Something that appears to be made to go along with those robotic cat ears has now surfaced called the Shippo brain controlled tail. The device is in concept stage right now, but seems to use the same technology as those cat ears. The tail is worn around the waist and is connected to a sensor that claims to sense the wearer’s mood.

The tail interfaces with a smartphone app that lets users share their mood. The user can also use the app to search for places other Shippo users found relaxing. The video shows that the tail wags slowly when a user is relaxed and wags quickly when the user is excited.

The app also claims to be able to detect when the person is frightened. I wonder if one neural controller might be able to operate the robotic cat ears and the robotic tail. I still think these are some of the strangest gadgets I’ve seen in a long time.

[via NewLaunches]

Apps, movies, songs, ebooks and location-based coupons are offered from the prototype, which is probably a whole lot better than gum that loses its flavor after about 5 seconds of chewing it. The prototype uses a Galaxy tab for a display with two Arduino microcontrollers and an NFC reader that has been embedded in the front of an original gum machine metal base.

Razorfish technical director Heiko Schweickhardt said the machine brings “the best of both worlds together” between physical and digital content. While it only took about two days to create, it’s definitely a great little idea that gets us excited about all the possibilities of how NFC technology can be used.

[via Verge]

Created by Japanese inventor Modder FRP, the system can measure the flight of air-born garbage so it can make its position to catch it. It’s controlled by a Kinect sensor installed above the room and a code written from scratch that allows it to track anything tossed in the air. Check out the video below to see how the entire thing works.

The high-tech trash bin still needs some improvements to tighten up system accuracy, but for now it’s still pretty fun to watch. If something like this could ever be brought outdoors, polluted parks and streets may never be a problem ever again.

[via Verge]

The pants have built-in air-conditioning fans designed to ensure sweat cools down the body, with each fan being visible from each side. The battery-powered fans direct cool streams of air down each leg and up toward the waist section so cooling is spread out. The pants are made of a polyester-cotton blend and only seem to come in Khaki at the moment.

Probably the biggest drawback is that the fans tend to inflate them in a kind of hilarious way that the creator describes as “like a Michelin man.” But despite looking ridiculously inflated when the fans are turned on, they may be a realistic clothing option for construction workers or other people who spend long hours out in the heat. They come in a variety of sizes and go for about $208 on Japan Trend Shop.

[via Daily Mail]

Equipped with flex sensors, touch sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers, the gloves work with a Bluetooth-enabled Windows Phone and Microsoft’s Speech and Bing APIs to translate hand gestures. Team member Osika Maxim said that their idea to develop the gloves came about from needing to interact with hearing-impaired athletes at their school in Ukraine.

Other products that are more or less comparable to EnableTalk have fewer sensors, use more wires and aren’t powered by software, still costing around $1,200. The team said that the parts for EnableTalk prototypes only cost about $75 per device. Over 350 students from 75 countries participated this year with the Ukrainian team being awarded a grand prize of $25,000 for placing first.

[via TechCrunch]

Tablets

The device your pop might be wanting the most this season is a brand new tablet. If you’re talking about a wi-fi only tablet, this means a device with all of the greatness of a smartphone – including the awesome camera, in many cases – and none of the monthly cost. An Android tablet might be exactly what your father was not expecting to get from you (and your sisters and brothers might want to chip in too if you’re low on cash, of course), and exactly what he’ll be most pumped up about – it’s got games on it, after all!

We recommend a selection from either the ASUS or Samsung stables this season, with several sizes and price-points available to you from both companies. The most powerful, sleek, and well rounded tablet for dad will be the Transformer Prime with its NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor under the hood, and the TF300 is quite similar with a few lower-tier specs (see our comparison video above) – but check out our reviews of each of the following to choose just the right slate!

• ASUS Transformer Pad FT300
• ASUS Transformer Prime
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is also a fine choice – grab it from Verizon and get 4G LTE (with a monthly data cost) for the father who wants to be connected at all times.

Smart TVs

There are several awesome options you might be considering in the next-level television enhancement world, but two stand out for us. The first of these is the Roku, a simple device that connects to your television with an HDMI cable and the web with Ethernet or Wi-fi. It’s got connections to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, and a whole lot more. Another option right along those lines is the Philips HMP2000 smart TV box – compare and contrast and feel free to chose based on user interface – it’s what you’ll be seeing most often, after all!

Our top choice here has to be the new 1080p Apple TV, complete with connections to Apple’s full collection of content and the ability to work with the iPhone and iPad for wireless control of your television. If your dad is an Apple fan, it’s really the best choice.

Smartphones

If your dad is looking to get into the smartphone world, there’s always the iPhone, but if he’s there already in the Apple world you might as well skip to the next section. If he’s looking to get either his first smartphone or a brand new smartphone upgrade, we’re going to have to give you a full array of options once again.

We’re currently having a tough time choosing between the HTC One X (with either an NVIDIA or Qualcomm chip inside, depending on which version you get), and the Samsung Galaxy S III – a device which is currently only out in international markets, but will soon be here in the USA.

If you’re not up for one of those two titans, have a peek at any of the following – they’re all winners!

• T-Mobile HTC One S
• Samsung Galaxy Note (AT&T)
• Motorola DROID 4 (with QUERTY keyboard for Verizon)
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon)

For the Windows Phone fan in you, you might want to head below – as everything above this line is either Apple-made or contains Android. Below you’ll find a Microsoft-fan’s greatest joy in smartphone form – start with Nokia and work your way down!

• Nokia Lumis 710 (T-Mobile)
• Nokia Lumia 900 (AT&T)
• HTC Titan II (AT&T)
• Samsung Focus 2 (AT&T)

Finally, if your father wants to have a Smartphone-sized device but doesn’t want a data connection (outside of Wi-fi) or voice abilities, he may well be perfectly suited for the Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 – it’s a perfectly sized smart handset without any of the monthly data cost – and the speakers are great!

Audio

I dare you to find a father in this world that doesn’t appreciate a pair of nice speakers. Starting with such excellent small pieces that work with any Bluetooth device like the Big Blue Live Wireless Bluetooth Speaker and heading up to the much brighter end of things with the BIG JAMBOX, you’ve got so many choices for standalone beat-boxes your head will burst.

We’ve also got reviews of massively powerful ear-blasters such as the Able Planet Clear Harmony headphones with LINX Audio technology or the Plantronics BackBeat GO Wireless Earbuds – the tiniest item in this category without a doubt. For the dad who needs to speak as well as hear, there’s always the Plantronics M55 Bluetooth Headset or the Jabra Speak 410 – a speaker with microphone array you connect to your computer and set on your desk for conference calls.

Have a look at this short-list of devices that blast the audio at precisely the level your father desires as well, they’re all winners in our book!

• XtremeMac Tango TRX bluetooth speaker
• House of Marley Redemption Song On-ear Headphones
• id America Spark In-Ear Headphones
• thinksound ms01 Monitor Series earbuds
• V-MODA Limited Edition Crossfade LP2 headphones

Oddities

There’s always a dad out there that doesn’t want something normal, he wants something completely our of the ordinary or so amazingly awesome that he can brag to his co-workers that his son or daughter – or friend or other relative – picked it up for him because he’s cool like that. For that dad, we’ve got this category.

Start your search with the strangest little robot in our recent review archive, the Desk Pets Tankbot. It’s got automatic mode and smart device controlled mode – both are winners, and both are able to drive your family pet completely crazy. Next on the list is the Duracell 5 Hour Portable Charger – one of a million such devices, this time coming with the Duracell brand guarantee – look into it for your USB-power-needing dad. For the dad that loves to be illuminated there’s always the Philips goLITE BLU Energy Light, and for the father that needs his wrist to get just a bit more intelligent each day, there’s the Sony SmartWatch.

Two of the coolest oddities we’ve got on deck are the Dropcam HD and the Chewbacca MIMOMICRO microSD card reader. The first of these two awesome gifts is a tiny camera that you’ll be able to set in the corner of a room and keep track of the goings-on throughout your home in stealth. The second item is a microSD card reader for your dad to be able to easily transfer data back and forth between his computer and his microSD card-toting smartphone. And it’s Star Wars themed. What more could you possibly want in a gift?

The iPad

There’s always the iPad, a gift that we’ve not yet seen turned away by anybody – a dad, a mom, a random stranger on the street – essentially no-one can say they wouldn’t take an iPad if someone gave it to them as a gift. Your father will be most appreciative of such a gift, be it the the iPad 2 which is slightly less expensive, or the 3rd generation iPad which has the brand new Retina quality display for high definition graphics like you’ve never seen before. To see other differences between the two, have a peek at this hands-on post as well as the video here:

For the father that already has an iPad, there’s always the massive amount of accessories that go with it. Have a peek at our choice selection of iPad related gear and pick the one that you love best!

• Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover
• Brookstone Bluetooth Keyboard Pro
• G-Form Extreme Portfolio
• iFrogz iPad Summit Case
• Kuel H10 and H12 stylus pens
• Moshi iGlaze for MacBook Air 11-inch and iPad 3
• Pelican i1075 iPad 3 Case

Movie Tickets

“Dear dad, here’s one movie ticket – I’ve got the other one. Let’s go see Prometheus.” That’s all your father really wants to hear when it comes down to it. Dive into our [Entertainment Portal] and see what we’ve got to offer in the world of film and head to the theater this Father’s Day – you can’t go wrong!

• Men in Black III
• Prometheus
• Battleship

This keyboard allows those who use the Vocaloid software to give real live performances of songs using that library. The software already exists on the PC, now Yamaha has turned the process into a realtime exercise. The keyboard itself is not set to be manufactured commercially just yet, but the manufacturer has expressed that they would consider such a thing if enough users proclaimed their want of a real unit. Have a peek at this hands-on video by DigInfo.tv, courtesy of Akihabara News:

Look like a system you’d be able to work with? Let us know how apt you’d be to give a live performance of digitized speech with a keyboard such as this. We estimate many would rather just go ahead and sing.

[via Akihabara News]

This lovely device comes in two parts, one being the doorbell, the other being the unit where you store your music. This latter unit also has built-in speakers so you can keep your setup as simple as possible. These units are connected wirelessly over a space of up to 165 feet, and no wires are required whatsoever due to battery-operated components on both ends. That said, you will either need to work with a USB cord of a microSD card to get music to your machine.

The microSD card slot on the speaker is able to work with up to a 32GB card and transferring music to or from the device is done with this card (sold separately) or via USB with your PC. Included in the package is easy to use MP3 editing software so you’re not not left out in the cold – get ready to arrange 10,000 songs for playing all night long: doorbell raves ahead!

The Swann MP3 DJ Doorbell is being sold for MSRP $49.95 via Radio Shack, B&H and other major retailers starting soon!

The report on this technology is titled “SpeechJammer: A System Utilizing Artificial Speech Disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback” and is written up by Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University. What you see above is a prototype of said technology, complete with a basic guide of what the different bits do in turn. As Kurihara and Tsukada note in their report:

“This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears immediately.”

They go on to note the possible uses of this technology as its developed into more advanced and physically smaller devices, noting that great things could be accomplished by it in the future:

“Communication is the most important means of resolving conflict,” say the researchers, but “there are still many cases in which the negative aspects of speech become a barrier to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, sometimes further harming society.”

Of course there’s no telling what terrible things could be done should the system and its technology be used for “evil” so to speak. Potentially terrible things on the horizon!

[via Cornell University Library]

Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest handed out 55,000 of the condoms at colleges and universities in Washington State. They were handed out to celebrate National Condom Week, and as you might expect the special condoms got around. While they were handed out only on the West Coast, check-ins have occurred all the way over on the East Coast and in all but two states.

The site goes so far as to offer the users the ability to rate their activity with things such as “The Safe Sex Was”… The choices include “Ah-maz-ing – Rainbows exploded and mountains trembled,” to “Things can only improve from here.” The only downside I can see to this is if a check-in happens to be at your girlfriend’s house and you didn’t make it.

[via NY Daily News]

This feat has brought fourth the attention of Lego themselves, who sent a congratulatory letter to the boys complimenting their ingenuity and thanking them for using Lego to do the deed. “We are always amazed by the creative ways in which Lego fans use our products, and humbled by how many unsuspecting places we appear, like attached to a helium balloon in … space,” said Lego’s brand relations director Michael McNally. At the moment just one video has been uploaded from the set of media the boys have collected, seen here:

The whole assembly consisted of a rip-stop nylon parachute that the boys tested by lobbing off their 40-story condominium unit, an $85 weather balloon, and $160 in helium from a party store. In addition there was a wide-angle video camera, a cell-phone with GPS (for locating the setup after it landed), and several more point-and-shoot cameras, all inside a styrofoam box which also held out the Lego man. The entire craft traveled to around 80,000 feed, that three times the average cruising altitude of a commercial aircraft, and fell to the earth payload intact.

We look forward to the rest of the photos and video from these two awesome scientists!

[via YouTube]

Certainly it does seem like a bit of madness to attach to your gaming controller a Hot Pocket, the choice food of super slobs and refined gamer ladies and gentlemen everywhere. But when you see this guy actually use the whole setup, it actually seems sort of convenient. On the other hand again, should I ever see anyone I know using one of these, I will personally slap them in the back of the head when they’re taking their first bite.

Watch as Ben Heck takes on this task with masses of plastic and a construction period that can only be described as insane. This fellow makes his living making such objects, you should know, so who are you to call him crazy? Truly Ben Heck is a king of the couch amongst men. Truly there’s been no greater definition for this gamer culture than this.

[via Laughing Squid]

What on earth you’d be thinking when you pick these up unless you’re one of the people involved in the company behind the two, one simply cannot guess. Crystal Rocked’s claim to fame on the Street by 50 model is that they’re the first group on the planet to have gotten sets of the headphones in for customization specifically, while the Dre headphones they’ve simply gone nuts on without any special bonus. You will notice, if you step back for a moment and see the craftsmanship inherent, that everything the folks at Crystal Rocked have touched here has nothing less that a perfectly fine quality in a big way.

Each crystal has been placed with care, and each device has had its design poured over and perfected. Notice how there’s a perfect amount of crystals placed in the logos, for example. This perfection doesn’t come cheap, of course, with the Street by 50 models chiming in at £580.00, that being something like $900 USD, while the Beats will be costing you a cool £549.00, that close enough $900 USD once again to make your nose bleed. Then there’s the older models, too – that’s right! This isn’t the first time a pair of Beats by Dre have been tricked out with crystals by this crew.

Then there’s a pair of Sennheisers in there, some Audio Technica headphones, and some Sony MDR over-ears as well. There’s even a pair of Beats in-ear earbuds! You can crystalize anything, folks, go for it!

[via Crystal Rocked]

This project has no future plans to become a mass-made or distributed product, but in that the video you’re seeing is made so well what you’ll not possibly miss the point, it’s made wonderful from start to finish. As the tree’s years rings are analyzed for their strength, says the creator, so too are they analyzed for their thickness and rate of growth, and turned into a song that describes it all. Have a peek a the manifesto for this project here:

A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently.

This project is made up of a modified turntable, a camera, acrylic glass, vvvv (a multipurpose programmable toolkit), veneer, and of course a computer. The whole thing rings in at 90x50x50 cm and again, there is only one. The artist worked with or would otherwise like to thank Land Salzburg, Schmiede, Pro-ject Audio, Karla Spiluttini, Ivo Francx, vvvv, and Rohol. Get your tissues out, lovers of nature, this is going to get messy for your eyeballs.

[via Traubeck]

The furthest I ever got with my TI-86 was a Mario Brothers port, if I’m not mistaken, and I liked playing Tetris the best. Nothing better than a good ol’ game of Tetris to make your skipping of the science class all the better. This upgrade comes from a Beta of the build that’s been out for some time, this piggy-backing on a TI-83 version of Doom from over a year ago.

This port is packaged with the Ndless program as well, this allowing you to unlock your hardware and perform your own hacks as well. The one thing we’re missing now for this setup is sound – what a world we live in! Someday maybe we’ll play Riptide – someday!

[via Hack a Day]

The tablet itself has a 9.7-inch display, has an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor under the hood, and comes out of the box with 1GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. On the front there’s a 2-megapixel camera and on the back is a 5-megapixel camera, all of this connected on a 3G mobile network and pre-loaded with Android 3.2 Honeycomb. The good news is that the battery will never, ever run out as it’s a earth-shattering 8,000 mAh!

This device comes with several odd applications such as “Electronic Public Opinion” that allows the user “exclusive” daily updates on decisions and statuses of the China high command. Another is “People Daily” which follows the newspaper by the same name, this allowing the user to keep up to date with the Communist Party releases as they come down. Then there’s the issue of buying one: it seems that you quite simply can’t.

The homepage for the tablet, http://www.w1111w.com.cn/redpad/hpxuan/, has been down for some time after the tablet hit the internet and blogs such as SlashGear. What we must assume is that they either did not prepare for the traffic or, god forbid, the Chinese government shut them down. Imagine that!

[via MicGadget]

What we’ve got now is the Mini Three, it having three lonely keys, the Aux, it having 12 keys to keep you company, and now the Mini Six (with guess how many keys, 6), and the Optimus Popularis, a full-fledged keyboard with all the bells and whistles. The original Maximus cost you something like $10,000 when you picked it up in 2007, while the Popularis is made much more viable to the average person at closer to $1000 when it comes out soon. The big difference between the original model and these is that OLED per key situation.

*Indeed what we’re seeing with these new models is different solutions to the original OLED per key on the Maximus, with the Popularis having instead a single LCD display across the entirety of the board. Over at Anandtech, publisher Jason Inofuentes noted that he felt that the buttons weren’t as “clicky” and satisfying on these new models as they’d been on the original, the key presses more than likely activating a capacitive layer between them and the display rather than the press being as mechanical as it was in the Maximus.

Each of these new models goes for a glossy plastic look with a much thinner overall design than the Maxiumus, having a much more viable setup than the original so they can attain a lower price point above all else. They still appear to be quite high quality and ready to hit the market whenever the time is ripe. At the moment, it’s looking like November 1st is going to be the date. Lebedev’s current estimates on price are $1,290 for the Popularis, $600 for the Aux, and $450 for the Mini Six.

[via Anandtech]

The 360-degree images that the Tamaggo 360-imager can take is so unique that the company likes to deem the experience as Tamaggraphy instead of photography. With patented ImmerVision Enables panomorph technology, an ergonomic design, and a 14-megapixel sensor, the Tamaggo 360-imager takes 360-degree high-resolution snapshots with ease, bringing technology used for high-end commercial and government security applications and virtual-tour technology into the hands of consumers.

The “Tamaggraphs” taken are navigable, allowing you to zoom in on details and pan around, looking above, below, and even behind you at the time the the shot was taken. Unlike other 360-degree imaging technologies that stitch together a series of snapshots, the Tamaggo 360-imager takes the entire 360-degree environment in one shot and it doesn’t require focusing. High quality images can also be cropped out of the 360-degree shot for printing.

The Tamaggo 360-imager is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2012. It’s expected to be priced at under $200.

[via BusinessWire]

Why not stock up on your cement-laden Atari controllers for the low low price of only $65 USD apiece? Truly this is the dream you’ve been dreaming of ever since your auntie Agnes told you that your glass case full of calculators was terrible to behold. Also included in this series is an Opympus 35mm still camera, a Technics turntable for all your stone records, and a 16mm movie camera without a brand — can you identify it?

Each of these will cost you a pretty penny to ship, but what price can you put on a cementified version of your favorite gadget? For a great trick, pick one of these up and switch it out with your best buddies still-functional version. You’ll have a great laugh and a memory both of you can enjoy until your gadgets really do turn into stone in the distant future. That’s what happens to plastic and metal when it gets old, right? It turns to cement, correct?

[via Unplggd]

This classic KORG Monotron is one of three different models you can get, the others going by the same name but with the word Duo or Delay after them, Teach offers a slightly different experience and set of options, and I recommend getting all three if you’re a completist or simply want a different set of colors for whatever your daily musical occasion. As it stands here, we’ve got the original, black and white with a lovely red light along the Rate, showing us how fast our ins and outs will be going, a keyboard graphic across the one strip where our finger will be our guide to electro-sound-awesomeness or total nonsense.

What you’re actually using here is two things: one voltage-controlled oscillator and one voltage-controlled filter. Power comes from the two triple-A batteries you’ve got in the back of the device and jams sound out through either the built-in speaker or a jack in the back of the device which you can hook up to your headphones or a gigantic speaker, whatever you like! The sound is controlled then by the filter which brings you sounds so wacky that only your Chemical Brothers know for sure. And you can run audio IN as well through the AUX input jack – play your electric guitar while your partner flips it out with the switches, or turn the knobs yourself and let your sound be an exacting tweak of electro-zaps.

I’ve found myself inspired to make brand new sound combinations that I’m currently working into future intro videos for my own sites as well as here on SlashGear – we’ll see how plausible they seem in the coming weeks. Meanwhile do yourself a favor if you’re at all musically inclined and never had the cash to invest in a gigantic sound board that cost thousands of dollars. Here you can pick a professional-grade beast of simplicity for just $59.99 from KORG. Ask for one to stuff your stockings this holiday season, and pick up the other two when you find out which one you’re getting.

BONUS: between now and the 31st of December 2011, you can head down to the KORG deals page and get a [$20 rebate on any Monotron]. What a freaking deal!

And your dog won’t be the only one watching the action go down, your cat and your kid will have a fit as well. What you’ll see in the hands-on video is the device running on one of its automatic modes, registering what’s in front of it to make turns and back up and flip out squawking and beeping and flaring up lights, and that’s not the half of it! This little beast gets a full 15 minutes of use per 40 minutes of charging, and the charging might be the cutest part of the whole equation. See that action up in the main picture? That’s the tank plugged in with its fold-out USB stick into the side of our laptop PC. When it’s charged to the top, it lets you know with a successful “blerp!”

In this case, the device is autonomous and does seem to enjoy pestering the pets, as it were – here are explanations of each of the three control modes:

Mode 1: In obstacle avoidance mode, the Tankbot searches for obstacles and does not travel in a straight line. If no obstacles are found, it spins around and goes to sleep. Waving an object within a few centimeters in front of the product will wake it up. If a climbing angle of Tankbot is too steep, it will reverse turn.

Mode 2: In light and sound mode, if a climbing angle of the Tankbot is too steep, it will reverse turn.

Mode 3 Control: iDeskPet Universal Remote must be aimed at the Tankbot from a distance of 1m to 3m and towards the front black screen of the Tankbot and not from behind. If the item is not controlled for more than 60 seconds, it spins around and goes to sleep.

This device can run on its own artificial intelligence via sensors dictating its path, or you can control it with your smartphone. A simple download and setup process will have you rolling around in no time, just a simple dongle deal with a couple of lights plugged into your smartphone’s headphone jack has it connected with great ease. You’ll notice in the official app that there’s a small family of these vehicles growing as you tap, catch them all as the group expands! Now we’ve only to wait and see how long it is before these little beasts learn to fly or run in the water – boats and spaceships ahoy!

You can head over to RadioShack right now for the least expensive place to pick one of these up: $19.99 and a perfect stocking stuffer you shall have. Know what I mean?

It’s the unmistakable set of Hello Kitty’s ear bow, ears, and nose, set amongst Nooka’s classic Zub Zirc face. In the upper left-hand corner you’ll find what you’ll easily recognize as an abstraction of a conventional analog clock. Below this you’ll find the minutes of the hour ticking away along a line of digitally-placed marks, along with AM and PM marks to the right of the circle. Control buttons sit around the outer bits of the face, and the whole casing is white outside the printing of the kitty face.

This device is going to cost you $130 USD if you pick it up today, and take note, because the innards as well as the outer bits are high quality. This watch has 3ATM water resistance, alarm, chronograph, date, time, and the display is TDF LCD Display that’s Electroluminescent(EL). The lens is Mineral Crystal, the case back is Stainless Steel, and you get a 1 year warranty right out of the box.

The box, by the way, is what Nooka calls an exclusive siliconezone food-grade silicone package that you’ll be able to use for cooking and general storage if you wish. What a wacky green situation! Pick this device up over at Nooka.

This little object is a bit larger than a billiards ball, but not so large as a big bocce ball. It’s semitransparent white so that the lights that shine from within can be seen, and the brand name Sphero can be seen on the side. You charge it by lying it in its stand, and it’s controlled via Bluetooth with your smart device such as your iPhone or your Galaxy S II. Have a look at this hands-on video your humble narrator filmed back at the Pepcom Holiday Spectacular 2011:

The fellow speaking and controlling the ball there is Orbotix’ (the group who made the ball) CEO Paul Berberian. Who better to show off the capabilities of the ball? Now that ball is up for pre-order sales starting at 12:01 this morning and WOW have they been jumping off the shelves. We’re waiting on the numbers from Orbotix headquarters, but given that the orders available for shipping inside 2011 are completely wiped out on http://store.gosphero.com/, we’ve got to assume things are going pretty well.

UPDATE: Yes indeed things are going well – we’ve just gotten word from the head man himself:

“We are really excited about launching pre-orders today. The team has been up since midnight making sure we are in front the community with everything running smoothly! We’re seeing a very high conversion from people who reserved early and quite the traffic coming in from the publicity. We would definitely recommend getting on top of pre-ordering if you want to received your Sphero before 2012.” – Paul Berberian

You can also pick up a Sphero on Amazon.com soon, though the portal isn’t quite opened at the time of this posting, and there are currently six applications for you to check out that’ll be working with your mobile device instantly upon release like Sphero Golf, Sphero Drive, and Sphero Blox. The first two are fairly self-explanatory in their titles, but Blox goes like this: add a collection of direction blocks in a line on your device and press play, watching your Sphero follow the dance you’ve created perfectly right before your eyes. In the dark or in the light – choose your color.

Have a peek at each of the apps available now here:

Finally, have a peek at this “A New Way to Play” video just released today as well, and take note of the moment the device jumps directly in the water:

So your little munchkin is teething, yes? And she loves to watch television because it’s bright and gigantically flashy – and she somehow figured out that the remote control was was made the visions of euphoria switch between one another. What do you do? You hand her the Baby Wood toy remote control, of course! She can dribble all over that simple block of wood with no repercussions save for much quicker cutting of those chompers. Of course, good luck to you watching TV while she’s actually pushing the teeth through. There will be yelling, so very much yelling.

On top of the remote control, there’s a Nintendo controller (in classic NES rectangle configuration with all the buttons and whatnot cut directly into the wood,) and a brand new smartphone that’ll have your baby think he’s iPhone tapping all day long. Of course you might have a bit of a time explaining the wooden nature of the device once he learns to speak, but that’s a long time away, right? Have a peek at these devices in the creator’s online store now: only $12 USD a pop!

Also don’t forget to check out our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide for a giant handful of additional selections!

Before we continue, there’s no way on earth you’re going to continue to read this post without knowing how a robot represented this man’s mother. When it came time to have Garriot’s wedding, his mother would not have been able to attend it since it was going to be in France and she wouldn’t be leaving Las Vegas. So Garriot hooked her up with a laptop interface for the robot, had the robot transported to France instead, and boom, there she was, witnessing it all, speaking to guests, and even going so far as to dance at the reception with all the kiddies. And what’s best about this part of the story is that the robot was, for this occasion, outfitted with a cardboard cutout image of Garriot’s mother so it’d be perfectly legitimate and ready to rock!

The robot itself is a model QB60 from Anybots, Inc, also known as an “Anybot QB”, and cost Garriot a cool $15,000 when it was purchased. He made the decision to pick one up when it was first decided that his company would stay in Austin while his wife would live and work in New York. Because both of them were unable to move their workstations, the stand-in robot was the perfect solution. Now Garriot uses the robot to speak with and interact with his co-workers at the Texas-based Portalarium game developers outfit while he travels to New York as well as any other place his job or personal life takes him.

Garriot notes on the situation:

“A great part of successful collaboration comes not when you’re having something to discuss, but just hearing what other people are discussing. It is a huge advantage to just feel like you’re in the room with the team, even when you’re on the road. It has been a relief to the challenges of travel. … In this era where people need to travel a lot more for work and also at the same time, we’re trying to cut down on expenses, this kind of technology is definitely a wave of the future.

The Internet is now ubiquitous. High-speed Internet allows video conferencing. The technology of a self-balancing system like a Segway is clearly something that even school kids do in robotics competitions. So this is the kind of technology that has really, truly come of age and this is a great way that this can be packaged can be put together for the service of humanity.”

BONUS straight from the Anyblog comes this video of the same model robot as written about above ordering a scone in California. Cool beans!

[via KXAN]

This tool, or I suppose I could still call it an instrument, known as K-Bow is rather interesting. In this “Polar Suite”, you’re going to hear traditional instrument sounds “processed with captured sounds all controlled by movements [of the K-Bow].” This instrument is made of Kevlar and graphite and it works with sensors and CPUs “with the feel of a traditional violin bow.” So what you’ve got is a tool that people already know how to use that can be made to create an entirely new set of results. That in itself is utterly awesome.

Kronos Quartet founder David Harringon had similar sentiments on the subject in the release sent out today:

“This is an opportunity to essentially relearn our instruments and to transform how we approach live performance. “Polar Suite,” is a very different kind of string quartet and an extraordinary sonic adventure–thanks in large part to the K-bow and what is now possible!” – Harrington

Keith McMillen, the fellow whose company made the K-Bow, has been in the computer and electronic music business for 30 plus years. His instruments and inventions surrounding music have seen such successes as being used by Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead, and now this bow is what he says is the culmination of fire years of work.

At the moment it does not appear that the concert at hand will be broadcast live, but we’ll keep our ears to the tips to see if anything changes. Hopefully they’ll record the event and we can plug it in here in the post once it goes down. Meanwhile you can check out some more details on the K-Bow in the gallery below AND see the video above to get all pumped up about grabbing a K-Bow for yourself.

Go electronic classic!

While not just one whole heck of a lot of information exists on the 65-inch display at the moment, AUO was also showing off a 6-inch transparent display they appear to have been much more liberal with as far as details. The 6-inch transparent display (which you can see at the bottom of this post) has a 400 x 300 pixel display (not too high, but heck, it’s transparent,) and a dual-emission structure. This 6-inch display is also entire touch-sensitive, and the the brightness is sitting at 400 (Top) cd/m2.

Check this vending machine out:

While it appears that only black is functional here on this fully interactive display, the elephant, the brushing of the tree branches, and the bats that carry your drink from its home to your hand are all more than impressive. And what’s best? The monkeys can be tapped until they fall of their branch and can even walk on your hand if you hold it to the display. I can’t imagine many people will have the ability to grab a drink from these machines – kids will be swarming!

[via Wrech.CC]

This spray is amazing, comes in several lovely colors, and is both without odor and without taste. Food Finish is what it’s called, and it was developed by a group called The Deli Garage in collaboration with a small food factory that generally specializes in high-quality fine pastries with otherwise also-odd food colorings. And before you ask – yes, more than likely if you spray this stuff on a wall, it’ll wash off if you lick it. But don’t quote me on that. The Snozberries taste like Snozberries.

Right this minute there are four colors, each of them sort of chrome-like, red and blue, then the obvious gold and silver. Right this minute you can pick up a single can for approximately $34 USD plus whatever shipping ends up being. Of course, again, they’re only available in parts of Europe, and again, you can’t get them shipped to the USA. Also I’ve been told by a close associate of mine that we don’t know everything there is to know yet about regular food coloring and dyes, so I wouldn’t truly recommend using these sprays without taking them to the science labs first.

[via TrendLand]

The Nymph is a little submarine that looks more like an underwater airplane. The thing reminds me a lot of James Bond’s Lotus that turned into a submarine. You might not have the loot that Branson has, but if you have $2,500 you can rent the Necker Nymph for the day.

The Nymph can go up to 30-meters below the ocean and you and a passenger can explore. The only thing that might burst your bubble is that you can’t pilot the thing. You get a pilot with the day’s rental. You also have to be SCUBA equipped because the sub is open to the water. The dives can last 1-2 hours at a time.

[via Gadget Review]

This camera could be mounted and if anyone walked into the room without permission, you would be notified on your phone and a photo of who was in the room. The switch is wall mountable and inside it is a pinhole spy camera with HD resolution. The video is stored on a removable microSD card and can be sent to a laptop with a USB cable.

The switch can be operated from your phone and it has video or photo mode. The alerts are sent to your mobile via SMS and you can actually get MMS messages with photos when someone is detected. The device even offers live video streaming access on your mobile. Each of the switches is $80 and they are available now.

And that’s not all, these prints react to backlights! Welcome back to psychedelia! What Kobundo have done is to print images to look rather unassumingly monotone in normal light, while with a backlight shining at them, they appear perfectly bright and colored correctly as they’d normally appear with no special light at all using traditional printing techniques. But how is this single pass accomplished?

In a rather simple way, as it turns out.

By taking out CMYK cartridges not needed for certain prints and replacing them with the special luminous alternate RGB inks, the first step is accomplished. Once this is set up correctly, the folks at Kobundo start up their specially formulated software created specifically for this technique, running the printer all at once for one single dual-image print.

As Keizo Ohashi of Kobundo notes:

“The effect changes according to the material we choose. So in the beginning we have to go by trial and error. Here the yellow Lamborghini turns red. But the colors might be stronger or weaker, and conversely it is difficult to turn a red Lamborghini yellow. This is something people won’t understand until they try it. People who have some experience can understand it, but in the beginning they don’t.”

“We want people to see the accuracy of these colors and once the see it they understand, because “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Rather than people just saying “It glows”, we want people to be more surprised and say “It’s beautiful!”.”

This technique can be seen in the video below, as presented by Diginfo:

Sound like a technique you’d like to try out? Finally, a gift for your weird uncle who lives in a backlight world, only emerging from his den of darkness for more pizza and video games. A delight!

[via Akihabara News]

These LED gloves are likely the successors of glow sticks. The gloves can be purchased in pre-made sets like Skittles, Bunny, and Flintstoned; or you can make your own. EmazingLights also sells Rave Masks to compliment their individual LED components and accessories. The Youtube video below highlights some experienced Glovers showing off their skill.

Gloves from EmazingLights range in price from $44.99 to $54.99. The batteries last about 10 hours, which is supposed to be a good two events for most users. The failure rate for LEDs is very low (about .01%), so consumers can buy these LED devices with relative confidence.

Going to the club this weekend? Grab a pair of LED implanted gloves and try your hand at “Gloving.” Are you an experinced Glover looking to showcase your talent? Post a link to your Youtube video in the comments section so we can check it out.

[via Youtube]

The following video depicts several wild jungle cats playing a video game app on the Apple iPad. It’s a game specifically for iPad, it’s got a free preview up in iTunes (yet not in the App store?) and you can purchase the full version for $1.99. And now without further ado, the masterpiece ad spot entitled: “‪White Tiger Plays iPad – Game for Cats Gone Wild! Lions, servals, and more!‬”

If you head over to the official Game for Cats homepage, you’ll instantly notice the similarities between it, the video above, and the video below. The video you’re about to see below is from the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Enjoy.

[Via Game for Cats]

This board is made of molded plywood and has foam and leather upholstered to the top. Although it’s made for the office, I imagine the goofiest of ladies and men would have an alright time skating barefoot with this pillow of boards. Don’t fall off though, I’ve done such a dare and it doth hurt quite mightily. I’ve also skated around campus way back in my college years, and having a board under my feet during class can be surprisingly soothing – supposing the wheels are properly greased.

Would you like your own “Secret” board by designer Carissa Carter? Too bad! This is an art project, and not made for mass consumption -unless of course you and enough other people contact her to make you one. All art projects are open to multiplication under the right kind of well-meaning duress.

[Via SnowFlyZone]

If you want to be able to leave your Christmas lights up all year without making your neighbors hate you, the LiteLocker is what you need. The LiteLocker is a system that hangs under your eaves or gutters and when open the lights show and look like you hung them just for the holiday.

The thing closes and hides the lights from view. It’s a neat idea so you only have to hang lights one time. I generally just rip mine down, breaking most of the bulbs in the process and buy new strands the next year.

The great thing about any 3D printer is not only your ability to create things you’ve modeled in a computer in a 3D realm, but your ability to create things you’d never be able to create by hand – for example, a human heart, with all of it’s inner tubes carved perfectly precisely. This particular 3D printer carves down to 0.005mm resolution. That’s heavily accurate, and so sharp you’re in more trouble of creating something that’ll collapse on itself than missing a detail.

The way this printer innovates upon others is first it’s tiny size and home usability (you can buy other 3D printers and put them in your house, of course, but this one’s like comparing a bike to a car (sizewise)). Secondly, this printer works in a way very similar to your everyday average paper printer, shooting out piece after piece of printed matter without end. Other 3D printers require you to reset everything via cleaning and re-clicking. Fun! Take a peek at the full product description below, and feel free to order one on pre-sale (coming soon!):

***Availability: Ships with a 7 week lead time. This is a Pre-sale item.***

The MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer is a breakthrough in 3D printing technology. We’ve named it the Thing-O-Matic because it is an automatic 3D printer. All other 3D printers can only do one thing at a time while the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer prints thing after thing! Buy it, put it together and enjoy being the first on your block to live in the cutting-edge personal manufacturing future of tomorrow!

Fully Automatic

The MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer comes with a new larger MakerBot Automated Build Platform v2.0 that will keep printing and printing… Automatically!

The MakerBot Automated Build Platform is truly a revolution in 3D printing. Updated to be larger for the Thing-O-Matic, it allows you to have a print queue where your machine will clear the build surface between builds by printing, then ejecting. It prints objects one after another. This turns your MakerBot into a little factory that sits on your desktop. Best of all, this is completely automated: you hit print, and the machine does all the work. Want to print 100 butterflies? Easy. Want to print an entire chess set? No problem. Want to start a business selling printed things that you’ve designed? Awesome. Have the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer do all the work while you design new things.

Extremely Reliable

The MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer comes with the MakerBot MK5 plastruder which will give you thousands of hours of trouble-free printing.

We’ve invested many hours into designing, testing, and tweaking the MK5 plastruder. The result is an extruder that is extremely reliable, and very simple to maintain. The hot end on this extruder is essentially unbreakable and the filament drive system is one of the strongest on the market. We’ve run this thing for more than a thousand hours with minimal maintenance. Changing the filament is a breeze with the filament pressure thumb screw. You can even hot-swap the filament mid print!

Higher Quality

The layer alignment is much better which results in nicer prints and higher resolution.

We’ve completely overhauled the drive system to give the optimum positioning accuracy. The entire system has been upgraded to sturdy 3/8″ diameter linear shafting. This is overkill, but you can trust that the axes will be sturdy and straight. We’ve also switched to self-aligning, sintered brass bearings. These are very forgiving to DIY assembly and provide a nice, smooth motion on the steel shafts. Last, but not least we’ve completely replaced the Z axis with a stepper driven, cantilevered stage. Guided by two of the linear shafts, this completely eliminates any Z wobble and results in nicely aligned layers. Using a high-angle lead screw, we were able to increase the speed of the Z axis from 150mm/minute to 1000mm/minute. That’s more than 6 times the speed! This means the layer changes are almost completely imperceptible and blobbing is significantly reduced for smoother prints.

Easier to Use

Connect to the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer over USB and hit print – the machine will detect its position and start printing.

The new MakerBot Gen4 Electronics have been designed to make the printing experience even easier than ever. The motherboard now sports an integrated USB port, so you simply plug the MakerBot in with a standard USB cable. We’ve also added full endstop support so that you never need to touch the XYZ axes ever again. When you hit print, the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer will automatically home itself, heat up, and begin printing. All you have to do is sit back and relax while your MakerBot does all the work. Living in the future is awesome. Oh yeah, and the electronics are all inside, so you don’t have wires dangling everywhere. This also makes travelling on the subway with your MakerBot stress-free.

The MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer kit is available for $1225 and has a 7 week lead time. Order a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D printer and get the latest in personal manufacturing technology!

You’ll get:
* Makerbot Plastruder MK5
* MakerBot Automated Build Platform v.2.0
* The lasercut parts to assemble a Thing-O-Matic CNC machine.
* 3 x NEMA 17 motors
* The hardware to assemble it.
* Belts and pulleys
* Smooth Rods and Drive system components
* Pre-assembled 4th Generation Electronics
* a USB cable to talk to it
* cat5e and rainbow cables to wire things up
* a standard ATX power supply
* a tools kit with all the hex keys, wrenches, and other bits you need to construct it.
* SD card to buffer your prints
* 1lb of MakerBot ABS Plastic to print with

Full instructions and documentation will be released on the day we start shipping this kit in mid-November.

Some tech specs on the Thing-O-Matic:

* Interface: Print through USB or print from SD card
* Size: 300 x 300 x 410 mm (12″ W x 12″ D x 16″ H)
* Build Area: 96 x 108 mm
* Build Height: 115 mm
* Generation 4 Electronics
* Supports up to 5 stepper drivers (XYZ + A/B)
* Connect over USB (no more FTDI cable)
* Optional LCD interface support (Not included)
* Full mechanical endstop support
* High current mosfets to drive heated build platform and extruder heater
* Thermocouple support for more accurate temperature sensing
* 500W Hercules ATX power supply
* Works with both 110v and 220v power
* Theoretical XY Positioning resolution of 0.02mm (20 microns or 0.0008″)
* Theoretical XY Maximum Feedrate of up to 5000mm/minute (roughly 200 IPM)
* Theoretical Z Positioning resolution of 0.005mm (5 microns / or 0.0002″)
* Theoretical Z Positioning Feedrate of up to 1000mm/minutes (roughly 40 IPM)

* Capable of printing with ABS and PLA

***Availability: Ships with a 7 week lead time***

[Via ReadWriteWeb]

A new tool for the geek that is on the go a lot has surfaced called the Screwpop 4-in-1 keychain tool. The keychain tool has a large round side that actually slips onto your keychain and is able to open that beer for you. A bottle opener is also something that the prepared geek never leaves home without. The maker claims the thing will make it through airport security as well.

The tool measures 0.435″ x 1.375″ x 3″ and weighs about an ounce. The screwdriver is a bit that has a Phillips head on one side and a flathead driver blade on the other. The inside of the keychain that holds the driver bit is a also a quarter inch hex nut driver as well when you take the screwdriver bit out of the holder section. You can order one minus the package for $4.95 or if you like to fight with a blister pack you can order in packed for $5.95.

The little tank has 1.5 quarts of water and the recruiting water thing looks like a faucet. An articulating desk lap sheds light on your fish and a panel on the right side shows off a bunch of different info. The panel has a clock, calendar, and shows the temperature

To the right of the fish tank is a holder for things like your scissors, pens, and even your iPhone. I wouldn’t want my iPhone that close to water. The thing will sell for about $40 and should be available by the end of the month.

Sharpie has evolved pencil tech with a new liquid graphite pencil that takes tech from pencils and pens and mashes it together for an entirely new animal. The Liquid Pencil looks like a pen more than a pencil, but it is erasable.

According to Sharpie it writes as smoothly as a pen, can be erased like pencil lead, and is permanent after three days on a page. This is cool, I wonder if the liquid graphite is number two equivalent. You can reportedly get a pair of them and six erasers for $5.

This board has regenerative brakes, works with sealed lead acid batteries (rechargeable, of course), and has a 24V, 400W motor. And that’s all just with the classic model. There’s also a slightly more expensive model ($749 compared to $499) called the ZBoard Pro which uses a Lithium Phosphate Ion battery which improves performance as well as reduces the overall weight of the board. The top speed of the Classic is 15 MPH while the Pro is 17 MPH, the Classic has a 5 mile range while the Pro has a 10 mile range, and both have the same length and width deck at 40 inches by 9.5 inches.

The prices you see above are for pre-orders only, with the final price once the first wave has shipped being $599 and $849. These boards have both front and rear foot pads so you can stay stable, the trucks underneath are heavy duty, as are the tires which are off-road-ready, and the whole rig has a handle for easy carrying. The bulk of the weight comes in the battery box, the motor being relatively tiny sitting in front of your back truck.

This setup look like something you’d ride all summer long? Have at it! Both models are up for pre-order right this second!