If you’ve heard about that little known football event, called the World Cup, that’s currently taking place in South Africa, then you’ve also no doubt heard about the highly irritating Vuvuzela horns, which accompany every match.

But we’ve now found something even more annoying from Japan – a musical note shaped ‘instrument’ called an Otamatone. See them in action in the video below.

And if after watching that, you decide that you actually wish to have an Otamatone of your own, then click on the View button below for more details.

Firebox: Otamatone

Many of us can claim to have owned an illuminated globe at some point in our lives, but never before has there been a globe quite as good as this one.

The Night n Day illuminated globe gradually rotates in real time and only lights up the part of the planet that is currently in daylight. The rest of the globe remains in darkness, representing the night time.

This clever globe is even tilted on its axis, like our planet, so also correctly represents the different seasons, showing how the difference between the longest and shortest days of the year come about.

This is a must have for any study, kids bedroom, office or class room.

Night n Day Globe

And speaking of the longest day, this year’s has already passed us by in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning that each day is now slightly shorter than the day before and that, I’m afraid, it won’t be very long before most of us will again be getting up for work in the dark each morning.

For those of you who need a little help getting out of bed on those dark mornings, you may want to invest in the Sunrise I.Wake Up Clock from Oregon Scientific.

This clock comes with a built in light, which is used to simulate the sunrise by gradually getting brighter for a period of 30 minutes before your alarm is due to go off. This is designed to help you wake up more naturally and relaxed on those dark, cold mornings.

Sunrise I.Wake Up Clock

If however, like me, you have trouble getting up for work on bright, sunny mornings, I’m afraid there isn’t really anything here we can offer to help you!

But when you do finally fall out of bed and head to the kitchen for your boiled egg and toast soldiers, you could brighten up the start of your day by getting rid of your boring old egg timer and egg cup and replacing them with these:

	Soldier Egg Cup
	Hour Glass Clock

Before you leave the house you’ll probably want to know what the weather is like. Is it too warm for a coat? Will I need my umbrella later? You know the sort of questions that us mere mortals have to deal with whenever we step out into the elements. The Evolution Plus Remote Weather Station could help you decide though. With its 12-hour forecast, animated weather symbols, temperature and humidity displays, you can’t go wrong.

And just in case you wish to go swimming in the sea in the middle of the night, the weather station also displays information about the tides and the current phase of the moon.

Evolution Plus Remote Weather Station

With all this rushing around in our daily routines, we tend to miss a lot of what’s going on around us. All the finer details of the world we live in usually go unnoticed in our technology driven lives. But here we have a gadget that can change this.

The Veho USB Microscope plugs directly into your PC or Mac, turning your computer into an instant window into the detailed world we wouldn’t normally see.

With a magnification of 20-200x and four controllable LEDs to light your chosen specimen, the microscope can be used to take photos and videos of whatever you discover.

USB Microscope

We very nearly skipped past the opportunity to bring this latest gadget to you, but after seeing the Japanese advert to promote the Hungry Hound, we couldn’t resist.

They certainly don’t make ‘em like that in Blighty.

Firebox: Hungry Hound

Generations of children around the world have grown up knowing the pleasure gained from building their first Lego structure, then going on to build bigger and better houses, aircraft, spaceships or anything else they could think of.  

But in more recent years, as more traditional toys have been replaced by computer games and other electronic gadgets and gizmos, Lego has perhaps become less and less commonplace in our homes.  

But Lego have been fighting back and taking advantage of the current ‘retro is cool’ wave by bringing out some of their own electronic gadgets.  

For instance, the Lego Man torch and mini keychain light.  

Standing at 19cm tall, the Lego Lights Torch is an oversized replica of the traditional Lego Man, complete with moving arms and legs and the underside of one foot rammed with bright LED lights.  

Or if you prefer something closer to the original size, there’s the Mini Lego Man keychain torch. The mini version is 7cm tall and has one LED on each foot. Handy to keep with your keys so you can find the front door lock when coming home drunk.  

But if you are not in need of a torch, how about a Lego Radio and Alarm Clock?  

Made to ten times the size of a standard 2-stud brick, the officially licensed Lego Radio Alarm Clock features twistable circular studs on the top – one to control the volume and one to tune the radio.  

Another official product in the Lego range is this digital camera. Perhaps not the greatest specification in the world, with 3 megapixel detail and 4 x digital zoom, the camera is more of a novelty and fun item, rather than something that the professionals will be queuing up to use. 

But if you are looking for something quirky, retro and that will be a great ice breaker at a party, this will be the camera for you!  

And now for a couple of unofficial products. Firstly there’s the iPod dock with built in volume controls and speakers, which looks suspiciously like the above mentioned building blocks.

And lastly, the wireless, optical Brick Mouse, available in red, white or blue, as shown on the left. If you like your mice to be curvy then this possibly won’t be the most comfortable mouse to use, but if you are just looking for something to brighten up your office desk and remind you of a better time, this will do the job.

Click on any of the images or the links below for more details about each of these products and to find out where to buy them.

	Firebox: Lego Mini Keychain Light
	Firebox: Lego Lights Torch
	Firebox: Lego Radio Alarm Clock
	IWOOT: Lego Digital Camera
	IWOOT: Block Speaker Dock
	IWOOT: Wireless Brick Mouse

Is it a bird? No.
Is it a plane? Not bloody likely with all this volcanic ash around.
Is it an alien abduction bedside table lamp? Well… yes, actually.

The novelty UFO lamp, made from stainless steel and perspex, appears to hover over a patch of grass while beaming it’s light down on a poor unsuspecting cow.

As well as the light beam, the UFO also has pulsating green and yellow lights, plus a family of glow in the dark aliens peering through the spaceship’s windows.

The cow can also be removed and replaced with other objects, such as toy cars or little plastic people, so you can create your own alien abduction scene!

Find Me A Gift: Alien Abduction Lamp

The shorter days and longer nights that this time of year brings us is not popular with everybody, but they do have one benefit. If you take a step outside on a long, clear Winter’s evening and look up at the night sky, you will be greeted with a truly incredible display of millions of twinkling stars, bright orbiting planets and other assorted gassy objects. But you may also notice that it’s a tad chilly out there.

If you want to recreate the magic of the stars in the warmth and comfort of your own home, then this is the ideal gadget for you.

The Star Theatre Planetarium certainly isn’t the first home planetarium to ever be invented, but this is by far the sleekest and most advanced we have ever seen. With its modern style and mains operated capability, this planetarium projects 10,000 stars on to your ceiling or wall and slowly rotates them to mimic the night sky. It even has an optional ‘shooting stars’ feature.

The planetarium comes with two projection discs. One shows the stars as they actually appear, the second maps out the constellations. The only thing that’s missing are any aliens!

But if you like the planetarium you will almost certainly like the similarly sleek Space Invaders Alarm Clock.

What could be more exciting than being woken up in the morning by a fully-fledged alien attack. With flashing lights and classic game sound effects, it’s up to you to save the planet from the Space Invaders!

	Firebox: Star Theatre Planetarium
	Firebox: Space Invaders Alarm Clock