knocks on wood

The superstition just got an upgrade: a tree-knocking gadget for the woodless

You're standing in a forest, but the nearest tree might as well be on the moon. That's the gap designers Shashwath Santosh and Nithin Eluvathingal are closing with a small remote device called a "knocker." It attaches to a tree and knocks on wood for you, triggered from a smartphone app, so you can satisfy that ancient superstition without sprinting to the nearest oak. It's conceptual, which means we don't know if it will ever ship, but the sheer absurdity is charming. The idea is delightfully narrow: a gadget built entirely for a gesture we perform without thinking. It won't change your life, but it might make you wonder why nobody thought of it sooner.