Uncle Milton does it again with this Star Wars “The Force” Trainer. Due out in just under 2 months (link leads to a massive countdown clock for the UM Star Wars Science launch), this toy is set to revolutionize the industry. It also kind of gives me the willies.

The Force Trainer has two pieces - the first is a headset equipped with dry EEG sensors (a technology developed by NeuroSky…a name just a little too similar to SkyNet for my tastes). The sensors actually read your brainwaves and then relay that information to a fan inside the toy itself. The idea? The harder you concentrate, the more control you have over the fan. The fan lifts a lightweight ball in the toy, letting you then “control” the rise and fall of the ball.

I am not making this up.

The Force Trainer has 15 training levels and built-in voice guidance from Yoda, your Jedi Master. It’s expected to cost between $90 and $130 (seriously?! that’s it?! are brain wave sensors that cheap?!).

The rest of the Star Wars Science line will clock in at a reasonable $25-$45 price point and includes an optics teaching tool, a Darth Vader Robotic Arm, a Naboo Sea Creatures set (I wonder if they’re all really annoying?), a Dagobah Frog Habitat, a Jedi Telescope, a Jedi Projector and a Mustafar Volcano Kit.

So, how long before The Force Trainer replaces beer pong as the drinking game of choice amongst college students?

I was browsing through the new IKEA products (as you do) and I came across this interesting little lamp for just $19.95.

The SUNNAN lamp, designed by Nicolas Cortolezzis, is IKEA’s first solar cell work lamp and it has a built-in rechargeable solar panel embedded in the base. What I want to know though is how do you go about charging a desk lamp via solar power? Do you move your desk over to the window? Do you set the lamp outside on your lunch hour? Maybe you move your whole desk outside (awesome, but not very practical)?

Apparently, the charge time is about 9-12 hours in direct sunlight. When fully charged, the lamp stays lit for about 4 hours, dimming slightly after about 3 hours. This is a cool, novelty item for someone who’s into solar energy and its applications or who wants to spend a few weeks off the grid, but it’s not very practical for everyday use. Twelve hours of charging for 4 hours of use just doesn’t cut it.

[ Via Ikea ]

I don’t know whether to embrace or run away from this stylish USB & FireWire combination hub by LaCie. What looks like robo-tentacles are actually 4 USB ports, 2 FireWire ports, a USB fan, a USB light and both a USB and FireWire extension cable affixed to flexible cable “arms.”

I think my favorite part is the fan. Are people really getting *that* hot while working at their computers? Couldn’t they just layer or turn down the heat? Maybe a cool glass of water could do the trick? Clearly, I don’t get the appeal of the USB personal fan, but it seems to be a pretty standard USB gadget.

Seriously though, this is an extremely sleek and very multi-functional hub that’s sure to impress Apple lovers (for whom everything must be white) and design aficionados. It kind of reminds me of the camera-ball device from 12 Monkeys, or something built by the Kaminoans (the really tall aliens responsible for building the clone army in Star Wars). It retails for$89.99 on the LaCie site.

The orb-hub was designed exclusively for LaCie by Paris-based Ora-Ïto, the same designer behind the company’s golden hard drives and lego-brick drives.

You may be wondering why this particular universal key finder is so special, well it’s because it sets up one system in your house for all of your frequently lost items, essentially connecting them to one another in a single Bermuda Triangle network. So, your keys are connected to your wallet and they’re both connected to that Blu-Ray remote you’ve been looking for since Christmas.

Here’s how it works, you hang the tags (small, but still somewhat unsightly) on to your keys, cell phone or in your wallet. When you inevitably lose one of those items, simply use any of the tags to locate any other tag in the system. It even features a hotter-colder method (like a metal detector). Once you push the button, a proximity detector will begin to flash, as you get closer to the item, the flash speeds up.

This is a great gift for the guy who spends valuable minutes every morning wondering where he set down his keys.

The Find It All Key Finder starter package starts at $40.00 for a wallet card and two keyfobs can be purchased separately. You can add up to 36 tags if you’re really prone to losing stuff.

I may be dating myself here, but I loved Airwolf. Correct that – I love Airwolf. Was it the best television show of the 80s? Possibly, and definitely better than Knight Rider or Street Hawk (for those of you under the age of 30, these were other, lesser super-vehicles that had their own television shows during the same time period).

And now, now I can live out my wildest dreams with this remote-controlled Airwolf helicopter replica. Designed to look exactly like Airwolf, this black beauty oozes coolness. Plus, it flies (Flying = 10,000 awesome points).

It’s fully licensed, totally remote controlled and it flies like a helicopter. It goes up, down, backwards, forwards, left, right and uses tri-band technology and counter-rotating rotors to do it. That means extra stability, greater control and one smooth ride. It even has tiny little missiles strapped to the bottom (note: missiles do not, unfortunately, fire).

There’s one downside to this working Airwolf replica, it charges in as little as 20-30 minutes, but it only runs for between 6-9 minutes at a time. Great if you want to play with your remote controlled helicopter in short bursts, but not so great if you want to spend an afternoon invoking the spirit of Stringfellow Hawke.

The AirWolf (AIRWOLF? Airwolf?) RC helicopter sells for £39.95 at Firebox, a UK retailer.

The new Samsung TL 320 point-and-shoot looks like a camera my dad used to have in the mid-70s. It’s the twin analog dials (for indicating battery life and memory usage) that do it, along with a very retro-inspired flat front. But, don’t be tricked, this isn’t some old inst-a-matic, it’s a serious camera for the digital age.

• Display: 3″ HVGA OLED display
• Lens: 24mm wide-angle 24-240mm
• Zoom: 5x optical zoom
• Video: 720p H.264 video recording

Did I mention it has HDMI output and a new hardware and software image stabilization design? You can use a wide array of standard automatic controls (which is more my style) or set it to full manual (for those of you know who actually know what “24mm wide-angle 24-240mm lens” means).

It also comes with 11 presets, face detection and “Beauty Shot,” which supposedly smooths out various skin tones, eliminating red blotches and dark circles (much like the trademark “blur” and “soft light” used in GlamourShots).

Seriously though, I think this camera’s biggest selling point is just how darn cool it looks. This, this, is the camera that says “Yeah, I’m a dad, but I’m a cool dad. Please see my tres chic analog dials for proof.” I want to take this camera and sail around Italy, or take pictures of my kid at a soccer game, you get the idea.

It’ll be sold in May in black and silver, for $379.99.

This watch has a 50/50 chance of getting you arrested. It’s essentially a minuscule video camcorder (records in AVI format) embedded in a watch. The files can then be transferred later to a computer for viewing/archiving.

It comes with an impressive 8GB of storage (note: by the time you’re finished reading this post, 8GB of storage will no longer be impressive), meaning you can record hours of mindless meetings, encounters at the convenience store and an afternoon spent reading Kindle 2 reviews. I’m not actually sure why anyone would need this watch for anything less than clandestine, but it’s still awesome.

Of course, you could think about it this way - let’s say you stop in at the bank on your way home from work. All of a sudden, a hold-up is underway. Well, guess who’s videotaping the perps and nobody’s the wiser? You, that’s who. Local News Hero Status, here we come.

It’s also kind of  a cool watch and certainly beats the calculator watch hands down. It’s full metal, has a glass cover and it’s gear driven in seconds, minutes and hours (how they fit gears in there with a miniature camcorder and flash memory, I have no idea).

The watch comes with a USB cable, user manual, and Power adapter (110-240V 50/60Hz). It sells at ThinkGeek for $99.99

Before USB-powered missile launchers, cubicle-to-cubicle warfare was fought the old-fashioned way - with honor and tiny, wooden trebuchets. Bring back the glory from days of yore and one of warfare’s greatest designs with this Working Wood Trebuchet DIY kit from X-TremeGeek.com.

Measuring an impressive 18″ x 11″ x 13″, this isn’t a seige weapon for the meek-hearted. Once properly assembled, it can shoot a small clay ball (or doughnut hole, whatever) an impressive 25-feet. No longer confined to doing battle with your “team members,” you can now set your sights on the defenseless desks over in Marketing.

The trebuchet kit includes all the necessary parts to assemble (including some soft clay for target practice) and takes about 2 hours to build (finish it at your next status meeting!). It retails on the site for $39.95. There’s also a catapult available for $29.99, you know, if you’re a wussy.

Ever wondered what your best buddy gets up to when you’re at work? Think the cat might be sleeping on your clean laundry? Now you can finally find out. This 640×480 resolution camera (by Uncle Milton Toys) hooks on to your pet’s collar and takes snapshots at 1-minute, 5-minute and 15-minute intervals.

When you get home, simply plug it into a USB-port, download and review your pet’s day. From the 10:00am perusal of the toilet to the afternoon spent licking himself and napping, it will all be there for you, waiting. I’m guessing my own dog’s 35-photo breakdown would look something like this (35 is the maximum number of photos this camera holds):

• 08 photos: Barking at the door.
• 02 photos: Chewing on socks.
• 03 photos: Drinking water.
• 04 photos: Harassing the cat.
• 19 photos: Sleeping.

The novelty would wear off pretty quickly, but at $39.99 this is a pretty fun gift for either the pet lover or the guy who’s convinced his wife cat is “marking” his shoes.

My typical wake-up routine:

7:05 - Alarm goes off. I hit snooze.
7:14 - Alarm goes off. I hit snooze.
7:23 - Alarm goes off. I get out of bed.

Pretty standard, until now. UrbanTrend has just announced a new product that will put an end to snoozing and the unintentional, half-asleep shut-off-the-alarm-completely (popular on Monday and Friday mornings). It’s the Memory Game Alarm Clock and it works like Simon Says. You have to follow, remember and then repeat back a patterned sequence of lights before the alarm will shut itself off. The idea is that by the time you actually figure it out, you’ll be awake and unable to fall back asleep.

Buy this for your special someone and you might see a new morning wake-up routine:

7:05 - Alarm sounds, fumble around, pick up flashing light box, hit random buttons.
7:06 - Whip strange flashing light box at the wall.
7:06:05 - Go back to sleep.