Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

From Table to Speakerbox: K-Box Transforms Any Surface into a Speaker

sherri — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:00:00 PDT

Speakers with all their wires and complicated set-up instructions may go the way of the dinosaurs if multimedia company Kerchoonz has its way. The Scottish company recently went to market with the K-Box. About the size of a standard cell phone, the unassuming black and purple device can turn any flat surface including tables or windows into a speaker.

Using a patented "Gel Audio" Technology, the K-Box passes sound through the surface making it resonate producing some impressive bass. It has speakers to produce mid and high range frequencies. With a standard 3.5mm audio jack you can simply plug it in to your laptop, iPod, phone or gaming system and get some amazing sound.

Retailing at $74.99 plus shipping and handling, the K-Box has approximately 20-hours of battery life and can be recharged via a USB cable.

Powramid is a power strip with a difference

Kanchana — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:49:01 PDT

Have you ever seen a multi-outlet power strip that isn't boringly rectangular? Or have you even considered that it needn't always be so? Well, someone else did. And in the process, they probably revolutionized the profile of the plain power strip altogether - by designing a pyramid-shaped surge protector called the Powramid.

This 6-outlet power strip is conveniently shaped like a pyramid, and has a green LED light that acts as a surge indicator. The advantage of the new shape is multifold - the larger AC adapters can fit into the outlets with ease, the power strip itself occupies lesser space, and your device wires can be shorter than those required for a rectangular power strip. Only advantages, this one. The outlets are priced between $24 and $29.

Via The Gadgeteer.

Wi-Fi detector cap-and-shirt make you a moving status indicator

Kanchana — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:01:13 PDT

Don't be surprised if kids point at you and scream, "Look Mommy, that cap is lighting up!". Or if people around disperse rather quickly as your T-shirt lights up without warning. The good part? Well, to know that you are near a strong 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network that you can crawl into and shut out the external world. And I think that's a handsome compensation for the trouble you would have taken to dress yourself up with either this Wi-fi Detector Cap($14.99), or the Wi-Fi Detector Shirt($19.99) from ThinkGeek.

Both the cap and the shirt serve the geek-noble purpose of detecting a nearby Wi-Fi network, and also visually indicate the signal strength. And displaying this information for everyone to see spares you from having to check the availability of a hotspot yourself. Afterall, the proverbial geek is also a well-known sloth.

Via TechEBlog.

Samsung Gets Highlights

sherri — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:00:00 PDT

Yesterday, the Samsung Highlight hit shelves. A slim and curvy number, the Highlight SGH-t749 is a smartphone with a full touchscreen and style for days. With it's rubberized casing, the Highlight is easy on the hands. With vibrant colors like the bright red and orange "Fire" and the cool turquoise "Ice," the phone is seriously easy on the eyes.

In lieu of a QWERTY keypad, the Highlight has a QWERTY touchscreen that can be accessed much like the iPhone. It also has a number of customizable widgets, allowing quick and easy access to some of the user's favorite apps. The screen is has a respectable 240 x 400 pixel resolution which comes in handy when you're cruising the web on the full size web browser.

MIX STIX can help you drum your way through the kitchen

Kanchana — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:37:43 PDT

They are cooking "gadgets" that double up as drumsticks, but not of the eating kind. MIX STIX is an innovative set of wooden spoons that can not only help you rustle up your meal in style, but also aid your musical inclinations by becoming a pair of drumsticks as you flip them around.

Designed by Ignacio Pilotto & Jason Amendolara, MIX STIX are a pair of beechwood spoons, one solid and the other slotted like a musical note, and made specifically for dual use as spoons-cum-drumsticks. Sounds pretty logical, doesn't it?

Now I wonder if there is any amongst us who hasn't used kitchen cutlery for purposes other than cooking - breaking into impromptu musical compositions, for instance. Or letting your spouse know explicitly that you are frustrated with the day's proceedings, for another. Thank your stars that nobody has let their imaginations stretch as far as the latter idea just yet.

Watch out for the spoon sisters to hit Urban Outfitters stores this fall.

Via OhGizmo.

iHouse Builds the Better Faucet

sherri — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:00:00 PDT

Remember that old MGM cartoon "The House of Tomorrow," where we were given a glimpse into the future of the modern household? While it was silly and over-the-top, it got one thing right, today's house is totally different from the appliances of 1949 or even 1990. And thanks to companies like iHouse, the House of Tomorrow is closer to becoming the House of Today.

Drape fashion around your ears with Zumreed Dreams headphones

Kanchana — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:50:50 PDT

Imagine what a pair of good-looking headphones can do to your personality. The truth ? Not much. Though it wouldn't be an utterly foolish idea to be aesthetically competent now, would it ? The Zumreed Dreams ZHP-005 headphones can perhaps help you along, given that they are striped chic and are available in 5 bright colors to match with your audio player.

These retro-looking colorfully striped headphones are sure to make a few heads turn to ogle your own, and you can pretend to be so immersed in music that the attention hasn't affected you. For the more serious, the headphones specs indicate decent performance too - they have a frequency response of 20 Hz - 20kHz, a 40mm driver unit and 1.2m length of cord, and come padded with soft earpads for a comfortable fit around the ears. Enough said.

Get yours from AudioCubes at $65.99.

Via The Red Ferret.

Bandai's New Notebook: Too Cute for Words

sherri — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:00:00 PDT

Japan is known for its of out of this world tech and it's obsession with anything cute and animated (Hello Kitty anyone?). And toymaker Bandai, creators of Girlz Connect and the wildly popular Tomagotchi digital pet, sees no reason why cute and tech should ever be separate.

Their latest creation takes the adorable cartoon character RilakKuma, a lovable bear that loves nothing more than sleeping and eating mochi with a netbook creating what could possibly be the cutest piece of tech ever. The netbook is pretty standard fare with 1GB memory, an Atom N270 processor, and 160GB hard drive. Now the 8.9-inch 1024x600 resolution screen leaves something to be desired however.

Soundblock iPod speakers look like LEGO blocks

Kanchana — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:17:58 PDT

Elecom has brought out a series of docks for the iPod Nano called Soundblocks that are perhaps the most good-looking ones in the mini-dock category. They measure only 2 x 16mm, and are available in atleast a dozen appetizing colors - just so that you can match your iPod with the appropriate one. Seriously, what more could you want? Well, I for one, would like to know if they sound as good as they look.

The speakers are priced at around $42.

Via TechFresh.

Panda USB hub

Kanchana — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:09:52 PDT

Think Panda, think cute. Moreover, the one that we are going to intro is a hassle free pet that lives on a diet of data, not bamboo. Oh well, it is the 4-port Panda USB hub that deserves all the praise because it looks good, is plug-n-play, and is pretty hard to ignore. Plugging your USB drive in adorably lights up its eyes with a cool blue color that, you know, can sorta warm up your heart. At $12 it would have been an easy decision to make, if not for the hugely limiting USB 1.1 interface. Either it is that some people just don't realize what it means to make products of a minimum standard, or they don't expect to sell very much. Your guess.

Via Fosfor.

Juicy Couture Goes Geeky

sherri — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:00:00 PDT

As if the obnoxious sweatpants with their name across the ass weren't enough, the folks at Juicy Couture have unleashed their latest travesty upon the unsuspecting masses -- the Juicy Couture "Back To School" Flexi Keyboard. Hoping to appeal to the geek girl diva crowd, the rubber and silicone number comes in bubblegum pink, because as you know, women are just suckers for anything pretty and pink (eye roll). The lettering on the keyboard is done in Juicy's usual Old English lettering.

Cheap marketing ploy aside, this USB keyboard does have some good points. The rubber and silicone body lets users roll it up like a yoga mat, making it totally portable. It's also Mac and PC friendly.

The fancy pants keyboard is retailing at Nordstrom for a whopping $45, a little pricey for a keyboard, but such is the price of couture I guess.

Via CoolestGadgets

What's your favorite (imaginary) gadget?

shipley — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:22:54 PDT

After 15 happy months, my time at Popgadget has come to a close (I know, I'm sad too. But I won't cry. *sniffsniff*)

In that time, I've loved writing about the weird and the wonderful in the world of tech. I've seen some inventions that made perfect sense (every home should have a disco coffee table) and others that boggled my mind (USB breast warmers - enough said).

So this article in The Guardian about household gadgets that haven't been invented but should be got me thinking. I hate taking showers (and don't get me started on baths) but obviously I have to, or I wouldn't have any friends. And no-one would serve me in shops and restaurants and stuff.

Why has no-one invented the dry shower yet? Haven't we been taunted for years with the notion that we would one day be vibrated dry (which sounds like fun and possibly a new weight loss idea)? Get onto it engineers, please. I may not be blogging about gadgets anymore, but I'm still keeping an eye out for great inventions of the future.

What would you like to see?

Researchers get ticklish to discover origins of laughter

shipley — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:11:14 PDT

"Hi honey, how was your day?"

"Oh, pretty good - I tickled some chimps for a bit and then started in on the babies..."

Not a typical day in the office for most of us perhaps, but when British researcher Marina Davila Ross of the University of Portsmouth, England began a study to trace the origin of human laughter, she knew she was going to have to get hands on.

She and her colleagues tickled three human babies as well as 21 orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. They recorded the laughter sounds that resulted from each bout of tickling, and were able to identify some sounds which indicate humans and apes may have a shared laughter heritage. (I'm guessing they also identified that tickling babies and primates is a fun way to spend a day).

To think, at school I was under the misapprehension that science was boring.

Image: Thomas Lersch via Wikipedia.

BenQ Brings You More "Joy"

sherri — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:15:02 PDT

Make room for yet another netbook. BenQ, a Taiwanese consumer electronics specializing in LCD monitors, digital projectors, and of course netbooks. The latest release, the Joybook Lite U102 is compact, sleek and shiny just like we like it. The latest iteration of the Joybook is being marketed for the person that's constantly on the go that wants an ultra-portable perks of a netbook without sacrificing the performance power of a laptop.

This obsidian beauty comes with a high polish finish and weighs in at 2.3lbs and is 1" thick making it unbelievably light. The netbook even has a miniature AC adapter. But with all that streamlining, the Joybook still has room for a 10.1" 16:9 WSVGA LED-backlit screen. BenQ also made sure they didn't skimp on the image quality. Videos and images can be viewed in high quality HD, thanks to the 1024x600 widescreen. Unlike other netbooks with small cramped keyboards the Joybook's keyboard is a comfortable fit, 90% of the size of a full QWERTY keyboard. There's also an expanded touchpad for easier scrolling.

Birdsong radio woos its fans (for the last time)

shipley — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:15:42 PDT

Here's a sweet story, or even a "tweet" story... No, I'm not rambling on about Twitter yet again - I'm talking about real birds this time.

After British digital radio station OneWorld was taken off the air, the BBC had nothing to replace it with. So they replaced music with... recorded birdsong.

Almost half a million listeners tuned in over the 18 months "Birdsong radio" was running, many of whom, like author Sir Terry Pratchett, found it "relaxing". Some fans were city-dwellers who never get to hear birds singing in real life.

But at the start of June, the idyll was over: The BBC's new station, Amazing Radio, which will feature unsigned artists, was launched, and Birdsong radio was no more. Huh. I guess it was more of a sad story, really. Shame there isn't room on the radio for upcoming musicians and nature's own, isn't it?

Image: Wikimedia.