The best CES products pierce through the haze of promoting hype on the Las Vegas gadget show to reveal innovations that could improve lives.
The worst could harm us or our society and planet in such “innovatively bad” ways in which a panel of self-described dystopia experts has judged them “Worst in Show.”
The third annual contest that no tech company wants to win announced its decisions Thursday.
“From easily hackable lawn mowers to $300 earbuds that can fail in two years, these are products that jeopardize our safety, encourage wasteful overconsumption, and normalize privacy violations,” says the group of consumer and privacy advocates judging the awards. The contest has no affiliation with CES or the trade group that runs the expo.
They made the alternatives based on how uniquely bad a product is, what impact it could have if widely adopted and if it was significantly worse than previous versions of comparable technology.
The judges represent groups including Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and right-to-repair advocates iFixit.
![The best CES products pierce through the haze of marketing hype at the Las Vegas gadget show.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/2024-las-vegas-best-ces-74713230.jpg?w=1024)
DANGEROUS CARTECH
Automotive technology is annually a giant focus at CES. And two brickbats were awarded to carmaker BMW, considered one of those involving a partnership with Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa.
Powered by a big language model — the style of AI system behind chatbots like ChatGPT — Amazon says an Alexa “automotive expert” will have the ability to provide “quick instructions and answers about vehicle functions in a far more human, conversation-like manner, and even act in your behalf.”
Having the ability to ask Alexa to unlock the front door or turn off the porch light sounds convenient.
But what if it’s being voiced by a violent ex?
“We’ve seen an increasing variety of horrific stories where people, generally women, who are attempting to escape abusive domestic situations find yourself having their cars function tracking and abuse vectors,” said a “Worst in Show” judge’s comment from Cindy Cohn, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
She added: “Alexa and BMW — and albeit all the automotive firms who’re racing to turn our cars into tracking devices — need to be certain that victims can turn this off.”
BMW Group spokesperson Jay Hanson said the corporate designed and delivered the voice assistant with privacy in mind and customers have the alternative of whether or not they want to use it.
“BMW and Amazon share a powerful commitment to maintaining customers’ trust and protecting their privacy, including giving them control over their data,” he said in an email Thursday.
BMW can also be showcasing augmented-reality glasses designed by Xreal which can be supposed to overlay helpful information and virtual objects that you simply’ll see ahead of you as you’re driving. One other judge called it a “recipe for distracted driving” that also could pave the way in which for a way forward for vision-obscuring ads.
Hanson said the augmented reality experience demonstrated at CES was a showcase of “potential use cases” that would aid or entertain people but that minimizing driver distraction stays a key principle in what BMW rolls out to customers.
EARBUD DUDS
German audio electronics maker Sennheiser showcased the fourth generation of its Momentum True Wireless ear headphones, which are frequently known to last for some time.
But iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens says the most recent $300 earbuds are a “betrayal of the brand” because they’re too disposable, with three separate batteries that can likely fail after just a few years and may’t easily get replaced.
“Start by selling batteries and releasing repair instructions,” he wrote. “Then work on making the battery easier to swap.”
Sennheiser didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
WHO ASKED FOR MORE GROCERY ADS?
Nathan Proctor, the national campaign director for U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, chosen as his “Worst in Show” the brand new video ads on Instacart’s “AI-powered” shopping cart.
General Mills, Del Monte Foods and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream are amongst the businesses that can advertise on the carts during an upcoming pilot at West Coast stores owned by Good Food Holdings.
Equipped with cameras and sensors, the cart has a screen that can share real-time recommendations based on what customers put within the cart, like promoting ice cream if a customer buys cones.
“It uses historic shopping behavior to push junk foods you’ve bought before,” Proctor wrote. “Grocery stores are overwhelming and navigating promotions is exhausting, and I query the sanity of whoever thought we should always make it worse.”
Instacart didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
ROBOT VACUUMS AND MACROWAVES
![Revolution Cooking’s $1,800 “macrowave” marries a microwave with a convection oven.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/demonstration-macrowave-oven-revolution-cooking-74569038.jpg?w=1024)
The cybersecurity “Worst in Show” went to China-based robot vacuum-maker Ecovacs.
Robotic vacuums are nothing latest, but Paul Roberts of Secure Repairs says the brand new X2 Combo combines all the weather for intrusive home surveillance — cameras, microphones, LiDAR, voice recognition and computer vision that may recognize objects — with none guarantee that its unencrypted images or video feed can’t be hacked.
The environmental impact “Worst in Show” went to considered one of many internet-connected (*6*)food tech appliances showcased at CES 2024. Revolution Cooking’s $1,800 “macrowave” combines a microwave with a convection oven but such trendy gadgets are typically short-lived and encourage people to trash the simpler appliances they have already got, according to Shanika Whitehurst of Consumer Reports.
“Adding electronics to perfectly functional appliances dramatically increases their environmental impact, requiring vast amounts of resources and energy,” she wrote.
Revolution Cooking and Ecovacs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Matt O’Brien covers the business of technology and artificial intelligence for The Associated Press. He is predicated in Rhode Island and focuses on how AI technology is built and the people it affects.