Gadget Venue

If you have a ton of books that you want digitising then check out the Booksnap Book Scanner which comes from Atiz. It is a V shaped book cradle in which you sit your book. You then sit a couple of Canon digital cameras on top of it which take pictures of each page. The cradle and cameras can sift through the pages of the book at 500 per hour. The v shaped device uses an auto cantering feature which keeps pages in the same place on the camera. With the books laying flat on the scanner it helps to keep wear and tear to a minimum on the spine of the book.

Software is included with the device which makes pulling the pages from the cameras a fully automated process. However, it will set you back $1595 for the page turning device along with quite a bit more for a couple of nice Canon cameras.

Via: Wired

Lantic Systems are a Danish manufacturer who have created a Gold Remote Control. It is made of pure gold and has a hefty price tag to match. Costing over $55000 USD you need to have a fat wallet to pay for it. The Gold RC1 is the official name of the gold remote control and it can control TV, Video, DVD, Music, Internet, email, CCTV, alarms, lights, curtains, air-conditioning and surveillance. Crikey, at least you get all the features in 1 which I guess does separate the cost to still a hefty $4583.33 per item (so it’s not that bad after all) 😉

Shipping of the Gold RC1 remote is starting in December 2007.

Via: BornRich

Gibson presents the Robot Guitar. However, it does not play it’s self. You play it. The guitar is a limited edition (10 per store) which has a unique feature in that it tunes it’s self. You will notice the times on stage when guitarists are tuning their guitars, or having several around so they do not have to spend time tuning on stage. With the flick of a switch the guitar can now tune it’s self and be ready in seconds rather then spending time your self tuning it.

Not a bad idea. I personally need a guitar that plays for me too 🙂

Via: Gibson

The radiator is common in a number of homes in the UK and make your home nice and warm. However, the radiator heater is designed for the older version radiators which you see in older buildings. It rests on top and fits in the grooves of the radiator. You can then place a drink and cakes on to the plate which in turn, warms them up. Unfortunately you do not see too many of the older radiators around though. If they could design one for the newer slim versions then that would be cool.

Via: UberGizmo

Not everyone has the space for a sauna in their home or garden. With the IronMan Elite Folding Carbon Pro Sauna you can now squash it up to 1/4 of it’s set up size. This allows for compact storage of the sauna when not in use. Inside the sauna is a CD/Radio sound system with a digital control panel. To get the sauna to work you just plug it in to a regular 110V wall socket and you are ready to go.

Available from Costco for $2499.99.

The Gorillapod is a cool tripod with flexible gripping legs which allow it to be wrapped around many items and placed on almost any surface. Three different sizes are available with the strongest being able to support a 3kg SLR camera. Costing £15 – £45 depending on size you get a cool little and portable tripod.

Via: Crave

The announcement came today from TomTom of a new HD (high def) traffic service which is initially available in the Netherlands. The service will cover about 10 times the amount of roads that regular TomTom traffic covers which will allow for far better route planning and alternative routes to more accurately be created.

The service uses anonymous GSM signalling which comes via a SIM card for Vodafone. The first unit to ship will be the TomTom ONE XL HD Traffic available in NL in November followed early next year in the UK.

I have used the TomTom traffic before and although it was impressive with some of the routing around the congestion, I often wondered about routing on smaller roads. The HD version should cover a lot more and make journeys even smoother.

Via: Pocket-Lint