Our favorite products from our first CES
The world’s largest tech conference had less than 50% of expected attendees, but was still a great event
The Consumer Electronics Show for 2022 took place the first week of January, despite a surge in Omicron cases and Covid restrictions. The show typically draws hundreds of thousands of attendees and 4,000+ exhibitors, but this year those numbers were cut by more than half. Major companies such as Google, Amazon, AT&T, and Microsoft were among the list of dropouts, which might have helped smaller companies like Haste get more exposure.
Haste at CES
Haste was invited to be a part of the Bitcoin SV (BSV) booth by CoinGeek and the Bitcoin Association. In total, the booth hosted 8 companies within the BSV ecosystem, so there was a strong network of companies from different industries promoting the use of a scalable blockchain. Aside from enjoying some of the best restaurants and clubs Las Vegas has to offer, our goal was to introduce Instant Leaderboard Payouts (ILPs) to the mainstream world, and attract game developers to submit games to the Haste Arcade using our software developer kit (SDK).
There was a steady flow of attendees at the booth throughout the week with dozens trying out some of the arcade games and making leaderboards. It was a great opportunity for the team to gain experience talking about the product and about the utility of Bitcoin in general. We also got to spend significant time with other BSV companies and learn about the cool things happening in the space. Our personal favorites from BSV were:
Omniscape
There’s a lot of hype around the metaverse, and Robert Rice’s team at Transmira is building an incredible virtual world in Omniscape. We got our first glimpse of Omniscape back in June when we attended CoinGeek Zurich, but to see the progress that has been made since then was incredible. There were several 3d body scanners at CES, but Omniscape’s was as cool as it gets.
Built By Gamers
Across from the Haste booth was prominent esports organization Built By Gamers (BBG). BBG owns several of the best Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Valorant teams in the world, and we have partnered with them to introduce ILPs to the mainstream gaming community. Getting to interact with their team and watch one of their teams in person was awesome. They have their finger on the pulse of esports and are close to announcing partnerships with some huge celebrities and influencers. They also did a great job of bringing attention the BSV booth, and funneling people towards our setup.
Other Exciting Companies
One of the things our team was most excited about was walking around the other booths and seeing all of the exciting new technology that is poised to shape the future. There was a heavy focus on virtual/augmented reality, clean energy, and blockchain/NFT utility. Here’s a few of our favorite ideas/companies from the convention:
iiRcade
Naturally, anything that had to do with gaming was of interest to our team, but the iiRcade console stood out. The company builds retro style arcade machines/cabinets that look really cool. But what makes them standout is that they have also gone through the necessary licensing procedures to be able to incorporate classic arcade games into the console, as well as games that they create in house.
OWO
One of the most exciting things about the future of technology is how it will link the physical and digital worlds. OWO has created a shirt/vest that allows gamers to “feel” actions within the game they are playing. For example, a gamer could be playing Fortnite and get a little shock every time their character is shot. The technology uses ultrasound to stimulate the gamer, similar to what athletes use to treat sore muscles. The intensity can be adjusted depending on the users specifications.
Renewable Energy
With climate change being a hot topic, there were plenty of companies focused on creating clean renewable energy concepts that are cost efficient. What we found to be one of the most interesting concepts were solar powered personal generators. The larger generators claim to harness enough energy to power a house for several days, while smaller generators could fit in someones pocket and charge a cell phone.
Satisfyer
Despite all of the groundbreaking technology, the booth that created the most “buzz” was Satisfyer and their line of vibrators. Users can program their vibrator through an app, to customize their experience. There were several models on display, but what really drew people to booth was the fact that they were giving out free products. The line to the booth was longer than any other line we saw at the convention.
Haste is the parent company of the Haste Arcade, a platform that utilizes blockchain technology to enable people to earn from activities they are already doing. The company is focused on developing additional blockchain-related products with a key focus on utility as opposed to speculative trading.