There’s nothing worse than schlepping out on a blustery cold night to gather up some wood for the vintage cast iron stove, only to find you’ve left your woollen mittens behind and the string in the shed has frozen solid. Well fret no more, dear wild frontiersperson, for now you can whip out your trusty EZ Bundler and get right to work, piling and gathering and stacking and bundling. Joy! $19.98. Organize and secure just about anything! Bundle newspapers, stacks…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: June 2009
Huawei E583X Wireless Modem – totally small, totally wireless…
The new Huawei E583X Wireless Modem is a thing of beauty indeed. We’re big fans of the Huawei E220 mini USB broadband dongle, and this puppy looks as though it will follow in its footsteps. The big new feature is the fact that the device acts like a wireless access point (kind of like the Novatel MiFi product). However, unlike the MiFi, we’re guessing that you’ll be able to unlock it pretty easily like the E220, so you won’t…
Read MoreNessie Lamp – it’s ok, it probably doesn’t exist
This cool little fellow is an LED Nessie Table Lamp. It’s completely posable and you can point it in pretty much any direction. It runs on 4 AA batteries so you can take it with you or give it to the kids as a night-light, just squeeze its head to turn it on or to switch on the multicoloured LEDs. It also comes in a range of patterns, including leopard print, so you’re bound to find one that matches your…
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CamStudio – excellent free open source screencasting software
I was looking for some screencasting software the other day, having been hugely disappointed with the Jing product. Tell me, what’s the good of offering a Pro version for $14..95 which only records up to 5 minutes worth of video? Are they nuts? Anyway stumbled across our old favourite CamStudio which still offers a nice free open source version, and thought we’d take another look. Guess what, it’s great! They’ve really upped the quality of the footage with their own…
Read MoreMiniFitXL – innovative laptop cooler goes fan crazy
The MiniFitXL laptop cooler features a clever movable fan option, so you can custom tailor the cool breeze according to your laptop’s hot spot location. It also doubles up as a protective sleeve and as cream on the pie, will serve as a book stand for all your reading needs. Truly a cool multimedia magician. Tags: minifitxl, laptop+cooler
Read MoreAirBnB – crowdsource your vacation or business lodging rental
AirBnB is a new online service which offers direct links to people and organisations willing to rent out their premises for short term stays. So it’s kind of like a hotel booking service, but without the hotels. Rentals vary from own room in a private house to a full rental of a luxury villa, and the prices as you would expect compete nicely with hotel rates. Nice folks, folks like you, list their guest rooms, futons, and even couches on…
Read MoreTree Stump Outdoor Speaker – you’ll be stumped without it
This Tree Stump Speaker is a 125W all weather stereo speaker disguised as a tree stump. It contains a single 8 ohm, 125 W speaker which plays back both left and right channels. If you prefer some width and bass to your stereo you can pick up two single channel tree stump speakers as well as a 250W sub woofer. Then the only thing left to do is invent an explanation as to why you cut down all your trees….
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Mobidapter – connect your USB flash memory drive directly to your mobile phone
The Mobidapter is a clever gizmo which lets you connect an ordinary USB flash memory drive to any device which has an SD or microSD memory socket. Since this includes most of the modern smartphones on the market, it means that you can hook up a flash memory stick to upload/download photos, music, files et al as easy as pie. No more needing to use a computer as the middle man. Cool stuff. The device comes with mini, micro and full size…
Read MoreIlluminated Mouse Pad Calculator – shine on, Harvest Moon…
This Illuminated Mouse Pad Calculator comes with number keys. Oh yes. Awesome. Oh and a plus sign. Did we mention the 3 port USB hub in the back? But without question the feature that you’ll be most excited about is the ‘moody blue light’, which will simply blow you away as you calculate furiously at midnight in your basement grotto. $17.99. 10 digits Calculator # Memory Calculation: M+, M-, MRC # Can used as Mouse Pad # 3 Port…
Read MorePOW – Opera Unite for Firefox users
POW (Plain Old Webserver) is a free downloadable utility and add-on for Firefox combo that turns your browser into a web server, a la Opera Unite. Of course it’s nowhere near as slick, polished and functional as the Opera product, but with a bit of manual tweaking you can get something up and running pretty fast. All it really needs is some determined open source development love and I can see this becoming a righteous competitor for the Unite product, which…
Read MoreTorrentTwitter – share your favourite Torrent files
TorrentTwitter. Share your favourite torrents with friends and family via Twitter posts. What else is there to say, other than the fact that you can also create groups of people to share interests? There’s absolutely no stopping this technology stuff, is there? TorrentTwitter is a micro-blogging service that allows people to share their favorite torrents with their friends, families and fans. More cool torrents that they share, more popular they become. Users post short (140 character) notices which are broadcast to people that…
Read MoreGo Computer – get Grandma online
The Go Computer is computing made simple and easy-on-the-eye. Designed for the older generation, the Go Computer has a large typeface keyboard with coloured coded keys, a trackball and simple all-in-one architecture. All it needs is power and a broadband connection. The actual brains of the computer is a desktop EeeBox PC attached to the back of the (22″ ?) monitor. The Go runs MyGait a senior-friendly OS with a large typeface, easy magnifier and one-click access to email and…
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ZBoost Cellphone Signal Extender – improve the reception of your handset in your home
The ZBoost Cellphone Signal Extender promises to improve the mobile phone reception in your home or your signal bars back. Plonk the aerial in a nearby window, connect the cable and put the unit in a convenient site and bingo, you’ve got improved cell reception on tap. They’re talking enough of an improvement to cover 2 or 3 additional rooms. Not bad. Note that you need to select the right model for your service provider. £249.99. Well quit staring at…
Read MoreRechargeable Cordless 70 LED Video Light – bright, portable and bright
This Rechargeable Cordless 70–LED Video Light is designed to deliver lots of bright light for your video production. Advantages? Lots of light, v low battery consumption, totally portable and zero heat. Disadvantages, quality of light may be a bit too cool for most tastes, which will require post-production skillz. But amateurs should be fine with it. $59.00. Rechargeable Cordless 70-LED Video Light, this light can be a Brightness Video Light or a Studio Reflector. More Brightness, Less Heat!! Tags: rechargeable+70+led+light, photography, led
Read MoreConvert video to .gif for email – clever tip for spicing up your messages
Here’s a nice little tutorial on how to convert video footage to an animated .gif file so you can embed it safely in email and the like. Of course you don’t get the sound, but the technique is still impressive, eh? There are also freeware programs which will do this for you if you’re not macho enough. Your call. There are free video to gif tools available. I prefer to convert the video file myself. It affords you more control,…
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