Oh! Gizmo

By Luke Anderson

There’s nothing quite like a product that barely does its primary function. Take this clock, that you can hardly read. All of the hours are “coded” and can only be read properly when the minute hand passes over them. You can actually read the hours fairly easily without the minute hand, however, there is no hour hand.

If you don’t mind not knowing what the hour is, then this clock is fine. I’d actually think this was worth the $49 price tag if that one little piece wasn’t missing. It’s kind of like hooking up an Apple mouse to your PC; it looks really cool, but without the ability to right-click it just sucks.

[ Generate ] VIA [ RGS ]

By Luke Anderson

There’s no arguing that the world has slowly begun looking for “green” alternatives to everyday items. Most of us still don’t go too far out of our way to get everything made from natural or recycled components, but we still try to do our part when we can. Those that like to go the extra mile might enjoy this Woody Bamboo flash drive.

The drive comes in capacities of 128MB all the way up to 8GB. Aside from the essential components that comprise the electronics of the drive, the rest is made from bamboo, and includes a hemp-like string for carrying it around your neck. If you want, you can even get a fancy bamboo storage box. Right now they can only be ordered in large quantities, but you can get a logo stamped on them.

[ Memotrek ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m still trying to figure out if this PR stunt by Krispy Kreme is nothing more than a sight-gag, or an actual giveaway. According to the company’s ‘research’, they found that 3/4 of UK workers felt stressed on a daily basis, but taking a walk in the park was enough to make them feel instantly relaxed. So as a compromise, Krispy Kreme starting giving out these unique sandals to London commuters, which bring a grassy park to their offices.

Krispy Kreme questioned over 1,000 UK workers and found that over half (53 per cent) of urbanites believe their stress levels are affected by a lack of contact with Mother Nature. In response to the problem Krispy Kreme has created the world’s first grass flip-flops to bring summer magic to the city – giving stressed out workers a (literal) spring in their step by creating an instant grassy park underneath their feet regardless of their urban location.

The al fresco flip-flops take up to three weeks to grow and each shoe is covered with over 5,000 blades of grass. If watered regularly the unique footwear can remain in season for over four months – meaning they are the perfect, head-turning summer-accessory for stressed-out men and women.

So, have any OhGizmo! readers in London actually seen or received a pair of these sandals? I don’t really care if they turn out to be nothing more than a gag, since in my eyes Krispy Kreme can do no wrong, but I am curious.

[ World's First (Living) Grass Flip Flops ] VIA [ Geekologie ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While Nintendo’s Game & Watch devices can probably be credited with jumpstarting the handheld electronic gaming market (or at least giving it a much needed boost) the company was no where near as prolific at releasing different segmented LCD display games as Tiger Electronics was. A few weeks ago I managed to dig up the first Tiger Electronics game I owned, which was a simple and generic version of baseball. No MLB tie-ins, so sports celebrity endorsements, just plain old baseball. The game’s sat untouched in a drawer for almost the past 20 years (it’s dated 1987 on the back) but I wasn’t surprised to see the rough condition it was in since I can remember throwing it in my school bag as a kid and taking it everywhere. However, I was surprised to find that the game still worked when I popped in a set of AA’s.

By today’s standards Electronic Baseball is downright crude, with cheesy beeps and blips used for sound effects, and uninspired baseball diamond graphics in the background. Besides the smaller buttons used for power, sound and difficulty settings, the game only has two simple controller buttons which are used for swinging and advancing your runners on base. And even though the graphics surrounding the display clearly show fielders wearing jellyfish and boxing gloves instead of traditional baseball gloves, your team never actually takes to the field. In fact the game is more like a home-run derby in that you really just need to swing on every pitch and hope for the best. Since this was one of Tiger’s first handheld games (at least in this form factor) it’s not surprising how simple the gameplay really was, but as a kid I still played with it for hours on end. Fortunately over the years the Tiger Electronics handheld games did get a bit more advanced…

[ Wikipedia - Tiger Electronics ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While this electric toy car/windmill model kit is recommended as an educational toy for kids 15 years and older, it seems better suited for the younger set who go through batteries like they grow on trees. Once assembled, the electric car is actually recharged by connecting it to the turbine on the back of the windmill. The windmill itself features a loop-wing design that can be turned with even the slightest breeze, but also has a switchable gear system for better harnessing the power from a particularly strong wind. The electric car will run for about 1-2 minutes with about 5-10 minutes of charging, and since it attaches to the windmill your kid can spend the afternoon running around the backyard with it, creating their own breeze. The kit is available on the Tamiya America website for $67.

[ Tamiya Loopwing Wind Power Generator Set ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Yesterday I wrote about the unfortunate demise of Muxtape, and while the site might be dead (I doubt it will ever return in its previous form) the idea isn’t. It looks like a similar site called 8tracks could possibly be a suitable alternative to Muxtape for those of us in withdrawal. While Muxtape allowed users to upload 12 different tracks for their playlist, 8tracks seems to be limited to… wait for it… 8 tracks, just like the old cart format. Of course in the ‘end days’ of Muxtape there were thousands of playlists to choose from, which was a big part of its appeal, so hopefully 8tracks will enjoy similar growth and popularity before the day ‘you-know-who’ comes knocking. And as the The Red Ferret Journal points out, after 8tracks there will inevitably be another, and another, and another…

[ 8tracks ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Jonathan Kimak

This is part interesting and part adorable. A GPS-fitted box turtle helped uncover a marijuana grow-op in Rock Creek Park, south of Maryland. The turtle was wearing the GPS device for a research project run by park rangers. It’s not sure what sort of research the turtle was performing but my guess is it has something to do with fighting evil ninjas.

The turtle stumbled upon an area filled with marijuana plants. When a park ranger followed the GPS signal to retrieve the hero turtle they found the stash and also determined the culprit was a 19 year-old named Isiah Johnson of Chevy Chase, Maryland. Isiah will be charged and the unamed drug sniffing turtle will go back to the sewers, I mean ranger outpost, to fight crime another day.

[ WUSA9 ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Luke Anderson

So you want to do your part to save the environment by utilizing solar power. That’s great, however, a lot of solar products aren’t the easiest to carry around without making you stick out like a sore thumb. Well if you’re really dedicated to the cause, you might check out this solar powered necktie.

The idea here is that when the solar panels are arranged in a grid, they almost look normal on a tie. I’ve seen people wear some crazy ties, so this one might not look half bad, depending on where you work. Of course, if you work in an office, there’s a good chance that this thing won’t see enough sunlight to be all that useful. Sure, it’ll get some juice from the lights in the office, but I doubt it would be strong enough to charge whatever gadget you have connected. For now it seems only to be a concept, so for now you’ll just have to wear a regular tie, if you have to wear one at all.

VIA [ Dvice ]

By Luke Anderson

When I use my laptop, I rarely plug in a mouse, as I can generally get by with just the touchpad. However, if I know that I’m going to be working with some mouse-intensive applications like Photoshop for a bit, I’ll generally use a mouse to make my life easier. Some people prefer to never have to use a touchpad at all, and always keep a mouse with them. So for those people, here is an interesting device from Logitech.

If for some reason you like to carry your laptop around without a case or sleeve, then you’ll love this mouse. It features a clip which mounts (aka sticks) to the lid of your notebook that allows you to attach the mouse to. I’m sure that it will be great if you’re dragging your laptop all over the office, but once you go to put it away in your laptop case, then the clip is pretty useless.

Aside from the clip, it’s a pretty basic wireless mouse from Logitech. It has a tiny 2.4GHz wireless receiver that can stay inserted in your laptop without sticking out very far. If carrying around your laptop without a case is your thing, and you hate touchpads, this might just be worth the price of around $95.

[ Logitech ] VIA [ Hexus ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Companies like Tonka and Fisher-Price have made a name for themselves when it comes to designing toys that can survive the abuse of a small child. But with today’s kids becoming more and more tech-savvy, it only makes sense that in recent years they’ve expanded to making easy-to-use but hard-to-destroy electronics like digital cameras. Continuing with that trend, Fisher-Price is now selling a ‘Kid-Tough’ portable DVD player that features a rubberized shell and shock & skip-proof technology allowing it to survive multiple drops at the hands of a pre-schooler. The 3.2-inch LCD display isn’t gigantic by any stretch of the imagination, but it gives the player about 2 hours of battery life which should make any kid who’s stuck in a car seat more than happy. But that small screen size also means the DVD player can’t really be shared, so the $149.98 price tag is kind of steep if you have more than one kid to distract.

[ Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Portable DVD Player ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]