Gadgets Blog

Did you ever have gadget déjà vu? That’s when you see a gadget that you are certain that you saw before. This happened to me this morning when I saw the Lego USB Hub.

The moment that I saw this item, I wanted to report on it, but I was certain that we had covered it before. Oddly enough, we never have. We have reported on many varieties of Lego USB Flash Drives, but not a Lego USB Hub.

I suppose that we at Coolest Gadgets can say that this is the first time we have seen a four-port Lego USB Hub. They are not official Lego products, but they come in Lego colors of red, blue, yellow, and black.

What you don’t see in this photo is a wire that comes out of the Lego brick itself that attaches via mini USB port. Now, I am sure that you are wondering if you can stick two of these hubs together and get eight, twelve, or more hubs with multiple bricks connected to one mini-USB wire that is connected to the PC.

The answer is: I don’t know, as my source does not mention anything about that. If you were to ask me, it doesn’t look like it. Well, if you want this Lego USB Hub, it is only available in Korea for a low price of $12.

Source

Security threats to your computer at home these days just aren’t limited to viruses being transmitted from floppies, they range from surfing less than desirable sites to downloading cracks and patches (basically, anything illegal is a prime suspect for malicious scripts and spyware to be installed on your machine without your knowledge). Apart from that, newer forms of Internet security attacks on home and small office computers include compromising networks at a place where users least expect it - their routers. These once unheard of software invasions will involve a Trojan horse being downloaded without the user’s knowledge when running common tasks, and it will subsequently invade the router to detect wireless capabilities, changing the victim’s domain name system (DNS) records in the process so that every single bit of future traffic will be diverted via the attackers’ network first. D-Link being a well known name when it comes to routers have come up with a new range of these devices that have integrated CAPTCHA.

What is CAPTCHA? CAPTCHA is actually an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. Well, this is a system that was specially designed to detect if the responses generated are by humans or computers as an added measure of security. You know that if you want to sign up for a new email account or even access your forgotten password, there often appears a small box of warped text and figures which you have to key in to prevent the computer from classifying you as a bot? That’s what CAPTCHA is all about, although it isn’t exactly a fool-proof plan since older folks more often than not have a hard time trying to decipher what the CAPTCHA is trying to say, resulting in more frustration. Guess this is where they need to call upon the help of their kids and put their college education (in IT) to good use.

Existing and new D-Link router models which will feature CAPTCHA include the DIR-615, DIR-625, DIR-628, DIR-655, DIR-825, DIR-855, DIR-685, and DGL-4500. You can always upgrade your existing router by visiting support.dlink.com to download the upgrade.

Press Release

Ever wished you could upgrade your iPod nano (the third generation in particular) to come with a much larger screen so that you need not squint your eyes each time you want to watch a video on it? Well, thankfully there is a retro-looking upgrade known as the iPod nano Converter TV that offers another 2.8” of viewing real estate through the use of a magnifier, alongside two tiny built-in speakers for external stereo audio. Be warned though, whatever aesthetics the iPod nano has will be completely destroyed when you attach it to the £14.99 iPod nano Converter TV.

Product Page via TRFJ

Netbooks are good to have around, aren’t they? And solar-power, that would save us a lot of energy if we used it on more of our mobile devices, wouldn’t it? Okay, enough of the rhetorical question lead-ins, what am I getting at?

A solar-powered netbook, of course. A European technology company known as iUnika has perfected one, and this product, also known as the GYY, is certainly nice enough to be the first solar powered netbook.

Actually, I don’t know if the GYY is the first solar-powered netbook, but it is certainly energy efficient enough, not to mention light. Please chime in with a comment if you know for sure that the GYY is the first, and feel free to check out the specs after the jump.

With something new like this, you can’t expect too much memory. The user will find about 128MB of RAM, plus a 64GB SSD drive. The CPU is 400MHz, and the operating system is some “proprietary version of Linux”. The screen is a 8-inch WVGA with an 800 x 480 resolution.

The iUnika GYY will be available in the European market in June for about 160 euros. Assuming it will come to the United States, that price would probably translate to about $200.

Source

Regardless of how old you are, chances are a part of you wants to own a remote control toy car at one point in time or another. Well, ThinkGeek might have just the right tonic for you with the InfiniTrax Micro R/C Racetrack.

Tiny R/C vehicles… once the stuff of science fiction, are now trumping the slot car as the mini racing vehicle of choice. Problem is, with no well defined track and fuzz and cookie crumbs all over your carpet, serious racing is pretty much impossible. Now the InfiniTrax Micro R/C Racetrack gives you a smooth re-configurable racing surface perfect for small wheeled vehicles of all varieties. With 19 track sections and a checkered finish line, you can make dozens of different racing challenges.

Unfortunately, the $44.99 InfiniTrax Micro R/C Racetrack will not be equipped with any vehicles as you’ll need to come up with your very own, so expect to drop a fair amount of dollars if you want an exciting time.

You should know by now that staying under the sun for long periods of time, especially when it is at its fiercest, just to get a lovely tan isn’t quite a good idea these days with the ever thinning ozone layer even if you have splashed generous dollops of sunscreen over you. After all, no point having a nice tan all over only to discover that you suffer from skin cancer many years down the road, right? Well, for folks who just love the summer sun and can’t get enough of it after the dreary winter months, here’s something that might help you manage your time under the sun - the UV Monkey from Firebox. What’s the UV Monkey, actually? Well, it isn’t some sort of simian creature that shoots out UV rays at people, but is actually a key-fob sized UV ray detector.

Before you head out under the burning, flaming orb we call the sun for some tanning sessions with your mate, expose the UV Monkey to sunlight and give it a few moments to discern just how strong the rays are at that point of time. This process takes but a few seconds, where a simple read out is presented on its purple scale. Individual parts of the scale will correspond to the UV warning scales used in national forecasts too, giving you a goo idea on whether or not to remain indoors and play some Xbox or wear nothing but a pair of shorts and bask under the sunlight just like your reptilian friends.

Since it comes in such a small size, it is suitable to be taken around wherever you go, be it hanging from your keys, attached to your beach bag or if you’re the more adventurous person, hook it to a part of your body piercing like some sort of modern cyber-tribal warrior. Firebox is currently carrying the UV Monkey for £3.95 a pop.

When it comes to printers, there aren’t too many players in the market with Epson, HP, Canon and Brother being the more notable ones. Epson America is back with a brand new printer - the Epson WorkForce 310 ink jet all-in-one which is able to deliver print speeds up to two times faster than competitive models, while your documents will be treated to laser-quality text, alongside vibrant color output when you so desire. Somehow the laser-quality text claims still seems unlikely to me despite massive leaps made in inkjet technology over the years - I just have my doubts as it will require you to use expensive printing paper for this to happen, and we all know that not everyone will be able to afford that, what more in the current economic climate that is less than cheerful.

The Epson WorkForce 310 will come in a space-saving, yet attractive design for your workspace, where you can connect it to the rest of the office (or home) network using the built-in Ethernet port. After all, isn’t sharing caring? For those who prefer the wireless route, the Epson WorkForce 310 can also hook up to a wireless router via the Ethernet port, making room for wireless printing. What’s more, the WorkForce 310 boasts smudge, fade and water-resistant output with its DURABrite Ultra all-pigment inks, so you don’t have to worry about your documents fading off into obscurity when stored in a file somewhere for years.

Some of the features of the Epson WorkForce 310 include :-

• High-capacity inks - about 50 percent more prints per cartridge
• Uses up to 70 percent less energy than a laser printer
• Saves up to 50 percent of paper supply with manual, two-sided printing
• ENERGY STAR qualified

Epson is offering the WorkForce 310 for $129.99 a pop, where it offers a competitive black ISO speed of 16 PPM and color ISO speed of 5.5 PPM.

Press Release

The winner of last week’s coolest gadget competition is the Tap with face recognition.

The SmartFaucet is a touchscreen tap with face recognition. Stand in front of it and it will automatically remember your preferred water temperature and pressure and run you your perfect bath or shower. You can also use it to catch up on a few emails or find out how your calendar’s shaping up for the weekend.

Congrats again to Decide What to Buy.

In second place we have the Necktie Spy Camera.

Here is a fun spy gadget for all the James Bond fans, the Necktie Spy Camera.

The Necktie Spy Camera is the ideal accessory for your latest spy mission, you are bound to go undetected with this covert necktie, apart from the fact that everyone will realise you don’t normally wear one.

Finally in third place comes the Truecall: Stops Nuisance Phone Calls.

trueCall will filter out nuisance phone calls from telemarketers and (better still) debt collectors.When someone calls, trueCall checks the number against a stored list of friends. If the number checks out, the call goes through. If not, it will ask the caller for their name and put them on hold while trueCall calls your phone. When you pick up, you can decide if you want to take the call, but by this stage most telemarketers hang-up. Reclaim your phone again!

Thank you to everybody who voted, submitted, commented or told a friend. The randomly drawn winner of the $50 Amazon vouchers is:

Maxxx (maxxx@aa…), congratulations.

Thanks again everybody and good luck with the next CGOTW contest on Friday.

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If you write for a gadget themed blog and wish to be included in next week’s contest check out the CGOTW instructions page.