Wading through the Internet of Crap

Connected home gadgets were everywhere at CES 2017 -- we saw WiFi cameras, smart walking canes and Echo clones aplenty. But while several of them were truly innovative, there were some that made no sense at all. Just because something has Bluetooth or internet connectivity that doesn't make it useful. Even more ridiculous are devices that have voice controls when they don't actually need them. As Nick Offerman said on our Engadget stage a few days ago, sometimes the best tech is low-tech. As far as tech for tech's sake goes, here are some of the worst offenders from this year's show.

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Oral-B Genius 8000 smart toothbrush

I generally like Oral-B's electric toothbrushes -- I have one at home -- but the Genius 8000 is a little ridiculous. It uses your phone's front-facing camera to make sure you're brushing your teeth correctly, ensuring that you don't skip or underbrush important zones. Which sounds all right at first, but then Oral-B says that in order to do this, you need to mount your phone on the bathroom mirror in order to use it properly. Yeah, I think I'll pass on that.

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