Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

You don’t have to be a hypochondriac to get freaked out by the amount of nastiness that’s probably living on and around your computer keyboard. And not just living, but also eating, pooping, dying, and having lots and lots of unprotected sex. Ick. Traditional keyboards are full of all kinds of nooks and crannies that are to bacteria what the back of a Volvo is to high school kids, and just like with high school kids, you can only eradicate about 5% of them with a disinfecting cloth.

The Cleankeys keyboard eliminates all of the hiding spots that you’d find on a keyboard with, you know, keys, by being completely 100% touch sensitive. This means that if you wipe the keyboard down with a disinfecting cloth you get rid of 99% of the nastiness in one fell swoop. Since the average keyboard has 3,295 germs per square inch, that leaves a mere 33 germs per square inch to deal with on the Cleankeys keyboard. Incidentally, the average toilet seat has about 49 germs per square inch. Cleankeys: it’s cleaner than your toilet!

Actually using the Cleankeys keyboard would take some getting used to, since there’s no feedback when you push a key. Cleankeys says that it’s about 30% slower than typing on a standard keyboard, but “that time is typically made up many times in the time saved cleaning.” Mmmhmm. They keyboard is entirely washable (you can stick it under running water), includes an integrated trackpad, and is available with a plastic or glass top for $400 and $450 respectively.

[ CleanKeys ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Evan Ackerman

The internet can be a lonely place. You have no idea who you’re really talking to, whether they claim to be a 48 year old guy in his mom’s basement or a hot lonely teenage girl (like me), which is why instead of real people, you need Chatman. Chatman is a friendly yellow PC accessory who has no secrets and is “destined to become every kids new best mate” thanks to some fancy artificial intelligence software. Chatman spies on your instant messages, web surfing, gaming, and social networks and somehow “gets involved” by “tell[ing] you exactly what he thinks and how he feels about the discussions exchanged.”

In addition to moving eyes, arms, ear things, and an LED emoticon mouth, Chatman has 3 personality options, 25 moods (whatever that means), and over 500 different actions. You can program Chatman with new actions and stuff, but before he’ll use them, they have to get approved by his parent corporation. Incidentally, while Chatman won’t actually prevent you from visiting no-no websites, he will tattle back to your parents and verbally chastise you. There isn’t a lot of information on these features specifically, and that makes it all seem a little bit sinister, like Chatman is actually designed to be some nanny software in a kid-friendly and “fun” (sort of) disguise. Your friendly, round, and yellow little bit brother should be available around Easter for nobody knows how much.

[ re:creation ] VIA [ Pocket Lint ]

By Evan Ackerman

If you’re selling a borderline useless USB accessory, you have to keep in mind who your market is. Do you really think that people who spend so much time in front of their computer that they need a peripheral to make it smell better are going to be attracted by scents like Ocean Breeze, Purple Lavender, Pink Jasmine, or White Chamomile? Of course not. Those are outside smells. Instead, you should try scents like Vanilla, Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Bacon. Or you could try even more familiar scents for the hardcore gamer, like Cheetos, Mountain Dew, and Shame.

In the mean time, though, you’ll have to content yourself with the aforementioned flowery smells. $9.99 gets you a USB Scent Flower plus three refill cartridges that should last you a couple months.

[ USB Flower ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Evan Ackerman

Somewhere in South Korea lives a chicken. This chicken lays eggs that are, in fact, reasonably attractive and potentially useful computer peripherals. Break one open (the two halves are joined by magnets) and inside you will find 4 watts of yolk-y audio goodness with a built-in digital amplifier. Designed for things like PMPs and Netbooks, the Eggy speakers are USB powered, and while the picture makes them look seamless and slick, the USB wire and audio-in wire and the wire that connects the left and right speakers are sure to make a mess of things, and I also have no idea where the little speaker stands come from. So, the concept is pretty cool, but in real life things may look a bit different.

S&J Co. has the right idea here: instead of designing electronics, just wait for some freak of nature to design them for you… If you have an infinite amount of chickens laying an infinite amount of eggs, you’re pretty much guaranteed that one of those eggs will be a pair of speakers (or anything else you want, for that matter). I’m sure S&J Co. doesn’t actually have an infinite amount of chickens (an infinite amount of anything presenting some significant logistical challenges), but that doesn’t preclude them from getting lucky with a finite amount of chickens, which is obviously what happened.

The Eggy speaker will be putting on an appearance at CES 2010, and if S&J Co. picks up some distribution channels, we should all feel very sorry for their poor mutant chicken.

[ Press Release ]

By Evan Ackerman

I don’t know how they do it, but somehow, Thanko manages to keep coming up with gadgets that are silly and borderline useless for most people and yet are potentially just perfect for just enough people that I don’t quite feel comfortable making fun of them. And even then, this USB radio is a more useful than most, considering that it receives AM, FM, and shortwave.

There’s an external antenna jack, and the actual tuning is done via software. You can record anything you’re listening to directly to MP3, and you can even schedule different recordings on different frequencies, sort of like a really cumbersome and old-school Podcast. But I guess if you don’t have internet, then it could be a great solution for you.

‘Course, if you don’t have internet, then you’re not reading this, so what do I care?

$45 at Thanko.

[ Thanko (Translated) ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Evan Ackerman

Are you finding that your mouse is both not aerodynamic enough and not soft enough to effectively throw at people or animals without risking injury related lawsuits? Jelfin has the solution for you, with a mouse that’s about the size and shape of a baseball and covered in squishy gel. It’s supposed to be ergonomic and super comfortable, kinda like a stress relief ball, and includes two buttons and a three dimensional optical scroll wheel.

And a “travel can,” for whatever that’s worth.

This sort of reminds me of Apple’s terrible little round mice that came with the iMac. SORT OF reminds me, just because it’s round and strange… I’m not saying that the Jelfin is going to be terrible or anything, but as with any unorthodox peripheral as critical as a mouse, I’m inherently skeptical, simply because mice have been around for a while, and there’s an accepted shape that seems to work. I will say that this mouse would be infinitely more appealing if somehow the ball shape could be used to enable a few additional axes of control, kind of like a Space Navigator or something. Just a thought.

The Jelfin mouse is available in 5 colors, none of which are black or white or anything else normal, for $35 right now on Amazon.

[ Jelfin ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Evan Ackerman

Computer mice come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and styles, but generally, they have one characteristic in common: a flat surface on the bottom to keep the mouse stable. I mean, you want your mouse to be stable, right?

Right?

Don’t you?

NO. NO YOU DON’T. IT’S BAD, STABLE IS BAD. Or at least, a stable object that you use repetitively has the potential to maybe cause you some mild discomfort or pain. The Tru:Motion mouse from Smartfish can help alleviate repetitive stress injuries by wiggling around to better conform to your natural hand and arm position. The mouse pivots on its base (a stable base) from side to side and front to back to allow you to keep your wrist more relaxed.

I’m hoping that the mouse in the picture above is just a prototype design, ’cause a mouse like this is targeted at hardcore computer users, most of whom probably expect more than two or three buttons. Personally, I need a minimum of five to be productive.

Smartfish also makes a wiggling keyboard and a wiggling game controller, and they’re somehow working on a PDA, a laptop, a touchscreen keyboard, and power tools that incorporate the same actively ergonomic technology.We’ll see the mouse out at the beginning of August for $60, and the keyboard will follow at the end of August for $150.

[ Smartfish ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Evan Ackerman

USB cables are the plastic tethers that keep our mice chained to our desks, and ourselves chained to our mice. You can free yourself with the convenience of a wireless mouse, but if you’re going to cut the cable, why not cut it totally and remove the mouse from the surface all together? The WeraMouse is a little handheld device with buttons and a trackball on it. With it, you’re able to mouse around and click from any position (up to 25 feet away) using only your fingers. Not a fan of trackballs? I hear ya, and WeraMouse is also working on a version with a touchpad instead. The mice are good for over 24 hours of nonstop operation between charges, and come with a 90 minute USB charging cradle.

I’ve never used anything like this before, but I do appreciate the freedom from the restrictions of a surface that my Logitech MX Air gives me. WeraMouse says that it’s much better for your posture to use a mouse like theirs, but it seems like it’s just another opportunity to slouch.

Additional slouching opportunities via the WeraMouse will cost $99, and the touchpad version isn’t quite out yet.

[ WeraMouse ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Shane McGlaun

Whatever you plan to do with your computer, there is usually a peripheral made just for the task. If you want to game there are a myriad of gaming mice on the market and if you just want to do boring old computer work, there are peripherals for that too.

Bella has announced a new wireless mouse called the HD Mouse that is aimed at professional and amateur video editors. The mouse is designed for multimedia users and includes software that allows the user to program mouse movements to act like gesture commands. The mouse has 1600dpi of sensitivity and a wireless range of up to 26 feet.

Read the rest of this entry »