The weirdest gadgets at CES 2024

Technologies are often created to make our daily lives easier. Brushing your teeth or using the toilet is no exception.

Here are some highlights from the plethora of gadgets unveiled at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that aim to make everyday life easier:

Ultrasonic toothbrush

“Is this a toothbrush for lazy people?” asked a visitor at the Y-Brush booth.

The French company has designed an electric brush in the shape of the letter "Y" that is placed in the mouth and does the whole job in twenty seconds instead of two minutes.

The idea came to the founder of the company one day while he was brushing his teeth.

"He thought, 'Nobody can last two minutes.'

Already sold in Europe, the Y-Brush is also available in the United States for about $100.

Talk to my hologram

Visitors to CES walking past the Holoconnects booth may experience a moment of confusion: Is there a person inside that big box?

It's actually a hologram, and the real person is standing right next to it, facing the camera.

The Dutch company specializes in larger-than-life 3D holograms projected in transparent box displays, life-size or miniature to be placed on a table or hung on a wall.

Holograms have been a subject of curiosity for years, especially in the entertainment sector.

But Steve Stirling, Holoconnects director of North America, believes their use is becoming widespread.

“A global dispute resolution conference is currently taking place between Amsterdam and Phoenix. So we put an expert from Amsterdam on the panel,” Stirling said.

Hologram displays are used in hospitality, medicine and retail.

Thanks to ChatGPT-style artificial intelligence, Holoconnects can also create avatars, including for celebrities or experts, that interact with the public without disturbing the real person.

“We have a virtual sommelier from a winery that you can ask questions about how the wine is made and things like that. He'll get back to you," Sterling noted.

"This is the smartest toilet in the world," said Ryan Grotegut, marketing manager at Kohler, the American kitchen and bathroom design specialist.

Grotetag is referring to Numi 2.0.

Numi opens as if by magic when the user approaches. Once settled in, the seat heats up to a pre-set temperature and once the user has done what they need to do, they can get up and go about their business without worrying about turning on the water.

Numi 2.0 flushes the toilet by adapting the amount of water to the duration of use (between 3 and 3.80 liters), then disinfects.

The toilet is equipped with showers - whose temperature, pressure and other settings can be customized - as well as a hairdryer.

A magnetic remote allows the user to select options, but Numi also accepts verbal instructions using Alexa, Amazon's virtual assistant, which is integrated into the toilet.

The toilets, which feature LED lighting in custom colors, are priced at $10,000 in black and $8,500 in white.

You won't need lenses with the Vixion01, which lets you focus almost instantly on a close subject and then look far away. The gadget copes with the task thanks to sensors that measure the distance and adapt the lenses.

"These are glasses with autofocus," Takuya Nonaka, one of the heads of the Japanese company Vixion, told AFP.

The glasses allow the user to see fine details and the battery lasts up to ten hours.

For safety reasons, it is strongly recommended that you do not drive or play sports with these glasses.

At this stage, they are only available in Japan and in one design, priced at $700. /BGNES