Virtual Bubblewrap

"Ouchi de Mugen PuchiPuchi Wii (Infinite Bubblewrap at Home Wii) is a game where you pop virtual bubblewrap onscreen with the Wiimote to the sound of music." Link.

Ice Balls

"... a mold that seamlessly creates a perfect sphere, no chipping and shaving required. Simple (sic) place a chunk of ice into the metal press and, as it melts, the device will close around the ice forming a ball, which is then released by the flick of a switch." Link.

Even MoMA has a version.

AdNonsense

So here is a self-referential one - the adverts at the end of this blog. This blog is [mostly] poking fun at stuff that we find 'unuseless'. Now the good folks at Google have their best hive-mind machines on the job to sift this stuff and then offer us similar, presumably 'unuseless' stuff that we also don't need [but would be happy to laugh at]. I don't think I could invent a better example of Neroism if I tried. Is this the ultimate form of product-driven, naval-gazing [an opportunity awaits someone at that link... hmm, I seem to have just outdone myself]?

"To Protect and Hurt"

Fear of being mugged and robbed is a general fear in American society. This fear is fueling the debate over the 2nd amendment, and is the motivation behind the following Chindogu candidates. I find that these object are more terrifying then the fear of being mugged, because they expose the open social acceptance of violence as a valid form a conflict resolution. Yonko Design's Anthony James sheds some light on the Pepper Knuckles, "...Designer Idan Arbel has come up with this brilliant idea. Once you have successfully rendered your assailant a curled up crying mess on the floor, with these “Pepper Knuckles, you can proceed to give him the beating of a lifetime. Go ahead, hit a criminal when he/she is down… it’s only fair play. While you are at it, steal his/her wallet and drop it off at the nearest police station just for laughs." It stuns me that a victim of a robbery would go as far as give his assailant "the beating of a lifetime". It would be more dramatizing to inflict severe pain and injury to someone, than it would be being robbed or injured myself. Sure, it is not fair to robbed. But, retaliating against the perpetrator does not solve the problem of crime. It doesn't even solve the problem of being mugged in the first place. And retaliation does not even address the issue of environmental justice, at best it makes things worse. 

What happened to turning the other cheek, or embracing the Other? According to a study by the Graduate Center in New York, over 79% of the United States claim to be Christian (wiki). With a demographic this enormous this attitude towards violence does not make sense to me. Jesus would not have a gun rack on his bed! I am also fairly certain that He would definitely not buy "one for each side of the bed!" I propose a device that captures the robber in a large glass cup (similar to the way one captures a spider in the kitchen), then a group of peer counselors retrieve him/her, rehabilitate them, and give them a job (possibly as a counselor). Once a critical mass of rehabilitated counselors is reached, they can run for office and start NPO's to try to actually change the environment that caused them the rob in the first place. Watch the video, it is worth it.

Pepper Knuckles
	Chindogu
	Unuseless
	Useful
pollcode.com free polls

The Back-Up
	Chindogu
	Unuseless
	Useful
pollcode.com free polls

[links: www.geekologie.com & www.the-backup.com & www.yankodesign.com]

Microsoft Surface (movie)

Chindogus are not always born in the basement of a blue-collar worker who wants to make life better for himself and his family. They are frequently given birth to by some of the largest corporations in the world. Microsoft Surface is the Penthouse of gadget porn; high resolution, airbrushed, and high priced. In the best of worlds the table, often combined with the preparation and consumption of food, is a gathering place. It is a place of salvation, salvation from the business of life. This is especially true of the dinner table, which the Microsoft Surface is clearly not trying to replace. But, even the bar table is a place to get away technology itself and spend time interacting with people face to face (talking about technology). This video sarcastically points out that using a digital display surface as a table is going to detract from the simple interaction of two individuals. This exposes two important questions for me. The first, how do you encourage honest, direct, quality human to human interaction through a table display? The second, how do you prevent feature creep in a totally digital interface? The companies that find good solutions to both of these questions will be the ones to succeed.

Microsoft Surface
	Chindogu
	Unuseless
	Useful
pollcode.com free polls

[links: www.treehugger.com]

Chopstick Glasses

Sushi has every nook of the urban landscape. Earlier this year I was five hefty, yet satisfied, construction workers exiting a local sushi joint. This artifact exposes the social need for easily accessible readily available chopsticks. I can only imagine that number of trees I would have saved if I had a pair of these.

Chopstick Glasses
	Chindogu
	Unuseless
	Useful
pollcode.com free polls

[links: www.yankodesign.com & www.coroflot.com]

Musical Condom

A musical condom designed to play louder and faster as lovers reach a climax is to go on sale in Ukraine. Grigoriy Chausovsky, from Zaporozhye, said his condoms came fitted with a special sensor that registers when the condom is put on. It transmits a signal to a miniature speaker in the base of the condom which play a melody. He told local media: "As the sex becomes more passionate, it registers the increased speed of the movements and plays the melody faster and louder."

Link