The ballistic nylon look is extremely dated, but that aside, the Skooba Superbungee Strap looks like it could save those who carry overweighted laptop bags a compressed disc or two. Gearlog tried one of the $26 bungee-filled straps on their laptop bag and couldn't have been happier:

In my informal tests, in which I stuffed various bags with way too much stuff, I found the Superbungee Strap to be very comfortable, putting minimal strain on my shoulder. It also stayed in place, so I didn't have to worry about the bag moving around during my commute, which consists of two subways and lots of stair-climbing. I tried the Strap out with a few of my own bags, including a duffel bag that has caused me lots of back and shoulder discomfort in the past, and could literally feel the improvement.

Now just to get other manufacturers to incorporate this design into their bags, obviating the need to pay $26 for $5 worth of materials.

Hands (Shoulders?) On: Roadwired Skooba Superbungee Strap [Gearlog.com]

This "Xenide" flashlight from AELight has a metal halide and xenon emitter, similar to those used in HID headlights on high-end cars and tuned late '90s Honda Civics. It's powered by a rechargeable lithium ion battery and can throw 900 or so lumens up to 2,200 feet—nearly half a mile. It's $350 for a 15-watt version; $500 for the 25-watt.

Product Page [AELight.com via PopSci via Oh Gizmo!]

While I think "aromatherapy" is pretty much bunk, I certainly like aromas, especially ones that aren't rotting meat or unwashed cabbie. These "Swiss Aromatherapy Pens" have a second nub at the rear with a roller ball that emits "pure Swiss essential oils" in a variety of flavors—one per pen—including rose, mint, grapefruit, and eucalyptus. They're $50 a pop—maybe get a pack of Bic and some candles, instead.

Catalog Page [WishingFish.com via Crave.CNET.com]

It looks as if the "Keyport," which was shown as a concept a few months ago, will actually be making it into limited production. Your likelihood of getting one seems slim, though: you'll need to have already been on the "I'm interested" list; the process for getting your keys cut involves sending six copies to the company; the whole thing cost $300. Maybe you could just drill a hole through your keys and pin them all together instead? Or what if someone made a small, metal ring...?

KEYPORT PRODUCTION [Notcot.com]

I don't think this prototype laptop stand design is quite there yet—propping up your laptop on a rounded, slippery bit of acrylic doesn't seem like a winner—but the addition of "fingers" at the back to hold cables in place when away from your desk is quite clever. Even if you have a laptop with all its ports along the side like a Macbook, the Fingers design might still help prevent the terror of cables slipping off the edge of your desk down into the wire brambles under your desk.

There don't appear to be any real plans to produce the Fingers unit, but some enterprising laptop stand company may try something similar soon.

Concept Page [OofDesign.co.uk via Yanko Design]

While this somewhat cheesy levitating globe is only four inches in diameter, I can imagine it will soon be put to good use as the base for a talented Star Wars fan in creating a real-life version of the holographic Death Star intelligence for which many Bothan spies died. It's $100.

Catalog Page [LiveScienceStore.com via 7Gadgets via Oh Gizmo!]

Remember the "FLY Fusion Pen"? It was the pen that when used with special paper could offload your written notes to a computer, giving you an easy backup. You could even control its built-in MP3 player and calculator by drawing buttons or equations on the page. It had a high niftiness quotient (and was only $80) but the lack of a built-in screen and the need to purchase special paper to make it work were kinks. (Oh Gizmo did a recent thorough review.)

Now the inventor of the technology has started a new company, Livescribe, which aims to essentially build an improved FLY Fusion, this time with a pen that has a screen, the ability to interpret cursive, and that can be used on paper that can be printed at home. (It still needs the array of time dots to work.)

The idea behind these types of pens are appealing—I use a lot of pen and paper myself, especially for taking notes, scratching down ideas I'll never end up following up on, and drawing lewd figures—but I'm curious if anyone has been able to integrate these into their daily workflow. I rarely feel its too onerous to migrate my notes from paper into a computer via keyboard.

The Livescribe company page has some general details, including that the first products will be available in early 2008, but be sure to avoid the odd paper cut-out flash videos with jive talkin' teens or bloggers on the beach. (As if bloggers can withstand the sun.)

Company Page [Livescribe.com via OhGizmo.com]

While an all-in-one printer and scanner combo would almost certainly be a better solution for most home offices, there is an inscrutable appeal to these new "ScanFront" units from Canon. It's not their looks—they look like throwbacks to the early '90s. It's not their functionality, per se—I can already scan in documents and email them or FTP them, even if I have to use a real, live computer as intermediary. It's not the price—two large and up.

I just can't put my finger on why I think these are cool. I think it might be that they are sort of anachronistic, a modern reinterpretation of an idea already past its prime, like a nuclear-powered fax machine.

Canon's ScanFront 220 / 220P begins shipping [Engadget]

I've no idea how well this "LapTop Pro" dual keyboard and screen cleaner tool might actually work, but since I wage a weekly war on the cruft and gunk that gets on my keyboard—mostly skin oils, which is gross, I know, but that's just the way it is—I have a soft spot for anything that aims to make my typing life easier. A wet wipe on the keys does a pretty good job on its own, even on the screen. (It's probably leaving some residue on the screen, but I try to buy the ones that don't have lotion, since I also use them on my bulldog's face flaps, which are much more gross than any keyboard, let me assure you.)

Actually, $20—the price of the "LapTop Pro"—would buy a lot of wet wipes. I've just talked myself out of this. Carry on!

Anybody have any good cleaning keyboard and screen tips? I try to avoid all the "cleaning solutions." I did a short blip for Popular Mechanics a few months ago about screen cleaning solutions for LCD panels and talked to some manufacturers. Turns out that stuff is almost exclusively just isopropyl alcohol diluted into water, about 2.5-5% to 95%.

Catalog Page [ScientificOnline.com via Red Ferret]

This hand warmer from Zippo uses a platinum-catalyzed glass fiber burner to produce heat from lighter fluid without a flame for up to 24 hours. Except for the burners which have to be replaced (perhaps every 24 hours; I'm not able to tell from the website) the whole thing is reusable. It's even claimed to be low odor so you won't scare off your quarry when hunting.

It's my belief that if God hadn't wanted us to stay warm while hunting deer he wouldn't have put deer stands in flammable trees. A forest in flames will cause the deer to run—right into the busy highway. It's a convoluted system, perhaps, but lighter fluid is cheaper than bullets.

Product Page [Zippo.com via Oh Gizmo!]

The "SmokeScreen" from IDScan is a biometric timer for nightclubs designed to allow patrons to exit and re-enter as they pop out for a cigarette. Club owners can set a certain amount of time alloted to smokers, preventing them from arriving during free-entry periods and returning later when there is a door charge. It's all horribly convoluted, but perfect for those that revel in the feeling of exclusiveness provided by high-end nightclubs.

There are a few practical benefits to club owners: the SmokeScreen could be used as an automatic doorman for VIP rooms and can tally the number of smokers outside at any given time.

It's £400. IDScan makes other point-of-entry products for clubs, as well.

Product Page [IDScan.co.uk via Red Ferret]

While it's impossible to say if the Pioneer SE-CLX9 are decent headphones or not—they're Japan-only at the moment—the amount of included rubber ear pieces are impressive, to say the least. Some are for comfort, some to change the sound—they're all probably pretty unnecessary.

SE-CLX9, the ultimate canal type headphone from Pioneer [Akihabara News via CrunchGear]

Belkin and gaming peripherals company Razer have teamed up to release the "n52te SpeedPad," one of those strange power-gamer devices created for the hard core PC gamer who never chats during the game to his friends. It's got all the typical stuff, including programmable keys. It'll be available next month for $70.

I've always found these things to be appealing in a way, but odd. I don't find using a full-sized keyboard especially onerous when gaming, nor do I think that giving a slight ergonomic tweak to the position of the buttons and such really helps all that much. And again, while voice chat is becoming more common, supplanting typing mid-game, there are still plenty of times when I need to hit some strange key in a game to activate an uncommonly used function.

Does anybody use one of these type of controllers and love it? I'm actually sort of looking at these things, because I'm thinking about moving my gaming/media PC off my desk into a corner, ditching my office chair for a couch. Right now, my planned solution is craft something like the Phantom Lapboard to rest on my lap.

Product Page/Press Release [Belkin via Oh Gizmo!]

I really like the look of the new "Amp+ Sport Remote Control" watch from Nike, which integrates with the Nike+ iPod Nano wireless receiver and training module. The LED grid is showing playback control feedback in the picture, but also displays the time.

The only place I run is to the bodega to get more cigarettes—I exercise, actually, but just loathe running; Plus: Bad knees!—but if I were a yogger I'd find the whole Nike+ iPod package irresistible. And it's even affordable at $80. At that price it's almost worth just buying the watch for general purpose use. (Of course, you'd also need to buy the $30 Sport Kit. And an iPod Nano.)

Nike's Amp+ watch: hearts your heart and iPod, too [Engadget]

Apparently the new Apple keyboards attempt to mitigate accidental CAPS LOCK strikes by ignoring short key presses. Smart—I'm sure we'll see that in most new keyboards soon.

Jonathan Rentzsch tells his tale of discovery:

But I did notice something odd. I rarely use the Caps Lock key, but often accidently bang it, missing the left Shift key. I would feel the mistake while typing, but then I'd look down and see Caps Lock hadn't been engaged after all. Oh, I must have just imagined my mis-strike.

Over the next few weeks, this kept happening to the point where I started questioning reality. I was positive I hit it. This required scientifical investigation.

apple's antiCAPSLOCK [Rentzsch.com via Daring Fireball]

These strange little fetuses are "Lobies," plastic gel clips that go around your ear and can hold most common earbud designs. I'm not sure it that's a good thing or not, comfort aside, since many earbuds are designed to only be loud enough when they're actually in your ear, but they're only going to be $12, so I'm sure they'll work well enough for some. If there's one thing that almost everyone can agree on it's that earbuds, despite being the bundled headphone included with pretty much every type of gadget, actually sort of suck.

Yes, they come in colors other than placenta pink.

Product Page [MyLobie.com via Macworld via Gadget Lab]

Hacoa, a Japanese brand that sells $435 wooden keyboards, will soon be releasing a DIY kit that will save you a little money. The new "Ki-Board DIY Kit" is $300, but includes a partially-routered board, all the parts you'll need to create the board, and even tools. If only it were wireless!

Yamaguchi Kougei, the wood products and lacquerware dealer based in Fukui prefecture that created the Hacoa brand, typically crafts each keyboard by hand in a labor-intensive process that allows them to complete one keyboard per day. The slow production process makes it difficult for the company to fill large orders and prompts them to charge around 50,000 yen ($435) per keyboard. However, Hacoa's new "Ki-Board DIY Kit" (ki, which sounds like "key," means "tree" or "wood" in Japanese) aims to lighten the company's labor load -- and boost production and lower prices -- by letting the purchaser do some of the cutting and assembling at home.

DIY wooden keyboard kit [Pink Tentacle]

Here's a shrewd bit of engineering: the "Replug" is a two-part device that adds an easy, tension- and magnetic-based release to any standard 3.5mm miniJack plug. Once the Replug is in place, any dangerous level of tension will cause the Replug to pop off of the jack stud, saving stress on the jack itself.

Price isn't announced yet—they aren't going on sale until "Fall," but I dig the idea.

Product Page [Replug.com via Oh Gizmo! via Crunchgear]

Daniel Rutter has reviewed the "Krill electronic glow sticks," electro-luminescent tubes that emulate chemical glo-sticks, but are powered by batteries. As per usual, reading one of Dan's meticulous reviews of products others might glide right past is rustic delight, a surprise pat of butter in the middle of a slice of cornbread. (Perhaps "rustic" implies something slip-shod, which Dan's work is not. How about "artisanal"?)

Even my old dim AA stick - an "Original" model, as opposed to the much brighter "Extreme" version - is a heck of a lot better than nothing if you needed to find your way in the dark. Its light output is similar to that of the backlight on many small mobile phones, and heaven knows enough people have used those as flashlights in a pinch.

The approximate illumination threshold for human colour vision - which doesn't really matter when your light source only has one colour in it, but stay with me here - is about one lux. The minimum illumination level for any kind of useful vision at all, for normal adult humans whose eyes have adjusted to the dark, is about 0.1 lux. You'll probably still be able to grope your way around with less than 0.1 lux - if you've got decent night vision, even the 0.001 lux of a clear moonless night is better than nothing - but 0.1 lux is a pretty good place to put the line below which you'll start using touch as much as vision.

Krill electronic glow sticks (from smallest to biggest!) [Dan's Data]