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DVICE ARCHIVE FOR June 2008
Summer’s here, but we're not complaining. That’s because we’ve found seven ways anyone can buy to help defeat the heat. Come along with us while we show you how it's done, introducing you to some big ideas as well...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
Who needs a 360-degree camera and lens? Olympus thinks surveillance mavens will eat this up, this camera with eyes in the back of its head, capturing images of all that takes place within its all-encompassing line of sight. It...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
Bricks are so last century. For today's wacky construction jobs, you need a building material more unique than stupid old bricks. Architect Greg Lynn came up with just such a material, designed using lightweight recyclable plastic. Each tri-cornered unit can...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
There’s gallons of water hanging in the air, and the Klimatec Base 1 AirWater Machine extracts it for your drinking pleasure. It’s not just a few drops here and there, either — this beast can give you an astonishing five...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
If you needed any further confirmation that DRM copy protection on digital music is on its way out, Rhapsody just provided it. The download service just opened the doors on its MP3 store, selling copy-protection-free songs — encoded at a...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
Zappos, the online footwear retailer, knows that puny humans are totally inefficient when it comes to doing warehouse work, which is why they've replaced them with an army of box-toting robots. More specifically, an army of robots from the Kiva...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
The interactive table race is on, and here comes Interactive Scape, a 58-inch touch surface that’s a whole lot like the Microsoft Surface table that’s being shown all over the world but sold nowhere. Yet. Well, there is the...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
So you've got an SUV or a truck that's impossible to sell due to the insanely high gas prices. What're you to do? I say you should just accept that you won't be getting rid of that vehicle for a...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
If these amazingly cool salt and pepper shakers are any indication, Henk Stallinga is one creative cat. Called Taste of Talking, the shakers are made from ear and mouth pieces of old-skool telephone receivers. He didn't stop there, though...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
For the first time, the Laboratory for Autonomous Flying Robots (awesome, I know) at the Berlin Institute of Technology has used three autonomous helicopters to transport a load together, cooperating without any human intervention. It's a big step forward for...
POSTED Monday, June 30, 2008
Reports are swirling the Mercedes has plans to switch its entire car fleet over to alternate fuels by 2015. At first blush that sounds impossible, although when you realize that they are throwing in biofuel and hybrid cars along...
POSTED Sunday, June 29, 2008
Between the Homeland Security restrictions on liquids, and the airline's new game of charging for each time you blink, going on a trip with an ample supply of grooming products has become almost impossible. Who wants to pay $25...
POSTED Saturday, June 28, 2008
Want to get to Australia in a couple of hours? DARPA is working on it, and someday its experimental Vulcan engine might be in commercial aircraft, but in the meantime we can watch this video and dream. And what's...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
Does that silver-toothed grimace look familiar? That there is an alien, but not just any alien — the queen of them all from James Cameron's 1986 science fiction classic Aliens. The fancy car is the work of youths from...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
We're pretty sure it isn't practical, but Jorge Cross's amphibious vehicle design for the year 2030 fills us with warm fuzzies with its retro sci-fi feel. The three-wheeler tapers to a single ball at its front, which rotates 90°...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
Let’s take a step back from conventional automobile design for a minute and take a look at Ozone. This rolling cylinder created by Istanbul designer Özkan Koral is a design concept for a Peugeot hydrogen-powered car, where each of...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
While you might think of slot-car racing as something for kids, I personally think it's something you never grow out of. As you grow up and get bigger, you just need your slot-car track to grow up and get...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
Do you ever wish that making money for you was as easy as it is for Mario? I mean, when that guy needs coins he just finds a block marked with a question mark and gives it a punch....
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
Listen to the smokin’ licks played by this prize-winning robotic clarinetist. Wow, that thing is fast. No wonder it won first prize at the Artemis Orchestra Competition, honoring scientists who could best lash together computers, machines, and musical instruments....
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
Kyle Cherry's "Superior" timepiece adds a touch of Wonder Woman style to the wristwatch. Made from solid tungsten carbide, the band is extremely durable, but it makes one wonder how you get the sucker on your wrist. Cherry actually...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
It’s given me a great deal of pleasure to gleefully abandon my cable TV service, canning Time Warner for greener pastures such as crystal-clear broadcast HDTV, Apple TV, downloads and Vudu without suffering at all. The best news is,...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
The promise of e-readers is great — replacing all your books with one, light device — but they've been around for a while and last I checked my neighborhood Barnes & Noble was doing just fine. A team of...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
If this conceptual race car was a reality, you'd find me at the racetrack a lot more often. Sponsored by Honda and the Indy Racing League, the objective of designer Tyler Mars's project was to create a new, eye-catching...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
NASA just unveiled its Hyperwall 2, the world's highest-resolution visualization system. What's that mean? Well, it's a 128-screen display that covers an entire wall, capable of rendering a quarter billion pixel graphics. It's 23 feet wide and 10 feet...
POSTED Friday, June 27, 2008
One of the most annoying things about the upcoming iPhone 3G is that its Bluetooth abilities are remarkably primitive. Like the previous model, Apple gave it only enough Bluetooth to allow it to pair with a wireless earpiece —...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
Many cars already have the option to stick a DVD player or video game system in the backseat, so it was only a matter of time before people had the option of adding a WiFi connection to their vehicle...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
A brainstorming conference room designed by Japanese IT group Kayac, in cooperation with researchers from Keio University in Japan, listens in on whoever is inside, and searches the web for relevant information to project onto a center table during the...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
If you're into hunting (and I assume any reader of a gadget blog is), you probably have a trusty hound by your side while you're out hunting pheasants or whatever unfortunate animal is the target of your shooting that day....
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
Let’s put this Vibro Shape around our waists, and we’ll all get slimmer! It’s easy! Plug it in and it starts its intense vibrations, which are supposed to shake that flab right off you and help you lose weight....
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
People are always talking about the shit hitting the fan, but this time it’s the other way around. A sewage treatment plant in West Lafayette, Indiana is kicking up a noxious stench as it is undergoing renovations, not exactly...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
When it comes to the Big Daddy Driver, looks can be deceiving. The oversized head driver is actually a grass and weed trimmer that easily fits into your standard-size golf bag. You're bound to get some surprised looks when...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Pandigital Kitchen Technology Center is a touchscreen device that puts functionality and entertainment right at your fingertips, in the comfort of your kitchen. Want a recipe? Don't run back to the computer or crack open a cook book...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
Two things impressed us about Memeo's Share software right off the bat. First, it acts as both a picture and video organizer as well as a media uploader, and keeps the process as simple as possible. It works on...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
Many attempts have been made to create the perfect robot dog, but we can now safely say that a new bot called the Dream Dog DX Golden Retriever reigns supreme over them all. More cuddly than a tribble and ten...
POSTED Thursday, June 26, 2008
What do you do if you're hanging out with two friends and all three of you want to play ping pong? In most situations, you take turns playing while the third person looks on, bored. That's not the optimal solution,...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Sensear SP1 Electronic Ear Plugs work a lot like your ordinary noise-canceling headphones, merged with a hearing aid. The 'phones are designed for professionals who work in dangerous environments — on a carrier's flight deck or at a...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The process of healing a wound isn't a short one, and it isn't a fun one, especially if it's a more serious wound. You've got to keep it clean and bandaged, and it'll hurt for a while and take a...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Getting a jet in the air and up to a high speed and getting a jet from that high speed to high Mach speeds require two different engines, which requires some costly and annoying procedures. Currently, one jet will...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
At first glance, Andrei França Noah high performance vehicle may fool you into thinking it's a unicycle, but look close: it's got two tires, mounted in tandem. The Noah is designed to use the human driver as the control...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
When Mitsubishi unveiled its snazzy laser rear-projection LaserVue HDTV in an elaborate and overwrought press event at CES back in January, to my eyes, its vivid colors and tack-sharpness were second to none. The big questions were when can...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
This Magni Gyro M-22 Voyager looks like a helicopter, but it’s not. This gyroplane has a rotor up top, but there’s very little power going to that spinning blade. When this baby takes off, it’s pushed along by its...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
In case you didn't know, the absolute best picture you can possibly get for your HDTV (outside of Blu-ray) is from an off-air broadcast HD signal. In the airwaves, signals generally don't have to compete for bandwidth like they...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thanks to everyone who submitted entries for our Make a Cylon Contest. Sorry we haven't posted the winners yet — we've been so overwhelmed with all the wacky designs and cool videos y'all turned in (Centurions and Raiders and skin...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
As technology merges ever more seamlessly with our everyday life, the intersection between art and technology has become increasingly more common. Bleeding-edge Japanese artist Mutoh Tsutomu takes this art approach into new realms with his Optical Tone installation that uses...
POSTED Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The master's degree students at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand have been tinkering with Marvin, the school lab's $20,000 security 'bot, for almost seven years now, and it's come quite a ways. Marvin (named after the robot...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
In Japan, Sharp, the city of Sakai, and Kansai Electric Power are planning to build two absolutely enormous solar power plants, dubbed the "Sakai City Waterfront Mega Solar Power Generation Plan." The two plants will generate 10,000 kW and 28,000...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Some people have different definitions of "roughing it" than others. To many, it means getting away from it all, avoiding email and TV and cellphones and getting in touch with nature. No technology to blink or beep at you, just...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
This may come as a shock, but apparently breasts tend to bounce around while the person they're attached to is exercising. All juvenile kidding aside, could it be possible to harness this movement to store energy, turning those bouncing bosoms...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Just when you’ve thought plumbing fixtures have gotten as crazy as possible, along comes this ceiling-mounted faucet. Part of the Rettangolo collection from Gessi, this daring piece of Italian design brings the water straight down from the ceiling inside...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Antro Solo gas-electric hybrid is an interesting blend of space age chic and primitive technologies. It's got an array of solar panels along the top of the vehicle to power it's electric motor, and yet both passengers in...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sitting in a cubicle in a windowless office can be depressing. A person needs some sunlight! It helps your mood, it brightens your day, and it helps you forget that you're stuck wasting your days in an air conditioned box....
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Ever since we first laid eyes on the aptly-named Smart Car, we were in love. But why was the $14,000 Smart fortwo from Mercedes maker Daimler equipped with just a 1-liter 71HP internal combustion engine? With gas pushing $5...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Your car breaks down on a remote road, and your cellphone battery dies. What to do? Flare guns aside, you could strap on the Orange Dance Charge and flail around like a gimp while it uses your body movement...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The idea people at Mio have been hard at work on a Knight Rider GPS, and they gave a sneak peek at the unit to DVICE.
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics the chief concern for many athletes has been the poor air quality, prompting the government to enact a myriad of odd new measures to decrease pollution. Perhaps a look at Jamie Tomkins 2020...
POSTED Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Taipei 101 building in Taiwan has held the title of the tallest, completed building in the world since 2004. With great height comes great responsibility; namely, making sure that the thing doesn't topple under the assault of high...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
What if there was a camera out there that was always with you, and cataloged your life experiences in picture form based on how you were feeling at the time? That's what the Camoria does, an over-the-ear digital camera...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Generally, how well a toaster can pop its toast out when finished cooking it is pretty far down the list of important features it can come with. I mean, you're just looking for a well-toasted piece of bread, right? Who...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Before you think we’ve gone crazy showing you caulk, check this out. Momentive Performance Materials created a single-use package for our parent company GE's caulk that it says will “reinvent the caulking experience for the consumer.” Hidden underneath that...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
JVC has his-and-hers iPod users in mind with this NX-PN7 Dual iPod Docking Station, accommodating two iPods or iPhones in this nice-looking 13-inch-wide dock. It also has features iPods leave out such as AM/FM radio and a remote control,...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Open up the iPhone to all developers, and here’s what you get: iRetroPhone, a clever but questionable software application soon to be available in the iPhone App Store. Along with the realistically cumbersome experience of a rotary dialer, its...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
London's old Battersea Power Station has been around a long time, and its been decommissioned since 1983, making it a relatively useless old relic of a bygone era. But that's not to say the Brits want to knock down the...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water— you see the above video of a lifelike, infinitely creepy snake robot that swims through a pool, presumably sniffing for human flesh to feed on. Developed by...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Engineers are tricky folk — leave them to their own devices and they usually do something awesome. Take Mike Strizki from East Amwell, New Jersey, for instance. The 51-year-old civil engineer hasn't had to pay an oil, electric or...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Sure, this light saber umbrella may look cool, but can it chop a whole watermelon in half with one stroke? Probably not. For that, you'll need the Unbreakable Umbrella, a tough self-defense (or killer offense) tool that's also, well,...
POSTED Monday, June 23, 2008
Some toys are so obviously dangerous, that you've got to wonder what they were thinking. Following Lawn Darts and the 1950s Atomic Energy Lab toy that included actual radioactive Uranium ores, the Fire Footbag seems so clearly dangerous, that...
POSTED Sunday, June 22, 2008
Today is the first official day of summer, so it seems like a great day to hit the beach. If your normal plan is to just lie there catching rays while the kids play in the surf, adding some...
POSTED Saturday, June 21, 2008
Ah, summer time. Lounging in the pool, relaxing in the sun and soaking up the rays. It's great, except for one thing: you're away from your computer. Oh, what are you to do?! Fortunately for computer addicts such as yourself,...
POSTED Saturday, June 21, 2008
Not all of us are kids here at DVICE, so we could relate when Stewart Wolpin talked about the different priorities of the Internet Generation (or Generation M, for Millennials) and their ‘rents. But there’s hope for the oldsters....
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Airliners have a black box that leaves a record of what caused an accident, and now there’s Roadscan Drive Recorder, a black box for your car. It continuously records video of whatever happens in front of your vehicle, and...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Sometimes, you just need a little more motivation to save money than a normal piggy bank provides. That's what the new Tomy BankQuest bank does; whenever you put in money, it counts it as gold for the little RPG game...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Whatever your feelings are about Comcast, you'll be helpless but to fall in love with the media giant's 10 million pixel display at the new Comcast Center in Philadelphia. The media wall covers an area of over 2100 square...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Those kooky designers. Now they’ve gone and bent a really long piece of metal and created a living room full of wall accessories. Aykut Erol’s Line Furniture System takes the concept of drawing a complete image without lifting the...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Good news for Google Earth gazers: Those images are about to get a whole lot sharper. A new satellite named GeoEye-1 will be lifted into geosynchronous low earth orbit on August 22, and will deliver peeps at double the...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Telecommuting. It's the green way to go to work. We're doing it right now — how virtuous is that? But there are other situations that involve travel-related resource consumption that really shouldn't have to, for example when universities fly...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Many of us here at DVICE live in cramped New York City apartments, where having your own personal washing machine is a luxury that just won't fit in the space available. Therefore, we're always looking for cool ways to...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Everyone likes a cheery snow globe to brighten their day, right? Well, you’ll need a martini after you see this gallery of very special snow globes by artists Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz, experts at using a naïve medium...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Take three of our least favorite gadgets and roll them into one, and you might get something like the Ampbot from Sega-Hasbro. Short for Automated Music Personality Robot, the Ampbot uses a Segway-like self-balancing drive system that lets it...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
Songbird is looking to make some noise in the hearing aid world with its disposable, cheap and discrete Flexfit. The $80 unit is drastically less expensive than your average aid, which costs upwards of a few thousand dollars (not...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
The RoboVault's long list of security measures makes us imagine Tom Cruise dangling over criss-crossing security lasers. Not only is the structure in South Florida made solidly out of concrete and reinforced with rebar and impact glass — all...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
We've been fans of wind power here at DVICE for a while now; after all, is there a more abundant or free source of energy than wind? Why not harness it for good? And now, the government has even fewer...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
The old school experience of viewing movies in 3D is coming to a home theater near you. Hyundai recently unveiled a new 3D television that, when combined with the nerdy glasses shown above, offer a realistic 3D experience via special...
POSTED Friday, June 20, 2008
With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy … You know you're middle-aged when you're 10 years older than retiring pro athletes. You know you're middle-aged when you don't recognize a single artist name in the Billboard Top 10 except Madonna. You...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
Right on the heels of the Panasonic HD camcorders announced yesterday, Sony tops that with this HDR-CX12, an HD camcorder whose still picture capabilities are more remarkable than its HD shooting prowess. Like those Panasonic camcorders, this one also...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
If you ever need proof that the rich just keep getting richer, the Chapter One watch from a new company called Maîtres du Temps should do the trick. Created as a collaboration between three of today's leading watch designers,...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
Frontline Aerospace calls its V-STAR (which stands for Vertical-Takeoff-and-Landing Swift Tactical Aerial Resource) the "Humvee of the air," but not because it can ferry soldiers around like one of the big jeeps. It's a versatile unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
So you live in a basement. Hey, it could be worse! You could live in a tent, I guess, or on the streets. A basement isn't so bad, comparatively speaking. The only problem is that it's kind of dank and...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
You want your wedding to be special. After all, you're only doing it once! In theory! Which is why so many people opt for wacky weddings on the beach, on mountains, underwater, or wherever else will make it more memorable....
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
Like most connected people, I usually leave the house with far too many devices jammed into various pockets. Between the iPod, cell phone, crackberry, wallet, and keys, those pockets can start to get pretty jammed. While a special device...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
Oregon Scientific is getting edgy with its design of weather forecasting gear and other neat devices, and its $67.99 Weather Light shows you another one of its flights of fancy. This elongated egg-shaped oracle forecasts the weather coming up in...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
This Doggie IQ test means that the illusion that “dogs are people, too” has come full circle. Once you've learned to talk with your dog, next you can brag to all your friends that you have the smartest mutt...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
What’s this? Another crackpot saying he can generate power out of water, thin air or garbage? Blacklight Power is more than sketches and talk: The well-funded company says it has built a prototype of its power generator, claiming it...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
Billed as the world's smallest karaoke system, Tomy's Hi-Kara device promises to allow you to annoy and astonish music lovers anywhere you go. The tiny cube houses a 2.4-inch screen that displays animations and song lyrics just like a traditional,...
POSTED Thursday, June 19, 2008
JBL's Control Now speakers work great alone or in a group of up to four units. Each speaker is a $250, 90° wedge that is bought one at a time, and you can sit them on your desk, install...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
How precious is your data? I'm guessing it's not precious enough to require the ludicrous toughness of the GoldKey USB drive. This thing is designed to hold up under way, way more pressure than any USB drive you own...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
When the weather turns hot as a June bride in a feather bed, our thoughts turn to ice cream. We like our cones stacked a mile high, and the $14.95 Cuisipro Ice Cream Scoop & Stack is the perfect...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Here's a somewhat unsettling proposition: using your skin as an antenna for wireless devices or medical implants. Yes, your skin would be the conductor, sending signals along the outside of your body and saving energy by using the energy already...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Electric motorcycles and scooters have made a lot of progress lately, and one of the first plug-in motorcycles to ship will be this Electric Motorsport GPR-S, known in Southeast Asia as the E-Boxer. The good news is its charging...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Romantics in the crowd will appreciate the Philips AquaLight — a floating variant of its Imageo LED candle. The LED inside the tiny bulb flickers to give that candle ambience without the dangerous open flame and drippy wax. Checking...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
If you're in a position of authority at your job, it helps to have an office that strikes fear into the hearts of your minions when they come to see you. You need to hold on to that power you...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
We already liked Panasonic’s HD camcorders, and now the company’s gone and topped itself. These two new models, the HDC-SD100 ($1100 ) and HDC-HS100 ($1300), are pricey but get the job done better than ever. Panasonic already wowed us...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
It's a common complaint — people love having video portable but can't stand those tiny screens. Well, a compromise is coming: Optoma's Pico projector. Now in the prototype stage, Optoma plans a limited release in Europe this summer with...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Doing their best to show off some sci-fi style future tech, Chinese company Harbin Smart Special Aerocraft recently unveiled a real, working flying saucer. The only catch is that the "vehicle," at only four feet in diameter, is unable to...
POSTED Wednesday, June 18, 2008
With the London Olympics a mere 4 years away, Brits are preparing for the huge influx of tourism and media attention that comes along with hosting the Olympic games. One of the things that they're doing is setting up a...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
How do you board a constantly moving train? Well, you could leap off a bridge and land on top of it like in the movies, hop off a horse and grab a rail like in a Western, or you...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
If you've got an electronic or electromechanical lock on your door, you probably want to pay attention to this. A magnetic ring dubbed the "ring of the devil" has been found to be able to unlock such doors quickly...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The war on cancer has a new secret weapon: carbon nanotubes heated up via near-infrared light, scorching the cancerous cells inside the body. Developed by scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the nanotubes are stronger than steel...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Here's the scenario: The survivors from the Twelve Colonies finally find Earth and are invited into your living room, only to find a hulking Centurion model proudly displayed. Awkward. Still, if toy designer Fred Barton had entered our "Make A...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
As laptops get cheaper and faster with each passing month, manufacturers are branching out the feature sets on their notebooks. Case in point: the Toshiba Qosimo F55, a Windows machine that, in addition to being a sleek little notebook...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Combining the two essential accessories of beach time — sandals and beer — these special flip-flops have a bottle opener built right into the sole. With the Reef Fanning sandal, you can be the champion of the beach party...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
We never tire of bringing you new and even stranger tales of Japanese pet obsessions. The latest over-the-top gadgetry meant to comfort Japanese dogs is called the Wan Love Yu. (In Japan, dogs are thought to utter "wan, wan" rather...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
As NASA scientists search for water on Mars with the Phoenix Mars Lander, astronomers are finding Earth-like planets orbiting other suns. Yesterday they found three planets they called “super-Earths” orbiting a star that’s 42 light-years away from us. They...
POSTED Tuesday, June 17, 2008
What kind of phone would a blind person use? I'll give you a hint: It's not an iPhone 3G. No, such a phone would have to eschew any fancy touchscreen for something more tactile, certainly — something like the...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
High-speed police chases are, obviously, dangerous. If they can be avoided, it's generally accepted that they should be. That's why the new technology by a company called StarChase is so promising: rather than chasing perps, cops can simply shoot their...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
This Halo Light, designed by Sander Mulder, is both classy and practical. First of all, it looks pretty awesome, with its ring of light supported by an arcing pole. But even better is that it doesn't use a bulb, instead...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
Have to hand it to Honda — the company promised its zero-emissions vehicle, the FCX Clarity, would be available this summer, and they technically beat that deadline by about a week. The future-y sedan, which is powered by hydrogen...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
Lego kits such as the Mindstorm NXT line help prove the point that the toy bricks aren't just for kids. The kit sells for an impressive $250, and includes all manner of goodies, from programmable software to ultrasonic sensors....
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
The old incandescent light bulb has had a rough time of late — what with being pushed aside in these energy-efficient times by greener technologies like compact fluorescents, LEDs and even halogens. Nevertheless, nothing is more iconic of lighting...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
Here's a little piece of advice for you if you're ever attacked by a shark: sharks absolutely hate it when you stab them with a knife that also shoots compressed air into them. It's just excruciatingly painful, see? All you...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
Belgian designer Vincent Callebaut, the Lilypad's creator, describes the city as a "floating ecopolis for climate refugees," but it looks more like a resort than a shelter. Inspired by nature, it's designed to house 50,000 people displaced from the...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
We've written about our share of one use gadgets, from this corn stripper to this complex salad shaker. But none have looked quite as fun as Chef'n's Garlic Zoom, a kitchen gizmo that looks like a combination tape dispenser/small...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
Pedometers are getting more sophisticated all the time, and now there’s one from Oregon Scientific that works in 3D. That means as long as you’re carrying it somewhere, the AnyWear pedometer will accurately measure your mileage with no need...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
We’ve seen some creatively decorated and unusual cubicles before, and elaborate accessories to go with them, but this one beats all. Check out the fancy woodwork in Jared Nielsen’s cube, decked out with a dark cherry hardwood floor, and...
POSTED Monday, June 16, 2008
Here at Dvice we have been reporting how cable TV services are compressing their HD signals to squeeze more channels down their skinny pipe. This type of signal degradation is pretty easy for someone with a trained eye to...
POSTED Sunday, June 15, 2008
We love people who get way too ambitious with their home projects, and John Ivers from Vincennes Indiana falls squarely into that category. Tired of waiting in long lines for the coasters at his local amusement park, John decided...
POSTED Saturday, June 14, 2008
If you're sick of iPhone news, you might want to skip this paragraph. Mainly because Apple's iPhone 3G, with its blazing fast 3G network connection, was clearly the big headline-stealer this week. Apple big man Steve Jobs announced iPhone...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
Pomi is a robotic penguin with a heartbeat that employs a rather interesting method in its human interactions: smell. Developed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in South Korea, Pomi (which stands for Penguin Robot for Multimodal Interaction)...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
Well, guys, we've got just hours left in our Make a Cylon Contest. It ends at midnight tonight, and we've gotten entries big and small, fun and crazy, simple and sublime. Fitting, then, that we end on one of...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
World-class chefs will tell you to put a prep sink near your cooktop, and Kohler hooked up with world-class designer Anne Kitzmiller to make it so in grand, futuristic style. The Kohler Crevasse rinsing sink looks like a 33-inch...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
Could a 300mph train from Disneyland to Las Vegas be on the way? A transportation bill just signed into law chips in $45 million to study the idea, which has a maglev (magnetic levitation) train similar to the Shanghai...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
This looks like a simple seat, but it's really a robot. It's a robotic seat, to be precise. It's designed to follow you around a library, giving you somewhere to sit as you roam the aisles searching for just the...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
A Japanese surgeon showed the precision of the DaVinci surgical system by folding a classic origami crane using the machine's robotic arms. What's more, at the end of the video it's revealed that the crane is no bigger than...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
OK, here's a piece of advice for you tech buyers out there next time you're at your friendly neighborhood Best Buy: don't, under any circumstances, spend $500 on a 1.5 meter Ethernet cable. Ever. Overpriced cables are nothing new, but...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
A former Air Force F15 pilot rolled out this personal aircraft yesterday, and he’s calling it Icon A5. The $139,000 plane can take off and land on water or dry land, and has controls that are more like a...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
NASA has just awarded its contract for future spacesuits to Oceaneering International, a company that now has the task of designing and manufacturing the new suits to be worn by our future astronauts as they explore the moon, Mars, and...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
Bikes with bubble blowing machines are not new ideas--they've been in children's toys for a while. But what if the bubbles were made using "green" biodegradable vegetable-based soap, and what if they were filled with seeds? Then bubbles would...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
As complex a device as it is, the Beer Bottle Organ is actually a very old invention. When Gary Rickert decided to make an organ that used bottles to create notes, he had no idea that someone had tried...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
From the "Bad Ideas" file: the Bi-Cycle, a bike built for two where the passengers face in opposite directions, each with their own handlebars and pedals. That's right: if both pedal at the same time, the two wheels spin in...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
Helping the robot apocalypse along, as usual, Sega has unveiled yet another robot built for fun called the E.M.A. (Eternal, Maiden, Actualization). Unlike some other robots that just "look" cool, the E.M.A. actually sings, dances and will offer up a...
POSTED Friday, June 13, 2008
Big media doesn’t want you to download their stuff. I should know, because for the past two months, I’ve abandoned DVD and Blu-ray discs, and tossed my cable box out the window. I was trying to see if big...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
Remember that Ping Pong robot we showed you this morning? Well, we checked out another of the company's products, and we're scratching our collective heads over the TOSY R-Tyre, "the first radio controlled tire in the world." It says it...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
Here's a 'bot that could learn a thing or two from some robo-fashion sense. Those bulging eyes, that goofy pink mouth, that nose that would send Pinocchio into a blushing fit — are you kidding me? We can barely force...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
We’ve been using compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs around here, and we’re trying hard to like them, really. But their light makes everyone look sickly, either green or too red, so there is a quality-of-life cost to all that green,...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
In England, farmers are creating a gigantic, 220-acre greenhouse, essentially creating a new climate under glass so they can grow vegetables year round despite the weather. It's going to be so big that it'll house 1.3 million plants, increasing the...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
When technology and fashion merge, the results are often eye-catching, occasionally provoking and sometimes totally mental. Such high-tech fashion is a regular occurrence at Eyebeam Art & Technology Center in New York City, which recently invited designers to create some upgraded wearables we've never seen before.
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
The No-key Keyboard is a design concept by Kong Fanwen, whose graphical artwork is so compelling that we couldn’t resist showcasing his dubious idea. The keyboard’s edge-lit glass has the keys etched into it, and a small camera and...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
As you can probably imagine, flying in a fighter jet and having one of your wings blown off is an extremely stressful thing to have happen. It's pretty tough to stay calm and control your plane and adjust to the...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
In just a few days, it’ll be Father’s Day (yeah, this Sunday — panic now), when we honor our dear old dads, without whom none of us would exist. Doesn't he deserve something better than a tie? We've got...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
"It exists only to humiliate and vanquish anyone who challenges it." Yep, that's what I'm looking for when I pick up a paddle for a nice game of Ping Pong — to feel awful about myself. The Robo-Pong 2040...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
Enough about the iPhone penetrating Asia, let's get back to the weird gadgets you can only find in Japan such as the AU Sportio. The cell phone is designed to help you slackers out there stay in shape by counting...
POSTED Thursday, June 12, 2008
How closely were you paying attention to the iPhone 3G announcement? Here's your chance to test your knowledge about Apple's latest toy in our iPhone 3G Quiz. The answers are listed below, typed upside-down, but don't peek. Hit Continue...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Crown Estate of England has just purchased the prototype of the world's largest wind turbine, the 7.5 megawatte MBE by clipper. For comparisons sake, the monster in the picture above is Clipper's Liberty, which produces 2.5 megawatts. Yeah, it's...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Okay, okay, maybe your father isn't lazy. Maybe you're pretty mad at me right now. But, hey, he's a hard worker, right? And a hard worker shouldn't have to work hard to stir a cup of coffee, or cocoa, or...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Remember the iC Hexapod, the six-legged spider-bot that takes your picture and uploads it to its website? Well, iC's cousin, the B.F. Hexapod, has learned a neat carving trick using a custom drill arm and some high density foam....
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
We’re crazy about nixie clocks around here — you know, those exquisite timepieces using 1950s-style tubes? Well, this is not that. However, this Test Tube Digital Clock, with its numeric lineup of glassy-domed LED numerals, vaguely resembles that ancient...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The world's second-largest skyscraper is set to be built soon, with its completion due to be in 2011, and no, it's not in Dubai. For once, some skyscraper news is coming from American shores, with the spiraling Chicago Spire to...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Now here's an iPhone accessory that I could see becoming pretty popular when the new iPhone 3G hits the shelves next month: a portable projector dock. You pop your iPhone into it and it'll project whatever video you have loaded...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The New York Marriot Downtown in Manhattan just started generating most of its own electrical power, offsetting 5800 megawatt hours per year. That’s enough to power 700 homes. It’s not using some inefficient diesel generator to do that that,...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Is the Nintendo Wii too expensive for you? Well, you might be a cheapskate, but you can get a taste of motion-controlled gaming with this standalone Wii Sports knockoff called UltiMotion Swing Zone Sports, made by Jakks. Priced at...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
If looking like a super-villain caressing the ultimate weapon controller appeals to you, then SMK's two concept remote controls might be worth a look. The first would offer a stationary LCD, allowing you to peer into the future of the...
POSTED Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The disastrous flights of rigid, hydrogen-filled zeppelins such as the Hindenburg and the helium-filled USS Akron are black marks against the idea of passenger airships. To this day, the idea of what a zeppelin could accomplish seems limited to...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
At only eight feet long and less than three feet wide, the Lumeneo Smera two-seater is incredibly compact. But its real draw are its two electric engines, one for each axle, that manage to propel the vehicle at 80...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Paying for your WiFi when you're out and about sucks. I mean, why should you pay for it when you can get it for free when you know where to look? The problem is, you don't want to have to...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
While traditional ultrasounds are a great way to get your first look at your to-be-born child, it leaves a bit to the imagination. They're all black and white and grainy and difficult to make out. What if you want a...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sometimes living with a bicycle is just too inconvenient. If you want to lean it against the wall in a hallway, for instance, it sticks out too much. And unless you're interested in a radical folding bike design, some...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Move over, Macbook Air: there's a new king in town, and its even thinner than you. It's the new Voodoo Envy 133, and it's the thinnest notebook around. It's a mere 0.7-inches thin, which is downright ridiculous. It also features...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Simply called the 360, this new extreme-sport item from designer Francesco Sommacal is kind of a three-way hybrid between skateboarding, in-line skating and snowboarding. A rider inserts his (or her) feet into the wheel openings, balancing as if on...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
HP just scored some big points with graphic artists with its DreamColor display, giving those eagle-eyed pros a relatively cheap LED-backlit 24-inch display that can show them astonishingly subtle differences between a billion colors. Usually, displays this good cost...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
You don't have to be a PC fan to appreciate this piece of sushi art: a roll flattened out and decorated to resemble a Windows laptop. I sure hope the fish isn't running Vista. It would feel like a...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Click on the video above to find out, but have some tissues ready. If only these guys knew about Ebay. Shredding Systems, Inc. out of Portland, Oregon has been tearing up everything from a boat's hull to a pile...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
So the iPhone 2.0 is finally out and Japanese gadget fiends will get the device on July 11th, like the rest of the world--much earlier than SoftBank’s cryptically brief press announcement indicated. But underlying all the hubbub of the iPhone...
POSTED Tuesday, June 10, 2008
As Steve Jobs' keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference droned on and on into its second hour, highlighting the virtues of various iPhone applications with silly names like Loopt and Enigmo, I started to doubt whether he was going...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
When you're as popular as the iPhone, you're bound to have some enemies. The competition is catching up, but the impression the iPhone has made on them is undeniable. Full-bodied touchscreen phones that do more than just enable calls...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
Just in time for Father’s Day (this Sunday, June 15th) is this Taylor Color Wireless Weather Station, and this one is priced right at just shy of a hundred bucks. Its 3-inch color display shows the temperature and dew...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
The new iPhone has some sweet new features. As an iPod owner, I can say that a 3G network connection, GPS, and a headphone jack that isn't completely ridiculous are great additions to an already impressive gadget, and will...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
We were worried that all that new-found 3G speed for the iPhone would break the bank, but now AT&T tells us the tariff for “unlimited” 3G connectivity will run you a mere $30 a month with a two-year contract....
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
The iPhone secret is out, and now we’re really jonesin’ for a new one. You see, we have here the old iPhone, and it now just seems like yesterday’s overpriced fishwrap. Wondering what’s so great about this new trinket...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
Surprising no one but enthralling Apple fanboys everywhere, Steve Jobs today finally unveiled the long-anticipated iPhone 3G. While that has been predicted by everyone from tech geeks to my Mom, what no one was sure of was the release...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
Steve Jobs and his Apple cohorts announced that the Apple iPhone Application Store (App Store) will be online starting in early July, and on board will be lots of software for both the iPhone and its iPhone 3G baby...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
In a grandiose act of me-too catch-up to Google, Apple today announced a suite of software that would have been revolutionary … if it had been announced in 2003. Matching Google app-for-app is MobileMe, letting users log into a...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
See that dark blue blot surrounding Denver, Colorado? That's what a strong 3G cluster looks like on AT&T's Coverage Viewer, and you'll find that kind of concentration around the major cities in the US. The lighter blue spots represent...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
A new washing machine uses just a single cup of water to clean an entire load of clothes, saving a ton of both water and energy every time its used. The secret? Little plastic chips that it uses to absorb...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
Apparently, one of the biggest pains when it comes to doing research with underwater robots is that, like people, they need to come to the surface pretty frequently. Not to breathe, of course, but to communicate with human wranglers. Not...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
In a peculiar move, Samsung today announced its Omnia phone, a sleek little number that follows the touchscreen trend that we've been seeing a lot lately. In fact, it really got jumpstarted by some phone that came out about...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
There are few things more fun than trampolines, as every kid with less-than-responsible parents knows. Sure, there's always a good chance of you launching yourself off the side and breaking your leg/arm, but that's part of the fun! And it's...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
The long-awaited day has arrived: In a few hours, Apple will (almost certainly) unveil version 2.0 of its groundbreaking iPhone. The Web has been awash with rumors about the all-new device, from the credible (it’ll be available very soon...
POSTED Monday, June 9, 2008
So let's say that the $1,000,000 Luvaglio laptop you bought last year is starting to show its age with its clunky old single core processor. It's upgrade time! But how do you upgrade from a million dollar laptop? Well,...
POSTED Sunday, June 8, 2008
Few things are as frustrating as having to ration out your cell phone use once that annoying battery alarm starts to beep. Sure, there are various devices that can give your phone a welcome boost when it's running on...
POSTED Saturday, June 7, 2008
We took flights of fancy this week, and went for a plunge into the toilet, admiring the state of the plumbing art. We explored the crazy tubs, sinks, toilet seats and faucets that are a part of an ongoing...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
If you trip whenever you try to walk anywhere near your desk or entertainment center, then you've got a problem there my friend. Luckily, rehab is quick and easy in the form of the CableBox by BlueLounge. The CableBox...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
I love bookshelves. I don't think there's a better way to add character to a room, as rows and rows of books are just beautiful aesthetically. So it's only natural that I immediately fell in love with this beautiful curved...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
Osaka robotics group Vstone and Japan Remote Control are rolling out a robotic companion that could serve as a soccer player, a nanny or simply a marketing ploy. Called Tichno, the 'bot stands just over four feet tall and commands...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
With everyone talking at SSD drives as the future of hard drives, those old platter based drives aren't looking too attractive anymore. But that doesn't mean they're going down without a fight, oh no. Western Digital has announced that its...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
Canada is about to prove itself good friends with movie studios and record companies, trying to pass the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) we’ve been hearing about for the past few months. The idea behind this proposed international agreement is...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
Now you can tell exactly when the best time would be to make babies, or maybe more importantly, to avoid such activities. Accurately measuring basil body temperature (BBT) is the key to predicting ovulation, and DuoFertility does that with...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
The Dimona Fuel Cell Plane is the first airplane to take flight powered solely by Hydrogen fuel cells, which is a pretty impressive feat. The plane, which releases no emissions whatsoever, took off on a 20 minute maiden voyage where...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
We've seen some cool multi-tools before, but this Lil' Guppie's even more versatile, and it's tiny enough to carry around on your keyring. Its adjustable wrench opens up wide, but its small overall size lets you fit it into...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
At the same time Sony was showing off its big new LCD displays, it sneaked out these tiny speakers for its home theater lineup. It’s hard to believe, but the satellite speakers in this $700 5:1 HT-IS100 Bravia Theatre...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
We're entering the home stretch of our Make a Cylon contest, co-hosted with Make Magazine. With only one week until the midseason break of Battlestar Galactica, the pressure is on! Some folks are definitely rising to the occasion, though...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
As any HDTV aficionado knows, plasma sets have better contrast than LCDs. Sony's most recent crop of Bravia LCD sets is challenging that notion thanks to LED backlighting with local dimming. The new tech means the light behind the crystals...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
Polaroid used to by synonymous with analog camera prints that developed in about a minute. Those prints cost about $1.20 each, but it was such fun that nobody cared about the cost. Then, digital cameras arrived on the scene...
POSTED Friday, June 6, 2008
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