Secret Passageway Switch is the first step toward building your own Batcave

By Rick Marshall Published November 18, 2011

It might be a while before you’re able to complete your secret lair, but you can take the first step toward building it with the Secret Passageway Switch.

Available via Vespoe, the switch turns a hardcover book into a switch that can open a secret door to your subterranean headquarters… or simply turn on a lamp. Basically, it can control anything with a standard plug, so the possibilities are endless. (Want a coffee? Here, let me flip this secret coffee-maker switch!)

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Okay, so maybe the possibilities aren’t exactly endless… but it’s still a fun little gadget.

Just imagine having all of the appliances in your house operated by cleverly corresponding novels. It would drive people insane.

The Secret Passageway Switch sells for $50, but can you really put a price on that level of diabolical amusement?

Rick Marshall

Former Contributing Editor, Entertainment

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

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Emerging Tech

AI can’t tell if you’re gay or straight, but it thinks it knows what both look like

AI knows it shouldn't judge a face, but apparently, drawing one is a different story.

Emilia Clarke AI generated stock image. Gemini / Nano Banana is on the left

We've all been told not to judge a book by its cover, and you'd think AI would follow that rule, too. Ask an AI chatbot to guess someone's sexual orientation just by looking at their face, and it'll likely tell you that there's no reliable way to know. But what happens when you ask that same model to change someone's appearance to match a particular sexual orientation? Well, that's where things get uncomfortable.

A new study, accepted for presentation at the 2026 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, found that AI models from OpenAI and Google can be inconsistent when handling sensitive personal characteristics. They might refuse to make assumptions about someone based on their appearance, but when asked to generate those same assumptions visually, the results tell a very different story.

Computing

A clinical study with Google’s special chatbot shows a strong future for AI in healthcare

Google’s medical AI could give doctors a useful second set of eyes

Google Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer chatbot

AI is a useful tool for handling many tasks in private as well as professional settings, but medical advice, especially diagnosis, is one area where I generally draw the line. General-purpose chatbots tend to sound confident and convincing while giving medical advice, even when they are wrong, as studies have previously found.

That being said, Google's new research points to a much more convincing use for AI in healthcare. Its Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer chatbot, or AMIE for short, could help prepare both sides before the appointment even begins.

Emerging Tech

Relaxation music had one job in this pain study, and favorite songs did it better

Patients who chose their music reported less pain after an IV insertion

Patients’ favorite songs helped ease pain after an IV insertion in a new study, while music specifically chosen for relaxation didn’t show a significant benefit. The soothing soundtrack could apparently use a second opinion.

Researchers at University Hospital Zürich studied 204 patients receiving an IV cannula before an MRI scan. Those listening to their chosen music reported less pain 30 seconds and two minutes after insertion. Across the full sample, the clearest relief came after the needle went in.