The ketchup packet is one of those things that has stayed exactly the same since before I was born. After all, it fulfills the duty that is required of it. It holds your condiment until such a time that you’re ready to add it to your food. Well at some point Heinz decided that they could do better, and undertook the task of reinventing the ketchup packet. The end result was essentially a cross between the old packet, and the little plastic containers that you get BBQ sauce in at McDonald’s.
It does seem to make perfect sense. When you grab a burger and fries through the drive-thru, where do you put the ketchup that you’re going to dip your fries in? Maybe on a napkin, or even the wrapper for your burger. Either way, you’re increasing the risk of somehow getting it on your clothes. Now you can tear off the whole top and dip your fries in, or just tear off a part of it and squeeze the ketchup onto your sandwich. So simple, yet so brilliant.
Everyone that owns an iPhone is looking for a way to make their battery stretch a little bit longer. Sure, my 3GS lasts longer than the previous models, but after a long day of solid use I still find myself doing anything I can to conserve what little battery life it has left. There are a lot of solutions out there, but one can never have too many choices. Scosche has a new one that’ll recharge your iPhone twice over.
The solBAT II is a backup battery that can be charged either via USB or using solar power. It features both a suction mount for soaking up solar rays through a window and a carabineer mount if you want to attach it to a backpack. The battery has a 1500mA capacity and a 5V output, so it’ll charge your phone at the same rate as a standard wall outlet (or your PC).
If you’re constantly running low on battery life for your iPhone (or any other device that charges via USB) and you’re into the “green” scene, then this is worth checking out. It’s only going to set you back $29.99 and is on sale now.
Believe it or not, the tool loved and loathed by photographers and graphic designers the world over, and the poster child for software piracy, turns 20 on February 10th this year. To commemorate the upcoming anniversary, Webdesigner Depot has put together a retrospective looking back at the origins of Photoshop, as well as breaking down the major upgrades and new features of each version that came out over the years. On one hand it seems surprising that Photoshop is already 20 years old, but on the other hand it seems like it’s been around for as long as I can remember.
Looking like a cross between a Sidekick, a PSP Go and a portable DVD player, the JXD V3 doesn’t seem like it’s made up its mind when it comes to what it’s good at, so I guess it’s just decided to be a jack of all trades… master of some? The 4.3 inch TFT LCD display has a resolution of 480×272 pixels, though it’s able to play back video files including RMVB, RM, AVI, VOB, DAT, MPG, FLV, 3GP, MP4, ASF and WMVs up to 1280×720 in size. When it comes to music it plays nice with MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR, AAC, FLAC and APE files, and there’s even an FM radio in there for some local content.
You’ll also notice a couple of 4-way directional pads which are important since the JXD V3 also plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color, NES and other game file formats including flash SWF files, and they’ve even gone to the trouble of including a PSP-like flat analog stick. You’d think it would stop there, but you’ll also find a 5.0MP camera crammed in there that can capture 30fps VGA videos to its 8GB of internal flash memory. On top of all that there’s even TV in and out capabilities turning this into a portable gaming console, all for just $112 from Ownta.com.
In past articles I’ve already made my frightening Nostradamus-like prediction that Hello Kitty will eventually take over the world. But that doesn’t mean the human race has to go quietly, and ironically this Hello Kitty themed chainsaw will be the perfect tool as we battle for our freedom from the forces of cute and pink.
I reviewed AAXA Technologies’ P1 Pico Projector last year, and while I was mostly satisfied with its capabilities, the prospect of having to constantly re-focus a handheld projector was a big downside. But that’s no longer an issue with the company’s latest model, the L1, since it uses a three color laser light source that apparently projects an image that is always in focus, even on a curved surface.
With 20 lumens of brightness the PCOS laser technology is able to project an 800×600 pixel image up to 50-inches in size, assuming you have the right lighting conditions of course. Other features include native support for playing the most popular types of media file formats available today, as well as images and even business docs like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. The 160MB of built-in storage is a little anemic, but that can be expanded with USB flash drives. (A 2GB flash drive is included.) Sadly there are still some downsides worth mentioning. Battery life is still a meager 90 minutes which won’t get you through most movies, and even though the pre-order price is $100 cheaper than the MSRP, $599 is a lot to spend on a pico projector.
In what may be (but probably isn’t) a sign of things to come, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has released a miniature hydrogen fuel cell power system designed specifically for R/C cars. It’s a complete power system for higher end hobby cars, and optionally comes with an entire solar powered fuel infrastructure that uses solar or wind power to turn water into hydrogen, which gets stored in special solid state cartridges. So, it’s sort of like this thing, except in a kit that can be installed on your own R/C car (or anything else).
There aren’t too many specs on performance (beyond a capacity of 12Wh, or 3-4 times the endurance of conventional batteries), but since all a hydrogen fuel cell does is create electricity, it’s not going to be like a nitro car, but it should perform just about the same as any battery powered system, and it looks like it does:
A hydrogen powered R/C car might be way less convenient than gas or batteries, but it is the future, and a microcosm of the whole hydrogen fuel situation in normal size cars, so at least you can feel good about that. Or something.
If you’re ever flying on South Africa’s kulula airline you’ll never have to worry about hearing an intercom announcement asking if there’s a pilot on board, because their recent rebranding will leave every passenger with a basic knowledge of aviation and aircraft. It’s rather clever and educational (I had no idea where the black box was stashed) though something tells me it would never fly in certain countries (no pun intended) because who knows how this knowledge could be used.
You may think someone carrying around a wallet full of receipts, membership cards and mountains of change in their back pocket looks uncomfortable, but I can’t imagine the discomfort of having one of these LEGO brick or baseplate creations in your pants. They range in price from ~$24 for the baseplate versions, to ~$32 for the ones made of individual bricks, and if you’re anything like me, the randomness of the colored bricks in the wallet in the lower right corner is probably driving you crazy. Don’t they know the rules for building LEGO walls? You start with one color and only move on to the next color once you’ve run out!
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