The annual CES convention in Las Vegas has a reputation for showcasing the wildest gear that the tech industry has to offer.
Wandering the floor of the consumer electronics show can be overwhelming and entertaining, as small scrappy startups display their products alongside the established tech giants.
But we’ve kept an eye on some of the coolest and strangest technology products on display at the show.
Here are some of the weirdest ones we have seen so far:
Extremely creepy robot ‘friend’
WeHead’s AI head is made up of several screens. The models on display were programmed to give a company pitch, but WeHead says the device could be used for customer service
I tried speaking with the WeHead device, but it kept calling me ‘bro.’ When asked why, it explained that ‘bro’ is a term of endearment
A sign near WeHead’s robot heads informed convention attendees that they didn’t need to talk to the devices like they would talk to Siri.
‘Chat like you would with a friend,’ it instructed.
But when I tried to do this, it did not go well.
Perhaps it was the noisy convention space, but the robot head kept interrupting me. And when I asked questions about the device itself, it would give confusing answers.
Once I started asking simple questions, though, like ‘What is the deepest point in the ocean?’ it seemed to be more in its element, quickly naming the Marianas Trench.
According to a company representative, these devices could be used for customer service setting to answer simple questions. Or in the home, they could be used to reflect on one’s day, if journaling with an AI is your thing.
Companies can rent the WeHead robots for about $200 a month or buy one for $5,000.
A mask for making phone calls in public
Skyted has developed a mask that’s meant to keep your phone conversations private in public settings
Sigh. Just when we thought we were done with face masks in America.
Skyted’s mask straps to your face and plugs into your phone with a USB-C plug.
It keeps 80 percent of sound inside, while also blocking out ambient noise, company reps told DailyMail.com.
So you can make business calls on the train, or talk to your spouse while you’re out and about without worrying about strangers eavesdropping on your conversation.
Of course, this all assumes you don’t mind the odd looks you may get from strangers as they see you silently speaking into a mask.
The device is currently crowdfunding through KickStarter, where $249 will reserve you one. After this super early bird special, they will retail for $599.
Gym leggings that will shock you into getting fit
A biotech company wants to shock you while you exercise.
Barunbio Energywear’s workout clothes look like your typical gear: functional and somewhat fashionable.
These shorts contain special conductive fibers that collect and concentrate static electricity as your body moves during a workout
WE-Stim clothing is designed to deliver small electrical shocks along the seams. The electrical current is generated by your body movements, and delivered by silver-containing fibers
But the trio of Korean scientists who founded the company, presenting at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, said they built these clothes to deliver low-power electrical stimulation all over your body.
No batteries required, though. Their products only need your own movement to power them – like a static electrical shock from shuffling wool socks on a carpet.
The idea behind the company’s gear, called WE-Stim (for Wearable Electric Stimulation) is that this micro-electric stimulation helps activate muscle cells for better workout performance.
AI binoculars that identify birds for you
Swarovski Optik has launched a $4,800 pair of binoculars that can identify birds, as well as European and North American mammals
These binoculars from Swarovski Optik may look like your average high-end optics equipment, but once you look through the eyepieces, you can tell something is different.
A red circle will appear when you get a feathered friend in your sights, and clicking on a button will bring up the name of the bird.
AX Visio enables you to identify birds with the click of a button. When you get a bird in your sights, a red circle appears around it
Rotate the knob on the binoculars to the squirrel icon, and you can identify European or North American mammals at the touch of a button.
The two large lenses are for viewing, and the third does the sophisticated task of scoping a bird so the internal electronics can identify it
And if you want to show a friend what you were just looking at, rotate the switch to the arrow icon and click the button while viewing the object of interest.
When you pass off the binoculars to your friend, an arrow will guide them to the exact point you identified.
The item is not cheap, of course, but few high-end optics are. It will cost you $4,800.
Instant ice cream from a can
Cold Snap’s ice cream pods contain not just the ice cream mix but also a mixing paddle. The idea is a no-mess system
Cold Snap has invented the instant ice cream machine, and their booth at CES was mobbed by convention attendees who wanted a taste.
The company’s machine works like a Keurig coffee maker: You place a disposable pod in, close the lid, and press a button.
It starts freezing and churning the product, and in two minutes, out comes a creamy treat.
Cold Snap boasts that it requires no cleaning because the ice cream doesn’t come into contact with the machine at all. Everything happens in the pod
Anyone who has used an ice cream maker knows that cleaning all the parts can be a chore.
So cold snap has eliminated that part of things by building the churning paddle into the pods.
This may be wasteful, but as we observed in the demonstrations, it definitely makes for easy cleanup – just remove the can and toss it in the bin.
Their target customer is places where lots of people may be using ice cream: offices, hotels, colleges, assisted living facilities, and so on.
It costs about $500 and is slated for release this fall.
Oakley maker announces glasses with built-in HEARING AIDS
Eyewear brand EssilorLuxottica will begin selling eyeglasses with hearing aids built into them, the company announced this week at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.
The glasses maker, not content with vision aids, is branching into the hearing aid market with glasses that amplify sound coming from the direction that the wearer is facing.
Nuance Audio is the latest brand from EssilorLuxottica. It contains hearing aids in the glasses arms, which focus on the sound coming from in front of the wearer
This release comes on the heels of research showing that older adults with hearing loss have a 24 percent lower risk of early death if they wear hearing aids.
Called Nuance Audio, the new devices will be sold in the US beginning in the Fall of 2024, representatives for EssilorLuxottica told DailyMail.com.
Then they will be in Europe around the first half of 2025.
The company also owns glasses brands including Oakley, Ray-Ban, and Native Eyewear.
The glasses target mild to moderate hearing loss, and besides sporting slightly chunkier arms, it’s not immediately obvious that they contain audio-assistive electronics.
Must see-through TV!
LG and Samsung have announced plans to launch fully transparent televisions in what could be the next jump in TV tech.
South Korean electronics manufacturer LG announced its wireless see-through device on Monday at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.
Before the conference halls were open to the public, the company wheeled the 77-inch wireless screen onstage at a Monday morning press conference.
LG wheeled the 77-inch wireless screen onstage at a Monday morning press conference
Samsung’s transparent display at CES used microLED picture technology, which the company claims produces a superior picture to other transparent screens on the market
Billed as ‘the world’s first 4k, wireless, transparent OLED TV,’ the LG Signature OLED-T is built to stand in the middle of a room and look like a clear pane of glass when it isn’t in use.
When it’s turned on, viewers can either keep it see-through, like a window that’s playing a movie on it, or turn it opaque, so the wall behind it is no longer visible.
‘OLED T creates a sense of openness,’ said LG’s Frank Lee. The TV no longer has to dominate the room. This heightens the relationship between the TV and the space it inhabits.’
This transparent block is meant to be more than just a screen, he said.
‘OLED T also becomes an object of design,’ Lee said.
‘You can place it in locations unimaginable until now – a modular solution that provides you with a variety of ways to install it seamlessly.’
The TV has no cables to fuss with, he said.
LG’s wireless transmission box remains near the wall, beaming visuals and sound to the screen, so it can be moved freely or placed in the middle of the room.
