The LiveManual site has branched out into Hot Product Simulations. A sort of virtual hands-on service for electronic products, if that makes sense. Not sure how useful it could be in the long run, but who knows? Update: Ah, I see. The site is providing the simulations for manufacturers rather than users. Makes more sense now. Well Nikon seems to like it anyway.

I don’t know about you, but I think that there’s something decidedly surreal about being able to access your common or garden AS/400 mainframe computer using a mobile phone. Call me quaint, but it’s just kind of weird, know what I mean? Back in the day we’d think it was pretty funky to do this with a bit of hardware costing �19,000, not something that slipped into your shirt pocket. ‘Mocha TN5250 for 3650/6600 is an application for the Nokia…

Sniggle.net is a sort of trickster portal. Pranks, hoaxes, spoofs, hacks, impostors, forgeries…you’ll find them all listed here. An encyclopaedic resource you might say. While checking for your wallet. ‘Most of this site highlights deception, but it’s not because I have a thing for liars and cheats. I think there’s a brand of immunizing deception that helps us to expose and correct the lies we tell ourselves and the webs of falsehood that make up our societies. Harmless fibs can…

Got a room? Need to plan it? Then you should take a look at Jordan’s Room Planner. Flash based site which let’s you drag stuff around and see how it looks. If it went 3D it would be excellent, but as it is….well let’s just say that it’s a good start.

I’m trying to imagine someone wearing a Sony Sports Walkman Headphone Radio. Trying and failing. But of course I am stupendously unimaginative. $69.95. ‘Sony has designed an AM/FM/Weather/TV bands Walkman that�s a pleasure to wear no matter how active you are� and even in wet weather. The ergonomic design lets you custom �sculpt� the fit to the shape of your head. But wait; there�s more: built in rear reflector for nighttime safety…’

If you really truly love yer mouse, you’ll get her a MouseRug. So do it now! $26.40. ‘This splendid Qashqa’i shekarlu rug covers the most famous piece of furniture in the world, Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic couch. The brilliantly coloured rug was made by one of the nomadic tribes of the Qashqa’i confederacy in Persia in the nineteenth century. Freud’s patients reclined on this rug recounting their memories, dreams and fantasies.’

The insTand – ‘originally developed for the court reporting profession’ – is now available to the general public. $99.95. ‘insTand gets your hot computer off your lap – lets you sit comfortably and move around at will. High-tech materials provide a stable platform free from wobbling or vibration. * Adjusts from 14″ to 31″ high. * Folds really small – like a small umbrella. Fits in most cases. * Sturdy enough to support your laptop comfortably.’

The strangely named Zinf proggie is a fully featured free audio player which does all the usual, plus it has the facility to record Shoutcast radio streams to disk. ‘It supports MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, WAV and Audio CD playback, SHOUTcast/Icecast HTTP streaming, RTP streaming, a powerful music browser, theme support and a download manager.’

RamSoft’s guide to improving your Google page rank. Tr�s funky. ‘NEVER Submit To Google Search Engine DIRECTLY – Reason : You will be given Slight Submission Penalty And This Penalty Is Removed Only When Google Crawler Finds Your Site On Its Own. The secret to getting listed by Google Search Engine is simple: Get Another Page To Link To You, then submit the other page to Google.’

The Bookmarklets Page. Hard core browser tools. Over 150 of them. ‘Bookmarklets are simple tools that extend the surf and search capabilities of Netscape and Explorer web browsers. Bookmarklets are free.’

TrackIR – the flight sim prophead’s dream. ‘TrackIR2 uses an infra-red(IR) camera to track your head movements. You reflect IR light back to the TrackIR2, which sends instructions to your computer to move your game view or mouse cursor.’

The Cobweb Audio site features a bunch of links to cool audio sites, services and tools, including the rather clever MuseBook MidiMic program which lets you convert your voice to MIDI to control synths etc.

Acid Fonts. Over 4700 free fonts for all you ‘fontaholics’.

The DAP Review site looks quite nice for those of you who are into Digital Audio Players (handheld music machines). Lots of news and stuff. ‘We focus on high-capacity, portable Digital Audio Players (DAP) :: Pocket-size MP3 players with at least 1 GigaByte capacity.’

Oh if only they had made it USB powered, this desktop pizza oven would have been perfect. As it is, it’s just half a geek dream. $89.95. ‘This stainless steel professional pizza oven is ideally engineered and sized for this job. It bakes one full 12″ pizza bubbly hot and crisp in just 8-12 minutes while preserving the fresh taste of the sauce, cheese, and toppings.’