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The Absolute Worst CES Tech We’ve Seen in the Last 25 Years

Not every gadget can be a winner. Toilet robots, MP3 weaponry and vacuum shoes are just some of the oddities we’ve seen at CES over the last two decades.

CES 2023 is over, and together we’ve seen our share of both weird and wonderful devices at this year’s show, but… mostly weird.

Flying cars and obscure robots are so old hat now, and so I wondered if CES could do anything less practical and even more completely bonkers. Turns out it can! Over the past 20-plus years, I’ve seen gadgets so stupefying that sometimes they exist purely because journalists like me will write about them. But it’s time to call out the really awful ones, the worst of the worst. Vacuum shoes, toilet paper robots, MP3 weapon holsters, it’s your time to shine!

The most interesting part about this rogues gallery is that some of these products — the Pepe pet dryer, the HapiFork and the Hushme, to name a few — are still being sold today. That’s right: You blew it up, you maniacs!

Dyson Zone Air-Purifying Headphones

Not technically a CES product, as this was announced during 2022, but Dyson was demonstrating the Zone headphones in Las Vegas during CES 2023. Though the Zone looks like it should be a COVID mask, that’s unfortunately not what it does. According to the Dyson site, development on the Zone began way back in 2016 as a personal air filter — for pollution, mainly — and as such, it was never designed to protect against COVID. Furthermore, one critic has claimed the gadget’s force-driven fans could even help maximize your chances of catching coronavirus. CNET’s Katie Collins, who tried it out at Dyson’s HQ in the UK, thought it was «too brilliant and bizarre to ignore

Read more: Dyson Zone Air Filtering Headphones on Sale in January for $949

Charmin Rollbot

Computer peripherals manufacturer Razer is the king of creating «look at me» products specifically for CES, but toilet tissue brand Charmin became notorious for this 2020 entry. That’s right, in the year that saw the mass panic buying of toilet paper came a robot that could bring you even more! Coincidence? Yes… probably. The RollBot was never going to be a real product, but we loved/loathed it anyway.

Read more: These Charmin Robots Make Us Wonder: Is Pooping the Next Tech Frontier?

Kolibree Smart Toothbrush

Remember when we had to wash our hands for 20 seconds by singing songs to ourselves? The same methodology also applies to brushing your teeth, but why should you use your own brain and lips like a sucker? There have been many smart toothbrushes over the years, but today I’m picking on the Kolibree. Everything was just fine until the arrival of «the world’s first connected electric toothbrush.» Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…

Read more: Kolibree’s Connected Toothbrush Aims for Better Dental Health

Taser MP3 Holster

Back in the 2000s, the iPod became such a cultural phenomenon that every company rushed to create an MP3 player of its own. This culminated in what is one of the dumbest CES products in recent memory: the Tazer MP3 holster. Imagine trying to not only charge your holster but also connect it via USB to your computer to fill it up with 1GB of tunes.

Read more: What Every Taser Needs: A Music-Playing Holster

Pepe Pet Dryer

Want to find a new way to make your small dog or cat hate you forever? Lock them in a cube prison for 25 minutes (!) and subject them to gusts of hot air. This combination torture device/dryer would have set you back $660, or you could just throw a towel over your wet dog like a normal human.

Read more: At CES 2019, a $660 Sauna Will Give Your Dog the Blow Dry of His Life

HapiFork

Throughout history, there have been so many gadgets designed to limit normal human behavior, but this one takes the (pan)cake. The HapiFork is yet another vibrating gadget that tells you to eat your meals slower (over 20 minutes), with the idea being that you are less likely to overeat. Personally, I wolf my own meals down like I’m in prison, so do your worst, HapiFork. I’ll eat with my hands if I have to! You’re not the boss of me!

Read more: Bolting Your Food? Put On the Brakes With HapiFork

Hushme

The Hushme is literally a «dumb» product — it’s designed to make its user mute to other people in the immediate vicinity. It was pitched as being useful in workplaces, but… if a co-worker gave me one of these, they’d better be wearing vacuum shoes, in order to clean up the gleefully stomped-on bits.

Read more: Hushme May Be the Weirdest, Yet Most Useful Wireless Headphones Ever Created

Belty

The original Belty was a prototype smart belt with a motor in it that adjusted itself to whether you just ate or were sitting down. Impractical as hell, but kind of cool? While there is a newer model, also called Belty, this one is even weirder — there’s no auto-sizing, but it does have a power bank charger in the buckle. OK, two things. Not only do I not want a potentially volatile compound near my nethers, I don’t want to connect a series of devices there either.

Read more: Meet Belty, the Ridiculous but Strangely Popular Show-Stealer of CES Unveiled

Xybernaut Poma

First shown off at CES 1998, the Hitachi Xybernaut wearable computer was a terrible idea long before Google Glass was even a gleam in Babak Parviz’s eye. The Windows CE-based Xybernaut Poma offered a 128MHz RISC processor and 32MB of RAM for the low price of $1,499, plus it strapped to your arm and your face and your belt!

Read more: Hitachi Fashioning Wearable PCs

Denso Vacuum Shoes

Shoes. You wear ’em. They wear out, you buy more. But that’s not exciting now, is it? They need things in them — phones, rockets, rollers and… vacuums? There are so many puns I could make about even just the name of the Denso Vacuum Shoes, but the fact that they existed at all was the biggest joke of all.

Read more: Vacuum Cleaner Shoes Show Up at CES Because Why Not

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 5, #1386

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,386 for April 5.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.


Still recovering from yesterday’s tricky Wordle? Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little easier, although the first letter isn’t one I often guess. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels and one sometimes vowel in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter F.

Wordle hint No. 4: Under the sea

Today’s Wordle answer is sometimes associated with ocean waves, and also with soap.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to something that is frothy or creamy.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is FOAMY.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 4,  No. 1385 was KRILL.

Recent Wordle answers

March 31, No, 1381: BOOTY

April 1, No. 1382: JEWEL

April 2, No. 1383: CURSE.

April 3, No. 1384: SHEAR

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Technologies

These Noise-Canceling Earbuds Do Everything I Need, and They’re Less Than Half the Price of Apple’s AirPods 4

The Earfun Air Pro 4’s passive noise cancellation helps me read in my noisy house, and they’re 20% off their already discounted price.

I enjoy reading books on my Kindle, and my favorite place to do so is stretched out on a couch in my living room. But like most busy households, my living room can get pretty loud. And since I don’t really want to yell at everyone to keep it down so Daddy can enjoy his stories, the best solution I’ve found is to wear noise-canceling earbuds while reading. I’ll wear them in combination with playing white noise or nature sounds — my current favorite playlist is 10 hours of Thunderstorm Sounds on shuffle — to maximize the effect.

I like using my over-ear Sony headphones for work, but they’re bulky, so I started looking for an affordable pair of earbuds that offer decent noise cancellation. That’s how I ended up buying the Earfun Air Pro 4s, CNET’s 2024 Editors’ Choice for affordable in-ear headphones. In short, they’re great, and the black ones cost just $64 on Amazon right now when you apply the 20% discount at checkout. (All of the other colors are down to $77 when you apply a 15% discount, which is still a good price.)

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

How these earbuds silence the noise around you

I prefer in-ear headphones because they offer active, electronic and passive noise canceling. Passive noise cancellation basically consists of plugging your ears with the rubbery tips included with the earbuds. The Earfuns fit well for me when I use the second-largest of the five swappable ear tip sizes, and they stay sealed and comfortable for hours. Sometimes I have to reseal one after I yawn or something, but that’s the case with other in-ear headphones too.

For reading, I prefer Earfun’s «Strong ANC» noise-canceling mode, which makes a big difference when blocking out the noise around you, but there are a bunch of other noise-cancellation options. The Ambient Sound function is good for when I want to pay attention to my surroundings. Overall I found the app easier to use than Sony’s and just as capable. The main difference is that Sony’s app has a variable slider for ambient sound.

The Earfun app also includes a white noise section in the app. Normally I prefer Spotify for white noise (and I download my favorite playlists for offline listening) but this feature is useful for people who don’t have another music service. It includes birdsong, waves and rainfall, all of which are short clips that repeat automatically.

Impulse Buys Under $25 That Make Surprisingly Great Gifts

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Why I chose these earbuds over AirPods

These headphones have every other feature I’d expect, including the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously and programmable touch-sensitive controls on the buds. Plus, battery life has been more than ample for me even after a marathon reading session. 

There’s also a finder function if you misplace either earbud (unlike Apple FindMy, however, they have to be connected and in Bluetooth range). For actual music and voice calling quality, they sound fine, albeit not as good as my big Sonys.

I have an iPhone and briefly thought about buying Apple AirPods, but I didn’t want to spend the money. The AirPods 4 with noise cancellation cost $115 more than these Earfuns and have an open-ear design, so they rely entirely on the electronic (not passive) method. The AirPods Pro 2 are in-ear and superb, but I didn’t want to spend $250 on a pair of secondary headphones. 

Yes, I could probably save some money on an even less expensive pair of in-ear noise-canceling headphones, but I’m not sure I’d be as happy with their fit, long-term comfort, battery life and noise-cancellation performance. The Earfun Pro 4 buds help me relax and concentrate on my book, and for me that’s priceless.

For more savings, we’ve rounded up all the the best deals on headphones we’ve found. And if you’re getting a head-start on gift shopping for a new grad or Mother’s Day, check out our list of the best graduation gifts and best gifts for Mom.

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Technologies

Why Are Switch 2 Games So Expensive? Trump’s Tariffs May Not Be Sole Factor

It still comes down to money.

Wednesday’s reveal of the Switch 2 had a lot of buzz from Nintendo surrounding its successor to the Switch. One shocking bit, though, was the high price of its games. There’s a lot of confusion, especially with news of President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on many trading partners, including Japan. 

After the Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo released the full details of the upcoming console and games on its website. The price of Mario Kart World shocked gamers and led to some disdain, as the $80 MSRP was $10 more than what most new games cost today. This led many to wonder if this would be a new normal for game prices due to Trump’s tariffs or if Nintendo was just being greedy. The answer, however, might be something completely different. 

Are Nintendo Switch 2 game prices hiking?

To start, some details need to be cleared up. Some people have posted on social media that the price of Nintendo’s Switch 2 games, at least in the US, will be $90. That is incorrect, as of right now. 

One X user posted Switch 2 EU prices for Mario Kart World, which start at 80 euros for a digital version and 90 euros for the physical copy. Typically, US and EU games match in price, which caused some to assume that this pricing would be the case for the US. 

US retailers, however, already posted their Switch 2 game prices, and Nintendo-published games are listed at $80.

Will Trump’s tariffs cause the Switch 2 to cost more?

As for Trump’s tariffs, that is unlikely to be a driver of this price bump. Tariffs are not applied to digital goods, and when the prices were published, there were no tariffs on Japan. Plus, games are similarly expensive in other countries like Canada and the UK.

With that cleared up, why are Nintendo games on the Switch 2 so expensive? One likely reason is game storage. 

Read More: All the Nintendo Games You Can Update to Switch 2 for Free

The Switch 2 uses what Nintendo calls game-key cards, which are Switch 2 cartridges that don’t have all the game data on the cartridge itself. This helps save on production costs as storage is expensive. The original Switch cartridges went up to 32GB of storage, which doesn’t seem like a lot these days, with some games taking up 100GB or more of storage, but this is for the original Switch. Only a few games, like The Witcher 3, went above 32GB because the graphics for the Switch weren’t on the high end like with a PC, PS5 or Xbox Series console, where a Witcher 3 install size starts at 50GB

Switch 2 games are going to be bigger in size — there is little doubt about it. CD Projekt Red confirmed it would put its Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition on one 64GB cartridge, and there will likely be other games to surpass that 64GB. With the max size of the cartridge doubling in size, it adds to the price of the physical card, as not only does storage have to be bigger, but they will need to transfer data faster. That can get more expensive for physical copies, unlike optical discs, which are still the same price whether it has 20GB or 100GB on the disc. 

What does all this mean for gamers?

This leads to a dilemma for publishers: Put the entire game on the physical card and sell it at a loss, increase the price of the physical copy with the full game on it or use the game-key card to have a card with minimal storage, requiring gamers to download the entire game.

Read More: The 17 Best Nintendo Switch Games Right Now

It appears that Nintendo went with door No. 2. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, knowing the company. Anyone who wants to save money on games knows that Nintendo will seldom bring the price down of its own games. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for example, is 8 years old and is still full price on Nintendo’s website

According to an industry analysis from Niko Partners, this new pricing could become the new normal in a couple of years when it comes to physical cartridges.

«While there has been some sticker shock regarding the price of games increasing from $60 to $70 or $80, these price points are set to become industry standard over the next two years, especially so for Nintendo first-party games,» Niko Partners said in a statement Wednesday. «One reason for the higher price is the increased cost of the new and faster Game Cards themselves, with higher capacities being more expensive to manufacture than a PS5 Blu-ray disc.»

Nintendo didn’t respond to a request for comment about the higher price of its games. 

That said, this doesn’t explain the lower price of Donkey Kong Bananza, which comes out in July; that’s listed on Nintendo’s site for $70. This could mean the game isn’t using a larger storage card, but that can’t be said for sure until the game comes out. It’s unclear how things will change in the future.

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