Archives for January 2008

Styrofoam Sofa Could be Annoying

January 11, 2008 by Leave a Comment

styrofoam_bench
Styrofoam, or polystyrene for us in the UK is the annoying stuff that breaks when trying to take gadgets out of their packaging. Once out it leaves white bobble things on the floor and basically is annoying. However, this did not stop Kwangho Lee from being creative and carving one in to a sofa. If you find your self a little uncomfortable then you can carve out the odd inch here and there to mould it to your perfect shape. Just don’t go dropping drinks or putting too much pressure as you could see your sofa slightly deteriorating over a few months.

Via: UberReview

Filed Under: Concept Gadgets

Flytech Bladestar

January 10, 2008 by 2 Comments

flytech-bladestar
Flytech created the unique DragonFly last year which was a seriously different flying RC toy. Now they have created the Bladestar which could kind of be compared to a helicopter in some ways. It has a large rotating blade and 2 rear rotors that are opposite each other. Three sensors help keep it out of trouble by detecting the floor, ceiling and walls. It allows the Bladestar to fly it’s self, or alternatively you can use the remote control. If you want to be truly unique then you can guide the robot RC Bladstar by using your hands to block it’s sensors and guide it around.

No details on pricing yet, but you can look out for launch details over on the official website.

Via: GizmosforGeeks

Filed Under: Gadget Toys

12Gb SanDisk Micro SDHC

January 10, 2008 by Leave a Comment

sandisk-12gb-sdhc
This tiny Micro SDHC memory card can cram 12GB of data on to it. That is actually quite incredible. For those who thought they were cool sporting the slightly older 8Gb versions you now need to sell them on eBay and get one of these.

Unfortunately there is no info on pricing yet, but in good old computer ways the 8Gb are surely going to drop in price to make way for the 12Gb big brother.


Product Page Via: Ounae

Filed Under: Tech News

ASUS Nova P22 – WiiPC?

January 10, 2008 by Leave a Comment

asus_nova_p22
Asus launched the Eee PC this year and it created quite a bit of interest. They are now releasing a new slim desktop PC which will be named the Nova P22. The P22 is a Core 2 Duo desktop computer. The processor is the E6320 and the slim Nova PC sports 1GB DDR2 RAM. The hard drive is fairly large too which is a 160GB SATA. The DVD-RW is a slot drive allowing that to slim the whole size down too. Wireless runs at 802.11n and there are plenty of ports on it for DVI, USB, sound, power and wired Ethernet.

Not a bad little system with that power and ideal for many who are restricted in desk space. The PC also has a stand to hold the Nova in a similar way to the Wii.

asus_nova_p22_01

Via: Geek

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

Test Pattern Clock

January 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment

test-pattern-clock
It seems like a good number of years have passed since the test pattern was used on TV. Due to advances in equipment such as digital signalling, better televisions and most TV channels broadcasting 24 hours the requirement for test pattern is just not there any more.

The test pattern clock is built to bring back the memories of late night TV. Luckily the annoying beeeep is not present in this clock. I have to admit that it looks fairly cool clock although I think they should have used the UK’s most popular test pattern which is Test Card F. Surely all you from the UK remember the young girl (Carole Hersee) playing noughts and crosses with a clown puppet. Here is a quick random fact… Carole Hersee is supposed to be in the Guinness book of Records as the person who has been on TV the most (estimated 70000 hours, or 8 years) although they wont put it in because no one can beat it :S

So go ahead and pick up one of these Test Pattern Clocks to bring back the memories.

Via: GearFuse

Filed Under: Home Gadgets

Pizza Cutters for Bikers

January 9, 2008 by 1 Comment

Pizza Cutter for Bikers
If a standard Pizza Cutter is not enough then you need to pick up one of these beauties. They are designed by Frankie Flood and are based on a chopper motorcycle style.

Pizza Cutter

Pizza Cutter 2

Pizza Cutter 3

Pizza Cutter 4

Via: TrendHunter

Filed Under: Kitchen Gadgets

G3 Tower burns 7 CDs at a Time

January 9, 2008 by 2 Comments

Power Tower Pro CD Burning
Maybe you enjoy making 7 backups of your data, or maybe you want to be more of a pirate either way, this is quite cool. John Masone has hacked up a G3 Blue and White Tower to create a tower which is capable of burning 7 CD’s at a time. If you still have a need to mass burn CD’s then this is ideal for you. It can rip CD’s at the drives maximum speed and then is capable of burning to the 7 drives in compressed MP3 or similar formats. The case uses metal caging which has been hacked in to the original tower which now allows the 7 drives to sit comfortably.

If you want a ton of your old CD’s ripping then you should give John a shout 😉

Filed Under: Hacked Gadgets

Google Street View car Spotted in NZ

January 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Google Street View Car
A Google Street View car was spotted recently in Christchurch, NZ. It was spotted by Bevan over at Bevan’s Blog and he was able to snap a few pictures of the car, GPS unit to keep track of where the 360 degree images were taken and all the necessary computer equipment in the car.

Check out the pics over here.

Filed Under: Tech News

LG UMPC – HSDPA Enabled

January 9, 2008 by Leave a Comment

toshiba-umpcc
Engadget managed to take LG’s new UMPC for a spin over at CES. The LG has a nice keyboard, a touch screen with stylus, can transfer data at high speed using HSDPA networks. The screen is a nice size too at 4.8 inches (wide screen). This particular model is aimed at Europe, Asia and Canada, but not the US. No doubt a similar version will be made available for the US though.

This particular model was running Vista. Hopefully with Vista’s SP1 soon to be released it will run quite nicely.

Via: Engadget

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

LimePC – Reinventing Computing?

January 8, 2008 by Leave a Comment

limepc
The LimePC will be launched during 2008 and claims to be the next era of personal computing. It will work by allowing users to keep the small iPod-size device with them which permits them to connect to whoever they want and the way they want. From what the brief LimePC website page mentions, it appears to be built around a community which could well be a FaceBook type web 2.0 app in your pocket. Not only will it allow for a community type operation, it will also allow for you to choose what you want on your device and what needs to be carried around with you.

On the security side of things the device uses LimeConnect which is a secure data delivery platform. Apart from this information there isn’t much available yet. As soon as we receive more details from the LimePC people we will let you know exactly what it will do.

Via: RedFerret

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

150 Inch Plasma Screen

January 8, 2008 by Leave a Comment

panasonic-150-inch-plasma-tv
Last year, Panasonic unveiled a massive 103″ plasma screen. If you thought that was big then check out their latest from CES 2008. This new screen has stepped up even further to a massive 150″ (12.5 feet) which is truly huge for an actual TV. The resolution is also huge 2 as it’s 4 X 1080p which is 4k by 2k. Not bad at all, but it is a little large to fit through my front door 😉

Back in October 2006 this 103 inch beast was estimated to cost over $70k. This might give you some close idea as to what the 150″ version will cost.

Via: SlipperyBrick

Filed Under: Displays

Sony Nav-U Series Split Screen

January 8, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Sony-NV-U83T
Over at CES, Sony are introducing a couple of new Sat Nav-U units. The new sat navs are model numbers NV-U73T and NV-U83T. What sets it ahead of a number of Sat Nav units is the split screen which allows for a dual view. A common problem when using GPS for navigation is trying to work out exactly which exit to take should there be a few right next to each other. With the split screen set up it zooms in one the right side of the screen to show precisely what turning to take. Also it allows for you to get more familiar with POI (Points of Interest) around the immediate area.

Another feature it has is how it can keep track of you when a weak signal is present. It does they by the way of a pressure sensor, gyro sensor and an accelerometer which can keep a good estimation of where you are travelling.

The 2 units mentioned above are to be made available early in spring this year and can be ordered over at SonyStyle costing $349.99 or $499.99.

Features of the Sony Nav-U83T

The U83T has a 4.8″ touch panel widescreen which also displays information such as live traffic updates. The units available in the US contain map data for the entire United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Also Bluetooth is available which allows you to hook it up to a mobile phone to use it as a hands free kit. Text to speach is available as well as a unique gesture command. What gesture command does is allows you to use on screen finger movements. An example would be using an inverted V to automatically navigate you home. This allows quicker access to the more common functions that you need.

Traffic updates come via radio reception which is constantly updated and when bad traffic is spotted, you are automatically routed around the problem.

Overall a very nice looking Sat Nav unit from Sony.

Via: UberGizmo

Filed Under: Cool Gadgets