In Photoshop, there’s a little pen which will copy the color settings of anything on your monitor screen so you can use it as your color in the program. Well, think of the Real Life Color Picker as … well, a real life version of just that â€" only for the real world.
The Color Picker can scan any color in the real world by placing the head of the pen against the object of color and pressing the scan button. Color sensors inside the pen talk to the attached RGB cartridge, which then mixes the proper proportions of red, green and blue to come up with an accurate ink color. It can then be used for artistic purposes like drawing or simply writing with it. Very cool.
I can see literally hundreds of possibilities for hobbyists â€" particularly scrapbookers and costumers looking to match the color of a particular garment or wallpaper sample in order to then get the right swatch to create the perfect scrap book page or costume. Or simply someone like my wife, who’s been writing in a journal non stop since she was 13 (now 42) and getting ink to suit her mood at the time.
It’s just a concept right now, but if this sucker gets funding, I can see Parker or Paper Mate picking this up just in time for school.
Everyone has that one item in their home that they find so incredibly awesome that it should be in a display case. Be it your latest Lego creation or a signed action figure of some sort, your favorite items should get the special treatment. There may be little to no point to having a table that turns, but it makes you and your special items appear important. Plus it is sort of eco-friendly, after all it is solar powered.
Of course it’s not entirely eco-friendly, because it is you contributing to the creation of a pretty much pointless gadget that will eventually end up in the local dump. However, it’s solar powered, so for those that don’t question when someone calls something eco-friendly, it’ll fool them in a heartbeat. It comes in three different colors, black, silver and white. It has a total of four solar panels that keep it spinning. You can pick up the Solar Panel Display Turn Table for $15 on Brando.
For those of you that would rather wear your flash drive than just carry it in your pocket, here’s another wearable flash drive. Of course like most wearable USB drives, it’s not exactly high class, but I’m sure it’ll fall within someone’s tastes. It’s likely marketed towards the ladies, considering few men would be caught dead wearing a bracelet featuring two hearts joined together.
The look appears more like a watch than a bracelet, but at least it’s likely to be a little more durable than a flimsy bracelet. It’s another drive that you’ll have to take off the bracelet in order to use it. It flips out from the underside of the hearts and stays concealed when it’s not in use. It can be purchased in three different sizes, there’s the 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. It’s definitely a perk to be able to choose which size drive will work best for you. The smallest will cost you $24, the 4GB $26 and the 8GB $36 from Brando.
Logitech has just recently announced a new type of controller for flying games such as Flight Simulator and the like. As you can see, the G940 is designed to put the player in the cockpit as possible. After all, these controls were “inspired by commercial and military aircraft†and include a joystick, dual throttle, and rudder pedals.
The joystick has a two stage metal trigger, along with six programmable buttons. As for the dual-throttle, it has a “split design for multiple engine aircraft with push button interlocksâ€. With these two controllers working together, the user has the option of up to 250 possible programmable button combinations.
This means no more shifting from the mouse to the keyboard to get your plane to do what you want it to do. Of course, that does mean a lot of remembering what button combination does what. However, I have learned that Logitech intends for pre-designed labels to slip inside buttons. For example, the landing gear button will have a specific place.
So, what have we learned here? A Logitech G940 Flight Controller plus a tri-fold screen equals one realistic flight gaming experience. If this is something that you want, you will have to wait until September to purchase the G940 for a price of $299.99.
SilverPac is clearly seeking to dominate the digital picture frame market with this B-E-A-U-tiful SilverFrame. This Advanced Digital Picture Frame (ADPF) was announced at Computex 2009.
The SilverFrame has a 10.1 inch display that sports a 1024 x 576 resolution. Since it has WiFi b/g/n connectivity and Bluetooth 2.0, the user has many ways to download photos to this frame from such programs as Picasa, Photobucket, Facebook, and Windows Live.
Pictures can also be put in via USB port, multiformat memory card slot, and micro-USB port. Since it runs Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2, the user can easily set up a slideshow with Windows SideShow and Live FrameIt. It can also play video, music, show e-mails, and sync with the user’s calendar. Nice. Very nice!
The ADPF also has a Freescale processor with 512MB of RAM and 1 GB of Flash memory. It also has an infrared remote, twin 1.5 speakers, plus a rotation sensor. That means you can rotate your frame, and it will sense what direction the pictures are and automatically make the adjustment.
Yes, I know it looks nice, but I don’t have any word on price or availability. I’m a little concerned that it will be a little too much for the average consumer. This is not your cheaply made digital photo frame, after all.
Belkin is coming out with two different devices to make it so that you can play the music from your iPhone through your car stereo. The issue with most other devices is that they work for the iPod and if you use them with your iPhone, you get that always charming interference. These two new devices allow for two different ways to run the music through your speakers. So no matter what type stereo you happen to have, you’ll be able to work it out so that you can enjoy the music on your iPhone.
The less expensive of the two will cost you $70 and it works by utilizing a 3.5mm port. So it has a direct wired connection, but not all stereos have that port to plug into. Making the slightly more expensive option a great find for those with not so great stereos. The more expensive one is still only $10 extra at $80 a piece. It works by auto scanning for a free FM channel and then settles on the one that has the absolute least interference. The TuneBase Direct which is the cheaper of the two will start shipping out early this month and the TuneBase FM will ship mid-July.
Nintendo Wii, your days could be numbered. Sure, you have been dominating the console gaming world with your motion-controlling Wiimotes, but are you ready for Project Natal?
Microsoft has recently revealed this full-body, motion-sensitive controller at E3 in Los Angeles, and it has understandably received a lot of attention. Project Natal is a TV-mounted camera/microphone that can sense motion, three-dimensional movement, even sound.
In other words, it is a controller without a controller, like the iPhone games that require nothing but movement. The company demonstrated this new technology with two new games. The first was Ricochet, a brick-blasting game that puts the player in the midst of Breakout, and Paint Party, a game that allows you to splatter paint with virtual brushes. You can see Ricochet demonstrated after the jump.
On hand at E3 to introduce Project Natal was none other than acclaimed director/producer/mogul Steven Spielberg. Is he now exclusively doing video games like Boom Blox?
Anyway, Spielberg said that “people are too intimidated to pick up game controllersâ€. Oh, that is a slam on button-munching PS3 and Xbox 360 joysticks, isn’t it? By the way, someone in the conference also slammed users who “sit on the sofa using some kind of preset waggle commandsâ€. Oh, now the Wii is getting burned!
Project Natal should be available on all versions of the Xbox 360 “soonâ€. Yeah, I know, I want it ASAP, but that was all the word that was given. No word on price, either. Expectations are high.
We’ve seen the Freeloader a couple of years ago, but this time round there is a bigger, better model - heck, improvement should come along after two years, right? The Freeloader Pro has returned to offer you portable power for your plethora of gadgets and gizmos, ensuring the frustration of not having enough juice to finish up that phone call will never happen again. All you need to do is to plug in your device’s battery into the Caddy and wait for the sun to do its job, thanks to the two solar panels that are revealed when the Freeloader Pro opens up fully. The Freeloader Pro retails for £69.99 and looks to be an essential device to carry around if you’re thinking of going camping this summer.
Have plenty of those plastic water bottles lying around your home, and have no idea on what to do with them? Well here’s a novel one - the Re-Juicer that uses the bottoms of old plastic water bottles to function as a juicer just in case you want to have a glass of freshly pressed orange juice at that moment. Not only is it lightweight, it is a snap to clean as well, and you would have done your part in using the same water bottle more than just once before discarding it away to our landfills. The Re-Juicer costs $6.50 a pop.
Sony Ericsson has just released a mobile phone called the Aino which is able to sync wirelessly with a PS3. I am not certain if this is the first mobile phone to connect to a video game console, but if it is, then it is a long time coming.
After all, who wouldn’t want instant access to their digital content on their PS3 from their mobile phone? As long as there is mobile internet available on the Aino, the user can sit back at watch whatever content is on that large PS3 hard drive.
In addition to that huge connect-to-PS3 as their biggest selling point, the Aino can also sync wirelessly to your PC. Other features include a 8.1 Megapixel camera, 3G connectivity, and assisted GPS. It also comes with a Bluetooth headset, a wireless dock, and light-up headphones.
When I first saw that the Aino could sync with the PS3, I immediately had visions of surfing through the main menu of the PS3 on my mobile and playing games, sans joystick. Not in this version of the Aino, but I am hoping that I’m giving Sony Ericsson a few ideas. Not that they aren’t already thinking what I’m thinking, I’m sure.
Sony Ericsson’s Aino should be available in the fall, but so far, there is no word on a price. Rumor has it that the Aino is slated for a European-only release.
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Logitech has just recently announced a new type of controller for flying games such as Flight Simulator and the like. As you can see, the G940 is designed to put the player in the cockpit as possible. After all, these controls were “inspired by commercial and military aircraft†and include a joystick, dual throttle, and rudder pedals. 
SilverPac is clearly seeking to dominate the digital picture frame market with this B-E-A-U-tiful SilverFrame. This Advanced Digital Picture Frame (ADPF) was announced at Computex 2009. 
Nintendo Wii, your days could be numbered. Sure, you have been dominating the console gaming world with your motion-controlling Wiimotes, but are you ready for Project Natal?
We’ve seen the 
Sony Ericsson has just released a mobile phone called the Aino which is able to sync wirelessly with a PS3. I am not certain if this is the first mobile phone to connect to a video game console, but if it is, then it is a long time coming.