Auto-sharpening pencil

Uni-ball Kuru Toga

The Kuru Toga is a self-sharpening mechanical pencil that writes as precisely and evenly as a high-quality gel pen. After just a couple of lines of writing, the lead in a normal mechanical pencil becomes a blunt irregular chisel shape, leading to clumsier, increasingly smeared writing. Experienced pencil users try to counteract this by rotating their pencil every few words, a tactic that works, but very imperfectly. The Kuru Toga, however, counteracts this automatically via an internal ratchet mechanism that rotates the lead minutely with every stroke. As you write it's constantly sharpening and rounding the lead against the paper. The resulting script is noticeably more legible and can be much finer than with a standard pencil -- ideal for tasks like coding, diagramming, annotating and general note taking. The mechanism's operation is literally unnoticeable. The packaging is in Japanese, too. So I'm not exactly sure how it operates. Based on what I've read online, it seems to rotate with every pressing and lifting of the point. The Kuro Toga is not retractable, but it is highly ergonomic, and my 0.5mm specimen (the Kuru Toga also comes in 0.3mm) seems never to suffer from broken leads (I've used both HB and 2B leads). Looking at my notebooks, I've written about 150 A4 pages which translates to about 30,000 words with diagrams. No sign of wear. It's surprisingly cheap for being the best pencil I've ever found.

-- Jonathan Coupe

Uni-ball Kuru Toga

$7

(black - 0.5mm)

Previously available from JetPens.com*

Other colors and 0.3mm also previously from JetPens.com

Manufactured by Mitsubishi Pencil Co., Ltd.

Head Refresher Is 234 Points Of Scalp Massaging Crazy

I'm in love with crazy, vaguely acupressure-related gadgets, so this Christmas I might actually drop some cash for the “Head Refresher.” Much like the Head Kanzen, this insane-looking device lets you massage your own scalp, allegedly increasing blood circulation throughout your body, while making it look like an inverted sea urchin is trying to swallow your skull.

It has 234 stimulating points, an ergonomic handle, and—if the model is to be believed—the ability to give your head a full rubdown without ever disturbing your hair. Amazing! And it's available for the cheapie price of $34 off of Japan Trend Shop. [Japan Trend Shop]

Have a Cow With Creative's Zen Moo Moo-sic Player [Zen Moo]

> Holy cow! Just in time for the upcoming Year of the Ox, Creative has released its Zen Moo line of mp3 players and speakers in China. Based on the Zen Stone, you can get either the Zen Moo or the Zen Moo Plus. Both come with 2GB storage, support for MP3 and WMA, a 20 hour lithium battery and a built-in speaker. The Plus adds a translucent blue OLED display, FM radio reception, MIC voice recording and an alarm clock. Prices weren't available on the site, but I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find if you hoof it to China. [iMP3.com via Epizenter]

X-Fi goes to your car

Sure you have seen X-Fi on Sound Cards, Portable Media Players, Speakers but X-Fi in a car? Marketed under the brand Runz by JC Hyun (a Korean company that specialises in Car A/V and navigation systems), the Creative Xtreme Fidelity technology is implemented in its CI-7100 Indash car stereo system.

The CI-7100 has probably everything you need for entertainment in your car. It features a 7inch screen, with dedicated iPod control and bluetooth connectivity (which can be used to make calls on your handphone). You can play your DiVX and WMV movies on it via its SD/DVD/USB host, listen to MP3/WMA audio and even use it as a picture viewer. There's also a rear camera input and if multi-tasking isn't your thing, there's also a streeling wheel remote control for your safety and convenience. And if you can't navigate to save your life, the CI-7100 also has GPS navigation on board.

Watch the video demo for all the features of CI-7100:

[RUNZ CI-7100 PRODUCT PAGE]

Tomy xiao digital camera has built in Zink printer, the spirit of Polaroids

Like just about everyone else, we miss the Polaroid film format; maybe it's just nostalgia, but we enjoyed having something we could hold on to (and shake) after taking a picture. Polaroids may be dead, but the basic concept lives on -- remember Zink, that company whose technology prints digital photos on the spot without ink? It's joined forces with toy-maker Tomy to make the xiao TIP-521, a digital camera with a printer built in. The xiao has a modest five megapixel resolution, so we might wait and see how Polaroid's own Zink camera turns out, but in either case we're stoked the tactile experience is back.

[Via Market Watch]

Chimpanzee riding a Segway

Amazing chimpanzee performer Pan-kun is back! On last night’s episode of Shimura Zoo, he celebrated his 7th birthday by taking a ride on a Segway personal transporter:

Pan-kun impressively managed not to seriously injure himself, but he did have a few close calls!

Man uses electrodes to turn his face into a music visualizer

Japanese artist/programmer/designer Daito Manabe attached some electrodes to his face and succeeded in making his facial muscles twitch along with a song:

[via Makezine]