Oh! Gizmo

By Jonathan Kimak

You may remember the Power Glove and it’s 90 minute commercial/movie called The Wizard. In it, badass villain Lucas shows off the Power Glove and all it’s magical game winning abilities. The movie was OK, the glove was crap. And now this finger keyboard comes along and I already think it’s crap before reading up on it.

The Finger Keyboard Gloves are USB powered gloves that can create music by tapping your fingers on any surface. Each finger creates a different musical note. There are multiple instrument voices that can be replicated and learning modes to help teach you how to use the gloves. The battery for the gloves can be charged via any USB port.

The price is $70 but I really don’t think these will be that big of a thing. For a hundred dollars more you can buy yourself or your kid a decent musical keyboard that would allow you to really learn how to play. Fame and rockstar status will then only be months(or decades or eons) away.

[ Fingertip Keyboard Gloves ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Luke Anderson

I come from a family of musicians. Both my dad and brother are excellent guitar players and have been recording their own music for some time. I can’t tell you how many times one of them would remark on a particularly excellent piece of music they came up with, only to forget it. This excellent little gadget would be a great way to make sure you never forgot the music you created during a late night jam session.

The BackTrack is a simple recorder for your guitar. Just plug in your quarter-inch cord and go about your rocking. The device is always on, but only starts recording when a signal is detected. If you lay down a really great piece that you want to remember for later, just hit the “Mark” button so you know exactly where to look when you download it.

The audio is recorded as 24-bit, 48KHz .WAV files. The 1GB of internal memory should be enough for around 12 hours of recording. The battery can last anywhere up to 12 hours, but will vary depending on the sample rate and bit depth you choose to record at. You’ll both download your audio files and charge it via USB. Line 6 also makes a “+ Mic” version which features a  mic and double the storage capacity.

Depending on how the audio turns out, this could be a very useful tool for a musician working on new material. The basic BackTrack will run you $140, while the + Mic version will set you back $210.

[ Line 6 ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Luke Anderson

There are times that I wonder whether George Lucas even cares what kind of products bear the Star Wars name. Take this Darth Vader Radio and CD Player for example. It’s not the worst gadget to bear a resemblance to a Star Wars character, but is there any real reason someone would want a radio/CD player shaped like Darth Vader? I might understand if it were an R2-D2 radio since he’s actually a droid.

My favorite part of this product is the wonderfully Photoshopped image that the manufacturer used. I’m really itching to know what the actual product looks like, and if it bears any resemblance to the depicted helmet. If you simply must have another Darth Vader helmet, then this is all yours for $44.

[ Amazon ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

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 Luke Anderson

I’ve always been fascinated by the vinyl record. Since I was born in the 80’s, I grew up in the era of the cassette and CD, so those strange black discs were interesting. They somehow played music by having a needle run over them, how strange. Of course I’m older and understand the logic behind how they work, and yet somehow I still find them interesting. This Sound Chaser makes them even cooler.

Essentially what you see are several strips of a record that has been cut up and put back together to form a small track. The little yellow box on wheels contains a needle and speaker which allows it to play music as it follows the track. How cool is that? Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any plan to release these commercially. It’s probably best, since we really don’t want people to go out and cut up all of their old vinyls.

[ Yuri Suzuki ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Luke Anderson

Every now and then I come across something that seems so simple that  it boggles my mind. Take this D Angle Guitar Hanger.  I play the guitar (very badly) and it’s not always easy to find somewhere to set it for a few minutes. Sure, I could lean it up against something, but I really don’t want it getting knocked over. This simple hanger will sit on a horozontal surface and hang your guitar in place. Simple, effective and at $17.99 it’s pretty cheap too.

[ Musician's Friend ] VIA [ Red Ferret ]

By Evan Ackerman

Looking for a way to turn an ancient recording medium into something useful? Here’s an idea: combine it with an even more ancient recording medium. Aleks Kolkowski took his vintage vinyl record cutter to Manchester’s Futuresonic 2008 festival and used it to carve one track’s worth of music into old CDs for festival attendees who brought him a digital audio file. Stick the CD on a 45 RPM turntable, and you can groove to the grooves, old school. Oh yeah.

[ CD Recycled 45 RPM ] VIA [ Daily DIY ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It will be a long time before digital turntables completely overtake their analog predecessors, but you can’t argue that carrying a hard drive full of MP3s to a gig is a lot easier than hauling crates full of vinyl. And it’s that convenience aspect that the Design Continuum has taken one step further with their DJ GO concept. The system is composed of a set of MP3/CD turntables with a built-in mixer that can fold up into a convenient single package. I have my doubts that the DJ GO would be the lightest thing you’ve ever thrown over your shoulder, but it’s at least lighter than the cases needed to move a set of 1200s. But don’t go throwing away your old tables just yet since there doesn’t seem to be any plans to put the DJ GO into production

[ DJ GO ] VIA [ Gizmo Watch ]

By Evan Ackerman

Remember the Sony Rolly? The weird little dancing MP3 player thing that is somehow huge in Japan and costs 350 bucks? If you’re not lucky enough to live in Japan, and you don’t have $350, and you really really want a weird little dancing music playing thing, the Sega I-Spin may be for you. Plug your MP3 player into its ass, and the I-Spin will spin and flap around and stuff in time to the music. It’s powered by 3 AAA batts, probably has a really weak speaker, and is available in either blue or pink for about $50.

VIA [ Fareastgizmos ]