The front page of the site is cluttered with items, sporting the newer arrivals and most popular requests. From flying saucers to TV watches and inflatable beer buckets, there’s at least one picture that will leave you saying, “I want one of those…” The sections of the site are conveniently listed at the top of the page, and range from “Ultimate Toys” to “Office Toys”.

Or, if you have a more specific idea of what you want, there’s a search engine that allows one to search by name or price range. The site, however, is located in the UK, and thus all items are initially listed pounds. On the bright side, each item’s description page does list the US equivalency, so the only problem that may arise is shipping and handling costs.

Are the items truly useful, though? Or just fun? The “Projector Keyboard” is a handheld gadget that projects an infrared image of a keyboard onto any flat surface. But this isn’t just for looks. The sensor records where your fingers land, and then transfers the data into your cell phone, PDA, etc. Essentially, it’s a full-size keyboard that fits in your pocket. Then there is the “Binary Watch”, which actually makes time harder to tell. It lists the numbers 8, 4, 2 and 1 for the hours, and 32, 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1 for the minutes. The watch lights the numbers up accordingly so that you must add up the numbers to read the time. Take 9:40, for instance. The watch would light up the numbers 8 and 1, and 32 and 8. Despite the actual hindrance of efficiency, this item is a best seller.

Like any popular Web site, IWOOT has its share of advertisements. Although, due to the nature of the site, pictures of iPods and widescreen TVs blend in perfectly with lightsaber replicas and alarm clocks. A majority of the ads mention some sort of a contest, so the perceptive Web browser won’t be easily fooled, but even then it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Instead of just redirecting you to its sponsors’ sites, IWOOT creates contests with an iPod or widescreen TV as the prize… not bad!

So, I went on a shopping spree. I first attempted an unconventional search for “giraffe”. The search yielded one result, directing me to a flashlight (or “torch” in the UK) that didn’t even mention any giraffes. It turns out that if your search fails, the site automatically searches for a word similar to yours (in this case, “grade”). Is this a ploy, or genuine helpfulness? Well, that’s up to you.

If you don’t end up buying anything in the end, there is still one feature that may keep your interest. At the bottom of the page, next to “Customer Feedback” and “Terms and Conditions”, sits a curiously titled link, “Things We Didn’t Know”. This links to a page filled with quotes, all by the site’s users, of random sense and nonsense. The user Alastair writes, “The dot above the letters i and j is called a ‘tittle’.” Further down the page, we have a tidbit of enlightenment from K. Deb Langer: “Bikinis are a privilege, not a right.”

While not always practical, and not entirely cheap (being in the UK certainly doesn’t help), some of the gadgets listed will at the very least keep your interest. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to buy a USB Biometric Flash Drive…