I saw an advertisement from Officeworks, which to me, seemed the most utterly useless and daft manufactured creation ever to be distributed.

*rolls sticks on a snare for dramatic effect*

A USB cup warmer! Apparently you plug it in to the side of your laptop. No worries about the potential problems of overloading the power drawn from the laptop and the minor issue of what happens if you leave the cup of coffee on the *warmer* while plugged in and pick up the computer?

I'd like to know who designs these things?

I'll put it out there for you all to see what other utterly daft gifts you have seen for the aptly named Silly Season.

Bib

Try nearly anything on [www.iwantoneofthose.com]

As an example: they sell panic buttons. I would love to get enough to replace an entire keyboard. So then someone needs to touchtype on nothing but panic buttons. Would be really amusing.

Also, www.thinkgeek.com sell a wrist-sundial. Including a compass to orient it properly.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

LOL I am a keen supporter of both Think Geek and IWOOT and yes, most of it is junk.

I particularly liked the retro bluetooth handset and was forced to buy one. I also fitted both a panic button and an "ANY" key to my works keyboard.

Yes, Martin, I am that sad........

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

A friend was wanting to bind a normally useless key to a series of instructions that would cause a kernel panic. And then fit that key with the panic one.

Incidentally, ThinkGeek seems to have a problem right now.

Also, how is actually having an "ANY" key and a panic button sad?

(reason for edit: more stuff to say)

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2009 11:03AM by MartinB.

the run-up to Xmas seems to bring these things out; here are a few examples from a German mail-order catalogue I received a couple of days ago:

1. farting biro
2. coughing-lung ashtray
3. electronic dice
4. USB Santa with drumkit
5. USB Xmas tree (15.5cm)
6. LED original beeswax candles /also with draught dribbling function and/or remote control
7. USB Adventskranz (a Xmas wreath for Advent)
8. LED tea light (for keeping teapot warm)
9. plastic toaster to pop up cards with Graces for Xmas dinners.

But, Tieff, 5 is very useful! - especially for anyone with a computer and a very small home.

You mean like that home in Amsterdam which is barely wider than the front door?

Yes! There are a few like that in the U.K. There is one about the size of the outside of the Tardis, but twice as tall.

How big is it inside though?

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Substantially smaller than the inside of the Tardis

So it's some kind of reverse Tardis which looks bigger on the outside? What will they think of next?

I have a digs like that. ;)

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland