There’s many ways of attracting attention… making it look like your car hit an animal is one. Or maybe you want to masquerade as a modern Santa?
Either way, the Truck Antlers are available and waiting for someone to give them a home. Or a ride, to be precise. They slide into the base of the window on your truck or SUV and turn you into “Joe who just ran over Rudolph”.
Honestly, I don’t know who’d want these. People eagerly awaiting Christmas? Reindeer-haters? But hey, as long as they’re not on my car…
When people want to be listened to they call their best friend. Or they write in their diary. Or they start a gadget blog. I could go on and it still wouldn’t occur to me that talking to a fake plant would be an idea.
But see, I don’t live in Japan, which is where the Pekoppa Nodding Pot-Plant Robot comes from. The name says it all: the plant nods when you talk to (or rather at) it. Which would make anyone feel better, right? Not pathetic because s/he doesn’t have anyone to communicate with and has to resort to a plant that’s not even alive. Uh-huh…
Sometime 3 or 4 post-apocalyptic books ago I started making a mental list of things I would need in case of a catastrophe. And after obvious things like good shoes, warm clothes and food… all the characters seem to want a radio. Communication is important, and radio contact is the most likely to last.
While a battery-powered radio is a great plot tool (the announcer is about to convey some vital information when poof! the batteries die), this Self-Powered Emergency Radio with Flashlight is the kind of thing I’d want in case a giant meteor hits the Earth or World War 3 breaks out. Or if I need to go camping, whichever comes first.
This tiny radio can be powered by using the hand crank or simply the sun. It works with AM and FM and can be used to tune in to the FCC and EAS public alert systems. It even comes with a cell phone charger (though I’m a bit unclear on that) and the LED lantern is a blessing for anyone who’s even been caught in the forest at night.
You’d have to be really addicted to your computer if you needed a big lighted sign to indicate you have e-mail, right? …Oh, I am. Maybe not this much, but close.
Gmail has a notifier, right? And all instant messaging programs let you know if you receive an e-mail on the associated account. But you can’t see that if you’re far away from the computer… The USB Webmail Notifier takes the Gmail Notifier icon and makes it big. Really big. With lights inside. Whenever a new message arrive, it lights up and can play a sound of your choosing.
Waiting for a note from that cute guy you met yesterday? You can go read on the sofa and it will tell you each time it might be him. It works with the major e-mail providers (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail) and integrates with Outlook, Outlook Express and POP 3 mail, so real addicts can be sure they’re not missing anything even when they’re *gasp* more than 3 feet from the computer.
From the land of cases comes another unusual one. Apple products get the attention yet again: your 80GB/120GB iPod Classic can be housed from now on in a Proporta Playback Pack.
Retro is the new cool, so this emulates an old-school cassete tape case. Don’t tell me that you don’t miss the noise those favorite tapes made when you took them out! However, although the case might bring nostalgia, it does look a bit clunky for my taste, honestly.
The good part is that the design allows it to be used as a stand for the mp3 player too. And, best of all, the pack comes with goodies: a Proporta Stereo Y Splitter Cable and a pair of headphones.
The new episodes of Battlestar Galactica are so far away, that at this point it seems like January will never come. In the mean time we entertain ourselves however we can. Fortunately, BSG themed toys are all over the place.
The Battlestar Galactica Viper Model Kit is a piece of oldie goodness, a classic Colonial Viper from the 1978 series. This set, especially upgraded for the 30th anniversary of the show, contains 33 pieces, including new clear parts, newly tooled details and expanded decal sheet, including new Pegasus “Silver Spar” squadron emblems.
The 11 inch model should keep you busy for a while… not until January, but it’s better than nothing.
I don’t have kids, but my mum has told me enough stories about me and my brother to not look forward to that. We were messy and picky children and I feel sorry for my mum in retrospect. Would have some dining accessories helped? Probably not, but look how cute the Mate looks!
A “mate” is a combination of “mat” and “plate”. The mat part comes in orange, raspberry and sky blue, has a big smiley face under the plate and comes with pop on/off spoon and fork. The plate is detachable and divided in three areas.
Some of the features sound helfpul (non-skid mat, fork the baby can’t knock off the table, easily cleaned), others less so (would toddlers really care about a smiley face?), but the bright colors might at least cheer up the poor underslept mother…
Remote controlled toys are very cool… even more so when they look like aliens come to take over the world. Only they miscalculated and it turns out they’re just the size of a coin. (I actually read something along these lines a while ago, but I don’t remember the name of the story.)
The MicroFly Tiny R/C Hovering UFO reminds me of the old game Lunar Lander. You had to use keys to control your ship and now it’s a remote, but the basics are the same.
Unfortunately, the alien ship is not as fun as other RC toys because it can only go up and down (it’s only got one propeller, on the bottom). However, if you’re willing to shell out money for more of them, you can control a whole fleet of tiny hovering spacecrafts, as they all use the same channel.
Lemurs are seriously cute animals. From Dramatic lemur to the ring-tailed lemurs we see wandering around on Discovery, this endangered animal seems to be very well-loved.
Naturally, someone dedicated a t-shirt to them. The Lemur Tee features artwork by Eleanor Grosch and it’s unisex, so girls won’t feel left out like it happens so often. (Seriously, there are so many guy t-shirts out there and so few girlies…)
So if you’re a lemur lover, get this t-shirt and wear it to the nearest zoo. The animals won’t care, but it looks cool.
The invisibleSHIELD has been around for quite a while now, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t adapt. Since Mr. Jobs announced the changes in Apple products’ design, the range of shields has grown.
The latest addition is the invisibleSHIELD for the iPod Nano 4th Gen. The technology originated in the military, where it was used to protect high-speed helicopter blades from dust, dirt and debris, so a pair of keys will be no match for it.
Depending on how much you want to protect your iPod, you can go for partial (screen-only) or full body coverage. Either way, the cover won’t impede normal usage of the device.
A video demonstration below, to asses the shield for yourselves. (I say it’s pretty damn cool.)
How much under $29.99?
A little: $24.95 on Zagg.com (full body version).
There’s many ways of attracting attention… making it look like your car hit an animal is one. Or maybe you want to masquerade as a modern Santa?
