Posts filed under 'Wacky'
Personally, I like it when my cereal gets a little soggy. Eating it at 100% crunch can be a little challenging and prevents me from hearing my Saturday morning cartoons. But, if you like it crunchy and can’t stand cereal soup, then the Eatmecrunchy Bowl could be the answer. It’s actually pretty silly. There’s two layers to the bowl. The bottom layer holds the milk and covers just 70% of the bowls surface. So you see, 30% of the cereal falls into the milk section thus preventing soggy cereal, unless you’re a super slow eater.
Available here for $10.
May 5th, 2008
by Jeff Bordeaux
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.
April 30th, 2008
By: Jeff Bordeaux
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.
Buy it here starting at $49.
Related articles:
Seal Shield Keyboard
April 28th, 2008
We recently saw the Turn Signal Jacket. Good stuff, but not great if you live in a hot climate. The alternative? The Bicycle Direction and Brake Lamp with 8-tune Horn. Looks like it attaches with ease and available here for a measly $15. Course, to use the turn signal you have to hit a ‘far from integrated button’ partially defeating the safety it hopefully achieves. The brake light can be hooked up to the brakes, though.
[Geekalerts]
April 16th, 2008
The Hangman game was always interesting one. Here you are a kid, impressionable, told not to cause harm to others, and then your character is violently hung for misspelling. A little harsh to say the least. The 3D hangman takes a new spin on an old game. The spelling part remains intact, but the hangman goes from paper drawn to 3D. In this modern day version, the hangman isn’t drawn but pieced together via magnetic limbs for every mispelled word. The other lesson learned: don’t waste paper…at least on drawing a man hung.
Available here for about $20.
April 10th, 2008
With all the perps millin’ around our neighborhoods today, you really can’t trust anyone, especially the babysitter. Ok, ok, I hate to be the voice of skepticism, but there are some twisted folks out there. Protection is of the utmost concern, but the last thing you wanna convey to the Nanny is that ‘you don’t trust em’. This teddy bear includes a wireless hidden camera beneath its velour surface, a rechargeable 12 hour battery and a wireless receiver.
Available here for $312.
April 9th, 2008
Ever crack a fresh brewsky only to realize you’d rather drink the two brothers, jack and john? The last thing you wanna do is let it go to waste, but unlike bottles you can’t reverse the opening process. Enter the Quick Top Can Cap. It attaches to any regular sized soda or beer can and [re]creates an ‘airtight sealed chamber so the delicious fizz stays fresh for days’. But it doesn’t stop there. The cap doubles as a cup or coaster, and provides a spout for easy pouring.
Ships here for $15 (available April 18th, 2008)
April 9th, 2008
File this one under nuts. Mimicking that of a hamster wheel, the conceptual design puts a handful of rooms in a giant wheel like device. As you turn the wheel - looks like it takes some leg power - and alter its orientation it changes its functionality. In other words, turn it 180 degrees and the kitchen becomes the ceiling and the floor the living room. Hey, it might be viable in a really long tube like design. Ideal for NYC living where you often feel like a rodent anyway.
[Bornrich]
April 8th, 2008
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