Gadgets Blog

It’s not uncommon to find a garden with a few tulips planted here and there.  It is a little odd to find them shining brightly though.  Although a normal tulip does need sunlight, this particular type runs purely off of the sun.  This doesn’t take any pesky tending or watering.  Instead just sit it out in the sun and it will shine brightly as soon as the sun goes down.

The thing that concerns me is that you choose a pattern for the bulbs to flash continuously in.  Hopefully they allow for them to be flipped to a mode where they don’t flash at all, but just shine.  Otherwise I’d end up wanting to accidentally run this over with the lawn mower.  It has an auto-sensor so that it can automatically turn on when the sun is down.  You can purchase these LED tulips from Amazon for $26.99.  Although I doubt that it’d be enough to replace real tulips out in your garden.

Source: CraziestGadgets

Usually coffee is made in the old fashioned way of brewing it in the pot.  However, if you have a  stomach sensitive to the acids that are in coffee, you might find this different method quite useful.  It’ll create your coffee in a way that is far less acidic and therefore a bit more gentle on your stomach.  Of course it takes a little longer to create it initially, but it’s well worth the wait.

It functions a little more like a tea pot than a coffee pot.  At least the process itself reminds me a little more of tea, except with a much longer steeping time.  No electricity is actually needed, just add the ground coffee, fill the water chamber and then allow for it to steep for 12 hours.  By doing this, it creates a concentrate that can then be mixed with water or milk and served either cold or hot.  You can purchase the coffee maker for $79.95 from Solutions.

Source: Crave

Samsung looks set to up the ante when it comes to audio quality in their N120 and N310 netbooks by offering SRS TruSurround XT technology that ultimately churns out surround sound over a couple of speakers, while SRS WOW XT will make room for improved stereo imaging and bass response. The former is a solution that processes multichannel content to create compelling and immersive surround sound over a netbook’s two stereo speakers or headphones. Users who are sensitive to audio quality will also be able to notice improved audio clarity and low frequency response that offers deep, rich bass. In addition, dialog quality has been improved, allowing room for the spoken word to be lifted above the chaos of sound effects and background music, making it clear and distinct in its own right. Sounds like just the thing for folks who love to watch movies on their netbooks.

As for SRS WOW XT, this technology was specially designed to improve the quality of mono and stereo audio playback on virtually any mobile device by delivering powerfully rich bass for games and music over closely spaced speakers for stereo separation. When you pair that up with a good set of headphones, SRS WOW XT will offer a superior immersive listening experience compared to what you normally get with the same pair of headphones sans SRS WOW XT. It would be interesting to see just how many people will make their purchase decision on both the N120 and N310 based on the inclusion of these audio technologies, since most folks would get either more for their portability first instead of multimedia ability.

According to Kyu Uhm Eom, PC Division Marketing Vice President of Samsung Electronics, “SRS is a fantastic technology provider and has been an instrumental partner of ours for many years; we are thrilled to expand our deployment of SRS’s fine audio solutions further in our PC line-up, providing our netbook computers with superior audio enhancement technology. “With the integration of SRS audio solutions, we are more than confident that our netbook PCs will continue our tradition of offering class-leading performance, allowing our consumers to truly enjoy a no-compromise, remarkable audio experience for all their multimedia applications.”

Press Release

The little rubber USB ninjas were cool and all, but they couldn’t possibly top this new USB drive.  Nothing tops a Shuriken shaped USB drive, actually USB manufacturers might as well stop now.  There’s no point in going on to create supposedly new and improved drives when the all time best drive has already been created.  Granted, this can’t be used as a real Shuriken, which is a little disappointing.  I’m willing to overlook that part though.

They have all kinds of warnings about handling with care due to sharp edges, but anyone who carries a USB Shuriken doesn’t bleed.  Everyone knows that.  Sadly it only holds 2GB,  but yet again that can be overlooked based on the shape of the drive.  I’m a little curious what they used to create the USB drive, if it’s just cheap plastic or a metallic type material.  Either way though, they don’t list it on the product page.  This will cost you Â¥ 10,500.00 or a whopping $108.

Source: Akihabara

Dell will be targeting students as well as young professionals with their latest release - the Dell Studio 14z. This new notebook is out pretty early in the summer, considering most students would want to take a break from all things study, but hey - at least it helps folks who want to ensure they are prepared early enough for the next semester in school or college. With this notebook, you can expect a healthy balance of work and play, considering it will be powered by the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor that offers enough graphical firepower to load the occasional game or two and handle HD video when one wants to take a break from all that studying.

According to Dell, the GeForce 9400M in the Dell Studio 14z is able to deliver up to five times faster graphics performance compared to Centrino 2 notebooks when it comes to accelerate image editing, video playback and video conversion. The inclusion of vReveal enables the Studio 14z to fix grainy, shaky video in double quick time when placed side-by-side with comparable notebooks, while allowing you to upload your video to YouTube in minutes for folks who always love to be first. After all, we do know how college kids are, with the obsession of racing against one another to see who can update about a particular happening or social event to their blogs/video sites first.

Depending on what you decide to throw inside, prices for the Dell Studio 14z will start from $649 upwards, making it “the most affordable GeForce 9400M GPU-based notebook in North America”. Despite the relatively cheap price tag, don’t be fooled into thinking that it isn’t able to deliver a potent punch - you will benefit from a superb high definition Blu-ray movie experience if you decide to settle on the optional Blu-ray drive, and with HDMI output, you can even enjoy Blu-ray movies on your home’s HDTV by hooking it up.

Press Release

With the slew of illnesses making their rounds these days, most people would be running scared of viruses, but did you know that they are actually pretty cute when blown up by a million times in size, and given the plush treatment? That’s what the Giant Plush Microbes are all about, where you can choose from a wide variety of characters including Spermatozoon, Human Ovum, Gangrene, Toxoplasmosis to E. Coli and Mad Cow Disease among a whole host of others that are enough to send the doctor running for his life. Each of these plush microbes come with an instructional card that includes an actual picture of the microbe along with scientific information about the microbe in its natural environment, retailing for $7.99 a pop.

Forget about Rock, Paper, Scissors when the Vulcans enter the fray as they add in one more component - Lizard. Well, you can always try to figure out how the alien version of a kids’ game is like with the Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock shirt displaying how it is supposed to be done. All symbols are printed in a circle (with arrows for reference on what beats what) on a 100% cotton, blue t-shirt. Depending on the size you pick, you’ll need to fork out a minimal $15.99 to $16.99.

Unless you come from a culture where eating with your hands is the norm, you’ll follow the adage, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” easily after enlisting in Starfleet Academy, and that includes eating your meals with the Star Trek Starfleet Academy Titanium Spork.

Seriously, folks, the Star Trek Starfleet Academy Titanium Spork is just about the coolest Star Trek collectible ever, because it is fully functional. Just like the one Kirk used while a student (perhaps even while planning to cheat at the Kobayashi Maru scenario), these are laser engraved with the Starfleet emblem and other stuff which we’ll tell you about soon. And remember, we know how important it is for you to hold a replica of Spock’s Student Spork at the premier of the new movie! Live long, and prosper.

Bear in mind that these are not limited edition sporks, but feature a totally new design for the entire Federation (and us folks on earth) to enjoy. No need to look for an alien money changer as you can purchase it for good old American Dollars to the tune of $22.99.

Can’t get enough of Star Trek: The Future Begins at the cinemas? Why not display your allegiance to the sci-fi series with the Star Trek TOS Tunic Tees? Here’s a hilarious description of the product from the enterprising (pun not intended) folks at ThinkGeek.

Each department was color-coded with different tunics. Gold for Command, red for Ops, and blue for Sciences. The Captain, always a giant swinging ego onboard ship, wore his own color - green, with the insignia worn swaggeringly low on his hip. When on duty, every crew member wore their uniforms, but what did they wear when off-duty? Pretty much, the same shirts, just short-sleeves. Sometimes, though, they just wore them because they are so gosh-darned comfortable!

You will be able to choose from a quartet of officially licensed shirts, where they will come in command-gold, ops-red, sciences-blue, and captain-green colors. All shirts will feature a different “flex and flock” insignia, depending on the department. Depending on the size of your choice, you will have to fork out anywhere from $24.99 to $26.99 a pop.

When Canon released the 21 MP 5D Mk. II complete with 1080p full frame video, serious videographers were drooling. And after seeing such shorts as “Reverie,” by professional photographers using the video feature to shoot some serious cinematic imagery, the chief complaint was that the 5D Mk. II’s video feature was purely automatic. That there was no ability to control manually the exposure or shutter settings for the video feature, was always a thorn in professional videographers side. No more. According to CNet, a firmware update for the $2500+ camera body is coming which will give photographers the keys to the video kingdom.

The basic reason why Canon left out manual control for video was simply because they considered video to be the “icing on the cake” to the core feature of the camera, which was obviously to shoot digital still images in high resolution. But they did such a great job with the quality of the full frame 1080p video that 5D users were screaming for Canon to release the manual hounds.

“This new firmware will accommodate a great number of user requests for manual exposure control in the EOS 5D Mark II video mode. Manual exposure control while shooting video on the EOS 5D Mark II is expected to make a big impact with cinematographers and videographers using the 5D Mark II for high-end HD video production,” Canon said.

The ability to control the ISO, f stop and shutter settings for the 5D Mk. II will allow the camera to become a serious cinematic contender for budding filmmakers on a budget. The new firmware update will be available next month.

Hat Tip â€" Crave