Gearfuse

I talk a lot of shit on nerds needing this but I’m guilty as charged. The whole reason I’m posting this ridiculous hub of ports? Because I need one desperately. Sure, it has a selector for use with two computers but I need this for my desktop iMac G5. Why? I have about 5 devices that I use for music production, an SD card reader, an iPhone charger, two external hard drives and my Arduino. Yeah, you could say I’m a port junkie. A 16-in-1 solution won’t come cheap, though. Expect to shell out $105 for this bad boy should you decide you need it.

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Alright. Stick with me on this one. You crazy Europeans love to created weird names for products, like The Mirror by Violet. That being said, The Mirror’ is one of the neatest gadgets I’ve seen in a long time. Hook the $60 plate up to your Mac or PC and get ready to read some RFID tags. The set includes Ztamps (glorified RFID tags) that you can stick in objects and assign actions. For instance, say you shove one inside a sandwich. When you put the sandwich on top of the The Mirror by Violet, it could open up Firefox and surf to the Scanwiches blog.

Sounds like a creative tool. I’d like to know how you’d use this cheap RFID reader. I’d probably shove some in empty CD cases so that the songs would automatically play in iTunes when activated.

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Oh gosh. I thought he’d given up on this with the economy and all. Guess not.
He’s still working on that Internet tablet prototype that he came up with last summer. Now he has a new model called “Revision B” that is going to cost $299 or more. It’s ugly, it runs Ubuntu and weighs three fucking pounds.

At this point, why you wouldn’t just buy a regular netbook with Windows is beyond me. Mikey has lost it. This is a recession and there are better, more reliable options out there compared to some heavy-ass prototype that no one has seen or can purchase. Game over, bro.

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Head on over to Woot, where $5 will get you a decent Philips universal remote called the Icon 5.

Just saying!

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Hot damn! Believe it or not, the above display and handsets are for a new platform from Open Peak called Open Frame. It lets IP-based devices talk to each other over the network and acts as an entertainment hub. Built-in WiFi and Ethernet will let you check your calendar, YouTube, text messages, address book, email and more. All powered by a new Intel Atom processor, which helps keep the design small. It looks like a beautiful interface. Here’s to 2009, hoping that some company will use Open Frame wisely.

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Portable devices are with you wherever you go. That’s exactly why Duracell wants to charge your phone or iPod. By powering handheld devices with its PowerSource Mini, Duracell can save you precious battery life so long as you charge via mini USB. Currently it comes in two forms: one for your iPod and the other to power your BlackBerry.

This isn’t any ordinary battery charger- it can power two, that’s right, two devices simultaneously with its second USB port. While it serves the same purpose as an emergency AA battery, it packs a meaner punch with a boring design. No word on the pricing or whether or not it’ll ever be able to charge inexpensive Bic disposable phones, but one things for certain: you’ll never not have enough juice to surf porn on your BlackBerry during your daily commute home.

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I manage to hurt myself multiple times throughout each given month, usually in places which are easy to fracture, such as the ankles or the wrists. Whether it’s due to clumsiness or completely accidental, the fact remains: I’m in pain. The good news is orthopedic firms are planning on using RFID implants to monitor a transplant’s performance while in use.

Orthopedic devices like a knee replacement must be calibrated to ensure correct functionality.  Surgeons need informational feedback when a patient returns for a follow-up after a procedure.  Sensors embedded in an implant could transmit that information to a computer allowing the surgeon to determine if the implant is performing to its full expectation.  Think of it as Scholastic’s Magical School Bus meets real life; identifying problems on the inside of the body while remaining outside of it.

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