The most talked-about gadgets of CES 2015

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Saturday, January 10, 2015
BeamPro is a "telepresence robot" that allows whoever you're video chatting with to roam around the place.
The most talked-about gadgets of CES 2015BeamPro is a "telepresence robot" that allows whoever you're video chatting with to roam around the place.
AP Photo

Friday, Jan. 9, is the closing day of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where the biggest and most innovative technology companies in the world announced some of of their breakthrough products soon to hit store shelves. Let's take a look back at some of the more amazing, practical, or practically useless new gadgets to come out of CES 2015. You be the judge.

A tablet that can stalk you.

BeamPro is a "telepresence robot" that combines both a tablet with webcam and a remote control robot that allows whoever you're video chatting with to roam around the place. So, when you need to get up from your desk to go wash dishes, your friend may follow you from room to room.

Mercedes-Benz's self-driving car.

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The F015 Luxury in Motion is Mercedes-Benz's concept design charged with researching self-driving technology, and discovering all the new things we'll want in our car now that we don't have to drive. While Google was the first to heavily invest in self-driving cars (already made legal in Nevada, Florida, California and Michigan), Mercedes wants to you be excited for them.

With four seats that can rotate to face each other, and all the luxurious accoutrements Mercedes is known for, the F015 is also equipped to communicate with pedestrians and drivers. LED displays in the front and rear to signal messages like "SLOW" to other drivers, and a laser-projected crosswalk tells pedestrians they are safe to pass.

One machine - two loads of laundry.

LG's TWIN Wash System is a washing machine has a standard washer, with a mini-washer at the bottom, allowing you to do two loads at once.
AP Photo

Do you always end up washing one big load of laundry, immediately followed by a much smaller one? Well, now you can get both of them done at the same time, thanks to LG's first-of-a-kind LG TWIN Wash System. The machine has a standard washer, with a mini-washer at the bottom, allowing you to do two loads at once.

Turn off your lamp through your iPhone

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Too lazy to get up and flip the switch? Tell Siri to do it. With the iDevices Switch, you can turn anything plugged into the outlet on or off directly from an iPhone. Apple looks to be trying to add more practical uses for its often mocked voice-recognition technology, despite reports saying that less than 20% of iPhone users even use Siri.

Get byte-sized messages and alerts from a SmartRing.

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After its successful Kickstarter and IndieGoGo campaigns last year, tech startup MOTA offers a solution to the annoyance of having to find your phone every time you get an alert, ding or chime: a SmartRing. The wearable device is comparable to Apple's iWatch, syncing with your phone to show you who's calling, text, tweeting, etc. on its tiny display.

MOTA co-founder Kevin Faro says the SmartRing allows you "to know exactly what's going on with your smartphone at all times without being rude, if you're in a conversation, or just being really low-key if you're in some kind of a meeting."

LG's flexible, curved phone gets an upgrade.

If you liked the bending iPhone 6 Plus, you'll fancy this new smartphone. While not the first curved, flexible smartphone to hit the market, LG's G Flex2 is a significant upgrade, featuring a much more powerful processor and far more durability for an already extremely durable phone.

Despite the fact that curved displays have not yet caught on in mobile device and television markets, LG is pushing ahead with it.

Would you use any of these gadgets? Why or not not? Let us know in the comments below.

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