Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Peripherals, Storage

With the advances in technology meaning things are smaller and more valuable people are always looking for new ways to stop things from getting lost, and stop them from getting nicked.  Memory sticks certainly fall into this category: it is now far too easy to lose your new tiny memory stick, and if you are that sort of slimy person, it is also very easy to take them off your desk and copy all your valuable documents.  Bring in the CurrentKey: the height of USB stick disguise and poor puns.

The main idea behind these USB sticks is “acts” like coins, sitting nice and safe in the coin section of your wallet out of harms way and unlikely to get lost (as you always know where it is).  But if you were to twist it the snazzy rotation system brings out a USB stick capable of holding up to 8GB of work, music or whatever else you keep on your memory stick.

Originally a European company LaCie are now one of the world market leaders for computer peripherals who specialize in practical solutions for both the general public and professionals.  This is obviously aimed more at the public market (no where near geeky enough for a computer technician) along with many of their brightly colored not-easily-lost USB “solutions”.

This really is a neat product: designed to look like Euro coins (as the image suggests) they will fit in very well in any purse with the bronze (4GB) and silver (8GB) versions. T he only problem?  If you are in a rush you may end up giving someone one of these instead of a coin, which will be a fairly expensive mistake (admittedly not one your are likely to make in America) but the nice little USB logo and number indicating capacity is a bit of a give-away.

It is also not the sort of thing that a passing opportunist is going to take; I know that USB thefts are not very common, but I have heard of them and if you store valuable data (such as credit card details) there is definitely a motive for people to steal them.  However I doubt that anyone will steal a small foreign coin that is on your desk, so perhaps this is an advantage.

The only problem is the price, in a day where you can get 4Gb for around $8 the $20 and $30 price tags seem a little high, but I suppose that is the price for style and practicality, something that this little number has in buckets.  The pun (CurrentKey - Currency) isn’t that bad either so overall this is a solid piece of consumer orientated design, something we all want to see.

Source [UberGizmo]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, HDTV, Computers, Desktops, Laptops, Gadgets / Other, Gaming, Console

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, it’s time we enjoy those gadgets that we bought, whether it be a brand new HDTV, gaming system, MP3 player, or computer.  Of course for us techie people, we like to see how this year compares with previous years in terms of money spent.  With the economy in a slump, experts predicted this shopping season to be down, but Cyber Monday managed to persuade many consumers to open their wallets, punch in their credit card number, and eagerly await their arrival of their new gadget(s).

Statistically speaking, last year on Cyber Monday had bought in $733 million in revenue, and this year bought in a 15% increase - an astonishing $846 million spent, stated ComScore in a report.  This came as a relief to many retail stores because sales had dropped by 2% or $12 billion from November 1 to Cyber Monday of this year as compared to last year. 

Gian Fulgoni, Chairman of ComScore, had this to say about why Cyber Monday prospered:

“With Cyber Monday promotions beginning in earnest over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumers have finally begun to open their wallets, setting off a streak of four consecutive days of extremely strong growth.  This is an extremely encouraging development for retailers, and we can but hope that their aggressive discounting has still left room for profits.“

A bit of bad news - when retails formally announce their profits, it is expected to overall be down from last year, even though Black Friday and Cyber Monday both did exceptionally well In addition, it could be the overall worst holiday season in terms of profit in decades.  I noticed, and you might have as well, there are many more commercials and advertisements with deals in effort to promote the holiday season.  Also, holiday music that usually starts after Thanksgiving, I was hearing it on the radio a week before Thanksgiving, probably in efforts to make people spend more.

Cyber Monday has become especially big in the last few years because Americans are finding they can get as good as and in some cases better deals than on Black Friday.  All they have to do is click a buttons buttons, type in a few numbers, and let the website and its employees do the rest. 

Now, the big question that remains is how well will retailers do in the coming weeks.  Of course, it was nice to see this big shopping spree from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, but I don’t think customers are ready to splurge yet with the state of this economy. 

Read [Los Angeles Times]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced today that their fourth-quarter revenue would be much weaker due to widespread weakness particularly among customers. Shares have recovered much of the 8percent premarket drop, but investors and analysts are seemingly unfazed.

Cody Acree, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus said, “the market was not surprised given the state of the PC industry, which is being crippled by poor demand.” AMD along with rival Intel have made virtually all the microprocessors for the world’s 1 billion PCs. Acree went on to say AMD has done a great job of making itself a better competitor to Intel. I think this has nothing to do with AMD individually, this is fully macro.”

AMD is expecting revenue from operations ending December 27th, to decline around 25 percent in the 3Q to around 1.19 billion. The average 4Q analyst revenue estimate is 1.53 billion according to Reuters Estimates. Earlier this year AMD cut 500 out of the 15,500 jobs to try and cut costs.

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HOW TO - Make a plush "irradiated sirloin"... Microcontroller night light illuminates meaty issues By Rebecca Stern -

Faced with an assignment to make a plush night light, I thought, “Why light?” and brainstormed reasons for a stuffed toy to light up. In a glowworm toy, for instance, the light mimics nature. I’d been reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and this got me thinking about the chain of refrigeration, labor, and irradiation involved in American beef production. So I thought, glowing irradiated meat! I know that irradiated meat doesn’t glow, and neither does toxic waste unless it’s in a cartoon, but plush toys typically represent cartoon characters anyway, so it made sense: Plush Irradiated Sirloin.

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Crafts | Digg this!

The winning project from American Maker is now available as a kit -

AIRHEADS - AIRDRUMS - Winner of the 2008 MAKE FAIRE Chicago " The best instrument they have seen since the Theremin"

Airheads MINI 4 kit are sensors to be used with midi drum brains and synthesizers or midi I/O devices allowing one to play instrument in the air just by waving your hands over the Airheads seniors in mid air. These sensors not only trigger your sounds but also sense velocity, they also make great proximity switching for many projects and applications, music, hobby robotics, home electronics, control lights with just a wave of a hand. use these with your VDRUMS or hook them up to your Arduino drum machine. Limited Time! Get a free GIG bag with your order!

Hmmm, definitely a lot of potential even beyond musical use! MINI 4 Airheads Kit

Catch the kit in action @ Maker Faire Austin -

More:


American Maker: The Winner "Airheads Air Drums"

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Section: Audio, Web, Websites

The idea of Reality TV with music has been around since American Idol where people auditioned to be put into the knock out competition where eventually the top prize was a juicy record contract and a nice cash prize.  This idea has now moved into the Internet domain (no pun intended) with YouTube, who is now taking auditions for their own Symphony Orchestra.

The idea of an organization having it’s own orchestra is nothing new (it all started with the BBC in 1930) but this is a good example of how the world is becoming more globalized and encouraging anyone to have a go.  The idea is that people will film themselves playing parts of the specially selected Symphony (which I will talk about later) to show their talent, as well as one to show their overall personality.

Similar to TV shows, there will be a panel of “experts” as well as public participation although in a different way to usual.  The experts are members of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.  They will select the semi-finalists to ensure that only quality acts get through (to avoid problems experienced in the UK where the public consistently chose the worst dancer in Strictly Come Dancing because he was a likeable person).  The vote will then go to the public to choose the final selection of people for the Orchestra.

The chosen ones will then perform the Internet Symphony No 1 “Eroica” at a concert in New York conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas who is the musical director of the San Francisco Symphony.  The piece has been specially composed by Tan Dun, and does have a fairly oriental feel as well as having quotes form Beethoven and some unusual percussion.

This is a great innovation: incorporating the undoubted history of classical music with the modern world and allowing people to use technology to dictate what will happen.  Combining this new and old will definitely introduce supporters of one to the other, i.e. youngsters interested and wanting to vote will get to experience classical music whilst the opposite is true for some older classical lovers regarding technology.

This really is a great idea and it also demonstrates the great power that websites have and how previously virtual worlds are crossing into reality.  I personally think that this is how technology should be used and that it is constructive to all involved as it uses technology to appeal to a wider audience.  In case you are feeling particularly musical, feel free to upload your audition by January 28th and keep your fingers crossed for the judging on Valentines Day (I doubt that that is a coincidence!)

Source [Guardian]
Read [YouTube Symphony]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section:

If you’ve got an American Express card, you may be able to get the T-Mobile G1 for $125 instead of the regular $179 price.  AmEx is running its WishList promotion where they discount plenty of stuff for a select few.  You’ll have a chance to get the G1 at the $125 price at 12PM, 3PM, and 7PM.  Just go to the AmEx WishList site at those times and go for it.  There are 200 available at that price.

That’s pretty darn good deal.

Go to [AmEx WishList]

Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Here’s a unique mouse. Probably good for drug dealers and those who like weighing really small objects. It’s a standard USB optical mouse, but it also flips open to reveal a digital scale. I’m not sure how much a quality drug scale will run you these days, but at $50, the Optical Mouse & Digital Scale will allow you to rip off your customers while at the same time read your favorite blogs. It should also hide the fact that you have a small drug scale, like during a raid.

The Digital Scale has a 500g (17.635oz) weight capacity with readability to .1g (0.005oz). So it’s for real small operations. There’s also an internal rechargeable battery if you want to use the scale without being hooked up to the USB cord.

Great gift idea for the lowlife in your life.

[everythingusb]

“Houston, we have a problem.”

Eagle this is Houston, what’s poppin? Over?

“Yeah, so.. I float over to where the cooler’s supposed to be, but in it’s place there’s this…I’m looking at this machine labeled “Urine Recycler”. Over.”

Don’t tell me it’s broken again! Dammit Timmy, I thought I told you to fix the Urine Recycler on the Endeavour!

“Houston, Houston: I don’t think it’s broken.”

What? So what’s the problem?

“The concept is the problem Houston. I have a problem with the whole freaking concept behind this machine.”

Eagle we spent $154 million on the Urine Recycler –

“And I spent half of my life training to do what? Drink my own — Jeebus Houston! How much does Gatorade cost nowadays?! How much for tap water?! What is this, Jackass? Am I being Punk’d or something?”

Eagle it’s not always urine; it also recycles moisture and sweat–

“I’m crashing the ISS on your ass in 3-2-1 you sadists.”

[via Scientific American]