Worst USB Gadget Yet: Otaku VR Cyber Maid

Japan's Geisha Tokyo Entertainment announced a product called "Dennoh Figure ARis," or Cyber Figure Alice, that will hit stores in the fall. Here's how it works. You plug an included "cube" and an included "stick" into your PC and run the software. An interactive 3D "maid" appears on screen standing on top of a software representation of the cube. By using the "stick," you can affect what happens to the on-screen maid -- for example, she reacts (presumably with horror) at the touch, and can even be undressed. (The product uses your webcam to figure out location.) Bloggers are calling it "augmented reality," but it's the opposite of that. With augmented reality, the real world is augmented with something virtual. In this, the virtual world is affected by something real. In other words, it's just software for lonely nerds with a CREEPY POINTING DEVICE to go with it.