IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

In 2008, the emergence of the blockchain as the foundation of the first-ever decentralized cryptocurrency not only revolutionized the financial industry but proved a boon for peer-to-peer (P2P) information exchange in the most secure, efficient, and transparent manner. The blockchain is a public ledger that works like a log by keeping a record of all transactions in chronological order, secured by... View full abstract»

This article is a single-source introduction to the emerging concept of smart cities. It can be used for familiarizing researchers with the vast scope of research possible in this application domain. The smart city is primarily a concept, and there is still not a clear and consistent definition among practitioners and academia. As a simplistic explanation, a smart city is a place where traditional... View full abstract»

The blockchain is emerging as one of the most propitious and ingenious technologies of cybersecurity. In its germinal state, the technology has successfully replaced economic transaction systems in various organizations and has the potential to revamp heterogeneous business models in different industries. Although it promises a secure distributed framework to facilitate sharing, exchanging, and th... View full abstract»

The Tujia hand-waving dance is an important intangible cultural heritage that is in danger of being lost, and its protection is urgent. In this article, the dance movement learning method, game-based learning concept, and evaluation are integrated in the Personal Active Choreographer (PAC) system for hand-waving dance learning. In this research, the Microsoft Kinect 2.0 was used as a game-based de... View full abstract»

Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, has the ability to transmit and verify digital assets on the Internet without specific management entities. There are currently more than 1,500 cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of more than US$480 billion. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were built on blockchain technologies to prevent forgery and falsification while distributing transaction data ... View full abstract»

In the last few years, we have witnessed an exponential growth in research activity into the advanced training of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), a field that has become known as deep learning. This has been triggered by a combination of the availability of significantly larger data sets, thanks in part to a corresponding growth in big data, and the arrival of new graphics-processing-unit (G... View full abstract»

Blockchains and sensors installed on a vehicle could be combined to semiautomatically activate/deactivate car insurance coverage in an envisaged on-demand insurance scenario. We present a prototype that includes a mobile application (app) and a portable electronic device to be installed onboard. The mobile app lets the driver dynamically change the status of specific insurance coverage (in some ca... View full abstract»

Current activities in the Internet of Things (IoT) are focused on architectures, protocols, and networking for the efficient interconnection of heterogeneous things, infrastructure deployment, and creation of value-added services. The majority of the IoT products, services, and platforms are supported by cloud-computing platforms. With the IoT being a multidisciplinary ecosystem, it is now being u... View full abstract»

In this article, we provided a tutorial on MEC technology and an overview of the MEC framework and architecture recently defined by the ETSI MEC ISG standardization group. We described some examples of MEC deployment, with special reference to IoT uses since the IoT is recognized as a main driver for 5G. After having also discussed benefits and challenges for MEC toward 5G, we can say that MEC has... View full abstract»

Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADASs) have become a salient feature for safety in modern vehicles. They are also a key underlying technology in emerging autonomous vehicles. State-of-the-art ADASs are primarily vision based, but light detection and ranging (lidar), radio detection and ranging (radar), and other advanced-sensing technologies are also becoming popular. In this article, we prese... View full abstract»

A health-care system gathers comprehensive physiological information and medical records, making its data more important than ever. For example, for years now, the National Health Insurance Administration (https://www.nhi.gov.tw/English/) of Taiwan has requested every doctor, whether in a medical center or private clinic, to upload the diagnosis result, treatment, and prescription. These anamneses... View full abstract»

In 2016, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidelines regarding the use and prescription of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain [1]. Today, "the CDC recommends that opioids should not be the first line or only treatment for patients who present with chronic noncancer pain" [2]. Additionally, the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that cognitive-behav... View full abstract»

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) has taken over the business spectrum, and its applications vary widely from agriculture and health care to transportation. A hospital environment can be very stressful, especially for senior citizens and children. With the ever-increasing world population, the conventional patient-doctor appointment has lost its effectiveness. Hence, smart health care becomes very impo... View full abstract»

Our everyday lives are crammed with consumer electronics (CE) systems, ranging from smartphones, smart devices, set-top boxes, video consoles, and tablets to washing machines and kitchen appliances. A CE device is heavily reliant on audio and video technologies for its successful smart functioning. With the evolution of these sophisticated devices and technologies, data (such as images, sensitive ... View full abstract»

Smart tourism is an important component of smart cities. However, in many cities, insecurity, safety, fraud, and the lack of availability of proper information about resources are the biggest hurdles toward independent mobility. These issues can be overcome via proactive participation of local citizens to help tourists as well as by cooperation between citizens, city administration, and tourists. ... View full abstract»

The winds of change are blowing toward the multibillion dollar global consumer electronics (CE) industry, which includes companies that are engaged in the manufacturing of smart devices to enable smartconnected vehicles, transportation, health-care systems, home automation, and smart industry in the smart-city network. The rapid increase in the number and diversity of smart devices connected to th... View full abstract»

We live in the age of After Google (AG), where information is just one click away and talking just one touch away. The near future of the AG age is the Internet of Things (IoT), where physical things connected over a network will take part in Internet activities to exchange information about themselves and their surroundings. In other words, the IoT is nothing but a computing concept in which ever... View full abstract»

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical things, objects, or devices, such as radio-frequency identification tags, sensors, actuators, mobile phones, and laptops. The IoT enables objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, including the Internet, thereby creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into the cyber wor... View full abstract»

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a distributed set of sensors deployed to work together for collective sensing and possible data processing. A WSN can be used to monitor environmental behavior and structural integrity in a variety of application fields, thus becoming an integral part of the consumer electronics of smart buildings in smart cities. Due to ever-increasing population growth, along w... View full abstract»

For all present-day consumer electronic (CE) products, especially those operating on dc voltage or power, supercapacitors or supercapacitor modules may replace these products' batteries in the near future, eliminating batteries and all of the shortcomings associated with their technology. Because these CE products require a constant dc voltage for operation, a state-of-the art dc-dc converter modu... View full abstract»

This article critically analyzes the trends and limits of integrated technologies for sensing, computing, and data storage when devices and systems originally developed for consumer electronics (CE) are used for self-driving cars. Some hints, supported by theoretical analysis and experimental work, are provided to overcome the issues of inertial sensors, micromirrors for lidar scanners, car data/p... View full abstract»

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) counts among its members companies that are integral to all parts of the automotive supply chain: from chip companies, including Intel and Nvidia, to tier 1 subsystem suppliers, such as Visteon and Mobileye, to car manufacturers, including Ford, General Motors, Nissan, and Toyota. The aftermarket suppliers, such as Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, and Voxx,... View full abstract»

The evidence that climate change is real and most likely caused by human-related activities has made the international community consider a new energy model. Europe has led the initiative, moving away from fossil fuels toward renewable energies, while powerful countries such as the United States and China are lagging behind and still rely heavily on coal, gas, and oil as energy sources. Europe has... View full abstract»

In emerging consumer devices and systems using new technologies, it is hard to avoid the Internet of Things (IoT). Internet-connected consumer products have been in existence for years, and many home automation and security products are now connected to the Internet. Could these devices pose new ethical challenges in the future in addition to privacy concerns? This article provides an ethical view... View full abstract»

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) are accelerating the growth of infrared (IR) devices used in automotive applications. Some of these are well-known applications, such as ambient light sensing, steering wheel sensors, and rain sensors. However, many new technologies for ADASs, such as LIDAR, driver monitoring, adaptive beam, and matrix lighting, are still in the early evolution phase of t... View full abstract»

A current challenge in the development of autonomous vehicles is programming the ethics of their behavior. One way to explore ethical issues of safety and agency when an autonomous vehicle is put in a situation where it must choose between two outcomes has been to use the trolley problem, a moral dilemma documented by Prof. J.J. Thompson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [1]. In the tro... View full abstract»

As we become more aware of the connection between emotional states and physical health, affective computing continues to rise as a field of interest. Affective computing uses both hardware and software technology to detect the affective state of a person. It is an active research area that has seen much growth in technology geared toward affective state analysis. Its origin is credited to Dr. Rosa... View full abstract»

This is the first installment of the new "Security and Privacy Matters" column in IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine. Security and privacy are always at the heart of everything that happens in the Consumer Electronics (CE) industry. This column aims to provide insight on various aspects of security and privacy in the CE industry. View full abstract»

The Bluetooth Low-Energy transport, trademarked Bluetooth Smart, is now a market fact. Worldwide sales of Bluetooth Smart devices and Bluetooth Ready mobile devices are measured in several billion units per year. The two most exciting new markets are wearable devices and home networking. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has identified three different kinds of smart devices that need Inte... View full abstract»

Consumer electronics (CE) based on the Internet of Things (IoT) are playing a key role in boosting the global economy by improving quality of life and creating new markets, products, and research paradigms. This special issue provides a publication medium for articles that either review existing IoT-based CE devices, systems, and platforms or explore novel research paradigms such as smart homes an... View full abstract»

Although the concepts of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) were invented decades ago (if not centuries ago, in a broader sense), the technologies enabling VR and AR just collectively met a critical point in recent years as people started enjoying the experience rather than merely tolerating it, as they did in the early days. From this point, more and more people believe that VR and A... View full abstract»

Data hiding is the process of concealing recognizable digital data by converting it into indiscernible forms, i.e., those that are imperceptible to the human eye, and it uses numerous techniques to accomplish this task. In this article, we propose a new data-hiding technique that uses the concept of steganography and secret image-sharing schemes. The encryption and decryption is carried out at two... View full abstract»

Cognitive consumer electronics (CE), the fastest-growing sector worldwide that is driven by machine intelligence and cognitive systems, is triggered and enabled by audio- and video-capturing devices, smart sensors, health- and fitness-monitoring devices, security and education electronics, and intelligent systems. Smart consumer sensors and cognitive systems are synergized through the Internet of ... View full abstract»

The smart city has become a new trend of interest with recent developments in information and communications technology (ICT) and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies provide users with new ways to interact with smart cities, especially city data. Visualizing data is crucial for improving a city's planning and management. Currently, most cases of city data visualization are mainly impl... View full abstract»

Resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) is regarded as one of the most promising alternative nonvolatile memory technologies for its advantages in very-high-storage density, simple structure, low power consumption, and long endurance, as well as good compatibility with traditional complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. In addition to the data storage, ReRAM can also be used for ... View full abstract»

Modern consumer electronics (CE) devices have evolved such that human interaction with machines is ever more natural and effective. The forthcoming deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT) over the existing Internet infrastructure promises to expand this interaction by providing applications and services that allow the human-computer interaction to integrate an automated customization of everyda... View full abstract»

The first wearables DevCon for developers of wearables was held in San Francisco 5-7 March 2014 and was greeted with great enthusiasm, with more than 1,000 people attending the three-day event. With the introduction of Google Glass, Epson Moverio, Pebble, and Fitbit, wearables have certainly captured the attention of many consumers and enterprises. While some of these wearables mainly provide a si... View full abstract»

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a framework built as a network of trillions of devices (called things) communicating with each other to offer innovative solutions to real-time problems. These devices monitor the physical environment and disseminate collected data back to the base station. In many cases, the sensor nodes have limited resources like energy, memory, low computational speed, and commu... View full abstract»

As the world's most valuable publicly traded firm, Apple Inc. has earned the respect and trust of many millions of customers for its well-engineered products. But an accident in 2012 revealed that Chinese workers in factories that make Apple products may be paying a price in the form of hazardous working conditions, and Apple's heavy reliance on the Chinese market for growth may have contributed t... View full abstract»

The term health care has a very wide scope that ranges from lifestyle and wellness to care for acute conditions. With the availability of digital accessories for monitoring basic biological functions, the potential for obtaining detailed data on the lifestyle, habits, and behavior of an individual exists. Such data can enable the diagnosis of the causes for a condition with higher accuracy. Recent... View full abstract»

The transition stage from the natural cognitive decline of normal aging to the more serious decline of dementia is referred to as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The cognitive changes caused in MCI are noticeable by the individuals experiencing them and by others, but the changes are not severe enough to interfere with daily life or with independent activities. Because there is a thin line betwee... View full abstract»

Modern sensing devices play a pivotal role in achieving data acquisition, communication, and dissemination for the Internet of Things (IoT). Naturally, IoT applications and intelligent sensing systems supported by sensing devices, such as wireless sensor networks (WSNs), are closely coupled. Modern intelligent sensing systems generate huge volumes of sensing data, well beyond the processing capabi... View full abstract»

Due to the wide variety of devices used in computer network systems, cybersecurity plays a major role in securing and improving the performance of the network or system. Although cybersecurity has received a large amount of global interest in recent years, it remains an open research space. Current security solutions in network-based cyberspace provide an open door to attackers by communicating fi... View full abstract»

Increasing health awareness and rapid technological advancements have resulted in significant growth in an emerging sector: smart health care. By the end of 2020, the total number of smart health-care devices is expected to reach 808.9 million (646 million devices without wearables and the remaining with wearables) [1], [2]. This proliferation of devices is expected to revolutionize health care by... View full abstract»

Consumer electronic devices are enabled by digital storage, whether local or in the cloud. Several digital-storage device suppliers showed their storage products at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). In addition, many show representatives used digital storage to enable their applications, including companies at the media and analyst events, ShowStoppers and Digital Experience. View full abstract»

Creating augmented reality (AR) experiences for enterprise use cases is a complex process that involves meeting many requirements. In particular, industrial environments can offer developers and user experience (UX) design teams many restrictions and unforeseeable obstacles. Designing and developing AR experiences is an iterative process, during which the design team faces critical decision-making... View full abstract»

Here we are in 2017, but, at times, it feels as though we are back in the 1950s. Apparently, how women look and present themselves to the world is so crucial that they must sacrifice their privacy, security, and trust to Amazon's algorithms, just to gain societal acceptance for their fashion choices. Or at least, this is how it appears in the Amazon Echo Look video. View full abstract»

We are the witnesses of a technological ascent accomplished by the Internet of Things (IoT) in the new era of shared informatization. Smart cities make up one of the major areas of IoT applications. Despite several definitions for this new concept, the aim is to achieve a better use of public resources by increasing the quality of services and decreasing the costs of public services. Some initiati... View full abstract»

Hand-gesture recognition is a key aspect to make virtual-reality (VR) interaction more convenient. Making a user's idea understood by computers (i.e., character input) plays an important role in interaction. Current methods of hand gesture and character input are too limited to make full use of the powerful capacity possessed by current computers. View full abstract»

Previously, the world had an Internet, but it was an Internet without "things." There were no smart light switches or thermostats and no Fitbits or Wi-Fi cameras. We weren't as connected, and we certainly weren't quantified [1]. Back in 1990, only 3 million people had access to the Internet [2], and there were only 313,000 computers (not devices) on it [3]. Back in those days, to search, we used t... View full abstract»