SEXISM STORM ACCUSATIONS OF GENDER BIAS REMAINED ONE OF THE DOMINATED HEADLINES AT THE CES. THE BIGGEST story from the CES OSE’S saw Lora DiCarlo, a female-led sex MAKERS toy startup, accused the show of say it’s sexism, sexism after its organisers revok

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Ring is giving peephole spin.

The company unveiled a new internet-connected video doorbell that fits into most peepholes. The new device is aimed at apartment dwellers or college students who want a video doorbell, but may not be allowed to install one next to their doors.

Amazon bought Ring last year, giving it a shot at competing better with Google’s Nest, which also makes cameras and doorbells. Privacy experts have long sounded the alarm on Wi-Fi connected cameras and how video is stored. Amazon recently filed a patent application for a facial-recognition system involving home security cameras, which would allow multiple cameras to create composites of faces to identify people who may be trying to burglarise a house. It doesn’t appear Ring uses facial recognition yet, as Nest already does, though Ring may add such features over time. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

Ring’s new device will still act as a peephole, but will also send alerts to user’s smartphones when the doorbell is pressed or the oldschool a hightech someone knocks the door.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER?

The makers of a robotic “personal massager” for women won a prestigious CES award. Then organisers took it away.

Its maker, the startup Lora DiCarlo, was also banned from exhibiting on the show floor (though it’s in Las Vegas at a separate media event).

The show’s organiser, the Consumer Technology Association, said in an email to Lora DiCarlo that it reserved the right to disqualify any entry “deemed by CTA in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image.”

An independent panel of judges had selected Lora DiCarlo’s Ose vibrator last fall to win a CES 2019 Innovation Honoree Award in the robotics and drone category. Gary Shapiro, CTA’s president and CEO, apologised in a separate letter and said the company should have been told it’s “ineligible for entry.” CTA declined to provide further comment on why the product was ineligible.

Ose’s makers say it’s sexism, noting that “a literal sex doll for men launched on the floor at CES in 2018.” Lora Haddock, the CEO of Lora DiCarlo, says that makes for a double standard at the tech show already under fire for not including enough women.

SHADES THAT TEXT Smart glasses haven’t been a hit, but at least one startup still sees them in our future.

A company called North will be delivering its $999 smart glasses to customers in the coming weeks. Called Focals by North, they pair with a smartphone and show text messages, weather and mapping directions on the glass that only the wearer sees.

Users also need to wear a ring with a joystick on their index finger, so they can flip through messages or respond with their thumb. It can also be controlled using the built-in Amazon Alexa voice assistant, but the joystick has to be pressed down for it to start listening. FRESH BREAD, NO

BAKER

That smell wafting through the CES show? Freshly baked bread.

Wilkinson Baking Co. unveiled a 22-square-foot machine that can bake 10 loaves of bread every hour — no baker needed. But a human is needed to dump the ingredients into the machine, which then mixes them, forms the dough and starts baking.

SMART BRA