Gadgets follow a trend of becoming smaller and smaller. Every major electronics company is trying to make their products smaller, thinner, more compact, etc. Yet, the “bigger is always better” mentality (from the 1950s or so) still lives. Actually, I rather like said way of thinking. And now there is a gadget that combines it with my obsession (bordering on a fetish) for clocks ( I am quite certain that I don’t like clocks, by the way).

Measuring 100cm in length and 50cm in height, this is probably the largest wall clock in mass production. These clocks are bright enough to be visible in daylight, regardless of the color you choose – green, red or blue.

While the clocks appear to be fairly large, they are actually quite thin and weigh only a few hundred grammes (about as much as a half-full small plastic bottle of coke). Also, they are flexible enough that you can roll them up for transportation or storage.

These clocks (regardless of what color you choose) cost £49.95 at Gadgets.co.uk.

Gather around youngsters. Today I am gonna tell you about the piggy coin bank. An old and time-honored tradition of putting your coins in a hollow pig with a slash wound on it’s back. The traditional ways of removing the coins ranged from hitting the pig with a hammer to dropping it from a third floor window (we humans are a cruel species).

Well, I do admit that piggy banks are not yet out of fashion, or at least not enough that the younger generation would need to learn about them from stories. And they will stick around for a very long time. But it does appear they will have some modern competition.

An ATM is basically a reusable, hard to break piggy bank with a fancy authentication system. A good idea basically. Problem is, most of them are owned by banks, and are far enough from your home to be inconvenient to be used as piggy banks (’far enough” here stands for ‘further away then your door’).

Well, the ATM Bank could be the solution for those who want an ATM in their own home. Sure, it’s not as protected as a normal one. No steel doors or anything, but it still has basic functions. It keeps track of your balance, allows you to withdraw specified amounts, add money etc. And, of course, there is a card and a PIN number for authentication. Maybe not as classy as a clay pig, but far more advanced.

The ATM Bank is £24.99 at IWantOneOfThose.

Older readers (~30 and older I guess) can (probably) still remember the Era of Rock, otherwise known as the 80s.The times when musicians dressed in colorful rags (actually, I think that it is done even in our times), the sounds screaming electric guitars were played through every music channel, and the concept of a ’sound system’ was understood as cluttering the entire stage with amps (Not that the idea was totally worthless – it worked, didn’t it?).

Well, now on to the gadget. The MP3 Amp combines the old (the amp, albeit reduced in size) with the new (we’re living in the age of mp3). The amp has two main features. The first is a battery powered amp for an mp3 player – always useful. Second purpose – a USB powered computer speaker (see? Tell me this is not a sign of our times as opposed to the 80s).

But while the amp’s main purpose is no longer to be the outlet of the cries of a guitar, some 80s spirit remains. Every guitar player among you can see it themselves, and others will just have to take my word on it – the MP3 Amp looks remarkably like an actual guitar amp – from the leathery texture of the casing to the control knobs. What’s even cooler, the knobs are functional. A volume knob is fairly common (as in found on each and every one) among speakers, but bass and treble knobs will give you a lot of chances to mess with the tones. Even the power switch and the red power indicator LED look like they belong on a real guitar amp.

And of course, as it is battery (and USB) powered and therefore, portable, the amp is pretty small – not pocket-sized, but you will be able to stuff it into a bag or a backpack.

The MP3 Amp is £19.95 at FireBox.

We all know that USB gadgets can successfully warm a variety of objects – from your coffee to your hands and feet. Well, now there is a USB gadget that can cook – yes, you heard me right.

The USB iGrill (sound familiar? Old? Cliché?) is the world’s first USB powered grill (that I know of). In addition to it’s fairly unusual power source, the iGrill is also intelligent – you just need to set the type of product, it’s mass and how well you want it done, and the iGrill takes it from there (pretty cool, though I’d prefer that the kitchen appliances would leave the thinking to me). In addition, it’s not only the technology on the inside that’s impressive – it has a very pleasant exterior. Also, as the food is cooked, the exterior glows and pulsates – the glow and pulsating getting stronger and stronger until your food is done.

With all of these features, the USB grill is already cool. But the makers managed to install one more cool feature. You can control the iGrill remotely – from a remote internet connection via a web-based interface. So, you can put in a meal into the grill in the morning, before going off to school/university/work/etc., and then turn it on just before leaving (for example, by using a mobile with a GPRS connection), and have a hot meal waiting for you as soon as you are home. Yum.

The USB iGrill is $99.99 at ThinkGeek.

Imagine taking a walk in the middle in the night. Everything is quiet, no usual daytime noise (well, if you’re lucky enough to live in a place where the majority of people sleep at night), and a cool breeze is blowing. You tilt your head backwards and observe the heavenly bodies – the moon, the stars, the glowing thing that is flying overhead…..wait, what?

Well, before you get too excited about the possibility of interplanetary contact, take a few deep breaths – it may not be a transporter full of little green men, but actually just a traditional Chinese Flying Lantern. True, that means we will not be getting that solution to world hunger or the all-curing miracle medicine, and world peace will have to be delayed for a bit, but hey, the lanterns at least look cool.

The flying lantern is basically a primitive hot air balloon made from non-flammable paper with a fuel source attached. The burning fuel fills the paper balloon full of hot air (these lanterns measure 36 x 90cm when fully inflated) and allows it to take to the skies while emitting light (remember, the fuel is burning and illuminating the balloon).

The lanterns have enough fuel for 15-20 minutes. That should be enough to lift them a kilometer or two in the sky and fly around for a while (the Chinese used flying lanterns as a means to transmit signals between their army forces because of this). After the fuel burns out, it will slowly float back to earth (even without the flame, the lantern is still full of hot smoke). Of course, being so light (bamboo and paper), the lantern is unfit to be launched when it’s windy or stormy outside, nor should it be used in areas that can easily catch fire.

The lanterns are sold in sets of three – enough to show off in a BBQ party or something along those lines. Though I do recommend everyone to do a search on sky lantern festivals – now those are incredible.

A set of three Sky Lanterns costs £9.95 at BoyStuff (I checked the prices, this is a somewhat standard price).

Can you guess what’s in the picture. Well, it looks like a hip flask. The non-breakable version of a bottle of liquor, hidden in your pockets for all those difficult times (I am not suggesting that you are carrying one) (this is a really bad idea for dealing with “those difficult times”) (so yeah, don’t do this).

Well, times change. People too. And it appears that a certain subspecies of homo sapiens, one that calls itself “geeks”, no longer thinks that alcohol is something that they need in a hard situation. Instead they choose additional memory. About 250GB of it (well, that’s still better than drinking.).

This hard drive, wrapped in genuine leather, could easily pass a quick inspection for a liquor flask. Of course, a closer, hands-on inspections will lead to a discovery of a missing opening for the liquids that should be inside – that, and the CE mark stuck on one end, which is quite visible.

Original form and leather binding aside, this external HDD also features some of the more common features – such as the speedy USB 2.0 connection, as well as a Drop Guard protection – keeping the hard drive safe from the devastating effects of the Earth’s gravitational force is, of course, the sensible thing to do, but you never know.

So, if you want to look like an alcoholic, and still remain as geeky as ever (it is questionable whether this is a good thing though :)) head over to ThinkGeek and be ready to spend $149.99 for this gadget (a reasonable price, as most external HDDs of such capacity cost about the same – at least where I live)

Chess – a game of strategy and wits, with it’s roots reaching the 6th century. The reasons for it’s popularity? Well, truthfully, no one knows. Maybe humans, a naturally aggressive and militaristic species just find it alluring to send two armies to battle against each other – be they depicted as abstract wooden figures or the skeletons of the underworld.

Apparently, brutally killing the opposing army’s soldiers isn’t a good enough way to express animosity, and black and white are not enough mortal enemies. Someone just had to make the opposing forces belong to different species too – ones that don’t like each other too much at that!

Fine, fine, it’s not that bad. Quite the opposite actually. Hilarious, great, cool, or even maybe cute (these would make a nice present) – all these descriptions apply to these pieces. Nothing like an offer to decide upon a winner in the eternal cat vs. dog fight to get people interested (at least temporarily) in a game of chess

The set is available in two sizes (and two prices).
The small set for $69.00.
The large set for $99.00.

Once again, I am writing about an alarm clock. Strange, because privately I think alarm clocks are evil. Yet, there are alarm clock gadgets that are simply too cool to ignore. And the Time Bomb Alarm Clock is definitely an original concept.

A lot of us are suffering from the (sort of necessary) need for those contraptions from hell, commonly called alarm clock. But nothing shows your determination to wake up early than placing an explosive near your bed (what’s even greater, this explosive won’t decorate the nearest wall with your brain matter).

The time is shown in large, bright red numbers, projected from inside the clock. The controls are positioned near the base of the “fuse” (the controls are fairly standard by the way).

But of course, no one cares about the clock part. It’s the alarm everyone wants to know about – right? Right? Well, maybe, maybe not. For those that do, as soon as the set time clocks, the inbuilt light source starts flashing, and the alarm clock starts making noise (driving us to insanity in the process). Looks pretty good actually. And if you want another 5 minutes (which will most likely turn into an hour), you just need to pull on the cord.

Compared to some of the other clocks on the market, this one is nothing spectacular. But it is original, you have to give it that. And it would be fun to have something like that, at least to show off. Could make a nice gift too.

Found at DrinkStuff for £19.99.

What you see in the picture are lanterns, styled like paper lanterns (a candle with paper covering it) associated with Japan and China. The old light sources had a variety of uses, from attracting attention, to expressing love to scaring off evil spirits (scratch that, I think all of these uses for a paper lantern still exist even now).

As eye-pleasing as these are, they are not immensely popular nowadays. Partly because most people can’t light a candle without setting a house on fire. Partly because some have trouble resisting to light the house on fire while lighting a candle. Those that do not have these problems grow irritated at needing to constantly purchase new candles.

Of course, electric lanterns are a possible alternative. That, however, means that you will have a long cord providing power to the lanterns lying around (and possibly tripping people) (Well, that or trying to hide the cord somehow). And batteries aren’t much of an alternative – how long do you think they can last while powering a strong light bulb?

Well, how about these then? The power is supplied by a solar battery, that charges during the day, and directs it’s power to the LEDs contained inside the lanterns when it gets dark to give the lanterns that mystic glow. But wait – there’s more (does that sound like something from a cheesy commercial?). In the pack of 6 lanterns, there are 3 red, that give off a constant red glow, and 3 white, that change colors. Nothing like some variation to keep you entertained.

The pack consisting of six lanterns costs £29.95 at FireBox.

Have you ever dreamed of sampling boiled cockroaches? Fried slugs? Snake cooked in butter (hey, this actually sounds tasty)?

Well, whether or not you have a desire to try any of those delicacies (or maybe you have already?), all of them are perfectly normal in some countries. Freaky, maybe, weird, yeah, but normal. And why not – that stuff tastes good for most people (most of those who are brave/stupid enough to try). There are some things however, that, most agree, have an unpleasant taste – ranging from the slightly sour lemons (or grapefruits, if you’re like me) to something like vinegar and beyond.

So, just imagine the shocked expressions on your friends’ faces when you get the aforementioned lemons, dip them slightly in vinegar, and then put them in your mouth and start chewing with a happy, satisfied expression – as if you were eating something sweet and sugary. Well, that’s possible thanks to Miracle Fruit/Miracle Berry tablets.

The tablets are made from berries of Synsepalum dulcificum (which, if you do a search on say Wikipedia, is indeed called Miracle Fruit/Berry). The component which is responsible for all the magic of these berries is called miraculin (if you think that sounds like it was made from the word ‘miracle’, you are very right (the person who discovered it lacked imagination)), a glycoprotein (a material with sugar-like constructs, for those who want it nice and really simple). Put simply (those who want more, this post has more than enough to give you a lead on what to search for), miraculin makes food taste sweet and sugary (not to be confused with effects of sugar and other such sweeteners – they just mix in some of their own sweet taste, whereas miraculin modifies the taste into a sweeter version). The effect lasts on average somewhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours.

Just so you wouldn’t be caught unaware, the effects of these tablets won’t be anything like “Mmmm….sugared lemons”. Think more along the lines of “Holy shit! I died and went to Heaven. And boy, does this place remind me of a candy store!”. Okay, granted, I can’t think of any good exclamations (and I will be grateful to anyone who could suggest me a good one), but yeah, these things are strong.

Each packet, containing 10 tablets, costs £9.95 at FireBox.