August 2012 | OhGizmo!

Star Wars R2D2 Lunch Bag is the Coolest Way to Carry Your Grub

By Hazel Chua on 08/29/12 • Leave a comment!

School can sometimes be a drag. I think that’s something we all know based on experience. One thing I remember to get rid of the school-day blues back when I was still a student though, was bring something that made me happy every day to school. Sometimes it was a bottle of my favorite perfume, sometimes it was my favorite pin. It might sound silly, but it actually worked.

So maybe you could do what I did for your kids who are currently still in school, but in a more consistent and geeky manner. How? By letting them bring their lunch in this uber-cool Star Wars R2D2 Lunch Bag!

It looks awesome, it lights up, and it even makes fun beeping sounds once you push the button. It’s made from 100% PVC and is BPA free, so you don’t have to worry about food safety. It’s also padded with superior quality polyethylene foam insulation so your grub stays fresh.

The Star Wars R2D2 Lunch Bag is available for $19.99.

[ Product Page ]

Luke, I Am Your… Tea Infuser?

By David Ponce on 08/29/12 • 1 Comment

Oh that’s a terrible headline, we know. But the Star Wars Death Star Tea Infuser definitely isn’t terrible. It’s a $20 expense that will make you the coolest dude at your next tea party. Because that’s what all the cool kids are doing these days. Tea parties.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ GeeksAreSexy ]

Uglify Your Car In The Name Of Aerodynamics With The Gaspods

By David Ponce on 08/29/12 • Leave a comment!

Gas is expensive, ain’t it? Everyone except maybe the residents of Venezuela (who pay around $.15 per gallon) are suffering and manufacturers are doing everything they can to convince us they’re working on making cars more efficient. But are they? If progress on that front isn’t swift enough to your taste, you could always take matters into your own hands. Improving the aerodynamic coefficient of your car would increase its mileage, so Bob Evans, an American industrial designer, came up with the GasPods. These are aftermarket… “airfoils” that allegedly reduce drag by “expanding, organizing, and enhancing the airflow” coming off the back of the vehicle. A set of ten such airfoils placed on the rear of the roof of the car reduce drag by 5%, and adding a few more along the sides on the rear increases that efficiency to 6.7%. The wind-tunnel and PC-simulation tested pods feature rare earth magnets behind a rubber base, so they can be easily attached to your car and just as easily removed once you’ve had enough of people laughing at you.

But hey, if it saves you money in the long run, who cares how much people laugh? The product itself is cheap enough, with them being “$29.95 for a set of three adhesive-backed pods in a stock color, and up to $124.95 for a custom-painted set of nine magnetic pods.”

Hit the jump for pictures and links.

Flying Down A Hill On A Bicycle With No Saddle, No Pedals

By David Ponce on 08/29/12 • 5 Comments

Locomoting about on wheels isn’t always about finding the most efficient method to do so. There’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun in the process, and the Fliz contraption you see above seems to fit the bill. In one way it’s like a bicycle, only there’s no pedals and no saddle, only a harness and a large u-shape frame from which you suspend. You propel yourself forward by running, and then tuck your feet in for a few seconds, giving the rider a sort of floating, flying sensation. In that sense the Fliz is also like a skateboard. But there is a handlebar and brakes, so at least flying down a hill headfirst doesn’t have to result in immediate death.

It looks like fun, and we want one! But we don’t think there’s any way to buy it. There’s only a prototype, and it’s apparently been submitted as an entry in the James Dyson Award competition. Maybe if it wins and there’s enough interest, it could turn into a real product. In the meantime, you can hit the jump for a couple more pictures and a video of it in action.

Deal Of The Day: $300 Off On Toshiba Satellite

By David Ponce on 08/29/12 • Leave a comment!

We realize that it’s a somewhat inevitable consequence of having a diversified product line, but when machines have product names like P740-ST6N01, it makes it so much harder to remember exactly what you’re getting. Granted, this is a Toshiba Satellite, but the alphabet soup product number means that it’s the Core i5 2.5GHz model with the 8GB of RAM. Yeah, no way you’d have known that had we not told you, but that’s ok. The takeaway is that it’s a 14 inch laptop, with additional features like an “LED-backlit LCD (1366×768), Intel HD graphics, USB 3.0 sleep-and-charge port, HDMI, integrated webcam, harman/kardon speakers and Fusion X2 finish in platinum.” $899 is regular price, $599 after the drop. Shipped.

[ $300 Off On Toshiba Satellite ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

‘Move’ Tank Top Shocks You With an Electric Jolt When You Mess Up in Pilates

By Hazel Chua on 08/28/12 • Leave a comment!

Senseable

Pilates has a lot of benefits, but it’s not the easiest discipline to learn. Practice makes perfect and eventually you will get the hang of it.

Most people learn the basics by going to class and having an instructor show them or help them through it. But what about those days when you’re running late or when you don’t find a suitable class schedule? Well, for those times, there’s the ‘Move’ tank top.

It’s a state-of-the-art top that’ll give you a mild electric shock whenever you make a mistake in Pilates. That’s the signal for you to go over it again. You’ll know you’ve done it right the second time around when you hear three buzzes. It also hooks up with an app, which you can run on your smartphone to check out your overall performance.

The design was presented at last month’s Wearable Technologies conference in San Francisco, where its designer Jennifer Darmour explains: “It’s not meant to replace an instructor, but it can certainly help you understand the technique even when the instructor isn’t around.” She has big plans for it too, as she aims to have similar clothing ”that zap golfers, baseball pitchers and yoga lovers whenever they make a wrong move.”

[ ABC News ] VIA [ Dvice ]

Here’s A Security System That Does Absolutely No Securing

By David Ponce on 08/28/12 • Leave a comment!

Most security systems/alarms do a very specific job: they detect forceful entry, sound an alarm, and contact the authorities. Yet, despite their existence, thieves are still plying their trade almost completely unhindered; it really doesn’t take a whole lot of time to smash a window, grab some things, and run. The LaserScan security system takes a different approach to the issue: deterrence. The system itself doesn’t do a thing. It doesn’t contact a security central, the cops or anyone. It doesn’t even detect unauthorized entry. All it does is look really menacing by projecting a set of moving laser beams all around the inside of your home. Seen from the outside, it looks to the robber like he’s not up against your run of the mill security system, but some kind of weird Hollywood-like setup. Will he be trapped inside? Gassed? Zapped? Who knows?! Better try the next house over. And a theft not attempted, is a theft not accomplished.

It’s $200 and we quite frankly believe it a better option that traditional systems out there. Until word gets out and the thieving community catches on. So, the ideal would be a combination of both: a deterring laser system that actually works. There’s a hole in the market here, folks…

Video and links, as always, after the jump.

Personal Energy Orb Makes You Cycle Before You Can Use Your PC

By Radu Iosif on 08/28/12 • Leave a comment!

Spending ungodly amounts of time in sitting in front of a PC is bad for you. Mkay? But yeah, you’re lazy, we get it, so as always technology comes to the rescue. Developed by two students at the University of Munich for a physical computing course, the Personal Energy Orb is an Arduino-based device that keeps track of how much you’ve cycled, and rewards your efforts by letting you use your computer properly. An LED-filled orb is attached to your handlebars, while a revolution counter keeps track of distance traveled. The more you pedal, the more the orb shifts to green. Come back home with a fully green orb and you can use your PC normally. A red orb on the other hand means that Windows will set the mouse sensitivity to its lowest setting, annoying the heck out of you until you decide to either throw the whole thing in the garbage, or actually go outside for some activity.

Considering it’s a school project, the two students were happy to see that it did in fact work, though it wasn’t without its occasional hiccups, mostly battery related. As for commercialization, there doesn’t seem to be any clears plans for that.