By Luke Anderson

I’ll be the first to admit that I suck at soldering. I can usually get the job done, but it never looks pretty, and takes several attempts. Yes, that’s a skill that I should really put some effort into, as it comes in handy when working with electronics. However, it would seem that there is a different solution for the lazy modder, Wire Glue.

There’s not much to tell about this stuff. It’s a paste-like substance that can be used to glue wires together, allowing electricity to flow freely between them. It uses microcarbon technology to pull off this amazing feat. Just $4 gets you a small container of the stuff. Sure, it’s not going to replace soldering in many situations, but it will definitely come in handy.

[ ThinkGeek ] VIA [ RGS ]

By Evan Ackerman

With all of the nuclear power plants in the US pushing 25 years old or more, the obvious solution to keep them from disintegrating into piles of radioactive dust is duct tape. But not just any duct tape: 3M’s Performance Plus Nuclear Grade Duct Tape. It doesn’t appear to be particularly radiation resistant, but it does feature clean removal indoors and outdoors after up to 6 months. It’s waterproof and you can write on it, but most notably it works at temperatures up to 200°F, which was always the achilles heel of duct tape and the reason why it’s so bad at taping ducts.

You can find 3M Nuclear Grade Duct Tape in slate blue or red on Amazon for about $14 a roll.

[ 3M ] VIA [ Toolmonger ]

By Luke Anderson

I think it is almost universally agreed that duct tape is nearly the most useful tool on the planet. At the very least, it is by far the most useful tape out there. However, I’ve discovered another very useful adhesive that will have a permanent place in my toolbox. Yes, I do sound like I’m getting worked up over tape, but you have to admit that Self-Adhesive Magnetic Tape is rather appealing.

The concept is rather simple; just cut off a strip of tape, stick it to the wall, another piece goes on the item you’re hanging. Now just slap the two things together and it stays. This is rather handy for items that you might need to take off the wall and hang back up again. Sure, you could buy velcro strips and get a similar effect, but those wouldn’t be nearly as fun. Not to mention at $16 for a 5-meter roll, this stuff is probably a lot cheaper.

[ Pro-Idee ] VIA [ RedFerret ]

By Luke Anderson

When I’m working on a project that requires measuring, cutting, drilling and hammering, I tend to be very precise about what I do. My grandfather always drilled  the phrase “measure twice, cut once” into my head, and it’s good advice. One annoying thing about tape measures is that it’s not always easy to mark in the exact spot that you want. The line on the tape measure itself is usually a good quarter-inch above the object you need to mark, which can leave your measurements off, albeit only slightly. Not to mention that you don’t always have a free hand to mark with. Well here’s a tape measure that will do the marking for you.

The Irwin Straight-Line Tape Measure looks just like any other. However, at the point where the tape exits the roll, there is a handy marker on the underside. Just set it down (you might need to rub it on the object a little) and you’re all set. This $14 gadget could very well save you a lot of hassle in the future.

[ Amazon ] VIA [ Book of Joe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you thought Swiss Army knives were only good for opening boxes, filing your nails or uncorking a wine bottle, you’d only be partly right. There’s a host of other tools and accessories you can get that I’ve quite frankly never found a use for, like say… a digital altimeter. A small LCD integrated into the side of the knife shows your current altitude from -300 feet to +15,000 feet. And if you’re curious as to how cold it gets at those altitudes, the knife’s also got a digital thermometer with a less impressive temperature range of 0 to 100 fahrenheit.

The Swiss Army Altimeter is available from the Swiss Outpost, with all of the features you see sticking out, for $115.

[ Swiss Army Altimeter ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Luke Anderson

I’m sure that everyone has used their hand or fingers to try and make a rough measurement of something. If you do it enough, you might actually get pretty good at it, but I’ve found that I’m usually way off. Well if you’re trying to measure something in the cold, these Measurement Work Gloves are the perfect tool.

The pair of gloves is covered with all sorts of measurements for those times when you just don’t feel like getting out the tape measure. Heck, they even threw in a protractor. Granted, everyone’s hand is different, so I wouldn’t rely on these figures to be exact. These handy (get it? handy!) gloves can be yours for right around $20 a pair. (Unfortunately they are out of stock at the time of writing)

[ UpToYouToronto ] VIA [ FashionablyGeek ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It might seem odd for a company like Victorinox to exhibit at CES, I mean you’d expect to see them at the local Gun n’ Knife show instead, but their line of SwissFlash knives have evolved from simply a flash drive embedded into a pocket knife, to a full-blown office-friendly tool. And their latest model, the Presentation Pro, comes with a flash drive up to 32GB in size that’s now protected by a biometric fingerprint sensor for keeping your confidential documents private.

But it’s also designed to serve as a handy presentation remote, since it comes with bluetooth and a set of emulated left and right mouse buttons. So the knife you probably already carry in your pocket for opening plastic blister packs can now control your exciting PowerPoint slideshows as well. And for pointing out specific items, they’ve even crammed a laser pointer in there too. At the moment the SwissFlash Presentation Pro doesn’t appear to be listed on the Victorinox website, probably because it isn’t for sale just yet, but prices range from $164.95 for the 8GB model up to $329.95 for the 32GB.

[ Victorinox ]

By Luke Anderson

Flashlights are the sort of things that pretty much just sit around on a shelf or in a drawer until they are needed. This is usually inconvenient when the lights go out, but who really wants to stare at a boring old flashlight all the time? Well I think it’s time that we start making flashlights that also function as art. It seems that I’m not the first to come up with such an idea.

This Transformative Robot LED Torch/Nightlight almost looks like some sort of action figure or toy, but don’t let that fool you. While this might look like some sort of vicious creature, it is actually just a flashlight that’s meant to look a little different. I wouldn’t mind having one of these sitting out on my desk, honestly. You can pick one of these up for around $20 (but they’re on sale for $10 until Sunday).

[ MeritLine ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

So far, this year’s OGCC has been all about holiday fun and novelty, but I figured I’d at least throw in one item that was not only practical, but could actually save you from back pain or even a heart attack. Every year we see stories on the news about people ending up in the hospital after overdoing it when it comes to shoveling snow, but the beauty of the Trail Blazer is that you don’t really need to shovel at all.

The scoop and auger design makes it look a lot like a gas-powered snow blower, but instead of relying on a loud engine, you actually just push it along the ground. The turning motion of the auger forces the snow off to the side, and the Trail Blazer is able to clear a 21 inch path in wet or dry snow as deep as 4 inches. Best of all, you never actually have to lift the Trail Blazer like you do with a regular snow shovel, and it works just as well on uneven surfaces like brick, fieldstone or wooden decks. Amazon’s got it for $62.99 which is a little steep, unless you live somewhere where shoveling snow is a daily chore and not just an occasional annoyance.

[ Trail Blazer Snow Auger ] VIA [ Home Improvement Ideas ]