Stun gun phone case one of many tech innovations debuting at 2014 CES
First a neon blue light shot out from the iPhone 5 case. Then a sharp buzzing sound started.
This is Yellow Jacket’s latest stun gun phone case model, the YJ5, which debuted Tuesday.
Sean Simone, CEO and co-founder of the Baton Rouge-based Yellow Jacket, said he was hoping to gain attention for his company this week at the 2014 International CES. The brand’s second model launched at the trade show, marking its first time exhibiting.
Simone has an attractive audience. Through Friday, about 152,000 attendees are swarming the LVH, Las Vegas Convention Center and The Venetian to view 3,200 exhibitors across 1.9 million net square feet during the 2014 International CES. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is estimating that this year’s show will bring a nongaming economic impact of $194.9 million to the city.
Yellow Jacket’s iPhone 4 model launched last year, and the company originally was funded through $100,000 raised via Indiegogo. Today, the company has raised almost $1 million through the crowdfunding site and angel investors. To further help get the word out, Yellow Jacket also will be exhibiting at next week’s SHOT Show to be held at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
As of now the stun gun-phone case is sold on the company’s website and in a few U.S.-based sporting goods stores. However, Yellow Jacket recently landed its first international distributor in Mexico City.
“We think that will be a huge market for us,” Simone said.
The brand’s newest model features a detachable stun gun that doubles as a rechargeable phone case blanketing a slimmer iPhone 5 case, in case users don’t always want the self-defense feature. It also features a reserve power source for the stun gun so the weapon is always charged when you need it. This second model has a 30 percent voltage increase to 950,000 volts.
“The intention is to use this to deter attackers and get away,” Simone said.
Expect Yellow Jacket to start with the Galaxy S5 when it branches out to the Android platform.
Donavin Britt, owner and chief instructor of Las Vegas Krav Maga, was at CES on Tuesday to help tout Yellow Jacket.
“The need and demand for these items is high,” he said. “A product like Yellow Jacket is incredible.”
At CES the newest innovations, small and large, are shown to the world. Everyone from the largest companies to the new business owner is here, waiting to show industry analysts, retailers and media what they’ve got.
Driving past the convention center will net you a peek at the large white outdoor pavilion exhibits, including Gibson and AMD. Amid a collection of guitars that would make any musician jealous, the former launched its Cerwin-Vega SL Series home audio system this week. The set is comprised of six speakers and one subwoofer and is designed for home, office or college use. At AMD, the semiconductor company set up a dome, or as AMD calls it, a surround house that allows viewers to experience a surreal surround computing experience across six projectors showing 14 million pixels.
Back indoors, Cellcontrol demonstrated its driver identification platform, DriveID.
The solar-powered device is placed on a vehicle’s windshield and integrates with Cellcontrol’s non-pairing Bluetooth technology to distinguish the driver from the passengers, and enforces appropriate mobile device policy for each. Drivers won’t be able to talk, text, email or browse.
“Distracted driving prevention relies on intelligent driver identification, and with DriveID we’ve accomplished just that,” said Cellcontrol CEO Robert Guba.
The hardware platform will be available for purchase in February by consumers and fleet administrators. DriveID is a 2014 CES Innovation Award Honoree.
Located in the startup pavilion named Eureka Park, Phone Soap’s founders Dan Barnes and Wes LaPorte were showing off their creation that looks like a tanning bed for phones. The $50 device uses UV light to sanitize iPhones while charging them at the same time. They’re available for order now on the company’s website.
Throughout the venues, attendees are viewing products such as Backblaze’s online cloud backup service and Honeywell’s Wi-Fi enabled thermostat with voice control to Lenovo’s newest offering, the ThinkPad 8 Tablet. The ThinkPad 8 features an 8.3-inch display and weighs less than a pound. The device also can be connected to a PC monitor through a micro USB port if users need a larger display.
Popular phone case manufacturer OtterBox released its new one-piece Symmetry series cases for the iPhone 5S and 5C that feature a slimmer design than previous lines made by the company. The new cases are slated to be available in spring, and will retail for $40 or $45.
FileThis, a consumer application designed to grab and organize documents, previewed its online platform for the first time Tuesday evening. The platform, which helps users go paperless, will be available to the public in late January via FileThis.com or by downloading from the Apple App Store.
The technology extracts relevant dates from documents, creates meaningful filenames and stores files as fully text searchable documents. It also can organize documents on a PC or cloud storage location of a user’s choosing.
“We’re thrilled to preview the platform to the industry and early adopters at the world’s largest consumer tech show,” said FileThis co-founder Brian Berson.
In the ever-popular sports camera segment, Geonaute released its 360-degree camera with three wide-angle lenses that can create 2K videos and 4K photos. The camera’s also water resistant, shockproof and can record for two hours. It’s available by reservation for $499 and is slated to be delivered sometime in 2014. The product won the CES 2014 Best of Innovations award in the Digital Imaging category.
Attendee Lee Zu was checking out the cameras Wednesday morning.
“I’m trying to think of how I would use this, because it’s pretty cool. It makes me want to be an extreme sports guy or something,” Zu said while looking at the product.
In the health care segment, Etymotic Research was promoting the Bean, an in-ear hearing aid that amplifies soft sounds but allows louder noises to pass through the device at normal levels. The device is available with a medical referral and costs less than $400 each.
Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.
