In the future, you won't have to worry about leaving the stove on and burning your house down--if you forget, your smart oven knob will turn it off.
You'll plug directions into your smart shorts, which will buzz when it's time to turn right or left. Your smart tea cube will ensure that you're steeping your tea at the perfect temperature. Your smart hairbrush will collect data on the quality of your hair from an embedded microphone that 'listens' to your brushstrokes.
In fact in the future having any device that isn't smart seems to be, well, stupid.
This 'smart' future was on full display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year. The market promise of IoT (Bain predicts annual revenues could exceed $470 billion for the IoT vendors selling hardware, software and comprehensive solutions by 2020) has inspired countless entrepreneurs and engineers to imagine the connected potential of everyday household items.
But does that really mean we need a connected scarf or trashcan? Whether we do or not, all those devices and more were on stage at CES. So we rounded up some of our favorite weird and wacky connected devices from CES and beyond.
Check out our picks below, and tune into our podcast where we break down the user experience of "smart shorts" and ask: Will these smart devices make us dumb?
Smart stove knob: The Inirv React
Ever have that moment of panic once you leave the house when you're convinced you left the stove on? Startup Inirv aims to alleviate that stress. This device lets you control your stove from your smartphone, and its sensors detect high levels of smoke and natural gas.
Smart shorts: Spinali Designs
Do you know where you're going? It doesn't matter, because now your shorts do. French startup Spinali Designs has a pair of jean shorts with two vibrating sensors that connect to your phone via Bluetooth. Using geolocation services, the sensors will buzz right or left depending on which way you need to turn.
Smart scarf: Wair
You live in a polluted city, but you still want to go outside. Surgical masks, while effective, aren't a great sartorial choice. Enter the Wair smart scarf. This scarf has a triple layer filter, as well as embedded sensors that communicate through an app that tells you when pollution is particularly high or you need to switch out your filters. They also come in three styles and colors.
Smart hairbrush: The Kérastase Hair Coach
Shampoo brands have long reminded us our hair is too frizzy, dry, or oily, but now there's a smart brush that can tell you exactly how unmanageable your hair is, down to the data point. The Kérastase Hair Coach has a microphone that listens to the sound of hair brushing to identify patterns of dryness, split ends and frizziness; 3-axis load cells and sensors that analyze brushing force and patterns; and a mobile app that analyzes this information to give you a hair quality score and information on the effectiveness of your brushing habits.
Smart cup of tea: 42tea cube
You've probably been making your tea wrong. 42tea believes it can help. The startup has a connected cube that knows the exact temperature and steeping specifications of over 1,500 varieties of tea. The cube alerts your smartphone when the water has reached the perfect heat for black tea, and the correct steeping time for green tea (down to the second). It also learns your tea flavor preferences and analyzes your tastes to customize tea time for you.
Smart toothbrush: ONVI
Don't your teeth deserve a smarter brush? Chicago startup Prophix has created the ONVI smart toothbrush which has a video camera that allows you to watch your brushing in real time, takes photos of your teeth so you can monitor problem areas, and sends you oral healthcare tips.
Smart curtains: Slide
Your curtains could really use an upgrade. That's where Slide comes in: It's a piece of hardware that allows you to open and close your curtains through an app, and can connect to your alarm clock so your curtains let in natural light to wake you up. It also can use geofencing technology to automatically close your curtains when everyone leaves the house to better insulate your house and save money on energy.
Smart trashcan: GENICAN
Your trashcan is now talking with your grocery list. The GENICAN is a smart sensor you clip on your trashcan. When you go to throw out an item, you either scan its barcode or tell the device what the item is, and it adds it to your grocery list.
