The perfect exercise machine for slave labor

Gamercize has been peddling and pedaling exercise machines for some time now, mostly making fitness gear designed to work with game consoles as well as the occasional digital cycle for kids. But this week it's releasing a product aimed squarely at the cubicle set.

The UK company has come up with a "GZ PC-Sport and Power Stepper" combination that can fit under the desk so worker bees can continue their duties uninterrupted while burning off calories without leaving their seats. And here's the kicker: It can be hooked up to the computer by USB so that the keyboard or mouse will work only when the Stepper is in use.

If all this sounds like the trappings of some futuristic labor camp, remember that it could be worse. Your boss could hook you up to a "Walkstation" treadmill instead and make you do 20 laps for each Excel spreadsheet. In fact, we hope ours isn't reading this now.

Via Crave CNET

This Selky keeps you toasty

Though there's really no call to get one in the tropics where the only snow you'll likely get is the static on your TV set, this certainly appeals to our Asian pragmatism.

The Selk Bag is a sleeping bag you basically wear to bed. Think of it as a romper-sized bunny suit you zip up in. So even if the temperature's a nippy -10 degrees C, you can take your bed with you to the loo and back without having to risk certain important body parts to frost bite.

The suit comprises a hood, zippered arm ends so you can get your mitts out, soft-touch nylon lining padded with a Polyester Hollow Fibre Bonded filling, and oddly a limited choice of army green or yellow. But at least you won't be turning a nice frigid blue hue anytime soon.

Via Coolest Gadgets

Ping Pong Door

For those inspired by the campy Balls of Fury but aren't blessed with real estate space (which accounts for the majority of flat dwellers in this region), here's a batty solution from designer Tobias Franzel. Turn that door, yes, door into a table for table tennis. The Ping Pong Door is essentially a portal with a cutout in the middle which can be flipped down and transformed into a ping pong table in seconds. All that's needed is to insert the little plastic net, paddles in hand, and game on.

This naturally works best with wide doors. But since most of us in space-starved Asia have to live with narrow doorways, we've just gotta learn to duck with the ricochets. Or learn to execute flawless kill shots with a wooden serving spoon a la Maggie Q. No word on what this will cost, but we've heard the Ping Pong Door is set to sell early next year.

Via Born Rich

Varibel hearing eyeglasses eye Asian market

Does hearing actually go first as you get long in the tooth? For those who've always feared looking their vintage when armed with dead giveaways like in-ear hearing aids and bifocals, help is fortunately on the way. Taking a cue from Oakley's MP3-playing Thump perhaps, here comes eyewear that hears.

You won't be getting bionic hearing. But what you have is a souped-up hearing aid built into regular eyeglasses. Embedded over the length of each spectacle arm are four tiny microphones which transmit sounds from the front and simultaneously blocks background noise.

This creates "directional sensitivity", so sounds coming from the direction of the wearer’s gaze are amplified while those from ambient surroundings are dampened. This helps to make conversations clearer in noisy environments where standard hearing aids can often be thwarted by background din.

Charging is even simplier. The rechargeable batteries are hidden in the ends of the arms, so it's an easy matter of docking the ends of the frames into a special recharging stand overnight to juice up.

Based on technology developed at the Delft University of Technology, Varibel, which produced the "hearing glasses" in partnership with Philips, aims to showcase this at the upcoming SICEX 2008 organized by Singapore's Silver Industry Committee. Couple this with light-adaptive and no-line bifocal progressive lenses, and being geriatric may not seem such, er, a setback after all.

Heat therapy from the USB port?

The makers of the massage mouse and the MP3 player that does facials have got some competition for the USB port. Another so-called pain reliever that attaches to the computer comes from USB Fever, this one offering to soothe sore muscles with an infrared heat pad.

Although Everything USB says it's light enough that "you should barely know you are using it", we think it looks like a giant suction pad--a large version of the kind they stick to your chest for electrocardiograms. And that may be no idle coincidence: It comes with a disclaimer suggesting that a doctor be consulted before using it. Don't expect this to be covered by insurance.

Via Crave CNET

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