Sweet dreams

Gizmo Gallery

Japanese toymaker Takaro has just launched the Yumemi Kobo, a 90 cm tall "dream -machine". This is designed to add new dimensions to a pleasant night's rest.

The machine is a combination of voice-recorder, fragrance-dispenser, picture frame, background music player and timer. The concept is that it can be programmed to give pleasant dreams! The user loads up favourite scents, music and pictures and settles down with it in bed to be lulled to sleep.

Even the alarm timer plays soft music so as to not startle the sleeper awake. Available in Tokyo at around $140-150 per unit.

Transforming old picture slides

The new wrinkle with flatbed digital scanners is a special transparency adaptor to enable the transfer of old picture slides to digital formats. The slide can be placed on the adaptor and digitised and colour corrected for digital use.

This is especially useful when dealing with old, faded pictures or trying to remove a sepia tint. The Epson 1670 has a transparency adaptor, which handles two slides at a time and knows automatically whether it's dealing with negatives, positives or paper prints.

The Epson also has standard text-recognition software, which can turn the printed page into a digital word-file. Connects to a TV/ PC through standard USB.

Aquarium fantasies

If you like keeping fish, you could experiment with fantasy aquarium decorations from http://www.miraclebeam.com/aquarium_fantasy.html.

Imagine your fish swimming through a colour-changing, fibre optic fish tank with views such as cityscapes, coral reefs, shipwrecks, lighthouses and a mermaid. These decorations shimmer, shine and sparkle as the colored lights dance through the tank's glass.

All the tanks can be used with either fresh or saltwater. The tanks have an ingenious magnetic system that runs the light show while keeping wires out of water. The lights don't bother the fish, according to the company, which cites academic papers as endorsement.