Japan firm sells human pillow cellphone holder

KOOKY INVENTION: A handout picture showing a woman hugging the "Hugvie" body pillow, which has a head, a torso and short limbs. Users put their phone inside the Hugvie when making call, and then embrace it, in what one researcher dubbed "cushion-style communication media".

TOKYO: What’s shaped like your friend and even sounds like your friend, but isn’t actually your friend? Why, a human-shaped pillow with a slot in its head for a cellphone, of course. 

One Japanese venture is looking to solve that problem of feeling distant when speaking on the telephone by offering cushions that look a little like small people, with a skin-like texture, that can hold your mobile device.