Here’s a first. This is a notepad with an integrated keyboard. This is perfect for musicians and composers. It allows them to try out their tunes right then and there, with or without using the built-in headphone jack. No word yet on availability. I suppose if you don’t have headphones with you, you could really annoy people with this one, in say, a subway car or something. Then after you annoy your fellow man and call attention to your sweet new device, he can steal it and sell it to some other dude. I hope not. I’m, just saying.

Basically somebody at Yamaha had a notepad sitting next to their keyboard and went…”Whoah”. No word on availability yet.

Beamz is a laser-based invention that is connected to a computer via your USB port. It allows you to pretend you are a musical genius from the year 2355, because you can play hundreds of musical instruments in true Jean Michel Jarre style.(Whoever the hell he is) How does it work you ask? Basically you are creating music by breaking the laser beams with your hands. It automatically generates pre-authored pulses, streams, riffs or loops of musical notes or sounds from a variety of instruments.

The beamz system as a whole has a “W” shape, with six laser beams over two sections. Just connect it via USB to your PC or laptop, and hook up some speakers. You’ll be rocking your lasers in no time. The interface is said to be simple and intuitive, making it easy to choose any of 30 included songs in 19 musical genres, for laying down a complementary rhythm track. The beamz library includes jazz, bluegrass, classical, hip-hop, reggae, heavy metal and more. Available from The Sharper Image for $599.95.