by The best CES products cut through the marketing hype at the Las Vegas gadget show to reveal innovations that could improve lives.
The worst could harm us or our society and our planet in “badly innovative” ways judged “Worst in Show” by a panel of self-described dystopia experts.
The third annual competition announced that no technology company wants to win its decisions on Thursday.
And the award goes to…
“From lawnmowers that are easy to hack to $300 [€273] headphones that will fail in two years, these are products that jeopardize our safety, encourage overconsumption of waste, and normalize privacy violations,” says the group of consumer and privacy advocates judging the awards.
The contest is not affiliated with CES or the trade group that runs the show.
They made the choices based on how bad a product is, what impact it could have if it were widely adopted, and whether it would be significantly worse than previous versions of similar technology.
The judges represent groups including Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and right-to-repair advocates iFixit.
‘Dangerous’ car technology
CES focuses heavily on automotive technology every year. And the car maker BMW was presented with two brick bats, one of those related to a partnership with the voice assistant Amazon Alexa.
Powered by a large language model – the type of AI system behind chatbots like ChatGPT – Amazon says Alexa’s “car expert” will be able to “provide quick instructions and answers to vehicle functions in a much more human, conversation-like way , and even act on your behalf.”
Being able to ask Alexa to unlock the front door or turn off the porch light is handy.
But what if it is expressed by old violence?
“We have seen an increasing number of horrific stories where people, generally women, are trying to escape from abusive situations with their cars acting as vectors of tracking and abuse,” said Cindy Cohn, judge’s statement “Worst in Show”, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
She added: “Alexa and BMW – and indeed all the car companies racing to turn our cars into tracking devices – need to make sure victims can turn this off”.
BMW Group spokesman Jay Hanson said the company designed and delivered the voice assistant with privacy in mind and that customers have the choice of whether they want to use it.
“BMW and Amazon have a strong commitment to maintaining customer trust and protecting their privacy, including giving them control over their data,” he said in an email to the Associated Press on Thursday.
BMW is also showing off augmented reality glasses designed by Xreal that are meant to overlay helpful information and virtual objects that you’ll see ahead of you as you drive.
Another judge called it a “recipe for distracted driving” that could also pave the way for a future of blurry-vision ads.
Hanson said the augmented reality experience shown at CES was a demonstration of “potential use cases” that could help or entertain people but remains a key principle in what BMW offers to customers the minimize distraction.
Earbud duds
German audio electronics maker Sennheiser has shown off the fourth generation of its Momentum True Wireless earbuds, which are usually known to last a while.
But iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens says the latest $300 earbuds are “brand-defying” because they’re too disposable, with three separate batteries that will fail after a few years and can’t be easily replaced.
“Start by selling batteries and releasing repair instructions,” he wrote. “Then work on the battery to make it easier to exchange”.
Sennheiser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Who asked for more grocery ads?
Nathan Proctor, national campaign director of US PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, selected the new video ads on Instacart’s “AI-driven” shopping cart as “Worst in Show.”
General Mills, Del Monte Foods, and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream are among the companies that will advertise on the charts during an upcoming pilot at West Coast stores owned by Good Food Holdings.
Equipped with cameras and sensors, the cart has a screen that will share real-time recommendations based on what customers put in the cart, such as advertising ice cream if a customer buys a cone.
“It uses historical shopping behavior to push junk food you’ve bought before,” Proctor wrote. “Grocery stores are great and shipping promotions are ideal, and I question the sanity of whoever thought we should make it worse”.
Instacart did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment.
Robot vacuums and microwaves
The “Worst in Show” cybersecurity went to China-based robot vacuum maker Ecovacs. Robotic vacuums are nothing new, but Secure Repairs’ Paul Roberts says the new Combo X2 combines all the elements for intrusive home surveillance – cameras, microphones, LiDAR, voice recognition, and computer vision that can recognize objects – without any guarantee that his images are unencrypted. otherwise video feed cannot be hacked.
The “Worst in Show” environmental impact went to one of many internet-connected food technology appliances demonstrated at CES 2024. $1,800 from Revolution Cooking [€1,640] “Microwave” combines a microwave with a convection oven, but such trendy gadgets tend to be short-lived and encourage people to trash the simpler appliances they already own, according to Consumer Reports’ Shanika Whitehurst.
“Adding electronics to perfectly functioning appliances greatly increases their impact on the environment, requiring vast amounts of resources and energy,” she wrote.
Revolution Cooking and Ecovacs did not immediately respond to AP requests for comment.
