CES. Day 1: Kodak, NXP, Ooma, Philips HUE

Las Vegas, January 6, 2015,   In an effort to further understand the Internet of Things, EdisonReport sent their US Editor to the CES show. His report of Day 1 follows.

There is a lot to see this year at CES. I was not aware that Kodak had entered our industry, but Kodak LED Lighting showcased an impressive display of LED filament bulbs.  I spoke with Halston Mikail, CEO of Spotlite USA and he explained that Spotlite had rights to the Kodak brand.  Mikali has been in lighting, mainly residential, for over 30 years. The display featured about 40 lamps, but several did flicker upon being dimmed, which was blamed on the poor power quality at the show.

NXP had a huge booth, similar to what we see from large lighting companies at Light + Building in Frankfurt.  I think of NXP as a component supplier for LED & LEP drivers, but they are much more.  NXP displayed a connected home featuring color tunable white lamps.  In addition, they demonstrated:  wireless phone charging, radar for vehicles, a smart kitchen with IoT appliances, a smart building that monitors HVAC controls.  In addition NXP technology can be found in wearables such as sport/fitness devices and golf tracking.   It is amazing how fast this company has grown.

Ooma had an impressive booth mainly focused on telecom.  However, their system is compatible with many lights and they displayed the Philips HUE.   Anthony Hizon, Product Manager, explained that Ooma could coordinate certain callers with the HUE.  For instance, if a family member called, the HUE lights might flash green.   The boss calls and the lights could go red.  If a pharmaceutical salesman were calling to sell fake Viagra, they might flash blue—and so on.

Speaking of HUE, we did find a company named P2B Trading from Elizabeth, NJ selling refurbished HUE.   I asked what that meant and the sales manager was unable to explain. He did show an advertisement from Home Depot online featuring a lamp at $59 and he claimed he could sell the same lamp, in quantities, for $29.  Your humble editor has purchased many refurbished products, but to my knowledge, I have never had a refurbished bulb.

06 Jan