By David Ponce

The last time we looked at the m11x, it was for a higher end configuration, with a Core i5 processor. And while that one packed a little more horsepower, it also packed a little heavier punch on the wallet, as it was still $999 after rebates. Today’s m11x is a Core 2 Duo config with GB GeForce GT 335M discrete GPU & WLED 720p LCD, 1.3-Megapixel Webcam, 802.11n WiFi, 2GB DDR3 memory, 160GB Hard Drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. It’s usually $799, but after $200 off and a stackable $50 coupon, you can have it shipped to your door for $549. That’s nearly half the price of its better spec’ed brother.

[ $200 Off Plus $500 Coupon On Dell Alienware m11x ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Forget Zest or Irish Spring, if you really want to feel refreshed and invigorated in the morning you’ve got to scrub up with a chunk of Uranium 238! Ok, so it’s not actually Uranium, and is in fact real soap that’s even vegan friendly, so it probably won’t kill you by noon. But it does glow! And I’m sorry Dove, but this is one time when I hope it does leave soap residue behind so that when the sun goes down my skin will literally glow as well. $6.99 from Perpetual Kid.

[ Glow In The Dark Uranium Soap ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Digital photo frames have never been at the top of my gift recommendation list. Too much of a unitasker for my liking. But you slap a printer on there like Epson has done with their PictureMate Show, and you’ve got yourself a decent gift idea for those who like to share their memories. As digital photo frames go it does gobble up a bit more desk/fireplace mantle/dresser space, but sending a copy of a photo home with a loved one is as easy as them hitting the print button.

You are limited to 4×6 prints though which take about 37 seconds to spit out, but if there’s a specific part of a photo you want to concentrate on you do have the ability to maximize those 24 square inches thanks to cropping functions accessible via the included wireless remote. Yes, a touchscreen interface on the 7-inch LCD would have probably been far more intuitive, but at least you don’t have to worry about constantly buffing out fingerprints.

Photos can be loaded onto the PictureMate Show using its built-in SD card slot, or you can attach a flash drive or digital camera directly to its USB port. And an optional Bluetooth adapter presumably lets you send them straight from a camera-equipped phone. At $299.99 it’s more expensive than buying a printer and digital photo frame separately and then taping them together, so I guess you’re paying a premium for a slightly sleeker form factor.

[ Epson PictureMate Show Digital Frame & Printer ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Chris Scott Barr

One of my favorite features on my iPhone 4 is one of the most basic. I’m talking of course about the flash. The addition of one little LED makes a world of difference on the pictures. Yes, having a better camera helps as well, but being able to capture low-light situations is wonderful. Well now owners of the previous iPhones can also have this handy feature.

The iFlash (how original) is a small device that plugs into the docking port of your iPhone. A simple on/off switch kicks on the LED and lights up your subject. The best part is that there is no need for batteries, as it draws power from the phone itself. The $40 price tag is a bit excessive for what it does, so you might just want to wait until you have the opportunity to upgrade your phone.

[ Gadgets and Gear ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The BPM is the fourth design in Crispin Jones’ ‘Master of Time’ series where he asked creative professionals with “an interesting relationship to time” to collaborate on a watch. This time around it was DJ Tom Middleton who not surprisingly created a watch that allows DJs to quickly calculate the BPM of a track. Now I’m not going to pretend to know anything about DJ’ing besides hitting shuffle, but apparently all it takes is some quick counting and a bit of multiplication to figure out a given track’s BPM.

To calculate the bpm of a track: wait until the seconds hand aligns at 9, 12 and 3 on the watch (denoted by a full white circle) and start counting the quarter notes/beats as you’re listening to the music. It’s much easier with House/Techno music as the bass drum usually falls on these quarter note beats.

You’ll see the white circles gradually filling up with red and blue, stop counting when the white circle appears again. Multiply the count by four and you have the bpm.On the rear of the watch are some basic bpm ranges for a selection of current dance music genres.

The BPM watch is limited to just 100 pieces, but with a price tag of $199 it’s not outrageously expensive. And you don’t have to be a DJ to buy one, but the next time you’re at a club and hear a crappy mix just remember that it could be because you took a handy tool away from a real DJ.

[ Mr. Jones Watches - BPM ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While it clearly has aspirations of being just another novelty USB peripheral, this slipper-themed hard drive dock looks quite useful, particularly if you’re the type who uses a stack of old hard drives like they were flash drives. Instead of requiring you to open a housing and permanently installing a drive inside, this dock allows them to easily slide in and out. As long as they’re 2.5 or 3.5-inch SATA drives that is. Larger drives or IDE models might put up a real fight.

It’s USB 3.0 compatible for speedy file transfers, and as you can see the faux red toes sticking out of one end actually serve as an ejection lever, making it easy to remove the drive. And it’s hot swappable so you can rip out a drive and slap in a new one without having to worry about disconnecting the dock from your PC. $45 from USB.Brando.com.

[ Hornettek Slipper USB 3.0 SATA HDD Dock ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Colin Ackerman

There’s really no way to film yourself and something else at the same time with a traditional video camera. I wouldn’t have called this a problem by any stretch of the imagination, but Ion Audio has gone ahead and solved it anyway by installing an extra lens at the back of their “Twin Video” cam, which is now available for purchase.

When you hit the record button, the camera stores just one single stream of video. A button on the back of the camera lets you toggle between each lens on the viewfinder, if you want to inject a little bit of yourself into whatever else you’re filming. The camera itself is solidly mediocre, recording 640 x 480 video at 30 FPS onto an SD card. Thankfully, it’s only $120, meaning that if it’s something you could see yourself using, it might be worth a try.

After the jump, you can check out how it works in a borderline obnoxious video. Read the rest of this entry »

By Colin Ackerman

I know what you’re thinking: why would anyone, anywhere, ever want a foldable TV if it doesn’t fit in your pocket, which this concept definitely doesn’t? Samsung says that by folding (or “flexing” might be more accurate) their display, they can target the 3D sweet spot to viewers anywhere in the room. My guess is that the TV would have some way of detecting the general distance and orientation to viewers, and then the screen (an AMOLED panel) would flex to optimize the 3D experience.

Samsung says that something like this might show up in 5-10 years, but it seems like that’s going to be way, way too late to solve the 3D sweetspot issue, which is just one of the many problems plaguing 3D TV. If you remember, 3D TV was one of the things being flogged last year at CES, and it seems like this year is probably going to be no different, no matter how reluctant consumers might be to buy into the questionable hype.

VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Chris Scott Barr

How do you cook your meatballs? I bet you don’t cook them on a grill. If you do, then my hat is off to you for your dedication. For those who haven’t branched out to this form of meatball preparation, then I have a treat for you. Behold the wonder that is the Meatball Grill Basket.

All you need to do is plop your uncooked meatballs into this strange looking cooking accessory, then set it on your grill. Each side has a sort of mesh design, allowing the grease to drip away from the meatball, leaving you with only perfectly-rounded balls of deliciousness. They even thought to make the handle removeable so that you can close the lid to your grill. Genius. $50 certainly isn’t too much to pay for awesome grilled meatballs.

[ Williams Sonoma ] VIA [ InStash ]