This supposed ‘Super’ Collar precariously walks the line between being a useful gadget and a useless novelty item. But I think it manages to lean enough towards the former to be worth consideration. Particularly if you’ve got a larger canine who can be a handful and needs to occasionally be restrained.
It’s a replacement dog collar that features a built-in retractable 3-foot leash that you can quickly extend to keep your pup in check. The extending lead is also covered in wound steel cable so it can withstand “100s of pounds of tugging pressure” and the fact that it’s tethered to the collar in two places certainly doesn’t hurt either. And because taking your dog for a long walk with a 3-foot leash isn’t ideal, the collar also has a standard D-ring for use with traditional, longer leashes. Available from Taylor Gifts for $39.98 in medium and large versions.
A day doesn’t go buy when I don’t find some random gadget, device or contraption that I want. I guess it’s the nature of writing about this stuff for a living. But today’s ‘WANT’ is probably even more intense because it’s something I can’t actually buy anywhere. This impressively detailed miniature Space Invaders arcade cabinet was created by YouTube user ‘vcoleiro1‘ who posted a clip of his creation online. If you’re like me, you’ll be wishing you’d taken up soldering years ago so you could pull off a mod like this yourself.
The 7-inch tall cabinet was built with 6mm MDF, painted and then decorated with official SI arcade machine graphics which were printed on glossy decal paper. The best part of the mod however has to be the tiny joystick and arcade-like buttons which were purchased from Digikey.com and eBay, and wired onto the GBA SP’s mainboard. Providing a more authentic gaming experience than previous mods that just used the GBA’s standard button layout. The back of the cabinet also opens allowing you to easily swap in other game carts, or let’s be honest here, a supercard so you can load it up with thousands of easily accessible titles.
While laser tag has been around since 1979, providing a bruise-free alternative to paintball, the ‘sport’ really didn’t get a lot of recognition until Worlds Of Wonder created their misspelled home version, Lazer Tag, in 1986. The brand has passed from company to company over the years, but has pretty much disappeared once the acronym ‘FPS’ entered our lexicon. But WowWee hopes to revive its popularity with its new Light Strike game, which ups the ante by incorporating modern video game features.
First of all the actual guns are available in various sizes, from cheap and affordable pistols, to larger, more intimidating and more expensive assault rifles. And just like the weapon power-ups strewn across video game levels, you can enhance your Light Strike gun with accessories: The ‘Refractor Launch System’ works kind of like a grenade launcher, taking out multiple targets at once. A ‘Rapid Fire System’ increases your firing rate and adds stabilizing bipod legs and there’s even an ‘Enemy Scanner’ which detects opponents around you, in a rather limited 20-30 foot range though.
The rifles and target accessories even let you customize your game, setting up teams or specific types of matches including a capture the flag scenario where you have to secure an I.T.S. or ‘Intelligent Targeting System’ device. The whole system actually looks rather impressive, particularly for those of us who cringe at the thought of getting even a tiny paintball bruise. The only downside of course is that to fully outfit a team for a serious match, you’ll be forking out a lot of dough. The cheapest pistols will run ~$50, while accessories range in price from ~$15 up to $50 as well. Not to mention the need for a constant supply of AA batteries.
The last time we looked at this deal, the Vostro 230 was being paired with a 24-inch monitor and the bundle was selling for $419. This time around, we’ve lost two inches on the monitor, but we’ve also lost $20 on the overall bundle price. Coming in at just under $400 after a $291 rebate, the Vostro 230 will fit right into your business without breaking the bank. For this sum, you get a 3Ghz dual-core processor and “3GB DDR3 1333MHz memory, 250GB Hard Drive, GMA X4500 graphics, Microsoft Office Starter 2010, Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit OS, Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services 15-months subscription and bundled Keyboard + Mouse.”
There aren’t a ton of reviews of this machine on the Internet, but that’s because the Vostro is a business line and this means little by way of excitement. No fancy graphics cards, liquid cooling or jet-fighter aesthetics. Like we mentioned last time, what you do get is great value and dependability.
I’ve always liked chess but never been very good at it. While the basics are easy to pick up, the ability to scrutinize every situation on the board and think several turns in advance has always eluded me. The biggest obstacle to improving one’s chess game is that it requires an opponent of a very specific skill level. An opponent too easy won’t teach you anything, and an opponent too advanced makes for a very painful game.
Solitaire Chess, however, provides 60 different solo-play puzzles, increasing in difficulty to take you from beginner to expert. The puzzles teach you to think in sets of moves by putting arrangements of pieces on a quarter chunk of a chess board and asking you to remove one piece at a time until only one remains.
The puzzle cards stow in the base, along with two of each chess piece (but just one King and Queen) for easy storage. It’s designed for ages 8 and up and runs for $20 at Thinkgeek or $15 at Amazon.
Proving that there’s still a lot of fun to be had with film and in-camera effects, Holga’s TIM or ‘Twin Image Maker’ camera lets you create half-frame exposures, color effects through flash filters, multi-exposure shots and yes, even 3D images, if you must. The camera’s smiling face includes its dual lenses for eyes, a grinning mouth for controlling the aperture and eyebrows which allow you to individually open and close each lens. Allowing you to create a different exposure on either side of the photo using its multiple exposure button.
TIM also comes with an optional flash with a set of permanently mounted color filters that can be rotated in place as needed. All-in-all you should have over 50 different “shooting experiments” and effects combinations using all of camera’s functionality, and yes, if you leave both of the lenses open while taking a photo they’re far enough apart to create a convincing 3D effect. But thankfully that’s not all this camera’s about. Available from Photojojo for $50 on its own, or $60 if you want the flash as well.
I actually rather enjoy those spherical mazes that have become popular as of late. But once you successfully solve them by navigating the metal ball through the twists, turns and other obstacles, there’s not a lot of replay value left. Unless you manage to turn it into a competition with other people. Like the Maze Racer does.
While the course isn’t fully 3D like the ones that snake their way around the inside of those plastic spheres, it still measures over 3.28 feet long (1 meter+) with plenty of obstacles to pose a suitable challenge. But completing the maze is less about the feeling of accomplishment, and more about beating the clock since the Maze Racer’s got an electronic timer built in. Now hopefully the timer is somehow integrated in a way so that it automatically stops and starts the clock when the ball leaves the starting point/ends up at the finish line. Because when you’re trying to beat a friend’s time, every last second counts. Available from Firebox for ~$24. (£14.99)
When I was 15 I was just as fascinated with digital watches as Tynan Mayhew probably is. Except that at that age most of my time was spent drooling over display cases, fascinated by Casio’s latest calculator wristpiece. While Tynan was sketching up his own designs and sending them off to the Tokyoflash Design Studio Blog. Who liked it so much they put it into production!
Now known as the Kisai Kaidoku, the watch features the numbers one to twelve as words, plus other characters like AM and PM, which flash in sequence letting you read the time. Already confused? You’re probably not alone, it’s a Tokyoflash design after all. So here’s a helpful video that walks you through using the watch and deciphering the time.
The Kisai Kaidoku also features a stainless steel case and buckle, a leather strap in a black or white finish and an electroluminescent backlight which glows blue, green or purple. If you order it in the next 35 hours (at the time of writing) it’s just $119. But after that you’ll have to cough up an extra $20 when it jumps to its regular price of $139.
Not only am I an avid gamer, but I am also a musician. I have been playing guitar for about 13 years now, and it helps when I can keep all of my equipment in one place. That’s why when I got the chance to try out IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube iRig for the iPhone, I was really excited. The iRig is a device that allows you to connect your guitar to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and listen, record, and tune your guitar to all of your needs. After toying around with it for a bit, here are my thoughts on the product.
What You Get
In the box, you will get the actual iRig connector piece, and the instruction booklet.The device utilizes an application that you can download through the App Store called AmpliTube. The app comes in a free version, as well as an extended version that includes a ton of plug-ins. For this, I found all I needed was the free version.
The device has a sleek design, and it plugs right in to the i-device you’re using. There’s no issue with long cords or tangling thanks to the iRig’s design. I found this especially useful when I would move from place to place around the house, and when I was packing my gear up to travel.
Related Tags: Pets
Permalink | 
No Comments
