By Andrew Liszewski

The technology behind these body odor eating iron-on tags was apparently originally developed for the military to protect them against nerve gas and other chemical agents, but it’s now made its way to the general consumer, protecting them and those around them from the embarrassment of B.O.

Their ‘secret ingredient’ is a piece of “activated nano-porous material that captures and stores the molecules that cause body odor” and what’s particularly cool is that unlike deodorant, it will keep working forever. They’re completely washing machine safe too, as long as the water doesn’t get above 40°C, though the company behind them, Odegon, suggests having the garment dry cleaned every 15 washes to get rid of laundry soap residue that may build up and to regenerate the tag’s odor adsorbing properties. A 6-pack of the tags, which covers 3 shirts, is available from the Odegon website for just over $18. (£11.95)

[ Odegon Iron-On Tags ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s not like traditional paper sheet music was ever able to turn itself, and in my mind, hitting the arrow key on a laptop or swiping your finger across the iPad seems a lot easier than re-shuffling a stack of pages while playing an instrument. But since I’m no musician, who am I to question if this Bluetooth foot pedal from AirTurn actually makes things easier or not?

The device itself is basically a BT transmitter which connects to a handful of foot switches from the likes of Boss or Roland, and it seems to work with pretty much any application you’d need it to including Acrobat, Word, PowerPoint, Keynote etc. The transmitter is powered by a couple of AAs which should keep it running for a few weeks, and it has a range of up to 100 feet which seems a bit overkill. For $39.95 you can get the AirTurn transmitter and receiver by itself, but the company also sells bundles with Boss forward and back foot switches and their Music Reader software which pushes the price tag to close to $200.

[ AirTurn BT-105 Bluetooth Foot Pedal Page Turner ] VIA [ eCoustics ]

By Andrew Liszewski

You might not think that a board game version of Super Mario Kart could be any where near as entertaining as the actual game, and you’d be completely right. However, this labyrinth-like version, created by Japanese game maker Epoch, doesn’t seem like a completely cheesy cash-in on Nintendo’s part. The game was recently shown off at the 2010 Tokyo Toy Show, and it basically has two players competing head-to-head to navigate a ball through a maze using various ramps, levers and launchers. There’s a video of it in action on the Akihabara News site which not only shows off the gameplay, but also all of the authentic sounds this version has borrowed from the actual video games.

[ Akihabara News - [Tokyo Toy Show 2010] Mario Kart and Super Mario Bross board game ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Remember when we gave away a pair of Marvel headphones from Coloud a little while ago? Well we’ve got another pair from them to give out, only this time you get to select from one of four NHL teams. Your choices are: Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Detroit Redwings, or the New York Rangers. If you’re in the US, just drop a comment and I’ll select a winner at random next Friday. Good luck!

[ Coloud ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Alright guys, I’ve got some good news, and some bad news. The good news is that if you happen to be Chad D, you’ve won yourself a Moshi Lifestyle Voice Control Bluetooth Car Speakerphone! The bad news is that if you aren’t Chad D, you didn’t win one. Don’t worry though, that just means you’re still eligible to win one of our other giveaways, and we’ve got another one coming up later today.

[ Moshi ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I love how people go so far out of their way to fix a problem that barely exists. Take for instance the Flipper USB. It’s a new male USB connector that can be plugged in upside down. This means that instead of having a 50/50 chance of getting it right the first time, you’ll always insert your USB device correctly. This could potentially save you a whole second, perhaps even two!

Alright, perhaps I’m being a bit cynical this morning. I’m pretty lazy myself, and if I weren’t the kind of geek that memorizes the direction that all of his USB devices should be plugged in, I’d probably like this sort of thing. The real question is whether or not this design will ever actually get picked up by manufacturers.

[ FlipperUSB ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Batteries. Let’s face it, you probably can’t live your daily live without relying on them. They’re in your car, your laptop, and even the remote to your TV. It’s likely that the most common ones that you actually have to change are of the AA and AAA variety. These tend to power smaller devices like keyboards, mice, game controllers and the like. They also tend to run out of juice when you need them the most.

If you rely on AA and AAA batteries for a lot of your gadgets, then you’ve no doubt invested in a few sets of rechargeables. This is a great economic way to make sure that you always have a fresh set around (without having to keep buying new ones all the time). Now if you’re on the road a lot with these battery-loving gadgets, you don’t want to clutter up your luggage with another charger, do you? Of course not. Instead, what you need are batteries that can be recharged without a special adapter. These USBCell batteries seem like just the thing.

At first glance, these seem like the perfect solution for the road warrior. They are a set of AA batteries, which have built-in USB adapters. You simply insert each into a free USB port on your computer, and they will start charging up. The question is whether or not they’re actually worth buying.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

This is one of those times when you never thought a product needed an update, until you see a better version. I mean I never had much difficulty using a level before, but from this day on I’ll feel the need to whine and complain whenever I’m forced to look at a bubble, instead of the cool floating two-tone ball used in this Precision Ball Level from C.H. Hanson. Not only is it easier to ‘read’ but the ball, which was inspired by avionics, also allows you to measure the angle of a non-level surface at a glance. It can even be used to level 2 different directions at the same time thanks to a red dot on the top of the ball and a cross-hair marking on its housing. Get it from Lowes (that’s where the C.H. Hanson site links to) for just $19.98.

[ C.H. Hanson Precision Ball Level ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Every week there seems to be a clever new design for a classic gaming arcade cabinet popping up online, but you know what they’ve all been missing? Options like a chromium-plated dashboard and calf or crocodile skin finishes, like this Arcade 80′s Trunk from Pinel & Pinel. It also has a 1080P LCD display, a “very high definition sound system” and even an iPhone/iPod dock, but it apparently only includes about 60 retro titles like PacMan, Space Invaders and 1942. Hopefully that limited collection can be expanded though via a bit of hackery since the fact that there’s no price listed means it probably costs a small fortune.

[ Pinel & Pinel's Luxury Arcade 80's Trunk ] VIA [ Wired GameLife ]