Vittel has introduced a water bottle cap with a built-in timer. After an hour a little flag pops up on top of the cap, reminding you that it's now time to drink more water. Just in case you forgot. Apparently this is a problem for some people.
The "This Is Me" is a plastic blade that you can put on the end of your finger to help you shovel peas (or any other food) onto your fork. Its inventor, Bob Heller, says he called it the "This Is Me" because that's what he says whenever someone objects to him using his finger to push peas onto his fork.
Heller hopes to start selling "This Is Me"s for $14.95 each later this month. More info at
nydailynews.com.
A Japanese inventor, Hirotaka Osawa, has created glasses (which he calls AgencyGlass) that display a pair of digital eyes, sparing wearers the burden of having to express emotion with their eyes.
The NY Daily News reports:
Just as robots can reduce the need for physical labour, the AgencyGlass — which looks like two small TV screens set in spectacle frames — aims to cut down its user's emotional demands by carrying out their eye movements for them.
It sounds like a nice idea. The "SOCCKET" is an electricity generating soccer ball. So children in impoverished communities, whose parents can't afford electric light, can play soccer during the day to charge the device up, and then use it at night to power a small lamp to read by.
Plenty of money was raised to produce these things and ship them worldwide. Unfortunately it seems that the gadget wasn't field-tested very well, because reports are that most of them promptly stopped working after a few days. So a lot of kids now have an overpriced soccer ball. [
pri.org]
If holding a camera in front of your face and snapping a picture is too much trouble, then you might be interested in the S.E.L.F.I.E. Mirror (which stands for Self Enhancing Live Feed Image Engine).
When you stand in front of it, it automatically takes a picture of you and uploads it to Twitter.
Although, if it's taking the picture, then is it still a selfie? Or is it a mirrorie? [via
slashgear]
With Solafeet you can make your feet match your existing tan... or go for the tanned-feet-only look! It's only $229 (plus shipping). Available only from
Solafeet.com!
It protects your car from hail, plus doubles as an inflatable trampoline for children's parties!
The
July 14, 1952 issue of Life had a photo feature about a contest sponsored by the city of Hammond, Ind., in which schoolchildren were asked to design a better rattrap. The challenge apparently released the inner sadist in some of the kids.
Arnold Knopf's trap: a weight falls, releasing a crossbow which shoots an arrow into the rat's back.
Jim Olsen's contribution: after the rat trips a trigger, a weight falls, jerking a noose tight around the rat's neck.
Steve Miller and Ed Cox designed a rat guillotine that included a basket to catch the rat's head.