Sensory Squids

Been a bit busy lately, but I had to take a break to review the “My Beating Heart” pillow.

This thing is sort of gimmicky-seeming and I got it on a whim during the course of a ThinkGeek order (was buying the neurodiversity shirt). It’s another $40-range toy, but it’s totally awesome, as long as you don’t have a really big problem with vibration (it’s very subtle, it doesn’t feel tickly to me).

This thing (the large version, at least) appears to have been very carefully engineered to be hugged by a reclining adult. It’s the most comfortable cuddly toy I own at this point (and I really like my squishable t-rex).

When you press a button, it vibrates to the rhythm of a heartbeat for 20 minutes and then automatically shuts off. There are two pulse points, one on each side of the heart and on different ends, so the heartbeat sort of travels across the whole thing in a two-step pattern much like a real heart. It has a special algorithm to control the rhythm of the heartbeat so that it starts out quick, and then the rate follows a bit of a spiky path until the beat is very, very slow (“deep sleep or meditation” slow). So while hugging it, your heart rate actually goes down.  

I’ve been mostly using it to sleep. It works incredibly well for this purpose. You could also use it for anxiety, but personally I tend to actually get sleepy while hugging it, so it’s only a good anxiety cure if I don’t mind nodding off. 

Plus, the creators are awesomely geeky - the heart comes with a little tag that goes on about how they liked meditation so much that they made an algorithm to model their meditating heart rate. And their blog suggests that much of their marketing occurs at cons. 

Again, it sounds gimmicky but I’ve kind of actually fallen in love with this thing. Five stars. 

Buckyballs are my favorite desk toy. For about $34.95 (a little pricey, but worth it if you can afford it), you get 216 little magnetic balls which you can squish, pull, wrap around your finger, or make into neat shapes. Their sleek metallic appearance fits in even in really conservative office environments, and they come with a nice little transparent cube carrying case. 

My favorite thing to do with these is to hold two chains of buckyballs near to each other and feel the magnetic force pulling them together. I also like to squish them around; they make a very satisfying clicking noise. I’ve also figured out how to make a sphere, a cube, and even a companion cube-type shape.

Please keep in mind that these are NOT for small children or anyone else who might inadvertently swallow them (such as an adult with a tendency to absent-mindedly put things in their mouth). Swallowed magnets will send you to the ER. 

Pros: shiny, clicky, addictive, appropriate for almost any office environments, and can be used at varying attention levels (from absent-mindedly squishing them to making them into complex shapes).

Cons: Expensive, not safe for small children, and probably not great to keep around electronics (I’m constantly accidentally putting them next to my phone or iPod; hasn’t killed them yet though).

Overall: Five stars. I love these things!