Gadgetstronics

Posted Jan 24th 2008 5:02PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Remember that yeast-and-sugar-powered generator from Dr. Cedrick Ngalande of Malawi we spotted a while back? Ol’ Ced’s back with a video of the system in action — and an explanation of how it works, to boot. Just as most of you guessed, the system is powered by the yeast / sugar mix giving off CO2, leading to a pressure imbalance which tips the center of gravity and causes motion. What most of you didn’t guess, however, is how freaking slowly that would happen — check out the video after the break, and then wake up and wipe the drool off your face, slick.

[Via BoingBoing]

Posted Jan 24th 2008 7:10PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Portable Audio
Apple’s been known to cover all its bases in the patent department, meaning this is certainly no guarantee we’ll be seeing light-up iPods in the near future, but all the same we can’t ignore the fact that a patent just popped up that has Apple postulating on backlit click wheels. While having a comet of light following your finger around the wheel is certainly interesting — if potentially annoying — things get more intriguing with the possibility of multitouch, but the patent isn’t clear enough to tell if that’s exactly what Apple is driving at. It’s all well and good, but in these heady touchscreen days, are clickwheels slowly going the way of the dinosaur button?

When on holiday I am not renowned for sending postcards to people. I suppose I could use a service like WYWH.mobi but I reckon these postcards may be a bit primitive but hey they’re cool, wooden postcards.

With these postcards you’ve got to scratch and carve in your message using a knife, keys or something. Which makes sending cards a bit more manly in my book. I wonder if there’ll be prehistoric version, were you’ve got to write Flintstone style, the postage might hurt a bit with that idea.

You can buy the wooden postcards from zSuaro £6.95 (~$14).

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These mini tabletop versions of classic retro arcade games are perfect for getting a quick fix of your favorite childhood gaming memories.

Excalibur’s Desktop Arcade games come in both Space Invaders and Frogger models, and have a tiny little arcade style cabinet, joystick and a small backlit LCD color screen.

They also play the authentic sounds and music of their birth parents (audio can be quickly muted when the boss comes around). While they’re not exactly the same as the original arcade games (think Nintendo’s classic Game & Watch collection), they do look cool sitting on your desk.

You can find them both over on Amazon (Frogger | Space Invaders) for about $29 each.

read more about:

arcade, frogger, lcd, miniature, small, space invaders

YouTube is preparing to make some more changes, and possibly to the dislike of certain mobile providers have announced plans to offer a full service on many more cellphones in the near future.

YouTube mobile will be available in 19 countries, 11 languages and have support for phones from Motorola, LG, Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Currently Helio and Apple iPhone users are the only ones enjoying the full mobile YouTube experience. Verizon customers also have access however its limited to a striped down version and sadly they will not initially be supporting the service on “most of their phones.”

Now even more, up to an estimated 100 million mobile phone users worldwide will be able to watch people do stupid things wherever they may be. The mobile version of YouTube can be found at http://m.youtube.com/.

Read [Reuters]

We just confirmed for ourselves that the MacBook Air’s small MagSafe charger does work with the MacBook and MacBook Pro, but the MagSafe charger on the latter two don’t work with the slot on the MacBook Air when you lay it flat on a table. It works fine on a lap, or if you slide it to the edge of your table. Update: Corrected. [MacBook Air]

This anti-terrorism concept from researchers at Purdue University puts together miniature radiation counters built right into cellphones across the US. Each solid-state sensor would be able to sniff out radioactive sources from up to 15 feet, and then would send in the location to Homeland Security, the FBI and Jack Bauer, resulting in huge dirty-bomb surveillance system. Sounds like 24 meets Big Brother in 1984, but it is a pretty clever system and apparently it works right now.

Professors Ephraim Fischbach and Jere Jenkins suggest that the electronics could filter out false alarms from medical radiation sources and radioactive potassium in bananas (wait, bananas are radioactive? Who knew!) and the sensors themselves would add little weight to a cellphone or laptop. The system could track the progress of suspicious radiation sources (like a badly-shielded suitcase bomb) across the country, and even act as an alert system for radiation leaks from the legitimate nuclear industry. It’s also been tested on campus, using a very weak radioactive source, demonstrating that the technology already exists.

If you didn’t mind doing a little cloak-and-dagger work for the Government as you walked around with your phone in your pocket, then this sounds like it could be a pretty effective anti-terror weapon. [Purdue press release via TG Daily]

New mini-Breathalyzer right on your keychain. Never again have a doubt about how much you have had to drink or whether you are legally OK to drive. This mini breathalyzer has a traffic light readout system making it super easy use. Simply blow for 5 seconds then wait. Indicating green and you are good to go; yellow and you may want to wait a while before you go home. If it indicates red then you should hand your keys to friend. This is great reference tool for seeing if you have had just a little too much to drink, but be careful to not rely on this as an iron clad test!

[Via]

Thodio’s iBox is probably the cutest iPod speaker ever. It also looks a little familiar. The battery powered amp and speaker combo will last 15 hours on a charge and kicks out 25 watts per channel, with a little extra bass via the “mouth” at the bottom. The base model is crafted from the finest MDF, but hardwoods are available. Input is via a 3.5mm jack, so no dock connector or line-in, but at least it’s not just for the iPod (although the little bay on the top fits a 5G iPod perfectly).

Prices start at €360 ($525) for the MDF iBox and rise to €475 ($695) for the Zebrano model, and there’s a bluetooth option for another €150 ($220). There’s no remote, but you could try saying “wee-tee-kah-wah-tee” in Furbish.

Product page [Thodio via Retro Thing]

Dell has become the latest to partner up with (PRODUCT) Red and will have a few models available under the Red brand as of January 31, 2008. For those unaware (PRODUCT) Red is a campaign that takes part of the purchase price and uses it towards the fight against AIDS in Africa, which for the consumer usually gives us a unique product along with the good feeling we get for helping others out. What seems to me like a win-win situation.

Dell will be offering a selection of three computers and one printer, each with its own red touch. First up is the Dell XPS One, which will have the display in red and offer $80 of the $1,599 retail price as a donation. Dell is also offering two laptop models that include the 13.3-inch XPS M1330 and 15.4-inch XPS M1530 models, they both offer $50 of the retail price towards the charity. Finally the 948 all-in-one printer will offer $5 of the retail price towards the fight. Further specs are expected to be available when the computers go on sale January 31, 2008.

Also included on the Dell computers will be a special edition of Microsoft’s Windows Vista Ultimate, which will include extras such as six desktops, a Vista Ultimate DreamScene video desktop, a screen saver, and two Sidebar gadgets.

Read [Dell] Via [electronista]