In part two of our clever coverup series (yesterday’s installment: MacBooks disguised as newspapers), we offer you the faux shopping bag from Japan. The item is actually a 30-watt speaker for your iPod or other MP3 player. But there are some strings attached – literally.
Defeating the ‘shopping bag’ motif is the need for the device to be plugged in. This not only blows your cover, but puts your iPod on a leash. Then there is the price – $335 US – and that the speaker is not stereo. Maybe it’s all about style. Boing Boing reports the bentwood ‘shopping bag’ was created by artist Yoshihiko Satoh. A $335 non-stereo wired iPod speaker? Reminds me of the $300 tea kettle from Bugatti.
I’m waiting for the wireless version to appear – maybe disguised as a Walmart or Whole Earth bag.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
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