Archive for the 'Gadgets' Category
Talking to loved ones from the grave…
Since most of my friends and family know that I plan on dying at the ripe old age of 40, I have begun to think about how I want people to remember me. Then, I saw this come my way, the RosettaStone embedded granite information chip for headstones. As people walk by with an internet enabled cellphone, they can capture my information and anything I would like to share. In this technological age, I think this is an awesome idea!
From RosettaStone’s website:
There is very little difference in the appearance of the two headstones, but other differences are emotionally and historically significant. A wireless headstone interacts with a mobile device or cell phone providing current and future site visitors with an exciting discovery of information about the owner. It also introduces a product that can survive a remote data record for potentially thousands of years. The information that someone chooses to share with a future site visitor ranges from the simple to the elaborate including genealogical information, home town, profession, achievements and relationships. Some share quaint knowledge of recipes and fishing spots while others share philosophical lessons on living and giving and encouraging us to focus on what is important in life. It is specifically these types of stories that will turn a standard memorial into a treasured discovery of future generations and historians.
Product Page -RosettaStone-
No comments
The iPad isn’t just for technophiles…
This video shows how a woman on her 100th birthday enjoys her FIRST computer, an iPad. For someone who has never owned a computer, she seems to have picked up on it quite a bit. She has already read 2 eBooks and has written 12 limericks. Just a great story if you ask me. Hopefully when I get mine next Friday, I can put it to as good a use.
No commentsToday was a great day in history…
It was the first day of the outward presentation of the nerd. This day, in 1947, Hurley Smith was awared the infamous patent 2417786…the POCKET PROTECTOR!
It only took him about 4 years to finally get his patent approved, but, he successfully had it filed. Manufacturing began on these originally PVC wonders that kept the pencils from harming the shirts of engineers and others.
So let’s all take a minute and have a brief moment of quiet respect for the man who created a social icon!
No commentsBombs away!
I don’t normally promote bath products for men, but if a man absolutely had to have a bathtub playtoy, what better way than a bath fizzer shaped like a bomb, torpedo or mine? Now, it says these things are scented, but I hate to think of what…gunpowder? Sweat? Napalm in the morning? Please tell me it’s anything except tulips or cookies.
Also, I’d hate to give one of these as a gift to an old war tattered veteran and have a heart attack in the bath tub while reliving some World War II memory. Let’s hope not at least.
Product Page -Bath Bombs-
No commentsEver want to put a restaurant out of business?
…if so, you need the incredible flying Cockroach-icopter. Everyone needs to have one of these this year!
So, you ever been to a restaurant, and you just hated it SO much? Well, if so, and you want to call down the health inspectors, try flying this remote controlled thing around in a crowded restaurant and see what happens. Granted, it would be much more convincing if it was just on the ground with wheels, but this could be just as interesting. And given that the size of the cockroach is bordering on 6″ long, it doesn’t lend a hand to believability. Maybe choose a restaurant near Lake Norman’s McGuire Nuclear Station…we can say it’s a mutant cockroach! Any way you look at it, it could be a fun toy to mess around with if you have a spare $60 laying around.
Product Info -Cockroach Helicopter-
Retrieved from -Gizmodo-
I would prefer this scale over the traditional one
…because at least I could feel like I have accomplished something.
Once again, leave it to the Japanese to really come up with some weird stuff. Here, designer Haikun Deng has generated a concept drawing for a toilet seat with a scale built in that will measure exactly how much that excrement weighs that you just released into the toilet. Defiinitely a reverse concept of measuring yourself before and after and then taking the difference, but hey, who’s to fault creativity? Who wants to guess if Mr. Bunny Love in the designer’s pics feels 10 lbs. lighter or not?
Product Info -Yanko Design-
Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-
Get your wife something special for Christmas
…and the Wunder Boner might do just the trick (if you want some fish)!
Yes, it is a fish de-boner…and yes, it is a horrible name. It’s great!
Retrieved from -ExtraLife- (thanks Scott Johnson for the laugh)
No commentsA fun twist on Jenga
…involves tearing things down on purpose, instead of trying to keep them up!
So normally with Jenga, the object is to remove pieces of a tower and keep it from falling. Well, Uncommon Goods is offering a game that is similar, but much more pleasing to my destructive side. Players take turns building a tower while the other tries to knock it down with three types of devices: a ramp, a catapult or a wrecking ball.
This would be an awesome game for an engineer. Critical thinking to build up defenses where they are weak requires constant analysis which, for me, would be a pleasant change from normal board games when it comes to my thinking processes.
The only downside to the game….it costs $55.
Product Info -Destruct 3-
Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-
Got that one person you can’t figure out what to get them
…well, ThatsMyFace has the unique gift everyone has been wanting…a 3D model of your face!
So, the website ThatsMyFace has a pretty unique idea for gifts. You go to their website, you upload a couple of photos (frontal and profile), mark some key points and submit to them and they will create a facial profile for you. Then you can have fun by either aging yourself 10-40 years, change your ethinicity, change your sex and other fun things. They can also rate your “beautified self” and “attractiveness” ratings. How they do that, I have no clue. I would also be interested in the matching part where they will track down others who look similar to you.
But finally, for the true reason of this post…you can then purchase 3D cut statues of yourself to keep or to give as a gift. I like the pen holder shown above, but if you want to get real creepy, they have a “braincase” sample in which your top of head is cut off showing the brains.
So, starting at $29 (and ranging up to $2,000) feel free to give the ultimate narcissistic gift!
Product Info -ThatsMyFace-
Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-
The ultimate sled for the Star Wars fan
…although there won’t be very predictable results when you go downhill.
Some of the most fun in college I had was when we had a snow/ice storm and the ground was completely covered. My friends and I just got it in our heads that we should head on over to Pullen Park (the park next to campus) and go sledding. Growing up, we always used the standard sled with the wooden slats and the metal rails that you waxed to go down a hill. Well, being the poor college students we were and not having access to a car, we had to improvise. We located some old cardboard boxes and crushed them down until they were in three layers and then shot ourselves down the hill. It actually wasn’t bad…until we hit roots…or a ditch that then served as a ramp launching us into oblivion for a crash landing on our tailbones. But the sheer fun of not being in control made sledding much more enjoyable for me. With that being said, it seems like this company has made a sled that can have that much fun and also look geekily cool at the same time. Who wouldn’t want to fly down a hill on the Millennium Falcon? And someone needs to buy this to see if it can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs for me.
Product Info -Amazon- -Target-
Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-