Gadgets Blog

Want to teach yourself the basics of electronics circuit design without having to go to school? Well, you can now do so with the DIY Electronics Design & Projects Kit.

The DIY Electronics Design & Projects Kit contains everything you need to learn the basics of electronics circuit design. It contains all of the most common electronics components as well as a prototyping breadboard for you to get started right away. Make a light detector, work with IC chips, create an interactive noise maker and more. Hours of amusement and intrigue for students, professionals, hobbyists, artists, and geeks of all types. No soldering is required and the included illustrated manual guides you through each of the projects. After you build all of the projects you can use the parts for your own designs. Includes over 130 parts.

Among the projects that can be churned out include creating your own light/dark detector or a light sensitive noise maker to impress friends and family alike. The DIY Electronics Design & Projects Kit will retail for $49.99 from ThinkGeek.

If you’re a huge fan of Star Wars and love anything and everything to do with the movie franchise, chances are you’re currently pretty low on Galactic Republic credits but have a considerable stash of Star Wars memorabilia that range from movie posters to soundtracks, LEGO sets, toys, action figures and comics. How about adding in a TIE Fighter webcam into your collection? The VGA camera is hidden within the cockpit itself, and just in case the conversation gets a wee bit too boring for you, you can always study the highly detailed lines and notches on the TIE Fighter webcam without looking elsewhere to fool the person on the other end into thinking that you’re actually paying full attention to the conversation.

Source: Akihabara News

Most of us would think that peripherals meant for gaming are normally much more expensive than ones used for the standard office crowd since the former group are extremely demanding when it comes to performance, and to own an expensive piece of hardware (or two) also adds to the glamor and bragging rights if you’re “in the scene”. OCZ Technology Group blows that notion out of the water by offering two more gaming mice that will cater to gamers who are running on an extremely tight budget - and we believe many are these days, with the Behemoth and Eclipse gaming mice. Both models were constructed with the hardcore gamer in mind, offering a competitive edge with quality ergonomics and advanced features designed for both gaming and productivity applications.

According to Ryan Edwards, Director of Product Management for OCZ, “OCZ continues to break barriers in the cost for performance arena by offering high performance gaming products that deliver exceptional features, ergonomics, and performance at an aggressive price. The new Behemoth and Eclipse gaming mice are no exception, offering world-class performance designed to provide the discerning gamer and enthusiast with a superior hands-on control experience whether playing first person shooters or getting creative with design applications.”

Both the Behemoth and Eclipse will enable the gamer to fine-tune the optimal balance of the mouse in order to achieve superior control, and they can also enlist the help of weight cartridges to get just the right “feel” during intense gaming sessions. Individual mice will also support data-upload to the on-board memory for instant “plug and play” settings, without having to resort to additional software to unlock the advanced functions. Not only that, you will also be able to take advantage of on-the-fly switching between four configurable personal profiles, making it a snap to switch between your gaming and work personas - perfect for folks who boot up World of Warcraft or Left 4 Dead the moment the clock strikes 6 at the office.

Press Release

Lenovo is the brains behind two more workstations - the ThinkStation S20 and D20. Both models were specially designed for specialized professionals who are involved in fields such as computer-aided design, digital content creation and oil and gas. These ThinkStation workstations are also the muscle behind its new e-commerce platform known as the Lenovo eLounge, which will provide customers with new, first-of-its-kind interactive way to experience Lenovo computing solutions online regardless of where they are in the world at that moment.

According to Tom Tobul, executive director, Enterprise, Software and Peripherals, Lenovo, “Designers, engineers, developers and scientists require the highest levels in computing performance to help them produce breakthrough innovations. The new ThinkStation workstations deliver not only the utmost in performance, but also a user-centric design with an emphasis on quiet operation, even during heavy processing.”

These workstations have been turbo-charged for performance, and can even be configured for personal supercomputing in order to help professionals innovate at a much faster pace than normal, which results in reducing the time between an idea and a product. It will be powered by the NVIDIA Tesla C1060 GPU platform, offering 240 more cores of dedicated math processing power in order to further speed up math calculations by a mile. Some of the other high performance technologies thrown into the fray include :-

• Choices of the latest Intel Xeon processors 5500 and W3500 Series for increased efficiency and performance with optional Intel Turbo Boost technology for extra performance during peak processing
• Choices of the latest NVIDIA Quadro line of professional graphics cards or optional ATI FirePro graphics
• Certifications from leading independent software vendors to help ensure compatibility between workstations and major applications
• Preloaded with Windows Vista with support for RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.2
• ThinkVantage Technologies to help with tasks such as data recovery, data migration and more

Both the ThinkStation S20 and D20 will be out sometime in the first quarter of the year, with prices starting from $1,070 and $1,550, respectively, depending on the configuration you choose.

Press Release

If you’re planning on any outdoor parties, like camping out or just hanging around a bonfire, it’s always nice to bring some music with you.  This BoomCooler is easy to wheel around no matter where you go, although you might want to keep a tarp or something around to protect it just in case it rains.  It has a built-in CD player or you can hook up your iPod to the cooler.  They actually recommend for better sound using something plugged into the aux input or USB input as opposed to using the CD player.

Initially I thought this would be a great gadget to have around, well except that it is expensive.  However, it has one major setback, they don’t recommend you store anything wet on the inside.  It’s a cooler that’s not able to cool your drinks.  It also isn’t waterproof, so you have to be careful of it getting wet on the outside as well.  It is said to have great sound quality and likely does with a price tag of $1199.  It doesn’t come with a battery, but they were kind enough to recommend a very specific battery on their website and where exactly you should get it from.

Source: Gizmodiva

Ah, how about a nice refreshing can of Fridge Recorder? One sip, and you’ll hear a pre-recorded message.

Just kidding, the Fridge Recorder isn’t a soda, but it is designed to look like one. Its true purpose is to deliver you messages from inside your refrigerator.

Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, but hear me out. Say you are on a diet, and you want to stay as far away from your refrigerator as possible. Just record your own voice on the can saying: “You really don’t need a snack right now”. This message will be activated once the refrigerator’s light comes on.

Yeah, you’ll probably just say something like “shut up, you stupid can”, but you got to give the inventors of Fridge Recorder credit for trying something different. I do like the idea of putting this can in your friend’s (or enemy’s) fridge and they will be completely shocked the next time they grab a cold one.

Can you imagine that one? Your victim goes to open the fridge, innocently enough, and he or she hears “put down the beer and step away from the fridge”. You might want to have a webcam ready for that moment.

I can’t really think of any other use of this device, but it is pretty cheap deal for £5.98.

Source

I’ve heard that it is not healthy to put your baby in a crib with a pillow, as the cushiony pillow could smoother him or her. However, a pillow that is the right shape can comfort your child’s head in a manner that is soothing and non-threatening.

Of course, these type of baby pillows are a dime a dozen, but not many that I know of have built in MP3 players, as well as a speaker. Some designers have crafted a Music Pillow for Children, which is exactly that.

Now the only question that remains is what you put on the music file. I would imagine that there are many lullabies that you could probably download from somewhere, and hopefully those would be public domain.

Or if you wanted to, you could record your own voice on your computer, convert it to the proper audio format, load it on the Music Pillow, and your baby can fall asleep hearing your own voice. I’m told this technique will actually work.

Unfortunately, my source doesn’t have any sort of release date, price, or availability on the Music Pillow for Children. Parents who want this type of tech could probably purchase the Cosy Tune Speaker Pillow, which is the Music Pillow for Adults.

Source

If you haven’t heard of the Emo Jacket, just think of “the feelies” from Brave New World. If you haven’t read that book, just imagine watching your favorite movie, but you can feel what the main character of the film feels.

In Aldous Huxley’s classic science fiction novel, this “feelie” process was accomplished by the user holding onto a small ball-shaped interface near their seat. Sadly, the interface is not that simple with the Emo Jacket, which requires wearing a jacket with a lot of independent actuators.

There are about 64 of these actuators in all, and they create the illusion of being touched in spots below the neck and above the belt. They are arranged in 16 groups of 4 across the arms and torso, and 8 of these are spaced 6 inches apart and located on each sleeve.

When the user plays a DVD, certain signals that are encoded on the disc are transmitted on the jacket wherever the main character is feeling it during the film. I have heard that there are limits that it will do, so if the main character gets punched in the chest, you won’t be feeling the pain of that.

The Emo Jacket reminds me of the D-box chair that I experienced at CES. I sat in this and watched the opening scene from Bolt and special motion-coded sensors allowed me to feel every explosion.

So, what movies would you like to watch with the Emo Jacket? I would imagine they would have to be one where the main character is being touched on his (or her) chest. Yeah, I guess romances would be under this category.

Source

One of the downsides of a digital camera, is it seems like they don’t look nearly as fun as the retro cameras out there.  Well Philips apparently agrees, because they’ve decided to come out with a digital camera featuring a classic retro design.  It’s obviously smaller than the original retro cameras, so it will be a lot more portable while still holding to that retro look.

The camera has all of the usual perks, such as being rechargeable with a lithium ion battery  and coming with image management software, as well as a USB cable.  It also has the extra perk of using environmentally friendly materials and uses lead-free construction.  It can store over 200 pictures within the camera.  If you’re in need of a webcam, this digital camera also can double as that.  Unfortunately, there isn’t any pricing info online, but you can find out where it’s being sold at physical stores if you go to the Philips website.

Source: ChipChick

If you’ve ever had issues pointing out your laptop, this little pocket will help out with that.  It’d be hard to miss a laptop with a pocket placed on the lid of it.  It would of course also help keep you organized as well, even if it is only a couple of extra pockets.  Although, one might say that you could just as easily store these things in your laptop bag.  I suppose if you tend to leave your laptop bag in one spot and carry around the laptop within your home, it would help keep some tools handy.

Some could also argue that you don’t need a pen and notebook, since within your computer there’s a notepad program that requires no pen to use.  You could also stick other things in the pocket though, such as a calculator, which you can also find within your laptop.  All around, I’m not really sure what you could put in that pocket that’s really all that necessary.  However, it will most definitely make it easy to spot your laptop, so at least there’s that.  It comes in pink, brown and green.  To put it on your laptop, it just uses an adhesive that will stick easily to the lid.  You can purchase it at the Container Store for $5.99.

Source: CraziestGadgets