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.

See more views

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

Meth Gun

This almost gets away with looking like a hairdryer, save for the hairy arm (see picture) that goes with it. Yep, it's attached to a law enforcement officer. And the weapon in question? A meth gun. This doesn't spit out fierce rays or deadly lead, but the ultraviolet light it emits may just have your name on it if you're a substance abuser. It apparently picks up trace amounts of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs invisible to the naked eye. Fortunately for the men in uniform, there's no need to pack this monster piece in their gun holster. Developer Maryland-based CDEX is working hard to shrink it down to size. And fortunately for the dogs in uniform, the meth gun is intended to supplement the canine narcotics unit, not replace those furface troopers.

Via CNET News.com blogs

Price: About US$10,000, expected to drop to about US$2,000 when in full production
Availability: March 2007, US
Device: Law enforcement detector gun
Basic specs: N.A.

Wizmark Interactive Urinal Communicator

Either inventors are getting more anal, or there's actually a market demand for urinal amusement, most of which appear to be targeted at the male species (now what does that tell us?). So here we go again, this time with the Wizmark which proudly touts itself as "the world's first and only". Maximum headroom comes in the device's ability to display sponsor ads while you are thus engaged and captive. As a business model, though, we'll admit the potential looks limitless: From dirty talk to Dirty Harry spouting "Don't Drink and Drive" and "Say No to Drugs" public messages. Scary thought: Will this last bastion of privacy soon be flushed down the loo? Too late, Big Brother's watching, and talking.

See image #1 | image #2 | On Target Urinal

Via CNET News.com blogs

Price: N.A.
Availability: More info at Wizmark
Device: Electronic communicator
Basic specs: Waterproof, 3.5-inch anti-glare viewing screen with lenticular graphics

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