As part of a promotion for their new RF510 “boosted” notebook, Samsung will let you buy a roll of custom wrapping paper featuring a holiday-appropriate pattern of your choice adorned with tweets pulled from either a specific hashtag or username. Well originally they gave out 3,000 rolls for free, but that ship has already long sailed. Now a 19×76-inch roll of the custom wrap is $6.95 which isn’t that expensive actually. Arguably it’s not as cool as the QRapping Paper we brought you last week, but it’s the perfect choice if your giftee is a Twitter fanatic.
If you’re looking for a coffee or side table that will serve as a conversation piece instead of a stable place to put drinks or a safe place for unshielded electronics, the Float table from Brooklyn, New York-based Rock Paper Robot is as unique as it gets. It’s composed of a 4x4x4 matrix of 64 magnetically levitating/repelling cubes that are held together with a series of hidden steel cables. Visually it’s a clever trick, but you can also easily deform the matrix with a little force, which makes me wonder how suited it is for holding anything heavier than a single brochure. And it starts at $2,000 so we’ll just file it away in the ‘not gonna happen’ drawer.
Can’t say I’ve ever thought about using the favored weapon of feudal Japan to pick my teeth, but I guess if it’s good enough to eviscerate one’s enemies, it has to be good enough to dislodge an annoying popcorn husk. But since the art of samurai sword making is almost dead, you’ll have to settle for these novelty toothpick holders instead.
The scabbard can store up to 3 toothpicks (3?! wow!) which can be inserted into the handle making it easier to dislodge a piece of meat, or procure a chunk of cheese from a platter. Available in a set of 2, which includes white and black handles, the swords are made from Cyprus wood and can be found at the Japan Trend Shop for $84. And even at that price you have to provide your own toothpicks.
Have you ever thought it would be cool to have a statue made of yourself? Yeah, I’m not really one for big bronze statues either. I think the most I’d want is a small figure of myself. Apparently it’s not that hard to get one made. The people over at Sculpteo can whip one up in two weeks, using only a couple of photos.
All you need to do is upload a pair of face shots, one from the front and a profile. They’ll then create a figure based on what you’ve sent. Once this is done, you’ll receive a picture of the created figure which you can then approve. 10 days later you’ll have a figure on your doorstep. Figures start at $75 for a 2.7-inch, or you can upgrade to a 3.9-inch for $130.
I’m actually testing the service, and I’ll give you guys an update when I receive my 3D avatar. Now I just have to go find a couple of good pictures!
Well if you can wrap yourself around the kind of deal that cuts your price in half, this is what you seem to be looking at. See, the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 12.1-in tablet usually retails for about $2,064. At least, the Core i7 (yes, that’d be the quad-core model) does. But for some reason, there’s a $765 rebate on it as we speak. But to sweeten things up, there’s another 20% coupon on top of this. After everything is said and done, you’re looking at the X201 for $1,079. That’s just a little under 50% off. So, what’s the X201 you say?
The new ThinkPad X201 Tablet, weighing in at less than 3 pounds is equipped with a configurable display, including options for outdoor viewing, capacitive multi-touch and stylus pen dictation. Powered by new Core i5 or Core i7 processor and Intel HD graphics with up to 8GB RAM. Standard is Bluetooth, Intel Centrino Advanced-N Wireless, Mobile Broadband and 5-in-1 media reader. Key options include webcam, 128GB SSD, and 8-cell battery.
CES 2011 is just around the corner, and while endless aisles of 3D TVs and I suspect more tablets than I’ll ever care to poke at have a tendency to wear away at a blogger’s soul, there are hidden gems that make the whole experience worthwhile. Last year it was Qualcomm’s Mirasol displays that got me really excited, and this year I have a feeling a small robotic ball recently dubbed ‘Sphero’ could do the same.
Originally shown as a prototype back in June, the slightly mishapen, smartphone-controlled ball has recently undergone a bit of a facelift for its debut at CES, and the rendered pictured above makes it look a lot slicker than its predecessor seen in the video I’ve included below. But what is it? Well in its simplest form it’s kind of a rubber ball for the 21st century. The ball is the most universal toy of all time, allowing you to play an endless number of games with it. But instead of whacking it with a bat, kicking it into a goal or throwing it through a hoop, you control the Sphero over Bluetooth via your phone’s tilt sensor, steering as it rolls around a flat surface. So imagine you and a friend placing your Spheros on a table and playing a quick game of sumo trying to knock the other ball off, or as a not-so-virtual game of golf where hitting the ball on-screen results in the Sphero actually moving towards a hole.
The company behind the Sphero, Orbotix, has already created an open API so that iOS or Android developers can write games or apps that interact ball which is great because while there’s already exciting potential, you just know that some brilliant idea is going to come out of left field that will make the Sphero a must-have product. We’ll have more info and hopefully a hands-on look at Sphero as part of our upcoming CES 2011 coverage starting in January.
Using reactive paint, presumably reacting to light in this case, designer Shi Yuan has created a unique wall calendar that slowly fades away as the day progresses. It’s not only a quick visual reminder how much of the day is gone, but it also ensures you don’t use the wrong date the next day if you forget to flip it, because theoretically it will be completely blank. I also think the concept would work great for all the post-it notes stuck to my monitor. The next day when I wake up my to-do lists will have completely vanished!
Of all the novelty shaped ice cubes made possible by recent innovations in silicone molding technology, I think this miscellaneous collection of ice swords has the most potential. You can use the mold by itself to make pure ice swords for dropping in drinks, or use the included plastic hilts which facilitate the act of swizzling. They also make the ice swords far more stable, allowing you to host a medieval sword fighting tournament where the victor claims turkey carving duties while the loser dies… Or does dishes, however you want to set the rules. $14.99 from ThinkGeek.
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zooka Creative. All opinions are 100% mine.
It’s all well and good that you can take videos with your iPhone, but it’s no good if they stay locked up in there. Half the fun is in sharing, and KinKast can help. They make a video sharing (and storage) application that makes it relatively simple to not only share, but backup your videos on their severs. I’ve been using the app for the last couple days and here’s what I think.
Kinkast is pretty comprehensive. You can take your videos directly through the app, or you can import them from the library in your iPhone’s camera app. Once catalogued by Kinkast, you get to the sharing. Selecting videos to share is either done through a vertical sidebar (pictured right) that pops up when you press on the recent-shots icon, or through the app’s own library (which conveniently organizes videos according to date or location). As you can see, you can select multiple videos. When you press “share”, you’re taken to an email editor, which also includes the ability to share to Facebook. Select your recipients and you’re good to go. Kinkast will upload the videos in the background so there’s no waiting for a slider to be done uploading.
I sent a few videos to myself and you receive this simple email with a link to a page on Kinkast’s servers. The video is there, of course and will remain there for either 30 days, or longer if you choose to go premium.
There are no size or length requirements, but do be aware that your videos (at least the ones imported from your library) will be converted to a lower quality format. And while uploading is seamlessly done in the background, it can take some time until Kinkast sends the email with the link.
All in all, Kinkast is a good application. It does what it claims to do and does it elegantly and simply enough that you’ll want to use it. Best of all, it’s free.
Related Tags: Novelty, Seasonal, twitter
Permalink | 
No Comments
