Worst Products From CES 2010: The Craziest New Tech From The Consumer Electronics Show (PHOTOS)

The 2010 Consumer Electronics Show introduced us to some amazing new tech products -- but there were more than a few flops on display as well.

From electric cigarettes to the "Phubby," we've tracked down the worst, craziest, most ridiculous gadgets from CES 2010 in the slideshow below.

Check them out, then see the best gadgets from CES 2010, and Huffington Post blogger Jim Louderback's 7 weirdest, wackiest, and dumbest products from the show.

 

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Krave Smokeless, Electronic 'Cigarettes'

The WSJ describes Krave's disposable electronic 'cigarette products': "Promising a “greener environment for both you and the non-smoking community,” Krave’s e-cigarettes are tobacco-free and instead contain a battery-powered nicotine cartridge in the white part of the cigarette. When a smoker inhales, a sensor inside the cigarette is activated, and the cartridge releases water vapor that looks like smoke but is mainly nicotine, water and a little of the food additive propylene glycol."

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Comments

[FalstaffsMind]

10:26 AM on 01/14/2010

Sure the guy managed to crack the screen on that phone by bashing it on the corner of the aquarium he had just submerged it in, but it took 3 tries, and it had just survived complete immersion. There is an adage in the tech biz.... Nothing is foolproof, fools are too ingenious. It's still a good phone for people who work in unforgiving environments.

[SteveMcCleen]

05:03 PM on 01/13/2010

Why did you lump Electronic Cigs in with the worst products? I switched to E Cigs after smoking for 12 years and haven't been back.

In fact 82% of people who switch to E Cigs give up regular smokes for good: http://electroniccigarettesguide-steve.com/82-of-people-who-switch-to-electronic-cigarettes-never-go-back-to-regular-cigarettes-check-this-out/

Steve McCleen

[skipwiley]

11:59 AM on 01/13/2010

Propylene Glycol is used in anti-freeze but.....

It is used in the NON-TOXIC version of anti-freeze, the dangerous/kills pets version uses Ethylene Glycol which is NOT used in e-cigs, the previous posters that claimed Propylene Glycol is dangerous was wrong and yes it is in many products you use and ingest daily including the inhalation of medicine by way of nebulizers.

[Michael Malecki]

11:57 AM on 01/13/2010

The slideshow interface, with whole-page refreshes, dissuades me from looking at more than two or three items.

[anotherscott]

07:20 PM on 01/13/2010

I agree, slideshows are a terrible way to present information online and waste a lot of time, they turn me off too.

[skipwiley]

11:50 AM on 01/13/2010

The ecig generically should not be on here, I know nothing about the Krave and I hate many of the overpriced infomercial style products out there. The truth is that ecigs have helped me and several of my friends quit or considerably reduce smoking. These things not only work but are obviously very threatening to the tobacco industry. The minute any smoker tries one of the GOOD ecigs for a day, they will be very impressed by its ability to completely replace standard cigarettes in their day to day lives.

There is a complete subculture out there using these and a ton of good information about the better versions that are available. I also recommend e-cigarette-forum.com for a starting point for research and to see just how many people are using these things successfully.

I switched for money reasons, I was spending $300-400/mo on cigarettes, now I save money and I am currently saving my life by switching. These things now cost me less that $40/mo and only cost about $50 for the starter kits.

[sidething]

10:18 AM on 01/13/2010

re: "BabyPlus Prenatal Education System"
- this isn't a new product, check out the many positive (and a few negative) reviews on Amazon and others.

also, its not rubbish!
We've got one, my wife wore it during her pregnancy and the bump responded "as it says on the tin" and we now have a gorgeous, alert, calm little girl.
maybe (probably) she would have been anyway but we'll be sticking with it for no.2

[arizonabay]

05:49 PM on 01/13/2010

I concur, my wife used it for our son (now 16 mos.) and he has by our own estimations as well as other family members that he is more intelligent than cousins his age and a little older. He began to walk at 10 mos. He also is able to identify numbers.

[shaf]

08:04 AM on 01/13/2010

The inventors of the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System just had to have been fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000. One of the Invention Exchange bits was for the Bose WombMate, a set a headphones worn by the mother-to-be to play Mozart, and in the bit, Nazareth's 'Hair of the Dog'.

[crummett]

05:55 AM on 01/13/2010

Actually, i was just thinking that a full size keyboard would be a great addtion to my new iPod Touch. The onscreen keyboard is fine for contact info or short emails, but anything longer is an ordeal. But yes, a rollup version would be better.

[Robotech Master]

01:49 PM on 01/13/2010

Actually, all you need to do is jailbreak, then you can install the Veency VNC server and connect with any computer or laptop. Then you can type into whatever app you like, not just the one that silly thing lets you use. (Though you do need to disable auto-capitalization and auto-correction first, or you can end up with some strange results when you type.)

[anotherscott]

07:25 PM on 01/13/2010

If you jailbreak, the $5 btstack keyboard software is even better, it lets you use a bluetooth keyboard in most apps

But back to your suggestion, I don't see much to be gained by being able to use another computer or laptop as my iphone keyboard. I mean, if i had my laptop with me, why wouldn't I just use that for my emailing and surfing in the first place? To me, the whole point of adding a keyboard to an iphone is so that you don't have to also always travel with a laptop.

[Mannock]

02:40 AM on 01/13/2010

The cigarette ads are everywhere. I can just hear what people will say with the e-cigarette..."You're smoking an e-cigarette? What a gon@d!"

[Chipher]

01:57 AM on 01/13/2010

...because you can never have enough propylene glycol!....

[SwingingFromCenter]

01:18 AM on 01/13/2010

1) The keyboard slime is actually pretty good.

2) Those electronic cigs are hilarious. Or at least the advertising is. Anyone with Sirius who listens to some o the talk channels that have commercials know about these ads. The guy basically starts with "we can't say it's good for you, but the results speak for themselves" - what results? "We can't tell you you'll quit smoking, but look at it" - well if you can't say it, then it won't help you quit.

But the best part? It's the part where you here a "huhhhh-hooo, and look, rings of water vapor harmlessly put into the air".

Apparently they believe we can SEE what the guy is doing....in a radio ad.

[tk1314]

07:45 AM on 01/15/2010

If you're gullible enough to start smoking in the first place, then you're gullible enough to buy into these products too. Howard Stern advertises these "cigarettes" in live commercials and then during the show, makes fun of Sal for using them.

The commercial itself should make you wonder if they're safe. The bottle of "vapor" used has a skull and crossbones on the label according to Bababooey.

Weak people will buy into anything, just look at the Snuggie and Sham-Wow's success.

[getalong]

12:35 AM on 01/13/2010

Most of these are bad ideas, but some are actually good. The e-cigarrettes most notably.

My uncle had a heart attack - almost died.
We used the "Blu" cigarettes (same thing, different brand) and they're helping him to quit, quite successfully.

[vaprfan]

11:35 PM on 01/12/2010

The makers of the Krave electronic cigarette, Miller Diversified Corp., is a publicly traded company (OTC:MILR).

[johnqsittinzen]

10:15 PM on 01/12/2010

The model in the Krave ad is e-smoking.

[HappyMarsden]

11:32 PM on 01/12/2010

I think the couch she's sitting on is hotter.

[johnqsittinzen]

11:36 PM on 01/12/2010

Uh, yeah, #1) That's a chair...
and #2) Whatever gets you through the night, pal.

[anotherscott]

07:29 PM on 01/13/2010

I can't figure out why they have her sitting on what looks to me like an oversized toilet. I'm sure a lot of thought went into it and it's very Freudian.

[Gronkie]

09:59 PM on 01/12/2010

Years ago I used to go to the CES show twice a year in Vegas (in January) and Chicago (in June). These were the days when CDs were the hot thing and audiophile equipment and gadgets were everywhere. The all-time stupidest thing ever were a pair of leather ear extentions. They fit over your ear and basically made your ears about twice their size. The idea was that the human ear was the best sound enhancer around, so if you enlarged the ear, then you could catch more sound, thus hearing "more" of the music. They were stupid looking to begin with and they were extremely expensive. I can't remember how much they were, but I remember that my jaw dropped when I heard the price - probably around a hundred bucks. I remember thinking that if you were really convinced that these contraptions worked (and I have great hearing and I could't tell a difference) then you could probably rig up a set for yourself out of cardboard and be quite happy with your big ol' ears.

[snoopjohnny]

01:39 AM on 01/13/2010

Oh man! You mean like big leather ear-shaped.....uh....ears? That you wear on your head? So you can hear the music better? I'd wear them to a concert! Especially if they were flesh colored, so people would think I just had like, like.....really big ears. Of course, you wouldn't want to wear them to a death-metal show. But maybe to an acoustic show at a big cafe.....

[Gronkie]

10:43 AM on 01/13/2010

Yup, big ol' leather Dumbo ears. Hilarious. It was hard to try them out in the booth without laughing because the inventor was there and he was really into it, and we didn't want to make him feel bad that he had probably dumped his entire life savings into the R&D, patent process, manufacturing, and booth space. He's probably still got a garage full of the things.

As for wearing them in public: someone once told me that big ears are a better signal that a man has a large unit than big hands or feet, so wearing them in public would be the equivalent of stuffing a pair of socks down your pants.