Gadgets Base

More and more people are giving up their landlines in favour of mobile phones. But this novelty phone has managed to capture the hearts of many.

The success of the Hollywood movie, Juno, has brought about an interest in these hamburger phones which the lead character has used in the film. It’s selling out fast everywhere it’s sold and has been labeled one of the newest pop culture icons.

You can find these hamburger phones here and here for less than 10 although sources say that this novelty item can sell for around 20+ in auction sites due to their popularity.

The WowWee robot, Femisapien, was presented during the CES as a dancing female robot.

But it’s so much more than that. Femisapien is the latest in the line of WowWee’s interactive robots. Femisapien has the capability to respond to your gestures, sounds, and touches. The robot has three modes available: the Attentive Mode; the mode wherein Femisapien interacts with people, the Learning Mode to program a routine of movements, and the Responsive Mode to play back those recorded movements. To note, Femisapien’s hands are interactive joysticks which you can use to change and control her movements. And if you got other WowWee bots in the house, the Femisapien could control them all — even sans the whip and the dominatrix boots.

via

Checking and tracking down a fuse/breaker that controls a power outlet can be quite the headache, so if you want to do away with guessing games, the Easy Circuit Finder ought to do the trick.

Here’s an easy and inexpensive way to track down what fuse or breaker controls which outlet. Just plug the Easy Circuit Finder into the outlet in question. When the power is turned on, it makes a very loud tone you can even hear in the basement. No more yelling up and down the stairs, “Is it on? Is it off?”. Easy Circuit Finder makes it easy to track down switches or breakers without an assistant. Adjustable volume control lets you use it in close quarters, too. Plugs into any 115 volt outlet.

If you want to minus the tedious game of guesses, the Easy Circuit Finder retails for a mere $15.95.

Product Page via BoJ

So far three of the car industry’s most hyped collision prevention technologies have been put to the test by British Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre Thatcham, and I am happy to say that the trio were successful when it came to mitigating and preventing low speed collisions. These new technologies are the Volvo City Safety, Mercedes Distronic Plus, and Honda CMBS that utilize radar systems when it comes to performing their functions. They’ll be extremely important where saving lives are concerned since statistics show that 75% of all motor accidents are low speed collisions.

According to Matthew Avery, Thatcham Research Manager, “They will make a major impact on the number of slow speed accidents – in Britain and across the World. I believe that if manufacturers embrace the new systems and fit them as standard – more than 125,000 injuries will be prevented each year in Britain alone.”

First off, we have the Volvo City Safety system that features a laser radar (also known as LIDAR) that tracks the distance and speed of the car in front of the driver. Mounted on the windscreen, it is capale of renewing its calculations up to 50 times per second, pre-charging brakes should the risk of a collision run high before the driver even knows it. A spider sense mechanism in a Volvo? I like the sound of that.

Mercedes’ Distronic Plus technology is somewhat similar to Volvo’s offering, featuring a form of radar to maintain safe distance from neighbouring cars. It works differently as a couple of radars on the Distronic Plus are connected to the car’s cruise control for an extra level of autonomy to the system. It is capable of operating even at 200 km/h, allowing your car to remain in sync with traffic no matter what the condition is. This reminds me of the “auto follow” mode in TIE Fighter back during the good old DOS days, where pressing the “Enter” key will automatically match my TIE Fighter’s speed with the space craft directly in front of me.

All in all, I hope to see such improvements make they way to vehicle systems soonest possible.

Source: Gizmag

Life The world would be such a cruel, cruel place without perfectly cooked eggs during the mornings. Wouldn’t you love something like the Dippy Egg Set ensuring you get your egg-filled breakfast?

The surly-looking Boiley the Microwave Egg Boiler can cook your egg in the microwave to perfection. Place your egg on the base, add in water, screw the top over and microwave it. As easy as that. Cook your egg the way you like it — soft, medium, or hard — for 3 to 5 minutes.

And of course, to complement your perfectly cooked egg, you should have perfect soldiers such as the Perfect Soldier Cutter can do. Simply stamp the hand cutter onto the bread, put it on your toaster, and you have your perfectly shaped soldiers.

via

Even in the digital era, photos are much better when they are printed on paper. They feel somehow… material when they are printed, after a century of usual film cameras we are accustomed to a printed image. That’s why many owners of digital cameras prefer to print their best photos. If you remember the days of mid 90s, then you will remember the boom of instant film cameras that produced an already printed image. The main company behind that cameras was Polaroid. Now, film cameras look archaically, surrendering their position to digital ones. But Polaroid does not surrender - it comes with a similar idea, but adapted to the modern market.

Polaroid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer is a next step in an instant photo market. It is a small printer, sized almost like a cigarette pack, and can print photos right from the digital camera or mobile phone. It is Bluetooth and USB enabled, so it will be no problem in connecting your device to this printer. Li-Ion battery rechargeable battery means that you can take this gadget wherever you may go and you will be able to print newly taken photos right after you made them, no matter where you are now. ZINK Zero Ink printing technology makes this printer able to print a bright and qualitative 2″ x 3″ prints in an instant.

This Mobile Photo Printer can ease the life of people, who like to travel with their camera. It is very cool to be able to print your new photos a few moments after you actually taken it! It reminds of that cool spy gadget used by Ethan Hunt in MI3, with one exception - this thing is real. Unfortunately, there is no information of price for this interesting device yet.

Related:

• Inkless photo printer that can be used in digital cameras
• Digital Picture Frame with 4 Interchangeable Frames
• Philips 6.5-Inch Digital Picture Frame
• Five MP Camera doesn’t cost a fortune
• 160-megapixel digital camera

Posted Feb 17th 2008 1:50AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: cellphones
We know, Valentine’s Day 2008 has come and gone, but if you’ve managed to hold on to your SO through the Hallmark-inspired holiday, chances are you won’t need these services anyway. For those waking up solo, however, you should probably listen up. South Korea’s KTF has launched a seductive new service — rightfully dubbed Love Detector — for its subscribers which will actually “analyze voice patterns to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection.” In an interesting twist, the data is actually only shown to the customer who coughs up ₩1,500 ($1.58) per month (or less per call), so don’t expect to secretively find out if your lover has another lover waiting next door via voice analysis.

[Image courtesy of WestCoastPioneers, thanks Sandra]

For the latest info on the coolest gadgets, emerging technology and wired madness, subscribe to our full news feed or have it delivered to your inbox. Always free. Always unique. Thanks for visiting!

This video is nothing new, it has been doing the rounds of most of the tech blogs this week. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It looks like a lot of fun. In its latest incarnation, the Laser Harp appears to be much more versatile and we are looking forward to seeing it in action.

Video after the jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLVXmsbVwUs

I am going to throw down a challenge to the Laser Harp guys right now, Sunshine of Your Love. You don’t need to nail Eric Clapton’s impossible improvisations, just the most famous riff of all time. The tones that I heard in the test would be perfect for Sunshine, nail that and it will have a life beyond Jean Michel Jarre and the Eurovision Song Contest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHfXoh4hqPY

Source: TechEBlog

Posted Feb 16th 2008 10:04PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. gadgets
Rest assured, we’ve seen some wicked frickin’ lasers in our day, but apparently, even the two-kilowatt rendition that heats coffee in mere seconds can’t hold a candle ray of light to HERCULES. Intentionally named in all caps by University of Michigan gurus in order to highlight its awesomeness, said laser contains 300 terawatts of power (or 300 times the capacity of the entire US electricity grid) and could “help scientists develop better proton and electron beams for radiation treatment of cancer.” Still, we can’t help but conclude with UMich’s own description of this masterpiece: “If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of [HERCULES].” Damn.

[Via Physorg]

On Friday, the IOC - International Olympics Committee, gave their official approval for athletes to be able to blog at this year’s summer Olympics in Beijing. However, these athletics cannot publish any media of the event or any material that is Olympic property. The IOC thinks of blogging as a way to expression, which is not like journalism, therefore they don’t have a real reason to ban blogging.

Also, any blog postings by these athletes have to be in the Olympic spirit and be “dignified and in good taste.” I’m not sure how they will find out if someone posts something not in good taste, and then how they would punish them. Furthermore, athletes that were in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Turin Olympics and had blogs, they were not officially recognized by the IOC, and so this raised some debate. It will be interesting to see which athletes blog and what they blog.

Via [Electronista]

Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →