By Andrew Liszewski

If the BodyTrace eScale seems oddly familiar, it’s because it’s not the first connected scale we’ve brought you. That honor would go to the Withings Connected Scale which uses wi-fi to transmit your weight and BMI to a website, allowing you to track your fitness level over time. And that’s basically the same idea behind the BodyTrace eScale, except that it uses GSM instead of wi-fi. The advantage I guess is that you can use it wherever you have cell coverage, but the downside is that after the first year you’ll have to pay $5.99/month to access the online services, though something tells me a bit of that money is actually paying for the wireless data.

And while the Withings scale has a price tag of $180+, the BodyTrace scale is just $59.99, and there’s even an option to buy it for just $9.99 as long as you’re willing to pay a monthly fee of $9.99 afterwards, under a one year contract. Yep, that’s right, now even scale makers are adopting a ‘subsidized with contract’ pricing plan. Great.

[ BodyTrace eScale ] VIA [ Apartment Therapy Unplggd ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’ve long enjoyed my Google Voice account, as I was one of the lucky people who got in on it while it was still GrandCentral. Unfortunately it has been rather difficult to obtain an account since Google took over, and there were worries that they may simply shut down the service one day. Well we shall worry no further, as the company has officially taken Google Voice out of beta.

That’s right, you can simply head over to the Google Voice page and sign up for an account (as long as you’re in the US, that is). If you already have a Google account, then you need only pick out a number. Then you can start enjoying features like free SMS, transcribed voicemails, and having a single number ring all of your phones. Seriously, go sign up now!

[ Google Voice ] VIA [ TechCrunch ]

By Andrew Liszewski

A standard GPS device mounted to the windshield of your car will tell where on Earth you currently are, where you need to go, and if you’re lucky, where you’ve been. The Shadow Box provides similar functionality, minus the navigational aids though, that’s left up to you to be as creative as possible. You see the small box is designed to go along for the ride and record every bit of information so you can see just how ‘extreme’ your ride was. As a result it’s not really designed to just stick to a car’s windshield. Instead, it features adjustable ball-socket mounting feet with a super-adhesive grip allowing it to be stuck to snowboards, surfboards, bikes or pretty much anything.

Once you hit record the Shadow Box keeps track of everything an extreme athlete would want to know/brag about including the height, distance, hang time, speed, degrees of spins, rolls and flips, the launch angle and even the spin rate of any tricks. It also measures g-forces and the angle of your board at all times, and of course GPS positional data. When you stop recording you can immediately review a plot of your course on its OLED display (represented in 3D showing any and all jumps, flips etc.) upload the data to the Shadow Box Ridetracker software or even send it to Google Earth.

It definitely seems like a fantastic tool for reviewing a run, particularly for competitive athletes like surfers or snowboarders since it provides mountains of data you just can’t get from a video. But if you’re just an amateur and aren’t making money off of your sport, the $499 price tag is a bit steep, even for a device capable of measuring just how steep.

[ Shadow Box ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]

By Andrew Liszewski

These days it’s hard to be taken aback by a weird USB flash drive design, but I’m left utterly confused by this pipe cutter, or ‘coupe tube’ that Brando’s selling in 2, 4 or 8GB capacities for $16, $19 and $31 respectively. I mean maybe if it was an actual functioning pipe cutter it could appeal to plumbers as a sort of industry-spanning multi-tool, but it isn’t! It’s made from rubber and probably couldn’t even successfully cut through a single piece of al dente cooked spaghetti. So, um, yeah, unless you’re a corporate spy who’s gone deep under cover as a plumber at a rival company, I can’t really see this drive appealing to anyone.

[ USB Coupe Tube Flash Drive ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If there’s anywhere you need your product to stand out if it even has a chance of being successful, it’s the wildly overcrowded iPod/iPhone case market. They’re literally available everywhere in an almost infinite variety of designs and colors, but somehow this Retro Cassette Cover available from thumbsUp! looks remarkably unique. Well I mean the design itself isn’t that original, but the execution is spot on.

It’s basically a boxy case for your iPhone designed to look like a cassette tape, which it does, remarkably well. But the makers have gone the extra mile, well maybe just a few extra hundred feet, and have included a clear plastic cassette tape case which doubles as a display stand. Retroriffic! As for pricing? Dunno. You have to be a registered wholesaler first, but I’m going to assume you can get the price down if you’re willing to shell out for 10,000 or so of them.

P.S. I guess we should declare this cassette tape Tuesday?

[ iPhone Retro Cassette Cover ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s a certain stigma that goes along with giving someone a gift card. It’s like saying I wanted to give you a present, but didn’t want to spend the time figuring out what you’d like. Now that may not always be the case, sometimes people can be incredibly picky (guilty) so a gift card could be the easiest option. And Home Depot’s new gift cards go a little further when it comes to making them feel a bit more personal. Using augmented reality the cards let you upload a video message that will play back whenever you visit a specific website and hold the card up to a webcam. Now I’m pretty sure Home Depot didn’t develop these on their own, and I’m going to assume they’ll be offered by other stores soon enough, but when it comes to novelty gift card designs the Home Depot has just taken the lead away from Target.

[ Home Depot's Augmented Reality Video Gift Card ] VIA [ ChipChick ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Ok, I don’t really have any idea how well Dyson’s original Air Multiplier fan sold, but I’m assuming there aren’t a lot of people willing to drop $300 on a fan, no matter how slick and innovative it is, when for the same amount of money can get you a full-on AC unit. And if my assumption is correct, creating a larger, more expensive version, probably isn’t going to boost sales. But that’s exactly what Dyson has done with the oval AM02 Tower Fan, and the AM03 Pedestal Fan. They both use the exact same technology as the original AM01 model, but are basically larger, and come with a larger $449.99 price tag too.

[ Dyson Air Multiplier Fans ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Since an engraved tombstone can only say so much, those who believe the world will really miss them once they’re gone can opt for a slightly more advanced memorial with this RosettaStone Tablet. It can be installed on new or pre-existing gravestones, and provides a sort of mini-Wikipedia page about the person, highlighting their life’s accomplishments, their genealogy, or really anything they want to share with future generations. As long as their legacy is no longer than 1,000 words and doesn’t include more than a single photo.

Your posthumous profile can be accessed in one of three ways using a smartphone: over wifi, via NFC-RFID technology or using image recognition software to just snap a pic of the tablet. But all 3 ways are essentially just accessing a web address to the profile which is stored in the Wayback Machine’s archive. (Here’s an example.) When ordering you also have the option of including up to 6 symbols carved into your RosettaStone Tablet, highlighting accomplishments in your life. As you can see in the product shot, Nikola Tesla is best remembered for his days spent working at an information booth, as a field medic and as a grave digger. Choose carefully though because there’s a chance the internet may not exist as we know it in another 20 years and these symbols could end up being your lasting legacy, particularly since the solid black granite tablet will last somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,200 years.

And at the moment the RosettaStone Tablet is on sale for just $191. So you’ll want to act fast, not only because you’ll save around 34 bucks, but who knows what legacy you’ll leave behind were you to meet your demise in the very near future.

[ RosettaStone ] VIA [ Springwise ]

By Andrew Liszewski

No, it’s not powered by the sun, or wind, or water or even urine. The Front & Back clock, created by the The Wrong Objects, is powered by a good ol’ set of AA’s and is so proud of it that it uses the batteries as the hands on the clock face. So if there ever was a device in your home to save the brand-name Duracell or Energizer batteries for, this clock would be it. Unless, like the clock, you’re not embarrassed to put a set of Rayovacs in there. The Front & Back concept was recently spotted at the 2010 DMY International Design Festival in Berlin, though I’m unsure if it will ever be available for sale.

[ The Wrong Objects - Front & Back Clock ] VIA [ today and tomorrow ]