I think it is safe to say that for most of us, our relationship with technology is a love-hate affair. Tech gadgets that start out as luxuries quickly become must-have necessities. I have become hooked on invention, ingenuity, and innovative products over the past few weeks while doing research for my thesis at ITP. The question I keep asking myself is whether these problem-solving products actually make the world a better place?

Woomba
Woomba is a small disc-like object that takes care of all of your feminine-hygiene needs. Activate Woomba and it does the rest. Woomba’s built in sensors can tell when you’re not at your freshest and that’s when Woomba goes to work. Its gentle but powerful onboard cleaning agents assure results every time. (Developed by Saturday Night Live)

Talking Tissue Box
Each time you reach for a tissue from the Ah-Choo Talking Tissue Box, it imitates your illness with one of six sneezing and coughing sounds. They say laughter is the best medicine so with the Sneezing Tissue Box you’ll be better than new in no time. (Developed by Baron Bob)

LED Menorah
An updated take on the traditional hanukkiyah, the nine-armed Hanukkah candelabrum. Two candles are lit on the first night of Hanukkah (one “real” candle plus the lighter candle, or shamash), three on the second night, right up to nine on the eighth night. (Developed by Evil Mad Science)

Zen Dog
De-stress Your Dog with Music and Touch. Tap into the power of music to calm your dog and learn the art of gentle massage to improve your pal’s mental and physical well-being. (Developed by Janet Marlow)

Sportbinox
Sportbinox are hands free binoculars that offer an optional am/fm radio to help follow the game, or just listen to relaxing music while enjoying nature. (Developed by Sportbinox)

Ion Steamer
Apparently, blasting your face with steam is good for your skin. Who knew? Even better than normal steam is the fancy-pants steam this Panasonic Nano-Care Ion Steamer pumps out. They claim it “creates ion steam particles that are extremely small, thereby enabling the moisturizing steam to deeply penetrate the outer layers of a user’s skin.” (Developed by Panasonic)

The Journey to Wild Divine Biofeedback
The Journey to Wild Divine is the first “inner-active” computer adventure that combines ancient breathing and meditation with modern biofeedback technology for total mind-body wellness. Progress through the realm using the power of your thoughts, feelings, breath and awareness. The Journey to Wild Divine is not just a game, it’s a tool to reduce stress and improve physical and mental health. (Developed by Wild Divine Project)

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Memory Box reveals the recollections I have from my childhood through an interactive memory box. The memory box gives the user the ability to discover my childhood past through a montage of personal photographs, depicting images of my youth and significant others in my life. By utilizing these historic images as miniature push button switches, distinctive sounds and LED lights promptly respond to the user’s input. These animated responses reflect my own personal impression of the selected images based on my memories of them.

Little Orlando is a toy doll that was inspired from the main character I used in my interactive video project He Don’t Got Game. The 3D character, Orlando Florida, was modeled using Maya and was then printed using a Z Corp rapid prototyping machine. In upcoming projects, I plan to use the 3D character in stop motion animations and as well build him into an electronic voodoo toy.