Large swathes of the globe may be struggling with hunger, disease and poverty, but here at CES some manufacturers are focused on an entirely different topic: The little things that get under your skin. That is to say, the quibbles. The  darn its.” The minor annoyances in life. Remember the “One Laptop Per Child” sub-$150 tablet from last year’s CES, one of the few stabs at a humanitarian effort on the sprawling show floor? Well, that thing is toast. OLPC killed it last fall. Sadly, the numbers just didn’t work out (though a newer effort is reportedly close to launch). What does sell, however, is all the junk hanging on the shelf when you walk into the Apple store or browse the Verizon kiosk in the mall. It’s the little stuff. Case the first: The CordCruncher, a set of earbuds sheathed in a rubber hose, aimed to keep your cords from tangling and knotting up in your pocket — the quintessential frustration of gym-goers taking a power lunch hour to hit the gym and lift. Minor? Perhaps. Maddening? Almost certainly. Twenty-five bucks puts an end to that headache.

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