Will Stanley ever enjoy his day at The Office?  Will Michael Scott ever give Toby a break?  Probably not, but I’m sure Office fans would enjoy having one of these in their office to get through the day.

Six different phrases by Michael Scott and Dwight Shrute to entertain you and your office cohorts.  The official Office Talking Keychain from NBC’s TV show is sure to be a hit.  Priced under $10

Summit Products has come out with an ATM Machine for the home.  It’s called the YOUniverse ATM Machine.  Ok, so it’s not a new find, but this thing is still ahead of its time.  It can be wall-mounted, and can deliver cash faster than a trip to your local bank.  For less than the cost of an ATM withdrawal, it can be had on the web.  Sure it’s intended for kids, who need to learn the value of a dollar, but this thing looks cool.  It has its own ATM card, and you create your own personal PIN number, so that no one but you, can get to your hard earned cash. It even talks to you with a robotic sounding voice, and tells you what to do.  Maybe it is for the kids, but if they had this gadget around when I was a kid, I might have listened.

Did you ever wonder why science fiction novels or films seem to use older, outdated technology in their visions of the future? Chalk it up to the influence of steam punk, a genre of speculative fiction that re-imagines the future with gadgetry of the past.

While the others peer 15 minutes into the future, steampunk envisions a future that has collapsed onto a re-imagined Victorian past. Steam and clockworks replace silicon logic, brass and copper stand in for titanium and plastic, and airships replace spaceships. Link

Jake von Slatt runs a Steampunk Workshop which is a combination workshop, inventor’s haven and online art gallery, where he attempts to take the new and make it old. Pictured is his Steampunk monitor and computer. Check out the Wired article for a slide show of his various inventions.

LumiGram’s Luminous Fiber Optic Tablecloth is sure to make your candle light dinner a bit more interesting. This is a cool find if you’re looking not to bump into your dinner table in the middle of the night and it’s a sure way to have fun while you set the table. Fiber optics are woven throughout the cloth, has cotten borders, and Europlug mains adapter. You can get them in three different sizes with a variety of color schemes and if you’re willing to shell out over a grand, I guess you’ll have money left over for a Big Mac meal.

I was eating one day and I was thinking to myself about the invention of the “Spork”, the fusion of your everyday Spoon and Fork. How could they make it better?

 I’ve always found that the Spork didn’t have the right amount of ‘fork’ to pick up food and not enough ’spoon’ either to slurp up that soup. My conclusion? Longer fork end and a bigger dip in the spoon.

 But, check out these inventions that I thought were right on the money. The one on top is perfect for eating your ramen noodles without having to set your chopsticks down to pick up your spoon or the actual bowl itself for soup. The one below is pretty much self-explanatory…if you know how to use them, go for it. If you don’t, then flip it around and use the fork or spoon. 

All Asian restaurants out there, try investing in some, it’ll help out the waiters from fork requests.