Traffic cones, warning cylinders, witches’ hats,whatever you call them, they now come in foldable and blinking. These foldable road warning cylinders have a red blinking light on top and fold up flat to fit in the boot of your car. Also has the reflecting bits around the middle. Needs a pair of AA batteries and US$22.99. The Auto Warning Cylinder and Warning Light can give you and your families extra safety protection during the road trip when your vehicle gets…
Read MoreMonthly Archives: January 2010
Mikey – Turns your iPhone into a recording studio
Mikey is a twin capsule, plug-in high quality microphone for the iPhone or iPod. It’s sensitive from 35Hz to 20kHz, has three gain presets and samples audio at 44.1kHz in 16 bit. What that means is CD quality sound recording directly onto your iPhone, with or without using the included recording application. The mic can be placed in 7 positions and has a headphone adapter. US$99.99 The all-new Mikey is the perfect tool for mobile recording. Featuring two custom-tuned Blue…
Read MoreSolar Ear – The solar powered rechargeable hearing aid
With perhaps 600 million people around the world suffering some level of hearing loss, the Solar Ear – the first solar-powered hearing aid rechargeable charger – will make a real difference. The size of a small transistor radio (remember those?), it comes with two rechargeable Ni-Mh AA batteries, requiring 6-8 hours of sunlight to fully charge. Once charged, simply place the hearing aid batteries inside to recharge. Charge the unit near a window by day and the hearing aid batteries…
Read MoreThe Red Ferret Product of the Year 2009: Green/Ethical – 40Fires.org
40Fires.org is a not-for-profit organisation which aims to encourage open sourced manufacturing across the world. The first product of the Foundation is the Hyrban, an electric/fuel cell powered vehicle which is currently in prototype. Detailed plans for the main sections of the car will eventually be available under an open source license to allow all-comers to deliver their own derivative products as needed. The idea of open source hardware is of course not new, but the vision of the people…
Read MoreSamsung SPF-105P – Digital Photo Frame and Monitor in one
The Samsung SPF-105P is a 10.2″ external monitor that doubles as a digital picture frame. Or is it the other way around? It has a 1024×600 resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio and 300 cd/m2 brightness. The digital photo frame has 1GB of storage, which is much better than most digital photo frames, and you can play jpg and mp3 files from SD/MMC/MS and CF cards. It also has a rechargeable battery (1 hour duration) so you can bring it over to…
Read MoreAir Blaster Drain Cleaner – Terminates blocked drains
The Air Blaster Drain Cleaner clears blocked drains by blasting them with air. Just pump it a few times to charge it, seal it over the drain and let her rip. You might want to wear goggles though. US$14.99 The Air Blaster Power Drain Cleaner is much faster than old-fashioned plungers, and safer to use than corrosive chemicals that can harm older pipes. Just pump it up a few times, place over the drain and pull the trigger to blast…
Read MoreOffice Pod – A little office at the bottom of the garden
The Office Pod is small self-contained mini office, designed for installation separate from the house. The pod is 2.1m square, it can be constructed very quickly and is fully securable. It comes with LED lighting, heating/cooling, desk, storage and blinds. The designers reckon, that by not having to commute to the office every day you’re doing the enviroment a big favour, and with all the snow in the northern hemisphere, I believe them. Prices start from �14,950. An OfficePOD provides…
Read MoreThe Puffin – NASA’s one man stealth plane
The rumors may be true. NASA claims it’s created a one-person eco-friendly plane unlike any other. The Puffin, which is basically a plane that you wear, is designed to stand on its tail which can split into four legs to help serve as landing gear. It can take off vertically like a helicopter, can travel at 225kph (140 mph), dash at more than 480kph (300mph)and all with nary an electric whisper. With no ceiling, it could go up to about…
Read MoreBrass Weather Predictor – just in case your drapes are closed
This Brass Weather Predictor uses a mysterious crystal reaction to electromagnetic doohickey-ness to tell you when a storm’s on its way. Me I prefer opening the curtains. I guess it pays for itself when it proves that those dark clouds on the horizon are nothing more than a passing mirage. Good luck with the umbrella lottery, chap. $169.00. Enjoy the mysteries of science while predicting the weather with our Brass Weather Predictor. Famous sailor and meteorologist Admiral Fitzroy used this…
Read MoreGoogle Reader now tracks RSS-free websites
I love RSS, and the other news feeders, it makes keeping track of websites super easy, but what do you do if the site doesn’t offer a feed? Until recently I was using Change Detection dot com which you can configure to send you an email if there’s a change to any URL but it’s kinda clunky. Well now Google Reader have announced that it can follow changes to any website, allowing you to generate news feeds from sites that…
Read MoreSUMo – the free and useful sofware update monitor
SUMo is a freeware program which scans the skies and alerts you if your installed software programs need updating. This type of program is very useful if you tend to have a lot of freeware and other small utilities scattered around on your hard disk/s, as they save you time hunting down updates. And updates are very useful sometimes, especially as your Windows installation ‘matures’ (i.e. becomes klunky). Anyway definitely worth a look. SUMo, which stands for Software Update Monitor….
Read MoreSuperb Stop Motion Video Collection – lovely set of clever and sophisticated stop motion videos
Gotta love this excellent Collection of Stop Motion Videos. My favourite has to be the stunning work from Oren Lavie (below), but a bit surprised to see that the amazing Sorry I’m Late wasn’t included. Ah well, can’t get ‘em all I guess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY Tags: stop+motion+video, video, youtube
Read MoreThe Red Ferret Product of the Year 2009: Imaging – Livestream Livepack
It’s safe to say that 2009 was the year that television discovered the Internet in earnest, and not in a particularly good way. The incredible explosion of content that is YouTube, the drift away from packaged programming towards on demand delivery across the broadband pipe, and even the decline in our traditional nightly news addiction as the immediacy of the Web took hold. All of these factors served to reveal the cracks in the dominance of mass broadcast in ways…
Read MoreFake Google Adsense Trojan – false positive from Kaspersky Labs, their fix is coming
Hi folks, if you’re surfing around today with Kaspersky Labs anti-virus installed, be aware that a bug in their program is falsely declaring a Trojan in Google Adsense ads on various sites around the Web. DON’T PANIC! The guys at Kaspersky are busy working on a fix to the problem, and no, you haven’t been infected. There is no Trojan. Tags: kaspersky, trojan, false+positive, anti+virus, adsense
Read MorePerfect Pasta Timer – probe your pasta prowess
This Perfect Pasta Timer combines a hot water probe with a custom timer setting system to alert you when your farinaceous delicacy is ready for your tastebuds. Al dente ( well known Italian tenor from Milan) recently bought one for his mother. Apparently. $39.95. Its LCD control panel allows you to select from the ten most common pasta shapes, input the amount (1/5, 1/2, or 1 lb.), and choose al dente or regular. The device sets its timer based on…
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