Monthly Archives: February 2009

but is it art? February 28, 2009 posted by

Vintage Brass Post Office Safe – store your knick-knacks in retro style

A Vintage Brass Post Office Safe may not be the most sensible place for your Faberge eggs, but it’ll definitely be fine for those General Motors shares you’ve been worrying about. It comes with a secret, two letter combination for you to learn and remember and a couple of cool Butch Cassidy dials up front. Bless…. $47.50.  The hand-made safe from solid red oak was varnished to bring out the beautiful, natural grain in the wood. The wood was selected specifically for…

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Gadgets February 27, 2009 posted by

Full Duplex Conference Phone – chat-anooga choo-choo, baby…

The Full Duplex Conference Phone offers crystal clear, echo free, crisp audio for all your Skype and generic VoIP conferencing needs. What’s more it will never transmit things that might hurt you, like “we want a refund”, or “the cheque’s in the post”. Nope, happy news all the time, every time. Apparently. $80.99 (£55.35).  When your business has been around for a while, you know the importance of good communication. But you put this in jeopardy if your conferencing system isn’t up…

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Gadgets February 27, 2009 posted by

Vinyl Clock – give your old classics a decent, more humane, future

This recycled Vinyl Clock proves that it’s possible to replace those dusty old Barry Manilow disks with some current goth metal emo and not feel guilty. Just depressed. £26.99.  Now that MP3 and CDs have almost totally removed vinyl from our everyday lives, it can be a struggle finding a place for this much loved old music format in your home. But now we have solved this problem – by re-using abandoned vinyl records, Spinning Hat has found a home for vinyl…

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Gadgets February 27, 2009 posted by

Morphy Richards Intellisteam – technology runs amok on the kitchen worktop

The Morphy Richards Intellisteam. Take a simple idea (steaming), throw in far too many computer cycles (timing), stir for half an hour (alarm) and add water. Result? A food steaming device with multiple compartments and very little additional value over and above a standard steaming pot. Behold, a steamer: So, do we need a multi-faceted, energy gobbling, LCD adorned, 1600W water heater with plastic buckets? Or not? At a mere £97.86 it’s your money and your choice.  Most of us have…

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Gadgets February 27, 2009 posted by

Winstar M4 USB Networking Server – share USB devices over your home network

Plug four computer accessories into your Winstar M4 USB Networking Server, hook it up to your wireless router via Ethernet cable and you’ll be able to share all the peripherals with anyone on the network from anywhere in the building. Great for multiple laptops in the home and only one printer or scanner. Useful.  Winstars new palm-sized Networking USB 2.0 Server enables an external hard drive, flash drive, memory card reader, USB webcam, USB speaker, or USB Multi-Function Printer (MFP) to…

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Free Software February 27, 2009 posted by

Yo Frankie! – open source 3D game points to the future of game development?

Yo Frankie! is a free open source 3D cross platform computer game which has been developed by the community, off the community, for the community. Or something. The gameplay is somewhat simplistic, but hey, it’s free and a solid effort which may point to a new business model for the  beleaguered video game industry. Perhaps. It’s available on Linux, Mac and Windows via a hefty 200MB download, so hurry on over and check it out.  Starting february 1st 2008, a small…

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Bookmark This! February 27, 2009 posted by

PDF to Word – superb free online PDF conversion service

The new PDF to Word online application is superb. I’ve been testing out the private beta and it works exactly as advertised. Just upload your PDF document, hand over your email address and wait for the converted Word .doc file to arrive in your email inbox. I tried out a 20 page PDF with lots of images in it, and received back an excellent reproduction of the original with all the images in the right place. Excellent. Not sure when it’s…

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Awesome February 27, 2009 posted by

E.gg Timer – awesome Flash based countdown timer

E.gg Timer. An awesomely super simple, yet ever so effective web browser based timer. Just enter the period you want to count into the browser address bar (e.g. http://e.ggtimer.com/5years3months) and voila, it starts counting down. Brilliant.  Welcome to E.gg Timer Use it like an egg timer or a count down timer. Example usage: http://e.ggtimer.com/2minutes Example usage: http://e.ggtimer.com/1hour14minutes35seconds Example usage: http://e.ggtimer.com/5years3months Example usage: http://e.ggtimer.com/30 (when you just put a number it assumes seconds) Tags: e.gg+timer, online+application, flash

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Gadgets February 26, 2009 posted by

Sony HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album – storage and disc burner in one happy combo

The Sony HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album says forget about computers, operating systems, photo editing, upgradability and rampant technophobia, and invest in me, an 80GB, USB and television connectable storage cart with black and chrome stylishness. It also says, in a loud stagey whisper, $399.00. Can you hear it?  Our Digital Photo Album allows you to display photos on your television screen. This photo album stores up to 50,000 high-resolution photos on its 80 GB hard drive, and will showcase them with custom effects…

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Gadgets February 26, 2009 posted by

U-Cast Podcast Kit – speak to the world and it will listen…maybe

U-Cast Podcast Kit. I love the way Ion take really simple things, like..er…a microphone and headphones, and bung them together into a marketing box to help us poor Luddites understand their use better. Anyhoo, here it is, £59.99 worth of USB mic and headphones with a stand (important that) and some free Audacity audio editing software to give it the final polish. No polish, madam, not Polish.  Now, Podcasting is no longer the domain of the broadcasters and newspapers. Armed…

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Gadgets February 26, 2009 posted by

Nuface Facial Toning Device – zap your face smooth

This NuFace Facial Toning Device looks like a hoot. You do what with the electrodes? Using a little Derma Gel, y’say? Really? Lift and Tone? Gosh. $329.95.  Visible results possible in as little as 5 minutes! The new NuFace handheld microcurrent device helps promote muscle tone and smooth skin texture with just 5 minutes a day of use. A perfect complement to any skin care regimen, NuFace uses gentle, noninvasive electrical stimulation to deliver both fast visible lift and cumulative,…

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Bookmark This! February 26, 2009 posted by

Family Budget Planner – freeware to help you keep track of those all important finances

Family Budget Planner. What it says on the tin really. A free expenses and family spending program. Makes it easy to track what you’re really spending each month. I get kinda scared by things like this, because they invariably reveal more about your cash flows than you really want to know. But hey, it’s a free tool if you need it.  The family budget planner is FREE software to help manage your expenses. While only in its first release it…

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Bookmark This! February 26, 2009 posted by

MyVishwa – earn money from social networking

MyVishwa is a social network with a difference. For one thing, it is the first that I’ve seen which is browser based, in that it runs within a Firefox windowed tab environment. It is also the first time I’ve come across a social network where you earn money from using it. Uh-oh I hear you mutter. The basic premise of the site is sound. You set up your social network based around different ‘circles’ of people, ranging from the inner circle of…

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general February 26, 2009 posted by

Yuma – rugged outdoor tablet netbook multipurpose ultra tough computer

Rugged PC makers, Trimble, have just released another go-anywhere PC. The Yuma is an outdoor, high reliability portable tablet PC designed for the more rugged and outdoorsy type jobs or for people who are a little more clumsy than most. The Yuma can survive most types of punishment. It has an ingress protection rating of 67, so it’s pretty much dust and waterproof and it can handle temperatures from -30�C to 60�C. It’s powered by the ubiquitous Atom processor with…

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Yuma – rugged outdoor tablet netbook multipurpose ultra tough computer