Author name: William Appleyard

Flexible Illuminated Keyboard

Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Portable / By /

Flexible Illuminated Keyboard

Flexible keyboards are old news, we’ve seen them and grown tired of gadget programs still referring to them as amazing new technology. The illuminated flexible keyboard gives us something to talk about –  it’s a completely flexible keyboard that can be rolled, folded and washed (yes, it’s fully washable – no more finger grime on your keyboard!) to your heart’s content and comes in 4 different colors; blue, pink, green and white. When plugged in via your USB or PS2 port it lights up to show you all the keys in a fashionable and very practical manner – perfect for surfing the internet under your bed sheets! For $19.99 it’s a bargain!

Buy now!

Price: $19.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Air Conditioned Bed

Gizmo of the Day, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

Remember those sticky nights where you just can’t sleep with the heat? Well a Japanese company has come up with a solution for this – the air conditioned bed which works by blowing cool air over you as you sleep. The makers, Kuchofuku, already make air conditioned shirts so this just seems a natural progession of their product line! Unfortunately the website is in Japanese so details are scarce, but we do know that the bed would set you back around $250, that’s if you can find a way to have it delivered; the product is only currently available in Japan. This picture sums it up nicely:
Air Conditioned Bed

More info from the manufacturer (Japanese site)

Price: $250 approx.
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

49 Port USB Hub by Cambrionix

Computers, Gizmo of the Day / By /

49 Port USB Hub

Should you ever need to plug 49 USB devices into a hub at once, you’ll be thankful there is a solution – Cambrionix’s 49 port USB hub. Okay, so it wasn’t designed for the consumer market (it was supposed to be used in large test labs and business offices) but it would still be pretty cool for a power user to have. Unfortunately it need a big ATX-2 power supply to run it (it’s a powerful device!) and will set you back over $700!

More info from the manufacturer

Price: £399 + tax ($657 + tax)
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Solar Vest – Practical Fashion Statement?

Miscellaneous / By /

Someone here has clearly lost their mind when designing this gizmo – a solar powered vest that charges your gadgets; simply attach your gadgets to the wires in your pockets and you’re good to go! Whilst this does look shockingly unstylish, it is very practical so you might be interested in getting a bit of use about it, just maybe not in any local areas in case you get seen. Of course, to some people this might actually be that outrageous fashion statement they were looking for – tech chic perhaps? I’ll leave you to make your own mind up about whether you value your reputation or a full battery more.

Solar Powered Vest

via dvice

Desktop iPod Alarm Clock & ‘Bed Shaker’

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Gizmo of the Day, Portable / By /

iPod Alarm Clock & Bed Shaker

Sometimes we do have to get up for work, and this can be a real problem. The iMM153 responds to this by providing an iPod powered ‘bed shaker’ alarm clock. Plug in your iPod before going to bed, set the alarm and you will be pleasantly awakened in the morning by your favorite music… and your pillows vibrating.

This latest product by iLuv (a large producer of iPod supplies) comes in at $60 and has a lot of features for the money. Obviously you get a set of speakers to play and charge your iPod in, but you also get a lovely FM radio built in with 10 presets for your favorite radio stations. Hit the buy link for a full spec list!

Buy now!

Price: $59.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

USB Tube Delight Audio – Novelty Sound Card

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Computers, Gizmo of the Day / By /

USB Tube Delight Audio Sound Card

The USB Tube Delight Audio device is a portable sound card that connects to your computer via USB 2.0, completely plug-and-play. From there you can plug in your speakers, headphones, microphones etc. via the 3.5mm jack and enjoy some sound! As a nice touch, 2 little USB adapters are provided, depending on whether you want your tube to stick out of your computer, or perpendicular to it.

Buy now!

Price: $32.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Wireless temperature monitoring can save you money

Home Automation, Networking & Internet / By /

Typical central air systems for homes have a fatal flaw – a single thermostat for the entire floor if not the entire house. You then typically end up with different rooms being at different temperatures.

Today’s technology lets you manage this problem cheaply. Snag a bunch of wireless sensors and deploy them around the home. They in turn report back to a central system that you can monitor to figure out where you may need to improve the insulation and/or adjust the airflow into that room.

You may be able to take it a step further by having the vents motorized and automatically controlled to open/close based on temperature thresholds.

You can find more details at Embedded.com.

Garmin Oregon 550/550t – GPS With Camera

Gizmo of the Day, GPS, Portable, Sports, Health & Fitness, Outdoors / By /

Garmin Oregon 550t

We’ve had cameras with built in GPS so now it’s time for a GPS with a built in camera! Garmin have taken their award-winning Oregon GPS system and stuck a 3.2 megapixel camera in it with 4x optical zoom – enough to rival a lot of phones on the market today – perfect for those times when you’re trekking up a mountain and want to take a picture of the view but find your phone’s dead.

Enough about the camera, the GPS system is pretty advanced too – the built-in memory has enough room for 2,000 waypoints, 200 routes and 5,000 geocaches and comes loaded with 100,000 maps with 3D perspective rendering. Operation is via a 3-inch touch screen and can be mounted inside a car for in-vehicle use.

Buy now!

Price: $599.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Super Universal Car Mount

Gizmo of the Day, GPS, Phones, Portable / By /

Super Universal Car Mount

The Super Universal Car Mount is a neat idea for those of you who like to have pretty much all your gadgets rigged up in the car – mobile phone, Sat Nav and your MP3 player. The candle-style arrangement allows you to hold up to three of your favorite gadgets and comes with leads to connect all of these up (presumably to your car): iPhones, iPods, Zunes, MP3, GPS, Game consoles (a worrying idea!), PDAs, Phones and more! Pretty cool gizmo; just make sure it doesn’t obscure all of your windscreen!

Buy now!

Price: $29.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Microsoft launches Hohm, a power and resource monitor

Home Automation, Networking & Internet, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

Microsoft Hohm

We’ve seen Google trying their hand at operating systems but what about Microsoft trying to steal power usage market share from Google? Back in February we took a look at PowerMeter – a product from Google that allows users to monitor their power consumption via ‘smart’ meters, but Microsoft has released Hohm (still in beta) to do pretty much the same job.

Hohm will check your levels of electricity, propane and oil consumption within a given time period and Microsoft will look at adding device monitoring (something already offered by PowerMeter) and water monitoring to give a complete picture of your resource usage. When you sign up for your free account you can see how much you’re spending on energy, how it compares to similar users and how it can be reduced.

It’s just a pity they couldn’t get hold of a better domain to host it on.

Scroll to Top