Welcome to the podcast.
I'm your host, Jaden Schaefer.
Today on the podcast, I wanna talk about the most bizarre tech that has been announced so far at CES 2026.
There's some crazy AI products, all sorts of crazy products I wanna break down.
All of them from lollipops that make music to new avatars that live on your desk.
There is a lot going on.
Before we get into all of that, I wanted to mention if you want to try any of the AI models I talk about on the show and if you want to build AI tools, even if you're not a developer like myself I don't know how to code I would love for you to try out mystartupaiboxai.
You can describe a tool or a workflow or something that you're trying to build, and it will use AI models to create it for you.
We'll stitch together different AI models, fill out prompts and build a tool for you.
It's all on our new builder platform over on AIbox.ai.
I'll leave a link to the description.
I would love to see what you create.
The first product that I want to talk about from CES is coming from Razer.
It is, you know, the famously the computer, the laptop company.
They make some of the legendary laptops that we all love.
And they have created an AI anime companion that watches you from your desk.
Now, it is really hilarious watching their like they had a demo video all about kind of what this thing does. essentially it feels like it's like you can imagine like a lava lump basically that sits on your desk and it has a hologram inside of it so nothing like a lava lump just a glass tube it sits on your desk it has a hologram inside of it of an anime character and like an anime person so there's like this video and there's this dude all of a sudden it's like an alarm clock it starts beeping and he like wakes up and it's like this anime girl and she's like good morning like we're gonna have an awesome day like let's get started like you should go pick out your green shirt has like a camera that like watches you and can see what's going on and then it's also like listening to you and she's like you were snoring last night anyways so he's like going over to his his like dresser to go pick out a shirt and she's like yeah wear that green one look I'll put on a green jacket too and all of a sudden like she's wearing like a green jacket and OK, so I mean, personally, I think this is strange.
This is not something that I would be.
I would be thrilled to have something just like sitting there watching me all the time.
But maybe people will like this.
I don't know.
They also had a demo where it was like this girl and she's at her desk and she like taps it.
And, uh, and of course it's like for the guys and all the demos, it's always a girl companion.
And for the girls, it's always a guy companion as the girl, she like caps it.
She's like, Hey cutie, how's it going?
It's like absolutely ripped dude with like an Australian accent.
And he's like, Hey, how's it going?
Like great business brainstorming session yesterday.
Anyways, apparently he helps her brainstorm business ideas.
And anyways.
Then all of a sudden she starts gaming and he's like commenting on all of the things she's shooting in her game.
So anyways, I think it's kind of like funny and cringy and horrible all at the same time.
But I think some people might actually like these, just like a little AI person that's sitting there watching you.
And I'm actually going to make a case, for I think like their ad did a really good job of making this thing seem kind of goofy.
But I will make a case for why this might be a good product.
There is a huge kind of growing community where people do this thing, where it's like watch me study and they have like a camera and basically they're trying to become accountable to themselves.
And I've actually seen people do it where they'll set up a camera in the corner of the room and they're like hey, I'm going to study.
I'm going to make a time lapse of me like studying for my exam or working on my project.
And they just like have a time lapse, go through the whole day watching them and they post it and upload it.
And they do it literally as accountability.
You're not going to stop and take breaks.
You're not going to scroll through TikTok.
You're not going to like.
I'd basically waste your time if that camera is constantly watching you and it's going to be in your time lapse that you post later.
And so I actually think that this could have some sort of that effect where like, if there's a little, Even if it's just a fake little person sitting there watching you.
Okay, number one for like privacy and like feeling like it's an invasion of your privacy and the government or Amazon or whoever the heck is.
You know, someone is tied on the other side of the camera that could watch you.
I think that side of it is really creepy.
It's why we have those little slides that cover the camera on our laptop cameras.
So for that element, I think it's creepy.
But for the side of like you could probably be a lot more productive if it felt like someone was watching the whole time.
I can see why some people might like this product.
All right, so that by far, I think was one of the funniest ones.
The next one is a AI Panda stuffy that is for older adults.
So the AI, the latest AI pet, it comes from Mind With Heart Robotics.
It's a company.
And essentially, they say that their goal is to support elderly care.
The panda has some high tech sensors all over its body, so it reacts naturally when you touch it.
It's quote unquote, emotional AI remembers your voice, how you interact, what you like.
So the longer you spend time with it. the more personalized it gets.
Apparently, it is an emotional support stuffed animal is what they say to combat loneliness.
And if you're struggling with your memory.
It can help keep you engaged and remind you about daily tasks and keeps caregivers in the loop about your well being.
So if you have this thing all the time and you're sitting there complaining about something, when your caregiver comes, it can, like tell the caregiver what's going on.
Like, It feels like they're trying to do a good thing with this.
It seems sad to me that we have to resort to AI stuffed animals for elderly folks to keep them company if they're struggling with loneliness.
I mean, if there's no other option, then perhaps this is a a tool that could be useful in some sort of good way, but to me it seems sad that this would be an option and there's not like a person that could spend time with them.
The next one that I thought was sort of ridiculous is a 500 ice cube maker that uses AI to reduce noise.
Now I love a ice cube maker just as much as the next person.
When you have these ice cube makers that have ice that is perfect for crunching your teeth without breaking your teeth.
And I'm speaking as someone who has cracked a tooth in half on a date at a Japanese restaurant before.
It was very embarrassing because there's this massive ice cube I was chewing on in my water.
So I really do like these, these ice cube makers, where they make those really crunchy small ice cubes.
I think they're fantastic.
However, they are very noisy.
Is that a big enough reason why you need to spend 500 and have quote unquote AI infused into this thing?
So it reduces noise.
It's kind of funny.
They say that, um, it has this patented noise guard technology that's designed to cut down noise.
Basically, the AI detects when the machine is about to freeze up and make noise, and then automatically defrosts before things get loud.
Um, What the heck does that mean that AI detects when it's about to freeze up?
Do they have a thermometer in there?
Do they mean the thermometer's AI that's detecting that's getting too cold and it decreases the temperature?
Like, I don't really know how much AI is needed in a device like this, an ice cube maker.
I would venture to say no AI is needed.
But of course, it sells and it sounds funny.
It's $500 and it can hold...
3.5 pounds of ice at a time.
So anyways, I think it's pretty funny.
It can create ice in just six minutes and it can make up to 60 pounds a day.
So for all of your ice needs, this could be a good one for you.
Okay, this is actually the funniest next that I saw.
It is an ultrasonic chef's knife that vibrates when you are slicing.
So there's a knife and there's a button on it, like a red button on the handle that you can push and it vibrates while you're slicing things, but not just like I don't know, like a vibrating like.
When I first heard of this I thought of like all the turkey knives that you see were like a carving knife, where it's like an automatic electric carving knife for cutting turkeys.
That is not what's going on here.
So apparently this is coming from Seattle Ultrasonics.
The blade vibrates at over 30000 times a second, which allows it to move through food much easier.
Apparently, this vibrating technology means that the knife is a lot sharper than its physical edge, which makes things like slicing vegetables meat, bread a lot easier for cooks.
According to the company, the vibrations are so subtle that you can't see the blade move, hear it or feel anything in the handle.
It is a $400 knife and it's currently available for pre-order.
So many thoughts on this, like somehow and I might be a pessimist, but I'm like, if you can't see it or hear it or feel it like, is it actually vibrating or is this just a 400 knife?
And then pessimism aside, how much sharper could that possibly be?
How much faster could it possibly cut?
Is it a fun idea to feel like you have an ultrasonic knife vibrating at 3000 times a second?
Yeah, that sounds pretty fun.
But realistically, how useful is it?
I probably shouldn't weigh in.
I'm not a cook, but I don't see so much use for it.
Okay, the final one that I thought was very interesting technology, but a very strange use case is a candy company.
It is a musical lollipop that plays ice spice in your head.
Basically it's coming from lollipop star.
Um, and of course we have musical toothbrushes.
So why can't we have music playing lollipops?
I guess basically what they do is they have music when that is delivered through bone conduction.
So while this thing is in your mouth through bone conduction if it's touching your teeth, I think then the technology sends vibrations through your skull bones directly to your inner ear.
It also has uh, it has a three different flavors and you can choose from three different artists.
Either peach flavor you'll get to listen to ice spice, uh.
You can have blueberry flavor and you can listen to acon.
Or you can listen to armani white if you have the lime flavor.
I mean the technology that sounds so fascinating that you're eating a lollipop and you can hear music in your ear that no one else can hear.
The usefulness of that beyond being a novelty, I just I question, but definitely one of the most bizarre things that has been unveiled at CES so far.
Hey guys, thank you so much for tuning into the podcast today.
If you enjoyed this episode and enjoyed the strange AI, the strange technology that's being announced.
Make sure to leave a rating and review on the podcast if you would use any of these items, and make sure to go check out AIboxai to use any of the AI models in the world for just 20 a month.
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Hope that this is super useful to you and I hope you guys all have a fantastic rest of your day.
