Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Yep, another day, another novelty alarm clock. This time it’s a miniature version of DDR that requires you to follow the pattern of the light-up dance pads with your fingers! So if finding the snooze button is a monumental task for you every morning, there’s probably no chance you’ll be able to turn this thing off. But at just $16 from ThumpsUp! it’s not that expensive to replace should it accidentally have a fatal run-in with the wall.

[ Finger Dance Alarm Clock ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Andrew Liszewski

We originally brought you the Phantom Keystroker back in March of 2008, and at that time it was a rather homebrew-looking device that even my grandmother would find suspicious if she found it attached to the back of a computer. Well ThinkGeek’s now selling the Phantom Keystroker V2, and while the latest model actually looks like a professional product, it’s still far from what I’d consider ‘phantom.’

Like the original, the Keystroker V2 will emulate a keyboard and mouse attached to the victim’s computer, and will periodically make random mouse movements, toggle the caps-lock and throw out random bits of text. The new version’s also got a set of switches on the side allowing you to choose what events will actually plague the PC it’s attached to, as well as how often they occur. Convenient, but once again they make the device look rather suspicious were someone to discover it. $12.99 from ThinkGeek.

[ Phantom Keystroker V2 ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

First there was Tengu, then there was a wooden Tengu, and now you can get one of three new versions known as the Tengu All Stars. They pretty much do exactly what the original version of Tengu did, except these come with the addition of a rocking head of hair and actual personalities! From left to right you’ve got Rotten, Stardust and Woodstock and each one includes a set of decals allowing you to dress them up with sunglasses, facial hair, tattoos and other musical genre appropriate adornments.

All 3 are available from the Tengu website for about $40 each.

[ Tengu All Stars ] VIA [ technabob ]

By Evan Ackerman

Somewhere in your house, you have some small object that desperately needs to be levitated. Desperately. Me? I’ve got a single serving box of Cheerios that’s crying out for liftoff. The Levitron Revolution is capable of lifting up to 4 ounces of anything you want. The little bowl on magnetic fields, slowly rotating, illuminated by lighting from the base, forever. Or at least until you shut it off; I’m assuming it’s got an electromagnet in there somewhere. Yeah, you have to put your thing in a special bowl to get it to levitate… A machine capable of levitating small objects (like frogs) sans a magnetic platform is a wee bit more complicated.

Although there’s no specific pricing or availability yet, it should be out sometime before the holidays for (my guess is) somewhere between $50 and $100.

[ Fascinations ] VIA [ BBG ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Well it looks like Lucas has completed yet another trilogy. First we brought you the Plush Yoda backpack way back in 2006, followed by the overly hairy Chewbacca Backpack in 2007, and now it looks like the Sith Lord himself, Darth Vader, is finally getting the backpack treatment. Unfortunately there’s just something about seeing a 3-foot version of Vader hanging off of someone’s back that makes the character seem a whole lot less menacing. If you only knew the power of a nice understated courier bag…

StarWarsShop.com has them for pre-order for $39.99, and they’re expected to ship sometime in August of this year.

[ Star Wars Darth Vader Back Buddy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

According to the Hollywood Collectibles Group website, Terminators are actually powered by a nuclear fuel cell embedded in their chest. Do you remember that scene in T3 where Arnie digs his out of his chest and tosses it out the window when they’re driving through the desert? Yeah, that was a terrible movie. Hey Terminator? Do you now know why I cry?

But if you’re a still a fan of anything greater than T2, you can now own a miniature replica of those very same nuclear fuel cells as seen in Terminator Salvation (I assume) without the risk of massive radiation poisoning. Because instead of any radioactive materials, the lighter is filled with butane, and instead of bringing a Terminator to life, it can be used to light cigarettes and kill humans.

It’s available for pre-order on the HCG website for just $19.99, and is expected to ship sometime in the 2nd quarter of 2009.

And I guess I’ll declare this unofficial movie tie-in Wednesday here on OhGizmo!

[ Terminator Salvation Fuel Cell Lighter ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I kind of wish I’d stumbled across this updated version of Russian Roulette, which features a novelty handgun designed to simply pop-up a balloon, before I threw that Deer Hunter themed birthday party for myself last month. I mean the decorations went over well, but things kind of took a turn for the worse when the games started. On the bright side, there was a lot of birthday cake left over at the end of the night.

Get it from the EarlyShop for about $16 and save yourself the trouble of having to write a bunch of “Thank-you” and “I’m sorry for your loss” cards like I did.

[ Russian Roulette 2 ] VIA [ ALT1040 ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I mean think about it, no matter how clever you think you are, you’re eventually going to get caught for your heinous deeds. And when the police finally you bring you in, there’s the mug shots, the paparazzi waiting outside, and countless other times when you’re going to get photographed. The last time I checked (and I check quite often) there’s no law against looking good in a mug shot, so instead of choosing a standard bowie knife, you might want to opt for a Combmando instead. They’re made of acrylic, so they’re lightweight and stylish, and you can apparently actually order one from studiobo for just $17.

P.S. They’re probably also another thing you can file under ‘items you don’t want to stick in your carry-on luggage.’

[ Combmando Comb ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Now that I think of it, I haven’t had a juice box in years, but if I were to find one on a store shelf that was packaged like these, how could I pass it up? Created by Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa, the juice box’s packaging is supposed to be more appealing to the eye by imitating the actual fruit they contain. As Naoto puts it; “I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin.” If anything, the novelty factor is through the roof, and on a side note, is there anything more refreshing than a box of banana juice? I don’t think so.

[ Toxel.com - Fruit Juice Packaging by Naoto Fukasawa ] VIA [ Cribcandy ]