The death of handwriting continues. We used to write longhand letters, postcards and notes to each other, but the typewriter, PC, and SMS-enabled cellphones killed all that. Now the Ikan by Stuart Karten Design takes aim at one of the last things we still scribble--grocery lists.

The Ikan makes clever use of barcodes, which we only ever consider when we're purchasing things; but as the team at SKD realized, that barcode still sits on the side of your product packaging while it hangs out in your cupboard or 'fridge.

The concept is: Next time you're running low on something, scan the barcode with the Ikan; it then "wirelessly [communicates] the information to a 'virtual shopping list,' which can be used to place an online order."

Of course, in order for this product to take off we'll either have to find a way to imprint broccoli with barcodes, or stop eating vegetables altogether.