The Coolest (And Wackiest) New Products At The 2013 Consumer Electronic Show

From January 8th -11th, Las Vegas, Nevada was home to one of the world's biggest and coolest trade shows - The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), an annual event in which companies introduce their upcoming electronic products and gadgets.

An estimated 150,000 people attended this year's show, which happened to be the biggest in its 45-year history in terms of square footage. More than 3,250 exhibitors unveiled new consumer-related items that they plan to bring to stores soon. Among the 20,000 products were the usual suspects - smarter televisions, bigger tablets, smaller cameras etc. etc. However, the products that made our top list are the 'unique' ones. You can decide whether they are cool or just plain wacky!

Table PC

In this day and age when every electronic gadget is going mini, introducing a personal computer the size of a coffee table may sound a little strange. But you will have to agree that this Windows-based computer from Lenova is pretty cool. That's because besides providing a giant screen to work with, the 27-inch computer can be laid flat and turned into an interactive game board, complete with its own electronic dice - Time to toss out those old-fashioned cardboard games!

Smart Hapifork

Here's a good one for those of you that have a tendency to gobble down your food - A smart fork! Using electronic sensors the Hapifork monitors how fast the user is chowing down his or her food. Eat too rapidly and the fork will vibrate and also flash bright warning lights. Hapifork can also transmit the user's statistics to a smartphone app to keep track of his/her progress. While using this fork may help your heartburn, paying the expected asking price of $99 USD, may cause it to start, all over again!

Flower Power

Don't have a green thumb? No worries - With Flower Power on your side your plants (the ones in the house at least) will thrive and prosper! Developed by wireless tech company Parrot, the two-pronged sensor monitors sunlight, temperature, water and fertilizer conditions and alerts the owner of any issues via their iPhone or iPad. For the novice plant owner, the gadget also has an app that provides care instructions for over 6,000 plants by name or even image and color for the real ignorant ones that don't know what plant they are tending to.

iPotty For iPad?

Even Steve Jobs, with his vivid imagination would not have thought of this innovative use for the iPad. An attempt by CTA Digital to make 'potty-training' easier, it entails fitting the apple device onto this plastic potty so that the little one can be engaged whilst doing his/her business - Did we hear someone say eww? In case you are interested it is expected to be available on Amazon.com for a mere $39.99 USD starting March 1st - iPad not included of course!

mRobo

The mRobo is more than just a portable speaker that can jam out music at bass levels of 40Hz! It is also a dancer! As soon as the music turns on, the 8-inch speaker transforms into a 'giant', 18-inch tall robot and starts to show some rather impressive dance moves. Users can also program a series of their own custom moves for the mRobo using the company's proprietary app. Impressed? You can own one for a mere $200 USD, starting this fall!

Pinball Machines

Yes believe it or not, Stern Pinball thinks it is time to bring back this 'ancient' gaming device - Not for the arcade though, but one small enough to fit inside your game room. With games like Avengers and Transformers, who can really resist! However, while they may be relatively 'bite-sized' there is nothing 'small' about the $2,499 USD you will have to fork out to own one of these!

Resources: digitaltrends.com, dailymail.co,uk, pcworld.com, huffingtonpost.com