Awwww, is there anything more adorable than a sleeping puppy? Besides yours truly, probably not. But that cuteness can be short lived when a new puppy has trouble sleeping through the night because of separation anxiety from its mother and siblings. So here’s a high-tech alternative to a ticking clock designed to help them feel like they’re not alone. The Sleepy Bunny is a stuffed toy rabbit with a removable, battery-powered heart that simulates a heartbeat. Presumably using sounds and vibrations. It’s available from Firebox for ~ $25, and once your puppy has gotten adjusted to their new home you can simply remove the electronic heart and use the bunny as a regular dog toy.
Smoke alarms are primarily designed to wake and or/alert people in a building that a fire has broken out (or that their chocolate chip cookies are burning) so that they can safely escape in time, and contact the proper emergency services. But the Firetext goes one step further. It actually features a SIM card slot, and when it detects smoke it will send a text to up to 4 different numbers. I assume it’s meant as a way to alert people to an emergency situation when they’re away from the building where the detector is located. As opposed to providing a more effective way to alert our generation of a fire, who seems to have developed a knee-jerk ‘gotta check it right away!’ reaction to their phone’s ‘new text message’ alert. Even when dead asleep in the middle of the night.
It’s still powered by a standard 9V battery, which is good for about 36 alarms. But in the hopeful event that it never goes off, on a single battery it should stay vigil for about 5 years. And it’s available now for ~$144 (£89.99) plus the cost of the SIM and your local carrier’s text messaging service I presume.
You’d think by now the world would have run out of ideas for unique iPhone cases. But this one from Korean company Connect design brings a new twist. Instead of coming with some pre-made design or graphic, it’s perforated with a grid of tiny holes allowing you to use a needle and thread to create a cross-stitch design. It looks like the case comes in your choice of six different base colors, and possibly a few spindles of colored thread to get you started. It’s only $18 too, and based on the endless number of pixel art designs you can find online, it seems particularly well-suited for retro gaming fans.
It’s not particularly thin, doesn’t have a full size keyboard, costs $99.99 and has a limited battery life of just 10 hours. But CompuExpert still feels they can sway consumers looking for a wireless keyboard for their living room HTPC with their new Cideko Air Keyboard Chatting. That is as long as said consumer is really into Skype or chatting online. That’s because the newest addition to their wireless keyboard lineup features a built in-microphone and a headphone jack, so you don’t have to shout across the room when talking with others.
It also foregoes a trackpad, or other tactile cursor navigation solution, for 3D motion controls. So you’ll have to wave it around in the air like a Wiimote if you don’t already have a wireless mouse by your side. (FYI, We strongly recommend having a wireless mouse by your side.) Available now from Amazon, Newegg and presumably other retailers who already carry CompuExpert’s products.
There’s no paddles, no score and no ultimate goal, but Niklas Roy’s PONG! Augmented Pixel game still looks like it would be incredibly fun to play with, and hard to walk away from. He describes it as a sort of sandbox game, not unlike GTA, but not anything like it either. Built as a standalone hardware box, the game has a single video input which takes a live feed from a video camera, and a video and audio out for connecting it to a television. In fact the electronics inside are fairly simple by today’s standards, and Niklas believes his device could have easily been built back in the 70′s. Though it would cost heaps more than it does today.
Instead of paddles, the white ball seen on screen bounces around between two white lines, but it can also interact with a dark object in the video feed. So you can use your hands, fingers or anything with adequate contrast to be a makeshift paddle. The lack of scoring might make it seem like a useless tech demo, but seeing it in action below makes it look pretty addictive. The old school video game sound effects at boot-up and while playing are a nice touch too.
Having trouble deciding on what kind of furniture to get for your new home or office? It’s certainly a decision not to be taken lightly, but while you’re deciding it doesn’t mean you have to work or eat on the floor. Karton, an Australia-based company, has an entire line of furniture made entirely from cardboard that will probably pack flatter than even IKEA’s most ingenious design. Everything from dining room tables to bedroom sets to even filing boxes complete with their own shelving are available. And if you don’t like their drab brown finish, you’re just a pack of crayons away from having something that matches the room’s existing color palette.
Some level of origami skills are probably required to assemble the furniture, though even the most elaborate pieces look easy enough for a 10-year-old to handle. I just wish they were a little cheaper. For $188, which is what they want for their ‘Paperpedic Bed’, I could probably buy enough raw materials and tools to build a wooden bed myself. And at $148 for their ‘Chairman’s Table’ I’d happily work on a piece of plywood spanning a couple of sawhorses, which would be far cheaper. So I guess there must be some level of ‘art’ involved here to warrant their expensive price tags. Just remember that if you spill a glass of water on one of those tables, they’ll be as useless as the paper towels you use to clean up the mess.
If there was one key on your keyboard that deserved to be blinged out in gold, the #4 key would certainly be it. I mean it’s already sporting a mean ‘$’ tattoo above the 4, so why not go all the way and give it the extra street cred it so obviously deserves. ‘chi ha paura… ?’ will sell you one on a custom-made basis, so you know they’re probably not going to come cheap. And hopefully they’ll design it to match whatever keyboard you’re using. Since the product shot looks like it’s on an old IBM Model M, which aren’t so easy to come by these days.
AMD started talking about their new generation of microprocessors quite some time ago: back in 2006! The Fusion class of processors were meant to integrate a CPU and a powerful GPU onto the same die, with an effort to reduce thermals and of course size. Fast forward 5 years, and you’ve finally got real products hitting the market, like this HP Pavilion dm1z. It’s 11.6 inches across and only 0.8 inches thick, but most importantly, packs a dual-core of the Fusion processor. Engadget had this to say about it:
After years of waiting has AMD finally done it? Provided a netbook / ultraportable platform that melds really solid performance and graphics with solid battery life? Something that can kick Intel’s Atom to the curb, but doesn’t require a recharge every two and a half hours? The Pavilion dm1z certainly has all signs pointing to yes.
Resounding endorsement it seems, and today you can grab one for as little as $369. This is with a “FREE 3GB memory upgrade, FREE upgrade to computrace LoJack ($60 savings) and free shipping. Plus, 50% off two 6-cell batteries and $40 off Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student.”
I wholeheartedly endorse the iPhone 4 as a lightweight, always-on-hand P&S digital camera alternative. But this might be taking things a bit too far. For a mere $190 from Photojojo you can get this iPhone 4 case featuring an adapter allowing you to use either Nikon or Canon lenses with your smartphone. On one hand you no longer have to rely on an app to fake a shallow DOF in your photos, but on the other, look at what you’ve done to your sleek, svelte phone!
I’m desperately looking for any sign that this is a leftover April Fool’s Day prank, but from what I can tell, it’s 100% real. And, 100% ridiculous. The removable aluminum case even includes a loophole on either end allowing you to attach a camera strap and hang this Frankenstein of photography around your neck like an actual DSLR. Just remember that autofocus is out of the question, and the tiny sensor on the iPhone 4 is not going to perform anywhere near as well as the one in even the lowest-end DSLR.
*Update: Photojojo has updated the product page with new pricing info. The iPhone 4 version of the SLR Lens Mount is actually $249, while the iPhone 3 version is $149. And we’re not sure why there’s such a huge price discrepancy.
Related Tags: 
Permalink | 
No Comments
