By Andrew Liszewski

Oh look! Another pocket-friendly device for hunting down wi-fi networks. From my experience these things never work as well as you’d hope, but at least this one doubles as a ballpoint pen so carrying it around isn’t a complete loss. Pushing a small button on the end of the pen will cause a series of 4 LEDs to light up, indicating the signal strength of a nearby wi-fi hotspot, though it’s limited to B/G networks and it doesn’t provide any indication if it’s locked down or not. But at just $13.99 from USBFever.com, I don’t think anyone’s expecting that much from it anyways.

[ Ball Pen with Wi-Fi Detector ] VIA [ Gear Diary ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’m still not really on the whole digital picture frame bandwagon. Honestly, I guess I just don’t have a need to cycle a few hundred pictures on my wall or something. If I were going to get one, I’d go for something a little less than ordinary. I’d either get one that actually did a little more than show pictures, or I’d make my own. From the looks of this mod, it would be pretty easy to use an Eee PC for one.

Having a full-fledged computer working as your picture frame does leave you with a lot more options. Now you can add a touchscreen and control various media through the house with a touch. The early Eee PCs are really cheap, so this might just be a fun mod for someone who doesn’t just want a boring digital picture frame.

[ Awooga ] VIA [ HackADay ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Details are a little vague right now, but Akihabara News is reporting that the Cube 100HD portable media player not only supports 720P video content, but will actually pump out a 1080i signal to a connected hi-def display. Now I’m not entirely sure where the video-out connection is on this thing, given those 2 product shots cover pretty much every angle (minus the back I guess) so I’m going to assume it uses some proprietary break-out cable. Other features include a 5-inch WVGA (800×480) touchscreen display, FM tuner, e-Book reader and even basic flash game support. Pricing and availability are unknown though.

[ Akihabara News - Cube H100HD, the first PMP with 1080i video Out ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I don’t know what I find more surprising here, the fact that someone thought they could make a playable version of Donkey Kong on the Meggy Jr’s 8×8 RGB LED display, or the fact that someone succeeded in making a playable version of Donkey Kong on the Meggy Jr’s 8×8 RGB LED display. That ‘someone’ would be software artist Steven Read who mentions on his site that the 3,000 lines of code that went into Super Monkey Kong compiled down to a mere 14K, which is the maximum size for the Meggy’s AVR microcontroller.

And while the screenshots I’ve included give you a rough idea of what it’s like to play Super Monkey Kong, you’ll want to head over to Steven’s site where he’s included a video of the game in action.

[ Super Monkey Kong ] VIA [ GameSetWatch ]

By Andrew Liszewski

How brilliant is this? The Boogie Woogie salt and pepper shakers designed by Hauke Murken and Sven Hansen each feature a set of over-sized wheels allowing them to be rolled across the dinner table whenever anyone asks you to pass the salt and pepper. I assume the shakers are weighted on the bottom so they remain upright at all times, even when being rolled, and the anodized aluminum finish is the icing on the cake, or salt on the fries, depending on how you look at it. The best part though is that this isn’t a concept, but an actual product that will be hitting store shelves sometime in May. Though which stores specifically remains a mystery.

[ MENU A/S - Boogie Woogie ] VIA [ Acquire ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s a good time to be a retro gamer. Not only are there countless devices that can be used to play ROMs, but there’s now a couple that will accept NES and Sega Mega Drive (aka Sega Genesis) cartridges. The Pocket Boy and Pocket MD both look suspiciously like the PSP, but the biggest difference is that each one has access to a library of games you’ll actually want to play. (Kidding, kidding!) They both feature a full-color LCD display as well as video-out functionality for enjoying your classic titles on a TV, and are currently available in Japan for about $40.

[ Akihabara News - Pocket Boy and Pocket MD, Resurrect Your NES and Mega Drive Games ]

By Evan Ackerman

Please, don’t stone me for saying this, but at some point I feel like maybe it’s prudent to draw the line when it comes to turning absolutely everything into an internet enabled, be-touchscreen’d gadget. This faucet, for example. The SmartFaucet from iHouse has adjustable flow, an internal heating coil to provide hot water faster, and LEDs that change color based on temperature. That’s all very nice. But it also has a little camera with face recognition software that will automatically adjust the water to the exact temperature and pressure that you like. And, the integrated touchscreen displays weather information, your personal calendar, and you can even somehow use it to check email.

I know it’s cool, but I mean, seriously, email? On a touchscreen on a water faucet? Overkill. What isn’t overkill is iHouse’s cell phone controlled bathtub, which will prepare the perfect bath for you with a single phone call. Brilliant.

All of this stuff is, of course, expensive enough that I can’t tell you how expensive it is.

[ iHouse ] VIA [ Born Rich ]

By Evan Ackerman

I don’t know what it is with car chargers and their tendency to look bulgy and phallic. Why would anyone want something like that sticking out of their dashboard? Belkin’s new Micro Auto Charger, on the other hand, fits snugly into your cigarette adapter, and makes it look like you have a factory installed USB charging port in your car. It doesn’t get much more seamless than this.

The Micro Auto Charger outputs 1 amp, which is twice as much as a standard USB port, meaning your gadgetry will charge omgextraüberfast. It costs just $15, or you can get it with an iPod/iPhone charging cable for $5 more. Look for it starting next month.

[ Belkin ] VIA [ iLounge ]

By Shane McGlaun

Mini Golf is one of those games that can be intensely frustrating for many reasons. For me I get frustrated when my ball won’t go around those damned loops and when my son beats me. It’s not fun to see a 7-year-old gloat over a hole in one while I try to fish my ball out of a water trap.

Digital Chocolate has announced a new iPhone game called Mini Golf 99 Holes Theme Park that is available on the App store now for $5.99. The game offers 99 different holes and four different courses to choose from.

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