Archive for January, 2009
Friday, January 30th, 2009
If you have children of your own or you’ve had the chance to experience the same miracles parents do every single day of their lives, you most probably are familiar with those little things that make them feel the happiest kids in the whole world.
On the other hand, you must know how important education is, especially these days, when everything seems to be upside-down. Not to mention the fact that sometimes, due to their very busy lives and to the cliché-istic lack of time (which is almost all of the time the main cause of the distance that appears between parents and children), grown-ups often forget that the responsibility for what the little ones will become is, to a great extent, as a matter of fact, theirs.
So, if you give some of your time to your kid, then you probably had the chance to know about LeapFrog, a company that has very much to do with the so-called edutainment industry. If you don’t know what this is, then let me tell you that the word (educational entertainment or entertainment education are synonyms, and maybe now it rings a bell to you) “is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse. Edutainment typically seeks to instruct or socialize its audience by embedding lessons in some familiar form of entertainment: television programs, computer and video games, films, music, websites, multimedia software etcâ€.
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LeapFrog has just announced a brand new toddler-sized “book explorerâ€, called the Tag Junior book pal, which is expected to become available starting the summer of 2009 and to reach the same success of the Tag Reading System. The latter was especially designed for the tiny hands of children, helping them not only to discover, but also to increase the interest and the love shown towards reading. The Tag Junior library consists of nine books, delivering classic stories, adventurous characters and the original titles, which will immediately win your kid over.
The Tag Junior pal is a fascinating handheld device that helps your toddler to interact with printed board books. Therefore, whenever the child touches the base of the book pal anywhere on any page, a voice starts reading aloud, combined with amusing sound effects and all sorts of songs. If you’re curious about the way this thing works, then let me tell you it has a tiny infrared camera that is able to recognize the letters, the words and the symbols that are written on a page.
“LeapFrog revolutionized the learn-to-read category with our original LeapPad Learning System, and we did it again last year with the wildly popular Tag Reading Systemâ€, said Nancy MacIntyre, the executive vice president of product, innovation and marketing at LeapFrog. In addition, she said that “the new Tag Junior handheld gives younger children, who want the thrill of independence and achievement, a learning toy that is just right for the stage they are in and really bring stories to lifeâ€.
Expected to become available this summer, the Tag Junior System comes with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $34.99, while the Tag Junior board books are said to cost $10.99 each.
(Source: crunchgear.com)
Posted in Funny Gadgets | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
You can see the effects of the technological development almost everywhere, no matter how difficult it might be for you to imagine how something like this is possible. The truth is that technology appears wherever it is allowed to, without discrimination. Therefore, I don’t see any reason for you to be surprised of the unusual way that your kitchen environment is also affected by progress, becoming more spectacular than ever.
And, if you think about it, there’s nothing wrong with letting technology interfere in a universe that is more about art and design. But when you want to keep your food warm, while washing your hands and preparing the table for dinner, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if conductive plates would make their appearance in your kitchen.
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What you should know is that whatever designs you might have seen up until today for conductive plates, they are all in the concept phase, but, on the other hand, the technology has what it takes to make them a dream come true. The +/- hot plate is a concept created by Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow for a contest organized by DesignBoom, called “Dining in 2015â€, and it’s based on a mixture between ceramic and modern technology.
“At a time when almost every object around us seems to suddenly get Smart, from MP3 jackets to GPS cars to smart bombs, it seems appropriate to take that age-old baked piece of mud that we like our ancestors eat off of – the ceramic plate, and fuse it with contemporary technological know-how. We use the conductive properties of silk-screened gold or Amorphic Metal films in the same manner printed circuit boards or car windshield defrosters work. Hook up the plate to an electrical source and the current will run through the “decoration†keeping food stuff warmâ€.
Ok, maybe the idea of having all sorts of cords in your kitchen, at the dinner table, isn’t what you would like most, but come on! This is too good to be true!
(Source: Dvice)
Posted in Kitchen Gadgets | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
When it comes to inventing their homes and personalizing every little corner of the places where they spend most of their time, people tend to become as creative as a human being can be. As an expression of a great inspiration and a special sense of fashion, they convert all sorts of things in ornaments that make them feel more comfortable.
Who would have thought, for example, that brimmed hats (come on, you must remember them from old silent movies staring Charlie Chaplin), can turn into popular accessories for your home? If you can’t imagine how in earth something like this is possible, let me tell you that I’m not talking nonsense and that someone has come up with an original idea.
A brilliant mind (it might sound like an exaggeration, but you can’t question the fact that these lampshades are far from anything that you’ve seen so far) saw the decorative potentialities inside a brimmed hat, which is somehow weird, if I may say so. The lampshades, dubbed Jeeves and Wooster, after a British comedy series, are manufactured in the United Kingdom. They both come with a black wool felt exterior and with a fire-rated polycarbonate diffuser. There’s a difference between the two versions, concerning the interior: the Jeeves’ bowler is gold, while the Wooster’s top hat is silver. Both models are provided with a 40 watt light bulb.
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“Part of the Hidden Art Select range, these pendant lights suitable for any aspiring gentleman or conscientious manservant where class and sophistication are the essential components to illumination. […] Both exude that quintessential British combination of regimented style and eccentricityâ€.
If you are interested in purchasing these pendant lights, then you can go to the Hidden Art Shop and grab them both for £415. However, you can also buy them separately: the Jeeves retails for £210 and Wooster for £225. If not, you can always make your own lampshades! All you need is a hat and… a little bit of imagination!
(Source: gadgets.boingboing.net)
Posted in Electronic Gadgets, Funny Gadgets | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
I am not what you can call a fan of video game consoles, even if I have had the chance to read lots of things in this area and I’m quite surrounded by people who show a real interest as far as this subject is concerned. I’ve heard about Sony PlayStations and about Wii, but I have never experienced the amusement of using anyone of them.
This is why I just cannot be very enthusiastic about this concept I’m about to present in the following sentences. Though, I wouldn’t dare to argue with the fact that the Playstation Enso, designed by Harold Smook, is an impressive gadget, with a very elegant and unique silhouette.
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This original PlayStation console is based on elements borrowed from the Japanese and Buddhist Zen cultures and the major influence is a symbol called Enso, which means the glow of enlightenment. The only problem with it is that it comes with such advanced features that it won’t be possible for it to see the light of the day sometime soon. Anyway, according to the designer, this is how playstation consoles will look like in 2018, so we’ll have to be more than patient if we want to have the Enso in our hands.
As far as the features are concerned, we can put your hopes very up, because they include: 4 USB ports, a DVD drive with a capacity that is measured in terabytes and SD memory slot which is compatible with the terabyte capacity, compatibility with both DVD and CD data, wireless controls, wireless Internet connectivity, rechargeable batteries, a 3D projector that can be used for projecting 3D images, touch sensitive buttons for power and eject and blue lights that give you information with regard to the battery status. Didn’t I tell you this is one hell of a PlayStation?
Still, this isn’t all. In addition, it seems that the controllers will generate kinetic energy thanks to the movements of your hands, using it for several purposes, such as charging or capacity storage.
I’m not sure if this original PlayStation console will see the light of the day one day, but the way this devices will look like in the future it’s quite promising, don’t you think so?
(Source: yankodesign.com)
Posted in Techno gadgets | 1 Comment »
Monday, January 26th, 2009
There’s a huge difference between those who are nerds by nature and who can’t do anything about it, because this would mean to change too many things about their lifestyle in order to not be considered this way anymore, and those who feel that being a nerd is some sort of a trend that, once followed, converts into the most fashionable human being on earth.
And if we think about those accessories that makes the wearer worthy of the statute of genuine geek, then the glasses should cross your mind. You must remember the bad jokes kids made during your childhood concerning your glasses, calling in a way that was able to drive you crazy no matter how indifferent you were trying to be: four eyes. It was, and there’s no doubt about it, the offence that hurt more than any other ugly word that people used against you.
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For those who did a great job when trying to get over those moments, leaving them in the past, just where they belong, as a matter of fact, I have the greatest USB flash drive of them all. The USB glasses have a storage capacity of 2 GB of data. The bad thing about these glasses is the fact that you can’t actually wear them, but, being only 2 millimeters thin, they can be used as a bookmark. Yes, I know, it’s a disappointment you wouldn’t have expected when seeing these pictures, but the multifunctionality should compensate this disadvantage.
The Four Eyes USB Glasses can be yours as soon as you are prepared to spend $29 in order to make them yours, paying “a tribute to nerd cultureâ€.
(Source: gadgets.boingboing.net)
Posted in USB Gadgets | 1 Comment »
