That's Wack! GPS Shoes and Dogs Who Drive
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Ostrich Pillow
$99 on www.studiobananathings.com
Everyone knows how awesome napping is; but honestly, who has time for a nap?
Enter the Ostrich Pillow, a pillow that slides over your head (with a breathing hole, of course), that lets you take a nap anywhere – from your desk to the airport.
It's wacky, yes, and expensive, too, but enough people believed in it that it raised more than double its goal on Kickstarter, clocking in at $195,094.
"It's perfect for offices trying to recruit long-hour-working employees!" Michalowicz quipped.
"Ostrich pillow is great because it suggests people would actually nap at their desk in this manner and pokes fun at the person to whom it is given as a slacker," Shea said. "By the way, my friend, Kevin, naps by lying under his desk."
It might be a hard sell for the mainstream, Michalowicz said, but he's got a tagline ready to go: "Finally, you can sleep on the job!"
Power Nap Capsule
$25,000 at www.hammacher.com
Leave it to Hammacher Schlemmer to find the $25,000 nap solution – for the, um, serious napper who has everything. Inspired by NASA,the power nap capsule is made of calfskin leather, foam and fiberglass-reinforced plastic. It is billed as a product that contours to your body, relieves pressure points on the back, encourages proper spinal alignment,improves circulation and facilitates optimal relaxation.
Heck, for $25,000, it should also make me a sandwich! ( A really good sandwich. With truffles or something.)
Light Therapy Visor
$100 on www.hammacher.com
This time of year, it seems like by the time the coffee kicks in, you're ready for a nap. And by 4 p.m., you're ready to call it a night.
Enter the Light Therapy Visor (cryptic name, eh?), a visor with LED lights that emit "daylight spectrum light," the light blocks the sleep hormone melatonin, making you more alert and energetic.
Sure, you'll look a blackjack dealer at the kids' table but most importantly, you'll be alert!
If you're worried about the goofy factor, consider this: You only have to wear it for 20-30 minutes in the morning. Your significant other has already smelled your morning breath and seen that weird growth on your back so the cool mirage has long since passed!
And, if there's ever a power outage (I'm looking at you, NYC),you are totally set with a hands-free, battery-powered light source!
GPS Navigation Shoes
Not available for purchase. More info: www.dominicwilcox.com
Sure, you could look up an address using the maps program on your phone and you'll get there just fine (providing you're not using Apple Maps). But what if your shoes already knew where they were going?
Enter GPS shoes, an invention by Dominic Wilcox commissioned by Global Footprint in Northamptonshire, U.K., a product featured in the WiredStore this holiday season (www.store.wired.com).
Here's how they work: You upload your destination to the shoes via mapping software and a USB cable that plugs into the GPS device,located in the heel of the shoe. One shoe has a circle of lights to point you in the right direction (whichever light is lit – walk that way) and the other shoe has a "progress bar of lights" – kind of like the Domino's pizza tracker –so you know how close you are to your destination. Green light and you're there!
The inside of the shoes are made of red calf leather, which is no coincidence. It's a nod to Wilcox's inspiration – Dorothy's ruby slippers in "The Wizard of Oz."
There's no place like… hey, shoes, where are we going again?!
MakerBot Replicator 3DPrinter
$2,200 on www.robotshop.com
3D printers sound like something out of a sci-fi movie but,in fact, inventors use them all the time. It's not for making whatever pops into your head come to life (e.g., sizzling bacon) but it does make 3D prototypes out of PLA, a renewable bioplastic that you can get in a variety of colors. (That's right, this 3D printer is in color!)
If you're still dubious of the powers of a 3D printer, MakerBot has a store in New York at 298 Mulberry Street, where you can get actual 3D printing demos.
MakerBot's web site www.Thingiverse.com offers owners of 3D printers to share what they made – everything from a Duplo hexagon railroad crossing to Universal Servo Driven Tank Tracks.
Leave it to the Japanese to figure out what we really want to make from a 3D printer – customized action figures! You know mine would be Super Bacon Girl. (www.omote3d.com/index.html)
