I hate waking up in the morning. I hit snooze all the time until the alarm finally stops going. I wish it was a habit I could break. Well, today I think I found the answer. The SnuzNLuz alarm clock uses wifi connectivity along with your bank account log in details in which it can use to donate your money to an organisation you hate every time you push snooze. Now we are talking! I hate to see money leave my account and this looks perfect for me. The name of the device aptly reflects the saying – If you snooze you lose. Well, you actually will with this clock.
An Alarm clock that WILL get me out of bed
May 9, 2007 by Leave a Comment
16GB SDHC Card
May 8, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Lots of storage is needed for all the photos, videos and MP3s that we cart around daily. Microdia have built a 16GB SDHC card which is capable of running at a speed of 160x. This is an incredible amount of data to be squeezed on to a card that size. As well as being an SDHC card we also know that these cards are safe from general use as it is dustproof, waterproof and can handle higher temperatures then normal.
Darth Vader Phone
May 8, 2007 by Leave a Comment
For those investigating their dark side you might want to check out the Darth Vader phone. When receiving a call the Darth Vader phone can play tunes such as the Imperial March which brings your living room to life. When in a call you can make it do the heavy breathing as well as lightsaber noises. When ringing Darths head will rotate around. If you have some visitors then you can switch it to be a normal phone so you dont scare them away.
iPod Audio Menus Researched
May 8, 2007 by Leave a Comment
One thing that has often bugged me about my iPod is that I need to take it out of my pocket to see what track I want to change to. The inline remote control is good, but it still doesnt make it clear what you are going to listen to next unless you have your play lists memorised. Engineers from the University of Toronto and Microsoft Research are devising a system which uses audio for navigating menus. It is designed for devices such as the iPod with a circular menu system. It works by giving clues to the user allowing you to switch between songs and folders by listening to where you are.
RC Spy Car with Night Vision
May 7, 2007 by 5 Comments
The Stealthy Watcher is an RC car with a night vision camera attached. Just put on the HUD (Heads Up Display) and take the remote control and drive away. The car is very quiet at running and transmits the video signal through the remote control to the HUD. It broadcasts in black and white and allows you to see in total darkness. With it being a small car you can take it most places such as under a table and chair and other various parts of the house.
Nokia 1100 – 200 Million Sold
May 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The Nokia 1100 was launched in 2003 and since then has sold a massive 200 million+ units. That is a lot of phones sold and beats ipod sales by double the amount. The 1100 is a simple phone which brings the mobile back to basics. Although this type of phone doesnt generally appeal to me because of my like of more fancy phones, I do actually own one I think somewhere. I purchased it in France on a cheap pay as you go offer so that I could receive calls with out paying stupid roaming charges. Although I have not used it since then, it still comes in handy for switching SIM cards around occasionally.
TTOOL PMP with 7 Inch TouchScreen
May 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The TTOOL PMP from first impressions looks to be a great little machine. It runs Windows CE 5.0 and has a 400MHz processor to power it. The screen is 7 inch and is also touchscreen. The resolution is 480 x 234 pixels. As well as being just a PMP it has a GPS chip from SiRF III allowing for Satelite Navigation. Audio is produced by 2 built in stereo speakers. With 64Mb of built in SDRAM there seems to be a low amount of memory although that can be increased by the use of an SD or MMC memory card.
Bubble Head Web Cameras
May 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Webcameras tend to have a similar look and feel to them among their creators. The Bubble Head Webcams look quite cool though and are a nice change to the standard looking webcams we see in the shops each day. Unfortunatly they are just prototypes right now and not in production. Should they ever make it to production I am sure they will hit a nice niche in the market to sell in bucket loads as they are more colourful and very unique.
Microsofts DigiDesk
May 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Microsoft have some cool concept ideas if you dig deep in to their website. One of these has been found which is named the DigiDesk. It is a desk which is made of 2 screens which allow you to browse and flick through documents, movies and what ever else you want to display on it. The controls on the desk change according to what you are doing so that you get a very customised feel for the device. As the world changes more towards media and the computer you could start seeing more devices like this built in to regular desks.
Wall Climbing Robots – Stanfords StickyBot
May 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment
The Stickbot has been introduced by Stanford. It weighs 300g and can climb glass at 4cm per second. Not bad for a robot trying to emulate a creature that can actually climb. It appears to work by having sticky toes which grip to the window when attached to the window at the right angle and speed. Check out one more video after the jump and also OhGizmo linked below for a more detailed explanation.
Lexus LS600hL Face Detection Camera
May 6, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Safety when driving is very important and keeping full attention on the road makes your journey safter. With all the gadgets that tend to clutter the dash board such as GPS, fancy stereos, TV screens and the mobile phone as well as lots to look at out side like posters, you really need to make sure your priority is on the road and what is happening around. Lexus have created another gadget which this time is not to take your attention off the road, but to put your attention on the road. It is a camera with face detection which can monitor your concentration levels by watching to see if you tend to look at posters and passers by rather then the road. If it detects this a audible or visual alert will try capture your attention. If you do not heed its warnings then it can start applying the brakes on its own. Also steering ratio can be changed to capture your attention more.
Cool but Geeky Watches
May 5, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Geek watches are kind of cool and geeky at the same time. They tend to have extra functions such as calculators, radios, games, music or even pulse sensors on them. I have owned a few of them in my life too so when I come across watches like these its always good for a laugh. The watch above is the VoiceMaster which I honestly have no idea what its for. I am guessing that the SPEAK and arrow pointing to a little black area means you need to speak to it to record your voice for playback or something. Kind of funny to look back on but I can imagine it was cool at the time.
