This Moxi 3 Tuner HD DVR is hazy crazy. So hands up everyone with a shed load of VHS tapes they never watched? Or a hard disk PVR or TiVo crammed with shows they don’t have time to view? Yeah thought so. So what on earth makes it logical to introduce a product which can record 3 different programs onto hard disk while you’re watching a fourth? What are you going to do with all the shows, start your own…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: November 2009
Minimalist GMail – cool Bauhaus freeware strips your Google mailbox down to the bare minimum
The free Minimalist Gmail addon for Firefox strips out all the unnecessary clutter in the Gmail interface and leaves you with beautiful symmetry and no cruft. It’s totally configurable, you select what stays and what goes, and it doesn’t seem to have any impact on the workings of the inbox at all. I’ve got it set on a majorly bare bones version with just the search bar showing and it works great. Definitely a keeper! Choose what you want,…
Read MoreMorrocan Solar Power – ramping up the alternative energy momentum
The Moroccans have announced a project to invest 9 billion dollars in a 2000 megawatt solar energy production system located where else but in a handy local desert or two. We’re talking 10,000 hectares of array, sucking the power out of 3000 hours of bright sunlight. Neat. There is one puzzle though (and it’s not just the weird headline which implies the country is forgoing solar energy). The article claims that Morocco spent $6 billion in 2008 on oil products for energy, and…
Read MoreMaggwire – sample magazines online
Maggwire is an online link list of glossy mainstream magazine articles presented for our reading pleasure in a trendy social networked way. Surprisingly it works. The format is easy to browse (a la Digg.com) and the idea that the system learns from your reading habits which articles to push up the page, might just make the whole thing quite valuable. It’s all very wisdom of the crowds, with voting, sharing and discussion of course, but overall the combination of simple interface and…
Read MoreThe Android Wave – 75 reasons why the Android platform is about to sweep the world
For the past few months I’ve been living with a selection of Android handsets, different makes, models and network owners. The HTC Hero, The T-Mobile Pulse, the HTC Magic and from my experience of this new computing platform I’m going to predict that Android is destined to be the biggest thing to hit computing since Windows hit the PC. Yes it’s that big. It’s not that these early products exhibit anything spectacular in the way of features, applications or style, in…
Read MoreFrench Press Commuter Cup – Grounds for good coffee
Why make coffee in a french press and then pour it into a cup when you can do it all in the one device? This Bodum French Press Commuter Cup offers the best of all words. Good home-made coffee, in an easy to carry cup. Makes coffee or tea and it’s US$19.95 from Bodum or Hammacher. This is the commuter cup that brews French press coffee or loose-leaf tea. Depressing the built-in screen plunger confines coffee grounds or tea leaves…
Read MoreCotton Carrier – Tactical camera support
I almost did a double take when I saw this, it looked like a hacked Baby Bjorn, but no, it’s the Cotton Carrier camera system. Designed to be a holster for heavy SLR cameras and lenses, the Cotton Carrier is completely handsfree and can comfortable take up to 18lbs of camera and lens. The locking bit attaches to the tripod port and the camera hangs off the clips on the vest. Wedding photographers can rejoice as well, as you can…
Read MoreSamsung Universal Printer Driver – Nirvana, next exit
I find this a little hard to believe, but Samsung have announced a Universal Printer Driver that will work with every Samsung printer ever made, as well as any laser printer or multi-function unit that uses PCL6 or PostScript languages. It’s a free 26MB download and it runs on everything between Windows 2K to Vista including Server ’03 and ’08, 32 and 64 bit. The only reason I’m skeptical is well, the download page only seems to work with IE…
Read MoreSea Shepherd buys the Earthrace – Becomes anti whaling stealth boat
I’m a little late on this, but it seems that the anti whaling outfit Sea Shepherd have bought the Earthrace and renamed her the Ady Gil. The Earthrace was up for sale after it’s world-record breaking circumnavigation of the globe last year. With it’s long range and 50 knot top speed she’ll have no trouble catching the whaling fleet, however this year she’ll be harpoon fodder They’re planning to use her to block harpoons from the whaling ships in the…
Read MoreTouch Stick – the hygenic way to use public keypads
You’re young, naive, afraid and not a little paranoid. You’re living in a town filled with dirt, germs, disease and Barry Manilow fans. What to do? Why purchase one of these keychain Touch Sticks of course. Now every time you’re faced with a keypad on an ATM, credit card terminal or other public death trap, you can whip out this doozy and press the keys at a distance. Safe at last, praise be, we’re safe at last! The mind boggles, doesn’t…
Read MoreYoGen – Hand-powered charger does it all
The newest YoGen Hand Powered Gadget Charger is a leap forward in draw-and-release charging.The latest release by Easy Energy this YoGen will charge any mobile gadget you’ve got. Just pull and release the string. This drives the internal generator, charging anything from an MP3 player, camera, cell phone, PDA’s, Bluetooth headsets, even GPS units. The LED indicator shows when it’s charging via its mini-USB port. With no batteries needed, it’s great for camping, hunting, fishing, travel and emergencies. A must-have,…
Read MoreVitruvian Voltron – Anime meets Da Vinci
The story of Voltron is long, with many a winding turn but that doesn’t mean you can’t get back to its renaissance roots with the Vitruvian Voltron tee shirt. US$17.99 from ThinkGeek. Voltron with Vitruvian-style da Vinci-esque drawings printed all over the front (but not the back… the back is plain) of a sand-colored, 100% cotton t-shirt. Tags: voltron, thinkgeek, vitruvian+voltron
Read MoreSoundRacer – give your car the sound of a V8 using the stereo system
The Sound Racer is a plug-in gizmo that delivers a crisp bellowing V8 engine sound through your stereo speakers to make your sorrowful little Trabant sound like Michael Schumacher’s shopping trolley. By some astounding feat of magic, once you’ve plugged the thing into your cigar lighter socket, it will determine your engine revs and ‘match it with just the right V8 sound.’ The people that should really think about using this puppy are electric and hybrid car owners, so they can warn little old ladies…
Read MoreWordPress Exploit Scanner – freeware checks your blog for malware
The WordPress Exploit Scanner is a free plugin that scans your blog installation to see if any nasty malware code has been inserted into your site by villains and varmints. It hunts for unauthorised code in the database and WP files on your server (it’s designed for self-hosted WordPress, not WordPress.com) and sends back a report on anything suspicious it finds. Very useful if you’re running a blog and want to make sure everything is cool and dandy. The custom…
Read MoreA.W.E. – the Animated Workplace Environment that’s almost, but not quite, a cubicle…
As if cubicles weren’t enough, the boffins at Clemson University have come up with a computer controlled robotic wall called the Animated Workplace Environment – or A.W.E. – which is designed to adjust to different configurations depending on need. It features motion sensing tech and so will react to the movement of the users (for example it will retract automatically if you stand up to leave the room) and at the moment offers 6 or 7 different shape settings. Check out…
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