Thanko's USB Mask circulates air, freaks out co-workers

Nah, USB-powered fans aren't anything special these days, but infusing a couple of 'em into a bizarre facial mask and marketing it to folks with allergies earns top marks in the outlandish department. Thanko, the folks who continually put the fun back into USB, is busting out yet another oddity that relies entirely on USB power and your willingness to suffer through public humiliation. The whirlwind mask purportedly circulates airs and filters the incoming flow in order to provide a constant stream of clean, "purified" air, which could actually be useful for secretaries or other cube-dwellers who are forced to inhale the same stale office air day after day. So if you've been having trouble breathing, and don't mind being tethered to your computer nor the constant whirring that'll surround your mouth, you can snag the USB Mask now for ¥2,480 ($21).

[Via Engadget Japanese]

[EDawg @ Feb 16th 2007 2:55PM]

We will add your cultural distinctiveness to our own.

Resistance is futile

[Ryan @ Feb 16th 2007 3:19PM]

What about when you need to make a phone call does this thing have BT or work as a skype adapter?

[Ray Brown @ Feb 16th 2007 3:21PM]

Think I can power this from the charging port on my Motorola Q so I can take it portable?

[Mike M @ Feb 16th 2007 3:24PM]

I think this could be useful in the middle of an intercubical "gas war" :)

[Patiwat @ Feb 16th 2007 4:07PM]

Now you laugh, but when the bird flu or next global influenza outbreak hits you, you'll be sorry....

[Asher69 @ Feb 16th 2007 4:39PM]

Add some yellow paint and black trim, and that cat'll start looking a whole lot more like Scorpion from MK.

"GET OVER HERE!" *hawssshhh* *heessshhh*

[EDawg @ Feb 16th 2007 5:05PM]

FINISH HIM

[Christian Martin @ Feb 16th 2007 4:47PM]

Thanko is quickly becoming my favorite company, simply because its wares are all so outlandish.

*insert random retarded web address that no one cares about here*

[Christian Martin @ Apr 4th 2007 4:18PM]

You actually backtracked to a two-month-old comment to defend your site?

Wow.

*insert generic insult here*

[L3 @ Feb 16th 2007 4:58PM]

Man, I am in! Oh, wait, it only blows around the bird flu air already in your office. *gasp...

[Kev50027 @ Feb 16th 2007 5:42PM]

Has anyone at Engadget ever been to Japan? You act like this is anything new.. When people are sick in Japan, they wear surgical masks, Engadget. This kind of think may become popular over there. I'm amazed at Engadget's ignorance.

[tekdroid @ Feb 17th 2007 8:50AM]

when I grow up I wanna be a Thanko model.

[Nathan @ Feb 17th 2007 5:46PM]

Dude, it is Splinter from Ninja Turtles

[Shmoe @ Feb 18th 2007 4:06AM]

With added bonus of sounding like Darth Vader when talking on the phone.

[wayne @ Feb 18th 2007 8:00AM]

That thing is ridiculous. Those medical face guards that people in Asia use to protect themselves from germs and such don't actually do anything for you.. SURGEONS wear them to protect flayed open patients so that things don't fall out of their mouth/s into the patient. They have a respirator protection level of "0", so do dust masks which is what this product is emulating, whether it has an electric fan on it or not. Even if it has a charcoal filter on it. it would need to be changed at some point depending on what you were trying to protect yourself from. This is coming from a navy (respirator protection program manager). So yeah,, Sort this under "useless waste of money"

[cromas @ Apr 4th 2007 1:23PM]

People in Japan wear masks for a bunch of reasons, not just to "protect themselves from germs." A good majority of people wear these masks to avoid breathing in pollen and other histamines, as apparently a lot of people have bad spring allergies here. A lot of other people wear them to protect *other* people from germs when they themselves are sick...the mask is supposed to catch the moisture beads expelled from coughs and sneezes, so that they don't end up on your hand or another person.

[Technigma @ Feb 18th 2007 8:37PM]

How r u supposed to use this where most ppl have allergies: outside? I have outdoor allergies, but I'm definitely not going to get this!

technigma.wordpress.com

[Ray Brown @ Feb 21st 2007 11:30AM]

This item should be the first in a new category (in the spirit of "CE-Oh no he didn't") called "US-Believe-it-or-not".