NEC it
NEC’s ‘design of the future’ gadgets look way too Star Wars-ish to exist in reality. While it is true they’re not on the market yet, they will be in the near future. From among the hi-tech marvels NEC has in store for tomorrow’s world we picked our two favourites: the Flask Phone and the Wacca. The Flask phone, to be released sometime this year, is a mobile powered by liquid fuel which visibly depletes as you use the gadget. It also features a touch screen and, as far as NEC has let on, comes in soothing pastel colours. Looking to the future is the Wacca, a stylish wearable bracelet/camera that presumably will make the thinnest of high-tech credit-card cameras bow. It will capture everything you do during the day and you’ll be able to browse through and display the images while wearing them like a bracelet. The exact date for the Wacca’s commercial release, we just hope it is very soon! For these and more glimpses of tomorrow, go to www.nec.co.jp/design/en/advance/indexj.html

Subtle it
How can we put this? If you love to gorge yourself on chili dinners or baked beans but are often embarrassed by the public consequences, Garment Guard has a solution.The Subtle Butt filter or “disposable gas neutralizer” is a soft fabric patch with an activated carbon filter which you stick in your underwear/panties. When the inevitable happens, the patch sucks up the stench to leave you perhaps a little red-faced by the noise but not, at least, by the odour. A packet of five, for $78, is your guarantee that if you can manage a slow release, nobody will ever know. Go to www.garmentguard.com

Chumby it
Even if you have the latest computer on the market, you still have to be in front of the screen to check out your favourite websites - which isn’t always convenient. Well, the Chumby puts paid to that. It is a small screen, like a mini TV, connected via wi-fi to the internet and displaying a playlist of your favourite web pages, photos, games... It has no keyboard but you can flick through the pages via the touch screen. Chumby is in a limited beta release but you can buy it online for HK$1,400. An Asian partnership is said to be on its way, so hopefully it won’t be too long before it’s in the shops here – in the meantime go to www.chumby.com

Download it
Maybe by releasing In Rainbows on the net and letting customers decide what to pay for their work, Thom Yorke and co (aka Radiohead) set a new definitive path for the music industry. The major labels are like dinosaurs in today’s digital age trying to defy evolution, sadly the dear old CD is heading to its grave. And what of the future? Jamendo is a new type of online music store that offers free access and download of music tracks. It is totally legal and free with users encouraged to make a voluntary donation to the artist - with a suggested minimum of €5 ($57). Almost the whole sum you pay goes to the artist, so there’s no Universal/Sony BMG/EMI intermediate to suckup your hard-earned dollars. The artist you like gets your money. Check it out at www.jamendo.com/en/

Smoke it
Known for its relaxed lifestyle, California appears to be the appropriate birthplace for vending machines that dispense that hippy wacky backy, marijuana. But before you start packing your bags and scouring the internet for the quickest way to get there, to operate the machines you will have to prove you have a recorded medical condition that uses cannabis sativa as a prescription drug and part with US$200 for a licence to enter the secure rooms where the vending machines will be holed up. The dope ATM is the brainchild of Anytime Vending Machines, who have also announced plans to include more medical goodies in their machines – like Viagra and the drug for hair loss in men, Propecia.