Babies, while cute, can turn ugly at family picture time. Look! A bit of floating dander. Picture ruined. Any little thing can become a distraction. Enter the ingenious—and head-smackingly simple—ShutterBuddy.

While not entirely scientific, the pattern supposedly grabs a baby's attention and holds it long enough to get a decent photo. ShutterBuddy's PR team managed to cook up this gem: "The ShutterBuddy™ is a revolutionary new product that uses the science of infant vision development and pattern recognition to capture and hold a baby's attention so that you can get a great picture." Making your kid smile on command is another story, but I've heard things that squeak or jingle sometimes do the trick.

At $20, the ShutterBuddy is cheapish. Could be worth a look if you've got a bunch of holiday greeting cards to send out this year. Oh, and a baby. [Shutter Buddy via CrunchGear]

Send an email to Jack Loftus, the author of this post, at jloftus@gizmodo.com.