Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Except for having a stylish, angular design, this external SATA HDD case from Marshal doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The company does mention that the enclosure features an ECO mode, but all that does is stop the drive from spinning after 5 minutes of inactivity. In that standby mode the enclosure’s power consumption drops by about 71%, but if you’re constantly accessing the drive, the ECO mode isn’t going to kick in. So it might be a better choice if you’re strictly looking for a data backup solution. Oh, and it also only features a USB 2 connection.

[ Marshal SATA HDD External Case ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While a 52 inch version of Westinghouse’s QUAD HD LCD monitor has been available to select companies in need of high-resolution displays for a while, a new version is now available to anyone willing to shell out $50,000. The new model, dubbed the D56QX1, has been bumped to 56 inches in size and like its predecessor features a resolution of 3840×2160. That’s 8.3 million pixels, compared to 2.1 million for boring old 1080p HD. The D56QX1 also features a 1200:1 contrast ratio, 500 nits brightness, a 6.5ms response time and compatibility with a wide variety of dual-link DVI video cards from ATI and Nvidia. Just make sure your desk can support 108lbs of monitor before you make the investment.

[ Westinghouse D56QX1 56″ Quad Full HD Monitor ] VIA [ TG Daily ]

By Evan Ackerman

Nine or ten months ago, we heard that the biggest cell phone manufacturers were all planning to standardize their chargers. It sounded like too good of an idea to be realistic (since they’d no longer be able to gouge you on charging accessories), and funny, we haven’t heard anything since. Now Westinghouse, a respectably large electronics company, has committed to using a universal adapter made by start-up Green Plug.

The Green Plug universal adapter will be able to power and charge multiple devices (just about anything that uses electricity and/or has a battery) all at the same time, at proper voltages. So really, you’d just need one of these things under your desk to charge all your stuff. The problem is that the Green Plug system knows how much to charge devices by communicating with the device itself, necessitating some modifications by the manufacturers. Westinghouse is a good first step, but more big names will have to get on board before it become cost effective to buy a universal smart charger, which should go on sale early next year for about $100.

Some 3 billion power adapters are going to be shipped this year, and most of them aren’t reusable and just end up in landfills. China (of all places) requires that all cell phone chargers use a standard 5 volt USB connector, but that’s not likely to happen in the US thanks to our brilliant free-market economy. Oh well, at least the gnomes that live in the forest of charger cables under my desk will be happy that I’m not going to be able to consolidate their home out of existence.

[ Green Plug ] VIA [ PC World ]

By Evan Ackerman

Desktop computers are one of those things that are generally great in concept but poor in execution. What I mean is, designing a computer that’s easy to access and upgrade is a super idea, but why does it then follow that said computer must take the form of an off-beige monolith? There are always exceptions, of course, but the tower PC is long overdue for a makeover. The XYZ Computer Desk blends the expandability of a conventional computer with the usability and good looks of, well, a desk. All of the electronic components and cabling are tucked away neatly inside the interior of the desk, with just a few ports and an optical drive on the edge to give them away. Time to upgrade? No problem, just open up the desk and everything’s laid out right in front of you.

I imagine that there’s likely TONS of space inside the desk, and as such, each component probably keeps cooler, runs quieter, and lasts longer. I mean, take a look under your desk right now. Besides your legs, it’s all wasted space! XYZ says that they “designed” this desk/computer, but there aren’t any specifics on whether or not it in fact exists.

[ XYZ Computer Desk ] VIA [ Born Rich ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Now I’m not here to judge how any of our readers earn their income, but if the activities that allow you to pay your rent involve large stacks of cash and little time to count it, this could come in handy. The AccuCounter V30 is a battery powered currency counter that’s capable of counting and adding up to 600 bills/minute. A basic LCD display shows the running tally and it also includes a triple counterfeit detection system for ultraviolet, watermark and magnetic ink verification. (Though that has to be done manually as I understand it.) On battery power the counter will operate for about 20 hours of continuous use, but it also comes with an AC adapter if your latest financial venture was particularly successful.

You can find it at SecurityWorld.com for $95.99.

[ AccuCounter V30 Portable Currency Counter ]

By Evan Ackerman

Somehow, creative types keep coming up with ways of improving one of the most basic components of any credibly tangled pile of electronics: the power strip. The Revolve power strip is a cylinder of independently rotating outlets, which can accommodate bulky power adapters. It can’t hold a candle to my all-time favorite cephlapodic power strip, but it’s still a reasonably innovative idea.

If you’d rather not wait for the whole rotating plug concept to make the improbable leap from render to product, Belkin has some products that do sort of the same thing (except less, um, ergonomically) that you can buy here.

VIA [ Yanko Design ]

By Andrew Liszewski

As far as I can tell, this Hardbox external drive case serves two purposes. (Besides of course backing up your data.) For starters, if you don’t want a desk full of ugly external hard drives (some aren’t too bad) you can stick it on a nearby shelf alongside your copies of Moby Dick, Treasure Island and the hardcover Harry Potter tomes where it should somewhat blend in. Then, as an added bonus, it might actually keep your hard drive safe from particularly stupid or poor-sighted burglars who don’t realize that one book on the shelf with the blinking LEDs isn’t a book at all. Unlikely, but you never know.

The enclosure supports 3.5 inch SATA I or II drives and connects to your PC via USB. It doesn’t have a fan, but instead uses the fake page detailing on the edges as a heat sync, keeping it extremely quiet. The power supply is built-in so the AC cord doesn’t require a large transformer on the end, but that does add to the enclosure’s overall size. On the back you’ll find a physical write protection switch as well as a ‘Backup’ button for manually starting a backup of your data. It also includes scheduling software so you can set the backups to happen automatically on a regular basis.

While the bright red spine isn’t that appealing, the rest of the enclosure seems not too bad. Though I’m not sure if the $300 price tag (315,000 KRW) includes a hard drive or not.

[ SAROTECH Hardbox ] VIA [ AVING USA ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’ll be posting tons of pics from this past weekend’s Maker Faire over the next few days, but here’s a little taste. This is Compubeaver. He’s a beaver (or I guess he used to be a beaver), who now has a computer inside him. His torso contains a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, a 160gb HD, a gig of ram, a chest-loading DVD burner, and, um, some tastefully placed USB ports. If you’d like a Compubeaver of your very own, Instructables will show you how to make one in 29 easy steps.

Keeping Compubeaver company was Text-o-possum, which combines a bluetooth laser keyboard with, well, a possum, allowing “the convenience of regular keyboard typing in a possum form. Text-o-possum puts the awesome in possum - the future is here!”

Both of these animals were modded by Your Psycho Girlfriend. And if you find yourself asking a question like “why would anybody DO this,” you’ll need to try and get more in the spirit of Maker Faire, which I might sum up as: “Why not do it, it’s cool!”

[ Compubeaver ]
[ Text-O-Possum ]

By Andrew Liszewski

We’ve written about a few different book scanners that are relatively compact and affordable, but have you ever wondered what the professionals use when deadlines are looming and money is no object? I assume they turn to something like the Digitizing Line DL 3000. It’s capable of turning and scanning 3,000 pages an hour and it’s guaranteed to only turn one page at a time, since having to go back and check for missing pages defeats the purpose of it being so fast in the first place.

The machine works mostly unattended, though human intervention is needed when it comes time to load a new book. On average the setup process takes less than a minute per book when using a preset, or about 2 minutes if you’re setting up a book type that’s never been scanned before. And given the fact that the DL 3000 can operate 24 hours a day for up to 6 million cycles before needing maintenance, it can bring the production costs for scanning a book down to about 2 cents per page. As a result, even though the machine has a price tag of about $250,000, that cost can be financially amortized after about 3 million scanned pages. I just wish I could have convinced the local copy shop at my University to invest in one.

[ Digitizing Line DL 3000 ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The Snap-In ExDrive25 is kind of like those hot-swappable SATA hard drive readers that have become popular as of late. But instead of being a large, clunky reader that sits on your desk, the ExDrive25 comes in the form of a portable external drive case. Installing a drive is as easy as opening the access door on the front and sliding almost any 2.5 inch SATA drive inside. If you find yourself even occasionally having to swap 2.5 inch drives in and out of a case, you’ll appreciate the ExDrive25’s screw-free approach.

The case is made from aluminum for maximum head dissipation and includes a patented shock mount mechanism allowing you to travel with the case without the risk of damaging the drive inside. It also includes both USB 2.0 and eSATA connections on the back for connecting to a laptop or even a desktop with an easily accessible eSATA port.

And at just $29 from Addonics, I’m tempted to replace the external cases I’m using right now.

[ Addonics Snap-In ExDrive25 ] VIA [ I4U News ]