OTB Gadget Blog

Archive for the ‘Strange Gadgets’ Category

Wonder why these were never thought of before,on second thoughts you are going to look a bit of a dork playing in these.

These are the table tennis paddles that are worn like mittens, effectively turning your hand into a paddle (Play Video). The mitt’s unconventional design eliminates the handle and spreads apart the front and back of the paddles, allowing your hand to slip between them. The paddle becomes a natural extension of your arm, resulting in greater ball control, faster volleys, an improved backhand, and more spin.

The table tennis mittens are available from Hammacher for $99.95.

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Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Table Tennis Mittens copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

There are times that eyes just absolutely ache.  In recent years it’s more likely that it’s due to staring at a computer for horribly long hours.  Be it because you’re a blogger, a student doing research or a student avoiding research by playing their latest favorite computer game.  After all of that, you might want some way to take the ache away from those tired eyes, which is where this gadget comes in.

In addition to those who spend too much time on the computer, it’ll help out those that get a lot of headaches and migraines.  Plus things like insomnia and just flat out tired eyes.  It will use the usual vibrating massage technique as well using air and heat treatments.  You can purchase it for $91 through Amazon.

Source: RedFerret

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Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Breo Breeze Eye Massager copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Rock and record fans alike should probably take a look at these new clocks.  Instead of just trashing old records, these have been updated and changed into clocks.  They’d be a great addition to any college dorm or a den.  What’s nice is that this doesn’t look like it was thrown together in someone’s garage within 15 minutes time.  Which is far too often the case with vintage items being turned into clocks.  It’s nice to see someone changing things up a bit.

These 45 records all feature different rock bands.  None of the clocks that are sold will be quite the same, since they have an assortment of records.  These clocks will require a AA battery to keep up and running and the clock itself measures 7” in diameter.  You can purchase the laser-cut clock for $30 through Urban Outfitters.

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Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ 45 RPM Record Clock copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

If you’re a major geek and are looking for a way to spruce up your living room, might we suggest the Tetris Chair thanks to Mexican industrial designer Gabriel Cañas?You must admit, it looks totally cool and your mind will probably be occupied with how all the pieces are going to fit together even when you’re sitting on it, sipping on a cup of hot mocha. Now this is the life – we do hope to see more and more 8-bit replicas in practical real life situations hit the market as there is always a sense of nostalgia attached to such items.

Source: Likecool

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Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Tetris Chair copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Ever seen the movie Insomnia? In the film, Al Pacino investigates a murder in an Alaskan town, but there is never any night. As it so happens, he arrived during the time where there are six months of daylight.

I always wondered if the film would have been scarier had it taken place during the six months of night. I think Christopher Nolan, the director of the film, had to make the dark Batman Begins to make up for the daylight of Insomnia. I hope I never have to live in a night that last six months.

I bring this up because a town of Inuvik was in that perpetual night, until Tropicana came to town. The orange juice company hooked up a gigantic helium balloon with about 100,000 lumens to make an artificial sun. You can see the video after the jump.

And then they passed out orange juice and filmed a commercial. Granted, it is rather a lame excuse to pitch your product to Inuvik, but a good excuse to see if you can really make an artificial sun to brighten a town that was shrouded in darkness.

At least the Tropicana sun is much more constructive than Icarus, the artificial sun/big fricking laser in Die Another Day.

Source

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[ Tropicana creates an artificial sun copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Boot and shoe dryers are definitely convenient, but they only work for your shoes.  It seems like a waste of money to spend your hard earned money on a gadget with only one function.  Instead you need something like this Universal Drying Apparatus.  Instead of just drying just your shoes it can handle other things like your clothing or even your umbrella.  It’s definitely a must have gadget for the rain filled season we’re about to begin.

The device has adjustable arms that allow for it to work in more ways than one.  Adjust the arms and it holds your umbrella, move them around again and the dryer will hover over your shoes.  Not only does it dry off your clothing, umbrellas and accessories, but it also can dry out seeds and berries.  It’s definitely a more useful gadget to have around.  This design by Olga Kalugina is unfortunately still in the concept phase though.

Source: Ubergizmo

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Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Universal Drying Appartus for shoes and more copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Normally I don’t report on anything that STIHL does, as I’m not big on leaf blowers. However, the ad department came up with a very interesting ad campaign: a calendar that peels itself off.

You can watch a video of it after the jump, and it works by simply ripping out the book binding thread that mounts the pages together. As you can see, the pages fall like leaves. I’m guessing that you probably want to keep a garbage can, recycling bin, or compost pit underneath this wall calendar.

So far as my sources reveal, this looks like it is purely a concept. I’m guessing that it probably wouldn’t be economically feasible to market a calendar that is only good for the fall with some sort of battery-powered motor to do the whole leaf-falling thing.

There would have to be some kind of timer thing to control the falling of leaves, right? What happens if this malfunctions? I would hate to get up and find that my three-month calendar is scattered all over the floor and needs to be raked up.

That, or perhaps the timer starts dropping the leaves in fast motion, like it shows at the end of the video. That just reminds me of montage scenes in movies to show the passage of time, or the last few seconds of the Bangles “Manic Monday” video.

Source

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[ This is your life and its ending one leaf at a time copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Curious Displays from Julia Tsao on Vimeo.

Okay, I usually like to have a still shot of what I’m reporting, but could only find this video. However, a picture wouldn’t say a thousand words on this, and this video speaks volumes.

These are the pixel-bots, which remind me of that supposedly top secret MIT project with the swarming robots that I reported on a while ago. Granted, the individual units here don’t exactly fly, but the designers create what is clearly the next best thing. I’m certain that these Pixel-bots are just as conceptual as that MIT one, but since they made this cool video, you might as well watch it.

As you can see, the group of ants come in from somewhere and gather together on the wall to form a screen. I think it is fitting that the screen is showing Finding Nemo, which depicts a school of fish working together to form shapes, just like the Pixel-bots.

What really makes it weird is how the Pixel-bots branch off to give reminders of who to call, what meetings to attend, and even where the lost keys are. You’ll notice how the screen goes off like puzzle pieces with each task. Then they show the screen splitting into two smaller screens. Um, if it can split into smaller screens, why doesn’t the screen just become smaller when it branches off?

Source

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Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Pixel-bots will rock your world copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

I realize that most of you cannot stand it when someone’s cell phone rings during the theater, but imagine watching a film that was dependent on having a cell phone call from an audience member during the film.

This is the technology from Last Call from 13th Street, an interactive horror film. Sometime, during the movie, an audience member’s cellular phone will ring, and it is up to this audience member to give the character on screen directions.

You can watch a video after the jump to see how the startled damsel in distress from Last Call tries to escape from the mad slasher. Yes, she actually calls an audience member during the film, and his or her voice commands tell her to go left or right, up or down, and so on.

The technology of vocal recognition is limited, but it is enough to apparently change the plot of the movie (think Choose Your Own Adventure book). Of course, in order to get this to work, each member of the audience must send 13th Street their mobile number. However, this is all taken care of with flyers given to the audience members with instructions that are carried out before the previews show.

Of course, what if the movie calls, and no one picks up. Does that mean the movie takes an even darker direction as no one will help the poor main character? By the way, this photo is from When a Stranger Calls, something that will probably need to be remade again with this new technology.

Source

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Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ Last Call movie uses an audience member’s cell phone for even more horror copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

The Hottest Gadgets of the Year

Everybody is crazy about the latest high-tech gadgets and gizmos like super-slim MP4 players that can do nearly everything except shoot laser beams, advanced toy robots with artificial intelligence that are smarter than your math teacher and can transform into racing cars, micro RC helicopters that are small enough to manoeuver in a shoebox and USB turntables that are able to shrink your vast record collection down to the size of a micro chip.

But which gadgets and gizmos are really hot this year? What are the must-have gadgets of 2007, what’s going to be big next year and where can you get all this awe-inspiring stuff for a reasonable price?

That’s a lot of questions! For starters, here’s a short list of the most exciting gadgets for winter 2007/2008.

The Top 10 most remarkable Gadgets and Gizmos include:

1. Walkie Talkie Watches are elegant high quality wristwatches with full clock function that are also real professional mobile radio communicators with voice activation. They’re perfect for hiking, biking, mountaineering and other outdoor sports and – best of all – they let you communicate for free. Can your super-expensive iPhone do that?

2. A