Archive for 2008

Lightsaber Nunchucks look pretty while they break your face

Posted in Weapons by Conner Flynn on December 26th, 2008

Lightsaber Nunchucks look pretty while they break your faceSome guy who couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be Obi-Wan Kenobi or Bruce Lee, finally opted for both and created these awesome Lightsaber Nunchucks. Sadly this bit of geek weaponry didn’t find us in time for Christmas, but you can make a pair have them all ready to go for next year.

At least your victim will be mesmerized by their glowing awesomeness before being knocked unconscious. Instead of seeing stars, they’ll hear rave music. You can check out a “how to” guide online and make your own.

LED hose nozzle for night gardening

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on December 26th, 2008

LED hose nozzle for night gardeningIt’s better to water your plants in the evening, when the sun isn’t beating down on them. That way the water doesn’t evaporate right away and the ground can soak up as much as it needs. So that means you need to garden in the dark, but how are you supposed to see what’s going on?

With an LED garden hose of course. This garden hose nozzle has a light on it, so you can see exactly where you’re spraying. It doubles as a defensive weapon as well, should you see an intruder among your plants and vegetables. You’ll be able to see them run away when you spray them.

Dell Adamo rumors not so confirmed after all

Posted in Dell by Shane McGlaun on December 26th, 2008

Dell AdamoThe MacBook Air was introduced this year and despite all of the limitations imposed on the machine by its thin profile, many a Mac fan and Windows user alike were impressed. The image of the thin little machine in an envelope is one that has now been copied by many notebook manufacturers.

We talked a bit about Dell’s Adamo teaser page before. It was widely reported that it had been confirmed by Dell that Adamo would be a MacBook Air competitor after a post on one of The New York Times’ blogs.

Intel says it won’t try to kill NVIDIA’s Ion platform

Posted in Intel by Shane McGlaun on December 26th, 2008

NVIDIA IonIntel and NVIDIA aren’t exactly the best of friends. Just when things were looking up in the relationship thanks to NVIDIA allowing SLI on the Intel X58 chipset, NVIDIA ousts Intel as the GPU of choice in the new MacBooks.

A rumor circulated around the Internet that claimed Intel may be looking to kill NVIDIA’s new Ion platform that combines the Intel Atom CPU with an NVIDIA 9400 GPU. The rumor had Intel only selling the Atom CPU with its 945 chipset.

Sony P-series laptop leaks on Sony website

Posted in Sony by Shane McGlaun on December 26th, 2008

Sony P series PageOne of the most common ways that new products and gadgets are leaked to the public and geeky writer types is by an overzealous website administrator. Product pages are readied ahead of time and sometimes the go button is hit a little too soon resulting in a glimpse of what’s to come.

Just such a glimpse happened on the Sony website Christmas Day while most of us were happily eating turkey and playing with our new toys. A placeholder page popped up on the Sony website showing a new P Series notebook. Before you get too excited, the specifications and the image of the new system were not very useful.

Earbud Yo-Yo prevents tangles

Posted in Earbuds by Shane McGlaun on December 26th, 2008

Earbud Yo-YoI decided to use my earphones with my iPhone the other day and when I reached into the drawer to grab them there was a huge knot that resulted in a mass of earphones, computer mice, and paper clips coming out of the drawer. It took me a good ten minutes to untangle the mess and I wished for something to prevent that from happening again.

A new device is being offered called the Earbud Yo-Yo that is designed to keep your earbuds from being tangled inside your desk, purse, or brief case. It’s easy to see where the products name came from when you look at the device; it looks like a yo-yo minus the string.

RockridgeSound ISR-VT02 iPod dock

Posted in iPod Accessories by Conner Flynn on December 25th, 2008

RockridgeSound ISR-VT02 iPod dockRockridgeSound recently released the somewhat retro looking ISR-VT02 iPod dock. The unit boasts an integrated AM/FM tuner, vacuum tube amplifier, two-stage 12AX7 (ECC83) amplifier, two 3.15 inch speakers, 12W of power, S-Video out, mini stereo input and RCA analog inputs.

The RockridgeSound ISR-VT02 iPod Dock is not only retro looking and “woody”, it’s also compatible with all iPods and the iPod touch. Not the iPhone. This docking station is available in Japan starting today for around $385.

Student increases iPhone battery life by 12x

Posted in iPhone by Conner Flynn on December 25th, 2008

Student increases iPhone battery life by 12xA PhD student at Carleton University in Canada, Atif Shamin, has out-thought Apple by inventing a ‘transmitter system on-package’ that significantly extends the battery life of mobile devices. It all has to do with the connection between the circuit board and the antenna.

Instead of using wire, he designed a high frequency micro-transmitter and receiver that avoids the usual loss of power through a wire. That’s a significant breakthrough in energy efficiency in mobile devices. He created a module that replaces all of the wires connecting a phone’s electrical circuits and the antennae, making them all communicate wirelessly.

DIY colonoscopy is not a good New Year’s Resolution

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on December 25th, 2008

DIY colonoscopy is not a good New Year’s ResolutionColonoscopies are not fun. They require nakedness with another man in the room(meaning your doctor). Even if you have a female doc, that’s just as bad. It’s all like a strange consensual alien abduction, only your memory isn’t erased. Sadly, they’re very necessary and can detect and prevent colon cancer. But there has to be a better way.

Wait. There is. Just do the procedure yourself with this harmless looking gadget that bears a lightning bolt and the name of a crap beer. A few beers before hand might be a good idea, before you get all up in your own business. And hey, you’ll feel better about it since you can use this thing in all kinds of dark tight places, not just your fat can.

Take a virtual tour of Tokyo using a Wii & Google Maps

Posted in Wii by Conner Flynn on December 25th, 2008

Take a virtual tour of Tokyo using a Wii & Google MapsCheck out this new mashup by Japanese coder Ryo Katsuma. It has a lot of potential. It takes the exercising aspect of the Wii and combines it with virtual tourism, by using Google Maps with the Wii Remote to create a virtual jogging or walking experience.

The crazy mashup takes you on a tour through a good bit of Tokyo, but what’s cool about it is that it could easily be applied to any city you want covered by Google Maps, letting you be a Wii world traveler. If you want to build one yourself, you can find out how over at Tokyo-jogging.

Video distribution coming to Japan Wiis in 2009

Posted in Wii by Conner Flynn on December 25th, 2008

Video distribution coming to Japan Wiis in 2009Beginning early next year, the Nintendo Wii will be joining the other consoles in offering a video distribution service through the Wii. According to Nikkei business daily, the Big N will team up with Dentsu, Inc. to offer cartoons and other programs created specifically for the service.

Somehow we don’t see this service being free, since they are talking about a “new revenue stream,”. Wii owning video lovers may be in store for a big let-down. Let’s not forget about the console’s 512MB memory limit and it’s 480p maximum resolution. The probably lame service will launch in Japan and then head overseas later.

Lenovo W700ds shows off on film

Posted in Lenovo by Conner Flynn on December 25th, 2008

Lenovo W700ds shows off on filmLenovo’s ThinkPad W700ds is pretty damn intriguing. We want one. Sadly every gadget under our tree had just a single screen. So we were happy to learn that GottaBeMobile got their gadget-loving hands on one. They were nice enough to share their knowledge of the twin screened beast.

The model they have features a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU, 4 GB of RAM, and NVIDIA Quadro FX3700M graphics. The primary display is a 17-inch WUXGA with a 1920 x 1200, while the secondary panel is a 10.6-inch WXGA with 768 x 1200 resolution. It still looks pretty awesome to us. You can check out the video below.

The Vertu Signature Dragon

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on December 24th, 2008

The Vertu Signature DragonThe Wynn is one of those super luxurious hotels along the Strip at Las Vegas, so of course they host a whole bunch of high-end items such as exotic cars, designer clothes and expensive phones. The Vertu shop there is currently displaying it’s latest luxury cell phone, the Vertu Signature Dragon. Just like the Vertu Signature Cobra, the Dragon is not yet featured on the company’s website.

It’s a pretty cool looking phone. I think the only thing they could have done was to make the dragon’s eyes glow red when there’s an incoming call. Sadly, it doesn’t breath fire either, but it will burn a hole in your pocket with it’s enormous cost.

Soda cup phone

Posted in Telephones by Conner Flynn on December 24th, 2008

Soda cup phoneThe Soda Cup phone is a bit more stealthy then the average hamburger phone. The cord is the only thing that gives it away as a phone. If they had made a cordless model, it would fool everybody.

Just answer this phone in front of somebody and they will feel like they are on drugs. Dude that’s a phone? At $14, you can’t afford not to buy this smiley freckle faced fake cup with weird generic Soda name.

Teardown reveals a significantly cheaper to build PS3

Posted in Sony by Shane McGlaun on December 24th, 2008

Sony PS3It’s no secret that the Sony PS3 is expensive to buy and expensive to build. When the console first launched in 2006 it was sold at a significant loss by Sony in order to get consumers to buy the system and then spend money on games.

Research firm iSuppli dismantled one of the PS3 consoles in 2006 that retailed for $599 at the time and found that it cost Sony $840 to build. The same firm has gone back now after the console has had several generations to mature to find out if Sony is still losing big on the PS3 console.