Video: Walking Lego Mecha
This amazing Lego mecha is, according to the authoritative Brothers Brick, the first walking Lego mecha that “also boosts aesthetics”. We take that to mean that it actually walks by picking up its feet rather than shuffling along like a burned-out meth-addict. Either way, the IR-remote controlled bot, named Element Commune, is [...]
10-03-2010 04:18:15Seatbelt Cutter and Window Smasher for Paranoid Drivers
If you have watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds, you probably already have a panic room in your home, ready for when golf-club and baseball-bat wielding psychopaths invade your house. But what of the other place where you spend so much of your time? What if you car plunges down a steep ravine into [...]
10-03-2010 03:45:22Pentax 645D: 40 Megapixels, $10,000
Pentax has gone large with the new 645D medium-format DSLR. The 40MP monster has a 33×44mm sensor to fit all those pixels comfortably, and round the back has the DSLR standard-sized screen, a three-inch, 921,000 dot LCD. For a camera of this type the 645D is cheap, at Â¥850,000, or $9,400. Pentax has traditionally offered good [...]
10-03-2010 02:47:41Google Maps Adds Bike Directions
Great news for bikers: the nerds at Google have added bicycling directions to Google Maps. It appears right alongside the other options, walking, car or public transit. It doesn’t work everywhere yet - I tried to find a way from my apartment to the local bike-polo court and Google Maps just told me it couldn’t [...]
10-03-2010 02:03:17Warpia Wireless Notebook Dock Cuts Cable Clutter
Warpia’s new Easy Dock could do with a new name and a prettier box, but the promise of the product is an enticing one: rid yourself of (almost) all cable-clutter. The wireless-USB kit consists of a USB stick that plugs into your notebook and a base station that plugs into everything else: your monitor, speakers, [...]
10-03-2010 01:31:18Quirky’s iPad Case With Two-Way Kick-Stand
Quirky’s new crowd-sourced widget, the Cloak, is a rather clever and good-looking iPad case. The rubber and plastic construction goes with the already established book-cover metaphor, and adds a few twists. We predict a huge market for iPad cases. That may seem obvious, given the amount of protective sheathes out there for iPods and iPhones, but [...]
10-03-2010 12:55:25Just How Fast Is Cisco’s New Router? Really Freaking Fast
Cisco Tuesday announced a new router, the CRS-3, that it says is capable of delivering 322 terabits per second. Now, we don’t usually cover routers and similar enterprise hardware here in Gadget Lab, but this one’s worth a brief mention. Let’s leave aside Cisco’s breathless hype (it will “forever change the internet” — yeah, we’ll believe [...]
09-03-2010 10:39:43MacHeist Packs Killer Mac Apps Into $20 ‘NanoBundle’
MacHeist, an annual Mac software promotion, is nearing the end of its NanoBundle sale. At the last minute, the bundle just added our favorite Twitter app Tweetie. Other apps in the MacHeist NanoBundle include Flow, an FTP app, Tales of Monkey Island, a five-episode adventure game, and RipIt, a DVD ripping utility, among others. With the [...]
09-03-2010 08:10:55Apple’s Secret iPhone Developer Agreement Goes Public
The first rule of the iPhone developer program is: You do not talk about the iPhone developer program. Before you create software for the iPhone, Apple demands that you sign away a laundry list of rights, including the ability to sell rejected apps through other channels, the ability to sue Apple for more than $50, and [...]
09-03-2010 07:56:04Safe and Affordable Jetpack: Just $90,000
For years, man has been trying to build a jetpack which would actually be safe and cheap enough to use by anyone other than Lee Majors on the title sequence of The Fall Guy. It turns out that we’ve been doing it wrong. Instead of starting with a pack and adding on the jet, we [...]
09-03-2010 04:34:04It’s Beer O’Clock! Watch Has Built-In Bottle Opener
The only way to be truly prepared for every alcoholic emergency is to always carry a bottle opener with you, but this is, of course, impractical and easy to forget. So what about building an opener into something that you do always carry with you? That’s exactly what the Happy Hour Watch is for. The quartz [...]
09-03-2010 03:29:04Messenger Laptop Bags, Made From Cement Sacks
With the PPC paper laptop bag, you can carry your computer, help the environment and learn how to mix cement, all at the same time. PPC stands for “Pretoria Portland Cement”, and the bags are made from the South African company’s cement bags (hence the instructions). We have a feeling that the material was chosen for [...]
09-03-2010 03:08:46Flash-Cart Lets You Play SNES ROMs on Original Console
I’m a big fan of retro-gaming, mostly because I can play Streetfighter II with my feet, whereas I am hopeless with anything more modern (I once played Left 4 Dead with fellow gadget-blogger John Brownlee and ended up just walking in circles). I dig emulators, but there’s something about playing Mario Kart with the proper [...]
09-03-2010 02:28:31Korean iPhone Sausage Now Available in US
Just one month ago we brought innuendo-laden news of the Korean sausage, a meaty snack that was being used by commuters to control their iPhones whilst still wearing gloves. It turned out that the meat-sticks worked just like a human finger, even while still inside their plastic covers. Now, you too can join those innovative cold-weather [...]
09-03-2010 01:48:58MSI Wind Lasts 15-Hours On One Charge
MSI’s new Wind netbook uses the low-power Intel Atom N450 “Pine Trail” CPU and manages to get an almost ridiculous 15-hours of battery life. Even if we viciously slash that time in half, to simulate real-life use, seven hours is impressive on a mere six-cell battery, and we’d expect something close to ten. The specs are [...]
09-03-2010 01:43:05