Monthly Archives: March 2009
USB Teddy Hub Has Built In Alarm Clock
This smiling teddy can power all of your USB devices and act as an alarm clock for you. This device looks like its marketed for kids, but what kind of kid needs to have a USB hub? The clock runs on a AAA battery and doesn’t have to be plugged into a computer to keep running. There are about four USB ports on the teddy hub, one in each foot and one in each arm. The teddy USB hub comes in pink, blue, and white. It can be bought from Gadget4all.com for $14.50.
[via CoolestGadgets]
Categories Gadget4all.com
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Rakesh Agrawal Makes It Possible For iPhone App To Open His Garage
Rakesh Agrawal made it a weekend project to build an application that has the ability to open his garage door. Agrawal stated by downloading the X10 Commander application on the iTunes App Store which costs about $9.99. The X10 talks to the WiFi network at his home which he always keeps running.
There is a USB dongle that is connected to his Windows XP PC which communicates with an RF to X10 interface device plugged into a nearby outlet. In the garage, Agrawal plugged in an X10 controller for low voltage devices and spliced the control wires for the garage door opener. And then the control wires were connected to the garage door opener.
Pretty ingenious, eh?
[via BoingBoing/Rake.sh]
Categories Apple App Store, Apple Inc., Rakesh Agrawal, X10 Commander
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Why Do Dogs Chase Their Own Tails?
If you own a dog, sometimes you will notice that they chase their own tails and run around in circles. Several veterinarians may have discovered the reason why. There is a link between tail-chasing dogs and high cholesterol. This is according to a study that was published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice.
Studies in humans have shown that those with high cholesterol are vulnerable to panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder. This is a common trait with dogs too. If a dog has too much cholesterol, they may have panic attacks and become obsessive with chasing their tail around. Sometimes dogs have a tendency to chase their tail around if they have a traumatic experience, surgery, or recent illness.
Bull terriers and German shepherds have a tendency to chase around their own tail more than other breeds of dogs. The researchers at the Turkey University of Uluda? took the blood samples of 15 tail-chasing dogs and 15 dogs that rarely chase their own tails. The dogs that chased around their tails the most had high cholesterol, both HDL and LDL than the other dogs.
[via Discovery]
Categories Uludag University
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Fireman Sonchai Yoosabai Dresses Up As Spider Man To Rescue Autistic Boy
About one out of thousand people in the world have an autism spectrum disorder. Since the 1980′s, the number of children with autism has increased dramatically due to diagnostic practices. Recently Comedy Central held a special called Night of Too Many Stars, a benefit for celebrities to raise funding for autism education and research.
Recently a fireman in Bangkok came up with a clever idea to save an autistic boy. The boy was scared of his first day of school so he climbed on a third story ledge and refused to come in. The mother mentioned that the boy loved superheroes and fireman Sonchai Yoosabai learned this. Yoosabai rushed to the fire station to dress up as Spider-Man and returned back to the boy.
“I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous,” stated Yoosabai. The young boy allowed himself to be rescued as soon as he saw Spider-Man. Through this quick thinking and creativity, Yoosabai proved that superheroes do exist.
Categories Sonchai Yoosabai, Spider-Man
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Samsung Papyrus E-Book Reader Taking On The Kindle
Samsung is challenging Amazon.com’s e-book reading device Kindle with their new Papyrus E-book Reader product. The Samsung Papyrus has an A5 paper size screen, 512MB of memory, and comes in a variety of colors including green, white, and black. The Papyrus also has a memo pad, calendar, clock, scheduler, world clock, calculator, and contact list.
The Papyrus will be launching first in Korea. After that it will make its way to the U.K. and the U.S. Although the price has not been revealed yet, Gizmodo pegs it to be around $299.
[via Gizmodo]
Categories Samsung Electronics Inc., Samsung Papyrus
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Rory McInnes Draws 60-Foot Schlong On Parents’ Roof, Unnoticed For One Year
Rory McInnes thought it was hilarious to draw a 60 foot schlong on the roof of his parents’ home on in England. The funniest part is that it went unnoticed for one year until a helicopter noticed the crude painting and contacted the Sun newspaper.
Rory’s dad Andy stated, “It’s an April Fool’s joke, right? There’s no way there’s a 60ft phallus on top of my house.” That must have been embarrassing for an aristocrat that lives in such a big house, right? It turns out that Andy was good humored about the whole situation. Rory’s only punishment will be to take a scrubbing brush and white spirit, climb the roof, and clean it all off.
People using Google Maps had the ability to check out the house themselves, but it has been removed since.
[via Telegraph]
Categories Andy McInnes, Clare McInnes, Rory McInnes
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Pottery Barn Selling A $1,300 Bookshelf With Built-In Projector Screen
The Pottery Barn is selling a product called the “Stuff-Your-Stuff Theater Set.” It goes for about $1,300 and has a bookshelf that doubles up as a projector TV. Basically this product can go from a productivity resource to a productivity killer within seconds. The screen is about 66″ x 58.5″ and the bookcase is made out of pine.
[via Unplggd]
Categories Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma Inc.
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Mario Toots The Whistle & Ends Up In Chi-Town
Matthew Dominick came up with this clever mash-up of Super Mario Brothers 3 and the real world. He used the whistle superpower to transport Mario into the city of Chicago in the video. Once arriving in Chicago, Mario runs from cars, finds a raccoon suit, and shoots fire at a guy throwing fire balls at him out of a recycle bin. This is very well done, I recommend taking 3 minutes and 11 seconds to watch it. Watch what happens to Mario at the burger place towards the end of the video.
[via CrunchGear]
Categories Matthew Dominick, Super Mario Brothers
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Snowpulse Life Bag Helps Prevent Injury When Skiing
They invented a Phantom Emergency Oxygen tank for deep sea divers and the robotic crawler for people that want to escape from earthquakes. Now there is a new product called the Snowpulse Life Bag that helps people that like to ski or snowboard from being injured.
The Snowpulse Life Bag is a personal airbag for skiers that fits in a backpack. It works very well in case there is an avalanche. The bag takes about 3 seconds to deflate and it gives the head and shoulders quite a bit of padding. It is not recommended to take more risks after wearing the Snowpulse. Currently the Life Bag is only available in Europe.
[via DesignBlog]
Categories Snowpulse SA
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Vidro Floor Fireplace Lightens Up Your Living Room
The $970 stainless steel floor fireplace made by Vidro burns a smokeless flame in your living room. There are two glass panels around the flame to add to the aesthetics of the coffee table. Germany company Blomus designed this product. Currently the $970 model is about 22″ and there is a bigger version for $1,174.
[via DVICE]
Categories Blomus, Vidro Floor Fireplace
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