Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

How do you make an every day item like a knitted scarf appeal to the geeky masses? Well not only do you give it a Space Invaders theme complete with alien bad guys and a scoreboard, but you also include a couple of QR-Codes that are actually incorporated into the knit pattern.

For those who aren’t familiar with QR (or Quick Response) codes, they’re basically a two-dimensional bar code that can be added to any physical product and act like a website link. To access the link you just point a camera equipped phone (or PDA) that has QR reading software installed, and you’ll automatically be taken to a website that somehow corresponds to the product in question. I have no idea what website or data the QR-Codes on this scarf contain, but it seems they might actually differ from scarf to scarf.

The Invader Scarf is available from Lendorff Kaywa for about $66, but if you’re interested you better hurry since they’re limited to just 500 scarves.

[ The Invader Scarf ] VIA [ Kotaku ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m all for being lazy during the holidays, but half the satisfaction of knocking someone upside the head with a snowball is knowing that you made it with your very own hands. So I don’t know if I’m sold on the idea of this Sno-Baller. I’m sure it can produce a perfect sphere of snow, with great aerodynamic characteristics, but where’s the love?

On the other hand, if you’re in the middle of a heated snowball fight, quantity is definitely more important than quality. And if this thing can promise backyard snow fort supremacy by churning out snowballs faster than I can make them by hand, I guess it’s worth a shot.

They’re available from Plow & Hearth for just $8.95.

[ Sno-Baller ] VIA [ The Green Head ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This is exactly the type of crap holiday-themed novelty gadget that inspired me to start the Christmas Countdown in the first place. Because the only thing better than a keychain-sized digital photo frame with a miniscule display, is one that looks like Santa which you can only carry around for a couple months out of the year.

Of course the website actually refers to the 1.1 inch LCD screen as “good sized” but since most people wouldn’t even settle for a digital watch with a display that small, I can’t imagine they’d be happy looking at their photos on this thing. The 8MB of internal memory is pretty typical for these types of devices, but since your photos automatically get resized to 96×64 when uploaded, you can probably fit quite a few on. Other features include date and time display, brightness and contrast adjustments as well as a manual or auto slideshow option.

It’s available from Chinavasion for just $15.16, but the price actually gets cheaper the more you buy. So if you grab 200 you’ll save a few bucks and won’t have to worry about Christmas shopping for the next 10 years. (Depending on the size of your family.)

[ Christmas Digital Photo Frame ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]

By Andrew Liszewski

For part of the world, Christmas vacation means a few days spent skiing, sledding, skating and enjoying other snow-related activities. But as fun as they might be, they also seem to come with a greater risk of injury and sickness thanks to the freezing temperatures. So the Ribcap allows you to kill two birds with one stone when it comes to keeping yourself safe.

Not only will this woollen beanie keep your heard warm, but it also comes with sewn-in protectors to reduce the risk of head-related injuries. The padding it uses is made of a unique foam material called ‘StructUre’ that’s not only 100% breathable, but is also capable of instantly becoming rigid in the event of a collision. Here’s a brief description of how it works:

The impact of energy rich electrons includes a rearrangement and creation of additional molecular cross-links within the Structure™ foam, this results in a transition of the foam from a flexible into a semi-rigid or even rigid state.

So if you wipe out while on the slopes you’re still going to get hurt, but by wearing one of these you’ll be reducing the risk of a life-threatening head injury. If you’re interested, the Ribcaps come in a variety of styles and colors and range in price from about $85 for a kid sized version, to about $120 for an adult sized one.

[ Ribcaps ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m all for easier solutions when it comes to holiday decorating, so I wholeheartedly support this clever alternative to a Christmas Tree. Why drive out to the local tree farm where you have to deal with cold temperatures, pushy tree salesman and a vehicle that’s far too small to carry it, when you have everything you need at home?

Just push together a couple of shelves stocked with an assortment of books and magazines and arrange them like you see in the photo. The tree would be even more festive if the shelves held your collection of The Saturday Evening Post complete with Norman Rockwell covers, but I guess Sports Illustrated and Popular Science would work just as well. For the most part the books are strategically arranged so they keep their positions on their own, but I suspect there could be some tape action used on the top shelves.

Once it’s setup you don’t have to worry about watering or breaking ornaments, and if you buy everyone books as a gift, they’ll look right at home when placed under the tree.

[ Bookshelf Tree ] VIA [ Hoi Pippo ]

[Image removed by request of the copyright owner]

By Andrew Liszewski

While cooking gadgets are fair game, we usually don’t cover a lot of actual food items here on OhGizmo! But I feel it’s my duty to spread the word about this truly amazing innovation. You see in previous years, the only time you could get your hands on the Cadbury Creme Egg was the few months leading up to Easter. After that they were removed from store shelves (after a week of heavy discounts) and presumably locked away in some vault until next Easter rolled around.

But the marketing gurus at Cadbury have finally realized that they don’t have to limit their Creme Egg sales to just Easter. Of course just selling chocolate ‘eggs’ makes no sense around the holidays, so the company is disguising them as ornaments instead. The disguise really only consists of a different colored foil wrapper, and the word ‘ornament’ added to the name, but that’s all that’s needed to satisfy those people who usually stock their freezers in order to enjoy the creme egg all year round.

Sadly, it seems my part of the world is not yet ready to accept this Easter treat at Christmas time, so I’ve been unable to find them anywhere. But I know this is just one step towards the ultimate dream of having Creme Eggs available all year round.

[ X-Entertainment - Cadbury Ornament Creme Eggs ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re trying to hunt down a Christmas ornament suitable for the geek in your family, I’d actually suggest skipping the local Hallmark. While there’s nothing wrong with Darth Vader or R2-D2 hanging on your tree, I think this Season’s Readings ornament is a much better choice. Around its center you’ll find a strip of LEDs that light up and scroll a series of holiday messages.

Now unfortunately the ornament is not user programmable, but the 8 different preset messages cover the holiday basics like Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Peace on Earth, Seasons Greetings, Home for Xmas, Joy to the World and Feliz Navidad.

Baron Bob’s got it for just $14.95.

[ Season's Readings ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I know it seems kind of odd to post another time waster since I doubt ‘reading OhGizmo!’ is part of anyone’s job description. But once you get through our witty quips, sarcastic digs and other humorous observations this should keep you distracted for several more hours.

The good people at Fanpop have put together a list of 101 classic Christmas videos you can actually watch online. The list is broken down into several sections including The Essentials, Cartoons, Stop-Motion Animation, Versions of A Christmas Carol, Sitcoms, Music Videos, Commercials, Parodies and Abominations. While some of the videos have already been taken offline, the site is trying hard to stay on top of things by removing links that don’t work anymore.

Certain classics like A Christmas Story and Miracle on 34th Street are missing because there are no online versions, but other than that the list looks pretty comprehensive. MST3K fans will be particularly happy to see the original version of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, which is so bad it seems like it was only shot so it could be made fun of later.

So head on over to Fanpop if you want to say goodbye to your workload and hello to Christmas memories.

[ Watch 101 Classic Christmas Videos Online ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I really don’t understand why people will spend loads of money for a slim, compact cellphone, only to hang clunky trinkets and charms off of it. Case in point these Mopods, which thankfully haven’t caught on as much in North America as they have in other parts of the world. Besides being cute enough to bring up your Figgy Pudding, they will also spin and light up when you have an incoming call which is great because ringtones alone just aren’t annoying enough.

The festive versions of the Mopods include a snowman, an angel, a reindeer and of course Santa Claus, aka Father Christmas, aka Pere Noel, aka Saint Nicholas, aka Annual Gift Man.

For some reason these particular Mopods appear to only be available from the UK version of Amazon for about $10 each. Just keep in mind you can only use them during the holiday season, unless you want to look even more foolish the rest of the year.

[ Mopods ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]