I don’t smoke, since I am unfortunately neither a wealthy playboy on a yacht or a rugged jungle adventurer. So to check out the Twisp had to rely on the testimony of my friend Wessel, once a committed smoker but now a despicable traitor who has sold out by buying the Twisp Dura C E-Cigarette. Wessel says that he has, so far, been able to stop smoking normal cigarettes due to switching to the Dura C. He says that it is more similar to smoking a hubby bubbly than a cigarette.
Wessel says that while he can get his nicotine fix using the Twisp he still finds it hard to get used to the feel of the cold, hard cigarette that appears to be made from porcelain, and to inhaling, which he says lacks the ‘burn’ that he craves most when smoking. On the other hand, though, he enjoys being able to finally smoke in restaurants and films again, and says that the device is also a good conversation piece.

Depending on which Twisp cartridge you choose you could pay from 800 to 1000 rand for a starter pack which will include everything you need to get smoking. On top of that one needs to replace the liquid that goes in the cartridges every now and then at R250 a pop. Expensive perhaps, but it works out as much cheaper than buying a pack a day over the course of a year. And yes, the Twisp is a lot healthier than normal smoking, but if you look in the mirror one day to find that, despite not owning a yacht or ever doing any jungle exploration you are still a smoker with rapidly decaying lungs, rather than rushing out to get gum or patches or even bizarre electronic cigarettes maybe the best option is to quit the old fashioned way – cold turkey.

The eStartling WiFi Digital Photo Frame’s major innovation setting it apart from its competition is the WiFi bit – after connecting the frame via the seeframe.com website you can enable it to automatically connect to photo sharing sites on the internet. You can also register the frame with an email address, allowing friends and family to send images straight to the frame. Once its set up the frame will automatically scan the various sites you have connected it to for new pics. And, if you’re worry about dodgy uncle Dave sending you pics of his drunken exploits there is even an option that allows you to choose which email addresses you want to receive pics from. That is one intelligent picture frame.

The only thing that may stop you from rushing out and ordering one of these babies online is the price – they are $250 (for us economically challenged South Africans that’s nearly 2 grand for a picture frame). So for now, even if not for long, maybe the old-fashioned wooden version still has some leverage…

9. Moody Houseplants
As you wander through your home gadget tour, you feel you’re being watched – not by paintings on the walls with eyes but by houseplants. One plant to your left smiles at you and bats its eyelashes, another glares, and a third begs for water.
The Pet Plant, designed by Junyi Heo, makes knowing when to water your plant as easy as knowing when your dog is hungry. Optical sensors in the planter measure the soil temperature, moisture levels and light levels, and then the device displays a digital facial expression based on the plant’s needs.
How is your plant feeling today? Is it angry at you for neglect? Is it feeling happy? Is it about to die? Now you’ll know, just by looking at the digital face.
The pot connects to a USB cable that can download your plant’s statistics – soil moisture levels, light levels, temperature and near-death experiences – into your computer, which helps you to keep track of its progress. Not only that, but it can tell when you’ve watered too much and siphons the extra water into a standby dish. Overall, the Digital Pot is a recipe not only for happy, healthy plants, but also friendly home décor (well…as long as you water the plants) [source: Yanko Designs].

8. Fold-out Balcony
Next on your home tour, your tech-savvy neighbour stops at a window, pushes it open and prepares to step outside. Before you can shout “Don’t jump!” you notice that with the push of a button, the window has folded into a balcony. The balcony comfortably holds a small furniture set as well as both of you. As you sip drinks and watch the world go by, your neighbour explains that, in Sweden, historical building ordinances prevent landlords from putting balconies into their apartments. The invention of the fold-out balcony gives homeowners the luxury of a balcony without breaking city ordinance.
The balcony is a heavy-duty window frame made of steel and aluminium and installed into a window space. A motorised leverage system lowers the balcony in a controlled manner with the help of reinforced steel bars. The award-winning Bloomframe folding balcony was set to begin production in early 2008. It can be customized to most windows and is available in a range of colours [source: Hofman Dujardin Architecten].

7. Interactive Coffee Table
Stepping back in from the balcony (as your neighbour folds it up), you notice yet another blue glow, this time coming from the coffee table. Your neighbour sets the drink tray on the coffee table, and the surface lights up, surrounding the tray with bright, twinkling white lights. As the tray is taken away, the lights fade to a dull blue and twinkle subtly. Then the cat jumps on the table, and everywhere the cat steps, the table lights up, following the creature’s every move.

The coffee table is called the Wave, and it uses LED lights to interact with whatever is placed on or near the table’s surface. LEDs, or light emitting diodes, are bright white lights that don’t use a filament (the little wire inside a bulb) like incandescent light bulbs. Instead, they have a phosphor coating that creates a white light. The coffee table lights up using circuitry and optical sensors that can read pressure and light changes when something is placed near them. The Wave is powered by a cord that is easily hidden and needs no programming or upkeep.
Not only is this coffee table attractive and responsive, it’s environmentally friendly. It uses sustainable, non-formaldehyde plywood from American Maple, is finished with a water-based lacquer and uses only 35 watts of energy when fully lighted. Most of the time it’s dormant, using even less energy. Depending on your table-top and shipping preferences, the coffee table can cost anywhere from $1,795 to $2,340. Erm, yeah, definitely for the design friendly mega-earners then…

6. The Swiss Army Bathroom
The refreshing balcony beverages have taken a toll, and you excuse yourself to the bathroom. But you’re in for no ordinary wee. This toilet reminds you of a giant Swiss Army knife that stands in for toilet, sink and shower. From the bottom, a sink swivels out, revealing the toilet beneath (which stays in place and empties into the connected plumbing). Storage bins slide out next, and two shower heads are revealed. The bathroom itself is one big tiled room with a drain in the centre, allowing you to swivel the showerhead into any position you prefer.
The Vertebrae bathroom unit was designed to fit into small urban apartments, maximising living space. Featured in the Sony House of Tomorrow in London, it’s for sale today. It comes in a wide range of colours and costs about $15,000 (again, a budget buy for those entrepreneurs turned multi-wahtever-illionaires). It can be put into a corner and takes up very little space, considering it includes so many bathroom fixtures [source: Design Odyssey].

5. Electronic Bidet
During your bathroom visit, the toilet lid rises to greet you. Nervously, you sit down. After you finish your business, a warm spray from behind surprises you and you think, “Is this France?” More surprisingly, however, the toilet then flushes itself and lowers its own lid. Bewildered, you take a closer look and notice that the toilet has a special seat attachment.
This toilet seat attachment is the Washlet S400. Designed by Toto, it only works with select Toto toilets (included here with the Vertebrae only for story-telling purposes). The Washlet is controlled by a wall-mounted remote control and can be set to work automatically. The innovative toilet raises and lowers the toilet lid (ending spats between you and your significant other), flushes automatically and acts as a bidet, spraying a warm stream of water onto the user for ultimate cleanliness. Toto products are not available online, but the Washlet can be found at retail stores in the States and Canada for about $1,890 [source: European Sink Atlanta].

4. Woofer Speaker System
As you leave the bathroom, you notice music is playing. In the living room, you find two white German shepherds – without their heads. “Ah, dogs without drool,” you think. They issue booming thuds synchronized with the bass notes over the speaker system.
These Woofer Speakers – pun intended – function as any other woofer speakers would, except their dog statue design is suited for a hunting lodge, rec room or pop art studio. Each order comes in sets of two in either black or white for $1,479.00. Designed by Sander Mulder, the Woofers are made from polyester and contain 180-watt speakers [source: Generate].

3. Musical Home Oxygen Bar
You finally find your neighbour – he’s relaxing in the master bedroom with his eyes closed. Soothing music is coming from somewhere, and you notice that your neighbour is breathing rather deeply from what looks like a microphone headset and is wearing a silly grin.
Remember the oxygen bar craze – people gathering together to breathe in oxygen? Well, now you can have that experience in the comfort of your own home. The Zadro Oxygen bar comes with built-in soothing sounds and allows you to add your own essential oils to enhance your aromatherapy oxygen experience. The oxygen comes from a small compressor (which doubles as a speaker) that can easily sit out of sight on the floor while you relax in a chair. It hooks up to an oxygen-emitting tube that sends the air up to your nostrils. Essential oils can be added to the oxygen filter to “flavour” the air for you. This product retails for about $299. Not to be used for medical purposes, the product has a silent motor that compresses the oxygen and removes extra moisture. Breathe deeply and enjoy the effects of clean, pure oxygen.

2. Pool PC
Your neighbour leads you out back to the pool, then jumps in the water, pulls onto a float, and declares it’s time to send out for pizza – via the Internet. The float is equipped with a personal computer.
The Pool PC was designed and invented by Barry Lai Yin Lock for the NextGen PC Design Competition. It’s not yet on the market, but this waterproof PC is feasible, made from low-density (floatable) waterproof plastics and solar-powered, which abolishes the need to plug in. While most computers need a fan to keep the processing unit cool, this PC uses the pool water it’s floating on to cool it, instead. The touchable user interface eliminates the need for a keyboard, which would create air pockets and places for water to seep in. It includes a GPS device (in case you get lost at sea), Bluetooth wireless and Internet access. Not only that, but it includes a stretchable attachment so that it can fit to any size of pool ring or inner tube.

1. Hovering Recliner
Your neighbour climbs out of the pool and gestures to a reclining lawn chair that looks like it belongs in the movie “The Matrix.” In other words, it levitates.
Shown at the Sony House of the Future in London, the Hoverit Recliner is no ordinary chair. Hand-built using clear plastics and powerful repelling magnets, the Hoverit Lounger chair floats from its base. The chair and the base incorporate magnets of opposing poles to push the chair upwards. Some people believe magnets have health benefits, like weight loss and muscle contouring, which gives this chair added value.
But beware. The chair comes with some standard warnings: Keep it away from computers, credit cards and other cards with magnetic strips, cell phones, and large metallic objects – you really don’t want the spatula and grill flying at you while you’re trying to relax. People with pacemakers should also steer clear of the chair in case of magnetic pulse interference. Televisions and other screens with cathode ray tubes may also be shorted out by the lounger.
That said, this chair may need its own clean-room. But who cares? You’re trying to relax, so abandon your cell phone. Not as soothing is the price. The chair will set you back $11,716, plus shipping. Only 2,000 loungers are in production, making it a collector’s item.

Welcome to the home of the weirdo future. Cool, huh?

 Checking out Wired.com this week, I came across the most hardcore mofo stuff out there – Pimp My Assault Rifle.

So you have your little Swiss Army Knife on your keyring and you use it to unscrew the screws on that old desktop for tinkering. But if civilian technology is being used in the military, how are military gadgets helping us, hey?

I mean, gajillions a year of our tax bucks a year are spent on some pretty hardcore blow-em-to-bits tech, but, just like rocket science, we, the people, only get the benefit of the byproducts of this research ( debate open here, folks, throw in your comments below. I’ll start: I mean, Is missile guided global nuclear war a good price to pay for your laser-guided pool cue? Huh?)

 When I asked a buddy why he decided to serve in the navy, he said that, while the army had cooler toys, there’d be the risk he might actually have to shoot someone. Um, yeah…there is that. Having said that, he did  get to ride around in some pretty nifty little speed boats – but then so can you.

The potential for atomic catastrophe did produce one obvious benefit (no, not the internet): the global positioning system. Yeah. GPS. 

Which you can then use to go out, explore the world, and have some fun.

Which brings us full circle to Wired’s more benign tour of ‘Survival Gear That’s Just Crazy Enough to Work’ (quote unquote).

Among the kooky and awkward is something really useful: the solar cooker.

Heating up to 90 degrees, and cooking at a constant temperature, it’s better than trying to cook breakfast on the bonnet of your overheated beat up old car.

The obvious drawback is that you’ll need a decent amount of sun. But hey, South Africa. Right?  And I’d definitely take my solar cooker out with me partying in the Karoo, just par example.