By David Ponce

You won’t care much about this if you don’t obsessively watch the best car show on the planet, UK Top Gear. Then again, if you don’t watch it, perhaps you should just curl up in a ball and not do much at all; life isn’t worth living when one lacks appreciation for this show… The rest of us however will find it interesting to know that TomTom has released a special “Top Gear Edition” of its GO LIVE GPS navigator. The most obvious features is that your directions will be voiced by the giant himself, Jeremy Clarkson. But that’s not where it ends. Other unique features include

Top Gear Points of Interest like “an exhaustive of racetracks and raceways, including the Top Gear Test Track.”

Unique Top Gear car icons.

Top Gear start up and shut down screens.

And my personal favorite, “Stig Mode”. It renders the satnav instantly silent!

It’s $270 and available for Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.

[ TomTom Go Live Top Gear Edition ] VIA [ Xataka ]

By David Ponce

Oh those scientists, always looking out for mankind. Now researchers at the University of California, Davis, have come up with a self-cleansing cloth. They’ve taken regular old cotton and covered it with a new compound called 2-anthraquinone carboxylic acid, or 2-AQC. When exposed to light, 2-ACQ releases chemicals (hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide) that harm bacteria and break down other organic compounds. More importantly, perhaps, is that 2-ACQ has been shown to bond strongly to cellulose and doesn’t simply wash off like other self-cleaning products. Not that you’d want to wash them. Because we all know what we’re going to be doing with this stuff. And that’s not washing the heck out of it. Just to see…

Better yet, the fabric may not be that far away from hitting the market. Although still at the research phase and “although 2-AQC is more expensive than other compounds, the researchers say that cheaper equivalents are available.”

[ UC Davis Page ] VIA [ MedGadget ]

By David Ponce

Racing is pacing. Whether it’s automotive or human powered, there’s more winning to be having when you know how to pace yourself properly and aren’t constantly accelerating and decelerating. Keeping your inertia is key. And in the case of humans, keeping your stamina is also paramount; put too much at the start, there’s nothing left at the end of the race. If you happen to race underwater (or at least on water), the Tempo Trainer Pro is the waterproof metronome you’ve always wanted. Now with interchangeable batteries, it can provide you with several lifetimes worth of watery pacing. Should it come undone from under your swim cap, it’ll just float right up to the surface.

It’s $50.

[ Tempo Trainer Pro ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By David Ponce

Now look at the headline for a second. That’s almost $900 off we’re talking about. Not a small chunk of change, and it’s on the ThinkPad Edge E420s from Lenovo. After rebates you’re looking at a very reasonable $628 for a 14-inch laptop that comes with a Core i3-2330M 2.2GHz processor, an Intel HD 3000 graphics card, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB 7200rpm HDD and a fingerprint reader. One reviewer described it like this:

Whether you’re a mobile professional, a student, or just someone who needs an affordable notebook for work and play, the ThinkPad Edge E420s is a compelling choice. This laptop offers a great typing experience, solid performance, and strong battery life.

[ $865 Off A Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By David Ponce

Yeah, that’s two “B-Gone’s”… As in this little $19 device will jam any TV-B-Gones in the vicinity and allow your underpants to remain unbunched should pranksters abound. As in the TV-B-Gone will B Gone… Get it? And if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the skinny. There’s a product out there called a TV-B-Gone (don’t want to say that word ever again…). It’ll quickly cycle through most televisions’ IR codes while sending the command to turn it off. That means you can turn off almost any television you come across. Nifty little device, unless of course you use it for evil (or hilarity, depending on your viewpoint) like Gizmodo did a while back at CES. Oh the bricks that were pooped over that incident…

In any case, it “works with almost all IR controlled devices by corrupting IR data from the six commonly used transmission frequencies.” And yes, it also means that while your TV will be protected from being turned off, it’ll also not respond to your own remote… Kind of makes you wonder if you couldn’t just put some tape over the IR receiver…

[ IR Jammer Kit ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

By David Ponce

The thing about windows is that they’re meant to let light through. It’s kind of their point. Solar chargers, then, would seem like a natural mate for them and Brandon Craven’s design brings the two together elegantly. Window and charger, living in harmony. Or maybe the window would consider the charger a parasite… who knows? In any case, all he’s done is add a suction cup to a regular solar charger… but sometimes that’s really all you need. A suction cup. Add it to everyday objects and see what happens.

In all fairness, Brandon’s product looks interesting. It charges via USB, has integrated batteries that will store energy even when not actively connected to a device, and a kickstand allows it to point at the sun even when no windows are around. The only issue is that the product is not yet real. It’s in its fundraising phase on social funding site Quirky. It costs $39 and there needs to be 2,000 sold before production kicks in. As of this writing, there are 708 commitments.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By David Ponce

It’s not really smell-o-vision as much as it’s smell-o-gaming. Seems there’s a French company called Olf-Action that already makes a smelly device for cinemas. That one is called “Odoravision” and movies are currently being retro-fitted to include a smell track. This is an idea that’s been tested and failed plenty of times through the years, but here’s a thumbs up for trying again. And now this company is talking about releasing a similar device for gaming (and home cinema too, it seems) and calling it SMELLIT. You can see it in the picture. God… that name is awful!

There’s very little information about this at the moment. The only reason it’s even being talked about is because the renderings look interesting and the company behind it already has a smell related product on the market. The device will be on display at the Lisbon Design Show, from 11 to 16 October 2011. Maybe then we’ll know more.

In the meantime, hit the jump for pictures, including one with all the scents they currently manufacture. Highlights? “Scent of good mood.” And “Smell of Calabria.”

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Ponce

Any geek worth his salt must have a healthy appreciation for the god of foods. We certainly do, as we’ve written about Bacon-y creations over and over: bacon baby formula, bacon jam, bacon lip balm and even bacon floss. You can now add to that delicious list Bacon Muffins. They come in Bacon Blueberry and Bacon Pumpkin Spice flavors and are $22 for a 6 pack.

While browsing the order page… I noticed several other bacon pastries. I will now proceed to give them all my cash.

[ Bacon Muffins (and others) ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

By David Ponce

Famed dog trainer Cesar Milan would probably say: “Keep that dog in check, foo!” Or maybe he wouldn’t. What Cesar says doesn’t matter, really. All I’m getting to is you should train your dog to obey you, be sociable around other pets and not pee in your cereal. And not tug on your leash. I read somewhere that clicker training is a good way to teach Fido who’s who and what’s what. But that looks like it requires effort on your part. Better to purchase this $40 gadget instead. It wedges itself between the leash and the collar and has an ultrasonic whistle and a sensor. If it starts to detect tugging, it whistles unpleasantly in proportion to the tugging effort. The sounds are “aimed” at your dog so no other canine is inconvenienced and the volume level is adjustable. Only your dog will be miserable. And maybe he’ll learn. Or he’ll secretly get back to you in ways you don’t want to imagine…

This product doesn’t sound like a bad idea, to be honest. Anyone want to try it out and report back here?

[ Product Page ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]