Teddy bears might be the tradi tional cute characters of choice but the animal shape of the moment in Japan is undoubtedly the penguin. This is in no small part due to JR's Suica card advertising campaigns. Sega Toys are not a company to miss a trend and so, perhaps in tribute to the animated movie "Happy Feet," have followed up their iDog ad iFish robot toys with the iPenguin. The 12-cm tall robot flightless bird connects to your iPod and dances to the beat. Beyond its balletic prowess the iPenguin also feels happy or sad depending on what music you have playing. Just tap its beak twice while the tune is on and it expresses its feelings by flashing off and on the multicolored LED light display on its chest. Presumably its musical tastes are in line with those of its owner. The nimble-footed avian is coming out on July 26 with a price tag of 2,940 yen. It runs on three AAA batterie with more information available at www.segatoys.co.jp
Tap on wood: Hard-core nature lovers either keep their fingers off the uber artificiality of computers or close their eyes and dream of the forest. While a truly natural computer is either many years off, or will never lose its status as a pipe dream, Marubeni Infotec is planning on doing its bit in the meantime. The company recently put on display at a trade show a wooden keyboard, apparently a standard accessory except for the choice of materials. The ensemble was completed with a selection of USB 2.0 flash drives, a multicard reader and a four-port USB hub — all decked out in the makings of dead trees.
Fanning the flames: Smoking is one of the few compulsive behaviors to rival keitai usage for addictive prowess. Now, perish the thought that I would encourage the unfortunate habit of indulging in cancer sticks, but this meeting of obsessions is just too good to pass on. Nodoya has crafted a cigarette lighter that looks just like a mobile phone, albeit on the small side. The beastie even opens up like a regular communicator and displays a suitably cute dolphin screen saver on the front. It costs 399 yen and comes in five colors with more information from www.nodaya-net.com/keitai3liter.htm. I trust that nobody will confuse form with function, with unfortunate consequences.