The Red Ferret Journal mobile edition

The Eiffel Tower has been a familiar cultural icon and major tourist attraction since it opened in 1889. Originally considered Eiffel’s Folly, it’s become a source of pride for the French nation.

But in these current times where metal is being scavenged from buildings and bridges, the tallest building in Paris recently came under speculation as to its scrap metal value.

In a one hour special documentary series â€˜Pricing the Priceless: Eiffel Towerâ€™ on the National Geographic channel, Adam Weitsman, president of Upstate Shredding â€“ Ben Weitsman & Son, speculated the value of the wrought iron that comprises one of the world’s most recognizable towers.

Now, no one would think of tearing down this amazing engineering feat and selling it for scrap metal, would they? But, word is that if you could, the iron for the 7,300-ton tower would be valued at $2.48 million. Lest some enterprising thief consider the possibilities, consider also the wrath of the almost 10 million Parisians chasing you down. Not worth it!

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When is a light too bright?

Some things exist in the world that are obviously going to be used for malicious purposes. Take for instance, the 15,000 Lumen LED Light Cannon. This is a self-contained light source that can blind you, with the literal flick of a button.

You could try and call this a flashlight, but for anything that houses 32-36 lithium batteries is going to mean a little bit more than just illuminating underneath your car to find your keys. This can’t even be used as a motion sensor light at night for deterring burglars as it would blind the neighbors when they’re out for an evening stroll. It even has a fan because of how hot the LEDs get. There are three power settings, with the highest being the 15,000 Lumens. This cannon has been named the XM18, and costs an appropriate $2,500. These things are made to order, so if you decide to get one, just keep in mind that your evil genius plan will need to wait for a bit until it arrives.

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Find ratings on individual dishes with Foodspotting [Daily Freeware]

Have you ever found yourself at a fancy restaurant, and not known what to order? The worst is when you’re looking at the menu, and there are no pictures to show you what each dish even looks like. You might be able to glance at a few people’s plates on the way to the bathroom, but that’s not really going to do you much good. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a smartphone app that would give you pictures and ratings of specific dishes at different restaurants? Well there is.

Foodspotting is available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms. It allows you to select where you’re dining, and browse through the various dishes they they offer. All of the photos and reviews are provided by other Foodspotting users. This means that if you find it useful, you should probably snap a picture and let people know if you liked it or not.

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Napper Alarm Clock lets you choose how long you snooze

When you live a very busy life, your week can seem like one long day with several naps in between. However, sometimes you end up making do with just a nap at night when there are meetings to be at, classes to attend, and projects to work on. When you do wake up, there’s a chance you’ll want just a few minutes of extra sleep, or maybe another hour. But who wants to fumble around and set a brand new alarm when you’re still half asleep?

This reason is why the Napper Alarm Clock was invented. It has a regular snooze button for those rare nights you actually get to sleep, and wake up at a decent hour. Although, for the rest of the time, it has a 15, 30, and 60 minute button that will give you perfect intervals of sleep. It will cost you $15, but having it means you don’t have to spend precious minutes of sleep resetting your alarm.

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World’s Largest Scrabble Game might require a stepladder

The older we get, the harder it becomes to read fine print. If playing Scrabble is your favorite past time, and you can’t see letters smaller than a coffee cup, the World’s Largest Scrabble Game may be the way to go. Ok, no one needs a Scrabble board this big, but it is really awesome.

If you have a spare $12,000 floating around, then you can Scrabble like no one has ever scrabbled before. This is five times the size of the original, and is a guaranteed conversation starter for board game related parties. This is really expensive because of the crazy amount of resources like Russian birch plywood and galvanized steel on this enormous frame. The tiles are held in place by rare earth magnets, which are sandwiched between two pieces of birch plywood. They are also handmade by John Kahn, who has only made nine to date. If you order one, don’t expect next day delivery as it will likely be a little while before you receive it.

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Does your espresso machine know you by touch?

There are some mornings where you come downstairs, and wish that you had a Starbucks sitting in your kitchen. Making coffee when you’re half awake is quite a feat, let alone a slightly more complex espresso drink. If you would prefer that someone else make your favorite drink in the morning with little to no work from you, you might want The Fingerprint Recognizing Espresso Machine.

This $3,200 piece of machinery uses a biometric scanner to deliver your favorite espresso beverage whenever you want. Simply scan your finger, program the specific drink that you want, and receive your beverage exactly the same way every time. This has 15 bar of pressure, and an integrated grinder that gives eight different options for coarseness. It will only grind enough beans for one individual drink, so it will stay fresh every time you order. It can froth up to 20 oz of milk, and will keep water at a consistent temperature for multiple drinks. There are other drinks available as well on the control panel, if you feel up to pushing buttons, that is.

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Ultimate Rechargeable Heated Gloves keep your hands toasty

When it’s deathly cold outside, it’s always nice to stay inside and keep toasty. However, that’s not an option that all of us have. So, if you have to be stuck out in the cold, you need to protect yourself from the frigid air. Possibly the most important is to keep your hands and feet warm, as they are the first to go for frostbite.

Regular knitted gloves might be alright for some cold conditions, but when it’s far below freezing, you’ll likely want something like the Ultimate Rechargeable Heated Gloves. These flexible, thin gloves are powered by two lightweight lithium-ion batteries that are virtually undetectable. There are four temperature settings, and it comes with a one-year guarantee. Of course, toasty digits don’t come cheap, which is why these gloves will set you back $160.

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ooVoo does free 6-way video calling and more [Daily Freeware]

When most people think about video conferencing, Skype is usually what comes to mind. I use the service for text, voice and video chatting with a number of people. I’ll use the first two with groups of people, however, I can’t say that I’ve done a video conference with more than one person. The main reason for this is because I’m cheap, and don’t feel like paying for the service. Thankfully, there are other video chat clients that let you do that for free.

ooVoo is one of countless other free chat programs available. However, it offers 6-way video calls, which really sets it above the competition. You’re not even limited to being on a desktop. People can tune into the conference from their tablets and smartphones (iOS and Android) as well. There are premium features, like recording video calls and desktop sharing for those that want them.

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The Military Mosquito Countermeasure

The time for gardening and summer fun shall soon be upon us. Although, with warm weather comes mosquitoes, which no one is particularly fond of. We use candles, sprays, and bug zappers to rid ourselves of them, but they always seem to find a way to our flesh. You’d think that by now we’d have a better way to rid ourselves of these pests.

This is why the Military Mosquito Countermeasure is the best portable solution to drive away those blood suckers. It uses something called d-cis/trans allethrin, which is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring insecticide that would be found in chrysanthemums. The repellant mat slides into a metal grill, and a butane-fueled heater will vaporize the repellant in the mat to make an unbearable 15′ x 15′ zone that mosquitoes don’t want to pass into. The butane cartridge will last for 12 hours, while the mat will only last 4. The starter kit gives you three mats and one butane cartridge for $20, but a replacement set of four butane cartridges and 12 repellant mats costs $15. All in all you would be looking at about $35-40 if you wanted this to last you for a week or two.

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Dropbox Automator carries out tasks within your Dropbox folder

Dropbox is a great service for backing up files and sharing them between multiple computers. However, with the right tools, you can make it do so much more. Imagine dropping a set of documents into your Dropbox folder and having them instantly converted to PDFs. That’s exactly the sort of thing you can do with Dropbox Automator.

This free service allows you to setup custom automated tasks within your Dropbox folder. Once you’ve decided on what task you want to carry out, you’ll create a folder for it, and then tell Dropbox Automator what you want to do with files put into that directory. You can do things like convert documents to PDFs, upload pictures to Facebook/Flickr, resize/rotate/watermark images, email files and more. There are a few paid services, such as having text documents printed and mailed, but otherwise, most remain completely free.

The only downside to this is that the service will have access to your files. That should seem pretty obvious, since it is interacting with them. It’s just something you should keep in mind, in case you have sensitive files.

Dropbox Automator carries out tasks within your Dropbox folder

http://wappwolf.com/dropboxautomator

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Would you wear this knuckle duster ring?

Relationships aren’t easy, and sometimes you really have to fight to make it work. Granted, there really shouldn’t be any sort of physical fighting, as that usually isn’t healthy. But if you have a sense of humor, and want to symbolize the struggles of marriage, you might find this ‘Til Death Do Us Part Knuckle Duster rather amusing.

The piece was originally designed as a one-off creation, but the artist has decided to start producing it on a custom-order basis. It is cast in your choice of sterling silver or brass, with a 1-carat cubic zirconia set in each of the four rings. This $425 piece is available in three sizes, but keep in mind that all four rings will be the same size, so it’s better to order larger.

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Motion Activated Candy Dispenser is perfect for lazy kids

Kids have it rough these days. They have to wait for updates to download on their favorite games before they can play. They have to shut of their cellphones during class. They even have to put forth effort to rip open a bag of candy if they want something sweet. While you can’t do anything about the first two things, why not take pity and help them with that last problem?

With the Motion Activated Candy Dispenser, your child need do little more than hold out their hand, and they will be given several pieces of candy. You could set this on the counter in your kitchen, but I’d recommend setting it right next to the couch, that way they don’t have to get up. You might even consider getting a second one to put next to their bed, in case they get a craving for sweets in the middle of the night. At a price of $40, how could you pass this up?

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Marker.to is a virtual highlighter for the web [Daily Freeware]

When in college, it’s common to highlight sections of text in your books, to remember later. This is considerably easier than stopping every few sentences, and then copying down the text into a notebook. When you’re reading something online, you can’t exactly pick up a highlighter and start marking up your screen. However, with the right software, you can accomplish the same thing with your mouse (and without ruining your monitor).

Marker.to is a simple plugin for Firefox and Chrome that allows you to highlight text on virtually any page, in a variety of colors. Once you’ve finished with your markings, you are given a short link to the page, which will display your highlights. You can save this for yourself, or send it to a friend to view. If you share a lot of text with someone, or are working on a research paper, this could be a very useful tool.

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Watch2Pay uses NFC to pay for your transactions

It’s interesting to see how something as simple as paying for your groceries has changed over the years. In the 90’s people primarily payed with cash, or checks. Swiping your debit card seems to be one of the more common ways to check out, but another method has slowly been gaining steam. While it still requires a debit or credit card, contactless NFC payment systems like MasterCard’s PayPass don’t even require you to swipe your card, though you still have to fish it out of your pocket. But with the Watch2Pay, you won’t even need to do that.

Looking much like an ordinary wristwatch, it comes with a special SIM card that is linked to a reloadable MasterCard. Whenever you’re checking out somewhere that supports PayPass, you can simply tap your watch on the reader to complete the transaction. When you order the watch, you’ll receive a regular-sized card, along with a SIM for your watch. This means you won’t be in a bind when you’re somewhere that doesn’t support PayPass. It looks like the watch is only available in the UK, for a price of £99.00.

Actually, a heated vest that will maintain your core temperature and a hat will be of much greater help to avoiding cold extremities. You hands and feet get cold first because your body decreases blood flow to the extremities in an attempt to maintain 98.6.

When your core temp dips, the circulatory system constricts flow to the extremities causing you to get cold.

Comment by phil fotot Thu 02 Feb 2012 @ 11:49 am

Kudos, Phil! It's very true. You're better off buying a camelpack filled with hot cocoa!

Comment by musicunderfire Thu 02 Feb 2012 @ 3:00 pm

I’ve been very cold at times. I have an intimate understanding of the mechanics of staying warm ;-)

Comment by phil fotot Fri 03 Feb 2012 @ 11:34 am

The Red Ferret Journal

Scrapping the Eiffel Tower?

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When is a light too bright?

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Find ratings on individual dishes with Foodspotting [Daily Freeware]

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Napper Alarm Clock lets you choose how long you snooze

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World’s Largest Scrabble Game might require a stepladder

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Does your espresso machine know you by touch?

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Ultimate Rechargeable Heated Gloves keep your hands toasty

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ooVoo does free 6-way video calling and more [Daily Freeware]

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The Military Mosquito Countermeasure

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Dropbox Automator carries out tasks within your Dropbox folder

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Would you wear this knuckle duster ring?

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Motion Activated Candy Dispenser is perfect for lazy kids

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Marker.to is a virtual highlighter for the web [Daily Freeware]

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Watch2Pay uses NFC to pay for your transactions

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