Looking a lot like Luxo after being backed over by a truck, the reflector on the Looksoflat desk lamp has an incredibly thin profile, less than an inch thick by the looks of it. The design is of course facilitated by the tiny profile of a couple of LED bulbs, but I can’t help but feel it’s going to be far less efficient at illuminating a work space. But should you drop a pen or a charging cable behind your desk, this should have no trouble squeezing back there to help you find it. Available soon… hopefully.
Online shoe stores like Zappos are vastly superior to their brick-and-mortar counterparts when it comes to selection, but my shoe size varies from brand to brand and style to style, so actually trying a pair on is an important part of my decision process. So while I won’t deny that adidas’ new adiVERSE Virtual Footwear Wall is an impressive piece of technology, and is probably incredibly fun to play with, I can’t help but feel it would be out of place in a physical shoe store.
The adiVERSE is essentially a massive touch-screen interface that allows shoppers to peruse virtual versions of the shoes in adidas’ current lineup. And because they’re all rendered in 3D in real-time, they can be rotated, zoomed and thoroughly examined in the virtual space. And if you find a pair you really like, you can even order them via a tablet-based checkout or from the traditional cash desk where they’ll be delivered to your home. So basically it’s like a far more interactive experience than shopping for shoes from your browser, except that you have to leave the comfort of your living room couch to do it.
Growing up when I did, I never really got to experience the sounds of vinyl. Sure, they were still around, and even are today. However, cassettes (and later CD’s) ruled the day. If you’re wanting to recapture some of the glory days of vinyl without shelling out too much cash, you might check out this USB Powered Turntable.
This small device will hook into your computer via USB and play your records through the speakers, or even record the audio to your hard drive. There’s also the option of using the RCA output if you want to play the sound through a nice pair speakers. At $50, you really can’t beat this gadget.
The next time you’re out shopping for a gigantic new flat-screen TV to impress your friends, don’t forget that sometimes big things come in little packages. Sure, a 100+ inch monster taking up 80% of your living room would be eye-catching, but what if you flipped on the big game and it magically appeared like a hologram inside a 3.9-inch crystal ball sitting on your coffee table instead? That would be impressive too right?
Well probably not, but at the least it’s oozing with novelty charm. That’s probably why the Japan Trend Shop recommends it as signage or advertising for stores, pubs or even a reception desk. It’s got a basic video-in connection so it can actually display video from a DVD player or other source, not just static images. But, the whopping $4,909 price tag is probably going to produce more spit-takes than sales.
One of the areas where the iPad shines is interactive children’s books, but before you start complaining about those interactive elements taking away from the simple pleasures of reading, let’s not forget that pop-up books provided a similar experience well before even Apple’s original computer was cobbled together. And while some of the charm of a real pop-up book is lost on the iPad since you know it doesn’t require any clever paper engineering tricks to make it work, I think both kids and adults will enjoy a new virtual pop-up title called The Three Little Pigs And The Secrets Of A Popup Book.
Besides high production values and varied interactive elements throughout the story, the book also gives you the option of turning on an x-ray view of every page, showing the supposed mechanics of what’s going on in the background. Now of course the various gears and pulleys and what-not that are revealed are far more complicated than what you’d find in an actual pop-up book, but it doesn’t make them any less fascinating to explore. Check out the video of it in action I’ve included below to see what I mean.
The book is available as of December of last year on the iTunes App Store for just $3.99, and while it seems to be a universal title working on both the iPad and iPhone, I think the experience will be a lot more enjoyable on the iPad’s substantially larger display.
The Easy-Bake Oven will probably go down in history not for its role in enforcing gender roles in children (why was it always pink? boys like baked goods too!) but as a testament to how horribly inefficient incandescent light bulbs were. All it took was the intense heat from a single 100 watt bulb to bake up miniature cakes and cookies, but starting in 2012, in the U.S. at least, aspiring pastry chefs won’t be able to get a replacement should theirs burn out.
It’s the result of a 2007 law that requires lighting to be more energy-efficient, something incandescent bulbs were never designed to be. But the ban hasn’t put the last nail in the Easy-Bake Oven’s coffin just yet. Definitely not. In the fall of this year Hasbro will be releasing the Easy Bake Ultimate Oven which comes with a dedicated heating element instead of a light bulb. Besides being more eco-friendly, the new version of the Easy-Bake will function more like its real-life and full-size oven counterparts, expanding a tiny chef’s repertoire to include dishes like pretzels and pizzas. A fine example of turning lemons into lemonade!
Unless we’ve been completely misled by Apple’s PR minions and the invite they sent out for tomorrow’s event, there’s a pretty good chance we’ll be getting our first look at the next generation iPad on Wednesday. Which of course means that Craigslist will soon be flooded with a never-ending supply of used first generation iPads, priced to move to help pay for someone’s new toy. So if you’re lucky enough to score a real deal from someone desperate to unload theirs, why not splurge and pick up a nice case?
Speck is well known for their extensive lineup of cases for almost every gadget you can think of, but today we’re going to take a look at two of their offerings for the current generation Apple iPad, the CandyShell Wrap and the DustJacket. Both provide a considerable more amount of protection for your tablet than Apple’s own case offers, and at least in my opinion, they both look a lot nicer too. More after the jump.
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