By The Informer

The technology industry never gets to work its way gently into the New Year, thanks to the staging of the Consumer Electronics show in the first week of January. While the show aims to set the consumer technology tone for the year, it’s also the home for some of the most unlikely and downright bizarre gadgets, of which this is just a small selection.

Petcube

This is a gadget designed to enable people to remotely interact with their beloved pets via their smartphone. It’s a box that contains a camera, microphone and speaker to enable you to see what Kitty or Fido are up to (so long as they’re standing in front of the camera), hear their plaintive yowls and order them to get back in their box. The best feature, however, has to be the built-in laser can be controlled remotely, allowing you to act out hilarious ‘chase-the-dot’ scenarios wherever you are.

Lamborghini 88 Tauri smartphone

In terms of novel functionality there’s nothing especially new in this phone – it’s just a high-end Android device, but it’s the price tag that sets it apart. A mere $6k gets you a phone with a stitched leather and gold finish as well as a lovely Lambo logo. It’s not immediately obvious what else is on offer to justify such a hefty price premium but that’s never the point at the ultra-luxury end of the market.

Tao Chair

This smart chair apparently enables you to exercise while sat down, which sounds a lot like a win-win to the Informer. There is built in cleverness that allows you to push and pull against the arm rests in order to ‘work out’ and then a display in the right arm rest shows you how well you’ve done. There’s even an app that allows you to track your sedentary toil and, presumably, share it on social media.

Emiota smart belt

This belt is like a larger version of a fitness band, in so much as it uses sensors to track your activity and then syncs this data with your smartphone. It’s also motorised, allowing it to expand and constrict in line with fluctuations in your waistline and to detect when you’re sat down, which will presumably result in some kind of guilt trip or telling off.

LG twin washing machine

Telecoms.com covered this earlier in the week, but the sheer nerve of proposing an entire second wash tub in a conventional washing machine was worthy of another mention. Of course it also has a mobile app allowing you to remotely commence your wash and even monitor its progress.

Triby fridge magnet

This is actually a phone, but it’s magnetic and designed for the kitchen. It has buttons for making calls and playing music and even claims the first ‘connected Post-It’. This involves sending a note from your proper smartphone that will then appear on the Triby and there’s even a little fluorescent plastic flag to indicate a note has been received.