The tiny shoulder slung vacuum is encased in brushed metal, costs a modest $130, and weighs just five pounds. It's somewhat quiet too, says Toshiba, with an output of 65dB.

Still, vacuuming is a solitary, relatively noisy activity that pisses off family pets and annoys me to no end—this coming from a guy with hardwood floors and one rug. Why bother making it pretty? [Toshiba via Wired Gadget Lab]

Granted, there's at least the peace of mind that this pervy lil' vacuum has enough sensors to avoid me properly after making me feel violated. [Akihabara News]

The Price

D31 (orange): $220
D31 Animal (purple): $270

The Difference

The stock D31 and the D31 Animal are essentially the same vacuum. They contain the same motor, the same battery capacity and the same accessories...save for one. The Animal has a motorized hair-scraping attachment (familiar to many Dyson users) that requires a power line be run to the nozzle. Otherwise, they're pretty much identical.

The Results

After about 3 days of my cat's lounging, our couch tops get wretched. Our general solution is to take a vacuum hose, then do cleanup with one of those sticky pet hair brushes. It's labor intensive, and I'd be lying if I said we were willing to go through the process more than once a week. So I tried the D31 Animal. Pulling the trigger, it whirs to 0-100 instantly, like a power drill, while a hairdryer-worthy gust of air fires from the back.

Couch before Animal attack.

Couch after Animal attack.

Here's our couch before and after about 5 minutes of vacuuming with the Animal. 80% of the hair came up after two quick passes—really impressive stuff. But that last 20 percent stuck around for a while. And even after several minutes, and even hitting the boost power button, the results weren't perfect (you can see a few stubborn stray hairs). But they were adequate—and maybe even more importantly—as successful as my full-sized standup Animal vacuum (which has worked better than other nice vacuums I've tried). That's pretty remarkable since we're talking about a 2.2lb handheld vac.

Other vacuuming jobs are less exciting, but completely effective. Using the brush and corner attachment, any little particle you can imagine disappears into the machine. I can't imagine a small job it couldn't handle other than carpets. If you want to spot clean your rug, the base D31 doesn't really have an attachment for that (the Animal brush sorta works with a price premium). But dust, loose dirt, little pieces of unidentified food—no problem. And all the junk empties out of the one-button release hatch at the bottom of the collection tank...save for fur, which will make you dig a bit.

The Nitpicking

I'd like one feature added to the D31/Animal: cruise control. As pitiful as this sounds, it gets tiring holding down the button. I know. Mock me. But while the vacuum is light as can be to your arm, your hand still gets exhausted squeezing the trigger.

You'll also only get 10 minutes of run time (or 6 in high power mode) for 3 1/2 hours of charging. That's actually more than enough time to complete most work (you don't really go nonstop with anything but pet hair), but when you run out of juice (the device goes from 100% to none without warning) you can't just continue vacuuming with a power cord. You'll need to recharge and wait.

The Practicality

Ignoring the price for a moment, I wonder who would actually need this much power in a handvac—other than for the obvious—pet owners. Because the D31 can't (and isn't trying to) replace a full-sized vacuum, meaning it's only going to serve as backup. But then again, if you have the extra cash to pick up one of your own, maybe your chief concern isn't one of pure practicality. And I can't completely fault you for that. [Dyson]

Light and manageable design

Lots and lots of power

The Animal attachment cuts through hair well

Run time is adequate but not very long

Trigger can be tiring to hold

No carpet attachment for spot cleaning

I mean, obviously, we're talking about $220+ dust busters here

Reading this retrospective, I'm both surprised and unsurprised at how innovative and well-designed the Dustbuster is. It was rechargeable, wall-mountable, used a high-tech (for the time) design based on a familiar product (the dustpan), had an immediately catchy name and was instantly indispensable for every suburban family in the country. I remember sitting on the carpet and playing with it, which is certainly not something I was likely to do with a damn cleaning product, and the product's name quickly became both a universal noun and verb ("Oh yeah, I Dustbusted the stairs yesterday."). It definitely wasn't the most powerful vacuum cleaner on the market (any modern Dyson would clean its clock) and the filter had a tendency to jam, but for sheer utility, style and "I want that gadget!" appeal, the Dustbuster was and maybe even still is the tops.

The Dustbuster is, I'm comfortable saying, the gadget nerd's cleaning tool. It's portable, battery-powered, cute, and versatile, and has definitely made our lives better. Cleaner, at least. [Popular Mechanics]

Gizmodo '79 is a week-long celebration of gadgets and geekdom 30 years ago, as the analog age gave way to the digital, and most of our favorite toys were just being born.

Struggling to keep John's airways above water, Thomson yelled for someone to find him a tube, snorkel, funnel or anything he could use to transfer air down to keep him alive. A witness was able to find a vacuum cleaner hose in Thomson's own boat-rental kiosk. Thomson used the hose to blow air into John's lungs until the paramedics arrived, 10 minutes after the excavator had originally collapsed.

Thomson and John's unidentified coworker have been recommended for bravery awards. Sure, it's very brave of Thomson, but I could only hope that the hose hadn't just been used for vacuuming up spiders—or God knows what else—before it was converted into a breathing apparatus. [The Age via AdelaideNow]

Of course, the actual Roomba-Fukitorimushi chronology is totally different: despite its Palaeozaic sensibilities, the Fukitorimushi ("wipe-up bug") is brand new. Designed by Panasonic, the little robot is wrapped in a sticky nanocloth sleeve, which collects dust and debris as the robot crawls, worm-style, across the floor.

Its also got sensors to seek out dirt, so it takes a slightly different approach to floor cleaning than the Roomba, focusing on problem areas rather than just attacking the whole room. There's no word yet on price, availability, or any practical specs, but if robo-swiffing is your thing, Panasonic's artsy press materials and this mesmerizing video of the Fukitorimushi in action should hold you over for a while. [PinkTentacle]

The following objects are no-nos:
• Blogger, Orkut and Facebook The first of these surprises me, as Iran has the fourth largest community of bloggers in the world—even Ahmadinejad has one. (His latest entry reads "My package from Amazon arrived today—although it took its satanic time. Canceled cabinet meeting and the Ayatollah and I hit the games room all morning. GTA IV FTW." ) Anyone who wants to start one up has to inform the authorities, however.
• Celebrity magazines "Using photos of artists, especially foreign corrupt film stars, as instruments to arouse desire, publishing details about their decadent private lives, propagating medicines without authorization, promoting superstitions," goes the explanation.
• Boots and hats Only when worn by women, although I suspect that the Village People's steel toe-caps and leather cap might not make it past the "Down With This Sort of Thing" crew.
• Neckties Although they're not averse to slipping a length of rope around miscreants' necks, I guess a skinny number with piano keys down the front is just taking it too far.
• Breasts on mannequins Some shop windows display clothes on showroom dummies with mastectomies that look like they've been done with an ax and covered with flesh-colored duct tape. Yeah, lose that image from your brain now.
• Western music The artist worst hit is, apparently, Kenny G, so for that let me just say Viva la Revolución!

What, no gadgets banned? Wrong. camera phones are off limits. High-speed internet, too. The reckoning is that denying these items will allow citizens to remain in a state of moral purity. The state has even invested in US-built software that can scan images and files sent by phone to ensure that the morals of its citizens remain pure. And, in a way, they've got a point. Can you remember life before broadband? Yeah, it wasn't pretty—half an hour to open a single hi-res image. Porn traditionalists who like basic missionary sex must have been dying as they strained to see what was going on below the protagonists' expressions of ecstasy as the pic revealed itself, millimeter by agonizing millimeter. Not quite the skin smorgasbord Westerners now enjoy.

Nuclear reactors aside, what does the Iranian gadget freak get to play with? LG, apparently. The Korean electronics company is big in Iran, which gave it the green light last year to produce five cellphone handsets in collaboration with an Iranian manufacturer. LG stuff is advertised all over the place. Switch on the (silicone-free) Iranian music channel and you'll find the commercial breaks clogged up with plugs for LG's RoboKing robotic vacuum cleaner.

Whoah there! So, Barbie is about to be sacked, but autonomous vacuum cleaners are totally fine? Mullahs! Ahmadinejad! Do you not realize what you are doing? Now, I'm no great defender of Barbie (as a kid, I read war comics, climbed trees and played Doctors & Nurses) but these robot vacuum cleaners may be more of a threat than the blonde, pneumatic doll. In the grand scheme of things, I would think Barbie is a more traditional symbol of womanhood than a robotic floor cleaner that does the drudgery of housework, freeing the ladies of the house to dream of getting jobs, drivers licenses and other sorts of trouble. Are you sure you've got the correct target?

When you think of Dyson—if you think of the expensive British vacs at all—you probably think "suction." After all, the slogan "doesn't lose suction" is plastered on all of the Dyson vac marketing material. But James Dyson's first innovations were not in vacuums, but in wheelbarrows of all things. Sir James built a wheelbarrow with a ball on it—the ballbarrow—adding stability to a traditionally wobbly device.As you can see in the video above, the DC24 pivots right and left as you twist your wrist, allowing it to corner like it's on rails. It has two tiny rear wheels, but they rarely touch the floor. It's all ball.

Does that make it worth the money? It's up to you—we're not going to tell you it's the best vac in the world. It's just fun to see a product as part of an evolution, rather than some standalone brain fart. If you want to know more about Dyson's early days (he designed boats, too, including something called the seatruck), have a look at this old Core77 interview. And if you want to know how his Airblade did against the Mitsubishi Jet Towel, well, just check out our Ultimate Hand-Dryer Battlemodo. [Dyson]

It also sports a HEPA filter, telescoping handle and automatic height shifter. Plus, the rep promised me it could totally handle the Oreck challenge and lift a bowling ball, which totally sold me.

If the germ genocide works, the only things that suck (sorry, had to) are the price ($400, like another sweet vacuum) and that the UV light doesn't make for a fun light show to keep you entertained while you vacuum, which is what I was hoping for. More pics after the jump.

– Matt Buchanan

Product Page [Halo]

Product Page [Via Nerd approved]

So does this mean there's a more sophisticated robotic vacuum lurking around the corner? Could be, though I'm still waiting for the day we have robot maids. – Louis Ramirez

Dyson Preparing a Roomba Killer [New Scientist via Gadget Lab]

Anyway, some people might enjoy vacuuming their house with the new $400 LG Kompressor because it's not only a very powerful cleaning device, but a very powerful cleaning device that transforms the filth from your floor into neat, sterile-appearing blocks.

These dirt/cheetohcrumb cubes can then be used to construct your very own adobe houses (we're certain), and the dust compression kompression allows you to vacuum up to four times longer before emptying the bagless unit. Plus, at $400 it's not any more than a Dyson (which in no way fulfills our obsession with the gross nature human existence). – Mark Wilson

LG Kompressor [via coolestgadgets]

What I'm trying to say is, I'm hot for a vacuum cleaner. Does it work? The good news, is yes. It lacks the guttural howl of the standard Dyson, but whirs along just fine. Think of it as a V8 vs a turbo charged 4-banger in some light rally car. That's the good news.

The bad news is that my apartment is gross. Click through for an icky picture of what one minute of vacuuming picked up off what I thought was a clean floor. (And hit the gallery for a component by component tour.)

I'm not one to say if a vacuum like this is worth $450, but I wouldn't throw the svelte Slim out of my hall closet.–Brian Lam

Dyson [Gizmodo]