The Consumer Electronics Show wraps up its week-long festivities Friday in Los Vegas. For those who weren’t able to wander the showroom floor to check out the cutting-edge technology, the odd inventions and the booth babes, here’s a rundown of some L.A. companies that made an appearance.
FreedomPop, a freemium Internet service provider, showcased a plastic sleeve that iPod and iPhone users can slip over their devices to access a 4G Internet connection. Then users can download an app to get phone service.
The company, which recently moved from Tarzana to West Los Angeles, also announced a partnership with Marina del Rey’s TextPlus Inc., which offers an app for texting and phone calls. As a result of their collaboration, FreedomPop will offer a service called FreedomPlus, which will allow FreedomPop subscribers to also text and make phone calls for as low as $3.99 a month.
ParkMe, a Santa Monica startup that has developed an app to help motorists find street and garage parking, announced at CES that it has partnered with Inrix, a Washington, D.C., traffic data company. The partnership will give Inrix access to ParkMe’s parking data, which could be used for in-car systems and mobile apps. ParkMe expanded its services to the Washington area last year.
Frequency, a Los Angeles online video startup, announced during the conference that it has linked up with Chinese TV manufacturer TCL. Under the deal, Frequency’s video discovery application – which allows viewers to find, or discover, videos – will be installed on all of TCL’s future TV models.
Frequency’s app, which currently works on iPad, iPhone and Samsung TVs, gathers videos from a person’s social media accounts into one place for easy viewing. For example, Frequency would collect videos that a person’s Facebook and Twitter friends have shared.
Malibu toy designer Jakks Pacific and NantWorks, a technology incubator run by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, announced the first line of products from their joint venture, DreamPlay Toys. The toys will combine NantWork’s image recognition technology with well-known Disney characters. Using NantWork’s technology, physical toys will be able to interact with online games and animation.
DDD USA Inc. used CES to showcase its latest 3-D technology. The Westchester company, which develops technology to convert 2-D photos, videos and video games to 3-D, also demonstrated its Yabazam app, which has a database of 3-D content for TVs and mobile devices.
DDD announced while at CES that it now offers a subscription service for Yabazam. For $10 a month, subscribers can watch unlimited 3-D video on certain 3-D equipped TVs.
