By Andrew Liszewski

Like their larger counterparts, ioSafe’s Squadron line of disaster proof hard drives keeps your data safe through all but the worst of calamities. They’re fireproof to 1400° F for up to 15 minutes, but also feature a reflective heat shield that deflects over 98% of the radiant heat from a fire, prolonging the life of the drive. They can also survive being submerged under 5 feet of fresh or salt water for 24 hours. And since the drives feature a considerable amount of additional padding and extra material surrounding them, the company’s ‘Air Flow Cooling’ vent system keeps the drive running at normal temperatures during day-to-day use and can immediately seal shut in the event of an emergency.

But unlike the massive external drives offered by ioSafe, the Squadron drives can actually be installed in a standard drive bay on your desktop PC. The only downside to the extra protection is the Squadron’s price and capacity. The largest SATA version currently available is just 320GB in size, which will cost you $309.99 when they start shipping on May 17.

[ ioSafe Squadron Hard Drives ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

By Chris Scott Barr

As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time at my desk. So much in fact, that there is a mini fridge withing rolling distance of my chair. It’s nice to be able to grab a drink without breaking my flow of concentration. Of course prepping some food still means going downstairs and taking care of it. What I want is something I can set on my desk that will warm up my food.

Here is yet another desktop microwave concept. Why are there so many concepts without an actual product being on the shelves? It’s like the designers enjoy teasing us. Anywho, this one is also USB-powered (which makes me wonder at its effectiveness) and only appears to heat up special meals. Sure, the means would come with a RFID-equipped plastic utensil that programmed the time into the microwave, but it won’t cook my Spaghetti-o’s. Is that really too much to ask?

[ Yanko ] VIA [ GearFuse ]

By Andrew Liszewski

As if we weren’t already enamored enough with Dyson’s high-tech looking vacuums that still outperform the competition, the company has gone and created a limited edition version of their DC25 Ball vacuum that’s unfortunately already sold out. Nothing has changed with the vacuum’s design except how it looks, now sporting a white finish featuring annotated notes highlighting the design thoughts and processes that went into its creation. From what I can tell, at $529.99 the limited edition version sold for about $30 more than the standard model, though as part of a promotion Dyson will be randomly selecting 5 owners to receive a full refund.

[ Limited Edition Dyson DC25 Blueprint Vacuum ] VIA [ Wallpaper ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Believe it or not, HDR techniques weren’t originally developed to produce gaudy monstrosities like you’ll find in this well known Flickr pool. They can actually be used to produce an overall well-exposed image when the lighting conditions at the time of the photo being taken weren’t ideal. And that’s exactly what the ‘HDR Image Enhancement Technology’ in Ben-Q’s new E1260 P&S digital camera does.

Now given the average P&S user probably doesn’t have the best camera technique (ie holding it perfectly steady) I’m going to assume the E1260 doesn’t use an exposure bracketing technique, but instead does an internal processing of the RAW data from the sensor to produce a well-exposed image from a shot with high contrast lighting. Other features include a 12MP sensor, 720P ‘HD’ video recording (the site seems to indicate it’s actually 640×480 interpolated) a 28mm wide-angle lens with 4X optical zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD display and a G-sensor that will automatically rotate images or allow you to shake the camera to advance through a slideshow. Available sometime in May, pricing currently unknown.

[ Ben-Q E1260 ] VIA [ GadgetReview ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While it’s no excuse for poor spelling, Sony’s new Qlasp headphones look to have solved the problem of your earbuds falling out during extremely physical activities. A clever clip or ‘qlasp’ attaches to your earlobes while worn, essentially allowing the earbuds to hang on while you’re backflipping, cube-gleaming or double McTwist 1260-ing. The 9mm driver has a frequency response of 6 – 23,000 Hz, though with a price tag of just $24.99 they’re probably not the most amazing sounding earbuds on the market. But you do get to choose from 5 rad color schemes.

[ Sony Qlasp Earbuds ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]