i3 - May/June 2017 - 36

Policy
is compatible with a range of
accessible technologies, including voice recognition, foot pedals,
mouth control and head control,
translating the inputs to standard
video game controls. "The old way
of thinking about accessibility was
'if it's easy to implement, you have
to do it', but now it's switched
to 'if it's technologically possible,
you need to implement.'"
Visa
Visa embraces technology to
unlock easy payment methods.
Their security suitcase showed off
four ways to authenticate a transaction, including biometrics, near
field communication via a "payment ring," facial recognition and
geolocation via a smartphone.
Parked next to the Visa booth was
the Visa pedicab, to show how
Visa helps enable the sharing
economy. "Consider a day in the
life of a pedicab driver or a Lyft
driver. One of the challenges for
these individuals is when do they
get paid? Through Visa Direct,
instead of getting payments
every week, they get their payments every 30 minutes," said
Pace Bradshaw, deputy head of
U.S. government relations at Visa.

CES
on the Hill
Exhibitors
Oculus
Facebook-owned Oculus showed
policymakers the potential of
virtual reality (VR). Giving demos
on both the Oculus Rift and the
Oculus-powered Samsung Gear
VR headsets, the company had
a range of VR experiences for
attendees. "We want to show policymakers and their staff what
is possible in VR now, and where
we think VR is headed in the
future," said Oculus' Ashley
Woolheater. "We're developing
partnerships to help build content
for educational purposes. In some
of the experiences, such as the
job simulator, using the Touch
controllers, you can pick things
up and learn things. That helps
us show how VR can be a tool for
education and job training."
LinkedIn
Sharing a space with the
Translator service, Microsoftowned LinkedIn showcased the
monthly LinkedIn Workforce
Report, released that morning.

The CTAPAC
The work of CTA's political action committee, CTAPAC, was also
showcased during CTA Tech Week. CTAPAC helps advance
CTA's legislative priorities by supporting political candidates
who defend innovation and champion causes that enable the
industry to thrive. CTAPAC is a nonpartisan entity that contributes to Democrats, Republicans and political committees supportive of innovation.
CTAPAC raised a record amount in 2016. This allowed CTAPAC
to support 106 candidates through $577,000 in political contributions, achieving a 96 percent success rate in the 2016
election. In the 115th Congress, CTA will continue to engage with
lawmakers, sending a strong message to Capitol Hill that the consumer technology industry is vital to our country's economic success
and actively shaping public policy. CTAPAC plays a key role by supporting candidates who understand our industry, and advance entrepreneurial, free-market policies. Already this year, CTAPAC has
raised $150,000 from 138 donors
putting CTAPAC on pace to be even
more influential in the 2018 election.
36

MAY/JUNE 2017

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athenahealth

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Bansen Labs

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Bosch

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DJI

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EverFi

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Oculus from
Facebook

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Fitbit Inc.

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Google

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Humetrix

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LG Electronics USA

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Snap Inc.

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Sony

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Tome Inc.

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Visa Inc.

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Lutron Electronics
Co. Inc.

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Microsoft Corp.

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Nuheara

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NVIDIA

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Panasonic

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Pandora

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Philips

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Phone2Action

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Qwertyfree

●

Samsung

Visit CTA.tech
to see highlight
videos.

"We're highlighting domestic
job support through the eyes of
LinkedIn," said Nick DePorter of
LinkedIn. The report measures
the migration patterns of people
moving in and out of positions
in 20 metropolitan areas, as well
as a gap index of top skills and
skills that are lacking in a given
area. "The ultimate goal is to
work with elected officials and
policymakers to help them make
better decisions based on data,"
explained Deporter.
Microsoft
Bridging the gaps between languages, Microsoft gave attendees
demonstrations of the Microsoft
Translator cloud-based automatic
translation service. "Microsoft
Translator is machine learningbased voice to voice translation
technology," explained John Paul
Farmer, director of technology
and civic innovation at Microsoft.
Comparing the service to the Star
Trek "tricorder" device, Translator
offers personalized translation of
60 languages on a myriad of
devices through the Translator
app and Translator API.

Lutron
Lutron shed some light on the
connected home, showing off
their Vive system of lighting controls, allowing retrofit application
of connected switches, wireless
sensors and wireless controls.
They also showed their residential
products, including the Caseta
family of products, which integrate
with the Amazon Echo. "From
a policy perspective, our products
save energy, so we're very interested in the energy efficiency
area and the Internet of Things,"
said Lutron's Pekka Hakkarainen,
vice president, government and
industry relations, Lutron.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

http://www.oculus.com http://www.visa.com https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator/ http://www.LinkedIn.com https://www.cta.tech/Policy/CTAPAC.aspx http://www.lutron.com/ http://www.CTA.tech

i3 - May/June 2017

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