This SIM card according to Brando, can unlock an iPhone with a firmware no greater then 1.1.2. I am not sure if I believe it like a number of others, but I guess it could be possible. Anyone with a 1.1.2 or less firmware want to fork out $30 and test it?
Via: Slashgear
A Patent for Apple was filed August last year and approved yesterday. The patent is for an Illuminated Touch Pad which appears that the light panel will be capable of emitting light in localized areas of the input surface. What this means is basically visual feed back which when you touch the scroll wheel on an iPod, the touch wheel will light up under your finger to visually show what just happened with the light actually following your finger around the dial. As well as the touch wheel being illuminated, the button in the middle will also light up too to show the actions on what it is doing.
Via: Patent Applications
The Stylophone was commonly seen with Rolph Harris back in the days when he was on TV more. It's a bizarre instrument which acts as an electric organ in your pocket. In the 70's about 3 million of these little organs were sold. The Stylophone is battery operated and packed full of circuitry from transistors, resistors, diodes and other stuff. When you press the stylus against a metal key it makes a unique noise.
The new version now has a volume control which is good to hear. Also, you can hook it up to your MP3 player and play along to your music tracks.
The Stylophone costs £14.95 from Firebox.
While recently cleaning through old junk I came across a number of cassette tapes which I had in the late 80's and 90's before I got my first Disc Man. I actually chucked them out thinking I'd never use them again. If I would have come across this device earlier, I might have hung on to them a little longer. The Cassette To MP3 converter is a device which you put your old cassettes in and it converts them to MP3 quick and easily. It attaches to a PC with a USB cable and the device includes the software needed for conversion. The software is used for conversion and breaking up the audio stream in to separate tracks. Noise reduction settings as well as the ability to play metal/CrO2 tapes is also included. The last cool feature is the ability to use the good old high speed dubbing which means you can convert the tracks far further while listening to the music chirp away at speeds several times faster then normal.
The Cassette to MP3 Converter costs $149.95.
A Nerf Maverick gun has been painted to have a worn Steampunk look. Inside it you will get 6 foam bullets which the gun can fire accurately, or as accurately as a foam bullet can be.
It costs $30 and was made by curiositykt over at Etsy.
This little Hub comes from Belkin and is the ideal travel hub for your laptop. The key feature is it's ability to rotate around on a hinge making it more compact, but still opening up the USB port on your laptop to allow for 4 devices to be connected easily.
Product Page Via: GadgetsPage
This concept mini digital camera tries to take photography back a few years, but bring it to now at the same time. It is a small USB flash drive with a camera built in and it just has 1 button. There is no LCD on the back and there is no view finder. The whole purpose of the camera is to just have you point, shoot and then have to wait till you are back at your PC to see the results which is just like the waiting time to get pictures developed.
It's not the best idea I have come across, but I can see it as doing quite well should it become available. If the cameras are cheap enough (< $10) then they would make ideal little cameras to take around while out and about so you can snap away, but not worry about it getting damaged.
Via: LikeCool and YankoDesign
A safe can be a real pain when you want to open it up. The normal method is to use the combination lock with so many turns to the left and right, and then use a key after that. This latest safe uses biometric technology to keep your valuables safe. To open the safe you just swipe your finger across a sensor and it opens up for you.
It weighs 29 lbs (so it isn't the most heavy of safes... ie, it could be picked up and run away with). But, it does provide fairly good protection to keep some things safe and out of the reach of others. The finger print safe costs $399.95 and is available from GadgetUniverse.
Via: TheMensGiftGuide
The Buffalo keyboard features a phone attached to the right hand side of the keyboard. It allows everything you need to communicate be right there with you. For some reason it reminds me of something Dr. Evil would have on his desk, although looking at the size of the actual handset, it's probably something he has mini-me use.
When the BKBU-SKJ109/SV (Long way of saying Skype keyboard) is released in Japan it will cost $65. The phone is Skype certified and just requires a small piece of software to communicate with the Skype software on your computer.
Via: SkypeBot
When a company needs to deploy new fibres the more common way is to dig up the road and make a mess of the streets. H2O networks are going to soon be delivering 100 Mbps fibre optic links, but not by digging up the paths. It will use the under ground sewer system. The system is called the Focus system and will allow for unrestricted network access and fixed prices up to 10 years. Deployment should be quicker due to the cables being quickly deployed through the sewers. Security of the system is monitored by CCTV making sure the network stays safe physically.
This Solar Powered device is an MP4 player, but it also has the ability to play NES, Famicom (Super Nintendo), Game Boy and Game Boy Colour games. The SD slot can take up to 2GB of memory which you can store data on for audio or video in MP3, MP4 and other common formats. The solar panel can be used to charge other devices such as a mobile phone with it's USB out connection. 4.5V - 9V devices can be connected up. The screen is 3.5 inch colour TFT which is a fairly decent size that can display 1.6 million colours.
Product Page ($123) Via: LikeCool
The small white iPod earphones can be seen all over the place. If you find them a little too small then you could go for these new versions which are 500 times the size of the original and can be used as speakers for your desktop PC or as speakers for your MP3 player if you so wish. The 500XL speakers include a built in amp and have the ability to be powered by batteries, USB or DC.
No price or details on availability yet though.
Via: UberReview