What's a phidget you ask?  A phidget is a cool little hardware gadget that allows us geek types to easily interface with sensors, servos, lcd's, rfid, etc.  Everything is based on USB and gives you a nice API to access the devices. 

I saw the Phidgets guys at the Coding4Fun area at the Microsoft PDC in L.A.  They had some cool demos setup showing off many of their devices.

Their devices are pretty affordable for educational uses, but might be a little prohibitive for any kind of mass production.

Check out Phidgets here.

Update: As the comment below states...the people I talked to are a USA reseller.  Their site is located here Phidgets USA.  Thanks Matt.