wheels.
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2. A robotic trolley cart designed to help old people in the home:
(Retriever) resembles a robotic bar cart, offering assistance for elderly users and people with limited mobility... The product is primarily aimed at those people who are capable of living independently, but could benefit from an added robotic hand. “There’s a significant portion of our society that’s massively underserved,” (Labrador Systems CEO Mike) Dooley said in a release tied to the news. “When pain or other health issues start interfering with your ability to move yourself or other things, even short distances can have a major impact on your independence, quality of life and overall health. The Retriever is meant to help physically bridge some of that gap and empower individuals to be more active and do more on their own.”
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(The Bob. Image: Daan-Tech)
3. A tiny dishwasher designed to save water and increase hygiene.
It’s called Bob, which might produce a small grin on the face of Blackadder fans. But it’s specifically designed for small apartments and sits on the counter, without needing plumbing:
(D)ishwashers are dull as dishwater, as the Brits like to mumble into their cups of tea. Daan Tech’s Bob Global fits the bill; it’s ultra-compact and perfect for apartment dwellers, as it doesn’t have to be plumbed in. It comes with a built-in one-gallon integrated water tank, and the company claims it uses only a fifth of the water that regular hand-washing does.
The original version of Bob sold 35,000 units in Europe.
Elsewhere, the John Deere autonomous tractor sounds to me like another wheeze for the company to sell you something without you ever owning it. (Even if it does help deal with the problem of an ageing agricultural workforce). The company has a lot of form here.
And as someone noted on Twitter, BMW’s car that can change colour sounds whizzy—at least until criminals gets their hands on them and the police get involved. Sadly I can’t find the tweet.
#2: Getting by off-grid
A slight break from my usual pattern here, as I had some great responses to my post a couple of days ago to my post about Mark Boyle’s book on living without ‘machines’. They seemed to deserve more than a line and a link.
The piece on Mark Boyle prompted my former colleague (and boss!) Henry Tucker to think about the documentary Life Off Grid, which visited—they say—a couple of hundred people living the off-grid lifestyle.
Henry notes:
It's great to see so many people living ostensibly the same 'off grid' life but are actually a myriad of different motivations, values and world views. They do have things in common - a maker and problem solver mentality - and not being afraid of solitude and silence. But it was also open with the struggles they faced as they got older or if income became an issue. Working in 'the city' and living in 'the bush' doesn't seem to work.
The documentary is currently on Amazon Prime—free if you already have a subscription. Here’s a trailer:
In the context of the same piece, and the reference to ‘detritus’, Pete Ashton mentioned pallets to me—which he described as being “emblematic of late capitalist detritus”. Certainly they are everywhere, and from memory Mark Boyle uses a whole load of them to help build a hot tub in the garden. It turns out that living at the edges—or the ends—of the supply chain means that you never run out of pallets, as this video (10 minutes) explains.
But: they’re made of cheap wood, they rot easily, and if you use them to build compost bins—one of the most common uses—rats become a problem. Thanks to Pete for the link to this interesting video:
Incidentally, Nick Wray tells me that if you’re an Audible subscriber, there’s a free audio version of The Way Home available to you. Of course, Boyle didn’t record it himself.
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