Many technological innovations fulfil their intended purpose by coming along to revolutionise our lives. The goal of any inventor must be to develop a product that we, as consumers, leaves us to wonder how we ever got through life without it.
In the modern era we are swamped by examples of such success but other inventions aren’t quite so memorable. Here, then, is our guide to five of the most pointless tech items of all time.
USB Mouse with Weighing Scales
It’s hard to imagine a situation when you find yourself browsing the internet and then discover you’re in urgent need of weighing something. OK so most of us now like to seek out recipes on the net and that’s one example of where we might flit from laptop to kitchen worktop but surely even the most amateur cook would employ a separate set of scales rather than risk getting flour, eggs and sugar into the mechanism.
The Mouse / Scales combination has been previously nominated as one of the most pointless pieces of tech in 2017 but it surely lacks enough purpose to make it onto the all time list.
Pizza Scissors
What could be more useful than a pizza cutter? Certainly not these scissors which can hardly be classed as an upgrade on the circular cutting disc which traditionally serves up a slice of one of the world’s favourite dishes.
The scissors are slower, messier and are therefore lacking in potential to make an improvement in the kitchen. At an original RRP of $20.00 we would recommend buying… a circular pizza cutter at a considerable saving. Sometimes, the originals are the best.
Humping Dog USB
Some inventions, like the ones listed above, are intended to be useful but unfortunately that intent backfires. Other gadgets look very simple but are surprisingly resourceful while there are those that are plainly pointless.
The humping dog USB connector certainly falls into the third of those categories. Just plug it into a free port and it will hump away. That’s essentially it so don’t wait for anything useful to happen as you’ll be sadly disappointed.
Tweeting Pets
Some would argue that social media is full of pointless opinion these days so perhaps the puppy tweeter isn’t such a ridiculous idea after all. Simply apply the collar in the usual way, around your dog’s neck and it will respond to barks and interpret them into an appropriate tweet.
Make sure that your canine friend keeps within the 280 character limit and he or she could suddenly find a whole new following. In fairness, this does cost just a few bucks and isn’t meant to be taken seriously which is just as well, given its pointless nature.
The Smart Hair Brush
Add the word ‘smart’ before any household product and you may already have a new audience waiting to throw hundreds of pounds at the latest piece of tech. However, even the most gullible member of the herd may have baulked at the prospect at paying £160.00 for the Withings Hair Coach.
The brush, when charged, would offer ‘useful’ tips on your brushing technique while detecting split ends along the way. Few of us have, however, ever had this particular technique called into question so it’s essentially providing a solution to a problem that just isn’t there.
We continue to be thrilled by new gadgets and there will be many ‘must haves’ produced in the next few years to sit alongside the tech that has revolutionised our lives. Only the way there is, as we’ve seen, some incredible junk that leaves us wondering why it was ever produced in the first place.