Coolest Gadgets

Most devices these days have a USB port, and it goes without saying that this also means a USB charger is in order to keep said device juiced up at all times. Of course, finding a USB port wherever you are is definitely harder than looking for the ordinary, standard issue power outlet – after all, it isn’t as though all power outlets have a dedicated USB port crammed in at the moment, although we do wish it were otherwise. Bracketron has every intention to make sure that no matter where you go, especially if you’re a heavy road user, will be able to keep your USB-powered devices juiced up before you arrive at your destination, and it does so in style with the Dual USB Charger. As with many other heavy duty electronic devices in your vehicle that need power, the 12V cigarette lighter port is taken advantage of. Sure, you lose your car’s lighter in the process, but that’s a small price to pay to make sure your phone’s all juiced up for that important meeting in an hour’s ti...

I think we all know that Lego has been influential in the gadget community, and Power A has several products that combine gaming with Lego. One of them is the Play and Build Remote. We have actually covered this before, and it is essentially a Wiimote with studs on the top for customization. I’ll talk more about that after the jump, but customization works well for the Lego Armor Case Starter Kit for the DSi. The DSi Case has a top with Lego studs, two Lego game covers, and a stylus with a 2 x 2 Lego brick on top. It is very clear who Power A is targeting with these gaming accessories. As someone who is a Lego-maniac, I can think of several ways I can incorporate these accessories into Lego projects. Of course, this would take away the ability to use the controller for the game. The Play & Build Remote comes with a few studless flat pieces for decor, and even has this Lego wrench piece to pry them off. If you want to make something more complex, then you mi...

Some of you might remember my Thor outfit when I was covering Hasbro’s line on that film, and it was inevitable that I would be covering the Captain America: The First Avenger merchandise. As you can see, I have the Captain America mask, which does not have any Real 3D abilities like the Bumblebee Mask I covered a while ago. That’s good for playtime or cosplay, but what really works is the Disc Launching Shield. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I don’t ever remember the comic book hero shooting small discs from his shield. Every time I hold it, I want to sing the “When Captain America Throws his Mighty Shield” theme from the badly animated Captain America cartoon that aired back in the sixties. As usual, Hasbro puts out the action figures of Cap in different outfits and different sizes. I managed to get a hold of “Hero Power Captain America”, a 10-inch figure that says very campy things when you press the star on his chest like “You’re goin’ down, Red Skull”! Then t...

I’m always glad when I can get my hands on a gaming mouse, and NZXT was nice enough to send over the Avatar S for me to review. The Avatar S has a 1600 DPI laser sensor right out of the box, and it can be adjusted by installing the drivers for 1600, 800, or 400 dpi settings. You might notice in the image how there is a blue light, which will change color when those dpi speeds are changed. It has a tracking speed of 30 inches per second, which makes the cursor quite fast. What makes the Avatar S a “gaming” mouse is that it has five buttons instead of the usual three (left, scrolling, and right). The other two are on the left and right sides of the mouse, and, once the drivers are installed, the user can program all kinds of macros with 16KB of onboard memory. The user can also change the orientation from left and right handed, and I can imagine that something like this can really improve one’s game. Clearly, I need to be more into MMORPGs to really appreciate the...

So your iPad is already a fun device by itself, keeping you entertained with a slew of games that will definitely be deemed by some to be traditional “time wasters”. Well, get along with the program already, modern day tablets carry enough processing firepower to prove to be a formidable portable gaming machine. What happens when you want to bring gaming to a more realistic level? This is where the Yoomi Duo comes in. The $35.99 Yoomi Duo is a new device that will interact with your iPad (and the iPad 2, of course), turning it into an interactive board game which might just be the perfect tonic to bring the whole family together for once without anyone sulking or pulling a long face. All you need to do is place the Duo device on the iPad’s surface, where it will work with a game known as Yoomi. This brings together the digital and real world in a single package. Hopefully other games that roll out in the future will also take advantage of the Duo device so your $35.99 can...

Getting married can be quite the stressful affair for any couple, as those who have run the gauntlet can attest to. There are just so many things to take care of, that even with the best wedding planner around, you can still forget something on the big day, and there will be hiccups which crop up as just like your spouse, there is no perfect wedding. Still, it can be as joyous as you make of it, and apart from the dress, tuxedo, cocktail dinner, invitations, cake, flower girls, rings, and band, there is one important person who needs to be there – a minister. A couple from Houston, Miguel Hanson and Diana Wesley, decided to go against the grain by ditching the minister and settling for a 30-inch monitor instead. Yes sir, they will both engage the services of a virtual minister known as Rev Bit, who sports an animated, square face with blue eyes and thin, oval glasses. His synthetic voice will be played over a sound system , while a transcript of what he’s saying will appe...

How many of us look forward to the day where artificial intelligence (AI) rules the roost? Surely AI has already come a long way by now, with many things in our lives being automated in ways we never thought possible before, but there are always new glass ceilings to break, no? Enter this unique robot that is being developed by the Hasegawa Group at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where it is capable of thinking, learning and acting all by itself, thanks to the power of AI. The technology used is known as a self-replicating neural network, or SOINN (Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network). Basically, it will help the robot think in the same manner as that of humans, especially when it makes an attempt at tasks that have never been performed before. To put it in a nutshell, this robot is capable of making educated guesses and decisions based on what it has gone through in the past as well as its knowledge database. There was an experiment which involved the robot s...

I am quite sure that those of you who were involved in the video gaming scene back in the late 1990s would definitely have heard of this arcade phenomenon known as Dance Dance Revolution, where you are supposed to align your movement with indicators on the screen right in front, stepping on the corresponding sensor pad at the right time in order to progress in the game. Of course, many iterations of this game have been released after that including those with motion sensors, but the one which started it all off was the Dance Dance Revolution franchise. Who would have thought that a video game like that might end up as a world record of sorts in the Guinness Book of World Records? Carrie Swidecki, a 35-year-old public school teacher from Bakersfield, California actually decided to prove to the world that she has the endurance to play the game for 15 hours straight – adding on to that 17 minutes and 44 seconds, besting the previous world record which stood at 13 hours, 33 ...

No sir, you don’t expect “i handbag” to be some sort of artsy fartsy movie title, but rather, it will have close connotations with Apple’s famous iOS-powered device – yes, I’m talking about the iPhone. Korean designer Jin-Woog Koo from the Nothing Design Group has a new kind of “handbag” which will target the iPhone toting female population for obvious reasons. First of all, guys don’t carry handbags, unless they’re doing it for their ladies who need to take a leave of temporary absence to answer nature’s call. Secondly, you know for sure the ladies are going to fall head over heels with the i handbag – after all, it will tote around the iPhone in addition to credit cards, your personal ID and others as long as they can squeeze in, into a chic enamel case. Thanks to cutouts, you will be able to enjoy some play-through functionality. No idea on whether this idea is going to ever see the light of day, but we will keep our fingers crossed as something this nice clearly dese...

ViewSonic is somewhat like the Vizio of the monitor world – they tend to roll out pretty great hardware without breaking the bank when it comes to pricing, keeping customers everywhere happy. Of course, it still lacks the clout of far more established brands, but ViewSonic is certainly getting there from where they are at the moment. Stereoscopic 3D is said to be the next big thing, what with huge 3D capable TVs hitting the market already for sometime, and ViewSonic jumps aboard that bandwagon with their new 3D Vision V3D245 Monitor. Just what can you expect from the 3D Vision LED Monitor? Well, for starters, it will come with NVIDIA’s 3D Vision Wireless Glasses alongside an integrated 3D Vision Emitter which is said to usher in a new era of 3D entertainment. This will be a 24″ LED monitor, so it ought to offer more than adequate viewing real estate regardless of the line of your work – unless, of course, you’re in the desktop publishing line or are part of the digital ar...

This is the “Blind Camera”. I realize that this sounds like an oxymoron, until you realize what it does. This camera doesn’t allow you to take a picture, but it will show you other people’s pictures. How it works is this: you push a button, and the Blind Camera shows you other pictures take at your location. I don’t know how it can pluck all photos from the Internet and produce a few taken at the user’s exact spot, but I would imagine that a GPS is involved in some way. It doesn’t have any lens, sensor, or optics. The Blind Camera is not meant to be the next model from Nikon, Canon, or Kodak. It is part of a “Blinks and Buttons” art exhibit by designer Sascha Pohfleep. The vision behind this project is that photos are a memory in of itself, and then making that memory public on sites such as Flickr is now part of the photo-taking process. Considering that most cameras or smartphones are connected to the Internet, is there any way we could somehow make a Blind Ca...

This is the “Bike Guide Concept”, a way of travel that could be the next form of tourism. As you can tell from the image, the Bike Guide uses bikes attached to the bus itself. The bus has a screen to announce information about the next destination, and then each bike has a screen to share even more. Screens are also used in bus stops, and the user scans their credit card to arrange a bike/bus tour. You can watch a video of it after the jump, and you see that the bus parks and drops off the bikes. The tourists pedal around the attraction, and I believe that there is a timer on each bike to let the rider know when it is time to return them. You will notice that the bikes are completely without spokes, and how it locks in place. I’m not certain how much trouble tourists can get into with a locking mechanism like that. Something tells me that the bus driver will be pulling double duty. This is still a concept designed by Kukil Han, Daehyun Kim, Bojoong Kim, and Jih...

Futurama fans, it is time to sit up and take notice of the Talking Bender Figure! Standing tall (or short, depending on your point of view) at 9″, this is a full fledged talking Bender figure from the Futurama cartoon series. He will definitely rattle off your favorite, what shall we call it, Benderisms in order to inject some humor into the situation, especially when it gets particularly tense around the water cooler. Bender’s ribcage compartment can also be opened up for you to stash away some of the more secretive items, or stuff that you do not want your colleagues to find out about. The Talking Bender Figure will retail for $24.99 a pop, and all it takes to get him talking would be to press a button, and he’ll rattle away digitally. A desktop companion with an attitude – we definitely could do with one of these at the office.

There’s an app for that – and in the case of the iPad (or iPad 2, it is your call), surely this must be one of the zanier ways to promote or advertise an app. The iPad Head Girl as she is called, is actually an advertising campaign by viral marketing company Thinkmodo, as they decided to come up with this unique looking piece of headgear which looks really realistic, sporting a girl covering her head with four iPads standing in a vertical manner. This ad intends to promote the launch of what used to be a girly magazine – but it has been injected with plenty of testosterone, calling it Cosmo for Guys. Since many guys love gadgets, it makes sense that Cosmo for Guys is an iPad exclusive magazine courtesy of Hearst – no newsstand copies for you to look out for! Definitely one of the more interesting advertisements that we have come across to date, not to mention creative in its very own way. Watch a video of the iPad Head Girl in action after the jump. Source

Most of us do not really need a watch these days, as chances are our phones will be the primary means of telling the time. Having said that, the watch industry isn’t exactly down in the doldrums, as it still makes anyone look really smart wearing one, and the really expensive ones tend to appreciate in value as time passes by like a precious family heirloom. The $199.95 Flip Clock Wristwatch, unfortunately, isn’t decked out in jewels, but it does work in a rather clever manner. For starters, this timepiece will employ the mechanical rotation of 23 tiny two-sided rotors in order to give you the illusion of a digital display. Inspired by the classic flip-disc displays that are seen in buses and trains of yore, there will be one side of each rotor which holds a number of Swarovski crystals to match the watchface. When activated by an electromagnetic field, the rotors will flip 180º, taking less than 10 milliseconds to do so, helping contrast the crystals so that they can...

While I was in Las Vegas last January, I went to the top of the Stratosphere. I saw that people were jumping off the top with bungee cords, and I asked them how much. They told me $100, and I almost did it. Until they told me that I would have to pay the hundred dollars. Apparently, there are people who have these type of thrill issues, and are willing to pay a high price for it. These adrenalin junkies would love the Edge Walk at the CN Tower in Toronto. As you can see, a small tether is all that stands between you and leaning over and falling 1,168 feet. You can also pretend like you are falling backward on this five foot wide ledge as well. I wonder what you would be thinking at the point of leaning. I can imagine that panic might set in if you lose your balance. You know how you are leaning in a chair, and almost fall backwards, but catch yourself at the last second? Picture that times one hundred seventy-five. Why that number? It is about the same cost...

Love being fit? Surely you would do well to walk more each day, and just to know how many steps you are supposed to take, it is highly recommended to get a pedometer to help you out. The £24.99 USB Pedometer that you see here is a step in the right direction, so to speak, counting each and every step that you take so that you can clock up those miles and make sure your physician remains up-to-date with your physical activities. Hang the USB Pedometer around your neck, or opt to pop it in the pocket – it doesn’t matter. This device is still able to accurately measure the distance you have walked, in addition to the amount of calories burned so that you can consider wolfing down another Big Mac. Apart from that, at least you know how to gradually increase your physical activity each day to meet your fitness goals. All collected data can be transferred over to a PC by plugging this device via USB.

Verbatim is more often than not a name which we associate with flash memory as well as portable storage (remember floppies back in the day?), but here we see them branching out into peripherals such as a mouse – specifically speaking, the Ergo Mouse. Verbatim’s Ergo Mouse will take the wireless route to keep up with the times, making sure you do not end up with a tangled mess at the end of the day. This is an ergonomic mouse that seems to cater only to right handers as you can see from the image above, so southpaws will have to look elsewhere – or just pester the folks over at Verbatim to roll out a left-handed version! Featuring a convenient thumb support (for your right hand, of course), it offers what Verbatim calls to be “the ultimate comfortable computing experience.” The Ergo Mouse has an ultra-smooth, rubberized grip and scroll wheel that were specially developed with comfort in mind, making you control your computer easily without batting an eyelid. Apart from t...

Griffin has just announced the IntelliCase for the iPad 2, which will definitely add a whole new dimension to the protection of your precious new tablet when it comes to protection. After all, dropping your shiny iPad 2 against the hard concrete floor is something that is a surefire heartbreaker, even more so when the display cracks up. Well, the IntelliCase for the iPad 2 is slightly different as it is not only a folio stand, but also sports an automatic wake-up closure. Yes sir, the IntelliCase from Griffin is proud to be what some dub “a perfect marriage” – merging protective polycarbonate to ensure the back of your iPad 2 is well protected, while flexible thermoplastic polyurethane is used in front which helps offer protection to your multi-touch display. Magnets are cleverly placed right in the cover itself in order to trigger sleep sensors that are located inside the iPad 2, letting the device wake up automatically whenever the case is opened, and sending it back to...

What you are seeing here aren’t headphones, they’re bedphones. Check the sides for the “bp” logo if you don’t believe me. As you might have guessed, these bedphones are made for those people who just have to listen to music before they drift off to slumberland. Of course, it is somewhat difficult to sleep with a pair of headphones on. The bedphones, created by Eric Dubs, have “ear-hook style buds that are extremely thin and held in place by a length of moldable memory wire”. In addition to these features, it also comes with an app that appears to only be available on the Android platform. According to the Android Market description, it comes with a “Smart Mode” that can shut the music automatically when you fall asleep. I honestly don’t know how it does this, but it probably has to do with the accelerometer detecting movement. Also on the Android application is a “Timer Mode” which gradually counts down music volume down to zero as the timer runs down. Then there...

What you are seeing here is no toy helicopter, but the Shadowhawk UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle). This helicopter is about 49 pounds, and you probably want to watch the video after the jump to see it in action. According to my Source, the Shadowhawk is already being used to track pirates off the Horn of Africa. Apparently, it is also used to enforce law on U.S. streets. It also comes with the option of turbine or piston engines, thermal cameras, range fingers, and laser pointers. For those who want some weapons, it is also possible to install 37 mm or 40 mm grenade launchers, 12 gauge shotgun rounds, or even taser batons. Seriously, this thing is a miniature flying arsenal! You can watch on the video and see that it can travel at speeds of 50 miles an hour. You can also see what looks like a guy being tailed by one. I’m surprised he doesn’t try to throw a rock at the Shadowhawk UAV. Man, I never want to be in a position where I have these things chasing after me! ...

Some of you might remember playing a game back in the eighties known as Out Run. Imagine playing the same game, but instead of an arcade, you are on a moving vehicle? This is the Out Run project, by Garnet Hertz. It uses an electric golf cart that allows players to navigate their way around real-life courses using arcade controls. It uses some customized software that can automatically look in front of a car and then reproduce the route on the game cabin’s screen. It even does it in 8-bit form! You can check it out in a video after the jump. So basically, we are looking at one of those sit down driving racing games, only someone is actually racing! I believe that it is possible to race on a real track, but it had better be clear of pedestrians. In case you think that this has been developed just for fun, you would be wrong. Apparently, the developers are finding that this tech can be used for making game-based therapies for disabled users, such as augmented r...