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Only the Japanese could find something kawaii in a machine so utilitarian as a snowplow. Not only that, but the "Yuki-taro" combines the country's cuteness fetish with another national obsession--robots.

Pink Tentacle says the driverless machine is no ordinary plow, guiding itself by GPS and video cameras embedded in its eye sockets to make sure that it gobbles every bit of snow in its path, Pac-Man style. Unlike traditional counterparts, the Yuki-taro compacts the consumed snow into blocks that can be stored and used as a refrigeration source.

We pray, though probably in futility, that they … Read more

This is it--the call to arms. For some time now we've been warning of impending doom brought by the evil egg empire, and the final hour is upon us. And the source of their unholy power is now clear: outer space.

They are descending first in Japan, as we found out from our brethren in CNET Asia, through egg-shaped planetariums distributed by Segatoys. The "Homestar Pure" (even the name smacks of alien brainwashing) can project an estimated 10,000 stars onto any ceiling at the mass-market price of $83. It's only a matter of time before … Read more

A lot of the "conceptual gadgets" we feature here are just for laughs. Case in point: Buster the snail vacuum. But this one, called Coo.Boo, I think is actually pretty neat. It's shaped like a spatula, but it's actually a "digital cookbook" that wirelessly collects recipe information or even audio-visual cooking lessons from your computer and displays them on its screen.

I love to find recipes on food blogs and recipe sites, so this could be really cool so that I don't have to either jet back and forth from the stove … Read more

This retro business has got to stop. Phones, radios, TVs, even alarm clocks we can understand (sort of). But humidifiers?

Frontgate, whose pretentious and overpriced catalog items often exemplify bourgeois waste (and questionable taste), remains true to itself with its "GermGuardian Digital Humidifier." Red Ferret sums it up cheekily as "just perfect for recreating those Amazonian jungle safari memories," which says it all to us. Where is J. Peterman when we need him?

TiVo DVR owners will soon be able to watch movies and TV shows purchased or rented from Amazon's Unbox video download service. The new feature, being beta tested by a "select group of TiVo subscribers" according to TiVo's press release, will eventually be rolled out to more than 1.5 million TiVo Series2 and Series3 owners.

According to the FAQ page on Amazon, you'll choose the videos you want to download while browsing Amazon's site on your PC, but the videos will be downloaded directly to the TiVo. Once they're fully downloaded, they'… Read more

Although it's very aptly named, we're not sure Interactive Health's iJoy Ride will primarily be used for physical fitness.

The idea is simple: You sit on it, and the $479 iJoy Ride gyrates willy-nilly like one of those mechanical coin-operated horses in front of the grocery store. Through its "pitching," "rolling," and "yawing" motions, it promises to strengthen your core muscles.

That may be true, but it's hard to believe it will strengthen your core muscles as much as laughing hysterically at the demo video will. Yes, the iJoy Ride demo video … Read more

Last Wednesday, the execs in charge of the latest Aqua Teen Hunger Force marketing campaign got a bit more publicity than they expected when the city of Boston called in bomb squads and shut down bridges after police mistakenly took the LED advertisements to be hazardous materials.

Six days and one $2 million fine for parent company Turner Broadcasting later, the Web is still captivated by the Mooninites who nearly shut down the city of Boston.

At this week's RSA Conference in San Francisco, the software company CyberDefender is giving away one of the infamous signs of Ignignokt (Err … Read more

The MIT Media Lab is ground zero for all things awesome, and Leonardo Bonanni's DishMaker is no exception.

Bonanni's dishwasher-sized machine uses recyclable discs of acrylic to create plates, bowls, and cups right in your home. Once you're done with the plates, you put them back into the DishMaker, where they're recycled and remolded into the dishware of your choice.

The DishMaker does not clean your dishes just yet, but Bonanni's working on it for a next-gen prototype.

According to his Web site, the DishMaker is the same size and consumes the same amount of … Read more

I'm guessing this contraption is geared toward the burgeoning demographic of well-moneyed executives who loved their race car-shaped beds when they were kids and still haven't gotten over their affinities for automorphic furniture. This little gem of a desk is shaped just like a Mini, although the dimensions of the desk actually look more spacious than those of the pint-sized novelty car that inspired it. There's even a stereo in the "dashboard."

You can customize just about everything: desk top, color, tires, and license plates. For that last one, I recommend "CORPRT HO."… Read more