Monthly Archives: September 2009

Gadgets September 21, 2009 posted by

USB Foldable Laptop Cooler with Mouse Pad – cool and useful

It may not look like much, but this little USB Foldable Laptop Cooler Tray gizmo packs a bunch of useful stuff into it’s gruesome blue footprint. We’re talking a USB powered cooler fan, natch, which will help stop your shiny new from exploding all over your legs, plus an adjustable working surface and, wonder of wonders, a mouse pad so you can mice as well. What more could anyone ask for? Apart from an Armani suit and a pack of Toblerone…

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Gadgets September 21, 2009 posted by

MiLi iPhone Power Pack – rechargeable battery case

First we had the Juice Pack Air, now the MiLi. Both designed to keep your iPhone going when its battery cries uncle. If I was interested enough I could bring you a comparison review complete with intimate photos of both products in action, in repose on coffee tables and clutched by hot sweaty model hands, but I simply can’t be bothered. It’s just not worth it, is it? Anyhoo, here’s a nice image and a price, so be thankful and…

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Bookmark This! September 21, 2009 posted by

Mobipocket Creator – make your own eBooks for free

Mobipocket Creator is a freeware program which will let you create your own eBooks out of any old stuff you have lying around. You know, HTML, text, .doc or PDF files, that sort of thing. Just fire up the program, dump your files into the right place and bingo, out comes a fully formed eBook. OK, so it’s not quite that simple, but you get the idea. The company also offers a handy online store for your tome, although unfortunately you…

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Bizarre September 21, 2009 posted by

Kill or Cure – definitive list of things that cause and prevent cancer…according to a newspaper

Joe Jackson once famously told us ‘Everything Gives You Cancer’, and now we can prove it via the Kill or Cure site – an alphabetically arranged database of everything the Daily Mail newspaper claims will cause or prevent cancer, depending on which day of the week it is, and how much they need to boost circulation figures. Pathetic. Tags: kill+or+cure, cancer, msm, joe+jackson

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Gadgets September 21, 2009 posted by

WMF1 Coffee Pad Machine – coffee for one, no waiting

The Coffee Pad Machine WMF1 is a single serve espresso coffee maker with mug. Fill the water tank using the cup, install any 70 mm coffee pad/pod and press the button. A minute later you’ll have a hot 125mL cup of black coffee. There’s no wastage, only the correct volume of water is heated and the WF1 seats neatly and stylishly on your benchtop. The coffee pad machine WMF 1 for portioned filter coffee in the pad. WMF 1 stands…

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Awesome September 21, 2009 posted by

Smashing Pumpkins to release their next album free

Yet another band from my formative years is releasing their music to the wide world for free. Following on from the likes of Radiohead and the Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan announced that their next album would be released online absolutely free without any strings attached. The album, titled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope will be released incrementally starting with the first four tracks on Halloween of 2009 and around 44 songs will be released in total. The…

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Eco Friendly September 21, 2009 posted by

Veggie Trader – the newest green exchange

Is your garden over producing this year? Got more tomatoes, zucchini or fresh herbs than you can possibly eat or give away? Never fear – Veggie Trader is here! Founded by East and West Coast foodies in the US, this novel start-up trading group has signed up over 7,000 folks so far. You can buy, sell or trade Nature’s bounty. For a free resource of local produce, this sounds like a real winner! It’s local, affordable and sustainable, but we’ve…

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reprise September 20, 2009 posted by

Ferret posts this week

Here’s a quick round-up of Red Ferret posts from the past week for those who missed them. Enjoy. Checkvist – awesome online collaborative task list manager – Sometimes a product just hits the… Matrix 3D printer – rapid prototypes made of paper – Rapid prototyping company Mcor are… Battery Wizard – recharges disposable batteries – Straight out of the annals of… Abbee Advert Free FM Radio – gadget records radio while stripping out commercials and chatter – The Abbee Commercial…

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Gadgets September 19, 2009 posted by

American Audio SDJ-2 – SD card powered DJing

The SDJ-2 is an SD card powered DJ console. According to the blurb, there’s no external hard drives required, no software needed and no external MP3 players required. All that being said however, if you want to add external drives or iPods, then go right ahead as it has a front-mounted USB port. The SDJ-2 reads the high capacity SD cards, it has a pair of balanced outputs, a built-in 2 channel mixer with mic controls, a pair of LCD…

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Gadgets September 18, 2009 posted by

IXP3 Internet Messaging Clock – talk via a clock, ‘cos your email ain’t listening

The IXP3 Internet Messaging Clock connects to any handy Internet router and thenceforth will display on demand messages from remote loved ones (or indeed enemies we suspect) using that there new fangled Internety thing. You can send messages via email or through the product website, and they will be projected immediately on the remote clock. The thing can also store messages which can be scrolled through by the recipient when they wake up or whatever. Clever tech and proof once…

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Bookmark This! September 18, 2009 posted by

Manic Time – free program automatically tracks your computer usage

Manic Time is a free program which automatically logs your computer activity and gives you a breakdown of how you spend your time. It’s not a new idea, we first covered Rescue Time way back in 2007, but this is an interesting take on the subject. You can tag your activities to make them easier to track, and you get lovely coloured charts to prove that you’re really spending a huge amount of time working and not goofing off on Reddit,…

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Gadgets September 18, 2009 posted by

Cradlepoint CTR500 Mobile Broadband Router

The CTR500 mobile broadband router lets you share your 3G broadband signal (EVDO or 3G) over b/g Wi-Fi. You have a choice of using either a USB broadband modem, a tethered handset or an Express Card modem and it has an external antenna port to maximise reception (needs an optional external antenna). It supports multiple VPN passthroughs and 64/128bit WEP(!?), WPA and WPA2 encryption. It also doubles as a standard router with an Ethernet port which can be used as…

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Gadgets September 18, 2009 posted by

IDE to SATA docking converter – there’s life in the old gal yet

If you’ve got a pile of still-working IDE hard drives but all your machines run SATA, then this gizmo may help. The IDE to SATA docking converter turns 3.5″ IDE hard drives into SATA complete with power supply. It sticks out a bit from the end of the hard drive but still it may come in useful someday especially if you’re using external HDD docks. US$16 from Brando. IDE to SATA HDD Docking Converter converts your IDE Hard drive to…

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Gadgets September 18, 2009 posted by

Sleep Sheep – silences your lambs

The Sleep Sheep hangs out in your child’s cot and plays one of four gentle soothing sounds to put the littlies to sleep. Choose from whale song, a spring shower, ocean waves and best of all, mother’s heartbeat. You can choose from a 23 or 45 minute timer and it secures to the side of the cot with Velcro straps. Comes with two AA batteries and it’s US$27 from Cloud B. [Thanks Mandy] Sleep Sheep produces 4 soothing sounds from…

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Gadgets September 18, 2009 posted by

Card Vault – Protects people’s precious pics

The Card Vault is a the modern adventure person’s film bag. Stick your Compact Flash, MMC, MS or SD card sized media in it and it’ll be safe from shocks, water, electrostatic discharge and dust. Holds 4 cards and it even floats. US$24.95. Or you could just get a 32Gb card and not worry. Our versatile Card Vault comes with shock-absorbing foam, multi-card inserts that fit all popular memory cards: MMC/SD Cards; Smart Media; Sony Memory Stick; or Compact Flash….

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