Posts Tagged ‘gadget’

Wooden Phones from Russia

March 18th, 2009 by Dave@LGUK
 
As seen on englishrussia.com, I give you handmade wooden cellphones from Russia. The (uncredited) maker of these handsets fully disassembles the devices and carves a bespoke, apple tree wood case for each of them. Every small part gets its own wooden enclosure - the antenna... ...the sim-card... ...the battery... ...all of it. Someone, somewhere in Russia has also created a wooden charger which was used by Chechen troops to charge their cellphones while hiding in woods... Personally, I'm holding out for the bluetooth...
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Hard Drive Drums

February 18th, 2009 by Dave@LGUK
 
Thought I'd take a quick breather in between the hectic flurry of MWC updates and look over something of the nice things I've been meaning to post for a while. First up, hot on the heels of Felix's Machines that I raved about back in January, we have another wonderful example of steam-driven music-making. I present to you the recycled rhythms of the hard drive drum machine More percussion-based curiosities in the very near...
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Where’s my silver jump-suit?

January 26th, 2009 by Dave@LGUK
 
I might be a little late on the uptake here, but last week I saw, for the first time, these giant ad-screens on the London Underground. I'm in two minds about them. Part of me is amazed at the paper-thin giant screens and the sheer level of 50's style vision-of-the-future they exude. Another part of me is reluctant to accept yet another level of intrusive distracto-vision into my daily life. Still, I guess I'll only start worrying when I'm faced with Minority Report-style hologram advertising Now - where are the jet packs and flying...
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Touch of Class

January 19th, 2009 by Dave@LGUK
 
One of my closest friends studied robotics at university, and ever since he told me that one of their most challenging experiments was to get a robot to successfully butter a slice of bread, (an incredibly complex feat of sensitivity, apparently), I have been fascinated by the subject of robot 'touch'. So it was with great interest that I watched a recent video on National Geographic which showed a Japanese humanoid robot with fingers that can pick up small delicate objects, such as straws, nearly as well as people. Watch the video for...
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Music on tap

January 12th, 2009 by Dave@LGUK
 
My recent favourite thing has to be Spotify , an application that allows you streaming access to a stunningly vast music library completely free of charge. To generate revenue the application periodically serves you ads while you're listening. This may sound intrusive but the ads are few and far between and, if they still grate on your nerves, you can buy a premium subscription which removes them altogether. Spotify has all sorts of other features like sharable playlists and themed radio stations all of which work really well. The service is still in beta but I'm really hoping this is one...
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Party in the shower?

November 5th, 2008 by Dave@LGUK
 
Maybe you want to celebrate with Obama (not literally, of course), or retitalise yourself instead of a disco nap before a big night out. Or perhaps, like the ThinkGeek team, you just want to reduce the risks of painful early morning showers, in any case the LED Shower Light might be just what you're after - or never realised you needed but now have to have! The LED Shower Light is a brilliant idea. It installs to a standard shower pipe in mere minutes. When you turn the shower on, the water powers a turbine and the LED Shower Light...well, lights...
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Links and things

May 22nd, 2008 by Dave@LGUK
 
While Di over at Designers' Block has been finding yet more marvellous artists and designers to impress us - including Alison Foshee's intriguing work with staples: Susie is giving us all the highlights from the latest edition of Let Them Eat Cake over at Style Bubble. Charles Arthur at The Guardian has some interesting graphs about the rising costs of fuel which are sure to provoke debate: And the team at Gadget Spy have got me all excited about Mini Wind Turbines - who needs fuel anyway!? And what I am up to? Well, in addition to watching you all I'm doing my...
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Apollo 13

April 17th, 2008 by Dave@LGUK
 
37 years ago today the Apollo 13 splash landed in the Pacific Ocean four days after an oxygen tank explosion in space which spawned on of the most endlessly misquoted quotes: "Houston, we've had a problem here." Apollo 13 was supposed to land in the Fra Mauro area but the explosion 3 days into the mission forced Apollo 13 to circle the moon without landing. In case you aren't familiar with the plight of Apollo 13, everyone survived. It's safe to say they didn't enjoy the ride though - there was a lack of food, water and power, making sleep almost impossible...
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It’s on the cards…

April 17th, 2008 by Dave@LGUK
 
Matthew at Gadget review bought this to my attention yesterday, the new USB Mirror Card Reader: Yes, for the woman on the go who needs to know she looks good and can read that card anywhere... It's an interesting choice of pairing and it certainly hasn't been done before but I'm not sure there's really a market for this, is there? The mirror is able to read different types of memory cards, including MicroSD, T-Flash, SD, Memory Stick Duo, and can be yours for just $15. Personally I think I'll stick with the mirror I already own and get the slightly...
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FLX

April 9th, 2008 by Dave@LGUK
 
Ooh, hello. Over at Tech Digest we get a glimpse of a dinky proposed USB drive design by Polish designer Jacek Ryn: I know USB drive designs are ten a penny these days but there's something about these I like. Maybe it's the squishiness - USB drives are often (relatively) protruding solid sticks, so to have something more organic and flexible makes a refreshing change. Maybe it's the colour - you could have a whole load of them like fruit pastilles (just don't get confused and try to eat one) - colour-coded depending what task they perform. Maybe it's just because...
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