Out to dinner the other night where my mate Tom (for want of a better name) tells me a rather interesting story. Seems he received an email from a friend of his a while back asking him to enter his details into that Plaxo contact thing. Since it was a mate he duly input name, address and date of birth. A couple of months later he receives an email from said friend wishing him happy wedding anniversary. Eh, thinks Tom,…

The SARS magazine. Could this become a common occurrence, you think, having magazines which deal with illnesses? Flu Weekly, ChickenPOX, Herpes Monthly? Think of the ad opportunities! Weird world.

The Life lynx Safety Key. This gets my vote as the creepiest tech product ever. It’s beyond… $35.00. ‘The Life Lynx Safety Key is exactly what its name implies – a key that stores your child’s vital statistics – age, height, weight – so they’re readily available for you to give to authorities if necessary. Plus, Life Lynx distributes both a front and profile photograph to make identification even easier….The Life Lynx Safety Key can also create a Missing Poster…

The Sunrise Dawn Simulator. £53.95. Gently does it, boys and girls. ‘The Sunrise System Dawn Simulator uses the latest technology to create a natural light alarm clock. Just plug your own bedside lamp into the Sunrise System dawn simulator, choose the settings to suit your lifestyle and the light will imitate sunrise and sunset. The lamp mimics a morning sunrise and it will reach full brightness at the alarm wake up time you have chosen. You can choose to wake…

The Dalek Cookie Jar. Exterminate! $69.95. ‘This is a multi-function Dalek – not only can it Exterminate a glass of milk but look inside and quickly grab yourself a cookie.’

The Ariel Atom car. No doors, no screen, no roof. No brains?

The Dubble Bubble Gumball Phone. Mmm..chewy! $69.95. ‘When you press the demonstration button, or receive a call, the telephone dispenses a gumball. Watch the gumballs go around with lights and music when the phone rings. Gumballs included!’

WAPbuddy. A super cool little utility that lets you create your own WAP site on your personal web host so that you can easily download ringtones, games and applications etc to your phone. I’ve just used it to download some applications onto this ‘ere Series 40 Nokia phone with no problem. Excellent. ‘To that end, I just built a tiny little script called WAPbuddy. It’s very simple — upload the script to your server, upload whatever files you want to…

Hummer Fragrance for Men. Pathetic and sad, but guaranteed to impress forecourt attendants everywhere.

Hmm…didn’t realise that the new security systems in place at US airports will trash undeveloped films. They’ve obviously upgraded the scan strengths. Nice one. ‘Passengers on flights departing from the US need to be aware of stringent security checks that could cause problems with undeveloped rolls of film. This is a potential problem for holiday snaps as well as for professionals. All checked in baggage is screened for explosives using x-rays, which can cause fogging or white lines to appear…

The Simpsons Pinball Party. $3975.00. ‘SIMPSONS’ creator Matt Groening and Bongo/Fox Studios developed the artwork for THE SIMPSONS/PINBALL PARTY. The game also features original dialog performed by the show’s voice actors Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta.’

The CD Diner player. £129.95. ‘Relive the design revolution of the post-war age with this classic 1950s inspired CD radio. Designed after the original American diner `selector jukebox`, it retains all its fabulous style with coin slot, push-button panel, rotary on/off knob and gleaming chrome-effect finish.’

Theorem #3747: Battery powered watch + watch back remover = lower running costs per battery change. $55.00.

The Jabra BT800, announced back in March, is almost with us. It’s being billed as the first Bluetooth headset with inbuilt call vibrate, an LED display for Caller-ID and – gasp – a jog wheel rather than clumsy buttons. And here’s what I guess is the first shot of the prototype LED screen in all its…ahem…glory. As you can see it’s not that big, and how does this work anyway? Do you take off the headset to look at the…

The SmartAC Inverter. There’s a few of these gizmos around for running household devices in your car, but this one looks quite trendy in a ‘trying-to-be-an-iPod’ kind of way. Mmm, perhaps I need to take a vacation. $39.99. ‘Essential for the road, this autoinverter will allow you to use devices made for home in your vehicle. Connect a Laptop Computer, Portable Fax Machine, Battery Charger, 9″ TV/VCR Combo, Hi-Fi Stereo, Fluorescent Worklight, Camcorder and much more.’