The Beauty and Cosmetics Industry is going through a serious transformation and Shiseido is amongst the leading companies driving this change to make you look better. Shiseido has just launched a Digital Cosmetic Mirror which allows you to test your make-up without even having to pick up a Mascara brush. The in-built camera in Digital Cosmetic Mirror scans your face and gives you tailored recommendations. Choose your make-up options from the list of recommendations and see the results they’ll have on the screen.

Virtual Make up is easy and more importantly, it’s quick!

[ Shiseido ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Gaurav Kheterpal

When you have a gun in your hand, people often advice you – ‘Watch that Trigger’. Armatix decided to take that advice literally and came up with a watch that controls your gun. Wearing a stylish wrist watch is trendy (except this watch is fugly) and owning a gun has its own aura – so if the two can be combined, it offers you the best of both worlds.

The gun won’t work and a red LED will light up if the watch isn’t in close proximity of the gun. The way this unusual combination works is through the watch sending a wireless arming signal to the gun. If the gun picks up the signal, it gets armed and a green LED lights up. Priced at nearly 7,000 Euros, this is quite an expensive affair.

I’m wondering what happens if your watch battery dies out and you need the gun?

[ Armatix ] VIA [ Wired ]

By John Beck

I usually consider myself to be a bit of a tech head, but now and again something comes along which makes me realise how low I really rate on the universal scale of geekery.

The latest blow to my sense of nerdy self worth is SurfaceScapes, a project dreamt up by students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Centre, which aims to create a proof-of-concept for playing tabletop role-playing games on Microsoft’s Surface Table.

Basically, this provides players with a digital environment, which they can interact with using real objects (such as painstakingly detailed miniatures), and also provides automated calculations and visual and audio feedback for actions performed by characters in the game. If that takes your fancy, then watch the video and allow the nasal voiceover to explain things far better than I ever could.

So far, only Dungeons and Dragons is up and running on the prototype system, but fortunately for those whose proverbial boat is not floated by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s magnum opus, the team say it could be expanded to other games in the future.

[ SurfaceScapes ]

by Shane McGlaun

I have stayed in my share of storage hotels over the years. There was one we stayed in during a family vacation when I was young that had more roaches than a Grateful Dead concert. I have also stayed in my share of swanky places that cost more than I care to think about. We have seen our share of long haul airliners outfitted with beds and other features for those long flights from the US to Europe.

A new aircraft called the Hotelicopter has been announced that will offer 18 passengers a travel experience similar to a cruise liner in the air. The Hotelicopter is a massive Mil V-12 prototype helicopter that was built in 1968 in Russia. The aircraft has been updated and augmented with an additional floor and enhancements for efficiency.

The rooms inside the massive copter are as luxurious as a 5-star hotel with queen size beds, a mini bar, Wi-Fi and more. The aircraft itself is 137 feet long, 91 feet high and has a maximum takeoff weight of 232,870 pounds. The max speed is 158 mph and the cruise speed is 147 mph. Updates to the aircraft include aerodynamic enhancements and four GEnx turbofans producing 75,000 pounds of thrust each. The copter will be used for flying tours and will have is maiden voyage this summer. Tickets will sell for an undisclosed amount.

[ Hotelicopter ]

By Jonathan Kimak

Omer Yosha has created a pretty cool instrument. The Air Piano is an electronic piano of sorts that lets you play notes without touching any keys. It uses infrared technology to detect movement and plays a music note based on where the movement came from. If you leave your hand hovering over a spot the Air Piano will sustain the note. It also appears that you can change octaves by raising or lowering your hand over one of the sensors. It seems that infrared technology has come a long way from the days of the Sega Activator (#5).

Each sensor has a set of MIDI commands that create the music. So when this comes out (it’s still in the prototype phase) you might be able to customize each sensor for different notes and sounds.

The video (after the jump) shows the Air Piano in action. Of course to play a 3-note chord you will have to grow another arm or have a good friend that likes to get close. What I’d like to see is some group (I’m thinking Blue Man Group) with at least 3 of these doing a collaborative effort to create full songs with a wave of their hands.

[ Air Piano ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Jonathan Kimak

You may be tired of waiting in extremely long lines for rides like Disney’s new Toy Story Mania. The long waits are especially annoying when the ride itself lasts only a minute. Well, if you have some spare time and a shed full of scrap metal you can do what John Ivers did and build a fully functioning roller coaster in your backyard.

The ride is called Blue Flash and has 180 feet of track and a 360 degree loop. The ride is longer than the wait and you can pretty much go again and again until one of your relatives jumps on it while you are re-experiencing your lunch and hurling it into the trash bin.

VIA [ Offbeat earth ]

Video of the awesome ride after the jump.

By Luke Anderson

I have issues with drinking bottled water. Yes, one of those is because I prefer drinks with a little (see: a lot) caffeine in them. My other big problem is that it’s a huge waste of plastic, as I’ve got a sink that magically dispenses water. Sure, it might not be from some mountain spring, but there’s a good chance your fancy water isn’t either. I’ve got a nice purifier attached to my faucet, and that’s plenty good for me. Knowing that, it’s no surprise that I think that canned air is just retarded.

No, I’m not talking about that stuff you use to blow out the dust from your computer. No, this stuff called Big Ox is intended for huffing. The company refers to it as “power oxygen.” Seriously folks, it’s just air. Strap a pine tree air freshener under your nose and it’ll have the same effect, and it might just make you smell better to boot.

The best part? They’re selling a single 3.5 gram can for $9.99! I’m sorry, there’s nothing you can tell me about this stuff that’ll make me want to fork over $10 for scented air.

[ Big Ox ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By David Ponce

We think Tokyoflash’s watches make amazing gifts, quite simply because they’re unusual and make great conversation starters. And they’re always coming up with new designs. The latest? It’s called “Twelve 5-9 Q Version”. It happens to look like a brushed silver orifice of some sort, which makes it even cooler in our books.

A fusion of the robotic and the organic has inspired a distinctly bio-mechanical feel – a step in a new direction for the series.

The Q version uses the established 12-5-9 method to tell the time. 12 hours, 5 groups of 10 minutes and 9 single minutes. Moving clockwise from the top of the display, the first two lines of LED’s show the hours 1-12, each lit LED indicating one hour. The next line indicates minutes up to 50, each LED showing 10 minutes. The final two lines indicate single minutes 1-9, one LED for each minute.

It’s this sort of maddening complexity in what is usually a simple act (telling time) that makes their products so compelling.

This particular watch costs 14,900 Yen (about $136) 15,900 Yen (about $145), with free shipping. But for the Holidays, OhGizmo! readers get a 1,000 Yen (about $9) discount with the following coupon code: XM38.

[ Product Page ]

By David Ponce

Rarely do you come across artistic genius so keen as to envision everyday objects that look like meat. But that’s exactly what Simone Racheli (an Italian dude) has done. On display at the Paolo Maria Deanesi gallery, his works range from bicycle frames, to irons to delicious toilets. They’re made from plastic, wax and other materials and being works of art, they’re not specifically being sold.

Hit the jump for a bunch of pictures and links.

[ Artist Page at Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery ]

There’s two things in this world that the stereotypical man can’t live without: beer and boobs. Thanks to the makers of the Beer Belly, no man will go thirsty or visually unsatisfied. Aptly named the WineRack, it holds 25oz or 750ml of liquid in a bra like device. Not large enough for the average beer drinker, but who really cares when you’re taking a pull from your girls…bra? No actual pictures of the device seem to exist on the makers website, so a running theory is that they’re testing market demand with ‘preorders’. The device comes in small and medium, and is not recommended for the ‘well endowed’ ladies.

Available here for $29.95

via [Gadgetreview]