Stanford/Reuters Digital Dirt Bike

Developed more for remote villages with little access to the World Wide Web, the Digital Dirt Bike is still one very cool machine. No surprise it picked up the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award for 2003. The handiwork of US-based Whipsaw, a company dedicated to creating innovative products, the Bike is a solar-powered information and communication center on wheels. In rural outskirts where two-wheel chariots are a more practical mode of transportation, the Digital Dirt Bike is the perfect marriage to deliver all the villagers need as a life line to the modern world. Onboard is a notebook computer, printer, camera and satellite phone. The double lid of the weather- and shock-proof box contains solar panels for powering and recharging the equipment. There's even a portable tent for impromptu meetings in open fields. Nice!

Price: N.A.
Availability: On trial in Andra Pradesh, India
Device: Modified computer-on-wheels
Basic specs: Dirt bike, solar panels, notebook, printer, camera, satellite phone, sunshade

MetroNap Pods

The idea of noon-time siesta in workaholic Asia is probably as alien as, well, our pungent century egg is to the Eskimos. So it's interesting to learn that on the other side of the globe, specifically New York, one company MetroNap has developed sleep facilities in Empire State Building. For US$14 a pop, stressed-out cubicle dwellers can walk into a quiet, darkened room filled with pod-like chairs for 20-minute power naps. White noise machines block out ambient noise, while sleepers lie cocooned within the reclining seats, blankets covering their legs and music piped into headphones. These plush spherical cradles gently wake up the sleeper with a combination of vibrations and light. If the idea of power naps sounds attractive, the company also sells and leases its Pods. That said, don't let your boss catch you snoozing at your desk.

Price: From US$7,950
Availability: New York City
Device: Sleep pods
Basic specs: Reclining function, timer activated light and vibration, optional ambient sound system and privacy visor

Mindball

If the mind games being played out in the office aren't enough, here's quite literally a brainwave from Swedish company Interactive Productline. The company dabbles in products for the experience industry and has rolled out--using brain electrical activity--a game called Mindball. While the act of watching a metal ball rumble across the table top is hardly spectator sport, it's what's not visible that's intriguing. The two players apparently control the ball with their brain waves, detected via electrodes embedded in their headbands. These, in turn, are hooked to a biosensor system capable of registering the alpha and theta waves of the players. After all that zen-like focusing, we'd opt for an adrenalin-charged game of foozeball anytime.

Price: US$19,000
Availability: Sweden
Device: Mind strength game
Basic specs: Rubber-coated steel ball, 4ft-long table with magnetic sleigh, biosensor head straps

Hello Kitty ROBO

After nearly 30 years of cute, the lipless feline will now be given a limited range of artificial intelligence. The celebrity cat, which nearly led straitlaced Singaporeans to a riot at McDonald's outlets during a Hello Kitty giveaway promotion, will be able to respond to some 20,000 memorized patterns of conversation by nodding its head and moving its arms, and then some, thanks to robot developer Business Design Laboratory Co. However, only true collectors will likely not bat an eyelash at the US$3,694 price tag.

Price: ¥400,000; US$3,694
Availability: November 1, 2004
Device: Robot
Basic specs: 52cm tall, 6kg, recognizes up to 10 human faces through inbuilt camera, movable arms and head, 20,000 memorized patterns of conversation.

ASP Space Aquarium

The Singaporean passion for Luo Han and Arowana fish could be given a new spin with these drool-worthy aquariums. Conceptualized by Canadian company ASP Aquarium, these elliptical space-age tanks are suspended using an interesting mounting system that turns your fishy hobby into art décor that can be used as a conversation piece or room divider.

Price: N.A.
Availability: Montreal
Device: Home aquarium

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