Okay, so maybe you can’t afford a Batmobile with a flashing red beacon and rocket exhaust flamethrower, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rock out your love for the superhero with other material goods.

The  Batman Money Clip is shaped exactly like the Batman symbol. It’s die-cast and sheathed in matte black rubberized coating, and has a magnetized grip to hold your cash in place. True, it’s stealthy and cool (in a geeked-out sort of way), but leave this one at home when you take the ladies out for dinner.

Take the advice, you’ll thank us later.

at first glance, Shimi appears to be a spiritual successor to Rolly, Sony’s egg-shaped musical robot from 2008.

(Credit: Georgia Tech)

The soundsmiths at Georgia Tech’s Center for Music Technology this week revealed Shimi, a 1-foot-tall musical robot that aims to serve as a musical assistant.

Created by center director Gil Weinberg, Shimi’s dual-speaker visage bobs its “head” and taps its hand/foot to the beat of a song while a range of features become available after docking anAndroid smartphone. Weinberg co-developed Shimi in collaboration with the Media Innovation Lab at IDC Herzliya, led by professor Guy Hoffmann.

For example, the pint-size Shimi utilizes facial recognition through the front-facing camera of an Android phone to position its speakers toward the listener for optimal sound. A summary of the device from Georgia Tech mentions a unique song selection method: “If the user taps or claps a beat, Shimi analyzes it, scans the phone’s musical library and immediately plays the song that best matches the suggestion.”

Other compelling features coming to Shimi include gesture recognition for playback/volume control and the ability to recommend music based on the active song.

New start-up robotic toy company Tovbotannounced plans to sell Shimi to consumers in 2013 for an undisclosed price. We spotteda conceptual image of the commercial version of Shimi on the Tovbot Web site. Attendees of the Google I/O conference in San Francisco can check out Shimi during the after-hours party at Moscone Center tonight.

Take a peek at Weinberg’s previous robot named Shimon, an “autonomous, marimba-playing, octopus-armed hipster,” according to fellow CNET writer Tim Hornyak.

Throwing out your arm while playing fetch gets old… especially when your dog never seems to be pleased.

the HyperDog ball launcher is a sling shot that takes the work (and the mess) out of the game. Pull back the launcher and watch as tennis balls fly up to 220 feet. That’ll give you enough time to drink some beer and devour some grub. And when your dog returns, simply scoop the ball up, hands-free.

The launcher is made from top-grade steel with a rust and chip resistant coating, and the band is strong surgical-grade tubing.

Fido will be impressed.

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