Whilst scanning around for the latest gadgets from CES, Engadget showed us a new entry to the list of horrible fashion items -- the Phubby.
Confused by the name? Well, like many monstrous products, it's a combination of two words -- phone and cubby -- to form a third, terribly embarrassing word -- Phubby -- that only a 4-year-old could use without being laughed at. We expect five to 10 minutes of laughter after your friends ask what that Lycra sleeve holding your phone next to your wrist is.
"Phubby?" they'll laugh, "wasn't that from The Absent Minded Professor?"
"No," you'll insist, "that was Flubber, and it didn't hold your cell phone around your wrist." Phubby, on the other hand (pun intended), cuts a hole in a pair of Mantyhose, folds it over into a flap, and lets you "feel the vibration" as your cell phone is literally strapped to your wrist.
"Phumbling for your phone?" the demo asks, then, according to their marketing, you'll need a Phubby. Finally you can "carry your phone wherever you go." Funny -- we do carry our phones around...in pockets, purses, or other bags.
Like the Necky, this a product solution in need of a problem to solve. Sure, sticking the phone in a Phubby will assure you that you always know where it is, but it'll also assure that all a thief has to do is get you to take that sock-looking thing off your arm.
You'll then inform the mugger it's called a Phubby. Perhaps in the time they're distracted by laughter, you can escape. On second thought, maybe there is a purpose to this...
If the Phubby doesn't defend you against muggers, then at least it'll defend you against the opposite sex as no one wants to date someone with a cell phone strapped to their wrist -- especially if the strip is covered in skulls.
Sorry, Phubby, but you're a phashion phailure.
