Given the constant grumbling that emanates from a raft of tech pundits, you’d be forgiven for thinking the gadgets landscape is the most boring thing ever. Even more so than cricket. Lots of them can barely last a minute before moaning about how a shiny new phone or TV they’ve received for review is barely different from its predecessor. And you might even feel worn down by the tech treadmill yourself as your world increasingly surrounds you with a range of identikit black rectangles. Where’s the fun? Where’s the whimsy? At CES 2025, apparently, which served as a welcome reminder that tech and gadgets can be weird, bonkers, wonderful and far from boring.
This, after all, was the show that introduced the masses to Mirumi. It’s a dinky robot that clips on to your bag and is “designed to recreate people’s joyful experiences of noticing a human baby”. Despite looking like the mutant offspring of an owl, a tiny sloth and a Muppet. If nothing else, it’ll be a conversation starter when it creepily turns its head to stare at anyone nearby. I imagine said conversations will tend to start: “Do you know you have a disturbing furry thing clasped to your bag?” But hey: NOT BORING!
Cool(ing) tech
Also not boring: Nekojita FuFu. When I was a kid, we were told robots of the future would look like metal people and make you a cup of tea. A decade back, that utopian vision had transformed into terrifying robots lobbing concrete blocks at your head. Nekojita FuFu takes a step back in almost every sense – it can’t even get about under its own steam. But it can help you out with one aspect of the tea thing, by clinging on to your mug and blowing on a hot beverage to cool it down.
According to its creator, who must lead an exciting life, Nekojita FuFu arrived from a need to solve their problem of getting dizzy and breathless during bouts of blowing on hot baby food. I was unaware of a hot drinks/dizziness epidemic. I tend to leave a drink for a few minutes to cool, but now feel like I’m missing out. Thought: can you also set a Nekojita FuFu on a just-cooked cheese toastie, so its lava-like insides don’t burn your mouth off? I do hope so. Regardless: ALSO NOT BORING!
Purr-fect gadgets
CES 2025’s not-boring-o-meter was further fuelled by gadgets and tech that weren’t robots. LG’s AeroCatTower got another outing, preparing people for a future that combines an air purifier, a cat bed, cat weighing scales and, presumably, a cat insult device when your moggie realises you bought it a new bed to make your home smell less like cat and ensure it isn’t a tubby tabby.
Then there were unconventional takes on otherwise conventional tech, including a human-size hologram system for when your social circle decides faces on screens aren’t enough for virtual chats. Or the Swippitt phone ‘toaster’, which gives your device a new battery pack when it pops up. And, fortunately, not a slathering of peanut butter.
There was also a gigantic Acer gaming tablet that made me wonder whether certain companies can’t tell when columns are jokes. And Anker’s Solix Solar combined a beach umbrella with solar charging, although I can’t imagine that being a top UK seller.
Still: NOT BORING. Unlike the prospect of three months of grey gloom that’s likely to rock up where I live this summer. Still, perhaps Nekojita FuFu will be in the wild by then, saving me from tongue burns while quaffing tea and soup during endless days of ‘unseasonable’ chill.