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
Crank Up the Tunes With Over $200 Off the Top-Rated Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Earbuds
Woot is offering you the chance to put these Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 ANC buds in your ears for a massive 44% off, but the deal ends soon.
The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earbuds with ANC in anthracite black are now just $280 on Woot. That’s an impressive 44% off the usual $499 sticker price. It’s also the lowest price we’ve seen so far, but this deal won’t last long. Quantities on Woot are limited, so grab yours while the deal is still live.
The design’s comfy enough for long hauls, and the 15-minute quick charge is clutch when you’re heading out the door. The charging case even doubles as a Bluetooth transceiver, so you can plug into in-flight entertainment systems without fuss. These buds are featured in our roundup of the best wireless earbuds of the year, and audio expert David Carnoy called them «easily among the best-sounding earbuds out there,» with better ANC and a more ergonomic fit than earlier models.
If you’re picky about sound, these are worth a look. They have a snug fit, single-button controls and a case that’s been redesigned to feel more premium. They’re splash- and dust-resistant (IP54 rating), and the updated shape fits better than the Pi7 S2 and Pi5 S2. You can also tweak settings using the Bowers & Wilkins Music app for iOS and Android.
If this isn’t quite your vibe, check out our full roundup of the best headphone deals you can add to your cart now.
HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK
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$248 (save $152)
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$170 (save $181)
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$398 (save $62)
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Why this deal matters
These earbuds don’t go on sale often, and when they do, it’s usually not this steep of a discount. The anthracite black Pi8s are sitting at their lowest price yet, and they’re backed by solid reviews and a spot on CNET’s best earbuds list. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to splurge, this is it. We last saw this deal during Black Friday, so there’s no telling when these buds will come back on sale after this deal expires.
Technologies
Apple Reportedly Eyes ‘iPhone Ultra’ Name for Folding Phone Expected This Year
It’s another week and another bunch of rumors about the company’s first foldable phone.
It’s a new week and a new set of rumors for Apple’s first foldable phone. If Tuesday’s reports are true, the device will be called the Ultra, have a bookish shape and launch in September.
The main report comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who said the foldable is on track for a September launch, despite Nikkei Asia reporting that the phone might not launch until 2027 due to issues that cropped up during the engineering test phase.
Citing unnamed sources, Gurman said Apple will introduce the foldable phone in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. Those phones would likely go on sale about a week after being unveiled.
An Apple representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s important to note that while rumors abound, Apple has confirmed none of them — not even the existence of a foldable iPhone.
Still, the earlier Nikkei Asia report was jarring enough to send Apple’s stock down 5.1% before it rebounded later, Gurman noted. The Nikkei Asia story said unexpected issues had arisen during engineering testing and that more time was needed to make «necessary adjustments.» Under a worst-case scenario, the first shipment of the foldables would not occur until 2027, the report said.
More from CNET: Foldable Phones Have Solved Nearly Every Trade-Off, Well Before Apple Debuts One
Looks like a book
Meanwhile, consumer tech reviewer Sonny Dickson posted images on X showing dummy models indicating how big the iPhone Fold, iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max might be. In the image, the foldable has an almost square shape when fully opened.
Dummy images are useful for phone accessory manufacturers — such as case-makers — so they can get a head start on mass production before the devices are launched. When phones are released, consumers are quick to order cases and other accessories, so the sizes need to be known. It is unclear whether the dummy models shown are actual mockups from Apple.
People who commented on X didn’t seem to love the dummy images, particularly because the models shown appear to lack MagSafe, Apple’s magnetic system on the back of the phone that lets chargers and other accessories snap on.
Stefan Moser wrote, «If the Fold is missing MagSafe, this will be a big NO for me.»
There were other criticisms, too.
An X user going by DasnkiCS posted that the phone looks «too wide, can’t palm that easily in normal phone use.»
And another X user, Brosnan Hoban, wrote, «Fold looks like a credit card from 2050.»
What’s in a name?
Tuesday’s other big rumor concerned the foldable’s name.
A leaker, Digital Chat Station, posted on the Chinese social site Weibo that the foldable iPhone could be called the iPhone Ultra. The post also said Chinese competitors may use the Ultra name for their own foldables to compete directly with Apple on design, specs, and price.
The predominant rumored name has been the iPhone Fold, but others have included Flip, Duo and iFold.
In March, Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter that Apple was considering a full line of Ultra products, possibly including a foldable phone, an M6 MacBook Pro with OLED, a foldable iPad and high-end Macs. Gurman also said Apple might introduce AirPods with «computer-vision cameras» to send visual data to Siri for its AI assistant feature.
We’ve seen a steady stream of tidbits about the foldable recently. There could be a large inner screen for multitasking, and people could open apps side by side. There might also be two rear cameras, a front-facing camera and a Touch ID side button.
Whatever Apple finally comes up with, it will be playing catch-up. Other major phone-makers already have foldable phones on the market, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the OnePlus Open, the Huawei Mate XT, the Honor Magic V5 and the Motorola Razr Ultra.
Technologies
Artemis II Astronauts Name Moon Crater After Commander Reid Wiseman’s Late Wife
The emotional moment was streamed by NASA moments after the crew made history.
On Monday, after the crew aboard Artemis II made a historic feat by breaking Apollo 13’s distance record, they made the moment even more special by proposing to name one of the craters on the moon «Carroll,» in memory of Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife.
While contacting Mission Control, Mission Specialist and astronaut Jeremy Hansen stated that the «close-knit astronaut family» previously lost a loved one who was «the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie.»
«It’s a bright spot on the moon,» Hansen said while describing the crater during the emotional call. «And we would like to call it Carroll.»
After the request, you can see Wiseman embrace Hansen before the rest of the crew joins in for a group hug.
Carroll Wiseman died in 2020 at 46 years old from cancer. Wiseman’s NASA bio page states that Carroll «dedicated her life to helping others as a newborn intensive care unit Registered Nurse.»
Before the Artemis II mission, Wiseman posted a selfie with his two daughters on X with a caption that reads in part, «I love these two ladies, and I’m boarding that rocket a very proud father.»
Follow CNET’s coverage of the 10-day Artemis II mission as the Orion makes its way back to Earth.
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