Gadzooki

The Contortionist: most portable bike ever!

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I find this amazing. The Contortionist is a bike that can be folded into its entire circumference. The entire mechanism somehow folds in between its 24-inch wheels. And it leaves a couple of handles so you can drag the thing around.

From The Gadget Blog:

The inventor? A 24-year-old student from Battersea, London. Dominic Hargreaves was apparently unsatisfied with his folding bike—which collapsed on him—so he set out to design his own, with an emphasis on hardiness. The mechanical reality that makes this gadget work? The front whell, engineered to rotate and reposition to make compactness achievable. I guess the only way you can make it any more compact is if you use smaller wheels or actually engineer folding wheels.

Via The Gadget Blog.

The Music Card MP3 Player will wreak havoc with your love life

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Let’s face it, guys. Japan has always been known for their bizarre products, TV shows, commercials, and, well, porn. They also have the tendency to create massively awesome products that change the game – just look at the Playstation and the original Walkman. Finally, they also have a tendency to combine the awesomeness and absurdity of their stuff in ways that we can only barely comprehend.

And we love the them for that.

Japanese gadget maker Strapya is now selling the Music Card MP3 Player, and it’s a credit card-sized mp3 player. I know, the iPod nano’s also small (but not this small, I agree) but does it have external speakers like this baby over here?

Some key specs of the player:

  • Dimensions: 5.4×8.6cm, just 5mm thick and weighs 20g.
  • Plays MP3 or WMA format
  • 2GB internal storage
  • 2.5mm audio jack (comes with 3.5mm audio jack adapter)
  • Built-in speakers
  • 15 hours of playing time using just headphones
  • Compatible with PC and Mac

However, there’s a bit of a problem. According to a promotional video on the Music Card MP3 website, this infinitely cool gadget can actually wreak havoc with your love life:

Guess what? I don’t care if this thing will make me die alone and lonely in some basement. I want one!

The Music Card MP3 Player sells for $26.70 and it ships worldwide.

[via]

Mint Hard: Awesome Ice Cream Portable External HDD

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Guys, check out the Mint Hard.

Okay, I shall avoid all sorts of juvenile jokes with this weirdly-named external HDD. Instead, I shall ask you to check out how awesome it looks. Come on, it looks like a frakkin’ ice cream bar.

You might think that I’m just the sort of guy who gets easily distracted by shiny objects and all (partially tru- oh look a pink unicorn), let’s just look at it. It’s an ice cream bar. That can hold 120GB. And its handle isn’t really a handle at all; it’s actually an 8GB flash drive!

How rad is that?

A Must-Have Accessory: Bulletproof Pocket Square

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For once, I’m going to stop posting about stuff I’m lusting for badly, and I’m going to write about something so laughable I just had to share this with you guys. This gadget (I don’t even know if this is a gadget, but whatever) falls squarely under the “WTF is this category.”

Okay, so let’s say you’re a James Bond-esque secret agent off to a dangerous mission. You’re wearing the obligatory three-piece suit and in the middle of a poker match whose outcome will decide the fate of the free world, your opponent (let’s just assume that he bleeds out of his tearducts) brings out a gun and shoots you point-blank in your left chest. You should be dead, but guess what, the bullet bounced safely off you!

Oh yeah, it shouldn’t come as a surprise because you have in your left breast pocket a bulletproof pocket square. Um, yeah. Called “The Damned”, the pocket square is proof… Bulletproof.

From the product page:

The Damned is a Bullet-Proof Gentlemen’s Pocket Square measuring 270 mm x 270 mm made from military grade ballistic protective aramid to protect the hearts of men.

If a gun is aimed at you, fired, and the slug hits you, you will be hurt despite the properties of the square; The impact of the projectile itself is likely to fracture, crack or break your bones bones and bruise you. According to the specifications of the textile, a ballistic projectile such as a bullet will not pass through thirty two layers of this material. We take NO responsibility for those who feel compelled to test the endurance or resistance of the textile in any way.

Damn, even the write-up is sexy.

Laser Printers Can Cut Paper

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Well, you would have thought that we’ve already reached the point where we can do just about anything with the lowly computer printer, right? I mean, we have all sorts of different kinds of printers, from the ubiquitous inkjet printer found in just about every home, to the laser printer everyone in almost every office is trying to get to first to print out their reports with, but that’s all we think of when we come across printers – just a tool to print out documents and photos.

Would you believe that French researchers have found another application for printers – laser printers, specifically? Apparently, laser printers are an excellent means to cut paper. If you’ve had to print out a bunch of labels, cards and other odd-sized media and spent hours in frustration later because you’ve had to cut out the parts one by one (I’m bad with scissors though, so is it just me?), this is probably is for you.

Of course we won’t be getting printers that cut out origami for you just yet. We need paper that’s pre-printed with light-absorbing ink at the points where the cutting should occur. Imagine the possibilities for your duplex colour laser printer. Imagine all of the time saved, too.

Okay, I don’t think we can use laser printers as weapons. Tough luck for you guys planning to strap their laser printers to the nearest shark or bear and going on a rampage – it just can’t be done. You would probably have to douse your enemies with the light-absorbent ink, and I think they won’t think kindly to you pouring ink on them. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would be feasible.

That last bit of kidding aside, I think this is a fantastic new application for printers, and I sure hope I see consumer-grade laser printer/cutters in the future.

35 Tetris-like games pulled out of Android Market

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Tetris would probably be the one game that got most of us addicted to gaming. Count me as one of the people who spent hours playing Tetris, cursing silently under my breath as I painfully waited for that one brick that can get rid of the five lines I’ve already accumulated. Since this game is one of the most iconic games of all time, it’s no surprise that there are imitators abound.

But thanks to The Tetris Company, LLC (the company that apparently holds the rights to the game) 35 clones of the game have been pulled out of the Android Market. Okay, I understand that they are just trying to protect their copyright. I don’t blame them. But if you read the reaction of one app developer, there’s more to it:

Google promptly answered that The Tetris Company, LLC notified them under DMCA to remove various Tetris clones from Android Market. My app was removed together with other 35 Tetris clones.

      So, I checked online on various sources, and all of them say that there’s no copyright on gameplay. There could be some sort of patent. But besides not having a patent, which would last 20 years, so it would be over on 2005.

      It’s a shame that The Tetris Company, LLC uses its power to stop developers from creating good and free games for Android users. Without resources for a legal fight, our application and many others will cease to exist, even knowing that they are legit. Users will be forced to buy the paid official version, which is worse than many of the one available for free on the market.

I really don’t know why The Tetris Company decided to act just now, but it’s a shame that app developers consider the official Tetris App to be inferior to the clones. What do you think?

BOSS DS-1 Distortion Pedal Mouse

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Now one major factor I’m looking for when shopping for a mouse would be ergonomics. This is probably a no-brainer to you guys. We all don’t want to end up eventually with RSI or Carpal Tunnel syndrome. Mice that are shaped in a way that will hurt in the long run tends to be shunned, for good measure.

So how come I want Boss’s DS-1 distortion pedal mouse so badly? I mean, just look at it. Grab a huge rectangular box (or if you have a guitar pedal lying around), and just use it like it’s an actual mouse. It’s a pain, isn’t it? And judging from the fact that the DS-1 pedal mouse looks like an accurate replica of the real thing, the ergonomics won’t be too different.

But dammit, it’s just too cool to not own. I won’t be able to use Photoshop or play StarCraft with it, but I can probably use it for short periods of time so I can show it off to some friends.

Here’s a review from Music Radar:

Size- and layout-wise, it’s almost identical to a DS-1. There’s the usual three knobs up top and a glowing red LED when it’s plugged-in (Mick was most upset there wasn’t a blue LED option for Keeley mod fans) – there’s even two screws on the side for the ‘battery compartment’.

The main differences? Well, mercifully it’s a bit thinner than a proper DS-1, though only by a centimetre or so, but its footprint is identical, and there are no input and output jacks (there’s a mouse-wheel where the output should be).

The clickable knob/buttons are a bit odd too – they feel slightly unsteady, more like joysticks than buttons. However the side-mounted mouse-wheel is actually really well positioned.

Well, that settles it. It’s probably one of the suckiest mice ever in terms of ergonomics, but I’ll be damned if some silly thing like possible RSI stops me.

Sadly, a great-looking mouse like this won’t last for long. It was actually sold out of BOSS’s website pretty quickly after it was launched. It’s a shame. I’d gladly pay for the pretty steep £29.99 without thinking twice.

Google Android 2.2 Froyo: What’s New?

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So over at the recently-concluded Google I/O conference, Google unveiled Android 2.2, or Froyo, to the world. Now with people eagerly waiting for iPhone OS 4.0, Android 2.2 amazingly showed that Google can beat Apple, and if Google manages to get the products they announced out (oh my lord I want me some Google TV), there is a huge possibility that Apple may play catch-up soon.

Okay, so Android 2.2, called Froyo, is out. What makes it stand out? What features are going to make people dump their iPhones and go for Android handsets? Here are the top new features of Google’s smartphone operating system, taken from ZDNet:

– Improved security with the addition of numeric pin or alpha-numeric password options to unlock device. Exchange administrators can enforce password policy across devices.
– Remote wipe: Exchange administrators can remotely reset the device to factory defaults to secure data in case device is lost or stolen.
– Exchange Calendars are now supported in the Calendar application.
– Auto-discovery: you just need to know your user-name and password to easily set up and sync an Exchange account (available for Exchange 2007 and higher).
– Global Address Lists look-up is now available in the Email application, enabling users to auto-complete recipient names from the directory.
– Portable WiFi hotspot: Certain devices like the Nexus One can be turned into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot that can be shared with up to 8 devices.

Honestly, this has made me all the more excited to get an Android phone once my current phone – a Nokia E63 – dies on me. What do you think?

Rumor: PSP2 to have touchscreen, two cameras, and a powerful CPU

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Confession time: I’m never really much of a PSP guy. I know, there’s that vast library of top-notch games to consider, and the fact that six years on, the PSP still is the gadget to beat when it comes to portable gaming. Although, personally, I’m stupid enough to go for the iPod touch just for the handheld version of Street Fighter IV. Waiting – very impatiently, I might add – for the 4th generation to come out this September.

But if there are any truth to these rumors about the PSP2, I just might change my mind about the gaming console. According to VG247, PSP2 is going to have a touchscreen, two cameras (one front- and the other back-facing), and a powerful CPU. More tidbits:

  • Sony “could” announce PSP2 at E3.
  • PSP2 NDAs have been in place at publishers and developers for many months.
  • The PSP2 is based on a four-core Cell CPU. That’s just… wow. Powerful stuff there.
  • There have been “finished units” in the UK, but there aren’t any confirmations about this just yet.
  • The PSP2 could be released late 2010 or 2011, depending on the source.
  • Multiple PSP2 games are being made in Britain right now.

The picture above isn’t the PSP2, but rather a mockup. I wouldn’t mind it going in that direction. And if they manage to get touchscreen gaming right, imagine how amazing that will become. Heck, I’d even drop all my iPod touch dreams just to go for the PSP2. But remember, these are all rumors, so you better take it with a grain of salt.

You can install Android on your iPod touch

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Now if you’d like your old first generation iPod touch to be a bit more… open, wait a little while and you can run Google’s Android operating system on it.

Now the person who ported Android for the iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G is now working to bring Android OS to the first generation iPod touch. Obviously, you can’t make calls on it, but then this is an exciting project if you’d like to run an operating system other than iPod OS on your iPod touch.

It’s not quite ready for primetime though. From the developer’s blog:

Meanwhile, I am working on some stuff that is slightly more fun. Last night, I brought openiboot for the first-generation iPod touch up to scratch so that it supports all the features the other ports of openiboot support: sound, multitouch and SDIO (for WLAN) are the notable things I had to fix. Earlier today, I figured out how to drive the piezoelectric tweeter on the iPod touch.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to roll out the iPod touch binaries with the 3G binaries and get on with the real work: power management and the little details that will make Android a truly viable alternative on our three early ports.

Now I was hoping that they can get it to work on the second and third generation iPod touch, but we’re getting this all for free, right? There’s just no way we can make demands on busy developers spending some of their time to make a free port of Android for the iPod touch.

So, would you risk installing this on your iPod touch or are you perfectly happy with a good old jailbreak?