HYGIENE
This will ensure you are utterly kissable
Singletons can now invest in the “Mint breathometer”, a miniature halitosis-detecting gadget that has already nearly trebled its target investment on IndieGoGo. Blow into it and the Mint will count the allegedly “volatile sulphur compounds” swilling around your mouth. It then sends a message to your smartphone which tells you whether or not you “need a mint” before you get close up. At a provisional price of £99, it’s an affordable route to seasonal self-disgust.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Camera that prints – and uploads as well
Rub your love in Facebook’s face with the long-awaited Polaroid Socialmatic, released on Amazon this month for £249.99. This chunky camera has 14 megapixels, a built-in printer and a separate “selfie camera”, so you can capture those spontaneous Valentine’s moments. The camera is powered by Android, allowing you to download apps, edit photos and share them at the touch of a button.
DINING
Create your own dinner party, Italian-style
Combining sleek technology with a vintage, junkshop tint, creative consultancy Tourdefork has published the designs for these adorkable dinner-table accessories on the website of Italian design magazine CasaFacile.
If you happen to have any wine bottles or jam jars lying around your house, these 3D-printable trinkets can turn them into Valentine’s candlesticks (vandlesticks). Meanwhile, a three-legged plate rest offers the perfect support for your Valentine’s canapés (vanapés).
And with a little perforated cone which is designed to display cocktail treats, you can even wow your partner with a pineapple-and-cheese hedgehog.
Maybe not…
ROBOTS
He sings! He dances! He’s the perfect boyfriend!
Pepper, a robot launching in Japan this month, is referred to by his creator, Aldebaran Robotics, as male. He is a shapely little fellow, with big blue eyes and a comely figure which suggests he is wearing a bustle beneath a fishtail gown. Why not fork out £1,120 and spend this Valentine’s basking in his tender charms? Laugh and Pepper laughs with you; frown and he will try to cheer you up. He doesn’t cook or clean, but can learn your favourite songs and perform a jolly dance –and that’s about all anyone can hope for from a boyfriend these days.
JEWELLERY
Turn your lover’s finger into a magic wand
Nothing could be more romantic than giving a ring on Valentine’s Day, especially one which could improve your loved one’s efficiency. The Ring was feted at the CES innovation awards last month and it’s now on sale for £178. Once it is safely on your lover’s forefinger, and linked to a smartphone via Bluetooth, he or she will become a kind of gesticulating magician: waggling their hand will turn on the light, call a cab or a host of other functions. Head to logbar.jp/ring/en/ to get your hands on one.
