By Andrew Liszewski

As if it wasn’t bad enough you had to reach for a sticky note every few minutes in order to remember something, this cleverly designed memo pad also reminds you that you’re probably going to lose your hair, in addition to your memory, as you get older. It was created by the JWT advertising agency in Hong Kong for a hair revitalizer called Pantogar, and I assume if you weren’t lucky enough to get your hands on one already, you never will.

[ I Believe in Advertising - Pantogar: Memo Pad ] VIA [ Inspire me, now! ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Teddy bears and plush cartoon characters might make a baby’s room look more appealing, but where’s the educational value in those? I say you should replace their favorite stuffed animal with one of these plush planet Mars and before they even hit kindergarten they’ll already be familiar with the detailed cartography of the red planet. This stuffed version includes labels of over 400 places on the planet’s surface, and comes with a fact sheet that’s probably ideal for use as a bedtime story. Get it from CoolStuffExpress for just $18.99.

[ Hugg A Planet Mars ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Evan Ackerman

Somewhere in South Korea lives a chicken. This chicken lays eggs that are, in fact, reasonably attractive and potentially useful computer peripherals. Break one open (the two halves are joined by magnets) and inside you will find 4 watts of yolk-y audio goodness with a built-in digital amplifier. Designed for things like PMPs and Netbooks, the Eggy speakers are USB powered, and while the picture makes them look seamless and slick, the USB wire and audio-in wire and the wire that connects the left and right speakers are sure to make a mess of things, and I also have no idea where the little speaker stands come from. So, the concept is pretty cool, but in real life things may look a bit different.

S&J Co. has the right idea here: instead of designing electronics, just wait for some freak of nature to design them for you… If you have an infinite amount of chickens laying an infinite amount of eggs, you’re pretty much guaranteed that one of those eggs will be a pair of speakers (or anything else you want, for that matter). I’m sure S&J Co. doesn’t actually have an infinite amount of chickens (an infinite amount of anything presenting some significant logistical challenges), but that doesn’t preclude them from getting lucky with a finite amount of chickens, which is obviously what happened.

The Eggy speaker will be putting on an appearance at CES 2010, and if S&J Co. picks up some distribution channels, we should all feel very sorry for their poor mutant chicken.

[ Press Release ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’ve no idea when and where one could get their hands on this thing, but Toshiba’s Escargot vacuum cleaner, which was designed in collaboration with Electrolux, is really one nice piece of eye candy. Everything rolls up or fits into the space between the large brushed aluminum wheels, and the cyclone vacuum means it’s no slouch when it comes to cleaning either. However, if I had this thing rolling around my apartment (it can also be carried with a shoulder strap) I’d be embarrassed to let it find it any dust or dirt on my floors. I just know it would look down on me.

[ designboom - toshiba escargot vacuum ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While I wouldn’t rely on it for any professional work, the fact that the iPhone gained video recording capabilities with the 3GS has occasionally come in handy. But image quality issues aside, the hardest part about using it to capture video I find is keeping the phone steady, though I can’t say I’m willing to shell out $129.99 for this slightly over-engineered solution.

The OWLE mount provides a more ergonomic solution for holding your iPhone while capturing video, and the fact that it’s made from anodized aluminum should provide enough weight to make it easier to keep steady. The phone fits inside a silicon case, which then slips into the mount itself, and there’s even a boom mic which attaches to the iPhone’s headphone jack for capturing slightly better audio. It comes with a 0.45x wide angle/macro lens, but it also accepts any 37mm mount lenses if that doesn’t suit your grand cinematic vision.

[ OWLE iPhone Video/Audio Rig ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s nothing like a warm, crackling fire this time of year, but why take the risk of using an open flame to to get a log burning, when the Looftlighter can do it with nothing more than hot air. Well to be more specific, it uses really hot air, like in excess of 1000 ° Fahrenheit, which can apparently get a fire going in as little as 15 seconds with the right combustibles. It does need to be plugged in, making it useless for camping or the outdoors, but $80 from ThinkGeek for the world’s most awesome hair dryer is still totally worth it!

[ Looftlighter ]

By Evan Ackerman

There must be something addicting about head massages. That’s the only thing that can explain the number of bizarre and expensive head massage gadgets. Like, it must be that if you get head massages too frequently, you start to crave them, and become willing to spend however much money and endure however much ridicule and social ostracization necessary to get your fix. The latest and arguably least weird way to give yourself a head massage comes courtesy of the OSIM uCrown 2 “soothing head massager with music,” which uses “a combination of patented air pressure technology, vibration massage, magnetic therapy, gentle heat and soothing music” to do whatever it is a good head massage does. It runs on AA batteries, meaning that you can wear it out of the house, but if you do, I would suggest that you find yourself an even more ridiculous looking hat to cover it up with. $200 from where else by Brookstone.

[ Brookstone ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Evan Ackerman

While we’re still (apparently) a long way away from the mythical standardization of cell phone chargers, more and more phones (and other gadgets like portable music players and digital cameras) have come to rely on (or at least accept) USB connections for recharging. The current supplied by most USB connections probably won’t charge your gadget as fast as whatever proprietary wall plug that came with it, but the epic level of convenience of only needing one plug and one cable more than makes up for it.

Unless you need to charge two things at the same time, in which case multiple powered USB ports are a necessity. Your laptop probably has multiple powered USB ports, but sometimes leaving your laptop plugged in and turned on just to charge some stuff isn’t especially convenient, sometimes you don’t want to carry around your laptop at all, and sometimes you just don’t want to deal with all the crap that happens when you plug something in that also uses USB to transfer data.

So after all that ranting, you’re probably expecting some kind of fantabulous thing that will solve all of your USB charging needs. Sorry. All I’ve got is this wall jack that has TWO USB charging plugs instead of ONE. And it’s small and black and has foldy plugs. And it only costs $7. Find it at USB Geek.

VIA [ CrunchGear ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

Not all gaming gadgets have to be full of high tech wizardry. Sometimes it’s the simple ones that end up being essential to a gamer’s way of life. I’ve got three consoles and 7 controllers in my living room that all need to be charged in one manner or another. A simple gadget that simplifies this process would be wonderful. Konnet has sent over a Power Pyramid which is supposed to make recharging my PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers a little easier.

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