Did you know that tomatoes and potatoes can cause kidney inflammation and a depressed central nervous system? No neither did I. Check out the Plant Toxins page for more scary info.

If school was cool, they’d all get to go to class in vehicles like this. But it’s not and they can’t. Sigh.

A beautiful analogue Flash clock [Direct Flash link]

The Embrio concept vehicle from Bombardier Recreational Products looks really funky. It employs (or will employ) the same type of gyroscope technology that the Segway uses and will run on hydrogen fuel cells. Looks like a funster, don’t it? ‘Technology will be used to harness the laws of physics, with the gyroscopes and sensors, a high-performance braking system, active suspension, night vision and robotic assistance. A digitally encoded learning key will start the engine.’ More here.

The HumanScale Whale Mouse is ‘ergonomically designed to fit your hand and take the stress out of mousing. The Whale is designed to relax your hand. This allows the larger, stronger muscles in your arm to handle the stress of repetitive movement.’ $49.95.

But dad, why do we need a talking tire gauge? “Just shut up son and keep pumping.”

The Absolute Zero jacket uses Aerogel, which means that it is a fantastic insulator. ‘It is the only material known to man which can insulate up to -50� and which melts at 3000�. It’s also the lightest solid in the world.’

The DAO 7-in-1 Multi Reader [Babel] is a USB 2.0 memory card writer/reader with a twist. It comes with a 3.5″ slot in drive enclosure so that you can use it internally in a PC. Not sure why you’d want to do that, but what the heck!

From state of the art to state of the ark. The Vintage Technology site features some very nostalgia-cool stuff from yesteryear. Take f’rinstance the slide viewer above. A masterpiece of engineering, and one that no doubt can still handle all of your 35mm Ektachrome PowerPoint slides.

The MemoMouse mousepad is one of those silly little things that could actually be useful. Think mousepad with inbuilt voice recorder. Not sure about $39.95 useful though! ‘You’re sitting there, someone calls or you see something on the screen you don’t want to loose [sic]…just lift your finger off the mouse, press record on the mouse pad, and say aloud, “Veronica’s phone number is 375-4850.”

Now here’s an interesting twist. Instead of posting your items for sale, why not go to eWanted.com and post your wanted adverts? I’m not too sure how this is supposed to work, but I assume that sellers are expected to go here and search for potential buyers. Sounds complicated, but it seems to work!

The Hula Hooper with Pace Meter is a little doohickey that you attach to your body and use as an exercise device. I think the object is for you to gyrate your pelvis-Elvis style and literally watch the calories burn away on the calorie counter LCD. $29.95. It probably takes three days of solid twirling to consume that Snickers bar you had at lunchtime, so don’t buy that new mirror just yet, eh?

Michael Bach’s Optical Illusions site is one of the better ones around. The good part is that he also explains the phenomena as well as give illustrations, which is interesting. NB: Needs Flash and/or Quicktime.

The DoubleSight DS-1500 dual 15″ LCD monitor looks kind of funky. Need a wide desk though, eh? $799.00. ‘The two combined LCD panels generate a 2048 x 768 resolution, with each panel pre-set to a maximum of 1024 x 768 at 75Hz.’

Moodlogic. ‘We make mixes from the best music in the world – yours!’ It’s a kind of mix maker for your MP3s, working off a sort of collaborative user type database. Geddit? You can browse by tempo, mood or even select a mix based around your favourite Cliff Richards track. $29.95 fee, plus $10.00 if you want to hook it up to your portable device.