In Your House
Listen, everybody has this problem. Bananas are huge and notoriously hard to finish in one sitting. I mean, every time I see a banana, I'm all "Golly, break out the steak knives!"
So you can imagine my relief to see this, the NANA saver Banana Holder, a banana-shaped clothespin ringed with little teeth to grip that leftover, perfectly-sliced banana peel while a flat plate snuggles up against your banana cross-section to keep it fresh as a daisy and the light Caucasian-wang color that banana lovers worldwide know and love.
Dishwasher safe. $2.98. Obsessive-compulsive disorder not included.
[Product Page via Random-Good-Stuff]
For $60, Creative's new Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 offers you an external audio card that, with a simple pass of a USB cord and an optical output plug, hook up your PC to a home theater system with all the gloriousness of DTS and Dolby Digital EX.
Toss in the X-Fi CMSS-3D headphone technology and EAX ADVANCED HD technology for gaming and this baby is easy to recommend to anyone with a PC near a 5.1 speaker setup, even if you've already got a sound card. 'Creative ALchemy' even restores surround sound for Vista gamers, although as with all things Vista I'll believe it when I hear it in person.
Just make sure you've got USB 2.0, otherwise you're just wasting time and money.
[Product Page via Coolest-Gadgets]
I have an admission to make: I may love gadgets, and the forest of LEDs that tinkle in my room is certainly a testament to that fact, but being the hippie nerd that I am I harbour a deep seated guilt about just how much electricity my gadgets are using.
This has led me to adopt a variety of methods to lower my electricity consumption as much as possible, and Michelle Kaufmann brings us a great idea on lowering our AC bills by using water as a thermal wall on those hot windows:
It may not be as flashy as a new iPhone, but saving some dough on electricity could let you save money for even more gadgety goodness, and help the planet to boot!
[via: MAKE Blog]
Modern ingenuity never ceases to amaze me. We are always looking for ways to relax and, at the same time, multitask. Just like when you're working late or just playing games on your computer and you really want a head massage. That happens to me allot... not really. Just like once a week. But when the urge does strike, I can't ask my boyfriend to massage my head because then I won't be able to keep playing SimCities Societies. He'll want to talk, then cuddle, then I'll be roped into watching another episode of Brothers and Sisters, meanwhile all I'm thinking about is how cool a half fun/half totalitarian city would be!
It's times like those that I thank Ceiling Cat for bringing other people with the same dilemma as me together to solve problems. This particular problem was solved by a USB Brain Massager from our friends in Japan. The little gizmo can plug right into a USB slot on your PC and start massaging your brain with 8 little vibrators right away. Want to do it while watching TV? Pop 2 AA batteries in and your good to go. Hell, you can even flip it over and have eight vibrating tentacles to use for... wait a minute.... that just seems a bit... oh, my!
*cough* Well, ugh, now that I've found my newest housewarming gift for whatever lesbian couple just made it to their third week of dating, I think I'll go talk to my boyfriend and catching up on my Grey's Anatomy story lines...
Product Page [Rare Mono Shop - Translated]
[via: Gearlog]
(I realize this isn't very tech-centric but I couldn't keep it to myself.)
Heralding a new era of Sick, Roadkilltoys.com unleashes ... roadkill toys. These adorable plushy animals have all the makings of a side-of-the-road disaster: spilling guts, tire marks, protruding popped eyeball.
As of now, the site only has Twitch the Raccoon and Grind the Rabbit (pictured). There are plans for Splodge the Hedgehog, Pop the Weasel and Fender the Fox. Available in the UK for twenty-five pounds. Worth the shipping cost? Only if you hate your little bitch of a niece.
[via: Boing Boing]
Laptop mods are super-duper hot and so are sleeve tattoos. To me, this engraved laptop from Engrave Your Tech looks like a combination of hotness to create ultimate hot.
Check out their laser-engraved black and white Macbook. Be sure to have napkins ready to contain the drool.
[via: Apartment Therapy Unplugged]
The last few Gadgets of the Week have been pretty shallow - bedazzled cable plugs and bedazzled MacBook Airs - so I thought this week, as we properly introduce the merry spring month of May, the Homotron Laboratories, Dungeons & Mad-Scientist-Volcano-Lairs could try putting forth something green: namely, the Dell Eco Bamboo Computer that our resident tree-hugger Den Den Boy brought us last week.
By consuming 70% power and taking up 81% less space than traditional desktops, the Eco Bamboo manages to be friendly to both eye and planet - and the recycled innards, composed of "old bottles, milk jugs and detergent cases" give this $500-$700 bamboo-wrapped PC a pleasingly small eco footprint.
Microsoft's rumour quashing departments must have not had their coffee today, as somehow all of today has gone by with a new rumour that Xbox 360s with built in Blu-ray drives will be showing up in stores this year and their customary denial has yet to show up.
The Chinese language daily newspaper Economic Daily News is giving us some very specific information this time about the new Blu Xbox 360: Pegatron Technology, which is owned by ASUS, has apparently won a contract from Microsoft to build Xbox 360s with built-in Blu-ray drives and begin shipping units by 3Q 2008.
It's funny how the rumours just won't die, and instead seem to gain more and more details, eh Microsoft?
With PS3 sales seeing an uptick due to both its Blu-ray functionality and the release of major games including Grand Theft Auto recently and platform exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4 just over the horizon, it's getting harder and harder to believe that Microsoft will let the PS3 maintain its HD media advantage.
We'll see if this proves true soon enough, and Microsoft? How 'bout fixing them red rings while you're sticking that Blu-ray drive in, eh? It's the only reason I haven't bought a 360 yet.
Pegatron lands OEM orders for Blu-ray Xbox 360 consoles, says paper [DigiTimes]
[via Engadget HD]
I love my cats. I do. I treat them like freaking royalty, and have been considering grooming shops to take them to. But this.... I think this crosses a line that I'm just not comfortable with.
This Luxury Pet House will allow you to control all sorts of wonderful things from your PC that pertain to your pet's new domain. Is it too warm or cold for your beloved animal? Change the temp. Worried about dangerous air-born toxins? Turn on the air filter. Concerned about pet odor? Flip the switch on the deodorizer. It's an all-in-one pet wonder-castle!
The Luxury Pet House will be on display at the awesome sounding Koreannovation show in New York May 14-15. Designer Autoelex will be showing off this and other gizmos, along with a ton of other Korean-based companies. I'll just say that this is one of the many reasons I sometimes wish I lived in NY.
Aside from this thing having the potential of becoming a macabre puppy oven, this looks like a perfectly reasonable way to spend an absurd amount of money.
Luxury Pet House: 21st Century Pet Pampering [Gearlog]
[via: Coolest Gadgets]
Earlier in the week, CNet had a simple unboxing video of the Psystar Open Computer, and now they've posted a review - not a glowing review, but neither did they condemn the 'loophole-in-a-box.' Garnering a respectable 6.9, the Open Computer won points for speed and affordability while losing points for its severely limited ability to be updated and its lack of Bluetooth or IR receiver.
They do point out that "ill-intended software update could turn it into a $750 brick," but there may be folks out there who think the chances of a $750 brick still outweigh the fourth figure that Apple would tack onto that price. Life is risk, kids.
I'd rather have a choice between expensive-and-guaranteed and cheap-but-risky than have no choice at all.
The ever-reliable David Pogue reviewed Sony's new OLED television set, the XEL-1, in this morning's New York Times. (Brief side note: why can't they come up with better names for electronics? XEL-1? Come on. Name it, The Blitzkrieg Entertainment Box or Karma's Revenge Lust.)
Apparently, OLED blows LCD and Plasma right out the window. Check out the ebullient descriptions:
"Its picture is so incredible, Sony should include a jaw cushion."
"The XEL-1’s picture is so colorful, vibrant, rich, lifelike and high in contrast, you catch your breath. It’s like looking out a window. With the glass missing."
You may recognize the name OLED from such films as your cellphone. Manufacturers have been using it for years, but it's so expensive to produce, nobody has had the balls to make a TV out of it. In steps Sony (and thank God they're doing something; the PS3 is such a huge disappointment).
Here are the problems: 1) it only comes in eleven inches; 2) it's $2,500.
Right now: not worth it. Wait a year or two.
TV Images to Dazzle the Jaded [The New York Times]
Found this o'er at Apartment Therapy Unplugged and yeah—I kind of want it right away. Some of my fondest college memories are playing Foosball with friends, slugging back cheap, rotgut beer, shouting obscenities at the top of my lungs 'cause I was so horrible at the friggin' game.
Not much is known about this Sex on a Table Foosball rig, but it looks like the speakers carry a serious wallop.
[via: Apartment Therapy Unplugged]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
Show-stopping "half-VGA" screen and HSDPA/UMTS support, gorgeous video playback: Bold, Bold, Bold!
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