Pictured on the left is the 1st iPod ever made, it was released in 2001, it boasted an impressive 5GB storage and as you can see the design still looks good to this day.

See it along with other original gadget designs including the 1st ever general MP3 player, the 1st ever laptop and more at Blogbits.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Eavesy.

Everybody knows that Billy Mays is TV pitchman for OxiClean ("powered by the air we breathe!) and Kaboom ("tough on grime, easy on you") ... but wait, there's more! Did you know that the loud, bearded uber-salesman also pitched strange products like the Grater Plater and the Hercules Hook? (There's also the Green Now, a spray paint to paint your dead lawn green, but I couldn't find the video for it.)

In memory of Billy Mays, the king of infomercial, here are 5 of the strangest product he ever pitched:

The Grater Plater

[YouTube Clip]

What do you get when you combine a cheese grater and a plate? The plate that grates, of course, here's The Grater Plater. (The name alone is golden: Grater. Plater. Grater plater. Gotta love it!)

The Gopher

[YouTube Clip]

While my wife likes OxiClean, The Gopher is actually my favorite item Billy Mays had ever pitched (in the words of another late-night infomercial, "I'm not only a blogger, I'm also an infomercial customer!"). It just works well - many years later, I still use mine to grab things too high to reach (saves me from getting the step stool out).

Tool Band-It

[YouTube Clip]

The Tool Band-It is another in Billy May's long line of making a product out of two existing ones. This time, it's magnet + armband, to give you a magnetic arm band. Genius!

The AwesomeAuger

[YouTube Clip]

I distrust a $20 drill, but the idea behind the AwesomeAuger is pretty solid (I have a similar device - the drill bit alone cost me $20. It works well for boring holes in hard ground for small plants). The only thing that works better is The Garden Weasel's Garden Claw.

Hercules Hook

[YouTube Clip]

The Hercules Hook is in a class by itself: here, Billy Mays used his infomercial prowess to sell you a bent pin for hanging stuff on your wall. I myself am a nail-and-hammer kind of guy, but the Hercules Hook does work well (if you don't damage the drywall while you're pushing it in) though I wouldn't use it to hang shelves or anything like that ...

Billy Mays, RIP.

(Don’t miss the Zihotch telephone dial watch!)

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Really, do we need this? It seems they are still patent-pending and looking for investors but it shouldn’t be long before wide-eyed male venturists begin pouring their dollars into what could be an ill-fated rather than revolutionary home gadget.

The BraDryer is a patent pending technology dedicated to answering bra drying glitches with intensive care. It aims at drying bras via a female torso-shaped device while ensuring that fabric, wiring and padding remain intact.

Link – via gizmowatch

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Urbanist.

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Link via Double Plus Undead