If Only I Had It

Looking for an amusing gift? The Poking Man Pen Stand is one funniest desktop gadget that I’ve seen. It’s a pen holder which you put your pen on to fill up the poor little man’s asshole and he will cry and raise his head. Well, somehow I feel pitiful for this little man. While he’s on your work desk for sure he’ll get all the tortures by your dirty hands! Be sure you equip it with two AA batteries in order for him to respond well to all your brutal acts.

This is kinda cute to have on the table. I just bought myself one and hope to get it before Christmas.

You hear some crazy stuff on the grapevine but this has to be one of the craziest stories! Rumours go that Sega is going to make a come back with the Sega Dreamcast!

How did this all get started? Well it seems that Sega renewed some copyrights back in August and updated some of the features, to include such things as “floor pads” which might lead you to think that they are planning a comeback to rival the Wii, and maybe to deliver a “Wii Fit” type package!

I imagine its more that some of their back catalogue is going to be made available, maybe with updates to include new hardware than they are trying to protect. Who knows!

However its a nice story and I for one would welcome Sega back into to the melee. They say that they are “very happy being a platform agnostic company” and hey, I’d agree with that, but to survive in this market, they need to start producing some quality games and not relying on re-hashed hits.

Haven’t you often experienced how strenuous is to speak out loud over phone when the surrounding noise is just too huge? You may feel it would be better to hang up the phone and make a call later. But what if that was an urgent call and you can’t miss it. Nothing can be more annoying can this situation. For those folks who are striving for a better two way communication medium here is a piece of exciting news exclusively for your bunch.

Sanyo with NW-ELEX has unleashed in Japan world’s first earphone microphone. This new technology eliminates the surrounding noise and sends a clear voice to the speaker end. Apart from extracting your voice from the noisy murmur, the earpiece allows you to listen to the conversation without any discomfort.

This brand new earpiece microphone is expected to make a remarkable wave in the communication industry as well as entertainment sector. The earphone could be very well be used in radios or any other electronic stuff where a microphone fits in.

Of course good stuff will also cost good. The introductory prices are speculated to be around 40,000 yen for wired version. A commercial launch will shoe off in April 2007, though it may take more time for a wireless launch at 60,000 yen.
 

Lets face it, you’re one of the impatient ones, who can’t wait for the few minutes for a piece of brown bread from your toaster. You’ll always yell for much speedier toaster. Here comes the Turbo Toaster that can do it in less than a minute, which it takes just 50 seconds!

The Turbo Toaster seems to get inspired by a jet aircraft engine. It’s got a turbo fan on its side which sucks in air. And the air gets heated by the metal elements and blasted at the bread, making toast in trice. The Turbo Toaster is still in its prototype stage, which still has lots of rooms for improvement for its speed.

The designer, Oliver Newberry, who came up with this idea, was simply because of a conventional toaster always gave him some kind of frustration i.e. his Heinz beens would have always gone cold by the time the toast was ready. So, he did it on behalf of Heinz!

The one thing I hate about driving a car is when i have to spend hours trying to find a parking spot. And finally, when I get one, it is a paid spot with a parking meter that gobbles up my quarters, and as luck would have it, I dig into my purse to find that I’m out of quarters!! Oh, how I’d love if these meters would start accepting credit cards!! That’s a thought that crosses many minds several times a day, and one such mind belonged to Fred Mitschele, who figured out how to make money out of this simple thought.

In cities like New York and San Francisco, where parking is really hard to find, you see patrol cars taking rounds to find a car parked against an expired meter so they can immediately make money by issuing you a fine or a ticket. But in smaller cities, lots of such fines go unpaid, denting the pockets of such governments. On the other hand, customers are looking for an alternative form of payment for such meters, so they don’t have to finish their dinner in a hurry before the 1-hour parking window expires.

Photo Violation Technologies, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has found the perfect solution. The newly re-invented parking meter allows you to swipe a credit card rather than hunt for coins, and what’s great is that you can leave your cell phone number with it, and it’ll call you when your time is up, and also provide you with an option of putting additional time on the meter, without returning to your car!! And for those who take the law lightly, the PVM will take a photo of your car’s license plate if you fail to pay your dues! Amazing and Perfect!! Just the way you need it. Now only if they figured out a way to park your cars too!!

Mitschele has partnered with IBM to finanace a $1 million trial, installing 300 PVM’s in Niagara Falls, SFo and Vancouver. When the trial ends in July 2008, Mitschele hopes to make upto $200 million in 5 years. Not bad at all!!

New Zealand has given birth to adventurous stuuf like bungee-jumping, flying-by-wire and jet skiing. The first person to conquer Mount Everest was a Kiwi too; so its no wonder that in their craving for thrills, the 2 natives Andrew Akers and Dwane van der Sluis come out with yet another bizarre activity called “Zorbing” which is sure to send an adrenaline rush!!
“Zorb” is basically a huge 3.2 meter inflatable transparent sphere made from PVC. The inside of the original zorb has 9 straps to keep the rider in place. So you are wearing a harness, and are tied to the periphery while you yourself experience as if you are floating. For the more adventurous people out there, you could also try the Hydro Zorbing, in which instead of a harness, you are cushioned by water. Once you’re in, the fun really starts as the Zorb is launched down a hill and reaches speeds of up to 50km per hour, while you roll and bounce around inside. The clever bit is that there is an air cushion of two feet between you and the ground, so you are completely safe! And priced at about 30 dollars for 15-20 second ride, its a reasonably-priced thrill. If you are too chickened to go alone, the zorb has 2 compartments to take your 2 friends with you!

In the words of the founder (Akers) himself - “The experience is bizarre, funny and exhilarating. The most common reaction inside the Zorb is to be screaming with laughter - people exit from the Zorb with a massive smile on their faces and tears of laughter in their eyes.”

There are permanent Zorb sites in Europe, Asia, Australia and of course New Zealand. its a sport that is picking up as it affords a new set of thrills. So if you aim to be an astronaut, but that seems too far-fetched, I bet being a zorbonaut would come close!!