Baidu Makes Gadgets and Moves Into E-Commerce

Baidu CEO Robin Li attends the 2014 Baidu Technology Innovation Conference in Beijing on Aug. 3Photograph by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images
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The Google guys can have their glasses; Robin Li has his chopsticks. The billionaire behind Baidu, which chased Google out of the Chinese search market, is keen on showing that his company can be just as innovative as the American tech giant. So at the annual Baidu conference this week in Beijing, Li unveiled some electronic kuaizi that can alert users to potentially harmful substances in their food.

The chopsticks are fun, but probably the more important new product for now is BaiduEye, a light camera users can attach to their ears. If something strikes your fancy, you can quickly take a picture and use Baidu to do a search. “This is like an extension of your eye, a third eye or second brain,” designer Gu Jiawei told Bloomberg News.