The folks at Dream Cheeky are probably not aware that there are several, less distracting email notifiers that don’t take up one of your precious USB ports. While other companies at CES showcased mouth-watering 3D TVs and laptops that turn into tablets, Dream Cheeky brought a USB webmail notifier, which they call the “USB Webmail Notifier.”
Here’s how it’s supposed to come in handy: “This mail notifier connects to your private e-mail account, when you cannot, to let you know when you have mail! It can tell you how many un-read e-mails you have so you can sneak off to the bathroom to check them on your blackberry when you see you have a lot!” Uhhh…what?
That’s just so wrong on several levels. First of all, this thing has to be connected to a computer to work, in which case why not just use any of the myriad bits of computer software out there to notify you of emails? Second of all, if you already have a smartphone, why not use that to see how many unread messages you have? And if this is for people who are not allowed to check their email at work, what could be more freakin’ obvious than a envelope-shaped block lighting up and announcing that you have mail? Am I missing something here?