Product development. It really has no boundaries. Imagine being at a creative meeting for Spencer Gifts, how fun and irreverent would that be? Think of all the ideas that don’t even make it to production. What do people need? What do people want? American consumerism is blurring those lines more each day. I myself can be a total impulse buyer and a master of delusional purchases, thinking about all the ways I’ll use something I don’t need. Today we have the USB Beverage Chiller from Cool It Systems. The company makes a variety “Cooling Applications” for the PC and this is their first foray into the novelty gadget world. Let’s see what it’s about.
What is it?
The USB Beverage chiller is basically a cold plate with the circumference of your basic 12 ounce aluminum can. It’s a robust little guy with a small cooling fan on the back and a heatsink grill on the front. It needs a powered or dedicated USB port to work, and won’t be compatible with lower powered USB ports such as Apple keyboards. It’s shiny plastic white finish is attractive, and should fit in well near any computer.
How does it chill?
Upon plugging it in, the chiller almost immediately got cold, only taking a few seconds. We then cracked a cold beer and applied it to the cold plate. The starting temperature of the beer was 34 degrees Fahrenheit and we left it there “unsipped” for two hours. At that point the temperature had risen to 56 degrees, which means you have to drink your drink in a short period of time in order for this device to work effectively. The specs on the site says the cold plate chills to 45 degrees, but no mention to the variable of time. Also, due to the narrowness of the cold plate’s circumference, any container with a base bigger that of an aluminum can won’t fit. Gangster’s won’t be able to chill their 40’s of Old English, though tech blogger’s will have no problem jamming a Red Bull atop the cold plate. I’m sure if you got all MacGyver on it you could configure a way to expand the base, but I don’t see anybody with the time or passion to do something like that.
In the end?
There are definitely some practical applications for this device. It would be great in hot and tropical climates where your drink just sweats balls from start to finish, or you are like my roommate who is a human aquifer of Pabst Blue Ribbon. An exceptional gift idea, it should be fun to talk about whenever your showing a new person around your house. That being said, the USB beverage chiller does it’s job for the most part, provided your drink of choice is it’s drink of choice.
For Company Specs, FAQ, and to Purchase for $24.99 go here.
I always make my chain-smoking roommate wash his hands before touching my Xbox 360 controllers or to share a bowl of popcorn with me. I guess I’m a little OCD like that. Though I had no data to support these requests, I knew it was dirty. Recent studies have proven that Hospital Acquired Infections are on the rise and much of it can be attributed to keyboards and other related computer equipment that are in heavy use by multiple people. Along comes Seal Shield to help quell the epidemic. Seal Shield makes a number of Antimicrobial products such as pens, mouse pads, mice and keyboards. I had the opportunity to test one of their keyboards and see how it performed.
So what is it?
The Seal Shield Waterproof Keyboard is a fully washable, submersible, antimicrobial keyboard. You can even put it in the dishwasher and clean it using standard dish washing detergent! How cool is that? After doing some additional research on this product I discovered that the average workplace keyboard contains up to 400 times more bacteria than the average workplace toilet seat. Makes sense, I guess, just never thought about it that way, as I’m sure most people don’t. You’d also never see signs about washing your hands after using a keyboard either. I also didn’t know that Hospital Acquired Infections are among the top ten killers of Americans each year. To combat the spread of germs, the Seal Shield utilizes silver ions embedded in the plastic, heavily preventing the presence of bacteria. There in lies the aim of Seal Shield, to prevent the spread of bacteria through a fully functional medical grade waterproof keyboard that can be cleansed and washed on a daily basis.
Besides the obvious, what are the Seal Shield’s features?
The Seal Shield connects to your computer via USB or the supplied USB to PS/2 converter. It doesn’t contain any USB inputs for additional devices such as a mouse or a Bluetooth attachment. Those used to the Apple keyboards may find this annoying as all current Apple keyboards have two USB inputs, though I’m sure it was an easy design decision as these keyboards were primarily built for PC usage. It also has a rubber cap to seal the USB attachment for washing. Beyond that, it has the full range of keys and options you would expect out of a PC keyboard including: adjustable two position height risers, sleep and power buttons, number lock, etc.
Well then, how was your field test?
The first thing I did was get this thing wet. I poured a pitcher of water on it and watched the beads of liquid gather. Next I fully submerged it in a tub of water, which just looked odd. Taking it out of the water, the keyboard drained itself from specific drainage points until the bulk of the water was gone. From there I left it out for the night to see if it would dry on it’s own. The next day it was about 95% dry with some water still collected around the base of some of the keys. The night after that I soaked it again and let it dry upside down for the evening. To my surprise it was actually less dry at around 85%. The day after that I dried it sitting on it’s side, which ended up also being around 95%. The instruction card provided had nothing in regards to a drying method so your guess is as good as mine. Fortunately, the residual wetness didn’t affect typing so who knows, it might not matter anyway. The Seal Shield felt a lot nicer than any keyboard you’d find in a public place (e.g. unemployment office, department store, etc), and it had a functional and ergonomic feel, complimented by smooth keystrokes.
Any Last Words?
Absolutely. The keyboard was designed for the medical workforce right? Wrong. It was designed for dirty environments, and who better than beer spilling college students to take advantage of such a device. In fact, anyone in close proximity to beer and alcohol could make great use of this keyboard. My roommate replaced two keyboards in college due to beer flooding. I’m sure the executives over at Seal Shield have already thought of this and are bringing a plan together, or at least I hope so after this review, to target high alcohol consuming households. In the end, a keyboard that you can put in a dishwasher, and clean on a daily basis should easily outlive any normal keyboard of comparable functionality.
Starting May 1, 2008 Alltel will begin selling the Blackberry 8330 (aka Curve). Expect everything the Blackberry name has to offer in addition to high-speed EVDO Internet, a 2MP camera, GPS capability, USB 2.0 connectivity, microSD memory card expansion, a 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth 2.0 and more. Alltel’s Blackberry Curve will go for $229.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two year contract.
Panasonic has updated its Toughbook 19F convertible tablet PC to include the Core 2 Duo processor and additional memory capacity. They also plan to launch a version that includes an integrated camera. The non-camera version is available now for $3,200 whiles the camera version will be available May 2008 for $3,700. For $500 more that better be one nice camera.
Full magnesium alloy case with hand strapTouchscreen Display version: 10.4″ 1024 x 768 (XGA) transmissive, 500 nit daylight-readable TFT Active Matrix Color LCD
Tablet Display version: 10.4″ 1024 x 768 (XGA) transmissive, 550 nit daylight-readable TFT Active Matrix Color LCD with Digitizer
Dimensions: 1.9″ (H) x 10.7″ (W) x 8.5″ (D)
Weight: 5.1 lbs.
Battery Life: 7 hours, depending on use conditions
Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth v2.0+EDR
Optional integrated WWAN (EV-DO Rev. A or HSDPA)
Optional integrated GPS receiver
Optional integrated 2MP camera with 5 ft. LED flash
Security features include: wireless on/off switch; Password Security: Supervisor, User; Hard Disk Lock; Cable lock slot; Trusted Platform Module (TPM) v.1.2 security chip; Computrace theft protection agent in BIOS; optional fingerprint scanner; optional SmartCard reader
Genuine Windows Vista® Business (with XP downgrade option), Setup, Diagnostics, DMI Viewer, Online Reference Manual, Adobe® Reader, Panasonic Handwriting (with signature capture on Tablet PC version), Software Keyboard, Display Rotation Tool, Hard Disk Data Erase Utility, Recovery DVD
As first glance the Belkin Conserve is just another surge protector. Not so. The device includes 8 outlets. 2 of them are always turned on, like a normal surge protector. The other 6 can be toggled on/off with a wireless switch that can be mounted anywhere. Definitely not ideal for those always on devices (e.g. fridges, DVRs), but a nice option for those with a green conscious who’d like to turn off those energy sucking power packs.
I’m an Apple fan, so you can imagine how tough it is to win me over. The Apsire Gemstone Blue is looking pretty attractive and it’s got the guts to prove it. Included in the machine is a Blu-rayhigh defDVD player, Dolby Digital out, and what Acer calls CineDash a touch-sensitive media console. The machine is powered by Intel’s Centrino Core2Duo and is upgradable to 4GB of RAM. The upper echelon version (Aspire 8920G) supports 2 HDs each at a capacity of 320GB and rocks an 18.4″ full HD (1920×1080) LCD. The 8920G weighs 9lbs and is 1.7 inches thick. It’s small brother, the 6920G boasts a 16 inch screen and weighs 7.7lbs and is essentially the same thickness.
Additional features and pics after the ‘leap’ Other features:
Aving snapped a hanful of pics of Intel’s Classmate PC using SanDisk’s 2GB solid state drive (uSSD 5000) . The Classmate is a rugged laptop designed for ‘emerging markets’.
