The piggy bank is as old as money itself. The latest incarnation is the Digi-Piggy, which will tell you exactly how much is kept inside it. It keeps count via a digital readout on its snout. It will keep track of American coins and only coins, no paper money.

The Digi-Piggy will arrive in the third quarter of 2011 and will be available in all major retail outlets. If you can’t wait, you can pre-order it now. Seems like a great update to the old piggy bank.

Yesterday we showed you a cool Canon EOS 350D savings bank. Today we have another Camera based oddity. This DSLR-themed speaker and MP3 player cleverly dances around the copyright issue by calling itself ‘Caoon’ instead of Canon. Even though it’s a near perfect replica of one of the company’s DSLRs.

It won’t take pics, but will serve as an external speaker for any device connected to the 3.5mm audio port, or as an MP3 player loading content from an SD card or USB flash drive. The buttons to the left of the display are playback controls. It will cost you $82.99.

We’ve seen fake lenses that were actually thermos‘ before, so why not a Canon DSLR coin bank? It will make saving money fun again. And when you have enough saved up, you can buy the real camera. It will be a constant reminder of your goal.

The slot is small enough for both coins and folded paper currency. And don’t worry, you won’t need to smash this with a hammer to get your money out. The lens can be removed easily. Only $29.90.

Lots of kids and more than a few adults are instant gratification sorts. It’s hard to get some people to save money and teaching kids to save can be a bigger challenge. A new bank from a company called Ekomini aims to make teaching kids to save a little easier.

The bank plugs into an internet connected computer via USB and lets the kids keep up with how much change they put into the bank. The bank connects to an online virtual world letting the kids play games that encourage investment and saving.

The Spend and save coin bank turns saving money into an exciting game. Either way, it’s a win/win, whether it goes into savings or spending money. Obviously the spending tray is much smaller. This bank “deflects, and randomly deposits coins” while simultaneously looking like tupperware.

Much like a casino, the real winner is the bank. Or the folks who make it, anyway, since you are going to shell out $19.99 for it, use it for a few days, then get bored. But hey, it’s a fun idea.

This bank is like a game of Connect Four. Except, that you would need to connects thousands…Of coins. I won. Where? There, diagonally. Pretty sneaky sis! This bank stands on its own and is a piece of furniture all by itself. It’s called the Coin Bank and I can only guess that when it is emptied from the bottom, it’s like winning big in Vegas as the coins pile up around you.

The design is simple. Just two pieces of glass pressed together with pegs between. Just drop your change in on top and watch it fall. All of the coins stay in place until you unlock and empty it.

You might remember the awesome Space Invaders Game Bank that we featured a while back. At that time it was only available in Japan. Good news, now there is a version that you can get in the US and Europe, although we’re not sure if it takes currency other than Yen.

To refresh your memory, when last we left it, this bank was accepting up to 80 100 yen coins, and each time you drop a coin in, another invader lights up. So, you are playing the game in reverse. It pays to have more invaders on screen.

The Japanese love banks. Like us, they also love them some Space Invaders. This latest offering from Takara Tomy may look like an actual sized tabletop Space Invaders game, but it’s really a miniature replica bank. It’s a unique take on the whole bank concept. It features an LCD screen that unfortunately is not playable, but acts as coin counter.

It will take up to 80 100 yen coins, and each time you drop a coin in, another invader lights up. So, basically you are playing the game in reverse. In this case, it pays to have more invaders on screen. It makes saving money not only fun, but retro and geeky at the same time. It will help you save up for those Space Invaders headphones or that Space Invaders Keyboard you’ve been wanting.

Back in the day it cost just one quarter to play your favorite arcade machine. Well, now you can play two Atari arcade classics for just one penny. They aren’t totally faithful to the original arcade machines, but hey it only costs a penny and you get to save that penny. A penny played is a penny earned.

Every coin you drop in starts a new game, which is much cooler then say, dropping your coins in a bank shaped like a pig. These aren’t easy to find outside of Japan, but Strapya World is taking pre-orders and they will ship them worldwide. They’ll cost you $39.90.

The idea behind this gadget is that it’s never too early to teach kids the value of a dollar with a freaky fish banker. Every time your kid inserts a coin into the bank, a fish named Gill (haha) will reward your kid with an animation. Thing is, with Cartoon network available to your kid, I don’t think he’s gonna give a tuna what some gameboy-colored fish has to say.

Anyhow, the money they deposit is automatically counted and the total savings is displayed on screen. If that’s not enough, your kid will now be responsible for feeding old Gill and keeping his tank clean. Yeah right. It was nice knowing you Gill! This is gonna be either way too much fun or hardly any for $52. I call the latter.

Just when you thought it was safe here comes yet another wacky clock. A very boxy and not swell to look at clock. This one is a lot like the Coin Lamp, in that it is a money hungry device. This Money-Saving BanClock makes you insert a coin of any value or currency before it will shut up. I think that’s called extortion. This clock/bank will hold about $25 before it needs to be emptied.

You’ll need a supply of coins by the clock so you can shut it up without punching a hole in it. What’s with these savings devices though? It used to be that people were disciplined enough to save on their own without a device encouraging them.

We’ve seen our share of useless gadgets, no question about it. They don’t get more useless then the USB volcano. I mean, they could have done something cool with this. How about a little diorama with some ancient civilization dropping a virgin or two into the thing? What about making it a real lava spewer(Okay, nothing harmful that will melt flesh) that’s also a bank, where you have to feed it coins so it doesn’t go all Krakatoa all over your desk? Or what about having a tiny remote control robot in the case with the volcano that you can send in and get readings like a real science kind of deal?

But no. No, sadly this craptastic gadget is just a volcano with plastic lava beads that erupt out of the water-filled desktop toy. And you even have to provide the water. $18 if you are actually impressed.

If you’re worried about greedy relatives stealing your money, the Shocker ATM Bank should cure the problem. When you put money in it, it will yell “Eeeeee!” for some reason. I guess it’s happy for you and your financial situation. The bank will also know the difference between all coins between 1 and 500 Yen, and will display the total amount saved so you don’t have to count it yourself.

Comes with a security card and an individual pin number. It will cost you $30, but it will cost your family several nasty shocks before they learn to keep their mitts off. It also has alarm clock and calculator functions. Hands off my yen mofo!

Toshiba’s new 815T PB on Softbank, developed to coincide with a new show featuring robo-phones is freakishly weird, but we love it. This is what phones should aspire to be. We only hope that they don’t become self aware and drill into your skull, in order to take up permanant residence on your ear. We might all become servants to these things.

Transformer fans will no doubt wet their pants. This is the first mobile phone that you could actually use as a toy. Yes, this is real. Obviously the silver one is the good guy, the black one just looks mean. Not much more info at this time, but I hope other phone manufacturers are paying attention.

If you are stuck in Mario land and are saving up for an extra life, this mushroom bank is the perfect place to store your gold coins. It’s hard to save, but you have to put some of it away for a rainy day in the Mushroom kingdom. Let’s face it, you’re jumping around, hitting blocks with your head, jumping on turtles and taking on Bowser…uninsured. What if you got hurt? Luigi can only do so much, he’s not the smart one. Better start a nest egg.

Then there’s the other expenses. Dresses for the Princess. Rebuilding castle walls, buying spare fireballs and feeding Yoshi. Lucky for you, this bank comes in 2 versions, the classic 1UP Mushroom and the Super Mushroom. It retails for $14.99.