By Mark O’Neill

You can probably file this under the “useless piece of crap” section (but no doubt some of you will probably like it). You can now have an I-Buddy angel plugged into your USB port that acts out the emoticons when someone sends you a Windows Live Messenger IM.
3 inches tall and described as a “physical representation of your buddy”, this little piece of plastic will respond when a particular IM contact sends you a message with an emoticon inside. But it only works with Windows Live Messenger.
If the emoticon is angry, watch the plastic angel light up red. If you’re sent a happy smiley face, watch the angel flap its wings and so on.
If I had one of these, it would irritate the hell out of me in ten seconds flat. But if you’re a Windows Live Messenger fan and / or you have an angel fetish, then you might decide one of these things has a home on top of your computer monitor.