Gadgetstronics

I’ve had it up to here (insert imaginary height chart here) with people stealing my pens! I gave it to you for three seconds, not your entire lifetime. I’m especially sick of having to high-tail it to my nearest office supply store (since Coolest gadgets doesn’t have a supply cabinet to steal from) just so I can buy a new pack of pens which will eventually be stolen.

Well, not anymore! I’m taking a stand against all of you pen hoarders. I mean, really, where do all of these pens wind up? Is there some crazy pen collector who has piles of writing utensils? Don’t get me wrong. I love pens. I used to be quite the pen connoisseur. That was until I had my Dr. Grip stolen from me one too many times. Now? I just get these “Borrow My Pen?” writing tools. Pen thievery doesn’t happen nearly as much anymore.

Each pen in the “Borrow My Pen?” set includes a brash or politically incorrect statement which makes the pen less desirable than your typical Bic. Who really wants to be known as the guy who stole the “Stuffed with Love Taxidermy, No Pet Too Small, Give Us a Call” pen? Not I. Not I, indeed.

If you’re as fed up with pen thieves as I am, you can grab your own set of “Borrow My Pen?” pens from perpetualkid for $6.99 a pop. And if you don’t have thievery issues, at least it would be a fun prank to pull on a waiter after signing your receipt, or even at the DMV. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! Lord knows they could use some humor in their life.

Product Page via Gear Diary

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When I carry this bag I feel like a PowerPuff Girl - all soft, pink and feminine, but secretly kicking villain butt. Bubbles would carry the Lucy bag, in cheery pink with white piping and a large, white heart patch on the front. This bag says she’s confident, has a great sense of humor; that she wears her heart on her sleeve.

Not only is it the cutest of my new bags, it’s also well designed, with plenty of inside pockets, soft, comfortable shoulder straps, a magnetic snap outer pocket (great for travel docs), metal feet, and at 2.4 lbs, it’s also pretty light for a large computer bag. (Price: $165 for 15″ laptops, $175 for 17″ laptops.) You can also take out the computer clutch and use it for a handbag, though the 17″ model is a little big if you’re petite like me

It also comes with an adorable matching clutch & mirror included (which my daughter absconded with).

And even though it’s wonderfully soft and supple, like leather, it’s actually a kind of plastic (hence the name of the company, Plastic People.) Designer Shannon South is as bright and cheerful as her bags and, I suspect, a PowerPuff Girl in disguise.

Now excuse me while I go save the world before bedtime.

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 15th 2008 at 10:10AM
Look, we get what they’re trying to do here. The two “ears” are meant to capture sound in stereo in the same way a human does, therefore producing a better sound picture in playback. The only problem is that your subject, be they human, inanimate or a strange hybrid, is going to be so busy being freaked out by this set of blue ears that they’ll forget to make any sort of “natural sounding” noise. Oh, and there’s the little problem of the price: the Binaural Recording Mic from Otokinoko retails for $3,900 — quite a bit to spend on a blue gimmick. We want.

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Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Having 76 keys, Casio WK-3800 lets you produce your own music for any occasion. Featuring an advanced ZPI sound source, drawbar organ and stereo piano, Casio WK-3800 is an ideal musical instrument that can be played both by adults and kids with ease. You can choose from any of the 182 available rhythms and 232 digital effects of Casio WK-3800.

Features

• 3 Sensitivity Levels.
• 10 Preset Patterns.
• 4 Adjustable Bands.
• SD Data Storage.
• Touch Sensitive Keyboard.

Casio WK-3800 Advanced Sounds & Storage with ZPI Technology comes fitted with a keyboard that utilizes an Internet Data Expansion System to configure the keyboards to your particular needs using waveform and other similar data. Moreover, Casio WK-3800 incorporates a built-in floppy disk drive that supports playback of commercially available SMF data and a LINE OUT jack that allows connection to sound equipment for stage performances.

Price and Availability

Casio WK-3800 Advanced Sounds & Storage with ZPI Technology is available at a price of £ 349.99.

Source: Casio

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Now you won’t have to go without watching your favorite episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1. Ever. You’ll be able to download and view them on your watch. Wait. What? Watch? That’s right - you can pick up a video watch for under $100 with a nice crisp OLED screen.

With a 128×128 screen in full color, this video watch sports 7 hours of play time, has 2GB of storage and plays MP3 and WMA audio files in case you get bored watching stuff. In case you need to take audio memos, it also comes with a built-in microphone.

Transferring videos and audio files to the watch is via USB 2.0. Not a bad little gadget, and not ridiculously expensive for a pretty new display technology.

Gimme!

Price: $69.99 (currently on sale - normally $99.99)
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Miscellaneous

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 15th 2008 at 4:50AM
Just in time for Father’s Day, ESPN’s tvCompass-built WiFi Ultimate Remote is finally available, and rapidly making its way into the awaiting, Cheeto-stained fingertips of a couch potato near you. It still costs $300, and with a good number of laptops retailing for that price these days, it’s certainly hard to justify, but forget all that… who on earth thought this packaging was a good idea? It kind of looks like a dumbell, but not. We’re really at a loss for words here. It’s almost like ESPN wants to fail.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals

I’ve already discussed free hosting and virtual private servers in the past. Now, it is the time to discuss dedicated hosting.

Well, a dedicated hosting is an Internet hosting service in which a client takes over the control of a server provided by the hosting provider and this server is not shared with any other customer. So, only one customer has the control over the server and this brings in a lot of flexibility to the customer as he can use the server the way he wants to. That being said, there are a number of options /things to be considered while purchasing a dedicated hosting service. You can opt for managed dedicated hosting or unmanaged dedicated hosting. Also, you can have Linux servers or even Windows servers.

Some of the benefits of dedicated hosting –

• You’ll notice better performance as the server resources are not being shared with other users. This results in maximum performance which is much more when compared to the performance of shared hosting accounts.
• As the server is not used by other users, the server is pretty secure as it is only you who has the root access. It is also very easy to install appropriate software to make it more secure.
• We all know that websites are precious and many of us run our business through websites. With dedicated hosting, you can even setup a firewall to make your server and site more secure.
• The server is entirely under your control and so, you can configure it as per your needs. You can install desired software, scripts on it to use it as per your need. You can also upgrade it any time as per your requirement.
• With dedicated hosting, you need not worry whenever your site is under heavy load because of increase in traffic. Shared hosting accounts are usually closed whenever the account consumes more resources and this result in loss of traffic, money and time. These problems are not found in dedicated hosting services.

The price of the dedicated servers varies from company to company and also, on your server specification. If you’ve a high traffic website or a website which is very special to you then opting for a dedicated hosting instead of shared hosting is a wise choice. But, make sure to compare different servers before buying them so as to get the best deal for your money.

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 15th 2008 at 12:40AM
Don’t get ahead of us here, Intel isn’t building full-featured Second Life and World of Warcraft apps for handheld Mobile Internet Devices. Instead they’re using a new “Interactive 3D Streaming” tech to control and view the game remotely — similar to some to that Telekinesis app we saw playing WoW on the iphone last year, but Intel seems to be much further along. Their Xeon 5400 server can handle 14 clients simultaneously, but we’re guessing this won’t be cost effective for Blizzard anytime soon — though we can imagine quite a few addicts rigging up similar systems for themselves. The sad news here is that Intel might’ve just discovered the best use for a MID yet.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 15th 2008 at 12:40AM
Don’t get ahead of us here, Intel isn’t building full-featured Second Life and World of Warcraft apps for handheld Mobile Internet Devices. Instead they’re using a new “Interactive 3D Streaming” tech to control and view the game remotely — similar to some to that Telekinesis app we saw playing WoW on the iphone last year, but Intel seems to be much further along. Their Xeon 5400 server can handle 14 clients simultaneously, but we’re guessing this won’t be cost effective for Blizzard anytime soon — though we can imagine quite a few addicts rigging up similar systems for themselves. The sad news here is that Intel might’ve just discovered the best use for a MID yet.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

You have to admit. The age at which girls get into revealing high-fashion is becoming younger and younger. At this rate, we’re going to have toddlers wearing low-neck tank tops in the not-so-distant future. And already, we have a company whipping out a pair of tongue-in-cheek joke high heels for babies. But how long before this isn’t a joke?

Heelarious is a company which makes high heeled crib shoes for young ones. Of course, these boots aren’t made for walking, but more for just lounging around in a play pen or crib, tapping their toes and waiting for their next bottle feeding. The Heelarious heels are made pretty fragile. The weight of a baby standing up in them would apparently crack the heel in half.

The Heelarious site also has a disclaimer, “WARNING: May cause extreme smiling and hysterical laughter when in use (this is completely normal).” Though we’re yet to find any warnings about baby’s stabbing themselves in the eyes or choking on the extended heel. So we’ll just assume these high heel crib shoes are completely safe.

In order to hook up your up and coming fashionista of a daughter (or son, we suppose) with these Heelarious crib shoes, you’ll need to pay $35, plus any future psychiatric charges for your child after they learn of the horrible torture you put them through as infants.

Product Page via The J-Walk Blog

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