Monthly Archives: November 2006

Gadgets November 30, 2006 posted by

Send 4 Help – personal security via GSM

The Send4Help System combines a SkyMinder GPS and GSM device with a 24 hour national response service to provide emergency assistance wherever you are. The Skyminder 500 costs £199.99 and the service subscription is £19.99 a month, so you really do need to feel quite vulnerable to justify one of these kits. Still, peace of mind is peace of mind, isn’t it?  How the SkyMinder 500 works. In the event of an emergency, simply raise the alarm by holding down simultaneously the…

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hardware November 30, 2006 posted by

Sofa Guard – the kind but loud pet controller

Sofa Guard. Teach your pet not to jump onto your precious furniture by installing this 105 decibel alarm mat as a deterrent. OK, so it may annoy your friends and family for a while, but they’ll be grateful later on. The pet meanwhile will probably go deaf. Ah well. £18.95.  Just place the sofa guard on your couch or favourite armchair and switch on the device. As soon as your pet jumps onto the mat, which is fitted with sensors,…

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Gadgets November 30, 2006 posted by

MiJam Guitar – iPod music maker

The MiJam Guitar is a guitar simulator which you can use with your iPod to jam along to songs in a variety of styles like rock, blues and bass. Actually it sounds a bit like the Guitar Hero controller, but we’re not going to go there because life’s too short and Santa’s coming soon. £26.99.   Each Guitar has four sound styles including heavy metal, rock, blues and bass. These are easily selected with a push of a button on…

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Gadgets November 30, 2006 posted by

EchoBot – the bendy messenger

EchoBot is a voice recorder with a difference. Well quite a few differences really. For one thing it’s not square, chrome or dull. For another you can attach it to things via suckers or bendy legs. Finally it’s motion sensitive, so it will replay your recorded message as soon as someone approaches to within a metre. You’d better just hope that it’s the right person, eh? £9.95.  Record voice message of up to 10 seconds # Message is played back…

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Bookmark This! November 30, 2006 posted by

Podmailer – large file transfer via email

Podmailer is a new free P2P file transfer service which promises to let you transmit files of any size using just your email program. For example sending the full quality video footage of your recent wedding to your ex. That kind of thing. It’s not a totally new idea, although what makes this one different is that it’s based on Amazon’s new S3 service, so it should scale nicely with demand. Just download the Mac or PC client and off you go. Apparently….

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Recommended November 30, 2006 posted by

TechRepublic Field Manual – tech security blanket

The TechRepublic Field Manual is a kind of clever idea. A standard 1 GB USB key with a bunch of technical guides on it. $89.00 buys you network troubleshooting guides, hardware manuals and hints and tips for emergency repair and recovery work. All of which takes up only 50 MB or so. Interesting concept and pretty useful probably if you’re stuck out in the field without a net connection. No Mrs Miggins, not that kind of field…  Troubleshooter. Computer expert….

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hmm..interesting November 30, 2006 posted by

Free movies online

DailyMotionMovieVids.com. If you like your Hollywood movies fuzzy, in several parts, in a 4 inch square window and possibly with subtitles or captured at a strange angle, then this is the site for you. Basically it’s an index of bootlegged movies stored on video sites around the net (on places like YouTube etc). To be honest, it’s not worth the trouble unless you really are too impoverished to pay the nightly rental charge at your local.  Why is this site is legal. We do not and will…

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Fun & Games November 30, 2006 posted by

Concert Ticket Generator

The Concert Ticket Generator. Just one of the fun things you can play with at the Says-it.com site. Enjoy.  The Concert Ticket Generator is the simplest of all the generators; it just composites text onto a background image in one stage, using a TrueType font (the Fake Receipt font, which mimics a dot matrix printer). All other elements in the image are static, part of the background image.

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Gadgets November 29, 2006 posted by

G-Force Giant Atomic Clock – no more squinting

The G-Gorce Giant Atomic Clock. Complete with indoor and outdoor sensor thermometers and a remote control so you can operate it from Mars and still see the numerals loud and clear. No excuses any more for missing your family pick up times (providing the batteries hold up). $49.95.  The LCD is an incredible 13″ x 7.5″. So big, you can see it from just about anywhere. Framed by handsome oak, it looks just as wonderful hanging from a wall in your house…

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Gadgets November 29, 2006 posted by

Pen-One Biometric Pen – security at your fingertips

The Pen-One Biometric Pen has a fingerprint reader embedded at the pointy end which authenticates a fingerprint in less than a second while you’re signing those all important documents agreeing to bail, or whatever. Presumably the only slight problem is that you’ve got to have a computer attached to said writing implement at all times in order to process the bio data, which could put a bit of a bulge in the business suit. Ah well…  Pen-One blends the tradition and comfort of…

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Gadgets November 29, 2006 posted by

Decokichi Bling Mouse – weirdest mouse ever

The Decokichi Weird Mouse. OK, so it isn’t called that, but we don’t care. Because it is weird. Very weird. Not only is it covered with Swarovski crystals, but you operate it by tilting it in different directions, presumably triggering a gymbal or something. Which means that you can use it on sand, blankets or whatever. Check out the video if you don’t believe us. Weird. Around $135.00 in Yen like. [via AVING]

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Gadgets November 29, 2006 posted by

Voyager Arcade Machine – retro gaming at home

The Voyager Arcade Machine comes complete with 40 classic games like Donkey Kong, Frogger et al, an internal PC with 17” monitor and is hand crafted with love and dedication by a team of ex-Playstation marketing managers and their wives. Or something. £1675.00 says so much more about your street gaming cred than a Wii 360 PSP ever will.  The guts of this arcade machine is a quality control tested PC system that’s been developed for complete reliability to give you problem…

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Bookmark This! November 29, 2006 posted by

Streamick.com – internet TV streaming done right

Streamick.com. Online television streaming finally gets the service it deserves. Isn’t it amazing that it’s taken this long to get a simple, clear, and fast interface. Select your favourite program as your default, or simply browse through the extensive listing. Sure, there’s lots more they can do (stored channel presets per user for instance) but this is a great start. Oh and it’s user moderated in terms of content and video quality. Not sure how they’re handling the legal bits,…

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future tech November 29, 2006 posted by

BluScreen – the real Minority Report

BluScreen is a real life Minority Report type concept application which will beam advertising at us based on preferences stored in our Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. The idea is that we set a preference saying that we like, say, MP3 players and receive a ‘reward’ of a discount if we accept a personalised advert beamed at us any time we pass a relevant shop window display. It’s quite interesting actually, and takes targeted advertising to a whole new level.  Within a ubiquitous environment, market-based approaches can…

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opinion piece November 29, 2006 posted by

Is MySpace broken beyond repair?

Is MySpace broken beyond repair? I ask because a quick look at the November Help pages shows a non-stop catalogue of serious problems with the underlying technology. ‘Can’t Add Friends’, ‘Messages/Inbox Down’, ‘Can’t View Friends’, ‘Home Page Down’, ‘Events are Down’ and so on. Not just once, mind you, but on and on and on. I know that these could be simple routine issues, but so many? And in just one month? [Update: Hmm..just done a Google search and it looks as…

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