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Posts with tag gadget

miBook Electronic Cookbook Offers Step-By-Step Video Recipes

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 17th 2008 at 8:57AM

miBook Drags Cookbooks Kicking and Sceaming into the 21st Century
Companies has been trying to dream up a "kitchen computer" for years. HP has been pitching itsTouchSmart as a cook-friendly information center, computers have been crammed into refrigerators, and we've even tried out the OLPC as a 21st-century replacement for the cookbook.

The problem is, all these items merely put words on a screen, and don't actually offer anything that a physical cookbook doesn't -- until now. The miBook (pronounced "my book," don't ask us) is dragging your culinary tomes into the modern era, and all without asking you to drop a month's rent on a new gadget. The miBook has a 7-inch screen for displaying video instructions to guide you through the creation of a meal and stops automatically after each step, giving you a chance to replay the action. So, if you don't know how to, say, chop peppers for some sort of dish, then you can just copy what the miBook's video shows you.

The miBook also offers "how-to" multimedia videos -- which come on a little SD memory card -- on gardening, home repairs, pregnancy, parenting, and travel. It's $130, though, which you'll presumably get back by saving money on all those cookbooks you won't have to buy (or so the theory goes....).

Continue reading miBook Electronic Cookbook Offers Step-By-Step Video Recipes

Heated Mouse Pad Keeps Your Fingers Toasty

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 15th 2008 at 5:12PM

Heated Mouse Pad Cooks Your Fingers
In keeping with our legal requirement to cover every piece junk that plugs into a USB port, we present you with the heated USB mouse pad.

With the winter months quickly kicking into gear, those of us with substandard heating in our homes and apartments will be looking for ways to stay toasty while sitting in front of our PCs. Of course, wrapping yourself in blankets and drinking cup after cup of hot cocoa won't keep your extremities consistently warm. And while you can put on big fuzzy slippers, typing in mittens is all but impossible.

But for 1,980 yen (about $20) you can pick up a USB-powered heated mousepad that will keep your digits, and your pointing device of choice, heated. In fact, you could probably cook on this thing, which can sustain temperatures of about 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

We like to keep warm too, but we're not sure that melting your mouse is worthwhile. [From: OhGizmo!]

LED Cases Tell You When to Change Contact Lenses

by Tim Stevens, posted Nov 4th 2008 at 5:09PM

Digital Lens Cases Tell You When to Change Contacts
There comes a time in every disposable contact lens' life when it must move along to the big eyeball in the sky; when it's so slime-encrusted and foggy that the only thing it should be seeing is the inside of a trash-bin. If you have a hard time remembering just when it's time to break open a fresh pair, Countact is for you.

It's a simple enough product, a contact dish that has a digital timer in the middle. It counts down from anywhere between 14 and 30 days (based on your settings), giving you a display of the remaining life of your lenses. When it hits zero, a beeper starts chiming and then you'll know what you have to do. $35 for four seems like a pretty good deal -- the only catch is that the things only last for a paltry three months and, once the built-in battery is dead, it's time to toss the thing and get another. That's hardly environmentally friendly -- but then again, neither are disposable contacts. [From: Latest Buy, via Boing Boing]
Engadget

USB Webmail Notifier Lights Up When You've Got Mail

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 6th 2008 at 2:09PM


The reams and reams of spam found with every check of our inboxes here have quashed the surge of emotions we used to experience when that new-mail notifier started blinking. So, we went looking for something to help get our e-mail groove back, and we've found it: the USB Webmail notifier. It's a little box with the iconic envelope design on the front that lights up in green, blue, or red when you receive mail. The color indicates either the location of the received message, for those of you who rock Outlook for work and Gmail for personal, or the volume, for those who need some encouragement to clean out that inbox. It is somewhat less useful than other multi-purpose USB indicators we've seen, but its simplicity, and its $17 price tag, make it our choice to bring back that lovin' feeling.

Alarm Clock Defuses a 'Bomb' Every Morning to Wake You Up

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 26th 2008 at 9:35AM

DangerBomb Alarm Clock, Start Your Morning By
We've seen a lot of novel ways to wake up those of us reluctant to get out of bed in the morning. We've seen alarm clocks that annoy, soothe, and embarrass you to get moving, but we haven't seen anything that could induce the level of panic that would accompany having to defuse a bomb every morning.

The DangerBomb Alarm Clock startles you from your slumber with loud explosion sounds and forces you to "cut" (actually pull apart) a different colored wire every morning to "defuse" the bomb before it will stop going off.

The DangerBomb seems like a fun toy, but its certainly not safe to stash this in your carry on. [From: Unplugged]

Colleges Handing Out iPods to Incoming Freshman

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 21st 2008 at 4:02PM

iPhones in Class: Distraction? or the Wave of the Future?
We've spoken before about schools dolling out iPods, iPhones, and generally going high tech. In fact, luring kids in with flashy gadgets is becoming less the exception, and more the rule (Duke, MIT, Abilene Christian University, and Drexel University have all gotten in on the trend). Colleges seem to be encouraged by the potential for innovative education applications and a constant line of connection with students. Of course, giving out digital devices shows that the university is hip to cutting edge technology.

However, some educators do worry about the distraction such devices provide. Students already carry cell phones and laptops with them, but an iPhone or iPod touch provides a level of distraction comparable to a laptop or the quick and quiet access of a cell phone.

Most expert agree that mobile electronics will play a bigger role in education, but that the movement is still very much in its infancy. Schools and teachers have experimented with lectures on iPods and Zunes, software on Nintendo DS's, and iPhone specific applications. What, if anything, will stick to the wall? We're not sure, but it is an exciting time to be an educator or a student. [From: NY Times]

Victorian-Era Gadgets on Display at London Museum

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 16th 2008 at 6:07PM

Victorian Era Gadgets on Display
It's always fun to look back to see the "cutting edge" of technology from eras past. If you're in London, you'll have to stop by the British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre, where a collection of Victorian era gadgets has gone on display.

Some of the gadgets are terribly unsophisticated precursors to modern must-haves, such as the wrist-watch-styled GPS ancestor with scrolling mini-maps. Some are ingenious Mouse Trap style doodads, like the alarm clock and steam-powered tea brewer. Others -- we're thinking of the eye-ball massager -- are just plain frightening.

If you can't make it to London for the exhibit, head on over to the Daily Mail for some highlights from the collection. [From: Daily Mail]

Playboy Show Makes Men Choose: Women or Gadgets?

by Dan Reilly, posted Aug 12th 2008 at 4:29PM



Which option would you take: Potentially scoring with a beautiful woman or definitely scoring a new iPhone? That's the choice male contestants will make on Playboy TV's new reality show, 'Gadget or the Girl.'

The format is similar to many of the other "I really just want to be on TV" dating shows. The contestant meets three presumably attractive girls, eliminates one immediately, goes on a date with the other two, eliminates another, then takes the final one out for a few hours. At the end of the show, he's given two options: join the woman for a weekend getaway or opt for a mystery gadget prize, which can range from a 60-inch plasma to an arcade machine. If the dude chooses the woman, she gets a prize.

So, what would you do in this situation? Reinforce a geek stereotype or take a chance with a girl you'd probably never meet otherwise? You can see what others do when the show, hosted by 'Last Comic Standing' finalist Iliza Shlesinger, premieres on September 1st at 7:30 PM on Playboy TV. And no, we don't know how you can be a contestant. [Source: CNET]

Best Buy to Sell Gadgets in Airport Vending Machines

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 11th 2008 at 12:05PM

Best Buy Putting Gadget Vending Machines in Airports
Best Buy is paving the way for employee-free retail by installing gadget vending machines in airports around the country. Travelers will be able to pick up a host of electronic devices including cell phones, digital cameras, headphones, and various power adapters from the machines for what are sure to be absurd prices. The Best Buy vending machines will be operated and stocked by Zoom Systems, the same company that has put iPod- and Sony-gadget-vending machines in varied places such as the Dallas-Fort-Worth Airport, the Las Vegas Hilton, and Macy's.

The first batch of machines will be installed on September 1, in airports in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and San Francisco. They're sure to come in handy for the forgetful traveler who is always leaving behind important accessories, but we're not sure how comfortable we would be buying an expensive piece of equipment like a digital camera from the same machines that are always eating our dollar bills when we want a Snickers bar. Even so, Zoom Systems offers a 60-day return policy, in case you, say, accidentally press the wrong button and buy the wrong color iPod.

On the plus side, a vending machine can't steal your very personal photographs. [Source: AOL News]

Replace Your Deck Chair With a 'Tech Chair'

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 11th 2008 at 2:03PM

Ditch the Deck Chair and Get a Tech Chair
UK electronics purveyor PC World has been showing of its concept of a technology-saturated deck chair that may have many gadget fetishists drooling, but leaves those with more reasonable sensibilities a little perplexed. The chair is made from solar fabric (which we imagine would be uncomfortably warm) for powering MP3 players, laptops, and the like. The top of the chair hides a long range Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antenna for keeping you connected, and the side of the chair is loaded with ports including Firewire and USB as well as dedicated digital camera and media player docks.

If the host of connections isn't enough, then the built-in toys should push you over the edge. The chair has a pair of speakers and an adjustable LCD monitor for watching videos from your media player. At the foot of the tech chair is a questionably useful GPS device. The chair may fold up to suitcase size for easy portability, but we can't imagine a situation that would call for a chair-mounted GPS. [Source: Daily Mail]

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