I never knew I needed that, part 2.

Just about a year ago, rather than vent about the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, I chose to write about the virtual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and all the new electronic crap that would change our lives.

This year, as we pass the first anniversary of the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, I choose to, again, write about all of the new and wonderful electronic stuff coming out of the in-person-but-sparsely-attended 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. All of this info is courtesy of a Wired Magazine article. (Please don’t think I don’t care about what happened a year ago. I just believe that many other people have written so many better articles about it. And President Biden’s speech from statuary hall says it all for me.)

So, what kind of useless crap can you expect to hit the shelves of your favorite virtual store?

• A foldable 17-inch laptop. What’s the big deal…don’t most laptops fold? Yes but this Asus Zenbook hybrid folds the screen. The whole laptop is a screen. No really. There’s a separate keyboard and the 17 inch screen folds in half.
• Apple connectivity comes to Android devices. Maybe. You know how everything from Apple just works right out of the box and easily connects with every other Apple device that you have. Earbuds to laptop to phone…it just works. Well, Google is trying to bring that to every other device in the world. It would be nice but the jury is still out.
• A smart bird feeder. Actually, this is one of those “Duh, why didn’t I think of that?” products. Bird Buddy is a bird feeder with a built in Ring-like camera. When a bird stops by for a snack you get a video feed on your phone. You are also connected to apps that will help you identify the bird and record a portion of its song. Duh, why didn’t I think of that!
• Samsung 2022 Eco Remote. This one really is genius. The eco remote “charges from both solar energy and the radio waves blasted out of your Wi-Fi router to stay juiced up indefinitely.” You never need batteries again! But it does raise the question of “If Wi-fi can charge a TV remote, what the hell is it doing to my pancreas!”

Look for these wonderful products and more coming soon to a virtual store near you.

(P.S. you can’t believe the rabbit hole you can go down when looking for a funny meme to accompany a story. I searched for a battery-remote meme and found the one I used to the right. THEN, I happened upon a whole universe of low-battery/recharge your cat memes. Some are hilarious….most are not but it is the most hypnotizing time-sucker you will ever come across. If you have nothing to do for the next few hours, click this link. If you dare.