No ridiculous TwitterPeek in their worst five, but it’d sure be on mine. What would be on yours? Check out Time’s great walk-through of its 50 top inventions at: [TIME]

Time’s Five Worst Inventions:
1. Draconian electronic “Smile Checks” for Japanese railway workers who get alerted if they’re not perky enough.
2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Coming soon as a graphic novel, apparently.
3. Snuggies for Dogs. Screw that, how about all Snuggies in general.
4. The Gas-Mask Bra. It’s real and one of the award-winning inventions from this year’s quirky Ig Novel Awards.
5. Computers being used in the UK to automatically mark student’s essays. Yeah that one sucked.

The 2011 Nissan Leaf: It’s going to be the first “mass-market” pure-electric car. It’s not the first electric-car period, but the “mass-market” qualifier makes it OK. I guess. And the 160km range. And it’ll be about $30,000 before a $7500 tax break, so you can afford it. And we love Nissans. [Popsci]

The Sikorsky X2 Helicopter: It’s going to be the fastest chopper in existence based on the fact that there are counter-rotating rotors and a backwards-facing propeller that pushes the whole thing forward. It may not look like a helicopter you’re familiar with, but it’s pure sweetness. [Popsci]

Diamond Interchange: This new traffic intersection type can “reduce clogging by as much as 60 per cent”, which bodes well for drivers everywhere. You don’t need to know how it works, you just need to know that it does, and convince your local MP to change over to this style. [Popsci]

Powergenix Rechargeable AA Batteries: These are supposed to be, thanks to better Nickel-Zinc technology, as good as disposables — but can last up to 1000 charges. They’re not too expensive either, comparatively, at $US15 for four. [Popsci]

Sennheiser HD800 headphones: Sennheiser’s HD series are expensive (boldly expensive), but very much worth it. The 800 is just another reason why you should be taking night classes in order to get a better job to pay for these. $US1400 isn’t something you throw down casually, but if you’re talking sound quality AND comfort (others can do one or the other), you’ll have a hard time beating Sennheiser. [Popsci]

X-Flex Blast Protection Wallpaper: These sticky, rollable, self-adhesive sheets can be applied to any wall that you think will be the subject of explosions. In turn, the walls stay vertical and the occupants inside the building say alive. Popsci says these things kept a wrecking ball from going through pure brick, so it’ll definitely keep your angry teenage kid from putting his fist through your drywall. [Popsci]

Filigent Limited BioMask: A face mask — like the kind everyone wears in Japan when they’re sick — that kills 99.9 per cent of flu viruses in less than a minute. And 100 per cent after 10. A regular mask still holds 50,000 bugs (on average). If you want one of these you’ll have to import it from Hong Kong or Europe, where it’s more acceptable to wear one of these on the street. I should really stock up on these for CES next year; not because it’s going to be a mass of diseased bodies in a confined space, but because Adam Frucci is really disgusting. [Popsci]

Xela Innovations Purleve Hygienic Door Handle: The door handle is actually a sleeve dispenser, so instead of touching poopy metal, you touch a removable plastic sleeve whenever you have to get out from the can. It’s genius, even if it is slightly wasteful to refill sleeves all the time. But if we have no problem protecting our arses from public toilets with disposable toilet rings, this should sell just as well. [Popsci]

Microsoft’s Project Natal: If there’s one game development we’re looking forward to, it’s Natal. Imagine combining the fun of being at home with the fun of moving around in your living room and having a machine know exactly what you’re doing. Perhaps we should phrase it another way: Whenever Mark and I play any game, he says “imagine how great this would be with NATAL!!!!” He actually pronounces those exclamation points out loud over Xbox Live so I get how serious he is. [Popsci]

Bosch Full Force Technology Nail Gun: You might not use nail guns every day, but when you do, you really want to savour the experience. In this case, Bosch uses a secondary air blast that follows the first nail-ejection one in order to return the piston into firing position. So the nail gun literally goes pew-pew with each shot. As a result, the gun is 20 per cent smaller and 10 per cent more powerful than anything else. With one of these, everything you own becomes a board. [Popsci]

Nothing is immune, be it cameras, laptops, game controllers or ebook readers, and the trend is showing no signs of stopping. The consumer electronics industry, it seems, is slowly become on big episode of Pimp My Ride. Anyway, on with the screens.

Every stumble Barnes & Noble’s eReader takes into the limlight reveals something stranger. First, we find out it’ll run Android, a smartphone OS. Then we discover it’s going to have two screens—a traditional E-ink display up top, and a multitouch LCD down below. There’s no denying this makes for some great gadget porn, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if it’s, you know, at all a good idea.

An ill-timed half-step in the generational console wars, the Sega Dreamcast is remembered primarily as a failure. But for the purposes of this list, we’ll rosily remember it as the first console to include displays in its controller. Strictly speaking, the “display” was one of the functions of the Visual Memory System cartridges, which each contained its own processor, memory, battery and, of course, 48×32 monochrome display. Despite some genuinely OK uses—keeping certain controls secret during multiplayer games, or displaying FPS stats—the hardware couldn’t really do the concept justice. [Pic via Axess]

When switched off, Samsung’s TL220 and TL225 point-and-shoots look like any other boring camera. Switched on, they still look like any other boring camera, except for an odd-looking, forward-facing second display. Samsung’s advertising angle is all about MySpace-style self-portraiture and making babies smile with horrifying clown animations, but the visual timed shot countdown is the only feature I think I’d ever end up appreciating.

Nintendo’s entire DS pitch was about the second displays, which was intended mainly as a touchscreen control interface. Early reviewers didn’t really know what to make of it. Now, reviewers take Nintendo’s two-screened style for granted.

The Eee Keyboard looks more like a one-off Ben Heck mod than it does a real product—a theory almost supported by its endlessly creeping release date. Today, units are about ready to ship, meaning that you’ll be able to buy a QWERTY keyboard with a full-fledged computer in it, and a secondary touchscreen display crammed into the right-hand side.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700ds captures the spirit of the extraneous second screen perfectly. One second you’re just tapping away at your big, bland, work-issued laptop, then BAM. A secret monitor pops out of the side of your main screen. The pitch for this thing over at Lenovo HQ must’ve been utterly spectacular.

Lenovo’s secondary displays are covert; you know, hush hush. Sharp’s, on the other hand, are proudly displayed—in fact, Sharp’s Mebius NJ70A carries its extra pixels proudly, where you’d normally find a trackpad. In fact, this multitouch capacitive displays is the trackpad.

The first generation of OLPC hardware was, despite some interesting flourishes, pure laptop. The first few generations of tablets PCs were nothing more than notebooks with extra hinges. The next take on both, the XO 2 and Microsoft’s Courier, respectively, took everyone by surprise by killing keyboards in favour of displays. Neither is out yet, so the jury is out—way out—on whether or not our future has two screens, or just one.

If our 140-character bits of brilliance ever overwhelms you, and it will, try managing the streams with these five best Twitter clients, courtesy Lifehacker. You’ll be deftly surfing a sea of Tweets with us twits in no time at all. [Lifehacker]

A cave: Built in Missouri in place of an old concert venue (which was built in place of a presumably much older geographical feature), this 1580 square metre cave dwelling has three bedrooms and a surprising market price of about $US300,000.
Upsides: Great noise insulation, instant villain cred.
Downsides: Difficult to wire for electricity, still prone to bunker busters

A 727: A standalone suite in the Hotel Costa Verde in Costa Rica, this repurposed 727 is quite possibly the most comfortably furnished commercial jet in the world.
Upsides: A fuselage makes for an oddly nice party pad
Downsides: It’s still high enough off the ground to kill you in the event of a crash

Cardboard: Designed by a small Australian design firm, this plastic-coated modular cardboard house is said to run about $US35,000 in a kit, though it’s not clear that any have ever been shipped. At any rate, cardboard house.
Upsides: It’s cheap for its size, and has a neat Conestoga-wagon-esque aesthetic.
Downsides: There are certain connotations that come with living in a cardboard box. I’m not saying they’re fair!

Paper: Speaking of which, I dubbed this more subtle paper house the “World’s Swankiest Hobo Pad” back in January—a title I think it still holds. This one, called the Universal World House, is just $US5000, and made from recycled pulp materials.
Upsides: Built-in animal slaughtering facilities, with floor drain
Downsides: Gets a little crowded when filled to its 8-person capacity.

Shipping containers: This one’s been done a few times, but the undisputed king of shipping container architecture has to be Adam Kalkin, whose massive aluminium container house is pictured at left. He’s designed quite a few more, ranging from $US50,000 to $US2 million in cost.
Upsides: They may be made from junk, but they’re invariably awesome-looking.
Downsides: You could be mistaken for a pallet of Ikea furniture while you sleep, and shipped.

Glass Bottles: Building homes out of concrete, mud and bottles isn’t some kind of architectural experiment—this is a bona fide technique. Tom Kelly’s bottle house in Ryolite, Nevada was constructed from 51,000 glass bottles all the way back in 1920.
Upsides: Extremely easy to gather materials for, and the air in the bottles is a great insulator
Downsides: It’s a little hard on the eyes. OK, a lot hard on the eyes.

Plastic bottles: It’s like the last one, except more eco-conscious/grosser. This one was devised by a Serbian Math professor, partly as a home, and partly as an environmental statement.
Upsides: It’s good for Mother Earth, or whatever
Downsides: Less classy than glass bottles

Glass: Granted, the substructure on this thing is made of metal and wood, but the walls? All glass.
Upsides: Beautiful, luxurious, and designed by famous architect Philip Johnson
Downsides: You’ll have to cut down on naked activities.

Tyres: Another surprisingly common construction technique, building with tyres actually makes a lot of sense: They stack well, they’re expensive to recycle, and they offer tons of room for stuffing with insulating materials.
Upsides: Free, dead-simple construction process
Downsides: Could violate council zoning regulations

Legos: This one’s still under construction, but with the loving support of the entire internet behind it, not to mention James May, it will one day be glorious.
Upsides: Unparalleled dream fulfilment
Downsides: Anyone who was ever a child could rob you without leaving a trace.

During my time editing T3 I put together quite a few of these Hot 100 lists, so I know that you can never placate everybody. But I still found some of the choices odd enough to comment.

For example, number 10 is the Sony Vaio P-series. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a nice looking piece of kit. But since it launched earlier this year, we’ve seen some stunning netbook designs, like the Seashell from Asus. Or there’s the new trend of ultrathin laptops. Whichever way you look, there are better computers on the market than the Vaio P.

Then there’s number 9 – the Canon IXUS 980 IS. Don’t get me wrong, I love Canon’s IXUS range. But in terms of cameras, surely a video-recording DSLR is where the money’s at right now? Canon’s 5D MkII would be my choice, but Nikon’s offering is just as good. Or even the Olympus E-P1 Pen would be super retro cool enough to crack my top 10. But not just another upgrade to the IXUS lineup…

Number 8 – the Toshiba TG01 Winmo smartphone is pretty hot based on the snapdragon processor, but give me some Android love over Winmo any day – The HTC Hero outranks this handset by a mile in my books.

At number 3 is the N97 from Nokia, which seems to be universally underwhelming reviewers around the world.

Of course, it’s not all bad – I do like the fact that Samsung’s Series 8 LED TV made the top 10, as did the Sony X Series Walkman. In fact, that there isn’t a single Apple product in the top 10 is – frankly – a huge shock. But I do agree with their choice at number one: Even though the Palm Pre hasn’t been getting the best reviews, it has been such a strong comeback for Palm that they deserve top spot. If only they’d release it in Australia.

If you happen to be flicking through the top 10, you’ll see that local editor Nic Healey did actually ask me to offer up my top 5 gadgets for the issue. But what I want to know is what your hottest gadgets of the year are. What gadgets set your pulse racing when you think about moment the sales clerk swipes your credit card and you take the thing home?