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Despite reports that attendance would be lower than in years past, dozens of New England companies have made the trek westward this week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Among the local companies exhibiting their wares at CES are a New Hampshire-based mother of four, an MIT spinout offering wireless electric power, and a Polaroid spinout offering portable printing products.
Christine Ingemi, the founder of iHearSafe LLC in Milford, N.H., represents the true entrepreneurial spirit of CES, not to mention New England’s innovation community. Three years ago, Ingemi, a mother of four, grew concerned about the volume at which her children were listening to their music via headphones. A self-proclaimed “tinkerer,” Ingemi invented a limiter for headphones, after watching her children easily wipe out the volume control software on their iPods. Ingemi took her invention to a design firm and a patent attorney, and created a business around the original idea. Now her website offers different versions of the product — headphones, earbuds and ear clips.
Last year, Ingemi attended CES as an individual, “telling my story to anyone who would listen,” she said, and it paid off. Over the past year, iHearSafe has received accolades from a number of outlets, and sales have been enough to keep the four-person outfit not only moving forward but growing. As an exhibitor at CES this year, Ingemi’s goal is more focused.
“We are hoping to attract buyers for the product to get into retail outlets,” she said.
According to the exhibitor list for the show, 76 New England-based companies are expected to exhibit at CES, many in the retail, home audio and theater categories. Notable attendees include mobile joystick developer ZeeMote Inc. of Chelmsford, LED device maker Ambient Devices Inc. of Cambridge, video eyewear developer Myvu Corp. of Westwood and ZigBee wireless systems maker Ember Corp. of Boston.
But retailers are not the only path to consumers. Some firms, such as Watertown’s WiTricity Corp., will be at CES to attract the attention of electronics and device makers, hoping to get their tech integrated into end products.
In a suite at The Venetian hotel, WiTricity CEO Eric Giler and the MIT research team that developed the company’s wireless electricity-transfer technology, will perform the first public demonstrations of the technology on consumer electronics. As part of the demonstration, potential customers, partners and curious insiders will get a first-hand look at WiTricity’s technology as a laptop, a television, an LCD projector and an array of cell phones are powered over the air, without being plugged into an outlet.
Bedford-based Zink Imaging Inc., a Polaroid Corp. spinout offering thermal printing technologies for portable devices, is familiar with using CES as a launching pad for technology. Zink used the show last year to announced its first partner product, a mobile printer from Polaroid.
According to Zink chief marketing officer Scott Wicker, Zink will make two announcements this week. First, the firm will unveil a new partnership with LiteOn Technology Corp., a multibillion-dollar electronics manufacturer based in Taiwan. Under the agreement, LiteOn will begin making a line of digital picture frames equipped with a Zink printer and paper, allowing people to print 4-by-6 inch pictures directly from LiteOn’s digital frames.
In addition, Zink and Polaroid will announce the integration of a Zink printer in one of Polaroid’s digital cameras — bringing the Polaroid brand back to making instant pictures.
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