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

A modern rickshaw for the lazy blader

Imagine an unmanned version of a rickshaw designed to pull along a roller-blader who didn't want to roller-blade. That pretty much describes the "Electric Cruiser" by Mademoto.

This weird contraption is powered by an electric motor that can reach a top speed of just under 19 miles per hour, which is easily fast enough to cause major injury. But that assumes one will be actually pulled in a straight line, rather than using it as a partner for a pairs skating demonstration as it appears in this picture seen on 7Gadgets.

Via Crave CNET

A slob's dream: The ironing clothes dryer

This sounds too good to be true, but we're putting our faith in it anyway because we love the idea so much.

Electrolux, which has already invented the washing machine from the future (ultraviolet light), has outdone itself with the ultimate in next-generation dryers: one that helps with the ironing. The "Iron Aid" steam dryer doesn't exactly iron the clothes, according to Appliancist, but it does have "dewrinkling" feature that adds a steam phase at the end of the regular drying cycle. The 20-minute shvitz is enough to treat five shirts.

The UK-made device is definitely on the pricey side for a dryer, weighing in around US$1,145. But if you detest ironing as much as we do, it may well be worth the money.

Via Crave CNET

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