New herbal drink aims to give you flings

Brian Tracey Business Editor • Profile

A recent entrant into the energy-drink market has caused a stir by calling itself Cocaine. Now there's another product claiming to offer a different type of buzz: a "libido stimulation beverage" called Fever.

Yes, the makers of Fever claim it is "a proven aphrodisiac." It contains "a proprietary combination" of eight organic herbs — including something called "goat weed" — said to "enhance sexual performance and pleasure, and reduce recovery time between sexual intervals."

Fever will be sold in nightclubs and bars across the country, including Manhattan's famous strip club Scores.

We have some concerns about that combination. Isn't that sort of like feeding sleeping pills to someone with narcolepsy?

Not-so-bad ideas

• If your mobile telephone is stolen, don't scream — your handset can now do it for you.

A new service launched this week in Britain is designed to deter mobile phone theft by equipping telephones with an ear-piercing scream.

The screaming won't stop unless the battery is removed. And since all customers' information is centrally stored, contacts, ringtones, pictures, texts and other data can be retrieved when a new handset is purchased. The service costs about $18 a month.

"We'll see the market for stolen handsets stamped out once and for all," said Mark Whiteman, the managing director of Remote XT.

Or maybe criminals will just learn to answer calls in less than one ring.

• Driving in the city just got a little bit easier: Automaker Honda said last week it has developed an automatic steering system equipped with voice instructions to help insecure drivers overcome their fear of parallel parking, Australian newspaper The Age reports.

Helped by a marker on the passenger's seat, drivers using the $450 system will need to line up with the car behind the space where they want to park.

By pressing a button, the car will move forward automatically and put the steering wheel in position to start backing up, with an automated voice offering directions.

"Of course, the system won't allow the driver to just sit back and have the car do the complete operation, but at least he won't have to twist his neck to look behind like he used to in the past," company spokesman Sakae Uruma said.

Some 60 percent of customers of the new technology are expected to be women, with beginner drivers also a target market, Honda said.

It's that latter group that has us thinking the Motor Vehicle Department will require this gizmo be turned off during a driver-license road test.

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