The Radio Controlled Air Kite is a weird looking contraption all right, and a strange concept in general. Why bother with motorizing a kite? Or floating an R/C plane? Does it make sense to you? Doesn’t to us. Anyway you’ll be able to find out this and other astounding facts if you plunk down $99.95 to buy one. Do tell us if you do. The KitePlane comes with a long range remote that will allow you to fly the KitePlane…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: December 2006
Don’t Point the Finger – truth or dare with a twist
Don’t Point The Finger is a weird game where the centrepiece is an animated hand that randomly points at a player to trigger a turn. Instead of good old dice, see? Fascinating. £14.95. Don’t Point the Finger comes with a fully animated green monster’s hand that walks around in a circle, eventually stopping to point at someone in your party. It’s that person who will have to make the well-known choice. Truth, or Dare? You only need a minimum of two…
Read MoreCall The Future – prank or reminders?
Call The Future. Set the free service up to call you or anyone else at some time and date in the future. Why? Perhaps as a reminder, or to prank someone, or to have an excuse to leave that boring party. Sounds kind of useful, in a worrying kind of way. This tool dials a phone number and a computer voice reads off the text. The receiving phone number shows up as the CallerID field. You can set the time to any point in the future,…
Read MoreBiometric DVD kiosk – movies at your fingertips
Movie Machine Biometric Movie Kiosk. A 24 hour movie store. DVDs dispensed via a slot and authorised by fingerprint and credit card. The future of retailing in general? Or a horror story? Your call. As security measure and protection of children and young people you identify yourself before selecting the film with your finger mark. The return by a friend/an acquaintance is always possible without finger mark – also loading of the assets is possible by someone else! Select at the screen…
Read MoreUSB Robo-Pup Cam – woof
The USB Robo-Pup Cam. Not only a webcam, but also a performing dog cam. It moves its legs, see? All together now – awww…. $22.50. The USB Robo-Pup Cam is a cute, robotic puppy that has a web camera in place of its nose. It is capable of performing different poses thanks to its adjustable legs. Get one today and start chatting away with your family and friends!
Read MoreSolarPort 4.4 – power to the people
The Brunton SolarPort 4.4 solar charger is kind of cute and chunky all in one. The fact that you can link up three of the things in a row for more power output is a nice touch, as is the fact that it comes with a free AA/AAA battery charger pod. 4.4 watts out means that you don’t really want to try powering that beast of an Alienware gaming laptop, but it should do for most pocket sized devices. $119.00. The innovative…
Read MoreTherapik – pain relief from bites and stings
The Therapik Sting Relief Tool apparently provides temporary relief from the pain of an insect bite or sting by delivering a shot of heat to the area. Hmm…so we’re wondering whether the pain relief is actually more of a pain replacement feature. Heat vs sting. Anyway, the instructions tell you not to use the device on a scorpion, snake or spider bite, which is kind of upsetting, because we were definitely going to carry it around with us on the bus for just such an emergency. To…
Read MoreQuikPod – the self portrait pole
The QuikPod is one of those simple gidgets that make you go, oh yeah! The inventor keeps calling it a tripod, while of course it’s an extendable mono-pod, but we won’t quibble. The main function of it is to let you take photos or videos of yourself, by yourself. No more risking your camera with strangers in front of the Taj Mahal or perching your digicam precariously on the ledge of a mountain. The only slight problem is that all your vacation…
Read MoreCPM-700 Countersurveillance Probe – sweeps as it cleans
The CPM-700 Countersurveillance Probe. Forget those piddly little keychain spy bug detectors, this grand-daddy is for when you positively, absolutely have to make sure that the room is clean. And look, Ma, it’s on sale for just $2625.00. Can I have one for Christmas, can I, can I? The CPM-700 Broadband Receiver detects and locates all major types of electronic surveillance devices including room, phone, body bugs, video transmitters, and tape recorders. This Portable Sweep Kit includes everything needed to…
Read MoreHave a fun legal Xmas – or else
The Merry Lexmas Album from The LawTunes. If you don’t like someone, give them this album as a holiday present. A bunch of ‘law related rock and roll holiday songs’. Created by lawyers. Um…listening to the samples on the site makes you realise that in fact we’re really really lucky that lawyers are lawyers (I can’t believe I just said that), because as musicians they totally, absolutely, completely SUCK! I’ve Got the Billable Christmas Blues? Sheesh, where’s a good Cease & Desist…
Read MoreBarablu – free mobile to mobile calls
Barablu promises free calls from cell phone to cell phone via a downloaded software client. The only slight hitch is that you have to own a WiFi enabled mobile handset. Kind of limits the field a bit, don’t it? Not to mention the fact that finding a usable WiFi zone when travelling is about as easy as kissing an alligator. Barablu is a free calls community. It is the worlds first company to offer free mobile-to-mobile (Wi-Fi enabled) calls. It also…
Read MoreYour Recipe Book – personalised pie print
Your Recipe Book is an interesting example of the convergence of on-demand colour printing, email and the web. And it’s a nice present idea too. You set up a cookbook using one of the templates and invite your friends and family to submit whatever recipes and messages that they want via email to the site. Cough up £99.00 once it’s done and you’ll receive a lusciously bound hardcover, full colour, shiny cookbook with a bunch of personal stuff in it, custom made for you….
Read MoreLego Mindstorms NXT – the knobbly terminator?
The LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robot Kit. Kind of like an iPod on legs, isn’t it? Anyway enough of the banter, this is probably state of the art as far as toys go right now. 32–bit microprocessor, LCD display and motion sensors. Not yer grandad’s LEGO set, this, although it is, of course, every kid hacker’s delight. Not so much a robot, more a mechanistic, multi-dimensional robotic lifeform. Has anyone informed SkyNet yet? [Thanks Audris]. £179.95. At the heart of this ingenious new concept is the NXT…
Read MoreUSB UIRT – give your PC remote control
The USB-UIRT. So, plug this puppy into your desktop or laptop and turn an $x000 piece of hardware into the world’s largest and most expensive universal remote control. Or not. As you like. Anyhoo, yes it does look mind-numbingly boring, but it actually could be useful in a home automation, geek cred sort of way. It’s just a shame that it hasn’t got a go-faster red stripe and sunburst on the top, because that would *certainly* make it look more exciting. Oh…
Read MoreMini Kebab Grill – hmm….table top sizzle
The John Gordon Mini Kebab Grill. Tabletop sizzle, splatter and splash for all the family. Will roast a chicken, corn or any other rotisserie type fare as well. Carnivore’s delight. Yum, what fun. £49.95 ($89.91). Put the Mini Kebab Grill in the center of the table either indoors or outdoors so everyone can natter away to their heart’s content while the meal is cooking fresh right in front of their eyes! This fantastic roasting grill is designed to cook donner…
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