By Andrew Liszewski

There are plenty of recipe or restaurant finding apps for smartphone-toting foodies, but iGrill is one of the first that can actually help when it comes to cooking. The free app connects to a Bluetooth-equipped temperature probe base station and allows you to monitor the temperature of something on the grill from up to 200 feet away.

The probe also works as a standalone temperature monitor, complete with an easy to clean touch interface, but the real fun comes when you use it in conjunction with the iPhone or iPad app. Not only does it let you monitor the temperature from afar, but it also provides intelligent cooking time estimates based on what type of meat you’re cooking, and how big the carcass is. The iGrill is available now for $99.99, with additional probes, which can be used simultaneously, costing $19.99 each.

[ iGrill ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Do you love social networking? Have hundreds of friends on Facebook? Maybe you want to show off those friends in a tangible, offline manner. I’ve not really seen any way to do this in the past, but a new company called Social Artworks wants to turn your Facebook friends into a personalized poster.

All you have to do is head to the Social Artworks website, pick out your poster size and then use the “connect to Facebook” option. Then select the friends you want depicted (since you may not want to see all of your friends printed out) and it will arrange their pictures in a nice, orderly manner.

The company doesn’t collect any personal data and only uses pictures that are made publicly available, so no need to worry about data privacy. You can choose to have your collage as a poster print, or on canvas. Sizes range from 16” x 10” up to 36” x 24” and prices start at around $19.

[ Social Artworks ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The removal of lawn darts from public availability was kind of understandable. And it’s not like there’s an Olympic event that’s suffering from a dearth of talent because of it. But the taming down of chemistry sets has arguably had a negative effect when it comes to getting kids excited about a career in the sciences. Baking soda and vinegar volcanoes aren’t really that inspiring. So I’m kind of surprised to see this Chem C3000 set from Thames & Kosmos which appears to have slipped past the fun censors unscathed.

It includes all the fun stuff you’ll need like apparatus and chemicals to complete 360 different experiments. And while they vary in complexity and entertainment value, there appear to be a few gems like making your own hydrochloric acid, which I’m going to assume ends up safely diluted. The Thames & Kosmos website lists all the fun stuff the kit comes with, and I’d encourage you to look at the $249.95 price tag as an investment in your kids’ futures.

[ Thames & Kosmos Chem C3000 Chemistry Set ] VIA [ InventorSpot ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In order to let PS3 owners enjoy classes NEOGEO titles to their fullest extent, SNK is releasing a USB-equipped, Playstation-branded version of the original console’s classic controller. I never owned a NEOGEO, but according to ALBOTAS its controller featured the disc-shaped control stick pictured above which activated four micro-switches, instead of the more traditional D-pad that was popular at that time. It worked though, and apparently there is still a demand for it or SNK wouldn’t have created this modern update. It will be available in Japan starting December 9 for ~$37 (¥3,129) but those living elsewhere can snag one from Play-Asia for $44.90.

[ SNK NEOGEO Pad USB ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]

By David Ponce

Let’s face it, Mondays suck. And looking at a post for a deal on a Toshiba Portégé won’t brighten it up. Unless of course your heart is set on the R705-P41, a 13.3 inch laptop with a Core i5-460M 2.53GHz processor (2.80 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology), 3MB L3 Cache, 4GB DDR3 1066MHz (max 8GB), 500GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive, DVD SuperMulti drive, 13.3″ diagonal widescreen TruBrite LED backlit LCD, Mobile Intel HD Graphics, and Windows 7 Home Premium. Then, of course, you might smile a little bit because there’s a $140 off deal at the moment, bringing the $939 price down to $800.

To sweeten things up a little, they’re even throwing in a Camileo S20 Camcorder for free!

[ $140 Off Toshiba Portégé 13.3" Core i5 Laptop ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Even though I have a soft spot for Star Wars, I’ve been holding off writing about the recent glut of Star Wars-themed headphones because I feel they’ve been less than inspired. But once again that little astromech droid comes to the rescue. Instead of just slapping an image of Vader or a Stormtrooper on each side of the headphones, Coloud has graphic’d them up to look like R2-D2′s domed head. They also sport a matching color scheme, feature a foldable design and include an inline remote/microphone making them smartphone compatible. And while I can’t speak for the sound quality, they’re just $49.90 available directly from Coloud.

[ Coloud R2-D2 Headphones ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While Nintendo does what it can to hinder ‘homebrew’ solutions from running on their various consoles and gaming platforms, eventually their measures are compromised. The most recent success comes from Team Cyclops, who were responsible for the most excellent CycloDS Evolution for the DS and DSLite. Of course those carts don’t work on the latest version of the DS, the DSi, but the team’s upcoming CycloDS iEvolution will, with an important advantage over its competitors.

The DSi’s countermeasures were circumvented a while ago, but only while the DSi was in ‘DSL’ mode, meaning its new tricks like the cameras and SD card slot were inaccessible to homebrew applications. But Team Cyclops’ new card works in ‘DSi’ mode which means that developers will finally have the ability to access those features. The new cart isn’t available to the public just yet, but the team is encouraging legitimate homebrew developers to contact them for a free iEVO cart to help in its development.

[ Team Cyclops' CycloDS iEvolution ] VIA [ GBAtemp.net ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’m a PC gamer for the most part, but my Xbox 360 still gets plenty of love. I just tend to prefer the mouse/keyboard combination to using a controller. However, there are still some situations where I want the latter. This is usually when I’m playing emulated games from the NES or SNES era. Trying to play them with a keyboard just isn’t the same. That’s why this Chameleon X-1 Mouse looks rather appealing.

Imagine being able to pick up your mouse, only to find all of the necessary buttons for a controller on the bottom. That’s exactly what this device has. This is exactly the kind of hybrid device that gets me excited. I only wonder how well this $55 gadget performs. We should hopefully see it on the market sometime early next year.

[ Shogun Bros ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In some non-descript factory somewhere they’ve finally realized that people are buying a lot of movies via broadband distribution methods, and that DVD’s days might be numbered. So instead of spitting out yet another portable DVD player, it looks like they’ve replaced the disc playing parts with an iPhone dock. But is it really worth it? It does give you a 7-inch LCD display that easily outsizes the iPhone 4′s display, but with a resolution of just 480×234 I’m pretty sure the iPhone 4′s display outclasses it in every other regard.

It’s also got AV out hookups, presumably just composite video, for connecting it to a TV, a couple of 1-watt speakers if you forgot your headphones and its rechargeable battery is good for two hours of playback. Kind of crappy though given the electricity sucking motors of the DVD hardware don’t exist. And it’s $199.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer. Verdict? In this case I don’t think settling for the iPhone 4′s smaller display is a compromise.

[ iPhone Screen Enlarger ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]