During their coverage of the Nuremberg Toy Fair, Hobby Media came across these oversized Star Wars LEGO minifig alarm clocks. So far I haven’t exactly been blown away by LEGO’s entry into the electronics market, but these guys totally make up for that disappointing clock radio we brought you last year. I’ve no idea when the alarm clocks will be available, or if you’ll be able to get versions based on other characters, or why their claw hands seem so much creepier on a larger scale.
Infinitec is introducing what they’re calling the “next generation” of USB flash drives, the Infinite USB Memory (IUM) drive. Rather than storing data on internal flash memory, the IUM pairs with your computer, forming a wireless data transfer link. So, whatever device you plug the IUM into sees it as simple USB flash drive, while behind the scenes the IUM is streaming data directly from your computer, making available as much data as you care to give it, hence the “infinite” moniker. This isn’t some kind of infinite cloud storage thing, however, it’s just that the capacity of the IUM isn’t limited by the hardware on the IUM itself.
I can’t immediately figure out how the wireless bit works, but it’s going to be one of two ways. The first, which seems most likely from the way the IUM is described, is that it uses your laptop’s wireless card to transfer data. This means that if you’re out of range of your laptop’s wireless signal, your IUM loses its functionality. The alternative (and I don’t think it works this way) would be that it somehow connects to your laptop over the internet, which means that the IUM would function anywhere it could get WiFi access, possibly allowing you to set up secured access points ahead of time.
Whichever way it functions, I wouldn’t really think of this as a USB flash drive at all, for the simple reason that you can’t use it to back up or transfer data independently of your laptop. It’s more of a wireless USB network adapter, in that it gives any USB compatible device access to the data on your laptop via a local (ad-hoc) wireless network. This is definitely a handy capability, although its usefulness is limited to electronics with USB ports but without a network connection that you don’t want to plug your computer into directly (although there is something to be said for ease of use, which the IUM certainly appears to offer).
The cost for this convenience is $129, which seems rather steep to me, although (for what it’s worth) it’s generally equivalent to the Eye-Fi Pro, which offers the same kind of wireless ad-hoc network functionality.
You’re definitely going to turn some heads if you pull into a dock with a 92-foot yacht, but having a 4-seat airplane on deck will easily make you the envy of every captain in the harbor. Of course you’ll have to pay about $6 million for the privilege, but I’d say it’s totally worth it.
The duo was recently spotted and photographed at the Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show, and the folding-wing Glasair Sportsman float plane on board can apparently carry two adults, plus 300 pounds of cargo, up to 600 miles, making for some impressive day trips. And in case you were wondering how the plane is loaded/unloaded, a small crane is visible just behind the aircraft in both shots.
When I was a kid, Tomy was known for its kid-friendly electronics and cutting-edge robots available at the local Radio Shack, but these days their offerings just leave me scratching my head. These ‘Bitosan Ke’ figures, for example, feature a few strands of static carbon fiber nose hairs sticking out of their nostrils, and when pulled or touched they cause the character to speak. Now since the toys will be released in Japan (6 different characters available for 892 Yen or about $10 each) they’ll obviously speak Japanese, but roughly translated the phrases seem to either encourage you or discourage you from touching their hairs. What could be more fun?!
I wrote this post in six minutes. This is vastly, exponentially faster than I normally write posts. How did I manage it? Through hard work, dedication, and threats. Mostly the threats, to be honest, thanks (I guess) to a webpage called Write or Die, which aims to combat laziness and apathy by literally forcing you to write. You tell Write or Die how many words you’re trying to get down in how much time, and depending on how strict you want it to be, it will do anything from slowly turning its text box red to playing evil sounds to (in “Kamikaze Mode”) actually deleting your words if it doesn’t think you’re going fast enough. Like, I just had to rewrite that sentence because I went and checked my email for 10 seconds and Write or Die did not approve. For $10, you can get a desktop version, which eliminates the internet as a distraction and gives you the option of disabling saves until you meet your goal.
Now, I’m all for positive reinforcement as opposed to negative reinforcement, so it would be way better if there was a website called “Write or No Jellybeans” that gave me jellybeans when I did a good job. Until someone figures out a way to make that work (and honestly, it probably wouldn’t be that hard for someone with some hardware and software skill), I’ll just keep on punishing myself with this website because damn, I’m super productive now. At least, I am as long as
While not the first video game in existence, Pong was the first widely-successful video game and is responsible for kick-starting the video game industry. It’s natural to want to pay homage to this gaming legacy in a variety of ways. We’ve seen a few Pong clocks in the past, but this is the first DIY kit I can recall coming across.
Not only does this purchase net you a cool clock that will make you the envy of your geeky friends, but it gives you a fun little project. It’s a fairly simple kit that even a beginner should be able to tackle in 2-3 hours. There’s just something about the satisfaction you get when you assemble something like this on your own (even if it did come from a kit). The going rate for one of these is $80, but unfortunately you’ll have to be patient. It looks like everyone else wanted one to, as they’re currently sold out.
If you’ve been looking for the absolute worst possible gift you can give someone, whether or not they’re trying to lose weight, I would highly recommend the mypetfat. Available in different sizes, the glob pictured above represents 1lb. of anatomically correct body fat, or the equivalent of about 3,500 calories, and besides serving as a loyal sidekick it’s also designed to visually motivate you to shed those extra pounds. The 1lb. version is on sale now for $49.95, while a more portable 1oz. version is just $14.95, but why stop there when you can go all out and order the 5lb. version for $149.95 and cross ‘Mother’s Day gift’ off your to-do list.
Good for you ASUS! You looked at a crowded market that seems to double in size almost on a weekly basis and said to yourself, “I want a tiny sliver of that pie that in all likelihood will be replaced by more advanced technologies in less than a year!” Thankfully though their entry does slightly stand above the rest with a 9-inch, 1024×768 pixel resolution touchscreen e-paper display, and an overall design that keeps the hardware buttons to a minimum.
It will have Wifi built-in, as well as the option for 3G, and the battery life is touted as being good enough for about 10,000 page turns, though probably less if you’re using the wireless hardware. It supports PDF, TXT, ePub and HTML files as well as MP3s facilitated by a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the 4GB of onboard storage can be expanded thanks to an SD card slot. And like the netbook market where the hardware is virtually all the same, the DR-900′s success will probably come down to how much ASUS decides to sell it for.
So what do you do with a Kodak DC290 digital camera with a broken lens? Throw it out? Of course not! Since the camera is already running the Digita OS, which has a wide variety of apps and games ported to it (including MAME) you do what JJ Dasher did and turn it into a portable gaming rig that exclusively runs Doom. Of course the camera’s button layout isn’t exactly tailored to playing Doom, so JJ went the extra mile to create his own button board using keys from a vintage PC keyboard.
The end result isn’t pocket-friendly, is kind of chunky and it isn’t going to win any beauty pageants, but still manages to be an awesome hack.
Related Tags: alarm clocks, LEGO, Toys
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