While it might look like one of those wacky Japanese potato chip holders that Karl Pilkington was using on An Idiot Abroad’s Mount Fuji episode, the Terebi no Te is actually a remote control for your television. To turn on your TV using the Terebi no Te, simply wave the wand vertically. A horizontal gesture changes channels or volume, depending on the button you’re pressing. They call this technology “FNS” or the “Finger Navigation System.” Nice initialism there.

It also can be used to flip pages in a paper TV listing (using “FSS “- the “Finger Skip System,”) and even has a light up LED fingertip (The “FLS” – “Finger Lighting System”) so you can read in the dark. Does anyone still use paper TV listings, though? Anyhow, its functionality seems pretty straightforward to me. Let’s see if this video can muddy things up for us a bit.

Ok, that was just weird. And is it just me, or do they have a TARDIS in their house? Pause the video about 13 to 15 seconds in and you’ll see what I mean. Maybe that’s where that strange lady with the Beehive hairdo came from.

In case you’re still wondering, this thing works with TVs from Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Pioneer, and Victor, but I doubt it’ll work to control a cable or satellite box, so keep that in mind.

If after watching that video, you’re still convinced you need one of these remotes (or something to pick your nose with) you can pre-order one over at the Japan Trend Shop for $44 (USD).

The incredible SawStop system uses capacitive sensors to detect when you accidentally touch the deadly spinning blade with your flesh. The SawStop can detect skin within 5 milliseconds, and as soon as it senses flesh, an aluminum brake springs into action, stopping the blade and forcing the blade beneath the top of table. Power is instantly shut off at the same time. Your finger might get a little nick, but the injury potential is greatly limited by the system.

The technology manages to stop a saw that’s spinning at 5,000 RPM dead in its tracks. If you don’t believe it, check out this video of Steve Gass, SawStop’s creator, who’s so confident in his invention that he sticks his own finger right into the path of a spinning saw blade.

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Sure, the mechanism pretty much destroys the saw blade and the mechanism in the fraction of a second that it takes to stop the blade on a dime, but I’d rather destroy $69 blade cartridge than lose my digits. And if you don’t believe it, check out these images of actual customer’s fingers which have been spared by SawStop technology.

Plus, as we learned from the video, it will also prevent hot dogs from being mangled – in case you frequently drop those into the buzz saw.

[via Make:]

It’ll definitely take some time to get used to the I-T Click Click because its controls are as weird as its name. The button on top serves as the left click button, while the button on the side is the right click. There’s also a scroll wheel on the right edge of the mouse. Looking at the picture, we can see how you can actually use your ring finger to scroll so you won’t have to move your index finger.

The I-T Click Click is currently available in Japan only. Online store Rakuten is selling it for ¥1,280 ($14 USD), down from its regular price of ¥1,980. Why is it discounted? Because Suvil just released the I-T Click Click 2, which is about 1.5 times larger than the I-T Click Click. The bigger  model also features a rubber top as opposed to the plastic cover of its smaller sibling. The I-T Click Click: because “finger mouse” would just be too naughty.

[via techfresh via SlipperyBrick]

The unusual computer controller features over 30 touch points which can be used to interact with your games and other software like you’ve never done before. Each glove can be custom calibrated to your own unique touch and hand size, and each touch point can be mapped to your computer keys using the included configuration software. Since the glove emulates keys on your keyboard, you can play just about any game with it – although it’s probably best for RTS and MMORPG games. But I’d still like to try playing MAME with one.

The military-grade glove attaches to your computer with a breakaway magnetic connector pod that’s designed to breakaway in case you get too raucous when thrashing around.  And since it’s a standard HID-compliant USB device you can use it with Windows, Mac OS and Linux computers without a problem. (though the configuration software is only coming for Windows and Macs).

Check out the videos below to see the Peregrine in action:

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Peregrine expects to start shipping the glove in early 2010 for $129 (USD) – $20 off of the regular price, and you can pre-order yours here.

These pint-sized electronic steel drums can be played with a simple touch of your finger, with each pad representing a distinct note from the major scale. The mini drums can even record and play back your musical compositions – as long as your composition isn’t any longer than 25 notes. With the full Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do in its arsenal, you can improvise a reggae (or is that ragga) version of your favorite jams with ease. Heck, check out some of the tunes the Vat19 guys cranked out in this here vid clip:

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Hmm, I can’t decide if I like that steel drum Mario Bros. or reggae Biz Markie better. You be the judge.

Ready to be jammin’, mon? Just head on over to Vat19 and bang out a pair for just $18.95(USD).

Just strap the open-fingered glove around your wrist, put your digits through the fingerholes, and get to stretching the tiny elastic exercise bands. By stimulating hard to isolate finger extensor muscles and tendons in your hands, wrists and elbows, you’ll build up hand strength you never knew you had. All the better to kick your ass in Tekken 6 when it comes out this fall.

And even if you’re not constantly glued to your game console, the Xtensor can help you keep your hands, arms and wrists in shape whether you’re an avid golfer, tennis player, spend your days in front of the computer keyboard, or frequently use your hands for (um) something else (nudge, nudge).

So give your fingers a hand and grab an Xtensor hand exerciser over at ThinkGeek for $39.99 (USD).

[via The Gadgeteer via OhGizmo!]

Bandai’s new Tuttuki Bako handheld interactive plaything requires you to twiddle your finger around inside the orifice to play with a variety of virtual characters on an LCD screen on the front of the device. Think augmented reality Tamagotchi, and you’ve pretty much got the point.

There are six play modes ranging from pushing around a tiny little person, to ticking someone’s nose, to petting a pint-size panda bear. All very weird indeed.

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Now that you’re all hot and bothered from that video clip, I bet you’re just dying put your finger in one of these. Just gather up your ¥3610 (appx. $37 USD), get your Katakana to English dictionary out and head on over to the Rakuten Strapya shop.

Available from Perpetual Kid, the remote-controlled electroluminescent sign ($40) can be set to display a multitude of digit combinations. You can even animate the fingers in sequence. But there are only a couple of signs that I think would be of much use for most of my roadtrips.

I suppose if you’re more mellow than me, you might tell the a-hole behind you to “hang loose”, or you could flash the subtle “L” sign to let them know what a loser they really are. But who are we kidding? I’m pretty sure most of the time you’ll set it to flip the bird to the driver in your rearview mirror.

Speaking of flipping the bird…

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The minuscule speaker has a built-in rechargeable lithium battery which will give you about 4 hours of play time on a single charge from your computer’s USB port. A cleverly concealed 3.5mm audio connector folds out from the side of the speaker so you can plug it directly into the jack on your portable media player. There’s even a hole that lets you easily hang it from your keychain. Amplification is rated at 0.8 Watts, which is actually more than I would figure from something quite this small, but it’s certainly not going to make any eardrums bleed.

You can get your hands on the fingertip cube speaker from gadget shop USBfever for just $9.99 USD.

The new biometric system can measure the unique signature of the blood vessels in your fingers to authenticate transactions. Once you register your “vein signature” with your credit card company, your vascular pattern is the key to unlocking your funds.

Hitachi plans on starting to test their Finger Vein Technology in real world applications this Fall, using 200 of their employees. They’ll be able to purchase items at the company’s corporate shops and cafeteria using the new payment tech.

All in all, the premise of payment authentication systems which don’t rely on simple numbers and key codes seems like a really good idea to me. I’d have to think it would be a lot harder to copy someone’s blood vessels than their credit card number.

[via NikkeiNet via Pink Tentacle]

The wonderfully-named iSmudginator is a bit of interactive Flash that lets you simulate what will happen to your shiny new iPhone after you’ve put it through it’s paces. Not only does it do a glorious job of emulating smudges, but you can even enable a scratching option to do some real virtual damage. Heck, you can even “answer phone” and leave your nasty ear grease on the screen.

Now from what I’ve heard already, the real iPhone isn’t that much of a smudge-magnet. I suppose the author could always swap out the image and rename it the PSPsmudginator.

[via DownloadSquad]