Razor Horizon Home Theater. We’re trying to work out why you’d want to stick a big black rectangular lump of wood underneath your expensive LCD television screen to power your audio, but we’re failing. Badly. Maybe it’s because the integrated CD/DVD will play ‘the whole gambit of other file formats like DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, MP3, VCD, SVCD, WMA, MPEG 1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, JPEG, and more’? Or perhaps you just need more black in your life? Whatever. $399.95. The Razor sharp…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: January 2008
Euphonix MC Control – bedroom music studios suddenly get whiz-bang fancy
Euphonix MC Control. This new home studio controller is designed to turn your computer based music studio software like Pro-Tools or Cubase into a full fledged DIY studio system. You get some pretty fancy technology thrown in to the system for your $999.99, including a multi-configurable touchscreen panel which automatically sets itself for the software you’re using, motorized auto-recall faders just like the big boys use and full-on jog/shuttle controls for those intimate editing moments. Just another reason why the music…
Read MoreThe Red Ferret Journal Product of the Year 2007: Mobile – Nokia 6110 Navigator
The Red Ferret Journal Product of the Year 2007: Mobile – Nokia 6110 Navigator. It may not have the glamour, marketing spend and sheer all out glitz of other contenders in this sector, but this fairly plain-Jane product marks a significant turning point in the future direction of the mobile phone. For the first time ever, a conventional mainstream mobile phone handset exceeds the functionality of a personal computer out of the box. Not only can you download, install and…
Read MoreTwoDaLoo – save rocky marriages and the planet…huh?
Ladies and Gentlemen, the TwoDaLoo. Chat, exchange ideas, bond closer than you ever thought possible. And save water at the same time. Got your chequebook out yet? No? Why ever not, you sissies? The up-market version even comes with a TV and iPod docking station so you can spend more time catching up with…ahem…the mass media. $1400.00. The TwoDaLoo is billed as the world’s first toilet two people can use … at the exact same time. It brings couples closer…
Read MoreBest of Make – fun geek things to do with your massive spare time
The Best of Make book is out and it’s a fun read. If you’re an obsessive geek head with a compulsion to create useful artifacts which wobble, vibrate, glow and…well…geek at you all day long. Many of the 75 projects may not be that useful, but they’re definitely F.U.N. and they’ll earn you credit down at the next LAN party all right, no question. You’ll need a good understanding of electronics to cope with the more advanced projects, so be…
Read MorePhotology – automaticallly tag and filter your photos…hm…maybe…
Photology is a new program which is designed to let you filter your photos and bring some semblance of organisation to chaos. Fire it up, and it will automatically index all of the images on your hard disk. You can then search for a range of photos based on useful filters like indoors or outdoors, in or out of focus, photos containing flowers, beaches, sunsets, that sort of thing. It’s a neat idea and potentially extremely useful and I really want…
Read MoreText Mining Tool – cool free tool grabs text from PDF, HTML, Doc files
Text Mining Tool. Vitaliy sends me notice of his new freeware product which quickly and easily grabs the text from inside PDF, HTML and other files. I tried it on a 76 page PDF e-book I had lying around and it worked a treat, extracting all the text into one easily copy and paste friendly chunk. I can think of lots of uses for this in terms of web site text, PDF text extraction without Adobe software etc etc. You’ll need…
Read MoreEton FR1000 – hand-cranked radio, siren, phone charger and walkie talkie in one
The Eton FR1000 is a wonder of compact chic utility. We’re talking a self-powered hand crank AM/FM/Weather radio, with flashlight and SOS beacon, siren, cell phone charger and…get this…a two way walkie-talkie function built in. We’re figuring that you’ll be handing and cranking a fair bit to keep all that lot powered up at once, but in an emergency it may just save lives. We’re rather partial to a bit of saving lives around here. Priced at something like $150.00 from next month. [Via…
Read MoreGPS Mobile – track and alert
GPS Mobile. GPS/GPRS device combines GPS tracking, a geo-fence (leaving the area triggers an SMS alert) and SOS alerting functions for protecting the young and elderly in one neat package. It also sends you an SMS of the last location if the device is taken underground or loses signal in some other way, and it has a speeding function to send an alert if your kids are racing the lawn mower again. Tags: gadget, gps+mobile, tracking
Read MoreThe Red Ferret Journal Product of the Year 2007: Software – Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
The Red Ferret Journal Product of the Year 2007: Software – Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Although pitched at professional photographers, Lightroom has got so many things right that it really deserves to be on everyone’s shopping list if they have any kind of interest in digital photography. The $299.00 program costs many times more than most alternative products, but comes with the Adobe heritage, and what’s more comes with a user interface that is literally a breath of fresh air in…
Read MoreDIY Fire Alarm Clock – loud, loud, and red, red..
This DIY Fire Alarm Clock may be overkill, but hey, maybe you’re a little deaf? Eh? What’s that you say? This hack takes a standard cheap alarm clock, some interface components and a fire alarm bell to get the job done right. Normally these small alarm clocks use a piezo buzzer to attempt to wake you up. The alarm signal is hijacked from the clock circuit board and used as an input to the interface board. Tags: diy+fire+alarm+clock, gadget
Read MoreThe 150 mpg Extreme Hybrid SUV – rocket scientists aim to revolutionize hybrid vehicles
A collaboration between a bunch of rocket scientists and car engineers at AFS Trinity Power in California has resulted in a new technology called Fast Energy Storage which will apparently improve the performance and durability of conventional hybrid cars at a relatively low cost. The idea is to install an Extreme Hybrid drivetrain consisting of a set of ultra-capacitors hooked up to a sophisticated computer control system which will make better use of the batteries in a traditional hybrid set…
Read MoreGMER – freeware roots out the nasty rootkits
GMER. Tiny freeware program which detects and removes rootkits. Which makes it a handy little thing to keep around. You know, just in case. GMER is an application that detects and removes rootkits . It scans for: # hidden processes # hidden threads # hidden modules # hidden services # hidden files # hidden Alternate Data Streams # hidden registry keys # drivers hooking SSDT # drivers hooking IDT # drivers hooking IRP calls # inline hooks Tags: gmer, anti+rootkit, malware, freeware
Read MoreWorld’s Smallest USB Charger – keep your iPod topped up with a teeny companion
The World’s Smallest USB Charger is perfect for charging up your iPod Nano. OK, so we’re not sure that’s right, it just sounded good. You know, small and nano? Hey, you try writing this drivel day after day while still managing to sound fresh, young and exciting. Yeah, scared now aren’t ya? $14.99. World’s smallest (5.5cm, when with the plug, it is7cm for US type) – Sleek surface – energy-saving, when your device is fully charged, it will turn off the…
Read MoreCellKlear – camera phone lens cleaner proves that things are changing in the photo world
Cellklear. This simple lens cleaner for mobile phone cameras is just one more piece of evidence, if more were needed, that the world of photography is changing inexorably around our heads. I, for one, salute our new mobile imaging overlords and wish them long life, happiness and an endless supply of badly lit party snapshots. $8.95. Designed specifically for camera lenses found on cellular camera phones. # The remarkable cleaning compound removes fingerprints, smudges, and grease marks with ease. # Safe for all…
Read More
