This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Wacky gadgets from CES

Yogi SchulzWould you use these eight gadgets?

  • Moonbike
  • Bev, the robot bartender
  • Starcase
  • Halo hairdryer
  • TV for displaying NFTs
  • Archer AXE11000 Wi-Fi router
  • Smart health monitoring light bulb
  • Steambox for lunches

They were all on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year after the influential tech show returned to Las Vegas after a COVID-19 hiatus.

This is the third of our three-part series looking at some of the items on offer.

Moonbike

technology moonbike

Are you tired of trudging through the snow?

Drive a Moonbike instead.

The Moonbike from France is an ideal micro-mobility choice for more frigid, snowy climes like Canada. The Moonbike is designed to boldly take the rider where few electrics have gone before. Instead of wheels, it has a single ski up front with an electric motor-powered snow tread in the back.

While the Moonbike looks fun, it’s not particularly practical. The battery only lasts an hour. That won’t take you far across the tundra. With its maximum speed of 40 km/h, you won’t collect any speeding tickets.

Pre-order your Moonbike here.

Bev, the robot bartender

Bev robot bartender

Are you missing a high-tech cocktail maker for your home?

Black+Decker now makes Bev, a practical but not so stylish robot bartender.

Bev is a Keurig-style countertop bar that uses five stainless steel straws to suck alcohol from five standard 750-ml liquor bottles of your favourite liquors. There’s no need for custom bottles, no need to turn the bottles upside-down and potentially make a mess. To whip up craft cocktails, Bev uses pods filled with the juices and bitters you need.

After completing a cocktail, Bev flushes the pipes with air and water to clean itself. Making a refreshing drink at home couldn’t be easier.

Notwithstanding what some bartenders would have you believe, mixing drinks is not that complicated. Bev appears to be more of a novelty than a must-have device.

Pre-order Bev here.

Starcase

technology Starcase smartphone case

Are you tired of your dreary, dull smartphone case?

Starcase is a stylish personalized smartphone case that lights up with your choice of hundreds of shows. The Starcase removable LED panel allows you to create cool effects and designs. You can set custom light effects for different notifications, such as texts, calls and other third-party apps looking for attention.

If you need a smartphone case that produces a small light show instead of a jarring grunt for every ring or notification, then Starcase is for you.

Pre-order Starcase here.

Halo hairdryer

Halo hairdryer Zuvi

Is your hairdryer scorching your hair?

Halo from Zuvi is a futuristic-looking hairdryer that uses light instead of a heating coil. Light is more efficient and safer for your hair because there’s no risk of burning your hair. Halo considers room temperature when setting light intensity to avoid overheating your hair.

This hairdryer is overkill unless you have unusual hair, appear on television frequently or live in a hot apartment.

Buy Halo here.

TV for displaying NFTs

technology Samsung NFT dislpay

Have you spent tons of money on NFTs and need a way to show those virtual objects to your friends?

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), essentially digital art bought and sold on the blockchain, are all the rage. But how do you display them in the real world?

Samsung has an answer in the form of its latest TV lineup. The TV comes with an upgraded Smart Hub that includes an NFT browser that you can use to display your NFTs and browse various art pieces available for sale.

Are you tired of staring at your NFTs on the tiny screen of a smartphone or laptop?

Now you can remind everyone who visits your home of the money you spent on digital art NFTs by showcasing them on your wall-size TV screen.

Buy a TV for displaying NFTs here.

Archer AXE11000 Wi-Fi router

Archer AXE11000 WiFi router

Do you need to upgrade your Wi-Fi router to handle the exploding network traffic your many connected devices are generating?

Routers are usually boring, but TP-Link’s Archer AXE11000 boasts futuristic mechanical rotating antennas. The four antennas rotate to pinpoint your smartphone or laptop as you move to serve uninterrupted Wi-Fi everywhere in your home.

The router offers lightning-fast connectivity, high throughput and support for the new six GHz Wi-Fi band.

You might consider this router if you walk around a lot. Who does that?

Perhaps this router is for someone who wants to locate it where guests can admire it in action.

Buy the Archer AXE11000 here.

Smart health monitoring light bulb

technology Sengled smart health monitoring light bulb

Will a smarter light bulb help you monitor your health?

Sengled’s new smart health monitoring light bulb goes way beyond mere lighting to offer built-in health monitoring radar technology. Capabilities include sleep tracking and biometric measurements such as heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs.

Sengled uses frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar and advanced proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms to gather health measurements. You no longer need to wear a smartwatch for this capability.

If you need the ultimate high-tech light bulb, Sengled’s smart health monitoring light bulb is for you. A simpler, cheaper light bulb will be enough for the rest of us.

Admire details about the smart health monitoring light bulb here because you can’t buy it yet.

Steambox for lunches

technology Steambox

Are you tired of cold lunches?

Steambox is a connected lunchbox that heats food with a simple button push. Food will be warm in eight to 12 minutes.

Steambox creates steam using its built-in electric heating technology. You add water along with your lunch in the morning. It has an app to alert you when food is ready, offer recipe suggestions and check the remaining battery charge.

With microwave ovens now ubiquitous in company lunchrooms, I struggle to understand why anyone would buy a Steambox.

Pre-order Steambox here.

Yogi Schulz has over 40 years of information technology experience in various industries. Yogi works extensively in the petroleum industry. He manages projects that arise from changes in business requirements, the need to leverage technology opportunities, and mergers. His specialties include IT strategy, web strategy and project management.

Yogi is a Troy Media Thought Leader. For interview requests, click here.


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