Fred & Friends always seems to have a way of making their novelty crap rise slightly above the other novelty crap you find at stores like Urban Outfitters. As a result, not only do you feel slightly less guilty about giving their stuff as last minute birthday presents, but somehow you also don’t feel as bad about owning 17 different novelty ice cube trays.
For instance, take this Switch salt and pepper shaker being introduced as part of their new 2011 lineup. There’s literally nothing wrong with the salt and pepper shakers I currently use, but for some reason I have the urge to chuck them out and replace them with this unified solution which uses a large toggle button on top for switching between shaking out pepper or salt. And while it’s no Peugeot pepper mill, the opportunity for hilarious hi-jinx when you swap the salt and pepper is really irresistible. Take that invited dinner guest suckers! Hahaha!
If you were hoping to garner a bit more respect from passing strangers while listening to MP3s about the miracles of rainbows and magnets, I can’t think of an easier way than pretending to be a doctor. So just get yourself a pair of scrubs, and hope that Istanbul-based design shop Antrepo finds a manufacturer to produce their Stetheadphone headphones concept.
As you can see they’re designed to look like you’re wearing a stethoscope while listening to your music, though I suspect you’ll seem a little out of place wearing them outside of a hospital or bank heist setting. And like the earbuds that come with the iPod or iPhone they even feature an inline mic and remote allowing you to make and receive calls, as well as control your music. But feature lists don’t mean diddly squat when a product doesn’t exist yet, so hopefully Antrepo will push to make these a reality for medical school dropouts and doctor wannabes everywhere.
Just because it turns out you don’t have high blood pressure doesn’t necessarily mean that everything’s A-OK with your ticker. So this home blood pressure monitor does you an extra medical solid by also checking for a heart arrhythmia while it’s taking measurements. It uses the “oscillometric method” whereby it takes three consecutive pressure readings and then averages the results, and if it detects that your heart beat is 25% slower or faster than that average, an arrhythmia warning icon lights up on the LCD display. (Personally I’d prefer something a little less subtle.)
And in addition to that large LCD display with its oversized digits, the monitor will also store up to 30 time-and-date stamped measurements for up to 4 different users so you can keep an eye out for improvements or problems developing over time. $129.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer.
If you’re a fan of watches you’re probably already familiar with Nooka. Like Tokyo Flash their designs tend to be very original and unique, though unlike Tokyo Flash you don’t need a masters degree in Cryptography to read the time.
Their latest creation is a collaboration with Karim Rashid called the Yogurt. I have no idea why it’s called the Yogurt though. What I do know is that it features a circular design made from flexible polyurethane with a matching round display that shows the hour with a series of segmented hexagons, and the minutes with a series of dashes that encircle the outer edge of the watch’s face. And it’s available in 6 different colors starting in early February for $130.
If you’re content to listen to your music with the white earbuds included with your iPod, then you’re probably just going to want to move along. But if you’ve got yourself a nice set of Grados and are looking to ‘pump up the jam’ a bit, I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed with Shiit’s Lyr headphone amp which delivers an impressive max output of 6 watts.
But all that power doesn’t mean the Lyr is only pegged for audiophiles with expensive tastes. The amp features what they call a ‘Dynamically Adaptive’ output stage which “works by sensing the current flowing through the output stage, and dynamically reconfiguring from Class-A single-ended to push-pull Class AB.” Yep, it’s all Greek to me too, but in the end it means the amp will work just as well with high-end cans as it will with low-impedance and low-efficiency models. But if you do happen to be very discerning when it comes to your audio gear, the Lyr even features swappable tubes. By default it comes with a pair of JJ ECC88s but if you’d like a different sound signature you can swap in your preferred tubes instead.
Just don’t be surprised that it will set you back $449 when it’s available in March. But that comes with an unlimited supply of ‘Schiit’ jokes.
The Little Round-Round-Land Cups feature a unique design with 2 saucers stacked atop each other. The upper saucer has a series of images around the outer edge that reflect in the platinum coated mirrors on the tea cup. And the upper saucer can be spun with a flick of your finger creating a merry-go-round like effect on the cup. Now maybe referring to it as a zoetrope is a bit of a stretch since it never really produces a true animation effect, but the idea is kind of similar.
Available from the Molla Space store in a Merry-Go-Round or Adventures in Wonderland pattern for $70. (And that’s for just one cup and saucer set as far as I can tell.)
When you think about it, slot car racing really isn’t that exciting. But when you’re younger and lacking a driver’s license, it’s one of the few options you have for racing exotic supercars with your friends. And thanks to a healthy dose of good old imagination, I remember many slot car races being as exciting as an episode of Top Gear. Can’t say I’d feel the same way though if my 1:24 scale Lambo or Ferrari were replaced with a guy on a bike wearing Speedos.
Gearing up for the marketing blitz that will be the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Hornby recently unveiled this new take on the slot car track. It’s a Scalextric Velodrome that features a couple of competitive cyclists adorned in Great Britain livery. They’re still electric powered, so it’s not like racing requires any physical exertion on your part, but all the twists, turns, crossovers and other exciting elements that make modern slot car tracks so entertaining are gone. Instead they’re replaced with a decidedly boring oval with slightly banked corners…
We all love LEGOs as that awesome part of our past where we could make anything out of blocks. There is now a way to bring that nostalgic part of your life with you wherever you go when you eat. The Snack & Stack utensils are a set of three pieces of silverware with stackable lego-esque handles. These can fit into your lunchbox, picnic basket, satchel, or purse.
Even if they’re not right you for you, they’re awesome for kids, and very easy to keep track of. When it comes to kids, finding the mini version of everything they own and keeping it together can be a pain, so things that stack are definitely a blessing. This set will likely take up less drawer space and will be a lot of fun if you add other LEGOs to them. At $22, these easy to find utensils are worth every cent.
In keeping with this week’s unofficial theme of strange new sports like 360ball, today we bring you something truly unique and original. The sport is either referred to as ‘Sporthocker’ or just ‘Hockern’ for short, and involves the use of a specially designed stool called a ‘Hocker’ that one performs tricks with. Think of it as a hard to describe mix between skateboarding, juggling, hacky sack and um… sitting. The easiest way to understand it is to simply watch the video I’ve included below.
Now here’s the deal, I’ve been on this internet thing long enough to know that you really can’t trust or believe anything you see online. And I’m really trying to find any little clue or hint that this is nothing more than an elaborate prank put together by some European comedy troupe, but I can’t. In fact like skateboarding, there already seems to be a wide assortment of uniquely decorated and adorned Hockers to choose from. So who knows, maybe the fad will soon catch on like wildfire and spread around the world. I mean what culture doesn’t like sitting? It could end up being the world’s most perfect sport!
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