Silly Friday Afternoon Gadgets ... Christmas gadgets and a retro VoIP phone

And a poster of a Christmas tree, for all you Scrooges out there

10 November 2006 12:13 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Worryingly, it’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas on many gadget pages already, so get ready for the next six editions of Silly Friday Gadgets to feature Yuletide weirdness.

First up is the rather random USB Snowbot, complete with changeable LED eye and evil-looking claw-like hands. What does it do, I hear you ask? Not a lot. It makes an irritating, malevolent noise, and can change its eye from blue to red. That’s about it, really. Available for $15.

A special favourite of our Editor is the Christmas Tree Poster, which looks astonishingly realistic, if somewhat flat, judging by the images on the webpage. Retailers Firebox say, “Put simply, Christmas trees are a flippin’ nightmare. It’s a miracle if the lights work, there are needles and smashed balls all over the floor, and you can never quite reach the fairy”. Bah humbug indeed.

Other than Christmas themed gadgets, we’ve got the Homestar Planetarium, which is a gadget that doesn’t actually plug into your USB. This little round ball apparently uses the same lens as a commercial planetarium to show the constellations – over 10,000 stars – in detail on your ceiling. You can change the view by placing discs into the device, and even set the thing to project shooting stars. All this celestial wonder will cost you £100 from Firebox.

And finally, who wants a snazzy, colour-LCD-equipped wireless VoIP phone when you can have a retro pink, leather-covered telephone handset instead. There’s not a lot of information available on it yet, but sign up on the Hulger website to be notified when they’re available.