With 2007 over in just a few hours I thought it would be a good time to take a look back over 2007 and see some of the more popular posts here at Gadget Venue. Thank you for joining us this year and we hope to see you all back in 2008.
The USB Storage Stone was one of the most popular posts of 2007 although I have no idea why. It’s not that interesting and is just a rock which can be connected to your PC.
Next on the list is the Keyboard Purse which was built from keys of a keyboard. Kind of crazy and not something you will see around too often, but a ton of people liked it.
We have here a rather bananary looking bike named the Electrobike Pi. However this bike can take you 25 miles with out the need to pedal. Seems perfect to me although it does look a tad weird.
From bike to plane we now have the Cri Cri which is a tiny 1 manned plane that does actually fly. It has twin engines and can fly at 150MPH. I have heard rumours that one skillful pilot managed to land it on the back of a truck.
The Wi-Fi detector shirt is a cool t-shirt which has an animated Wi-fi signal detector built in. The more it flashes the stronger the signal is. It’s perfect for all the geeks who need to know what wi-fi is happening in the area.
If you struggle to grow and maintain a Venus Flytrap then a robot Venus flytrap is ideal for you. It has sensors in it’s mouth and when fly’s are detected it can whip the trap shut and trap the fly. When it’s trap opens it also burps to let you know it enjoyed the meal.
The Trash Can Computer ranks as one of the best modded PC’s over the last year (although it was made 2006 I believe). It crammed in all the goodies inside and neatly packed them away inside it’s trash can belly.
Of course there is the iPhone launch, but you all know about that anyway so I wont mention it more here. There are hundreds of cool gadgets that we found this year and we will continue to find hundreds (or even thousands) more over 2008.
A new credit card was revealed a few days ago. However, it’s not your average sort of credit card. It is a USB credit card which works as a contactless card in stores. When shopping online the card has to be inserted in to your USB port to authorise the transaction. By having the device (which is encrypted) enter all your details, there is no chance that a keylogger could capture what you are typing. It uses an IC chip to function and all programs needed to securely communicate with authorisation devices are included in there too. You currently cannot write to the memory to keep it secure.
SmartGlobe V2 is a great way to learn facts about our planet. It comes packaged with a SmartPen which allows the user to interact with the globe. Two years worth of downloads are included in the product which allow various age ranges to listen to facts about Earth. Age ranges are 5-8, 9-14 or 15 years and older.
Features:
* Features 30 exciting activities and quiz games about countries, capitals, major cities, populations, languages, history, current events and more
* Includes an interactive guide to flags from around the world and corresponding national anthems
* Download customized information for three age groups: 5-8, 9-14 or 15 years and older – great fun for all ages
* Download up to 6 languages: Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Italian and Portuguese
* Features 30 English and 6 Spanish activities
* SmartPen can be used wirelessly, plugged in using the audio cable (included) or using headphones (not included)
* 2 years of free downloads for current events and world facts
* Includes a pull-out United States map for more detailed activity, Oregon Scientific SmartUpdate content to update facts and news, and an AC adapter
* For 1 to 4 players
SmartGlobe V2 costs $130 and is available from Discovery Store.
Many of you will remember the good old cassette tape. It allowed many people to create their own little mixes of either 60 or 90 minutes to play in their walkman or in a car. The USB Mix Tape is a mixture of the old fashioned cassette with it’s paper cover but inside it sports a small USB flash drive which contains your music. The USB flash drive inside can store 64MB of music on to it. To record on to it, stick the USB flash drive in to your PC, drag and drop all your tunes on to it, and then put the flash memory back in to it’s case. You can even write all your track listings on to the paper insert to remind you of the early 90’s.
The USB Mix Tape costs £19.95 and there are 6 different styles to choose from (or collect).
By 2025, Japan could expect to use the worlds fastest trains due to a new 45 billion dollar track being built between Tokyo and Central Japan. The MagLev (Magnetically Levitated) train is expected to reach speeds of 500KPH (about 310MPH) which is crazy. The track distance is about 290K which would make journey times a little over 30 minutes if top speed it held for most of the journey.
The Luna office Desk is designed and built for those who have cash to throw away. It costs a huge $12885 USD to purchase.
This contemporary office desk is ideal for designers and executives looking for smart space solutions. The Luna Desk comes along with modesty panel made of bent arched asymmetrical legs, obtained by a monolithic fusion, varnished aluminium, metallized silver finish and connected by means of steel elements.
The desk top is transparent tempered crystal thickness (15mm) sat on spacer plates made of stainless steel. The modesty panel is covered in red or black leather and the whole desk measures 94.5W x 47.2D x 28.3H.
The TC2 is a new charging device which uses 2 AA batteries to provide emergency charging for your mobile phone. Adapters for various mobile phones are optional when purchasing the device with about 9 or so available to choose from. Tests done over at Geek show that the TC2 connected to a completely dead phone for 5 minutes can give it enough juice to be switched on and make a brief call. On the TC2 unit are 3 LEDs which act as a power gauge. Also two high powered LEDs are found on the TC2 allowing it to be used as a light in emergency’s. Over on the product page (linked below) it indicates that 2 AA batteries can charge a phone up to 3 times which is quite impressive considering you can get a couple of 2000mAh rechargeable batteries for a reasonable price.
Prices range from $24.95 upwards depending on how many adapters you choose.
The FBI will be using the latest screen technology to roll out 150 or so digital billboards across various cities in the US. The digital billboards will be used to display those people who are currently wanted and will show next to them a large contact number which aims to capture a lot of attention from people driving around the 20 cities that will initially see the boards installed. Tests have been successful in the US when the board was first used recently.
Cities to use the FBI Billboard
* Akron
* Albuquerque
* Atlanta
* Chicago
* Cleveland
* Columbus
* Des Moines
* El Paso
* Indianapolis
* Las Vegas
* Los Angeles
* Memphis
* Miami
* Milwaukee
* Minneapolis
* Newark
* Orlando
* Philadelphia
* Tampa
* Wichita
As gadgets around the world continue to get more complex there will be a cry out for simple ideas to come back. One of these ideas will be the old fashioned circle type phone. Yankodesign now bring us the Circle Phone concept which has just 3 buttons and a rotary type dialling pad. I am baffled on how you actually hold this thing to your head, but simplicity is always good.
A recent auction on eBay shows a Nokia E90 communicator which had a small accident with a 12 gauge shotgun. The phone fetched just $20.50 in the auction which ended 27 Dec (yesterday). The right side of the phone was blasted through and had both of it’s screens damaged as well as the keyboard and circuit boards. More pictures below.
A company in Japan have created a cool system which can render in real time your head and modify the look such as hairstyle, face paint and such. This type of technology could be used for gamers who interact with each other online or even for real world type stuff such as testing new hair styles before the scissors attack your hair. As it’s in Japanese, I have no idea when this will be available or any other details. Enjoy the video below.
For just a few minutes a day this clock is shaped just like a cube. However, as time moves onwards it starts to change shape as the various sections rotate around an axis. When it gets around to 12 again the clock is cube shaped.
The largest triangle is for displaying hours while the medium is for minutes and the small triangle on the edge represents seconds. The cube clock costs just shy of $12 from Chinavasion.
JVC have created some nifty little earphones which are made of real wood. The type of wood used is Birch wood and it makes them look amazing. The model is HP-FX500 and they will cost over $130 when released in a couple of months time. Inside there is a damping gel which helps reduce jitter and increases noise cancellation effects. Audio ranges are from 8Hz to 25Khz.
In the box you will find the earphones, carrying case and rubber tips which can accommodate various sized ears. Hopefully we will see these earphones over in the UK.
What makes this Digital Voice Recorder “the best”? According to Hammacher, this digital voice recorder gives superior playback clarity at distance. Testing of this digital voice recorder was done at 20 feet away from a source and proved to have better sound clarity then any others that were tested along side. It achieves this with a variable control voice actuator which can set the correct volume level to record at.
record voices without obscuring Ps, Bs, and Ss up to 40′ away, 10′ more than the nearest tested model. The recorder is easy to set up for initial recording a nd its built-in 256MB memory allows it to record up to 66 1/2 hours in LP mode.
It connects to a PC via USB allowing you to transfer the audio easily. Powered by AA batteries it can record up to 32 hours before needing a recharge.
MP4 watches have been slowly showing their faces over 2007. This latest one has Bluetooth technology embedded inside which allows you to pair it to other devices such as an external amp and speakers or a set of Bluetooth headphones. The watch is made of poly-urethane which makes it quite tough. 5 buttons can be found on the watch which allow you to control it’s features. When not watching films from it’s 4GB of memory you can choose from various clock faces such as analogue or digital themes.
The Bluetooth MP4 Watch (4GB version) costs $104.45 for 1 item with discounts given when buying more.
