Back to the Future promised us a lot of cool technologies in the year 2015. Of course with only five years to go, it doesn’t look like we’ll have flying cars, hoverboards or Mr. Fusion. We may, however, see those self-lacing shoes that Marty McFly sported on his trip to the future. (Let us hope that they’re a bit more stylish at least.)
One Instructables user was tired of waiting for Nike to develop the self-lacing technology, so she did it herself. It operates as follows: “step into the shoe and a force sensor reads the pressure of your foot and activates two servo motors, which apply tension to the laces, tightening the shoe. A touch switch reverses the servos.”
For the well-dressed IT guy or BOFH (are there any who aren’t?) comes this stylish set of engravable cufflinks from Ravi Ratan that each feature a concealed 2GB USB flash drive. So for $195 you essentially get 4GB of storage, sleeve cuffs that aren’t flapping in the wind and a mystery metal. I want to assume they’re made of silver, but CuffLinks.com makes no mention that they are. Though gold plated versions are also available for the same price.
How many hours per day do you find yourself staring at a screen of some sort? Be it a computer monitor or a TV, many people spend several hours a day looking at one. Personally, I will easily spend 10-12 hours a day doing so. I’m either working, watching a movie or playing video games, which takes its toll on my eyes. I do my best to take breaks to get away from the screens, but even that doesn’t prevent my eyes from hurting by the end of the day. So what can I do to help? The guys at Gunnar believe they have the answer.
I’ve seen Gunnar’s products before, but never really took them seriously. What are some tinted glasses going to do for me? After talking with one of the co-founders of the company, I decided I’d put them to the test. As a gamer and a working professional that spends most of his day staring a monitor, I figured that it would be worth it.
Since they obviously despise the term ‘bling’ as much as I do, French silverware maker Christofle have dubbed their Space Invaders creation a ‘fashion accessory’ that’s “suitable for use by both men and women” and “may be worn as a necklace, used to provide a nice accent to a favorite handbag, and displayed in a variety of other ways.” I’m not entirely sure how large it is (though the metal ball chain in the product shot does provide some sense of scale) but I do know since it’s made from fine French silver it will set you back about $130, while boosting your retro gaming street cred.
You’ll probably be hard-pressed to find a camera geek willing to give up the strap that came with their DSLR, proudly brandishing the Nikon or Canon logo, but since camera manufacturers are now targeting the consumer market with friendlier DSLRs, there’s probably a lot of customers who wouldn’t mind something a little more stylish. And that’s where a company called HighKey enters the picture. They have a whole line of replacement camera straps in a various different patterns, plaids and striped designs in a variety of different bright colors. Most of the straps seem to sell for $29.95, but there are a few cheaper ones, as well as a slightly more expensive ‘design your own’ option for $34.95.
Have you ever been listening to music outside, only to find that other people are leeching off of your speakers by listening from afar? You can easily thwart these audio thieves with the cunning use of headphones, but what about when you’re watching TV? Sure, you could watch it inside and draw the curtains, but that’s no fun. No, what you need is a way to block your screen so that no one else has the chance to catch a glimpse of the video you worked so hard to be able to watch.
The TV Hat is an amazing product that takes video watching to a whole new level. At first glance it simply looks like a really stupid baseball cap. Closer inspection will reveal that your first impression was spot-on. Basically, this ridiculous thing will hold your iPod (or any other small device with a screen), so that you can watch it in private. Oddly enough the flaps aren’t there to block people from seeing your screen. Rather, it keeps you from seeing just how many people are pointing at you. This fashion statement can be yours for just $30.
You know what I don’t see enough of these days? Bandoliers. It’s already been proven that they are stylish, I mean just look at Chewbacca, Rambo and Worf (at least I’m pretty sure that thing was considered an ornamental bandolier). What’s that, you’d like to wear one, but just don’t have a good enough reason? Well have I got a surprise for you. The Dew Quiver iPod Shoulder Strap is exactly what you’ve been looking for.
Alright, in all seriousness, this thing is the fanny pack for the 21st century. No, that’s not some sort of compliment to the designers. Sure, it’s got a place to run the cord for your earbuds and build-in volume control. But this thing boils down to being the equivalent of a fanny pack. It’s not stylish, it’s just a big ugly pocket. Make that a big ugly expensive pocket, as it will set you back $85.
It can be hard to keep your feet warm in the winter time. Sure, a nice pair of thick wool socks can go a long way in combating the cold, but even that only helps for so long. Once your toes get cold, there’s nothing you can do until you get them inside and heat them up. So what do you do if you’re working outside for long periods and want to be absolutely sure that your feet stay toasty? One option is to wear heated socks.
The Heat Sock EX system consists of a pair of heated socks, a battery pack and two long wires. On the battery pack itself you can select between five different levels of heating for your feet. Depending on what level you select, you can get between three and ten hours of warmth on a single charge. My biggest concern is what happens when the socks get wet, as they so often tend to do in the snow. The second biggest concern is the $265 price tag. Then again if you work outside all day in the winter, you really can’t put a price on warm feet.
After spending a week in Vegas for CES, I was less than thrilled to come back home and find more snow on the ground. This means trading in my shoes for boots as I go wandering around outside. But even boots don’t always have the grip one needs for traversing the frozen landscape. That is why these particular boots have a little extra grip hidden underneath.
These boots seem much like any other, and can be worn whenever you like. However, when the time comes that you need that extra bit of grip, you can take the two red pieces of plastic tread and reverse them. On the other side are a number of tiny spikes to grip on the snow and ice. Granted, you’ll need to mess with putting them back the other way before stepping inside anywhere. Unless you do a lot of outdoor work in bad winter weather, I think that these $200 boots might be overdoing it.
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