Thanks to the BBC’s Chris Hogg for bringing these must-have new gadgets to my attention. From Tokyo to Vienna to you:
What makes this ‘phantom mouse’ different from an ordinary mouse is the red button in the middle. If someone surprises you when you are looking at a website you shouldn’t be, one click of that button and the browser disappears instantly from the screen and the task bar. Vendors say it is much faster than clicking closed a window in its corner. You can also set it to swap your ‘dodgy’ window for a more appropriate one. Unsurprisingly, they say they sell a lot to secret porn surfers.
Skin scrutiny
This is a microscope, powered by the USB port on your computer. The manufacturers suggest you use it to check your skin for blemishes or your teeth for marks. It comes with software that allows you to measure what you’re looking at on the screen, just by saving the image and dragging your cursor over it.
Coffee control
The Japanese love to drink coffee in cans from vending machines – warm in the winter, cool in the summer. These USB powered platforms keep your drink warm or cool – although the risk is that it is easier to spill it all over the keyboard if you keep it close to the computer.
Muscle mouse
For those who worry that those hours at the keyboard are leaving you flabby, the ‘muscle mouse’ might be the answer. Stick the pads onto your muscles, anywhere you want to tone, and using power from the computer, electrical pulses will be sent to the pads to tone your flab. You can adjust the strength of the pulses by pressing a button on the side of the mouse.
Mirror, mirror
For those who spend a lot of time chatting to friends online, this ‘magic mirror’ has a USB camera fitted under the surface. The manufacturers say looking into the mirror while you chat allows you to express yourself better while looking directly at the camera lens. Twenty-four LED lights around the mirror are designed to make sure you look your best
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Stealth cooling
Hiroyasu Yamamitsu, an Akihabara store owner, is demonstrating the USB neck cooler. The fan is powered by your computer and hidden in the tie.You put it round your neck and slip the knot over the fan. It blows cold air over your neck and no-one else is any the wiser.He came up with the idea for the product himself, he says. From time to time he holds brainstorming sessions where staff in his shops try to come up with new gizmos to attract customers.
Hopefully those brilliant engineers will develop some USB device for curtailing interminable UN meetings, until then I think I’ll save my money for something really useful, like a Caipirinha.
Secret surfing
