Technologies
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 NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 10, #533
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 10, No. 533.
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a lot of team names, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy one to solve. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Play ball!
Green group hint: Not front.
Blue group hint: Certain NFL player.
Purple group hint: They play at Smoothie King Center.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: An AL Central player.
Green group: Words appearing before «back,» in football.
Blue group: Associated with Derrick Henry.
Purple group: New Orleans Pelicans.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is an AL Central player. The four answers are Guardian, Royal, Tiger and Twin.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is words appearing before «back,» in football. The four answers are corner, defensive, full and running.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is associated with Derrick Henry. The four answers are Heisman, King, Ravens and Titans.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is New Orleans Pelicans. The four answers are Bey, Fears, Murphy and Queen.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, March 10
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 10.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? I’d just like to point out that the New York Times puzzle-makers love the 7-Across answer — they use it about every other week. Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: Writing that lacks substance
Answer: FLUFF
6A clue: Pencil in a cosmetics bag
Answer: LINER
7A clue: ___ acid (building block of proteins)
Answer: AMINO
8A clue: Partner of services, in economics
Answer: GOODS
9A clue: Small criticism
Answer: NIT
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: Warning sign in a relationship, metaphorically
Answer: FLAG
2D clue: Fancy prom ride
Answer: LIMO
3D clue: SAG-AFTRA, for one
Answer: UNION
4D clue: Luxury fashion house headquartered in Rome
Answer: FENDI
5D clue: Ground coating on a cold morning
Answer: FROST
Technologies
Australians Flock to VPNs in the Wake of Online Age-Restriction Laws
App downloads for VPN services increase sharply as websites in Australia go behind age-restriction walls.
A new set of laws in Australia requiring adult websites and app stores to age-restrict content for those under 18, and requiring AI companies to restrict chatbot offerings from displaying certain types of sensitive or adult content to minors, is apparently driving many to download Virtual Private Network apps there.
Major adult sites have closed their virtual doors to those who aren’t age-confirmed in Australia, and these changes follow a nationwide ban on social media use by teenagers and young children that went into effect in December.
According to reports from Reuters, The Guardian and others, in response to the bans, downloads of VPN-related apps, which people can use to circumvent location-based restrictions, are sharply on the rise. According to Reuters, three of the 15 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the country were VPN-related as the new laws went into effect on Monday.
Lawmakers in some regions, including the US, are well aware that people use VPNs in this way. In states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, laws are being proposed to limit or outright ban VPN use. Wisconsin’s proposed law would require adult sites to block VPN traffic, while Michigan’s proposal would ban VPN use entirely in the state.
There is also a proposal in England under consideration to ban VPN use by minors. That proposal is currently under review.
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