Black Ice Cool Collar CCX

Given the lukewarm response toward Sharper Image's clunky neck brace, we're not sure which way ZimEx's offering will blow when it's put to the test. The CCX aims to keep the user cool under the collar, literally, at around 13 degrees Celcius. It's easy enough to activate. Dunk it in cold water, a fridge or freezer for 20 minutes, and it's good to give you some cool relief for up to an hour or two, a lot less chill time than Sharper Image's cooling system, but a lot more comfy to don.

Get the big picture here

Via CrissCross

Price: 10,000 yen (US$85.30)
Availability: At ZimEx Inc
Device: Cooling aid
Basic specs: Activated by ice water in 20 mins, maintains temp of 13 degrees C, reusable, can be refrigerated, frozen stays cool for 2 hours, one wrap, two black Ice packs

Peekaboo Chair

If you haven't quite mastered the inscrutable Asian face at boardroom power meetings, take cover with Stockholm designer Stefan Borselius' Peekaboo Chair. It's a felt-covered lounge chair with a difference--an optional hood with transparent plastic front that can be attached for privacy. Or retreat. When the going gets tough, it's shutters down. All that's missing is an automated hinge to bring that plexi hood down at the click of a button.

Get the big picture here

Via Coolest-Gadgets.com

Price: US$2,715 for chair, US$855 for hood
Availability: Check out the info at Borselius Design
Device: Lounge chair
Basic specs: N.A.

Hotaru

Sounds almost like a sushi dish. But Hotaru, which actually means firefly, is more pillow help from Japanese company Lofty, in aid of the sleep-deprived. This one emulates the luminescent flying insect, with one end of the pillow glowing intermittently--all with the intention of creating a soft calming rhythm that is intended to bring on "a good sleep". We'll take their word for it.

Price: 21,000 yen (US$183.12)
Availability: Japan, see e-store
Device: Sleep pillow
Basic specs: 70 x 49cm, outer part nylon 37 percent polyester 35 percent cotton 28 percent, cloth cotton 100 percent, polyester 100 percent luminous unit, polystyrene resin, high brightness LED (orange) x 2, 3 electric batteries not included

Aeropod Aqua

Finding Nemo fans, ahoy! If you're too lazy to keep an aquarium or don't fancy those plastic fish-in-a-tank gizmos that are selling a dime a dozen along street corners, check out the Aeropod Aqua. From the toymakers of the Pack-Man Dust Box comes a fish-out-of-water that will float in the air and sway sideways with the breeze. Unfortunately, unlike those levitating pen gimmicks, this one requires you to plug in to mains to magnetize the upper part of the 16cm ring containing an electric coil and control unit. Omnicl has just four of Nemo's finny pals on offer at the moment. But like all Japanese toys, we're betting there'll soon be a whole cute collection to get customers into a collector's frenzy.

Peek at: Package | how it works | collection

Via Crisscross

Price: 3,150 yen (US$27.47)
Availability: Japan
Device: Toy
Basic specs: N.A.

Disinfecting phone charger

We kid you not. Directly after our editor wrote a Techbuzz piece, Are we breeding germs on our phones?, an email arrived in our inbox from a company called staytalking.com. Its beef? That its coin-operated mobile phone chargers actually disinfect while juicing up your handset. A quick tour of its Web site, which looked more blog than e-store, lists this as one of the benefits, though it never really reveals how it actually nukes those germs. And we may never know since the product retails mainly in the markets of France, Great Britain and Kuwait.

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Price: N.A.
Availability: Kuwait, France, the UK
Device: Coin-operated mobile charger
Basic specs: N.A.

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