Paint Thickness Tester. Why only the other day I was saying to myself, gosh, wish I had a paint thickness tester in my pocket to check if this car has been badly repaired. And now here’s the handy tool itself, in all its blue glory. Great as a bargaining counter with stubborn sellers, for who can argue with technology eh? £9.99. Place the test probe on the car roof, for example. By pressing a button, the paint thickness tester will store this paint thickness as…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: April 2008
My Beating Heart – relax, daydream and meditate
My Beating Heart. Micro-computer controlled, huggable heartbeat pumping cushion designed to give you that snuggly feeling that may be missing from your life. And look, it’s shaped like a heart too. Awww…. Anyhoo, enough of that hippie nonsense and back to the tech. The software also ‘algorithmically’ models the human heart to simulate a deeply meditative state. Yooo! $49.99. Hold the Heart a moment and you’ll begin to sense your own heartbeat slowly syncing with My Beating Heart’s carefully designed rhythm….
Read MoreNGC DJ Mixer Stereo Boom Bag – mix up that iPod with some retro styleee
NGC DJ Mixer Stereo Boom Bag. Designed to add boom box functionality to your iPod, this retro ugly carry-all comes with an integrated FM radio and a set of speakers. Compatible with a goodly selection of iPods. £18.99. NGC have brought the iconic 80’s Boom Box up to date with the Boom Bag, a stylishly designed bag that cleverly hides an FM radio and set of speakers allowing you to connect your MP3, mobile phone or CD player for tunes…
Read MorePiwik – open source web analytics software
Piwik is an open source web analytics package which gives website owners detailed information on their visitor stats and other useful stuff. It’s aiming to be an open alternative to the free Google Analytics software, and comes with some interesting differences, notably that all the data is stored on your own servers. You can also configure the functionality you want just by installing the right plugin, and the developers are clearly hoping that the community starts creating lots of lovely useful…
Read MoreThe world’s first hand controlled web site interface – wave goodbye to your visitors, dude
The new Publicis ad agency website has launched with a jolly klever new navigation interface which uses your hands and a webcam. Click on the webcam control button and you can wave your hands to move through the site. As with all these ‘creative’ Flash interfaces, accessing the site content is as slow as frozen mud, but what the heck, it’s good for some PR points eh? Even the mouse version of the site is dire, so you can imagine how…
Read MoreBangkok market train – train meet market, market meet train
For some surreal and bizarre reason the Maeklong Market in Bangkok, Thailand is built smack on top of a working train line. Eight times a day the market parts like the Red Sea to let trains through, and then returns to normal business. Apparently only two lives have been lost in twenty years. More here Maeklong Market video 1 – from the front as train approaches. Maeklong Market video 2 – footage from the back of the train Tags: maeklong+market, bangkok+thailand
Read MoreNokia 500 GPS viral video gets the big star treatment – advertising gets adventurous
Mmm…I often get asked during my consultancy gigs what it takes to do successful online viral advertising campaigns and of course the answer is, who knows? It’s certainly not just money, although that clearly helps, nor is it just clever thoughts, because the best ideas can languish unloved. So my usual answer is either 1)give real value or 2)be so outrageously different (a la Subservient Chicken) that you grab traction by the scruff of the neck. Interesting to see, therefore, the…
Read MoreFerret posts this week
Here’s a quick round-up of Ferrety posts from the past week for anyone who missed them. Enjoy. C2Call – Java based web phone service gives free calls to all – C2Call is a Java web browser based… High Res Tactical Head Camera – make like SWAT in your own back garden – This High Resolution Tactical Head… Forte CD/DVD Duplicator – the first automated disk duplicator for under $500.00 – The new Forte CD/DVD Duplicator… Blimpscreen – inflatable movie screens…
Read MoreDigitizing Line DL-3000 Book Scanner – aka the fastest in the world
The Digitizing Line DL-3000 Book Scanner is billed as the fastest book scanner in the world. Since it offers a maximum of 3000 pages per hour, which equates to something like an average paperback every 6 to 7 minutes, we’re not going to argue. It’s big though, so you may want to measure up the spare bedroom before handing over your pension money. Oh and it costs around $250,000 I believe. Suitable for recent and old books # Safety of the…
Read MoreYamaha Pocketrak 2G – the cool new pocket friendly recording studio
The svelte and stylish new Yamaha Pocketrak 2G is a high quality stereo digital pocket recorder with 2 GB of memory, up to 9 hours record time, MP3 and PCM recording, integrated speakers, twin high sensitivity swivel microphones and a USB port. And it looks rather nice too, with all that black and chrome coolness that says ‘professional kit’ coming through. Priced at £260.00. Weighing only 1.7 ounces (49 grams) complete with battery, the Yamaha POCKETRAK 2G Pocket Recorder is an unbeatable choice. It’s…
Read MoreSolar Powered Pool Heating Rings – saving the planet, one poolside drama at a time
These Solar Powered Pool Heating Rings promise to raise the temperature of an average sized swimming pool by 3 to 4 degrees F a week. They stay together via magnet clasps and also help prevent water evaporation during the day, which is a double bonus, no? It’s all sounding good from here. $69.95 a set (hint: you’re probably going to need 4 sets or more for a reasonable sized rig) These are the energy-efficient floating rings that gather and amplify sunlight to…
Read MorePanosaurus Panoramic Tripod Head – for those perfect panorama photos
The Panosaurus Panoramic Tripod Head is a fully spherical attachment which lets you take high quality panoramic photos. What makes it different? Well a real pano head like this apparently rotates around the optic center or nodal point of the camera, which means distortion free images. Who knew? $75.95. A standard camera tripod is designed to hold and rotate a camera around the tripod mounting hole of the camera. This hole is located arbitrarily somewhere on the camera body. However, to…
Read MoreThorr Electric Sports Car – aka the mobile battery bullet
Thorr Electric Car. So what do you get if you marry a Lotus Super 7 type carriage with a state of the art electric powertrain? Yep, a good looking electric car with no roof, a range of 200 km and a thirst for 3 phase power. No word on price or top speed alas. ThoRR uses a chassis that has been inspired by the Lotus Super 7 concept. This concept stands for high performance through simplicity and light weight. Because…
Read MoreDIY water gun alarm clock – wake up wet, weary and wild
DIY Water Gun Alarm Clock. This video shows you how to craft a water gun alarm clock out of nothing more than a water gun and an…er…alarm clock. Amazing eh? But remember, peeps, the end result will be wet wet wet if you over sleep. Tags: diy+water+gun+alarm+clock, novelty, video
Read MoreKwiry – text reminders with a little extra smart sauce
Kwiry is a new SMS text reminder service which combines mobile phone smarts with the power of web search. The basic premise is for you to send yourself an SMS message as a reminder of something when you’re out and about. At which point the service will store the reminder and email you to jog your memory when you return to base. So far so hum-drum. The interesting bit is the connection to a set of tabbed information sources, to help…
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