For those of you who have always longed for the day you could own a remote controlled flying fairy, this could be your dream come true! Need to buy a Christmas gift for a girl? Coming just in time for the holidays to stores near you, the Disney Tinker Bell Flyer might just be the coolest girly gift ever!
Based on the FlyTech Dragonfly(TM) by WowWee launched in 2007 (one of TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year”), this new Disney Tinker Bell toy will provide countless hours of joy. Using the digital flower-wand remote control (oh so dainty) you can make Tinker Bell soar, glide, and dive ever so gracefully through the air. You can actually control her speed, direction, and height. This isn’t one of those cheesy RC toys with a string or line attached to it, this is the real deal. Don’t worry, Tink is made from durable light-weight materials and is not likely to cause bodily injury should she be accidentally (or not) rammed into someone’s eyeball.
Like the Dragonfly, the Tinker Bell Flyer was created with a dual wing design that provides lift and propulsion. Thanks to dual-band infrared controls you can fly two Tinks in the same room without problems (except for of course if the users opt for some fairy air combat!).
The Disney Tinker Bell Flyer is safe for ages 6 years and up, requires 4 “AA” batteries, and will set you back about $40. Magical pixie dust sold separately.
If you are a guy and you just have to have this, or want to buy this toy for a boy, buy the Dragonfly or similar toy from WowWee; they do the same thing and will save the manhood.
http://www.flytechonline.com/
Don’t you just hate waking up in the morning swimming in a pool of your own sticky sweat? Isn’t that disgusting?! Thank goodness I don’t have you’re problem! You really should do something about that. You might consider visiting a doctor or specialist. If that doesn’t appeal to you then the new Night Sweat Alarm might just be your hero. This crazy new invention you place around your wrist or ankle will sound an alarm whenever you begin perspiring. At that point its job ends and yours begins. You will then turn on the AC, kick off blankets, and do whatever it takes to stop the soak-fest before it starts. Now you won’t have to wake up in the morning like you’ve just spent thirty minutes in a dry sauna. Your bed sheets will thank you. Your partner will thank you. Heck, this new gadget just might save your marriage!
You’re sweating problem will need to be a real nuisance though, before you shell out $139.99 for the Night Sweat Alarm. That could be all the money in your piggy bank!
Read more about the Night Sweat Alarm here
Just like this website suggests, the world is full of gizmos, doohickeys, and doo dad devices out there. The latest (and more than a little bizarre) are the water bikes. A simple search on Google will bring you to multiple YouTube videos that are getting “I want that!” responses. So, do you want this newest doo dad? Let us give you the lowdown on water bikes. The two top of the market products are the Aqua Skipper made by Inventist, and the Pumpabike created by Evo. These human powered hydrofoil bikes enable you to ride on water (don’t try this with a normal bike!). With a simple pumping motion similar to jumping on a mini-pogo stick, these people are seen racing all over a lake, riding waves, just jet setting along. Likely to be great for your hips and thighs, it is surely going to be the closest way that I personally get to feeling like I am surfing along the waves in sunny California.
The Aqua Skipper looks like a metal praying mantis, all lean lines. Weighing in at
26 pounds and going up to 17 mph, this 6’ by 7’ lightweight aluminum giant looks as graceful as a gazelle on the water. It is easily disassembled and can be transported in a carrying case the size of a golf bag. Minimum weight to ride is 70 pounds, maximum weight is about 250 pounds.
The Pumpabike looks more like a exercise bike, with a large blue standing area. The major difference between these two water bikes is the Pumpabike is buoyant while stationary, although it is three pounds heavier than the Aquaskipper. So instead of sinking like the Titanic, you can take breaks in your pump and jumping, relax your muscles and just enjoy the ride. Well, for two or three seconds at least.
So what is the damage? Approximately $495.95 for the Aqua Skipper, or the refurbished unit for $399.95, and only $69 for the handy dandy carrying case. The Pumpabike is a bit harder to find for an actual price, but over in merry ol’ England it is selling for £499, which converts to $919.66. A chunk of change, but it sure does look like fun! Who will we see jumping and pumping next?
See the AquaSkipper in action:
Today marks T-Mobile’s official announcement of the release of the very first phone on the market utilizing Android, Google’s highly anticipated mobile phone operating system (and you thought Google was just a search engine!). Is the T-Mobile G1 with Android the iPhone killer many people were expecting? No, it doesn’t appear to be so. Not to say that Google won’t pull this off as more Android based phones begin to proliferate the marketplace. One of the greatest qualities of Android is that it is probably the most developer friendly platform out there. Android does not distinguish between the phone’s built-in applications and user-created applications. They can all be designed to have equal access to a phone’s capabilities providing users with a greater variety of applications and services than any other mobile platform in existence. Given this level of flexibility, Android is likely to (over time) eat away at Apple’s Iphone dominance.
The T-Mobile G1 will be on sale October 22, 2008 with a 2 year contract price of $179.
Since some reviewers were able to get their hands on the G1, full reviews of the T-Mobile G1 and the Android platform should be flooding the web right about now. Just do a Google search.
If you’ve got digital photos and videos to show off at home or in your office, this could quite possibly be the coolest way to do it.
With a 32″ display and sporting a 1366×768 resolution, the Smartparts SP3200WF is the largest digital photo frame to hit the consumer market ever. The SP3200WF is attractively matted in beige and sports a natural wood frame with an ‘espresso’ finish. This device supports WiFi, meaning you can wirelessly feed it images to display through your home PC network. It also supports Windows Live Photo Gallery and will play back video with sound, including Motion JPEG, AVI and WMA files. In addition, the SP3200WF will display PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, and most common image formats.
The SP3200WF will be available soon through specialty retailers. Expect this wondrous display to set you back around $1,000, although no price has been officially announced yet. Of course if you don’t already own a large LCD or plasma TV you are obviously better off buying one of those first!
SmartParts a leading manufacturer and innovator in the digital picture frame market:
http://smartpartsproducts.com/content/index.html
No, this little electronic marvel is not built for attack or defense. It’s being designed as a sensor to relay information back to advancing soldiers about the environment they are entering into, detecting potential hazards such as poisonous gas, nuclear radiation, and performing numerous surveillance operations. Basically it’s a super cool teeny little spy plane!
The US Army has given the University of Michigan College of Engineering a $10 million dollar grant in order to help make their flying wonder a reality. This grant brought the University of Michigan Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology (appropriately known as COMBAT for short) into existence.
Why a bat? Bats have ultra highly attuned senses and are able to navigate precisely even in pitch black conditions, which is what the Army wants their robot to be able to achieve.
See the full story at:
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6409
If we’re lucky enough, they’ll release a toy version for use at home (OK, don’t hold your breath). This thing does look like fun!
No longer bound to the confines of the road and the sidewalk, the new Segway X2 expresses it’s freedom from such feeble terrain limitations. Yes, you can now go off-roading with the all-terrain Segway X2. Hard to imagine, I know, but it’s true! The Segway X2 comes in several flavors; X2 Golf Edition to replace your ugly old-school (not cool looking like a Segway X2) golf cart, an X2 Police Edition for (yes, you guessed it!) law enforcement purposes, the X2 Adventure (with more off-roading accessories such as a handlebar bag for water bottles / tools, a 5W LED headlamp, and universal cargo plates), and the X2 itself (without all the extra accessories). I can’t help but think that this sounds fun, however I don’t think this will be replacing good ‘ol 4 wheelin’ ATVs for entertainment purposes anytime soon! Also with a maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour and a maximum range of around 12 miles, don’t expect to get too far too fast on your Segway!
Solid surfaces used to be the single domain of bouncy balls. The Waboba ball, which bounces and skips across the surface of water, is here to end all of that. Don’t believe me? I didn’t think you would. Be sure to see the video below.
The Waboba Ball is about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and is made out of polyurethane with a special lycra coating. These magical chemicals somehow give Waboba it’s alien-like physical capabilities.
Waboba could in fact be the ultimate swimming pool or beach toy. The creators of Waboba have created an actual multi-player game for Waboba. A real game, with rules and everything: http://www.waboba.com/Games.aspx
It could one day become an official watersport, perhaps even an Olympic event?
Please note, the Waboba ball is made for water bouncing only. Bouncing Waboba on a hard surface is not good for it. Don’t do that.
Priced at under $10 US (more if you buy it through www.waboba.com), Waboba will make an ideal Christmas stocking stuffer, or a great gift for any occasion.
Waboba Ball
When I was a kid I took an AC motor (you know those little ones you found inside your toys when you took them apart?) and cut the wires off of a pair of headphones. I then connected the headphone wires to the motor and plugged it into the headphone jack on my stereo just to see what would happen. To my surprise, I could feel vibrations in the motor in sync with the music. For whatever reason, I put the motor in my mouth and bit down on it. Suddenly I could actually hear the music, throughout my skull! It was very tinny sounding, but quite cool indeed. Little did I know at the time, I was playing with a phenomena known as “bone conduction”.
Bone conduction was originally discovered by Ludwig Van Beethoven. He would connect a metal rod to his piano and clench it in his teeth, thus allowing him to ‘hear’ even though he was deaf!
Bone conduction is nothing new, but creating bone-conducting headphones has been a challenge up until now. The audio quality was sub-par. Thanks to the Goldendance company of Japan, our ears can finally have a rest. AudioBone headphones are the first bone conduction headphones in existence that are able to deliver high-fidelity stereo sound. Instead of placing your headphones over your ear as usual, you place the AudioBone ‘phones over the bones in front of your ears (feel those bumps about an inch out?)
The AudioBone headphones convert the sound waves into vibrations that go into your bones and are picked up by your inner ear. This is normally done by your ear drum, but with AudioBone your ear drum gets to take a well deserved vacation.
I can almost hear some of you saying “So what, why bother with this?”. AudioBone isn’t for everyone, however it does have it’s perks:
University studies have shown that bone conduction is safer for your ears than regular headphones and especially those annoying and sometimes painful earbuds.
AudioBone does not block the ear, which allows you to hear all ambient noises. This is especially good for runners or people at work (or anyone who needs to hear for safety purposes). AudioBone headphones are also waterproof and you can hear them perfectly while underwater (great for swimmers).
AudioBone headphones are available now, expect to pay from $189 - $219 plus shipping. No, not for the poor!
http://www.audioboneheadphones.com
Just the other day I was thinking it would be wonderful to have a wireless external hard drive for my laptop computer so I could truly be ‘free’ (as opposed to being stuck at my desk). Welcome the Apollo Pro WX by Imation, the first wireless hard drive to hit the market.
Utilizing wireless USB technology by WiQuest, the Apollo Pro WX is intended for quick backup and storage of music, photos, videos and data on wireless networks at home.
Amazingly enough, the speed of the Apollo Pro WX is apparently just as fast as a wired USB hard drive. There are two caveats however; the device only has a 30 foot range, and your computer must support wireless USB.
The Imation Apollo Pro WX is set to be released 4th quarter and in capacities ranging from 250 gigabytes to 1.5 terabytes. Pricing is currently unknown. Expect to see more and more devices released supporting wireless USB technology. They will be welcomed with “open arms”!
