The Red Ferret Journal

So you think your laptop is portable? Hah! Get one of these MIDBot telepresence doohickey’s from Brando and your laptop will be almost sentient. Oh wait, is that good? It can see via the notebook’s webcam, it’s got height-adjustable wheels AND it has a mechanical arm. Truly terrifying.

You’ll need to bring your own laptop/netbook of course, and it’ll need Windows XP, Vista or 7, wifi, a webcam and something like Skype if you want to chat. All in all it sounds perfect for chasing the cat off the lounge while you’re at work. US$319 from who else but Brando.

MIDbot is an ultra low cost tele-present and an easy to use Internet Remote Monitoring Robot with interactive robot arm, allows one to control the robot remotely and globally, with real time video through the common video chatting software Skype or others. Users can see the video, control the movement and robot arm by another computer in network/internet.

Tags: gadget, brando, telepresence, midbot

This Wireless Baby Security Monitor features a ‘sensitive‘ mic, and auto infrared night vision to keep tabs on baby’s movements all through the night. With 100 metres range and a 1.8 inch colour screen, there’s absolutely no question you can go walkabout round the neighbourhood safe in the knowledge that Tiny Tyke is well a-snooze. Or maybe not. $77.19.

The UniBrush is the first toothbrush with its own paste pump inside, which ‘applies a fixed rate of paste continuously’ as you brush your teeth. It features a replaceable brush head, and you fill it up by attaching a standard toothpaste pack to the screw nozzle at the rear of the device. Video.

We’re thinking that with the amount of paste you probably get through in a week with this thing, Colgate should definitely buy the company. Available in models for adults and children. £14.99.

VideoCacheView is a freeware program which cleverly lets you grab the cached video file from online Flash video players so you can play it back later on when you fancy. Great for revisiting web video that you would like to watch again, without having to visit the site.

The Blest H is a cute desktop machine which can convert plastic back into oil. The company won’t detail exactly how this is done, but it looks like a really neat trick. They make industrial sized machines as well, but imagine how it would be if we all had one of these in our homes, recycling those naff plastic bags. Cool. More here. The machine currently costs around $9,500.00 to buy, but they’re hoping prices will fall over time.

I’m not really sold on the whole bed-of-nails-as-a-relaxation-aid thing, but if it’s your bag, baby, then you’ll probably love this Bed of Nails Relaxation Mat. The mat has billions millions thousands of little plastic points that support your body and stimulate the nerves to help you relax and forget your WoW addiction. There’s even a matching pillow to nail your neck, or ensure complete annihilation in your next pillow fight. �39.99 for the mat and �19.99 for the pillow.

Said to aid relaxation, relieve back and muscle pain and increase energy levels, this modern take on an ancient cure-all is made from Styrofoam and plastic instead of wood and rusty iron. Which is nice. Simply undress, lie down, relax and prepare to be stimulated, sharp-styley. We’re even offering a separate neck-only pillow version. Ooh, endorphins!

Tags: gadget, relaxation+gadget, bed+of+nails+relaxation+mat, bed+of+nails

This Trebs Pasta Maker does it all. Just sling in the eggs and flour, push the button, sing an aria or two and presto, perfect fresh pasta for your waistline. You get 500g (1lb) of pasta out of every batch. £129.00.

The SolarStone uses the heat from far infrared rays to soothe and heal those sore little places. Just a quick 10 min charge offers enough heat for 2 hours (it says here). That’s 5p a charge from a ceramic frizbee. Can’t be bad. £51.08.

Enigeo is a freeware quiz program which is designed to help us learn about the world. Capital cities, flags, locations all the kind of stuff you’re sure you know really, if only you could remember. You can set up customised quizzes covering specific geographies and questions and of course it’s all for free. Nice.

15 Facts About Net Neutrality. Just in case you were unsure and wanted a little more clarity. Useful little chart.

Swimming is one of the best forms of exercise. A new device called the Swimsense from FINIS will soon let swimmers monitor their aquatic workouts.

Powered by SportSense, this handy wrist monitor uses state-of-the art technology to automatically track the number of laps, total distance, calories burned, lap time, pace, and stroke count. After you’ve finished your workout, you can peruse your stats or check them out later on the FINIS website.

Another great feature of this fun gadget is it’s supposed to be able to distinguish between the backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and butterfly stroke.You can configure it to your pool size and calorie calculations to personalize it with your specific gender, weight and age. Or upload it to your PC via USB and review up to 14 previous workouts using a free online workout viewer to track your progress. You can even sign up for a subscription Training Log to track your goals, create workout plans and store an unlimited number of past workouts for overall performance analysis.

This useful device will be available this coming holiday season for $200 US. Sounds like a great Christmas gift for your favorite athlete.

This QuietPro+ headset is designed to respond to ambient noise levels and adjust up or down to compensate for noise conditions as needed. Sounds pretty darned fine to us, where can we sign up? Unfortunately it’s currently only available to those folk in the military, but inevitably we’ll start seeing this tech, or something like it, in our home consumer market sometime in the future. What’s that you say? How much? No idea. [Via]