Gimmicky Giz

Strange artifacts of the USB genre.

Human inventions can often be weird. Take Sir George Sitwell's special egg, for example. I know it's in "fowl" taste to talk about an invention like that in the shadow of the H5N1 genotype Z avian virus (a.k.a. bird flu). But nonetheless... The yolk of the infamous Sitwell egg was made of smoked meat. The white was made of compressed rice. And the shell was synthetic lime. The idea behind it was to provide a nutritious belly-full to travellers en route. Though much splattered across the media, needless to say, this peculiar invention did not hog any salivatory success. Yet, the Sitwell egg pales in comparison to the inventive creations of IT world of today. So this week let's look at a few unusual technological artifacts of the USB genre.


Heated Slippers
Getting cold feet in your Bata hawai chapal? Don these heated slippers, plug the attached cables into your laptop's USB port and start feeling real snug in your lower extremities. Of course, be prepared to lumber around everywhere lugging your laptop and tripping over the tangle of wires trailing you each time you open the door for someone. And going to the loo? Methinks, that's too loony an idea...
www.thanko.jp/usbslippers_dual/index.html


Flowerpot Speaker
No pansy here dude. But you'd have to be a mite potty to have these kinda external speakers rigged up with your PC. And definitely very florid. This fake flowerpot doubles as a set of integrated stereo speakers and 2W amplifier. A USB connection drives the amplifier. What say you to spending $28 on this synthetic flower power that measures 11.5 X 11.5 x 120mm?
www.thanko.jp/flower_speaker.html


Air Darts
Stagnating cubicle warriors, if you find killing flies too messy a pursuit for your idle hours, this gizmo is for you. It's a USB device that shoots compressed-air darts with the help of a mouse. You may learn the finer intricacies of short-range flight trajectories and ballistics in the bargain as well. No precision coordinates required. Missile ready to deployment? Take aim. Fire!
www.marksandspencer.com


Self Destruction Button
Yikes! Unfortunately, the product page of this harakiri-sound-alike device is in Japanese. So we can't glean much about it, but it's not as gruesome as it appears. It doesn't splatter the walls with blood plasma. No gory glory. It only stifles (i.e. blocks) access to unwanted apps on your PC. Oddly contrived device for such a simple op. Odder name.
http://livedoorshop.depart.livedoor.com/item_detail?id=346274


Thumb Drive
It can't get worse. Imagine a thumb--yes, a very realistic human thumb lookalike--sticking out of the side of your laptop. People will think you're wacko for raiding a prosthetics lab for souvenirs. Well, this thumb happens to be $128 MB flash thumb drive and costs $30.
www.ebay.com