July 2009 - Page 13 of 14 - The Red Ferret JournalThe Red Ferret Journal

Gadgets July 4, 2009 posted by Debra Atlas

Kinetic Road Plates – Green power from the parking lot

Kinetic road plates will soon power checkouts at a Sainsbury supermarket in Gloucester in the UK. Each time a vehicle drives over the plates in the parking lot, kinetic energy is converted into electricity and transferred back into the store. The plates are expected to produce 30 kWh of green energy every hour. Alison Austin, Sainsbury’s environment manager, said: “Not only are we the first to use such cutting-edge technology with our shoppers, customers can now play (an) active role…

Gadgets July 4, 2009 posted by Dan

VGA to TV Adapter – see your PC on the TV

This VGA to TV adapter box converts VGA to RCA or S-Video for playback on an ordinary TV. It doesn’t require any software and the adapter itself is powered by a USB port from the computer. You can even reposition the TV signal on the screen using controls on the adapter. It can display resolutions from 640×480 up to 1024×768. About US$52. Convert your VGA signal to be viewed on any TV, projector, or any other viewing device that uses…

Gadgets July 3, 2009 posted by Nigel

Forearm Pain Relief Massager – pull the other one…

Apparently they’re claiming that this is a Forearm Pain Relief Massager, but you know they’re lying right? C’mon just look at it. Pain relief? Really? Own up guys, we know it’s nothing more than a Bernie Madoff GPS system, as in ‘where’s the money hidden, dude?’. Anyway those of you who believe the blurb will probably be happy to shell out the $49.95, but don’t blame us when some strange looking people with Aviators come knocking at your door after midnight….

but is it art? July 3, 2009 posted by Dan

Ned Kelly USB flash drive – Aussie icon now USB flash drive

I just spotted this on ChipChick and couldn’t resist posting it. It’s a hand carved Ned Kelly USB flash drive for sale on Etsy. US$70 and there’s only one. Ned Kelly was a famous Australian bushranger or outlaw, and has been the subject of many books and films (including the world’s first feature film). He and his gang made a last stand against the police wearing distinctive bush-made armour which was effectively bullet-proof. Nice one MikaEle! Tags: gadget, ned+kelly+usb+drive, etsy+ned+kelly+usb+flash+drive

Bookmark This! July 3, 2009 posted by Nigel

MP3 Skype Recorder – free voice call recording program

The MP3 Skype Recorder freeware program gives you fire and forget recording for all your Skype call traffic. It copes with conferences, Skype Out calls and can record several calls simultaneously. It just sits there in the task bar waiting for you to call someone, anyone. Then it kicks in and does its stuff. As you might expect from the name, it’ll store the calls in the MP3 file format, and you can set the quality and location. Nice tool. MP3…

Gadgets July 3, 2009 posted by Dan

Craftsman Fold Up Trailer – good things come in flat packages

This Fold Up Trailer could have been just what you needed for Father’s Day. Instead of your ordinary trailer just sitting there for 6 days of the week, collecting rain, taking up space and slowly rusting, fold your trailer up and keep it out of the way. The 6′ � 4′ trailer can carry 450 kg (1,000 lbs) and the trailer itself weighs 190 kg (420 lbs), the floor is galvanised steel and the front and back trailer ends are…

Gadgets July 3, 2009 posted by Dan

Spy Shaver Camera – this has no legitimate purpose

All right, that’s it, seriously. I don’t care who you are. There is no one who can claim that a Spy Shaver Camera is required. With 4Gb of storage, a colour 640×480 camera and 8 hour battery life, it’s bad people, all bad. Just don’t buy it ok? I won’t tell you it’s US$238. This is a ultra-small digital spy camera that hidden in a shaver, it looks like an ordinary shaver, but it has a very powerful function, the…

Gadgets July 3, 2009 posted by Dan

Easy Quick Jumper – start your car via the cigarette lighter

This Easy Quick Jumper allows you to connect two cars via their cigarette lighters to revive a dead battery. It’s not a jump start in the traditional sense, more a quick charge via the cigarette lighter power socket. Plug one end into the working car power socket, the other end into the dead car’s and start the working car. The red light means the circuit is charging. Once sufficient charge has passed into the dead battery, try and start the…

Gadgets July 2, 2009 posted by Debra Atlas

Bamboo Keyboard – a green alternative

It may sound odd, but Jiangqiao Bamboo and Wood Industry Co., Ltd, a Chinese company, is manufacturing bamboo keyboards made completely of bamboo. Since launching last October, they’ve received orders for 40,000 finished units. China’s sole bamboo keyboard producer, Jiangqiao swears these wooden keyboards are as strong and long-lived as their plastic counterparts. “You needn’t worry that it might crack even if it drops from a one-meter-high table. Its user-life is no shorter than a plastic one,” says Zhang Lina,…

Gadgets July 2, 2009 posted by Nigel

Erase-o-Matic – the simple, silent, zero power data zapper

The Erase-o-Matic degausser uses rare earth magnets enclosed in a specially formulated case to zap magnetic data media such as diskettes, cassettes, VHS, zip drives and all that kind of stuff. Its bigger brother will do for larger media and hard drives. Are we allowed to say we love the name? It’s so…homely isn’t it? Like Robbie the Robot and Lassie. OK, enough of that. The base version is priced at $395.00. zzzzztpfffzsttzing. All tapes should be passed once then…

Gadgets July 2, 2009 posted by Dan

Klip Kids – Teaching and Time Out Timer

Klip! Kids is a timer for disciplining teaching children. After you shove them in the naughty cupboard under the stairs you can make sure you’ve really locked them in there for an hour using this timer. Easy to hold, big display, alarm, stopwatch and clock. Just program in a countdown and it will be displayed via numbers and the large bar graphic. It can be stuck on the fridge with the included magnet and needs one CR2016 watch battery. US$19.95…

Awesome July 2, 2009 posted by Nigel

Riversimple Hydrogen Eco Car – not just green but awesomely open source too

The Riversimple car may look a bit like a Batmobile that’s shrunk in the wash, but this tiny vehicle may well change the way cars are made in future times. It’s not just the fact that it’s a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that you can’t buy, but only lease (with fuel). Nor even that it is aimed at car clubs rather than individuals in order to try and reduce the total number of vehicles on the road. Nope, the big…

Free Software July 2, 2009 posted by Dan

Twaitter – Twitter scheduling platform

Twaitter is a tweet scheduling program for Twitter. Your scheduled tweets (aka Twaits) can be set to go out at a certain time, or you can schedule recurring tweets … for whatever reason. There’s also a calendar app that shows you when you sent all your tweets providing you used the Twaitter client. Twaitter will also check your spelling, translate or add shortened URLs. They are also working on an RSS Feed for the client. Perfect Timing: Ever had an…

Bookmark This! July 2, 2009 posted by Nigel

Design Your Own Fragrance – make like a pro perfumier at home

This Design Your Own Fragrance Kit comes with everything you’ll need to create your own special smells, except taste, style and a nose worth anything more than picking. It comes with six fragrances in the box and you can, of course, buy more if you find your talent leading to greater things. We can’t help thinking that one of these kits plus a good long read of Basenotes, the website which lists the components of over 13,000 perfumes, might indeed…

but is it art? July 2, 2009 posted by Dan

Shapeways Stampmaker – design your own stamps

Shapeways is a 3D printing website that can make pretty much anything you can design. They have just expanded their repertoire into stamps with Stampmaker. Stampmaker takes any type of grayscale image and turns it into a bump map. the brightest parts become the raised bits of the stamp, the darkest parts are the base. The finished stamp is 9cm � 13 cm and costs US$25. With the Stampmaker you can turn your digital images to stamps and stamp everywhere…

Monthly Archives: July 2009