Oh! Gizmo

By Jonathan Kimak

I used to play the trumpet in high school, at least until I got braces and ended up shredding my lips anytime I tried to play. This would have been a good thing for me to keep the training for the few years before I took my braces off(I instead switched to the saxophone).

The Yamaha EZ-TP Electronic Teaching Trumpet, which is sadly, only available in Japan, is an electronic way to learn the trumpet. Instead of blowing into the trumpet, you just hum into the device while pressing the proper keys on the trumpet. The keys can light up to help you learn the proper fingerings.

The trumpet can play 22 different sounds in case you get bored of hearing the regular trumpet sound. But most importantly(especially for parents) the trumpet comes with a volume control. This means the trumpet has a far lower chance of being thrown into the lake.

The trumpet also comes with MIDI support and some pre-programmed songs to play along with.

[ EZ TP Electronic Trumpet ] VIA [ Slippery Brick ]

By Jonathan Kimak

I love my dogs, I really do. But sometimes when it’s quite late and I’m tired I would much rather let the dogs go out themselves and come back on their own. Dog flaps in the door aren’t an ideal choice since any critter can come in through something like that.

But this electronic dog flap from Pet Doors USA looks interesting. The flap is made of shatter proof materials and an aluminum frame. You put a RFID tag on your dog’s collar that will send a digital code to the doggy door to open when they approach it. It will close once the dog is no longer near it. It won’t close if there is anything obstructing it which means no snagged tails or paws.

These go for $697 and additional RFID tags cost $30 per unit in case you need extras for multiple dogs. Just be sure your dog is trained to come back when it’s finished its business and not wander off through the neighborhood.

[ Pet Doors USA ] VIA [ Locks and Hardware ]