Category: Strange + Wonderful

On paper, the idea of a little desktop doggie lamp might be cute, but somewhere along the line it just all went so horribly awry. There’s just absolutely nothing that’s right about this rechargeable LED dog lamp.

It’s always fun to see what sort of quirky tech will come out of the creative minds of Japan’s electronic toy makers. The latest wacky gadget to find its way from Konami’s Party Goods division is the electronic Push-Up Counter.

I’m thinking that this Halloween, I’d like to scare all the neighborhood kids out of their wits with a bunch of these disembodied robo-heads sitting in my front windows. The brilliantly named “Glowing Scary Deaths-Head Toy” looks like your average, everyday metal-headed, Skeletor-robot-zombie until you flip the switch.

Got a few thousand spare compact discs lying around? Designer Belen Hermosa apparently had a few spare CDs and created this funky modern chair out of them. For some reason, I’m guessing it’s not the world’s most comfortable chair, but it sure beats sitting on a bunch of 8-track tapes.

Remember those full-scale Big Daddy statues that I told you about a few months back? Well it looks like you can have one of these creepy characters in your own living room if you’re willing to pony up the dough.

What would you say to a video game console that’s not controlled by a joystick, a mouse or even a Wii-mote, but instead by the relaxing touch of massage? The Massage me jacket lets the person giving the massage get their game on while the person receiving the treatment gets to chill out.

This has got to be one of the best video game promotional items that I’ve ever come across. It’s so simple, yet brilliant. It’s an actual custom-cast brick that was used to promote the classic MAXIS/EA city-building game SimCity 2000.

While this strange pink device might look like some sort of modern hair dryer, it’s not. In fact, the Avurt IM-5 is all about keeping people out of your face, not in it. You see, the IM-5 is actually a high-tech update to the old can of pepper spray.

Planning on asking that tech savvy girl for her hand in wedded bliss? Here’s a way to really make a splash when you present her with that all important ring. The $199 Euricase Ring Box has a tiny 2-inch LCD screen and multimedia player built into the lid.

Every time I think I’ve seen every possible USB flash memory gimmick, another one comes along and does something I never thought was necessary. This flash drive not only stores your precious files, it’s got a built-in cigarette lighter.

All those old Koopa shells lying around are bound to stink up the Mushroom Kingdom, right? So leave it to Mario and Luigi to leave the place clean as a fresh morning dew. Normally, I wouldn’t think that a pair of plumbers would smell all that good after a day wandering through sewers, but these ones are said to keep the air fresh and clean.

Well, I managed to make it through the entire launch week without a single post about Halo 3. Then eBay had to ruin it all for me. I’ve finally managed to find a Halo-related story that wasn’t redundant with the mountain of coverage that’s been out there.

These amazing micro robots measure in at under 1/4 cubic inch in volume, and weigh less than an ounce. Sandia National Labs has developed these tiny automatons which operate on the power of three watch batteries.

If that 312-key keyboard I told you about recently was a little too complex for you to wrap your head around, here’s another electronic musical instrument that I came across, and this one only has 114 buttons.

There’s really not much I can say about this oddity, except that it’s a handmade candle featuring the likeness of Mario, along with what I think are some butterflies and ribbons. The artist says that the outside won’t burn so you can reuse the candle with a tealight inside.

Just in time for that Halloween fog machine, this strange looking contraption will let you make as much dry ice as you want. Just add a canister of compressed liquid CO2, and it’ll do the rest.