Five products from CES 2024 that might make us wonder: why?
In a variety of ways, representatives of the technology industry love to enthusiastically present, and then of course sell, their latest and greatest ideas. Presentations of ideas and products can often be fast and aggressive, due to the fast way of life we live, but maybe also so that we would not give up the purchase if we kept our attention on one product a little longer. The same applies to devices at technology fairs, and the Engadget portal, which reported directly from the one in Las Vegas this January, singles out five products from CES 2024 that it claims do not have an answer to the question: why?
The first of five products from CES 2024 is the LG wireless transparent OLED TV
LG came to CES with a 77-inch wireless 4K OLED TV that is transparent. On it, you can play recordings of singers, or aquariums, or other things similar to the once popular “screen savers” that act as a decorative piece in your home.
But it turns out that transparency isn’t great for watching TV, so this TV comes with a black backing to make your transparent TV no longer transparent.
The Engadget portal points out that such a television is completely acceptable as an advertising screen or installation in a museum or a corporation. However, the key question with this product is: why would anyone spend a lot of money on a TV where its key feature – transparency – is actually a hindrance to its performance?
Number Two: Kohler PureWash E930 Bidet Seat
It’s important that devices are designed with accessibility as a primary concern, rather than an afterthought. No one would hate a voice-activated toilet that could help people with special needs get through their day. But the Kohler bidet seat is deeply integrated with Amazon’s Alexa assistant or Google Home capabilities. Why would you spend more than two thousand dollars to give Amazon or Google detailed insight into your own bathroom habits?
Third place: Lockly Visage smart lock with facial recognition technology
The Lockly Visage smart lock uses facial recognition to provide access to your home, opening the door automatically if it detects you approaching. Leaving aside the dire privacy and security implications of smart locks, things you should never connect to the internet, this is a completely insane idea. Why would you leave something as important as access to your home to a sensor?
Four: Urtopia e-bike with ChatGPT support
The Urtopia Fusion is an e-bike equipped with a 540 Wh battery that promises a range of 75 miles, a powerful motor. Also, for some not-so-intelligible reason, this bike has a built-in ChatGPT bot that, as the company says, lets you “talk” to your bike.
His personalized assistant will, when you ask him, help you “explore new routes”, “get real-time information”, even “have fun conversations with him”. Why would you want to talk to your bike when you should be focusing on literally anything else in a fairly manual bike ride, however electric?
The last of the five products from CES 2024 to make the infamous list is the Hyundai S-A2 Air Taxi Concept
Hyundai has unveiled a new VTOL air taxi concept that it hopes will transport people on short flights of up to 40 miles (about 64 kilometers). It can reach a top speed of 120 miles per hour (about 193 kilometers per hour), but it is now questionable whether it will ever make it to the real world.
After all, why bother with rearranging the whole world to accommodate a novelty that involves height, and you, for example, can’t stand it?