6 Weird Gadgets You Actually Don’t Need in 2025

Consumerism is awesome, but its tech excesses can be a bit much. When shopping network sensibility meets an ‘anything’s possible’ ethos, silliness can shift into overdrive.

At Techopedia, we love our gadgets, but even we have to admit that blending physical and digital sometimes spits-up mad scientist results.

The following are proof positive that just because you can make a thing, it doesn’t mean you should. As CES 2025 gets into full swing in Las Vegas, here’s our list of weird gadgets you won’t need in 2025.

Gadgetry can be incredibly cool or incredibly cringe. Today, we focus on the latter.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Top 6 Weird Gadgets That Might Spook You Off
3. The Bottom Line
4. FAQs
5. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. Top 6 Weird Gadgets That Might Spook You Off
3. The Bottom Line
Show Full Guide
4. FAQs
5. References

Top 6 Weird Gadgets That Might Spook You Off

1. Doll Minder for Gran

Unveiled last year at the Mobile World Congress, Hyodol is an AI-powered grandchild replacement and home monitor for elderly people. With a look that’s somewhere between an old school Raggedy Ann doll and Cabbage Patch kid, it’s meant to be a friendly and practical presence. But it’s still a bit weird.

Powered by what its South Korean manufacturer calls ‘AIoT Warmth’ technology, the doll is built with touch-sensitive patches and buttons. You can press them or give it a gentle squeeze, and the doll will respond in a child’s voice, prompting you to take your meds, remember meal times, or get active if you’ve been sitting too long.

Reviewers have noted that the doll’s voice is patronising and you don’t have to look far for pop culture examples of creepy dolls observing their owners’ every move.

Of course we should give old folks tools to make their lives easier. Maybe wait for the next generation Hyodol to work out the bugs.

2. Mouse in Your Mouth

Once, we dreamt of flying cars and sci-fi cities floating in the sky. While we wait for those to arrive, let’s at least be thankful that it’s now possible to use your tongue as a laptop mouse.

Launched last year at CES 2024, the MouthPad from Augmental is a tongue-operated trackpad you keep in your mouth. Like a standard retainer, it rests against the roof of your oral cavity. Connection to your laptop or tablet happens through Bluetooth, just like any standard pointing device.

For people with disabilities or injuries that make working with a normal mouse unfeasible, this could be a practical way to operate a computer – though reviewers have been skeptical about using it for extended periods.

For others, it doesn’t feel like an obvious improvement on your every day (and easy to use) hand-operated point and click unit. Though some will be tempted to try.

3. Air-Purifying Headphones

Looking for some weird stuff on amazon? We have to admit the description sounds impressive: a head-mounted, personal air purifier with quality headphones featuring high powered miniature fans. That’s quite a feat of engineering, but will it be enough to stop people pointing and laughing when you wear them on the street?

Dyson’s Zone personal air-purifying headphones boast two tiny precision-made compressors that draw air through advanced filters and clean it. The company says they can remove pollution and then deliver a stream of clean air through a hockey mask-like brace situated over the mouth and nose.

Concerns about urban air quality have sent many people looking for masks or appliances to minimize particle and chemical air pollutants. You may think that combining them would give you the best of both world’s solution. But you might be wrong.

4. Walk-in Pet Dryer

The Pepe Pet Dryer seems like a convenient way to avoid the inevitable shake-off every dog does after its monthly soap down, where everyone within towel distance gets a full soaking. The problem is it requires you to place a small dog, probably one with a naturally nervous temperament, inside a tightly enclosed space for machine-automated blow drying.

Roughly the size of a hotel mini fridge, the dryer buffets your Bichon Frise with a continuous stream of warm air. The company says Pepe can dry a small dog completely in about 25 minutes. Put your wet pet inside the unit, shut the door, and set the temperature. Warm air circulates gently until the job is done.

For unintentional low-level animal cruelty, it’s hard to imagine anything better than a cold white box that shoots it with heated gusts of wind. Still, user reviews seem to be positive.

5. Smart Toilet Seat

If the $10,000 plus you’d need to shell out for a full-scale smart toilet is beyond your budget, now you can fancify your ablutions with a more affordable smart throne. This voice-activated bidet seat lets you turn your toilet clever and give it the ability to respond to vocal stimuli.

Kohler’s PureWash E930 comes kitted out with Amazon Alexa and Google Home functionality, so you can connect it to your preferred home digital assistant and speak it into action. Simple voice commands let you switch on the bidet spray, dry the bowl with warm air, or disinfect the whole unit with ultraviolet light.

The upside is that cleaning your toilet becomes hands-free. The downside is you have to converse with a porcelain pot. On the other hand, it’s fully configurable.

6. Selfie Toaster

‘Nibble your own likeness!’ probably wasn’t on anyone’s list of must-haves this Christmas, but here it is anyway. This 100% loopy Selfie Toaster lets you take a pic of your favorite face and burn the image onto a slice of hot bread.

This weird technology gadget has been around for years. First introduced in 2014, you can still buy it 11 years later.

The toaster itself is custom-made. Send the company your photo, and it gets to work preparing it to be rendered in metal. After a bit of photoshopping to remove unnecessary detail, a computer-guided machine cuts the image into a plate and then polishes it. The plate is then installed into a special toaster where the heat leaves an impression of your face on the toasted pastry.

Two image plates are installed in each unit so you can pop out two selfie toasts in one go. On the other hand, why would you want to?

The Bottom Line

These are just a few of the odd and incredible inventions that have attracted attention since CES and MWC 2024 – tech’s two global product launch extravaganzas.

There are so many crazy, ill-considered gadgets out there it’s almost enough to make you embrace minimalism. But how fun would that be?

FAQs