So I got to play with the Nokia N97 for a while in Barcelona last Tuesday, and left the encounter with somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand disappointment – at the lack of an 8 megapixel camera, at the relatively narrow screen, at the rather complicated user interface. This is not an iPhone killer – whatever that means – in any way, and in fact may end up looking decidedly pedestrian should Apple upgrade their product significantly in the time before the…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: December 2008
Core Gifts List – design gifts under $77.00
The good folk at Core88, sorry77, have brought out a Core77 Gift Guide of nicely designed products which would be suitable to give away over the festive season. Awww…isn’t that thoughtful? What’s more they’re priced at under $77.00 (so is that the magic cheapness level now then?) Take a look-see, you never know you might find something nice. Me like Shuriken magnets…arf! Tags: core77, gifts, design
Read MoreYWriter – the free word processor for novelists
YWriter is a free word processor designed specifically for novelists and authors in general. It won’t write the thing for you, but it does help you chop your opus up into chunks to make it easier to manage. The program also provides tools to manage characters, scenes, goals and timelines, which are the bits which often get in the way of your creativity. The Australian software developer, Simon Haynes, is also a published author of space opera, so if…
Read MoreGoogle Life Archives – classic photos available for all
Google has just released a searchable archive of millions of Life magazine photographs, which span more than one hundred years of American history. Amazing stuff. [via Metafilter] Tags: google+life+archive, photographs
Read MoreCSI Stick – covert cell phone analysis
Do you or someone you know have a cellphone that needs analysing? Then you need the CSI Stick. The CSI stick is a covert-ish cellphone information grabber capable of downloading everything off a cellphone just by plugging it in. Attach one end of the CSI stick into the rechargeable power supply and the other end into the phone to be analysed, select which type of data you want and wait for the lights to blink. So far the stick only…
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Sonic Nausea – nasty little tool says more about your relationship than a Tazer ever could
The Sonic Nausea device is designed to be surreptitiously placed in a target location at which point it will start broadcasting a combination of ultra-high frequency signals guaranteed to make people nearby feel sick and queasy. We’re trying to think of a nice use for this product which doesn’t involve angry courtroom exchanges and lengthy depositions, but we’re kinda failing. $29.00. It generates a unique combination of ultra-high frequency soundwaves which soon leads most in its vicinity to queasiness. It…
Read MoreTraffic Light USB Hub Recorder – speak and be recognised
This Traffic Light USB Hub Recorder has us intrigued. The 4 port USB hub we can understand, and even in a way the in-built 10 second voice recorder. But the card holder and traffic light doesn’t make so much sense. What’s the deal, you visit someone’s cubicle, leave your calling card, a memory stick containing the coroner’s report and a 10 second message announcing the purpose of your visit and switch the traffic light to the correct colour for the tone of…
Read MoreTikitag – home RFID tag product hits the shelves
It looks as though the market for consumer RFID products is starting to take off, at least if we’re to believe the marketing people. We already covered Violet’s Mir:ror product last month, and now we see that the Tikitag ecosystem is available on both the Amazon and Firebox retailer sites. The idea is you stick RFID tokens onto ordinary products like photos, umbrellas and the like, and can then trigger computer and web applications by touching the token to the…
Read MorePrestaShop – open source e-commerce shopping cart
PrestaShop is an open source e-commerce shopping cart for website owners and wannabe web tycoons. The devs claim it’s all Ajaxified and lightweight (which means your buyers should have an easier and faster experience at the checkout on your site) but as with all these things it’s really a matter of trying it out first to see whether it fits your needs better than a hosted solution. One good sign is the busy forums which indicate a lot of users,…
Read MoreMobile Freedom – online phone unlock service
The Mobile Freedom service offers to unlock most of the popular cell phone handsets over the Web. Simply call the premium rate number (UK only at the moment apparently), give the service your phone make, model and IMEI number and receive the unlock code there and then (or via SMS in a few seconds). Enter the code into your handset and voila, unlocked. Calls charged at £1.50 per minute, average call length 4.5 minutes. Unlocking mobiles : This is an…
Read MoreDirt Bag – Funny name, semi serious stuff
Keep dust, dirt and small furry animals out of your computer with a Dirt Bag. Designed to fit loosely over your computer the Dirtbag is made from a special breathable material that allows clean air to be drawn in via the computer’s fan. All the dust and dirt which normally ends up residing on your heatsinks is collected on the outside of the bag. The bags last about 12 months, they have special access holes for your optical drives and…
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Telephone Ring Amplifier – the LOUD ringer
This Telephone Ring Amplifier boosts your phone’s ring quite a lot. Well actually that’s a bit of an understatement. We’re talking receiving a 75dB ringtone from your phone, which is kinda rock music loud. Put it this way, one of these and an early morning wake up operator call should just about do it for ya. £2.66. This little gadget amplifies the phone ring. It works wonders in busy and noisy places. It also helps the hearing-impaired. Fits easily between the…
Read MoreHuawei D100 Router – turns your 3G dongle into a WiFi network
The Huawei D100 Router is a WiFi router with a difference. Instead of plugging it into your landline broadband connection, you slot a standard 3G USB dongle into the top, at which point it shares out the 3G broadband with any device in the area. This is perfect if you’re travelling and need to give the family their own WiFi connection in a hotel or holiday let. The 3 site claims the router is only compatible with their dongle, which…
Read MoreNovation Nocturn – cute MIDI audio controller makes the keyboard and mouse look clumsy
The Novation Nocturn is a dinky little MIDI controller which plugs into the USB port and gives you eight assignable rotary controllers for your audio editing and playback goodness. It’s got enough of that cross-fade, touch sensitive, MIDI mapping functionality to keep most bedroom producers and DJs happy for at least 10 minutes. Ooh and look, LED lights. $149.99. The Novation Nocturn compact control surface provides excellent software control for DJs and desktop recordists alike! Nocturn’s eight touch-sensitive rotary encoders…
Read MoreFrengly – the coolest web translation service ever
Frengly is beyond cool. If you’ve ever hunted around for a quick and easy online language translation service which doesn’t make you jump through hoops and copes with a bunch of the more obscure languages, then you’ll love this. Just bang your text into the top box, click the target lingo button and whoa, out pops the translation in the desired language. 27 languages, instant results. Fantastisk IncreÃble Niesamowity. Tags: frengly, online+applcation, language+translation
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