I don’t know how to even start with this one, so I’ll give it to you straight — a group of researchers at the Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have developed a “Kiss Transmission Device.” Yes boys and girls, its exactly what it sounds like: a new way to make out over the Internet.

Here’s how it works: A plastic tube projects out of a device that is connected to a motor, which is then connected to the computer. The person in turn moves the tube with his tongue, which moves the straw on the other end, and vice versa. The researchers claim that this should accurately portray the feeling of a french kiss.

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A little smaller than a hockey puck and triangular in shape, a Tunebug turns pretty much any hard surface into a decent speaker for digital music from any device it can connect to via a standard audio jack or, depending on the model, Bluetooth.

While David Pogue at the Times recently took a look at Bluetooth speakers, they were (as I understood it) conventional speakers. Tunebug’s SurfaceSound technology makes the surface part of the speaker.

The company offers a wired version, the $70 Tunebug Vibe, that connects to a digital audio source (e.g. iPod, laptop, MP3 player) with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Tunebug says the Vibe’s internal rechargeable battery can power the device for up to 5 hours.

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CNN says that this year is all about tablets, E-readers, connected TVs, smartphones, and oh yeah, did we mention 3D TVs?  We were tickled to see that they cited Boxee as last year’s Last Gadget Standing winner.  Can Google TV beat Boxee this year?  Your thoughts please…

In a couple of months at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Technologizer will cohost the 2011 edition of Last Gadget Standing, the awards ceremony that’s been a CES highlight for ten years. The goal is to find and celebrate the single coolest gadget at the show–we define “gadget” as any device that’s small enough to carry without too much trouble–and we need your help to identify contenders.

As usual, the CES show floors will be dense with stuff, including thousands of products introduced since the last CES. So start chiming in with nominations, please: What are the coolest, most interesting most innovative gadgets of 2011? Feel free to name either the ones you think have changed the industry the most, or the ones that have simply made your life better.

As we LGS judges draw up our list of contenders, we’ll draw on your recommendations. Thanks in advance, and let the debate begin!

Helmet cams are popular among the extreme sports set as a way to capture live action shots from the perspective of the athlete him/herself. Contour is one of several companies offering these cameras, and already had a $280 1080p HD model out for quite awhile now. However, in an effort to differentiate itself from the competition, Contour has added GPS to a new higher end model which was released earlier this month.

The ContourGPS works the same as its more basic brethren, however as it records the camera saves the cameras location with the video data. What results is a awesome mash-up of video and data that is sure to delight many. Now when your skiing buddy calls you a liar than you shredded 3,000 feet of vert like it was nothing, you can now prove it to him as the system will have recorded your location, speed and even elevation.

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Put the bottom of your shoe to your face. Now, before you ask “has Ed gone plum crazy,” hear me out. Putting your cell phone there is just as unsanitary: that’s how much bacteria lives on those devices according to some microbiologists. Now that you’re thoroughly grossed out, here’s a possible solution–Violight’s UV cell phone sanitizer.

The company has been producing UV toothbrush sanitizers since it’s founding in 2004. Ultraviolet light is a fairly reliable sanitizer, and has seen increasing use when aiming to kill off bacteria. Violight claims its own system eradicates about 99.9 percent of these bad guys, including e.coli, strep, salmonella, listeria and even the H1N1 flu virus in a matter of minutes.

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As a way to generate return visits, more and more retailers are developing loyalty card programs. There’s just one problem with this: after awhile, the consumer is carrying possibly dozens of the things, and they easily get lost. I know I frequently never have the right one when I need it, or just forget altogether to bring it in the first place.

Cupertino-based Mobeam saw a potential market here and has capitalized on it by creating the Nümi Key, a keychain device that includes a patented LED system which “beams” the loyalty card information into a checkout scanner in a readable format. Altogether, the device holds about 50 different barcodes.

Using the device is as simple as using the navigation buttons to find the store’s loyalty card, pointing the device at the barcode scanner, and pressing the red button in the center. As long as the store uses a laser checkout scanner, it will work, at least in theory.

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Over on Twitter (where I’m @harrymccracken), I asked my pals to tell me what their favorite tech product they’d ever owned was. I got scads of responses–and while this wasn’t a contest, the iPhone/iPod Touch got more mentions than any other item. Take a look at the Tweets after the jump, then chime in by leaving a comment about your most-loved gizmo, gadget, PC, software, or service…

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Quick reminder: We’re still collecting your reflections on gadget you used (or use) for schoolwork, and the ones you wish you had (or have).  Share your thoughts by 5pm PT tomorrow and you might win a nifty 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive.

Read what folks have said so far and enter here.

Once upon a time, dressing like a geek meant using a pocket protector and taping the bridge of your glasses. Today, my friends, it can indicate that your shirt keeps you cool with USB-powered fans. Or doubles as a Wi-Fi finder. Or has a built-in spy camera. I’m pleased to announce that JR Raphael is joining Technologizer’s esteemed group of contributors with a look at high-tech clothing and wearable accouterments, from head (sunglasses with flash storage) to toe (Facebook-compatible shoes). There’s some pretty darn nerdy stuff in there, some of which I wouldn’t be caught dead in. But I confess that I’m taken with Timex’s prototype of a disposable translucent timepiece you wear fastened to your fingernail…

View World’s Wildest Wearable Gadgets slideshow.

What have Pete Rojas (founder of Gizmodo and Engadget) and Ryan Block (founding editor of Engadget) been working on for the past eleven months? They said they were launching a consumer-electronics site called Gdgt and started a popular podcast, but were pretty secretive otherwise. But GDGT went live today–and it’s a neat social-network site where folks can gather to review gadgets, discuss them, and generally help each other get more out technology products.

Unfortunately, Gdgt opened its doors and then was crushed by the onslaught of visitors, so it’s down at the moment. Ryan says they’re working to get it back up asap. But I got a sneak peek shortly before the launch, and liked what I saw. The site’s an extension of what Gizmodo and Engadget do. But it’s also a sort of anti-Gizmodo/anti-Engadget, since those sites rarely have much to say about products other than that they’ve been announced. Gdgt’s about the whole lifecycle of the product after that announcement, and the content is contributed by the community.

Pete and Ryan pronounce the site as “G-D-G-T,” by the way; that seems less harmonious than pronouncing it as…gadget. But I probably shouldn’t talk, since about 40 percent of the world trips up on the name “Technologizer.” I’m looking forward to using the site, and am already signed up as harrymccracken.

[UPDATE: The site seems to be up and running again.]

Astonishing breakthrough. Household object. Funny anachronism. Such is the journey that nearly every great gadget travels. (Sometimes it takes several generations; sometimes it takes just a few years.) And then it happens all over again with whatever hot new gizmo rendered the old one obsolete.

While rummaging through the endlessly fascinating Google Patents recently, I was moved to compare some significant devices of the past with their modern-day counterparts. In some cases, old and new are connected by seamless evolution (the cell phone, for instance). And in some cases, they’re separated by seismic technological shifts (like the one that replaced silver-halide film with tiny slivers of silicon).

After the jump, a dozen comparisons of past (in the form of patent drawings) and new.

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