Sure, having a baby can be a huge drain on your finances. Yes, having a baby will seriously impact your 8-hours-a-night sleep-plan. And, of course, you may as well forget about any sort of social life you may have had.

But a baby also brings with it new possibilities - including a whole new world of tech you were probably never even aware of.

Tech like the range of baby monitors announced by VTech. VTech has taken its expertise in telephony technology and applied it to the range. Technology such as the DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) and HD sound, which guarantees crystal clear sound and zero interference from any other device.

I was amazed to hear how rubbish babies are. They're so rubbish that they can't even control their own body temperature for the first two years of their lives and, essentially, that puts them in the same class as lizards as far as I'm concerned.

A pub landlord, by the name of Chris Ebejer, was just as horrified as me and decided to do something about it by inventing the Babyglow - an all-in-one baby suit that turns white whenever your tiniest one's body temperature goes above 37C.

Seeing as the number one cause of cot death is overheating, it seems to me like Chris is onto an excellent idea, and I'm not the only one. The enterprising 42-year-old has won himself a contract to produce 900,000 Babyglows for £12.5m. Nice.

The Babyglow will launch in October, retail for a very reasonable £20 and come in pink, blue and green, for girls, boys and, er, greens.

(via Telegraph)

First things first - this isn't real. It's a clever bit of viral marketing for upcoming Pixar robot movie WALL-E. Don't want any of you to think we've actually fallen for some viral marketing, that would be extremely embarrassing.

NANC-E here comes from a rather awesome pretend technology web site Pixar's stuck up called Buy n Large, where you can get a look at the bots that star in the new movie. There's SALL-E, the cute vacuum cleaner, WEND-E the also cute washing machine, and my personal favourite the GAR-E Yardbot. A robotic leaf sweeper. Once again the Gary is stereotyped as a menial labourer.

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The new NEC/Aida Engineering portable DNA tester can perform full DNA analysis in as little as 25 minutes, should you fancy staging Jeremy Kyle-style DNA paternity tests at your next office party. Here's a smashing photograph NEC sent out to illustrate the device. It features a lady actively testing some DNA, just in case you were wondering how it's done:

Luckily for her, the results confirm that Wayne IS the biological father. Relief all round!

Via (Pink Tentacle)

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I just saw these Darth Vader laptops from Oregon the other day in person, and before I had the chance to write about them, Alex at Shiny Shiny beat me to it. We're just too good here, *hair flick*

Aimed at kiddywinks, or your mate who resembles Nick Frost just a little too much for comfort, these 'laptops' are actually activity centres for children which contain 'mind-blowing games in logic, music and other breathtaking activities'. Use the interactive light sabre and 'choose a learning path with Darth Vader', the website claims. That's if you want little Johnny to be a member of the dark side of the force and wreak havoc by not eating his vegetables and putting away his toys.

Star Wars Darth Vader laptop (via Shiny Shiny)

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Ever tried changing a baby's nappy while they're sitting in a car seat? Well, no. It's impossible. At least, it was impossible. The Pad Concept has been made at California State University, and is a baby car seat that transforms into a changing station, then back again.

Designed by Ravi Itiravivong, it was recently named as one of the winning entries in the iF Concept Product Awards 2007. It has a swivel base that lets it be rotated to the right or left while in place, so that the backrest can be folded back to leave your baby in a lying position. One swift nappy-change later, and it turns back into a seat again.

Hopefully someone's already turning this into a commercial product: it's genius!

iF Design Awards – Household/Residential category