Oh! Gizmo

By Luke Anderson

I used to work for a grade school as computer tech. This has to have been the smallest grade school in the state, as there were barely over a hundred students in the entire school. With a low attendance, there weren’t many computers to worry about, and thus I had a lot of free time on my hands. What I found really strange is that the teachers and principal always thought I was extremely busy. My boss said that so long as the principal thought I was busy, I was pretty much free to do as I pleased, which was a pretty sweet gig (even if the pay wasn’t great). I just had to make sure I looked busy when she walked in, which meant some fast window-swapping. I would have gladly paid $24 (plus shipping from Japan) for one of these Phantom mice.

I’ve seen several devices that will make a specific window jump to the front, but none so cleverly hidden as the small button above the scroll wheel on this mouse. Just a quick click and it would look as though I were hard at work updating the lunch menu on the school website. The included software lets you pick what program you’d like to jump to the front, which should be quite handy.

[ Thanko ] VIA [ Newlaunches ]

By Evan Ackerman

The upside: it’s lower in cholesterol than real toast with real butter. The downside: you can’t eat it. I mean, unless you really want to. Post-it notes and butter both sold separately; you can have the toast pad for $7.50.

[ Toasted Notes ]

By Luke Anderson

I don’t drink coffee, not because I think it’s bad for you, but rather because I think it is disgusting. I’m more of a Mountain Dew guy. I’m well aware that there are plenty of people out there that love to sip their morning coffee while performing mundane tasks at work, or browsing our fair site. I have to ask, do any of you use cup warmers?

I honestly don’t know anyone that does, and while I have no actual need for one myself, I don’t think I’d ever purchase one that hooked into my computer. There’s something about having a device that’s sole purpose is to create heat drawing power from my PC. I’m sure it’s completely harmless, but it’s the principle of the matter. I guess that with this particular product I can’t say that warming your morning drink is its sole purpose, it does have a USB hub built in. Then again what doesn’t these days? If you need a couple of extra USB ports and a cold cup of coffee, you can pick this up for just $16.

[ Brando ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you work in a crowded office and find yourself battling for time in the meeting room, the RoomWizard will serve as a neutral electronic third-party. It’s a touch-screen display designed to be mounted outside a conference room that provides an easy way to either book the space for a meeting, or peruse the upcoming schedule.

If you want to just drop in, a set of LEDs on the side switch between red and green indicating the room’s availability which should prevent you from looking like an idiot when you barge in on a meeting in progress. The RoomWizard can also be accessed from your work PC since it runs an internal webserver, and can even be synced with Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook servers. Over time it will even keep track of room occupancy and reservation patterns so you can see exactly how the shared spaces are being used.

Official pricing for the RoomWizard seems hard to come by, but apparently the units cost over $2,000 each, which should bolster the sales of white boards and markers.

[ Steelcase RoomWizard ] VIA [ Mavromatic ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The cubicle where I used to work was always the place to be since people loved hearing my stories about epic space battles, amazing bank heists and other exciting things I did on the weekends. But with all those people stopping by, I never got much work done. If you have a similar problem I think this Duck Lamp created by Sebastian Errazuriz would serve as a pretty effective ’scarecrow’ for your office. But instead of scaring off crows, it would simply frighten your co-workers to the point where they would never disturb you.

Sadly the lamp isn’t for sale, but as an added bonus if you feel like making one yourself I’m sure working on the project in your kitchen would also serve to scare off your friends and family too.

[ Sebastian Errazuriz Duck Lamp ] VIA [ Productdose ]

By Andrew Liszewski

For the tech addicted, there’s really nothing better than adding a new toy or gadget to the collection. But like most addictions, there’s a downside. Every new device needs someplace to plug in or charge, and that mountain of adapters and powercords by the wall soon becomes quite an eyesore.

So instead of hiding that mess of cables under a pile of coats, you can use the the Power Block which is basically a power bar with a shield on one side. Once all of your adapters are plugged in you just push the Power Block against the wall, and the angular shield will keep the cords hidden from sight.

Apparently though, adding a shield to a power bar is such a difficult feat of engineering that the final product ends up costing you about $165 from Absolument Design. I think I’ll just stick with my pile of coats thank-you.

[ The Power Block ] VIA [ Freshome ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Based on the lively discussions going on in the comments section of my FLY Fusion Pentop Computer review, there seems to be quite a demand for devices capable of translating hand written text. So ThinkGeek is now selling a Mobile Notetaker that will not only work with regular paper, but also includes an LCD display that shows what you’ve just written or drawn.

Using it is as easy as clipping the Mobile Notetaker to the top of any pad of paper and writing away. It can capture and store up to 50 A4-sized pages of text or sketches, and will of course allow them to be uploaded to a PC where the notes can be converted into editable text.

At $169.99 from ThinkGeek it’s definitely more expensive than the FLY Fusion, but you also have to consider the fact that you don’t have the constant expense of buying special notebooks in order to be able to use it.

[ Mobile Notetaker ]

By Andrew Liszewski

We’ve all seen those executive ‘Zen Gardens’ that are basically a small box of sand with miniature tools that sits on your desk and constantly reminds you you’re not at the beach. But for those who find a snowy winter wonderland more relaxing than a warm stretch of sand comes this alternative to the traditional desktop garden.

This ‘Let It Snow’ version includes a wooden sled, an evergreen tree, a snowman, snowballs, a shovel and a small packet of instant snow to recreate a winter day spent playing outside. However I think it could more accurately represent a snowy day with a small car stuck in a snow drift, road salt spilling over on to your desk and everything in a three foot radius being completely soggy.

MerlinsBox has it for just $9.99.

[ Let It Snow ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Andrew Liszewski

You know I’m starting to think that real spies don’t actually shop at Spycatcher.co.uk after all. Call me crazy, but if your life depends on keeping pieces of correspondence hush hush, you might not want to rely on a device that looks like a stocking stuffer.

I mean sure, your messages are private because they can only be read with the special ultraviolet light on the pen, but I don’t think they’re that hard to come by. It’s not like this thing is strictly CIA, NSA or MI6 issue. But if you are worried your confidential notes might fall into the wrong hands, you can also use the pen to shred them once they’ve been read. Not even the greatest code breakers or puzzle masters on Earth could reassemble a small piece of paper that’s been cut into 9 strips.

Of course I’m sure kids would love this thing, and at about $9 from Spycatcher.co.uk it probably would make a great stocking stuffer.

[ Ultraviolet Pen And Light With Message Shredder ] VIA [ Gear Live ]