Author Archives: Nigel

Full Name: Nigel Powell Website:
Info: Nigel is the managing editor of the Red Ferret, as well as a freelance columnist for the Sunday Times newspaper in London. Loves tech and fancies himself as a bit of a futurist, but then don't we all?
Gadgets February 26, 2008 posted by Nigel

Onelink Smoke and CO Detector with Voice – safety device shouts at you in an emergency

OneLink Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detector with Voice Alert. Clever device can be programmed with alerts relating to its location, so in the unfortunate event of an alarm going off you know quickly where it’s happening. 85dB loud too, so that should be enough to raise even the heaviest sleeper. Battery powered and connects wirelessly to other alarms on the premises. $99.99.  With the 85 decibel alarm and voice function, it is very easy to hear from a considerable distance….

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huh..? February 26, 2008 posted by Nigel

American Heritage – the official luxury coach of the American road

American Heritage. If you like travelling, you might consider getting one of these babies. Hand laid wallpaper, polished porcelain tile floor with accents, choice of five wood finishes and a tidy little 600 HP Cummins diesel engine to move it all along nicely. List price sits at around $750,000 with basic trim, so you may want to consider trading up the Winnebago first. Tags: american+heritage, luxury+coach, rv

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Gadgets February 26, 2008 posted by Nigel

Mobiado Stealth Phone – black, pricey and ever so exclusive-ish

The Mobiado Stealth phone is a tri-band Symbian Series 40 cell phone with Bluetooth, microSD slot, 2 megapixel camera, FM radio and MP3 player handset which also just happens to be ‘machined from one piece of solid aluminium with an inlay of one piece of sapphire crystal.’ Yes folks, you’ve guessed it, it’s expensive. They say they’re only making 1200 of them, as opposed to the 1.2 zillion other Series 40 Nokia phones out there, so you’ll have to stump…

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Bookmark This! February 26, 2008 posted by Nigel

10 DIY Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers – cool cheap alternatives to expensive lighting equipment

10 DIY Lighting Hacks for Digital Photographers. A nice selection of innovative DIY ways to improve the lighting of your digital photography without breaking the bank balance. The $75.00 DIY lighting kit tip is especially neat.  Most of us can’t afford a full lighting rig – however what if there was a way to experiment with the type of lighting gear that pro photographers use without spending too much money? What if you could make it yourself. In this post…

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Bookmark This! February 26, 2008 posted by Nigel

JabpLite – free personal finance manager program for your cell phone

JabpLite is a freeware Java based personal finance manager for mobile phones. You get accounts, currencies, investments and expenses et al, and the Java bit means that it should run on just about every mobile handset out there. Nice little resource, methinks.  A sophisticated free personal finance manager. Includes accounts, categories, standing orders, investments, currencies and much more…Other features in JabpLite: Future Balance prediction, Net Worth calculation, Regular transactions, Quick Start mode. Tags: jabplite, personal+finance+program, mobile+phone, java

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hmm..interesting February 26, 2008 posted by Nigel

ManagedQ – visual search engine offers so much eye-candy my pupils hurt

ManagedQ. David Stat has sent me details of his team’s new search startup called ManagedQ, which aims to combine a ‘highly visual interface’ with ‘natural language processing’ to improve search. In simple terms it’s trying to provide search at the completely other extreme from the sparse Google interface. Search engines are a difficult thing to deliver, mostly because we have grown accustomed to the market leader, and therefore judge everything against Google. Newcomers therefore have a mountain to climb before…

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Gadgets February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

Porsche Audio System – minimalist radio music player dock screams Teutonic style

Porsche Audio System. Ach, dose klever Germans, yet again they show ze world how to craft stylish, yet understated consumer technology in ze black kolor. Diese FM/AM radio stationen player mit remote controllen und iPod docking facilitate hides the speakers in the control knobs for extra coolness. And puts a 3 inch sub-woofer in the back seat. Yep, dat Porsche fellow he knows his designen stuffen. £409.00.  No unnecessary buttons, no blinking display. The stylish front in shiny black acrylic…

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Gadgets February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

Chain Mail T-Shirt – take your inner geek and show it off to the world

Chain Mail T-Shirt. We’re thinking this is the perfect attire to wear for your all important interview at the Googleplex. Forget all the fancy intelligence tests, psychometric questioning and bonding sessions, if the guys there don’t recognise a real live off the wall renaissance lovin’ middle earth dungeon master when they see one, then what’s the point of working there anyway? $99.99.  In case you weren’t aware, chain mail does not stretch. You cannot put it on one arm at…

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Gadgets February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

Light Sensitive Sound Box – annoying gadgets r’us

This Light Sensitive Sound Box should probably be sub-titled ‘how to get your head smacked’. Hide the box in someone’s bedroom, and watch or listen as the device emits either a dog bark or dripping tap noise when they switch the light off. Yeah well, an Einstein product it ain’t. The annoying thing of course is the fact that the noise stops when they turn on the light to hunt for the source, making it difficult to locate without a good…

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Gadgets February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

3rd Space FPS Vest – pneumatic vest simulates bodily game damage, so you don’t have to suffer

3rd Space FPS Vest. Integrated ‘pneumatic technology’ simulates punches, explosions and stuff when you’re immersed in playing that video game. Um…is this a good thing? Anyhoo, you’ll need to load up the special driver to get it to work, and there’s no guarantee that the air-compressor system will work with your game (only eight titles supported so far). Oh and it only works with ‘official licensed’ versions of the games, so bad luck on that hacked copy of F.E.A.R., dude. £129.95.  This state of…

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cool tech February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

Electric Bus – start your own transport service with a power strip and fuse

The EV-BRT12-2 Electric Bus holds 36 bodies, travels at 45 km/hour and has a range of 85km fully loaded. OK, so it may get a tad windy, but what’s a small breeze matter when it comes to saving the planet? And…oh joy of joys…it comes with a CD player. And speaker. There now, you’re convinced aren’t you? No idea on price, but give them a call anyway and make some enquiries. Tags: electric+bus, ecological, ev

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Bookmark This! February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

SurveillanceSaver – the webcam screensaver now available in a Windows version

SurveillanceSaver. This deliciously subversive piece of freeware accesses over 600 security CCTV cameras around the world and cycles through them via an auto-playing screensaver. Finally we all get a chance at playing Big Brother from the comfort of our homes or cubicle. The original version was Mac only, but now it’s available in a Windows format. Lovely, and a little scary too. (the image above is Bucharest in Romania, by the way)  SurveillanceSaver is an OS X screensaver that shows live images of over 600…

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Bookmark This! February 25, 2008 posted by Nigel

Audiko – the easiest ringtone maker in the known physical universe and beyond

Audiko. Creating a cell phone ringtone doesn’t get any easier than with this free service. Just upload an MP3 track (or point to an MP3 url), choose the fragment you want to use and download the result to your hard disk. Erm…that’s it.   “audiko” word exists in no language all over the world. audiko is a simple service which helps you to make a ringtone of your favorite song! Tags: audiko, ringtone+maker, mobile+phone

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cool tech February 23, 2008 posted by Nigel

TactaPad – control your computer using two hands and a big smile…

The TactaPad is a concept technology awaiting development funding and manufacture. The system provides for two handed manipulation of your computing screen via a USB pad and integral camera, with full touch and audio feedback. Quite an ambitious concept, but the demo animations make it look very cool indeed. They say it could cost around $1000.00 though, so it looks as though they’re aiming at the top-end of the market initially. Nice.  Where does the keyboard go? For two-handed operation the TactaPad is most…

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Gadgets February 22, 2008 posted by Nigel

Nubrella – world’s first hands-free upper torso umbrella…

Nubrella. Alan Kaufman was inspired one wet and windy day in New York and came up with this doozy of a product to replace the humble umbrella. A hands-free, upper torso ‘weather protector’. Apparently it’s wind tested up to 50mph, won’t fog, or make you look like a slightly weird alien from Alpha Centauri. Ahh…OK so scratch that last bit. $59.95. (…snarks aside, it looks quite useful for bike riders) [Thanks Lewis]  With its new aerodynamic oval design with extended coverage wind now flows over…

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