October 2011 - Page 5 of 10 - The Red Ferret JournalThe Red Ferret Journal

opinion piece October 19, 2011 posted by willjudd

Guest Post: Sales Falling, Service Failing – Is BlackBerry Doomed?

The bad news keeps on piling up for Research in Motion, the firm behind the once iconic BlackBerry smartphone line. Its worldwide market share is dropping (down to 11.7% at the latest count) and the combination of the iPhone 4S launch and long worldwide disruptions to its BlackBerry Messenger service has�dealt another blow to the company. It’s now felt that many of its core users in the business market are switching to competing platforms,�most notably Android and iPhone. These setbacks…

Free Software October 18, 2011 posted by Scott

Shake to Undo lets you fix mistakes by shaking your laptop

Growing up, I’d venture that most people encountered an Etch-A-Sketch at some point. It was a fun little toy, if a bit strange. It let you etch a picture using the two dials, which controlled vertical and horizontal movements. If you wanted to make anything other than just a boring skyline, you had to master the art of twisting both knobs at the exact same time, at a very steady pace. The great thing was that if you messed up,…

hmm..interesting October 18, 2011 posted by Scott

Protesting? EFF releases a cell phone guide that you might want to read

Here in the US, there are a lot of protests going on, mostly as a part of the Occupy Wall Street campaign. I’ve no desire to get into a debate as to whether or not the motivations behind such protests are justified, as Red Ferret is about gadgets and technology. What I will do is tell you that if you should choose to participate, you will most definitely want to protect your cell phone. I’m not talking about getting a…

Gadgets October 18, 2011 posted by Scott

iCharge is a spy cam disguised as an iPhone charger

Do you ever leave you house, wondering if someone might just break in and make off with all of your most valuable goods? You can always invest in an alarm, which should scare off any would-be intruders. However, if they are still bold enough to run in and snatch some of your goods before the police show up, it might be good to have footage of them. That’s where a hidden camera can come in handy. I’ve seen a number…

cool tech October 18, 2011 posted by Scott

Stock Car Racing Simulator goes all-out for realism

I’ve played plenty of racing games at home, complete with a nice steering wheel and pedals. However, it never quite compares to playing in an arcade, where they have the realistic seat, and the wheel and pedals are positioned exactly where they should be. Wouldn’t it be great to have something like that in your house? I’ll do you one better. You can get this Stock Car Racing Simulator. This specially-designed setup makes the games at your local arcade look…

Awesome October 18, 2011 posted by Scott

New software allows you to insert realistic interactive objects into existing photographs

Adobe’s Photoshop is one of those programs you can use for a decade, and still not master. While you can get away with just doing some of the basics without a broad knowledge of the program, trying to do things like add in extra objects to a photograph can be rather difficult. Usually, making these kinds of edits will leave you with an image that has quite obviously been ‘shopped. Some of the most obvious tells are in the lighting….

Eco Friendly October 18, 2011 posted by Scott

COOKUP 200 grills your dinner with the power of the sun

Grilling outside can be a fun way to cook while also enjoying the great outdoors. The big question is what fuel you want to use with your grill. Do you co charcoal, or gas? Or maybe you want to build a fire pit and use wood to cook over an open flame. But have you ever considered using the power of the sun to do your cooking? I’m not talking about some sort of contraption with solar panels, as you’d…

hmm..interesting October 17, 2011 posted by Scott

CardSharp is a 2.5-inch knife that fits in your wallet

There are times when having a knife can come in handy. However, not all of us want something like a pocket knife sitting in our front pockets all of the time. Sure, you can get a little one that attaches to your keychain, but that’s hardly going to be effective. You’d be much better off getting a CardSharp. This is easily one of the coolest knives I’ve seen. When not in use, it has a rectangle shape and is roughly…

Gadgets October 17, 2011 posted by Scott

BoomBoom 75 streams your music via Bluetooth

Smartphones are great because they provide functionality that used to only be possible by carrying around multiple gadgets. It’s rather nice not needing to grab my MP3 player when I head out the door, as it’s one more thing in my pocket (and one more thing I could lose). As a music player, most phones are only good when you use headphones. After all, those tiny little speakers can only pack so much punch. Well if you have access to…

Gadgets October 17, 2011 posted by Scott

CapTel phone translates speech to text

Having perfect hearing is something that most of us take for granted. After all, most of our conversations happen either face-to-face, or over the phone. If you have trouble hearing, you probably dread taking phone calls, as they aren’t exactly crystal-clear to begin with. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have the calls translated almost instantly, and have the words appear on a screen? You can, with the CapTel 800i. This phone is a rather unique device. When you…

Bizarre October 17, 2011 posted by Scott

CLOO lets you rent out your bathroom to those in need

How many times have you been out, and needed to use the bathroom? Sure, it happens fairly often. But what about those times when you really need to go, and you’re nowhere near a public restroom? No one likes to find them in this situation, but there are times when it is unavoidable. Your choices in this case are very limited. You can try and hold it until you can get to a gas station or something, or you can…

Gadgets October 17, 2011 posted by Scott

An air pump that fixes your flat in an instant

A flat tire can ruin anyone’s day. You have to pull over, then go through the hassle of switching out to your spare tire. But what if there’s something wrong with your spare? Or maybe you can’t get one of the lug nuts off. If you have this Instant Flat Tire Sealer And Inflator, you won’t have anything to worry about. This ordinary-looking air compressor has a trick up its sleeve that will let you air up your flat tire,…

Gadgets October 17, 2011 posted by Scott

Heated Insoles keep your feet toasty all winter long

Winter is coming, which means a few months of having cold feet. No matter how thick your socks are, or how nice your boots are, your feet will eventually start to get cold outside. And we all know that once your feet are cold, there’s nothing you can do to warm them back up, short of taking off your shoes and hovering them over a heater. Of course, if you had a heater in each shoe, you wouldn’t have that…

reprise October 16, 2011 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. Bottle Lock fits in your water bottle holder – Unless you live in the pleasant… Poynt is an all-in-one search app for your phone – Our smartphones can perform a… Origami Sticky Notes are a fun way to deal with office downtime – If you’ve ever worked in an… BrillianTab – Is this the best sub-$200 Android Tablet in the world today?…

Gadgets October 15, 2011 posted by Scott

3G Router lets you share your data connection with up to 4 other people

If you have a 3G card that you use to get internet access almost anywhere, you know how much of a life saver it can be. The trouble comes when you want to share that sweet, sweet internet with someone else. You can try creating a wireless network and sharing it that way, or I’ve actually had a strange USB cable that would allow me to share a a connection. Neither one of those options is fun, or easy to…

Monthly Archives: October 2011