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USB drives and GPS flowers
Feb. 21st, 2007 06:47 amSource: Engadget  The Iron Drive is a USB-compatible flash drive that is able to withstand "...high temperature, shock, vibration, caustic agents, submersion, EMI, and nuclear stresses". In other words, when they remove this drive from what is left of your body, you can rest assured that your data is safe, even if you're not. |
Source: Engadget  Dandella is a GPS receiver units that can be synched to a "home" location. The flower end glows when pointed toward the home location and changes colour and brightness in response to it proximity and direction, making it easy to find your way home. The units can also apparently be synched to point toward each other, allowing two people to find each other when they become separated in someplace like a busy park. |
Source: Engadget  More marketing gone bad. This USB drive contains a speaker that plays when it is plugged into your USB drive. The idea is that the drive can be given away by companies, but in order to use it you have to listen to a 10 to 20 second audio clip. |
Source: Engadget  More USB madness. The Scent Drive accepts fragrance oils, allow your lap top to emit noxious odours to counteract the noxious odours of your cube-mates. |
Source: Gizmodo  This is not a light sabre, but a combination safety wand (light stick) and megaphone. It can apparently project your voice up to 500 yards (or whatever the equivalent is in metres), so use the Force, Luke. |
This USB-powered mouse warms to a temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. It sells for $23(US), but reports say that, as a mouse, its performance is acceptable but not great.
This was funny. A law professor was demonstrating to her students an example of a copyright notification by publishing a snippet of a notice broadcast by the NFL during their Superbowl. She posted this on her website for her class as "... an example of a copyright holder exaggerating its rights -- as the NFL cannot ban all of the things they ban in that statement.". As a result, she received a DCMA take-down notice, which ignored the fact that, for educational purposes ("fair use"), she could display short segments of broadcast media. Being well aware of her rights, she proceeded to use this takedown notice as an additional example of how the law can be abused by some copyright holders, like the NFL in this case.
Roger Launius postulated at a recent conference that space colonization may await the evolution of our species into cyborgs. Robots currently explore the reaches of space, but are limited in their ability to respond to what they perceive. Humans require significant life support equipment, and issues like the radiation levels of deep space limit their ability to travel far from Earth for long periods of time. Space colonization may require humans choosing to augment or modify themselves so that they are better able to survive the rigors of deep space or other planets.
Scientists have demonstrated that they can convert heat to electricity using organic molecules trapped between metal nanoparticles. Conventional engines dump as much as 2/3 of their energy into the environment in the form of heat, but the level at which this heat is released is too small for standard approaches to reclaim it. Even systems using the Seebeck affect are only 7% efficient. The new approach was able to generate 8.7 microvolts for every degree Celsius of thermal difference.
When you think of vibrators, shoes are the last thing that come to mind. Enter the Good Vibrations Therapeutic Vibrating Shoes that can buzz away sore feet by vibrating at high frequency for up to five hours. The $60(US) shoes are rechargeable and made flexible enough to fit men or women with a wide variety of foot shapes.
I previously reported on this interesting (yet creepy) video camera clock, but what I missed on my previous read is that the device uses the household power lines to transmit video back to the PC.
Tired of wrecking furniture with your Wii-toys? Nerf is offering soft, foamy versions of those hard, plastic Wii attachments, rendering the safe for energetic Wii-athletes.
This notepad serves double-duty as a good, old-fashioned pen-and-paper notepad, but what you write can be stored in the pen's onboard memory. This $160(US) device can store up to 100 pages and is USB compatible.
When your battery-powered devices run out, the USB port can come to the rescue again. Exactly like a conventional recharger, except you can't plug it into those things called "wall sockets". You know, over there, where the computer is plugged in.
The little pixie apparently is able to tell you what your plant is thinking. The mind boggles.
Winnie the Pooh speakers, although the grin combined with the location of the speaker wires makes me wonder about the Bear of Little Brain.
This pen doesn't use any ink; rather, the nib is a metal alloy that sheds bits of itself when rubbed across a surface. Kind of like a high-tech crayon.
Apparently, a Gameboy was tough enough to survive a firefight in the first Gulf War. It stilled worked when retrieved from the wreckage.
Imagine sitting in a chair, completely immersed in your favourite music. This is the promise of the sonic chair that, apparently, does a very good job of blocking out background noise while generating a complete, personal, surround-sound experience. The sound is also well-contained so it won't bother those around you.
Yet another USB gadget. Yours to add to your growing collection of USB stuff for $22(US). Why shave in front of your computer? And what do you use to see the spots you missed, your webcam?
Okay, this is cool. Follow the link and watch a video that shows how to make a trebuchet at home.
The British Medical Journal has just published a finding that sleep apnea can be treated by regularly playing the didgeridoo. How did they even think of testing this, let alone complete a controlled test to prove that it worked?
This awkward-looking contraption uses compressed air to give your legs a massage. I wonder if it would work for my restless leg (this is actually a medical condition, one that runs in my family)?
This gadget apparently sets up a racket if you get within three feet of it. I have no idea how it distinguishes friend from foe, if it does at all.
Talk about merging technologies. Instead of splashing hot coffee all over yourself while using a mouse, how about doing BY using a mouse. This USB mug has an optical mouse built into it's base.
This USB-powered device has a set of three fans, two of them retractable, that cool the undercarriage of your laptop.
Glowing USB fish speakers (I'm sure ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
USB ducks? Apparently they are common. I've never seen one until now. This device is specifically designed for them so they must be popular among some circles.
The number of heating apparati (apparatuses?) powered by USB, you'd think we never had a wall socket before. This one is a USB-powered heating blanket for those cold nights huddled over the computer. Actually, some might find this rather useful (my wife being one).
Never let it be said bad taste was sexist. For your enjoyment, the USB Party Boy.
This is a combination USB drink heater/cooler. At the flip of the switch it goes from heating things up to 50C to cool it down to 11C. Not bad for $24(US).
This $170(US) USB turntable can give you the ability to finally convert all that old vinyl to MP3s.
This is too cute (thanks to 
