By Evan Ackerman

I honestly don’t know whether this thing is totally stupid, or totally brilliant. The MapLock is like a bike lock, except it’s made for your GPS… It clamps onto the face of your GPS device (adjustable to fit most sizes), you loop a steel cable through your steering wheel, and then lock it all down with a key and you’re good to go.

As MapLock points out, if you just take your GPS off the windshield mount and hide it, a clever thief can spot the mount and infer that you’ve got a tasty GPS stashed away somewhere. If you do take the windshield mount off, a cleverer thief will spot the marks left by the suction cup. And even if you take the whole kit and caboodle with you when you leave your car, someone might spot the telltale signs and break in anyway. OMG PANIC!

So, the MapLock seems like a totally brilliant idea: show potential thieves that your GPS is safe and secure, and they won’t bother breaking into your car to go after it. But still, it’s a relatively complicated cable lock for your GPS, and that just seems silly. Here is what I would buy: a system that I can use to lock my GPS to my dashboard semi-permanently while still keeping the GPS usable. Someone get on that, won’t you?

The MapLock (patent pending) will be available in 5 exciting colors for an unspecified price at an unspecified time.

[ MapLock ] VIA [ Navigadget ]

By Andrew Liszewski

You have to have one hardcore fear of the barber to ever consider using the BaByliss Hair Clipper. Firstly, I really don’t get the name, secondly, the device seems innocent enough until you check out the underside which looks like the business end of a lamprey eel. Look at those teeth! It comes with 2 different comb guides that can be swapped out and adjusted to 6 different length settings, and the trimmed hair/bits of your scalp are collected inside so they can be emptied/re-attached later. ~$64 from Argos.co.uk.

[ BaByliss for Men Easy Cut Hair Clipper ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s not a new idea by any means, but this slightly cleaner version of the cube-shaped timer we brought you last year improves on the original design with a small LCD display on the bottom showing you exactly how much time is left before the alarm sounds. And in case you missed it the first time, starting a 3, 10, 30 or 60 minute countdown is as easy as turning the cube so the desired amount of time appears on top. It’s available from the A+R Store in your choice of orange, yellow or white for $34.

[ Cubic Timer ] VIA [ Better Living Through Design ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If I’m not mistaken, at one point in time this Iron Samurai watch was nothing more than a concept design that cleverly hid an LED display inside a ‘stylish’ men’s bracelet. But it’s now available from Chinavasion for a mere $15, and while they claim the bracelet is made from “Samurai sword carbonized steel folded 1000x over” I think the “This watch is not waterproof” warning tells a more accurate tale of the quality of the materials that went into it. And if I am mistaken about this being a concept at some point, I hope you can forgive me and be content with the fact you can now get one for just $15.

[ Iron Samurai - Japanese Inspired Red LED Watch ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If last year’s set of Yoda Christmas lights didn’t ‘force’ any holiday cheer on you, I’m sure this R2-D2 version will be more effective. I mean nobody hates R2-D2, so having multiple versions of him strung around your Christmas tree (10 per strand spaced 12 inches apart) is a sure fire way to make the holidays more profitable for Lucasfilm more festive. Supposedly these have been popping up at the likes of Target for some time now, and you can expect to pick up a set for around $15-$25 according to R2D2Central.com.

[ Kurt S. Adler - R2-D2 Light Set ] VIA [ R2D2Central.com ]

Alright, those of you sitting on the edge of your seats from last week’s giveaway can sit easy now. The contest ended Friday, and our winner is macayn, who will be receiving their own Domino Liquid Cooling System from CoolIT! Congratulations to him (or her) and stay tuned for more contests in the future!

[ CoolIT ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s too bad the person who invented this one-handed calculator didn’t do their research first. You see the product already exists, it’s called a cellphone, and for the past 20 years or so nearly every single model to hit the market has had a calculator built-in, and it can be used with one hand. On the other hand (since it’s not being used) this thing doesn’t have a monthly fee, just a one time price of $9.95 from Solutions, or $8.95 if there’s 2 people on your Christmas shopping list you hate.

[ One-Hand Calculator ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Why just tickle an animated plush toy when this set of official Elmo’s Tickle Hands turns anyone into a Tickle Me Elmo? The furry gloves not only reproduce Elmo’s famous laughs and giggles when you touch someone, but they’ll also play his new The Tickle Hand Groove song which will probably be catchy the first 5 times, and incomprehensibly annoying the next 500. $30 from Fisher Price which should also help Elmo on his quest to become the most profitable lump of red fabric of all time.

[ Elmo's Tickle Hands ] VIA [ I4U News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While it became the punchline for hack comics and sketch writers for years to come, the “I’ve fallen… and I can’t get up!” line from LifeCall’s now infamous commercial definitely made people think about what could happen to older loved ones living alone. But what about when they’re not at home? There’s just as much a risk of them falling or hurting themselves with no one around to help, which is why the MobileHelp from Medical Mobile Monitoring is an important upgrade.

The device is the same basic idea as the LifeCall, you just push a help button on a remote to contact a central monitoring service in the event of an emergency, but it goes one step further with built-in GPS functionality so medical responders, and the person’s family, will know exactly where they are. The new service does require a monthly fee which starts at $34.95, though for a limited time there is free activation and one month of free service for anyone upgrading from the company’s older, non-GPS-equipped hardware.

[ Medical Mobile Monitoring ] VIA [ Medgadget ]