Recently in Wierd Category

3 weeks ago we messed up and left our Canon Powershot SD800 IS digital camera in some clothes that went in the washing machine.

We left it a week hoping it would dry out but it was dead. Today we went to throw it out and decided to check it one last time..... the power came on and (after cleaning the lens) it works perfectly!!!

The photo above is proof: a photo I just took of our vegetable garden.

Who do they think will buy this piece of junk? seriously? a 320x240 resolution 2.5" digital photo frame, with just 32mb of memory (yes that isn't a typo, 32 megabytes), that is magnetic so you can stick it to your fridge......

As if the awful size and resolution, almost non-existent memory, and exorbitant $60 price weren't bad enough here's the real kicker: the battery charge only lasts 11 hours!

So twice a day you have to remove you photo frame from the fridge and recharge it (via USB).

What a steaming pile of horse manure.

via ubergizmo

If you answered "a power outlet" then you won't be interested in the "Whirlpool Centralpark Connection" - a new $2000 fridge/freezer whose claim to high-tech magnificence is exactly that: they put a power outlet on the top.

Not just any power outlet of course, it's a power outlet in the correct position to accept one of a bunch of hokey add-ons that other companies are coming out with.

The first add-on available is a $249 8 inch LCD photo frame from Ceiva, other add-ons currently at the prototype stage are an ipod dock with speakers, a WiFi web tablet, and a Qnote message center.

I see two flaws with this product:

1) it is on top of the refrigerator: not exactly convenient for the more vertically challenged housewives (or househusbands).

2) What happens when you are displaying photos, but your son wants to charge his iPod, and your husband wants to use the WiFi web tablet?

I think I just gave Whirlpool their next revolutionary product idea: a refrigerator with TWO power outlets on top!!

Whirlpool Centralpark Connection at CEPro

Some people get a little too attached to their pets, and for those people there's now the ultimate memorial to their little fluffy or tinkerbelle: A digital photo frame (with just 256MB of storage) that doubles as an urn and can hold up to 75lb of your pet's (hopefully cremated) remains.

The urns cost $249, have a 7" screen, and come in you choice of oak or walnut.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my dogs, but I don't want to keep their ashes by my bed when they're gone. Also statistically if I have 4 dogs each with an average 10 year lifespan then I will have at least 24 75lb photo frames piled up by the time I pass on.

What will I do when it's my dog's time? we will go stretch out on the grass and enjoy the sunshine, I will feed him fresh steak and rabbit, and let him lie with his head on my lap while I rub his belly so he enjoys his last few moments on this earth, then once he is gone I will dig a hole, bury him, then head off to the shelter to find a new dog that need a loving home.

Dammit, I think I have something in my eye........

pet urns via ubergizmo

The Sony Rolly is described as being "for those who want to experience music through movement."

In other words once you turn it on and select music it flashes lights and starts to roll and spin in time to the music.

So for $400 you get a lump of plastic with only 2GB of memory that you have to chase around the room when you want to change songs or turn it off (and turning it off would be at the top of my list as soon as I saw one).

Why? why would you buy this? I wouldn't buy this with $20 of someone else's money.

Press release follows.

Sony Rolly via ubergizmo

Maybe there are more professions that would get regular use out of this portable battery power money counter but those two sprung to mind first.

The accucounter V30 is capable of counting and adding up 600 bills a minute and the battery will last up to 20 hours..... lets see, 600 $100 bills a minute over 20 hours..... that's 72million dollars counted on one battery charge.

accucounter via slipperybrick

Now is this cool or what? Yves "FusionMan" Rossy has built a $285,000 jet powered flying wing.

How does it work? he jumps out of a plane and starts the 4 jet engines that provide 200lb of thrust. He can then soar through the air at up to 186mph for up to six and a half minutes performing turns and 360 degree loops before deploying a parachute to land.

He recently crossed Lake Geneva and his next plan is a 22 mile crossing of the English Channel.

Via Yahoo News
FusionMan's web site

Asians love to keep their private parts sparkling clean and the latest bidet being shown at Koreannovation in New York takes thing one step further.

Not only does it have all the usual computerized Asian bidet wizardry such as pressure sensors, underwater nightlights, front and back nozzles, pressure adjustment, and automatic stool bacteria analysis, it comes with a remote control as well......

A remote control with a long enough range to use outside the bathroom, perhaps on poor unsuspecting family members or house guests.

What will those wacky Koreans come up with next?

More toilet humor at Gizmodo

It's been a while since we featured one of the many impractical ideas regularly uncovered by Yanko Design but we had to bring this one to you.....

It is a dresser (or bedside table) with the bottom drawer full of living (not for long) herb plants supposedly kept alive and healthy in that poorly ventilated dark enclosed environment by a low voltage bulb.

Commenter "Vaness" makes a good point saying:

"Awesome idea, but I see a fundamental design flaw - herbs will have a serious problem surviving in such low light conditions. From the picture it is clear that they haven't been in there very long. Mildrew and other fungus, along with elongation of stems will both be serious problems. Herbs by their nature are high-light plants - in less than idea conditions they will suffer disease problems. Also, their aromatic compounds develop best in high light surroundings."

To which the designer gave the non-response:

"simple answer that one Vaness pop a better bulb in their."

I get the impression he didn't really think things through to their logical conclusion when coming up with this idea.

herb garden in your dresser at Yanko Design

Tobacco vending machines in Japan now require proof of age to make a purchase.

Currently this is in the form of a "taspo" age-verification card that must be scanned in order to make a purchase, and the card also has an electronic money function so no cash or separate credit/debit card is needed.

Coming soon, taspo enabled cellphones that act as credit cards..... and then what? will Japan become the first country to move to a cashless society with all transactions tracked and recorded by your personal embedded credit/identity chip.

tobacco vending machine, via Wired

This self-stirring cup invented by French students doesn't exactly stir itself but it does eliminate the need for a spoon.

The glass cup has a ceramic ball at the bottom that you use to stir your drink by moving the glass in a sophisticated elegant stirring motion. So very French.

self stirring cup at gearfuse

So you plug this thing into a USB port and it massages your head.......

I've seem those movies where things that look like this infiltrate your brain, and I know how easy it is for Windows PC to get hacked.

That thing is not going anywhere hear my head, not today, not ever!

USB head massager at tokyomango

So this guy was looking for a way to hide his "sensitive" files (also known as stopping mom finding his adult movie collection), so he decided to rewire a phone outlet so you could use it to access a hidden 4GB USB drive.

He soldered some wires to the USB drive, opened up the outlet and connected the USB drive to the phone plug, built a USB to phone cable, and hooked everything up.

Personally I would have just encrypted my files with some free software like TrueCrypt, but one area where this idea has potential is in security camera recording:

A thief gets into your house and steals the computer where the video from your security cameras is stored, what he doesn't know is that the video is really being stored on a 1 terabyte linkstation mini hidden in the wall behind a phone jack.

source

Here's our weird Japanese gadget of the day.

We have one of those little USB things that heats your cup of coffee but what about when you have something you want chilled (like ice tea maybe)?

The Green House GH-USB-CUP2 (catchy name huh?) does both at the flip of a switch.

Careful though it gets hot: heating drinks to 104 degrees (or cooling them to 59).

What does it cost? 2,780 Yen (about $26.50)

(via akihibaranews)

French researchers have invented a new artificial mouth that mimics the the first steps of digestion - chewing, saliva release, and food breakdown.

The goal is to create a mouth that could become part of a robotic taste tester designed to increase our understanding of flavor and improve food quality.

They tested the mouth by setting it at different speeds and feeding it pieces of apple, they then compared the pieces to ones chewed by a real person. Doesn't sound like much fun to me.

I wonder what conclusions the mouth will reach? "English food is too bland" and "the French use too much Garlic" perhaps.

(via newscientist)

"Crazy Lenny" the Mad Mariner has stress tested a few portable GPS and VHF handhelds: the Garmin GPSmap 76c, the Lowrance iFinder H2O, the Raymarine Ray 101, the Uniden Voyager, and the Uniden MHS 350.

How were they stress tested? dropped them a few times, tossed them around in a cooler of ice and live fish, threw them overboard into a couple of feet of salt water, drove a trailer and boat over them, handed them to a bunch of kids with instructions to break them, and then finally flushed then down the toilet.

A week later he tested them and they all still worked.

(full review at madmariner)

Boing Boing posted about this $30 pet porthole from Hammacher-Schlemmer.

That is the last thing I would put in my fence: I don't want my dogs to see what is going on outside the backyard - if they see things (mailman, UPS truck, someone walking by, a cat) they bark, I don't want the little *bleep* barking all day.

(via boingboing)

This has to be the craziest idea I have seen all day, and I have just spent the last 12 hours trying to find stuff to post here on ShinyPlastic.

The ticketime concept from Yanko Design is a combination boarding pass and watch. First you use it as a boarding pass, then the little seethrough magnetic watch part is set to show the time of your return flight, you keep the little watch as a reminder of when you need to be back at the airport for the return flight, when you get back to the airport you use the watch as your boarding pass for the return flight.

Do they think people don't already have watches?
What happens if people lose their magnetic watch, or it is stolen?
Isn't it just easier to print your return boarding pass online or at the airport?
What happens if the time of the return flight changes and it is delayed or canceled?
What happens if you change your return flight?

I give this idea 10/10 for drugged out stupidity.

(more at yankodesign)

You may be worried about the damage ear buds do your hearing, and you may be looking for an alternative, but please do not buy the soundwalk: you have awful taste in music and I don't want to listen to it.

Yes, now you can subject everyone nearby to whatever musical masterpiece is currently in your playlist. Whether it is Miley Cyrus or Nine Inch Nails I can guarantee your choice will annoy someone.

The soundwalk is coming to the Koreannovation in New York soon, a whole show just for wield Korean stuff that we thought the Japanese had a monopoly on.

(via gearlog)

The New Scientist reported on a headset that can read people's brainwaves. It is powered by thermoelectrics and solar panels and can transmit brainwaves over wifi.

"A lightweight battery-free headset can continuously monitor human brainwaves, and is powered by body heat and sunlight.

The portable electroencephalogram (EEG) device resembles a set of headphones. It could provide wireless monitoring of patients at risk of seizures, have cars or other machinery respond to stressed users, or provide new ways to interact with computer games."

(more at newscientist)