Guitar Scale Magnets

Picking up the guitar might be easy for most people, but masting it is another issue altogether. Check out the Guitar Scale Magnets which opens up a whole new dimension to owning the guitar instead of all those complex chords making mincemeat out of your fingers. These removable magnetic strips are used as finger placement locators for learning guitar scales, and they will be located on top of the guitar fretboard. Basically, this is a guitar “Cheat Sheet” of sorts that ought to speed you up in terms of learning and locating the right scales, letting you impress the lady of your life by singing under her window with guitar in hand and rose in mouth. Truly, necessity is the mother of all invention.

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MiLi iPhone Projector

We’ve seen plenty of pico projectors in the past, but here’s one that targets the iPhone specifically – the MiLi iPhone Projector. It works with the iPod as well, offering you a way of viewing all those GBs of video files stored on your device without having to squint your eyes after a while due to the screen size. After all, this projector will throw a much larger image onto any decent surface, letting not only you but others around to check out the latest episode in your favorite drama series. You can pick one up for £229.

Compatible with both the iPhone and the iPod (so anyone who hasn’t made the leap to iPhone yet is still ok), the MiLi Projector is the only portable media viewing device you’ll need. Not that many people need more than one, but you get the idea. It’s a bit like having a cinema in your pocket, but without the sticky floors and lack of leg-room, and with a maximum projection of 70 inches you’ll feel like you’ve stumbled into a very comfortable multiplex. There are some nice integrated speakers and even a remote control to adjust the whole thing with. You can either opt for good ol’ wall socket power or charge it up via USB, which will give you 1.5 hours of viewing time. The focus is fully adjustable, it’ll charge your iPhone/iPod, you can connect other external video devices like a PC, Laptop (perfect for presentations), DVD player or VCR thanks to the AV in/out connection… the list of features just goes on and on. Heck, it’s even got its own cute little stand

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LED Color Changing Shower Head with Remote

It’s not enough to have a hot shower, no, it’s time to take things up a notch. No, instead you need your own personal light show to go along with your off key shower singing. It’d be like your own personal spotlight, making you feel all important. Even if the rest of your household gets a serious headache every single time you take a shower.

This fancy shower head even comes with a remote so that you can change the coloring from outside the shower. Despite that the remote was created to go with a shower head that will pour out water, they don’t actually specify if it’s waterproof. There’s no need to hook the shower head up to a power source and the color changes according to the temperature. You can purchase one for $12.94 through Chinavasion.

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Armatix pistol won’t fire without the watch nearby

I have never heard of the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show, but I think it is just hysterical that it abbreviates to SHOT. It sounds like a fictional group in some anti-gun propaganda film.

Anyway, during SHOT, a German company known as Armatix had a smartgun like I have never seen before. This pistol is programmed not to fire unless you get a wireless arming signal from a special wristwatch.

As you can see from the photo, there is a green light. It means you can fire the gun. A red light means you can’t fire it. I’m not certain if the red warning light should mean that the gun will fire, so don’t mix up the light colors. The lights on the gun remind me of the phasers in the last Star Trek film.

Speaking of films, the Armatix really should be in a movie. Here’s the scene: some hero is trapped in a room with a bad guy who has an Armatix pistol. The bad guy is about to shoot him, and then the hero manages a precision knife throw that cuts off the wristwatch. The villain can’t shoot his gun with the watch.

Then the hero and the villain fight, and at some point, the hero gets the Armatix wristwatch in one hand, and the gun in the other. Then bang, final resolution, and credits.

Armatix wants to put a limited version of the high-tech pistol for about $9,700. That’s a pretty high price, but it is the gun of the future, today!

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The Next Room Eavesdropping Device

Listening in on the neighbors is always way too tempting to resist. If your walls are just a little too thick, you can pick up this handy gadget to help you out. Instead of trying the usual trick of pressing a glass against the wall, you could have an actual gadget do the job. Plus, this is far more portable than carrying around a glass. Although keep in mind, the seller does warn that some countries do actually prohibit the ownership of spy devices. Which makes it seem all the more awesome.

The device has an earphone jack to make it possible to listen. It also has an on/off switch, a volume dial and a built-in rechargeable battery. It will work on doors, windows, steel plates, walls and more. To use it, just press the metal device up against the wall and listen in through your earphones. You can purchase it for $62.99 from China Grabber.

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Power Extension USB 4 Port Hub

There are a lot of USB hubs out there that come in every shape and form. This one I can’t help but appreciate. It’s straight forward and nice and simple. It’s not some silly pink bunny rabbit with multiple ports jammed into it or anything equally silly. Nor does it feature R2D2’s body, which admittedly is awesome, but plain is nice for a change.

The hub will allow for up to 4 of your favorite USB gadgets to be plugged into it. Not only does it come with the simple little port, it also has an extension cord to plug into your computer. Although the cord doesn’t exactly look long. This is one gadget that won’t draw any attention to itself while it’s sitting out. You can purchase the Power Extension USB 4 Port Hub for $15 from USB Geek.

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Super Mario Chess Set

Are you the cerebral type who have a love for popular pop culture? Then you might want to consider the Super Mario Chess Set – this game won’t come with changed rules in any way, and no, you aren’t allowed to stomp on opposing pawns but will have to stick to traditional chess rules instead. One shocking thing is this – Luigi acts as the queen, talk about weird! This is despite the fact that Princess Peach is still hanging around on the board. Ah well, guess strange days are ahead of us – no wonder Mario can’t really seem to start a relationship with Princess Peach in all the games we’ve played so far. The Super Mario Chess Set is going for $39.99.

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Toshiba unveils new T100 series notebooks

Toshiba has just unveiled their latest line of Toshiba Satellite T100 Series notebooks, where this new breed of consumer ultra-thin notebooks were specially designed to meet the demands of everyday mobility with notebook-class performance alongside the capability to provide enough juice to last throughout the entire working day, and without breaking the bank to boot (personal or corporate) with prices starting from a mere $449.99. All the T100 Series notebooks will be no thicker than 1″, and they will tip the scales from 3.49 pounds onwards. Despite being relatively affordable, that doesn’t mean that Toshiba has skimped on the specifications and innards – no sir, the Japanese company will see to it that you will enjoy every computing moment on these devices with Windows 7 as the operating system of choice, coupled with power-efficient Intel ultra-low voltage processors, extremely fast resume from standby times and power saving enhancements which is capable of offering a whopping 9 hours of battery life under conservative use.

You will be able to choose from the Satellite T135 that comes with a 13.3″ diagonal widescreen display, where it will feature Toshiba’s Fusion Finish in Nova Red, Nova Black and Nova White. As for the smaller 11.6″ Satellite T115, this model will feature only the Nova Red and Nova Black colors. Both of them were designed to be stylish within and without, making sure heads turn whenever you pull it out of your notebook bag to get started with work. The Fusion Finish design will also extend inside the notebook, around the keyboard, touch pad and the display.

Powered by Windows 7 Home Premium, you will find other amenities such as spacious hard drives, ultra-fast DDR3 memory, a host of expansion ports, integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, the T100 Series notebooks won’t be lacking in any way. What we love most would be the price points, with the Toshiba Satellite T135 starting from $599.99 upwards and the Satellite T115 going from $449.99, where they will be released to the masses this October 22nd.

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Dell Latitude Z unveiled

Dell has just announced the Latitude Z notebook, touting it to be the thinnest and lightest 16″ notebook in the market which will target those who want to make a fashion statement regardless of which station in the corporate ladder they are at at the moment. The Latitude Z is a purpose-engineered product, where it will measure less than 1″ thin while tipping the scales at 4.5 pounds, accompanied by a standard 4-cell battery. You will find the following features in the Dell Latitude Z :-

* Lean tapered design and soft-touch Black Cherry finish
* Wireless docking and inductive charging
* Dell EdgeTouch
* Spacious multi-touch touchpad and silky-touch backlit keyboard
* High-definition (1600×900) WLED display
* Two megapixel camera featuring Dell Capture technology
* Dell FaceAware Lock-Out
* Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity

You do have the option of throwing in a 3G mobile broadband component if your wallet permits. Expect the Dell Latitude Z to be readily available worldwide, with prices starting from $1,999 upwards. Between this and the Adamo, which model would you choose?

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Enter + Ctrl Keys Card Reader

I’m not sure why, but just from glancing at the picture, I thought for sure this was a silly handmade job. Instead though, this is a mass produced item that likely isn’t even remotely handmade. This card reader will make sure that you’ll always have a portable method to pull things off of your memory card. Plus, it is disguised as two keys. Alright, so that part isn’t going to fool anyone, but it does give a slightly more geeky design to a fairly normal gadget.

These card readers will read MicroSD, T-Flash and Micro SDHC. It’ll deal with all of those without the need for any kind of adapter. It’ll of course work with both PC and Mac users. These come in two different colors, you can pick up the blue or go with the slightly more normal white. White of course makes it look a lot more like just a classic keyboard key. Each one of these will cost you $12 from USB Geek.

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StressWatch tells you its time to relax

My source called the StressWatch “the mood ring of the 21st century”, but all I can say about it is that someone should have invented it a long time ago.

After all, we live in an age where people wake up at ungodly hours, go to demeaning jobs, come home to face family issues, and barely have time to wind down before they go to sleep. In short, we live in age where everyone is under stress. And if that doesn’t stress you out, then you don’t need the StressWatch.

As you can see from the pic, there is a black bar graph to show your stress levels. The blues and greens that you see there means that you are mellow, but pink, red or orange means you’re one stressed out fellow. I am going to assume that it reads your pulse, sweat from your wrist, or something.

Not only that, it can also tell the time. So that way you can get to your next appointment, so that you can always stay ahead and…I suppose that deadlines are the source of our stress, isn’t it? Just breathe deep and think calming thoughts to get back into the safe zone.

Well, this device is merely concept as now, but it deserves to be made reality. I could use a little reduced stress now.

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Anti-Snoring Device Snore Stopper Watch

No one likes being the one no one wants to sleep around, thanks to their obnoxiously loud snoring. Well for those that haven’t found a way to get their snoring to stop, here’s another miracle gadget to try. It claims to at least lessen your snoring, but does it in an odd way. It uses acupuncture to achieve this goal. Of course there’s no way to confirm whether or not this actually works without trying it, but at least the gadget isn’t too expensive.

The watch doesn’t actually tell the time, so it’s a little silly to call it a watch. However, it does have a sensitive micro-sound detector that will detect when you’re snoring. Once it does that it will send a very mild electronic signal. Apparently it’s even capable of distinguishing between snoring and just other noises in general. This device will make slow down the frequency of your snoring as well as make it so you don’t snore quite so loudly. You can purchase the gadget for $36 from Amazon.

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Able Planet Sound Clarity Wireless Headphones use Infrared Transmitter

There is really no reason why headphones or earbuds should have wires, especially in an age of Bluetooth. Able Planet’s Sound Clarity has that capability, only it goes the Infrared route.

In fact, the headphones come with an Infrared Transmitter that is small enough to fit on the desk, but not big enough to get in the way. Just think of it as a mouse the doesn’t need to move. This transmitter has to be plugged into an outlet to work, and it must be connected to your laptop, MP3 Player, or anything else that has a compatible headphone jack.

The headphones themselves have cushioned earpads for extra comfort, and run on 2 AAA batteries. It has a volume control and power switch. Once turned on, the wireless headphones recognized the Infrared transmitter signal right away.

So how do they sound? Terrific. I have included a YouTube video to show them in action, and you can click here for more info about the technical aspects of Able Planet’s Linx Audio.

In short, Able Planet’s Sound Clarity Infrared Wireless Headphones capture the great sound of the Clear Harmony Noise Canceling Headphones, but without the burden of wires. This CES Innovations award-winning headphones are available now on the Able Planet website for $129.99.

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Brando’s Twelve sided IQ Pentagon puzzle for those with an eternity to spare

I have this recurring nightmare where I am at the pearly gates, but I am not allowed in unless I do one last task. Then St. Peter hands me a mixed up Rubik’s cube.

Oh Rubik’s cube, the bane of my existence. I was in fourth grade when this flash-in-the-pan fad peaked, and I was only able to solve one side, really. I had absolutely no idea what to do after that.

Now, just imagine my aforementioned nightmare if I was handed this twelve sided IQ Pentagon puzzle from Brando. Personally, I think I would be lucky if I could complete one side, even luckier if the borders of the sides were non-mixed up colors. Some of you might not know what I am talking about, but I’m told that solving one side with sides of non-mismatched colors was the first step of solving a Rubik’s cube.

I’m sure Will Smith’s character in The Pursuit of Happyness figured that one out when he solved a Rubik’s cube that got him an internship. By the way, that incident never happened to the real Chris Gardner, the man whose life story the film was based on. I’m not at all surprised. It’s one of those “based on a true story” scenes that you know is completely ficticious as soon as you watch it. Apparently, Will Smith has a thing for Rubik’s Cubes, and the film’s time period does match. At least it made the movie a little more dramatic.

Maybe Will can give this twelve sided IQ Pentagon puzzle a try. It will only cost $49.90 on the Brando site. If Will wants a real challenge, go for the Petaminx Dodecahedral

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Epson MovieMate 60 home theater projector

Epson isn’t done with their new projector releases just yet, having rolled out the Epson MovieMate 60 home theater projector which is touted to be the lightest, brightest and most versatile offering that fall under Epson’s innovative line of “all-in-one” home theater projectors. It will merge the functions of a wide range of devices, including a high-quality, high-brightness projector, a CD/DVD player (no Blu-ray here, but at least it will help keep the final cost down), a microphone input for those crazy big-screen karaoke sessions and stereo speakers in a single, portable unit. Talk about having an affordable, easy-to-use and versatile solution for home entertainment that can be used in just about any room, and even carried with you and your family on your vacations.

Some of the features found on the Epson MovieMate 60 include the following :-

* Sleek, compact design
* Built-in handle and cushioned carrying case
* Projecting a 16:9 widescreen 60-inch image from only six feet away or a 120-inch image from just 12 feet away
* Built-in progressive scan standard definition 540p resolution DVD/CD player
* Great sound quality using two built-in ten watt 5.1 Dolby Digital DTS speakers
* Integrated microphone jack to allow for voice amplification – great for narrating a slide show, karaoke and more
* Compatible with Apple iPod, Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360
* New, brighter, energy-efficient E-TORL lamp with 2,000 lumens white and color light output to maximize brightness and uniformity so viewers can enjoy the projector even in well-lit rooms
* No additional cables needed for easy set-up and portable flexibility

If you’re interested in bringing home the Epson MovieMate 60 with you for your family to enjoy a big screen experience from this year onwards without breaking the bank, you’ll be pleased to know that the device will be available from next month onwards via a variety of channels including national resellers, where it is going for an estimated street price of $699.

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Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD

Epson has released its latest PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD projector that will further enhance Epson’s portfolio, adding yet another member to its award winning line of 3LCD home theater projectors. The PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD is full well able to provide families as well as first time home theater enthusiasts with a a versatile, high-quality 720p high-definition solution that caters for a wide range of options, regardless of whether you’re going to use it to get your daily dose of movies or enjoy hours after hours of games on your PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Alternatively, others might just prefer to use it for broadcast TV and sports, where a projected screen is able to accommodate many more people’s eyes comfortably compared to a 50″ LCD TV.

Meant to make home entertainment simple and enjoyable, the PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD will ship with an array of consumer-friendly features and performance benefits that makes the big screen experience extremely enjoyable at home. You get 2,500 lumens of color and white light output that is more than enough for movie viewing or game playing under a variety of environments, even during the daytime without suffering from any quality loss. Apart from that, you will also be able to enjoy a quartet of pre-set color modes that have been optimized for video, HDMI connectivity and a USB 2.0 connection that makes it a snap to share photos and slideshows. Inside the PowerLite Home Cinema 705HD, you will find Epson’s three-chip 3LCD technology and an exclusive energy efficient E-TORL lamp, helping it deliver bright, movie theater-like images and video with amazing detail without the possibility of color break-up or “rainbow effect.”

One can expect the Epson Home Cinema 705HD to arrive in the markets sometime later this October via online A/V specialty retailers, select retailers nationwide and the Epson online store for approximately $749.99. Each purchase will come with a two-year limited warranty with toll-free access to PrivateLine, Epson’s priority technical support, as well as a free two-business day exchange with ExtraCare Home Service.

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iTwin allows for easy file-sharing

What you see in the picture here is the iTwin. It isn’t a thumb drive with two USB connections, but a way of transferring your files from one computer to another.

Sure, you could just set up a mainframe network, send a file as an attachment, or just put the file you want on a thumb drive and plug it into another computer. Yes, there are a lot of ways to do file transfers from one computer to the other, but iTwin makes the process a lot easier.

Here’s what you do. The iTwin comes apart into two equal parts. You stick one USB thumb into one part, then the other thumb into another computer. From there, you can drag and drop files from one computer, and it will automatically appear on the other computer.

Yes, the iTwins are connected wirelessly via the Internet, just like the bond between two twins. At least the ones that are psychic.

The creators of the iTwin hope to have this out on the market sometime early next year for a price of $99. You might think that is a lot to spend for this file-sharing device, but you should ask yourself how much you would spend to make you

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Toshiba unveils new 2.5″ 500GB hard drive

Toshiba is back with a new range of high-performance 7,200 RPM 2.5″ hard drives, where among them will include a 500GB capacity model that ought to be suitable for those who want performance and a spacious storage solution rolled into a single device. There will be four models that are in the limelight today, where they will deliver more than a 13% performance improvement in disk operations in comparison to Toshiba’s previous 7,200 RPM family. Despite an increase in performance, they will also reduce their environmental impact by eliminating the use of selected toxic and hazardous chemicals during the manufacturing process. Apart from that, the series has been stringently tested by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) and gained a SATA-certified 3Gb/s logo in the process for added peace of mind.

What you see in the image here is the high-performance MKxx56GSYseries that will boast a maximum capacity of 500GB, which is suitable for both commercial and consumer notebooks, PCs, gaming notebooks and all-in-one desktop PCs. The MKxx56GSY models will also offer increased responsiveness of the overall system in various areas including application loading and general data processing. Toshiba has not forgotten to improve the user experience by offering extended battery life with lower power consumption in standby and sleep modes as well as faster start-up operation.

Currently, Toshiba’s new 7,200 RPM 2.5″ hard drive models will begin to ship to various PC manufacturers in limited quantities this quarter, where they will go full steam ahead with production in the fourth quarter later this year. There is no word on pricing, but we’re pretty sure they ought to arrive in a variety of notebooks and netbooks sometime early next year, and we hope that the 160GB hard drive found in most netbooks will be replaced by something larger – 500GB perhaps?

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Excalibur Electronic Travel Cup keeps coffee hot

There’s nothing quite as disappointing as taking a nice big drink of coffee only to discover you’ve waited just a little too long. Then instead of getting hot or even warm coffee, you get a taste of cold coffee. Which, when the coffee is meant to be hot, is always gross. Well instead of trying to guzzle down your coffee or tea faster in order to make sure it stays hot the whole way through, you could pick up this travel mug. It’s insulated like every other travel mug out there, plus it has a built-in heater.

All around it really is the perfect gadget to pick up as weather starts to cool off. You can plug the cup into your car while you’re headed off to work. Then once you’re at work, next to your computer, you can change it up and plug it into your USB port. Of course in order to make the same cup last that long, you’d definitely have to be a slow drinker. The cup itself has a rubberized handle and a spill-proof lid. You can purchase the cup for $21.45 from The Tech Geek.

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Robonica looks at new robotic entertainment formats

Robonica is a start-up that is looking into new ways of robotic entertainment and aims to redefine the entertainment robotics market later this fall by rolling out a whole new range of products that come with the tagline, “The Rise of Robotic Gaming.” This new range will merge elements of robotics, R/C vehicles and electronic gaming, making them stand out from the current crop of entertainment robots that is able to offer meaningful and structured gameplay regardless of whether one is alone, with friends or through online interaction.

A smart, fully programmable and highly agile two-wheeled robot, Roboni-i is the first entertainment robot to offer unlimited play patterns. The state-of-the-art robot features 16 sensors and four processors, RF remote control and Zigbee peer-to-peer RF protocol allowing for competitive gameplay with real-world robots. It also comes packaged with game accessories and six action games enabling players to form a playing field and use the gaming controller to select a game as they enter a new dimension of interactive, real-world robotic gameplay. Whether alone or with friends, they will need to beat the odds, race against time, manage resources, neutralize threats, execute special effects and collect bonus points to improve score. The Roboni-i’s online gameplay is out of this world. By plugging Roboni-i into the PC, players enter a virtual world where they can create profiles, participate in virtual missions, play online games and interact with friends who are online at the same time. Its Advanced PC-based Command Center Software allows users to program every facet of the robot’s behavior, edit games and upload performance data.

The following online sources - ToysRUs.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and more will be the first to get hold of Robonica’s offering, followed by retailers Hammacher Schlemmer, Edmund Scientific and other specialty shops.

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