I’m still trying to figure out if this PR stunt by Krispy Kreme is nothing more than a sight-gag, or an actual giveaway. According to the company’s ‘research’, they found that 3/4 of UK workers felt stressed on a daily basis, but taking a walk in the park was enough to make them feel instantly relaxed. So as a compromise, Krispy Kreme starting giving out these unique sandals to London commuters, which bring a grassy park to their offices.
Krispy Kreme questioned over 1,000 UK workers and found that over half (53 per cent) of urbanites believe their stress levels are affected by a lack of contact with Mother Nature. In response to the problem Krispy Kreme has created the world’s first grass flip-flops to bring summer magic to the city – giving stressed out workers a (literal) spring in their step by creating an instant grassy park underneath their feet regardless of their urban location.
The al fresco flip-flops take up to three weeks to grow and each shoe is covered with over 5,000 blades of grass. If watered regularly the unique footwear can remain in season for over four months – meaning they are the perfect, head-turning summer-accessory for stressed-out men and women.
So, have any OhGizmo! readers in London actually seen or received a pair of these sandals? I don’t really care if they turn out to be nothing more than a gag, since in my eyes Krispy Kreme can do no wrong, but I am curious.
Business has probably been a bit slow for the nuclear fallout and bomb shelter industries ever since the Cold War ended, but in recent years I’m sure things have picked up thanks to a resurgence in paranoia. And that paranoia might also explain why someone would be willing to trust their family’s lives to a $1,500 fallout shelter that’s made from 10-gauge cold-rolled steel. It’s just large enough to accommodate an average-sized American family (46 inches in diameter and 12-feet long) with enough water to survive for a couple of days. Now I know you’re probably skeptical about the whole idea, so let this encouraging piece of PR from the company’s website reassure you.
This shelter would afford fairly good nuclear protection for a cost of about $150 per person. The shelter stay would be very unpleasant, but the occupants would probably survive. It is not at all comparable to a proper civil defense shelter, but it could save the lives of many Americans in a nuclear emergency.
Is someone really going to settle for ‘fairly good nuclear protection’? It’s like they’re comparing radioactive fallout to a chilly breeze, and as long as you block most of it, you should be relatively comfortable. It reminds me of that $15 bullet-proof vest I bought from a guy in a trench coat who assured me it provided fairly good protection from bullets. “You know, one or two might slip through, but it’s a good deal.” Anyways, if movies have taught me anything, the safest place to be if you happen to find yourself at ground zero of a nuclear blast is inside a circa-1950’s refrigerator. If it worked for Dr. Jones, I’m sure it would work for me.
I hate getting my keyboard greasy from typing on it while eating. My simple solution is to not type while I’m eating, or at the very least, to wipe my hands off before typing. However, if this concept piece comes to fruition, then you won’t have anything to worry about when eating and using your laptop at the same time.
These Keyboard Napkins are napkings that…wait for it…sit on the keyboard of your laptop. Thye even feature the outline of your keys so you can keep typing away. Then when you’re done eating, you can wipe your hands off and continue working. Or you could just wipe your hands off before typing and avoid these fancy (concept) napkins.
Have you ever been at a party and went to grab a cold one, only to find nothing but ice in the cooler? Talk about a major buzzkill. Now if there were only a way to lay claim to several beers at once, to ensure you’d have plenty for later. Well that’s where the Beer Belt comes into play.
This handy utility belt allows you to store up to six ice cold brews on your person. While this may seem like a cool idea, you will look like an idiot, and everyone will be looking at you when they run out of beer. Honestly, I think whoever created this $18 gadget should lay off The Simpsons for a bit.
If you’re a fan of heavy earth moving machinery, I’d suggest canceling that Disney World trip you have planned, and instead take the family to an even more magical place known as Diggerland. As far as I know it’s the only ‘theme park’ in the world where kids and adults can drive and operate real construction equipment including back hoes, dump trucks and all sizes of diggers. And surprisingly while you’d expect to find a park dedicated to heavy machinery in the US, it’s actually located in the UK.
But seriously, while I probably wouldn’t plan a family vacation around Diggerland, I still think it would be really cool to spend an entire day playing around with gigantic toys like these. (Legally, that is.) I mean how many times have you walked past a construction site at night and wondered if someone has left the keys in the ignition of that giant excavator? If I was the only one then I don’t think a place like Diggerland would exist.
On the weekend I wrote about the RoboStool which is arguably one of Steve Norris’ more useful robotic creations. Particularly when you compare it to the Stonehenge Robotic Digital Clock which uses a simple robot arm to re-arrange a set of 14 numbered cards that indicate the current time. The name ‘Stonehenge’ comes from the fact that the cards are arranged in a semi-circle around the arm so that the software can easily keep track of where they are. The cards are made from simple foam-core but also feature a set of neodymium magnets on the bottom that stick to metal screws around the base. This ensures the cards are always put back in the exact same position, compensating for any small errors as they’re moved around.
It’s a clever idea and all, except for the fact that it takes the arm almost 50 seconds to change the display from 12:09 to 12:10 in the video below. I imagine if the setup incorporated a more advanced/considerably faster arm the clock would be more practical, though I assume you could also compensate for how long it takes to move around when it comes to calculating what time it should display. But as it stands now, it’s not the kind of thing you’d want to rely on in the morning if you’re always late for work.
Sometimes you see a new product and think, “why didn’t I think of that?” The Bikeboard is definitely not one of those products, namely because I know exactly why I haven’t thought of it. Riding a bike is fun, and people that can actually skateboard seem to think riding one is fun. However, there is nothing about either one of those activities that makes me think that doing both at the same time would be fun.
Essentially what you have here is a really lame scooter. For some reason I picture Marty McFly seeing one of these, trying to confiscate it, and then looking very confused. I can’t say I blame him, I’m still really confused as to why someone would even make this. Even more, I want to know who they think will pay $200 for one.
From the world of crappy USB promotional giveaways comes this combination USB flash drive and highlighter dock. It comes with 3 stubby highlighters in yellow, green and blue colors which will probably last a good 4 weeks, as well as a matching orange USB flash drive in 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB or 2GB capacities. To be honest I’m a bit confused as to the purpose behind the dock having a USB connection, since the flash drive can just be connected directly to your computer, but since it’s supposed to be a promotional giveaway, I guess you shouldn’t look the gift horse in the mouth.
Depending on what you compare it to, this Giant Digital Clock bookcase may or may not actually qualify as being ‘giant’. If you put it next to your alarm clock or even your digital watch, then sure, the glowing LED numbers are actually pretty big, if not giant. But if you compare it to a moderately sized bookcase, it definitely falls far below the giant mark. It’s actually only designed to hold CD jewel cases (people still keep those?) and at just 14 inches tall you’ll be hard pressed to fit anything else larger than a paperback in those holes. There’s no pricing info for the clock on the Anka Manufacturing company’s website, so if you’re interested in picking one up (or several thousand) you’ll have to make a sales inquiry first.
While technically you can turn anything into a ‘fireplace’ with just a pile of fuel soaked rags and a book of matches, this Travelmate portable fireplace is probably a much safer alternative. While it looks like a briefcase, it’s actually made from black powder-coated steel with glass panels on the sides and weighs about 55 lbs, so it’s not exactly the lightest thing to carry around. But it’s completely self-contained and is smokeless since it burns bio-ethanol liquid fuel instead of firewood. And as an added bonus, if you do choose to use it as a briefcase, it seems like the perfect place to permanently “file” any incriminating documents you don’t want falling into the wrong hands.
It’s available from Unica Home for $3,300, and at that price you’d think they’d at least throw in a bottle of liquid fuel, but I’m afraid it’s not included.
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