By Andrew Liszewski

Since most cameraphones are just barely capable of producing decent photos anyways, it’s not surprising that their macro capabilities are far from amazing. But Flickr user cnflikt has found that by mounting the focusing lens from an old DVD player to a small piece of cardboard, and then placing it over the lens on their Sony Ericsson K800i, they were able to get some pretty great results when it came to macro photography. Not exactly the cheapest hack if you don’t already have an unwanted DVD player lying around, but the results do speak for themselves.

[ Flickr - cnflikt ] VIA [ DIYPhotography.net ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’ve been trying to find a way to ugly-up your Mercedes Benz real good like, for just $5 you can replace its stock hood ornament with this clear plastic version that lights up thanks to a set of red, blue and green LEDs that are powered by a small chrome wind turbine. So not only does it not require batteries, but the installation is as easy as peeling and sticking it to your car’s pristine paint job. Available now from DealExtreme who couldn’t possibly squeeze another watermarked logo onto their product shots.

[ Wind Powered Sensor RGB LED Vehicle Logo - Benz ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Professional photographers (and apparently Autobots) with digital SLRs that still use a compact flash card might want to start saving their pennies for PhotoFast’s new CFast Gen1 CF cards. Available in 8, 16 or 32GB capacities the cards feature read speeds of up to 100MB/sec and write speeds of up to 50MB/sec thanks to a built-in SATA controller.

The CFast Flash Drive Series is the new and improved combination of CF and ATA Serial Transport (AST), it contains a SATA controller and flash memory in a (m)atchbook-sized package with a 7+17 pin connector consisting of 7-pin signal and 17-pin power and control connector. Within a maximum speed of SATA II 3.0 Gbps, this faster data throughput will make for increased performance in burst shooting modes and faster read times when you put the CFast card into a card reader to transfer to the computer.

There’s no word on pricing or availability just yet, but don’t expect the 32GB model to come cheap.

[ PhotoFast CFast Gen1 ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Pixar’s Up will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in November, but fans of Carl Fredricksen and Russel’s adventure to South America might be particularly interested in this special edition of the movie that not only comes with a Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy of the film, but a replica of the Luxo Jr. lamp seen in the company’s animated logo as well. Amazon is currently taking pre-orders for the Luxo Jr. Collectible Lamp Pack, but it will set you back a whopping $140. I mean the movie was was fun and all, but I can’t say I enjoyed it that much.

[ Up - Limited Edition Luxo Jr. Collectible Lamp Pack ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Everyone knows they should be backing up their PC or laptop on a regular basis, but it usually requires a devastating loss of data before most users get serious about it. However, even if you have a giant RAID sitting on your desk, backing up your files on an hourly basis with ridiculous levels of redundancy, is your data still safe? Viruses and failed hardware are only a couple of problems a backup drive can protect against, but what about more serious situations like a flood, fire or other natural disasters? Should the worst case scenario occur, the data sitting on a backup drive next to your computer is just as much at risk as the data sitting on the computer itself.

Unless of course your data happens to be backed up on a drive that’s built like a tank. And that’s where the ioSafe Solo disaster proof external hard drive enters the picture. If you’re looking for a drive you can throw in your laptop bag the ioSafe Solo isn’t for you, but if you want a relatively affordable backup solution for your home or business that can withstand most of what mother nature can throw at it, you’ll want to check out my review of the Solo after the jump.

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By Chris Scott Barr

Have you ever noticed how certain people can get out of work a bit easier than others? Take smokers for example, I’ve had several jobs where people were allowed to step outside for 10 minutes (several times per day) for smoke breaks. If you didn’t smoke, you worked while the smokers were out. Same goes for people with kids. Granted, they actually have a good reason for missing some work. But still, they can miss a few hours here and there when their kids have a doctor/dentist appointment.  Well if you’ve ever fancied skipping a few hours to be with your kids, without actually having children, here’s something to check out.

The Office Kid is a little kit you can use to fool the office into thinking you’re a parent. You get a picture of your child (you can pick the gender and ethnicity) and a hand-drawn picture of your family. There’s also a metal lunchbox full of excuses you can use when you want a little time off. The basic kit is $20, but you can get extras like a photoshopped picture of your child’s sports team and more artwork for a bit more cash. A word to the wise, don’t get caught. The people that actually do have kids will never let you live it down.

[ The Office Kid ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By David Ponce

No, no, not really. Don’t sue us. But this arm brace really is kind of cool. First off it’s waterproof and attaches via Boa lacing. It’s also radiolucent, which is a fancy way of saying you can take X-rays of your broken bones without having to take it off. It comes in a bunch of fancy colors and finally, once the time comes to let your arm see the light of day again, the Boa lacing allows you to simply release a dial to loosen it.

Might not be the best idea to put it on a child for whom every button is an invitation for disaster, but for everyone else, living dangerously just got a little more inviting.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BoingBoing Gadgets ]

By David Ponce

If there’s one thing that’s stayed quite analog during the digital revolution, it’s been the stethoscope. Not to miss an opportunity to reinvent the wheel, 3M and Zargis Medical have partnered to infuse some actually useful tech into the Littmann 3200 Bluetooth Stethoscope. The device will be able to communicate with nearby computers and offload any data it collects (through Bluetooth, natch), to be analyzed later with included software. They’ve also included what looks like active noise reduction, eliminating up to 85% background noise without eliminating critical body sounds.

Heck, there’s a whole bunch of features into this high-tech stethoscope, and you should keep reading to find out about all of them. Out here you get the more than reasonable price (considering how expensive regular stethoscopes already are): $379.

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By David Ponce

Not that this really relates to anything, but it’s geeky enough to mention. Mathematics Professors Christopher Danforth and Peter Dodds, of Vermont University, analyzed 2.4 million Tweets, looking for words that connote both happiness (think “rainbows (really), free and fun”) or gloom (think “cruel, hatred and suffocate”) and concluded that the worst day of the week seems to be a Wednesday.

Yeah, now you know.

VIA [ Daily Telegraph ]