Rumor Mill: Is Ben & Jerry's Planning A "Schweddy Balls" Ice Cream?

From: http://gothamist.com/

Today we catch wind of a strange and hilarious potential development from the Ben & Jerry's camp, who may or may not be developing a new "Schweddy Balls"-themed flavor in honor of the enduring SNL skit starring Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Alec Baldwin in a career-defining role as Pete "Schweddy Balls" Schweddy.

Gayster casually let this little bomb slip during an interview with New York 1: "It has this crazy, massive popularity that’s kind of had a half life since I left the show. Ben and Jerry's is coming out with a schweddy balls ice cream for Christmas this year.” Whoa! Bowery Boogie says the flavor will arrive sometime in September and run through Christmas, but a Ben & Jerry's rep we spoke to would neither confirm nor deny the move, explaining "we like all of our new flavors to have an element of surprise."

In any event, now is the perfect time to revisit this gem from the past:

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World's Most Unique Gadgets

by Gord Goble

We've already discovered why foreign countries outpace the U.S. when it comes to high-tech cars, robots, gaming devices, and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mobile phones, but there’s plenty more electronic wizardry that couldn’t quite fit in the first list. And you won’t find any of it down at the local mall. Granted, you can always turn to the Internet and one of the many overseas sites that market foreign goods if you really have a hankering for any of these items and don't have an issue with long-distance ordering, long-distance shipping, and potential warranty hassles. But for the most part, it’s look but don’t touch.

Miharu Home Care Camera

Tiny cameras that sneak into tiny places are currently all the rage overseas, and Miharu's dental-oriented device is one of the pack leaders. Though it looks like a highly sophisticated toothbrush, the unit features a tiny video camera and an LED light, through which you can film in places that don't normally see the light of day – like the back of your mouth, the back of your refrigerator, or that little crack between the floorboards. Send the video to your big screen TV for maximum impact.

Hitachi Rotary Razaq

Its curvy esthetics will certainly appeal to the style conscious, but the Rotary Razaq is designed for performance, too. With a 3500-RPM motor, omni-directional, washable blades, and a handle that manual razor junkies will love, Hitachi's little shaving marvel may just be the ideal whisker remover.

LG GD910 Watch Phone and Samsung S9110 Watch Phone

Korea will pay the ultimate homage to Dick Tracy this year as two of its preeminent electronics manufacturers duke it out for supremacy in the oh-so-pricey world of watch phones. Due to land in France any day now, the Samsung S9110 is said to be the slimmest watch phone ever released, featuring a 1.76-inch touch screen and such niceties as Bluetooth, voice recognition, MP3 player capabilities, a speakerphone, and e-mail functionality. Sporting similar specs but a slightly thicker profile, and a higher MSRP, LG's GD910 will also pack 3G video call capabilities and 2GB of internal memory (versus just 40MB in the S9110) when it arrives in France at just about the same time.

Sanyo Eneloop Portable Solar Panel

Sanyo's Eneloop rechargeable batteries have been the Holy Grail for serious battery users for some time now, so it comes as no surprise that one of the first seemingly reputable, fully functional portable solar panels is part and parcel of the Eneloop brand. Just now available in Japan, the Eneloop Portable Solar Panel will power gadgets such as MP3 players, handheld gaming devices, mobile phones, cameras, and even some laptops, and look pretty good doing it.

by Gord Goble

Soladey 3

The latest iteration of a toothpaste-free toothbrush that's already convinced millions – yes, millions – of Japanese to take the plunge, the Soladey 3 is an oral cleansing tool with a very unique ionic twist. Unlike traditional toothbrushes, the unit is equipped with a solar panel that absorbs light and purportedly transmits electrons via a titanium oxide semiconductor to make plaque unstable and easily removable. Word on the street is that the Soladey concept actually works. Can millions of Japanese toothbrushers be wrong? Can you imagine a life without toothpaste?

Sega Homestar Pro 2nd Edition Home Planetarium

What if you could get that way-cool planetarium experience in the comfort of your own living room? With Sega's Homestar Pro Planetarium, you can do just that. The system – essentially a spiffy spherical projector equipped with a variety of night sky “discs” – sets up easily and apparently fills any room with more stars than you can shake a constellation at. Though Sega says the unit is a great introduction to astronomy, we wonder if there could there be a more relaxing, calming sleep aid.

I-O Data SEG Clip

The SEG Clip is a USB stick and antenna that plugs into a PC and receives over-the-air television programming (via Japan's free-to-air mobile TV service, dubbed 1Seg). While that may not be particularly remarkable, the fact that users can then download a TVPlayer App and wirelessly watch whatever they've recorded on their iPod or iPhone is. You'd never need, or even be able to use one of these gadgets here in the States, but when in Japan…

Japanese Toilets

Yes, we fully realize this is a consumer tech site. Nevertheless, no discussion of cool overseas devices would be complete without a mention of the venerable toilet. The sad truth is that we're so far behind (excuse the pun) in the toilet business that we never be able to catch up. In Japan, you can rest your derriere upon a seat that warms and massages you. You can turf the toilet paper and instead cleanse thyself with warm water. You can crank the MP3 tunes with your detachable remote, and you can rest easy knowing you're perched in a germ-resistant environment. You can even purify the air afterward. That such luxuries cannot be found easily here in North America is nothing short of an abomination, and we offer up this pic of a little Japanese girl staring in amazement at her automatic toilet seat as proof.

Ultra-Minimalism: 19 Cool Products That Are Almost Impossible to Use

Sometimes modern design and minimalism go a little too far and it’s hard to figure out exactly what the products are. We’ve tracked down 19 products that look quite cool but leave you wondering wtf?

The Cell Tankless Toilet Even in the most modern bathroom design, a toilet is a toilet right? Apparently not, which is fine with us because why should your bathroom have to revolve around the throne? Downplay it with the egg shaped design of the Cell Tankless Toilet. [Via Yanko]

Recycled Paper Side Table It’s kind of easy to call anything that could technically support a lamp and some magazines a “side table” which gives lots of room to minimalist designers. The Recycled Paper Side Table by Matt Gagnon technically fits the requirement of being able to hold something on it, although until you put a lamp on it people will have no clue what it is. $2798 [Source]

KONE Vacuum System Usually you’re looking for a place to stash your vacuum in your tiny city apartment, but here’s one that you can leave out as a piece of modern art. The Dirt Devil Kone Vacuum is cordless, bagless and the coolest looking vacuum you never knew you wanted. $40 at Amazon

Das Keyboard Ultimate Das Keyboard was designed to be the best keyboard ever made and it provides the best tactile typing experience… That’s great but why does it have blank keys? Apparently real typists can feel their way though so silly things like marked keys are unnecessary. daskeyboard.com

Flavor of Time It’s been said that our most powerful sense is the sense of smell and that the scent of a fond memory can stay with you forever—like homemade cookies from when you were a kid, or the way that that she smelled the first time you kissed… But you probably never thought you’d be telling the time based on smell alone. That’s the idea behind the Flavor of Time Clock. There are 12 different “flavor capsules” so each hour a different scent is exuded from the holes on the face of the clock. Source

End Table Bookspine Saver As most minimalist products you might not know what this is until you see it in use. And like the best minimalist designs, once you realize what Habitual Bedside Table is you realize it’s really the ONLY way to design a bedside table… especially if you read a lot. Via Boing Boing

Harmony Salt & Pepper Shakers Is that one of those new tiny speakers I’ve heard so much about? Yeah, that’s got to be it. They’re for your iPod right? This product looks way more complicated than it is… seriously, it’s just a salt and pepper shaker. The outer part holds pepper while the center blob holds salt. corinagarona.com Source

Fuksas Mocha Cups Don’t be surprised if your friends try to ash their cigarettes, or ignore these altogether because they look like art. The Fuksas Mocha Cups eliminate handles and that tired ‘cup’ shape most mugs have. Simple and of course very unique. Source

Mondrian T Lamp Unless it’s on you might think this was some kind of hat rack or something. The Mondrian T is about as simple as it gets for lighting and you get the benefit of clean lines without loads of color which is usually what comes to mind when there’s a mention of something “Mondrian.” See it Source

Osorom Bench A bench huh? It’s hard to imagine something that looks like this would have a purpose, but apparently it does. Actually the curved sides might be pretty comfortable as opposed to a hard square corner. Although those holes all over it seem like if you sit on this thing you’re asking for some uncomfortable snaggage. Yeah nevermind about the Osorom Bench seeming comfortable. Source

Pano Logic Computer If you think that even the Mac mini has too many bells and whistles then you’ll appreciate the Pano Logic Computer. It literally fits in the palm of your hand, doesn’t have any disk drives, or even a hard drive and processor. We’re not really sure how it works, but we think some kind of voodoo may be involved. (Actually, all of the real computing is done off site somewhere which is subscription based) $300 panologic.com

Phillippe Starck Veiled Watch If you’re a fan of the slick metal bands on a nice watch, but hate a big clunky face you’re gonna dig the Phillippe Starck Veiled Watch. At first you’ll think this is just a cool metal bracelet but upon further inspection you’ll notice the subtle hands underneath… or you might not notice—they’re pretty obscure. $150 at Amazon

Sliding Shower You could give someone all day to guess what that weird panel on the wall was and they’d probably never figure it out without the context of a bathroom or someone using it. The Sliding Shower feels like something straight out of a sci-fi movie and seems like it’s designed to make you feel uncomfortable with change. Source

Samsung ML-1630 Printer Usually when you think of a minimalist gadget you think of mp3 players, speakers, maybe even computers, but printers? The Samsung ML-1630 Printer makes fools of us all. At first glance we weren’t sure if it was a digital scale or some kind of light-up paperweight, but we certainly didn’t think it was a printer. Kudos Samsung for making us want a printer for looking cool rather than what it does. $159 at Amazon

Stick Sound FM Radio Hey that’s a neat penholder. No? Um, oh, it’s a joystick for video games? Oh it’s not? The Stick Sound FM Radio makes its purpose known when you grab the stick which tunes the radio, adjusts the volume and turns it on and off. And if that’s not cool enough for you, it’s base glows blue when it’s on. $39 at Singulier

Pendulum Wall Clock This is the result of creating a minimalist grandfather clock. No numbers, no face, no housing… just hands and a pendulum mounted to a wall. It’s a pretty cool design, but we have to wonder what the point of a pendulum is on a minimalist clock since we don’t see the point of them on a regular clock. $114 Source

Ultimate Wheel Who needs bike chains… or handle bars…. or a seat for that matter? The Nimbus Ultimate Wheel is as basic as it gets. Until now we though the unicycle was the stripped down version of the bicycle… but no, apparent it’s a wheel with some pedals. And sure, you may look at this and know what it’s for right away, but we dare you to use it! $90 at Unicycle.com via Geekologie

Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard This is definitely one of those products that you’ll have absolutely no clue what it is until it’s in use. And it uses lasers, which is always a plus. The idea behind this product is that instead of typing on the keys, this virtual keyboard can tell what you’re trying to type by how you interrupt the laser… it even simulates the typing “click” sounds so it feels pretty natural. $150 at ThinkGeek

Transformer Shelves One of the marks of great minimalist design is that it actually serves a great purpose that you might not have noticed right away. The Transformer Shelves look like a table that makes cool uses of lines in its design, but it turns out it’s actually a very complicated customizable storage system. Or a very big rubix cube perhaps. Source