Attract Cute Japanese Girls With Thanko's Fuzzy Cat Ear Headphones

These fuzzy-wuzzy, kitten-tastic headphones might not get you much action in general, but they're sure to attract plenty of underage Japanese girls while giving you an excuse to take your furry fetish public. [Thanko via BoingBoing] More »

USB Cigarettes

We've seen electronic cigarettes before, but not one that charges via USB. More »

Tiny 3-Inch Cube Projects Giant 112-Inch Picture

This Miseal mini projection cube measures less than 3-inches per side, but it still manages to create a 112-inch image within a 16-foot throwing distance. More »

Thanko's Latest Heated USB Mousepad Looks More Sane

Thanko's previous heated USB mousepad was a stick-your-hand-in-a-whale affair, which was fine until the inside of it started smelling like an actual whale from your palm sweat. Their latest, thankfully eschews the cover method for a bottom-up approach to warming. I can't read Japanese, but the surface thermometer claims the pad gets up to 41.2 (avg. between 40 and 45) degrees Celsius, which is 106.1 Fahrenheit. Not too bad, actually. And if that's not enough, you can combine it with a heated mouse to double your efforts. [Thanko]

Visiting Thanko's Tokyo Mecca of USB Weirdness

Near a highway, a few hundred feet from the biggest electronics building in Tokyo's Akihabara district, sits a tiny mecca for gadget geeks. The orange store belongs to Thanko, masters of weird USB devices, and it is their first of 4 shops. The blinking raremonoshop sign tickled my eyeballs, but my geek lust was triggered in full by the wall flyers for odd gadgets printed on top of a mosaic of origami paper. More »

Thanko's Code-Padlocked USB Thumbdrive Protector is Brilliantly Flawed

Here's something to put a smile on your face on a non-descript Wednesday morning: Thanko's new Code-Padlock USB protector. Does it use some funky encryption, or a digital keypad interface? No: it uses a physical code-padlocked lid that stops you from plugging in a thumbdrive if you can't work out the three-digit code. Brilliant, except that a thief will just steal the whole thing and work out the code at their leisure. So it must be aimed at stopping "casual eyes" accessing files you'd rather keep to yourself. Ah... ones with lots of pink pixels—it all becomes clear. You can of course lock up other USB devices, but you'd have to be working in a really mean office environment to need to do that. Yours for about $9. [Akhabaranews]

Air-Conditioned Tie 2.0 From Thanko Knot Very Fabulous, Really

Those egg-heads from Thanko have spent the best part of a year banging their large, domed cerebelli together, tackling what is without doubt the biggest question that the human race faces this millennium: how to upgrade their air-conditioned tie. And this is what they came up with—hiding the fan grille behind the fabric. Let us stop on this Friday morning (day, slow, news, a, it's, yeah. Now make a sentence out of that) and consider the evidence: More »

Thanko's Lazy Geek's Cushion, Perfect for Prone PC Action

Ages ago I admitted to being a floor-lounger, and it looks like Thanko has come up with a solution that'll let me combine lazing around and blogging for the Giz at the same time. I might rename it from Lazy Geek's Cushion to "Relaxed Blogger's Desk" though. Looking a little like a massage table, it's 31 x 19 inches across, and can be propped up at a variety of angles from flat to about 30 degrees so your arms reach your notebook... and see that little space for your chin? Looks comfy. No info on pricing, but I'd love to import one. I'd just have to persuade my wife that it's a good idea, and not ugly at all. [Akihabaranews]

Thanko Electric Up-Down TV Stand Lets You Wii Standing Up

Purveyor of strange peripherals Thanko may actually have made a useful non-USB gadget— a motorized TV stand that lets you raise your TV up to eye-level for better Wii gaming. Great idea, but Thanko needs to employ new guys in the "name that gadget" office: this is called the "Electric Up and Down Big TV Stand." More »

Thanko's Silent Keyboard Can Now Be Used With 2 PCs at Once

It appears that Thanko has upgraded their Silent Keyboard making it possible to use it with two PCs at once. A toggle switch over the arrow keys allows users to switch between computers, and its relatively low noise output (45dB compared to 60dB for a regular keyboard) make it an interesting choice for power users—especially ones that just blew their wad on a second PC. The Silent Keyboard 2.0 will only set you back $51. [GeekStuff4U via Crave]

Thanko's Vacuum Cleaner Mouse Keeps Your Desk (Relatively) Clean

Your desk is littered with Cheetos crumbs, fingernail clippings, short 'n' curlies and any number of other undesirable pieces of personal detritus. You could take the time to clean up your work space every now and then, but why bother? The new Vacuum Mouse from Thanko will allow you to keep things relatively clean with a minimum of effort. More »

Thanko USB Heating Pad

The Thanko USB Heating pad has the unique position of being potentially useful as we enter the colder months. Then again, there's no way this thing puts out more heat than a modern CPU/GPU combo. Just put your notebook on your lap, and watch your man-bits. [Akihabara] More »

Thanko's USB-Powered Laptop Fan Stand

Not only does this aluminum/steel laptop stand from Thanko look both solid and functional, it's got something Thanko's known for—USB Power. Inside the stand are two fans that blow room-temperature air into your hot laptop, which means you're keeping the laptop away from your tender gonads and helping your computer stay cool at the same time. Imagine that, Thanko coming up with a product that has USB and makes sense. Did they change management or something? [Thanko]

Thanko Goes Nuts, Releases Two Products That Aren't Insane

What's going on here, Thanko? I thought we could count on you to make crazy USB Ear Microscopes, Ass Coolers, and Air Purifier Masks? What's this about making an LCD arm mount and a fingerprint-protected USB drive? These things have no style! No pizazz! No THANKO! Get it together, guys. For the sake of all humanity.[USB Drive via LCD Arm]

Thanko's Wiimote Storage Charges, Stores, Holds

One-upping just about everyone else in the Wiimote storage game, Thanko's unit charges and holds two Wiimotes simultaneously. Not only that, there's nunchuck storage in the back, and Wii game disc storage in the middle (six discs only). More »