Now these aren’t those cheesy red laser pointers you get at the drug store these days. I had a chance to check out something I’ve never seen before – a violet laser. The 20mW Razor series violet laser ($99 USD) puts out a bright purple point of light which is unlike anything you’ve ever seen coming from a laser pointer. Keep in mind that despite its higher wattage rating and price, the violet lasers are still significantly dimmer than their equivalent green counterparts.

While the 20mW model that I got my hands on was perfect for driving my cat insane, they do offer models all the way up to 200mW, which actually generate enough heat to burn things – or pop balloons…

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They also let me play around with one of their intense green laser pointers, and that sucker sure is bright! Despite the fact that the green Tiger series laser is only a low-power 5mW model, this $29 laser pointer emits a super bright beam that can be seen from hundreds of feet away.

Of course, it’s nothing like their industrial-strength 700mW green laser – also known as the worlds’ most expensive cigarette lighter.

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Warnlaser has a variety of other cool laser pointers available in red, green, blue and violet, and prices range from $29 all the way up to $2500 (USD).

Violet (the makers of those quirky Nabaztag USB rabbits) is about to unleash Mir:ror, a small puck-shaped USB gadget which acts like an interface between your everyday belongings and your computer.

For example, you could place an RFID tag on an umbrella, wave it over your Mir:ror, and your computer would display the current weather forecast. Hold up your cocktail shaker to open the latest drink recipes. Place your remote control on it, and bring up tonight’s TV schedule. The connections you create between the real world and the digital world are only limited by your imagination.

To use the Mir:ror, simply place a tagged object on top of the device, and it’ll automatically execute a task on the machine that you’ve synced up with your items. The Mir:ror can instantly identify many objects with built-in RFID tags, but you can tag pretty much anything you want with their colorful identification stamps (called ztamp:s). Violet’s new web site lets you set up all your devices and applications to work with the Mir:ror.

Violet expects to release the Mir:ror in the US on October 27th, and you can order the $69.99 starter kit (including Mir:ror, 3 ztamp:s, 2 nanoztag rabbits, and an additional skin for the surface) over on Dynamism.

[photos via Neteco]