Three Cool Things We Saw at CES 2021: Day 2

By Stephen Clark

Last updated 12 January 2021

Impulse Neuro-Controller glove from Brink Bionic

In this Guide

Televisions: Intro to MicroLED
Canadian Tech: Brink Bionic Impulse Neuro-Controller
Bathrooms: TOTO and Kohler

CES 2021: Day 2

We got to check out many more tech companies as the virtual show floor opened on our second day at CES 2021. Nearly every major electronics company released new MicroLED televisions, TOTO and Kohler free you of the need (or desire) to hoard toilet paper ever again, and a Canadian company adapts prosthetic technology to improve competitive video gaming.

WhistleOut Canada @ CES 2021

WhistleOut Canada is bringing you daily updates of the coolest smartphone, home gadgets and inventive Canadian companies that we find.
CES 2021 - Day 1
CES 2021 - Day 2
CES 2021 - Day 3
CES 2021 - Day 4
WhistleOut TV on YouTube

Every year, the world's biggest and most innovative tech companies converge on Las Vegas for CES. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year is exclusively a virtual event. This isn't WhistleOut's first year at CES, but the new format lets us visit even more booths and see more of what's to come in 2021. There are hundreds of tech companies showcasing next-generation in more than 40 categories.

Televisions: What Is MiniLED/MicroLED and Why Is it a Big Deal?

MiniLED and MicroLED are new ways to light up LCD televisions while improving colour reproduction and deepening dark scenes. Normally, major electronic companies highlight the newest OLED displays, but at CES 2021, LCD televisions with MicroLED backlighting have been making waves. To understand why, it helps to know the difference between how OLED and LCD screens create images.

OLED vs. LCD: What's the Difference?

Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLED) create light—usually in red, green or blue—in order to make a single pixel on the screen. Combined with millions of other OLEDs, you get a full television image. Think of it as a wall of very small flashlights. Even though OLED TVs are more expensive, the image quality is far beyond anything possible with LCD.

Televisions that use a liquid-crystal display (LCD) don't use it to create light; rather, it blocks out light. These televisions use a white backlight behind the LCD screen. Then, an LCD's "pixels" selectively block different colours of light where they're not wanted. Think of it like drawing on a window with dry-erase markers. LCD televisions are typically cheaper to produce but with lesser image quality.

Early LCD televisions used a solid backlight that was great for bright scenes, but terrible for dark scenes. Light would "bleed" through, making black look more like a dark grey. Newer models use white LED backlights that can be dimmed so that dark scenes are much closer to black. Smaller individual backlight LEDs can be individually dimmed, so the amount of backlight can even be adjusted depending on where it is on the screen.

New LCD televisions on display at CES 2021 take all this a step further by using up to tens of thousands of LEDs in the backlight. This creates hyper-localized lighting that enables a wide variety of contrasting dark and light on the same screen.

What all this means: The advantage OLED has over LCD is spectacular colour reproduction and contrast. With MiniLED/MicroLED using as many as 30,000 zones to individually dim backlight, new LCD televisions from companies like LG, Samsung and TCL rival OLED image quality while costing far less.

Canadian Tech: Brink Bionics Impulse Neuro-Controller

Waterloo startup Brink Bionics taps into the growing competitive video gaming scene by creating input technology that seemingly reads your mind. The Impulse Neuro-Controller uses machine learning to predict when a user will click the mouse button.

For most applications, that kind of response is unnecessary. However, the team developing the Impulse initially began creating prosthetics for the medical industry. Facing intense competition, president and founder Erik Lloyd pivoted the company to the world of video gaming peripherals, where there's really nothing like it.

In the "esports" arena, competitive video gaming challenges players to respond the fastest. While the newest premium input hardware may trim lag (delay) down by a few milliseconds, Brink Bionics targets the greatest source of input lag: the human nervous system. The Impulse Neuro-Controller can activate a mouse click 80 ms (milliseconds) earlier, giving you the jump on the competition.

It wasn't without challenges. Accuracy needed to improve over the relatively forgiving medical applications. The only thing worse than late input is not registering it at all, so a mouse is still needed for now.

Funding for digital gaming is far easier to find compared to the barriers inherent in academic or clinical research. Following a successful Kickstarter in 2020, pre-orders for the Impulse Neuro-Controller are available on IndieGoGo with delivery expected in May 2021.

Smart Toilets: TOTO and Kohler

Modern cell phone use has somehow become inexorably linked to the bathroom. However, soon your iPhone may not be the only smart device in there. Based in Japan, TOTO has become a worldwide leader in bringing a luxurious experience to the bathroom. At CES 2021, the company is showing off its hygienic lineup of bidet toilet seats and smart toilets.

Yup. "Smart toilets". TOTO introduced the world to the built-in bidet more than four decades ago. To the uninitiated, a bidet cleans your undercarriage with a gentle stream of warm water and dries with warm air. No need for toilet paper—which alone is a great selling point. In addition to saving trees, you won't have to stand in line at Costco the next time the neighbours are panic-buying.

The Washlet line is available as toilet seat replacements that fit most standard toilets. The best-of-the-best toilets from TOTO cost more than $15,000. For that price, the lid will lift automatically as you approach and self-cleaning Actilight technology breaks down all organic material in the bowl. TOTO also offers other premium fixtures like the Ecopower touch-free faucets and a floatation tub for "weightless" relaxation.

Another company showing off its bathroom fixtures is Kohler. Expanding beyond the toilet, Kohler also includes smart technology in voice-activated mirrors, a showerhead with a wireless speaker, and a bathtub that fills and empties upon command. It's a real Star Trek-level washroom experience, much appreciated as we search for ways to live more hygienically.