Monthly Archives: September 2008

Gadgets September 11, 2008 posted by

Crosley Solo – what’s cooking good lookin’

Crosley have been a frequent visitor to the Red Ferret, but they keep making such great stuff so we can’t help but bring them back! This is the Solo, a high-tech, retro themed AM/FM radio. It’s got a 3″ speaker on top, oversized analogue tuning dial and frequency display, auxiliary input for your mp3 player, auxiliary output and a headphone socket. Its best feature however, has to be its acoustic consistency … Regardless of its placement in a room, the…

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Crosley Solo – what’s cooking good lookin’
Cool Web Apps & Sites September 11, 2008 posted by

Instablogs – start spreading the news

Unless you’ve been living on the sun, chances are you’ve noticed that the traditional news media is being dragged kicking and screaming into a new age. News is being gathered via people on the ground via text messages and mobile phone photos. Events like the London tube bombings, the recent cyclone in Burma and the New York steam explosion are bringing readers much closer to the event than was ever possible before. Instablogs is a news aggregation website that combines…

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Instablogs – start spreading the news
Fun & Games September 10, 2008 posted by

Rainbow Wallpapers – turn that frown upside down

Work got you down? Need a little pick-me-up? Then grab some of these rainbow colour spectrum wallpapers compiled by design blog Hongkiat. If your desktop wallpaper is looking a bit dull, perhaps it’s time to add a little spice, make it something more cheerful. Here’s some really Impressive Colour Spectrum and Rainbow Wallpapers we’ve found. We find it not only inspires, also brighten up the desktop. Tags: computer+wallpaper, rainbow+wallpaper

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Rainbow Wallpapers – turn that frown upside down
cool tech September 10, 2008 posted by

ElectraFlyer-C – new electric kit plane soars silently, swiftly sunwards…

The new ElectraFlyer-C is an electric conversion of an older kit plane called the Moni. The new derivation uses Lithium Ion Polymer batteries to save weight and will fly at a max speed of 90mph for 90 minutes. When you’re done, you simply plug it into the nearest mains power socket for a recharge. How’s that for cheap flying, eh? The only downside is the cramped cockpit, which suggests that anyone over size skinny will not be welcome aloft in…

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Bookmark This! September 10, 2008 posted by

Circle Dock – give your PC a free and cool looking Mac style dock

Eric Wong’s Open Source Circle Dock program gives Windows users the same kind of cute, useful application launch functionality as the Apple Mac dock, but arranged in a circular motif rather than along the bottom of the screen. As well as looking very pretty, it is ultra-configurable, and offers mouse wheel rotation to make it Lazy Susan easy to get to your favourite applications fast. It is also multilingual and needs the .NET framework to be installed. Please note that this is Alpha level code,…

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Bookmark This! September 10, 2008 posted by

MyGazines – upload, share and archive your favourite magazine articles…for free

Mygazines dot com is an interesting new take on the social network theme based around magazines. The idea is to build a community around shared interests via uploaded magazine articles. It’s a clever idea and the interface actually works, which is a bonus in itself. The first time I looked at the site it was stuffed with glossy full content uploads of major name titles, but it looks as though the copyright cops have swept through the site since then,…

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cool tech September 10, 2008 posted by

Google Chrome – nice…but needs a little extra sauce…

I’ve been playing with the new Google Chrome web browser over the past few days and I’m impressed. It’s fast, clean and I really like the combo search and address box. It means you don’t have to differentiate between doing a web search or entering a URL, you just type in the required text and boom, the browser goes off and returns the right content. Very slick. It desperately needs plugins though, because every Firefox user relies on at least…

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Bookmark This! September 10, 2008 posted by

Picard – the next generation of music tagging

If you’re offended by the Gracenote music machine being bought by Sony, then a quick Google for “gracenote alternative” brings up a clever bunch of people called MusicBrainz. They make a piece of music tagging freeware called Picard, the so-called Next Generation music tagger. Picard is different in that it looks at your songs holistically instead of individually and chases down and applies album information based on your music. Simply point Picard at your the music library and in less…

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Picard – the next generation of music tagging
cool tech September 10, 2008 posted by

Cold Seat – sit back kids and chill out

Strapping children into boiling hot car seats in summer is not a great idea. So a Texas mum mom has come up with the Cold Seat to prevent her littlies from sublimating minutes after they’ve been put into the car. The Cold Seat is filled with sealed liquid pouches that can be removed from the car seat and stored in the freezer. When the time comes to pop junior in the hot car, you whip the pouches out of the…

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Cold Seat – sit back kids and chill out
Gadgets September 9, 2008 posted by

Internet Power Phone 200 – because simple solutions are often the best

I love VoIP but I loathe the whole talking in a microphone-on-a-stick while having the person I’m talking to blast through the speakers at everyone in the room, thing. Why can’t we make VoIP phone calls the way grandma used to make them, with a handset and a nice conversation between two people? Well, with the Eutectics Internet Power Phone 200, you can have your VoIP and eat it too. Just plug the USB handset into your PC, attach the…

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Internet Power Phone 200 – because simple solutions are often the best
Gadgets September 9, 2008 posted by

SEE2 Xtreme – USB to DVI adapter, looking good

Nigel blogged about the Tritton SEE2 USB-to-VGA a couple of years ago, but the Tritton people haven’t been standing around since then. They’ve just released the SEE2 Xtreme USB-to-DVI video adapter and they’ve added Mac OS X compatibility. The Xtreme allows people to add multiple displays to their desktop or notebook even if their video card doesn’t support extra screens. The Xtreme provides resolutions of up to 1920 � 1200 in DVI or VGA with 16 bit colour. If you…

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SEE2 Xtreme – USB to DVI adapter, looking good
Gadgets September 9, 2008 posted by

Garage Butler – keeping track of your barn door so you don’t have to…

Garage Butler retrofits to your automatic garage door to make sure it closes when you forget. As an added bonus it will automatically shut the door when it gets dark which should help keep the raccoons out of your lube trays. You can set it for various timings and it comes with a useful warning siren to let every thief within a 5 mile radius know you’ve just left home. Nah, just kidding! $59.98. Set it to close 3, 10…

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Garage Butler – keeping track of your barn door so you don’t have to…
Free Software September 9, 2008 posted by

Keycounter – keep track of your keystrokes and mouse movements each day

Keycounter is a small free utility that keeps track of every single key press you make every minute and whether the mouse has moved. At the end of the day it will then display a graph of your work, along with clear evidence of the period when you went skulking off to the coffee machine for an hour at around 4pm. So waddya know, the ultimate geek watchdog. Keycounter provides a way of keeping track of when you’ve been active…

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Keycounter – keep track of your keystrokes and mouse movements each day
hmm..interesting September 9, 2008 posted by

Clockspot – the online timeclock

Clockspot is an online timeclock. Yep, your employees can punch in at the start of the day by logging in to the service via Web or telephone. Yeah we can hear you sniggering over there, but think about it. With the right controls (e.g. IP or MAC address logging) this could be very useful for companies with a workforce spread across the globe. Project time sheets, centralised vacation control, reporting…it’s all good stuff if it works as advertised. Prices start…

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Clockspot – the online timeclock
Gadgets September 8, 2008 posted by

Motor Clock – stylish alarm clock with weather!

The Motor Clock is an alarm clock with a difference and I’m not just talking about style. Built into it’s handsome, faux instrument-cluster exterior is a selection of alarm sounds including a V8 muscle car, a turbo charged engine, V-twin motorcycle and my fave, the door ajar alarm. It’s also got an external temperature sensor with a wireless sensor so you know when not to get out of bed, a digital barometer, 9V battery backup and a dimmer button. Oh…

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Motor Clock – stylish alarm clock with weather!