April 2010 - Page 14 of 15 - The Red Ferret JournalThe Red Ferret Journal

Fun & Games April 5, 2010 posted by Debra Atlas

Treadmill Bike – Takes the gym outdoors

It’s perhaps the best of both worlds. The Treadmill Bicycle gives you the benefit of a treadmill while you’re tooling around enjoying the spring weather. Built with rugged design and all-terrain tires, this 2-wheeled wonder will take you anywhere a standard bicycle will, and give you a great cardiovascular workout with the burn of that walking treadmill you’ve got a love-hate relationship with in the gym. Use it for shopping, going to and from work, or any other tasks you…

cool tech April 5, 2010 posted by dscaw

The Elements – Has the iPad become “A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer?”

I distinctly remember being bored by science – that is until I discovered computer science. Regardless, the latter is now really helping out the former since the iPad app, The Elements offers an interactive look at the periodic table. And for those of you who dislike intense reading content like this is just for you. Packed with information related to every element, this app offers a glimpse into what will be possible for tablet applications. If you’ve read Neal Stephenson’s…

reprise April 4, 2010 posted by Red

Ferret posts this week

Here’s a quick round-up of Red Ferret posts from the past week for those who missed them. Enjoy. Soyntec Wiffinder 310 Backpack – shoulders, meet WiFi detecting rucksack – The Soyntec Wiffinder 310… Garia Edition Soleil de Minuit Golf Cart – uber expensive buggy says more about your handicap than your swing do – Apparently this Garia Edition… Novak Cassette to Digital Converter – move your old audio cassette content to digital – This Novak Cassette to Digital… Scientific Doom…

Gadgets April 3, 2010 posted by Dan

Universal Portable Battery Charger – For when you need MORE power

Yeah another rechargeable, go-anywhere, rechargeable battery thing with 972 different tips. Well look again, this Universal Portable Battery Charger (CVPP-S18) is about the size of a DVD case and has a 20,000mAh rechargeable battery. It can provide power at 5/12/16 and 19 Volts up to a maximum of 74W so it should be fine for anything except high-powered laptops. It come with 8 laptop and 5 cellphone charging tips and has built-in overload and short-circuit protection. The power supply is…

Gadgets April 2, 2010 posted by Dan

Tronix Speedfire – Turns your flashgun into a studio flash

At first glance a gadget that turns your expensive, portable flashgun into a tied-down, mains-powered flashgun doesn’t sound that great, but bear with me cos this is quite cool. Modern flash guns, especially Nikon and Canon’s, are pretty darn clever and they can do double-duty as studio flashes via the nifty CLS/E-TTL wireless remote control system. However they’re battery powered so you either need a shed-load of AAs or expensive rechargeable battery packs if you want to use them in…

Fun & Games April 2, 2010 posted by Dan

Reel Marshmallow Roaster – Hand-cranked marshmallow rotisserie

There’s nothing worse than overcooking one side of the marshmallow, burning it through and letting all your hard-earned gooey goodness run out into the fire. Fear not boy scouts, the Wireless Catalog has your back with this Reel Marshmallow Roaster. It’s a telescopic fork that extends out 70cm and there’s a crank on the handle to keep the good times rolling and the ‘mallows a-toasting. US$21.95 Give it a spin, and you’ll never go back to a plain old stick…

Gadgets April 2, 2010 posted by Dan

Levana LV-TW500 Digital Wireless Baby Camera – Webcam for bubby

The Levana LV-TW500 Digital Wireless Baby Camera, is a computer-based, wireless baby monitor. The camera broadcasts wirelessly to the USB dongle attached to the PC, so you’re limited to watching bub via the computer but I guess you can always work the crops in Farmville while keeping an eye on the littlies. What’s more, you can stream the images over the internet to the relatives. US$99 from Amazon, but only ships in the US and it’s not Mac compatible. The…

Gadgets April 2, 2010 posted by Nigel

Talking Heart Rate MP3 Player – listen to your heart attack coming

So what, I’m supposed to enjoy this Talking Heart Rate MP3 Player announcing my heart rate, pulse and warnings as I’m exercising? Look, when I’m listening to awesome beats during my yearly workout, one thing I don’t need is some dude telling me that my heart is pounding. What happens when I listen to Barry Manilow is my own business, OK? $79.95. This is the heart rate monitor that speaks your pulse readings, eliminating the need to look at a display during…

Gadgets April 2, 2010 posted by Nigel

SmallTalk Mini Bluetooth Headset – hands on with the world’s teeniest headset

The SmallTalk Mini Bluetooth Headset is billed as the world’s smallest, and they’ve certainly managed to cram all your headsetty needs into a very small space. The thing features a standard Bluetooth earphone and mic, and comes with both car and USB charging kits. There’s even a small user’s manual. In operation it works as you’d expect, and although the sound was clear and the mic worked fine on a call, if you moved it too far away from the phone some crackle would quickly…

Gadgets April 2, 2010 posted by Nigel

Dorm Vault – laptop safe shows total love for your room-mates

This Dorm Vault is a laptop safe which bolts to the furniture to prevent theft or unauthorised use of your computer by ne’er do wells in the neighbourhood. It’s big enough for 17 inch laptops, and has enough room for other bits and pieces too. One suggestion though. Make sure the piece of furniture you bolt it to is strong, heavy, unyielding enough to withstand roomie rage attacks. $44.99. What we found is so simple and yet totally ingenious. A…

Bookmark This! April 2, 2010 posted by Nigel

Super Finder XT – freeware puts your Windows search on steroids

You’d think desktop search would be dead by now wouldn’t you, what with sophisticated products like Windows 7 around and all. But it ain’t, and Super Finder XT is here to prove it. This freeware search tool adds a bunch of useful tools to basic search, including the ability to hunt for HTML source code in a set of files. It even offers hex searches for the uber geeks. Available in multiple languages. Are you frustrated by the standard search…

Awesome April 2, 2010 posted by Nigel

SoundBible – 1000s of free sound effects for every occasion

SoundBible is a great source of thousands of free sound effects covering everything from dogs barking to kids playing. It’s an awesome place to bookmark just in case you need something to add to your next YouTube upload or for a video project you’re working on. SoundBible.com offers thousands of free sound effects, sound clips, and straight up sounds. These sounds can be used in a variety of sound projects including Video Sound Scores, Movie Scoring, Game Design, Powerpoint Presentations, Prank…

Gadgets April 1, 2010 posted by Dan

Water Cooled Laptop Stand – Does fishy tech stop your laptop being fried?

I’m having trouble with this Water Cooled Laptop Stand, it doesn’t seem to make sense. On the surface it seems to be a laptop cooling stand that uses a USB pump to circulate water through a grille to keep your laptop cool. And water cooling must be better than air cooling, right? The trouble is the hot water doesn’t seem to go anywhere. The water isn’t heated, moved away from the hot laptop, cooled and returned, everything happens in the…

Bookmark This! April 1, 2010 posted by Nigel

Groupola – group buying kicks off at last…slowly

Groupola is a new service which promises to deliver lower prices through collective bargaining. The site emails daily offers to subscribers, with discounts of around 50% and more at times, which go live when enough people sign up to accept them. It’s not a new idea, Salescoop and CrowdSprout were early stillborn efforts in the genre, but as far as we know Groupola is the first which has actually opened its doors to the public. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1JnPHbu75M Will this one work? Who knows,…

Cool Web Apps & Sites April 1, 2010 posted by Nigel

Kachingle – micropayment crowdfunding for digital stuff

Kachingle is a new micropayment system that relies on lots of people allocating small amounts of money to an acount which automatically disburses pennies according to the places you visit often. It actually sounds as if it could work, but of course we’ll only know when huge numbers of people are happily using it. The interesting thing is that everyone is encouraged to keep an account going with some money in it, both readers and publishers. This suggests that you…

Monthly Archives: April 2010