Connie Cheng and Leonardo Bonanni have created the Intelligent Spoon, a cooking concept that will force you to use a computer the next time you just want to make some damn pudding. The Intelligent Spoon is equipped with various sensors that calculate a dish's temperature, acidity, salinity, and viscosity. The readings from the spoon are sent over a cable to a computer that will calculate and display the results and offer cooking suggestions. Future plans for the intelligent spoon include adding a sensor that will estimate the number of times you'll ruin that spaghetti recipe before you give up and slap a hot pocket into the microwave.
Cheri Robertson, a woman who lost both of her eyes in a car crash, received an experimental new surgery that restored some of her vision. The procedure inserts electrodes into the brain that interact with a camera placed on the person's glasses, allowing someone without eyes to become slightly more terrifying to children. The surgery is only for people who had vision at one point in their life, and at this stage Cheri can only see "two splashes" of light . Not without risk, the surgery's main concern is an infection where the port goes into the head. Although I can appreciate the courage involved in attempting such a surgery, I have to point out that a seeing eye dog has never produced an infection in someone's brain port.
Flashbag is a USB drive that inflates relative to the amount of data it holds. It's an interesting concept, but doesn't seem practical in actual use. Not only would the inflated drive be annoying to use, it'd also tip off your co-workers as to just how much porn you were storing in there. And I'm talking lesbian porn, my friends. The good stuff.
NASA is taking time off from making orthopedic space mattresses to finally do some real work: launching a missile into the moon. Okay, maybe not a missile missile, but a probe. Probes are like peaceful missiles. In an attempt to determine the possibility of hidden ice on the moon, NASA will fire the probe at the moon's surface, excavating a hole the size of a football field and creating a violent explosion that will be visible on Earth through a telescope. The probe's mother ship will fly through the resulting plume of debris to take samples and readings. If I had known that NASA was all about collisions and violent explosions, I would have focused on getting a job with them rather than shooting for manager at Burger King. I wonder if it's too late.
Wired has compiled a list of weirdest USB gadgets. The list includes the standard favorites like hand warmers, toothbrushes, and novelty aquariums, as well as adding some lesser-known entries like electric blankets, humidifiers, and the inappropriately corded puppy cam. Pictured is the USB eye massager, which provides "comfort for the weary-eyed computer user." I think we can all agree that nothing is more comfortable than jamming a vibrating plastic finger into your eye. One glaring absence from the list is Dada's MP3-playing shoe. What's wrong Wired? Afraid of a little class and style?
ThinkGeek is now selling the fabled bluetooth laser virtual keyboard for $179.99. The 3.5 inch gadget projects a laser keyboard on any flat surface, providing a full qwerty keyboard for your cell phone or PDA. When you type on the keyboard, the device emits simulated click sounds, providing much needed feedback since you are typing on keys of light. How far off is a giant laser keyboard projected onto the floor? I'm sure people would love to recreate that piano scene in Big whenever they attempt to stomp out yet another tedious corporate email.