Whenever I’m watching a movie and a car goes plummeting into a body of water… I hold my breath with the character in peril. Maybe it’s a sympathetic thing, or a testament to our innate survival instincts. Either way, when the character inevitably can’t open the window or door, I remind myself to buy a hand held glass breaker. The fine folks at Swiss+Tech have made such a device, but it also has 4 other useful functions. “The BodyGard 5-in-1 Emergency Tool incorporates five specific devices: automatic glass breaker, safety-blade seat belt cutter, high-decibel sonic alarm, flashing red distress light, and bright-white LED flashlight.” So in-between all those times that your car gets submerged in water or the electrical systems get shorted in a fire, you can also use this pint-sized bad boy to ward off would-be attackers. Now that’s peace of mind.

$14.99

Taged as: safety, Think Geek, under $25

Posted by Lauren in Outdoors, Gadgets
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Ever used your sink directly after someone else and were unpleasantly surprised with scalding hot water? Well now you can color code your water with this heat sensitive LED faucet adapter from ThinkGeek. Just to state the obvious; red water means hot (89 degrees or higher) and blue means cold.

I’m a little leary about the fact that this extends your faucet quite a bit (2.25 inches), but if you have the room in your sink, then I’d definitely join the cool kids on the block and get one. Midnight trips to the bathroom, tooth brushing, even simple face washing would become fun just by using this technological marvel. This LED faucet light attachment comes with two universal adapters for use with almost any standard faucet in the USA. Be sure to check out the customer action shots to see all the fun others are having.

$12.99 - $19.99

Taged as: bathroom, gadgets, home decor, kitchen, lighting, nerd, safety, Think Geek, under $25, water toy

Posted by Sean in Nerd, Gadgets
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One of the best things about being a kid who grew up in the 20th century is remote control toys. I remember the year my little brother opened up his new remote control truck on Christmas morning, and he screaming with delight. Regardless of my age, I still jump at the chance to mess around with the neighbors little remote control helicopters, or any other RC toys. In my opinion, they’re are one of the coolest things you can play with. They are great for all ages (even adults), develop dexterity in children, promote good hand-eye coordination, the batteries are rechargeable, and they are very sturdy overall.

A really cool spin on the traditional RC cars, trucks, and airplanes is the Swimming Remote Control Robotic Shark. Control your very own robot shark as he swims up to 9 feet deep in your pool, the ocean, bathtub, or anywhere else you decide to take him along. Your shark will maneuver gracefully left, right, even backwards with the skill and precision of a real shark! The hand held remote control unit is water proof too, so you can swim right along. Since it comes from Hammacher, it also has a lifetime guarantee, ensuring Jaws will be around for many summers to come.

$99.95

Taged as: electronics, fun, Hammacher Schlemmer, kid friendly, summer, under $100, water toy

Posted by Alison in Kids, Gadgets
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When a simple hand gesture just isn’t enough, use an emoticon to tell them exactly how you feel. The driving LED emoticon suction cups to your rear window and is controlled via the included wireless remote. This handy little gadget has 5 different messages: smiling face, frowning face, “Thanks”, “Back Off” and “Idiot”. Just be careful which button you press when the fuzz is behind you. Watch this YouTube video to see it in action.
$29.99

I’ve always wanted something that could express my true feelings or send a message out to others while driving, but I always envisioned some scrolling text. Another option in road-based communications is the scrolling LED license plate frame. Most geeks prefer blue LEDs because of their elite status, and this license plate frame not only has all blue LEDs, but is made of rust proof aluminum alloy for that extra bling. Programmable with up to 120 characters per message it can hold 5 messages and is controlled via included remote control.

39.99

This is only the beginning since it looks like Volkswagon’s Electronics Research Laboratory has designed a programmable electronic bumper sticker that can be used to communicate in real time with an unlimited amount of messages. [via] - Link

Taged as: auto, custom, electronics, gadgets, nerd, Think Geek, under $50

Posted by Sean in Nerd, Gadgets
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Most people aren’t aware of how germ infested everyday household usually items are, even in well looked after homes. Kitchen sponges, door handles, toothbrushes… they all fall into the category of things people don’t clean very often. I think some people misunderstand disinfecting, and wrongfully assume that rinsing long enough will rid their toothbrush of any germs. Your mouth, no matter how much you brush, is bacterium’s playground. In order to truly have a clean mouth, and a cootie-free toothbrush, you need a sanitizer. Brookstone offers a great solution: their germicidal UV light toothbrush sanitizer which kills %99.9 of bacteria, viruses and anything else mucking up your toothbrush. It holds up to 4 of your family’s brushes, even the electric ones. It works with just a touch of a button, has an automatic shut-off feature, and performs it’s job in just 10 minutes! There’s also a travel version for keeping clean on the go.

$29.95 & $50.00

Taged as: bathroom, Brookstone, cleaning, gadgets, gift idea, Hammacher Schlemmer, health, under $50, wellness

Posted by Alison in Household, Gadgets
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Photos make great gifts, photo albums are even better, but neither are as portable as this Digital Photo Keychain. As a gift, I would load it up with all my favorite family photos and send it off to a family member who doesn’t get to visit often.

The Digital Photo Keychain holds over 50 digital photos, displays them on a 1.4″ LCD screen, fits on a keychain and provides 2.5 hours of viewing time on a single charge. Everything you need to transfer your favorite digital photos is included with this special product from Brookstone.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I’m thinking this would make a great gift for that special someone if it was loaded with lots of loving memories you’ve shared together in the past. If it’s a newer relationship, why not take suggestive photos of memories you’d like to create in the future. *wink wink*

$50.00

Taged as: Brookstone, electronics, gadgets, gift idea, photography, under $50, Valentines Day

Posted by Sean in Unique, Gadgets
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The vinyl versus CD debate has been going on since since CDs first became available to consumers in the early 80’s. We’ve had 20+ years to acclimate to the crystal clear sound of compact discs, but vinyl enthusiasts still long for recordings “the way they were meant to sound”; fuzz, pops and all. As someone who falls in the middle of these camps, I’m dying to see what my old records would sound like when converted to MP3 files. I appreciate the sound of vinyl, but just can’t be bothered to flip the record every 20 minutes each time I want to hear some tunes. In addition, sometimes it’s nice to let an album (or perhaps 5+ of them if you’ve got a multi-disc player) repeat several times while I’m busy working for hours at a time. Vinyl has several selling points, but convenience just isn’t one of them.

With the InstantMusic Vinyl & Cassette Ripper, you just hook it up to a turntable or cassette deck then plug it in into a USB port on your PC or Mac. The included software lets you to convert your music to MP3 files, or burn directly to CD. It also has an awesome feature that detects the gaps between songs to divide old LPs into individual MP3 files. Just a couple years ago I remember lamenting that products like this were really expensive and/or hard to find, but now Think Geek makes them available for a mere $50. Thank you, technology!

The only problem this doesn’t solve is the room that vinyl takes up. If you’re anything like me, even if you’ve got a digital copy of your records, it’s not like you’d even consider getting rid of the originals! At least you can listen to them anytime you get the hankering, and without all that fuss of flipping, flipping, flipping…

$49.99 Windows
$59.99 Mac

Taged as: electronics, gadgets, music, Think Geek, under $100, under $50, vintage

Posted by Lauren in Nerd, Gadgets
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Over the years iRobot has brought us the ever useful Roomba vacuum, a robot that vacuums our floors, and more recently Scooba, a floor washing robot. Now iRobot has given every one the chance to make the next amazingly helpful robot with the iRobot Create. In their own words; “The iRobot Create is an affordable programmable robot, pre-assembled to facilitate the development of new robots.” Unfortunately this isn’t for the everyday person just yet as some computer programming skills are required.

In nerd speak the iRobot Create is a fully assembled programmable robot with out-of-the-box operation. 10 built-in demos and 32 built-in sensors allow you to control Create and experiment with robotics. An open cargo bay and 25-pin expansion port allow you to add your own sensors, grippers, wireless connections, computers or other hardware. Learn more about the details at the iRobot Create Crib.

Starts at $129.99

While I don’t have all the skills and experience required to make my own awesome robot with the new iRobot Create, I did come up with some ideas that would make my life better and hopefully some others. So if you use these to create the next gem in iRobots arsenal and become famous, just don’t forget to mention where you got the idea!

Idea #1:
I enjoy playing with my cats, and I feel guilty when I don’t have the time to play with them everyday to stimulate their little minds and break up the monotony of domesticated life. That is why an automated robotic cat would make an amazing invention. I’m envisioning an iRobot Create with a fishing pole type arm with cat toy on the end that can continuously and randomly fling the toy. Then continue to reel in slowly or quickly to entice a cat to pounce on the toy. Then possibly move to a new spot and try again. Bonus points goes to a robot that can make the cat toy move slowly around a corner because my cats love attacking their prey at the very last second.

Idea #2:
Everyone could use a little confidence booster now and then, so how about a complimenting robot? It could tell you how well dressed you look today, or compliment you on how well you did the dishes or made dinner. Perhaps with some kind of face recognition software it could compliment your well groomed moustache or new hair color. With a robot like that everyone would be walking a little taller when they leave the house.

Check out some iRobot Create Projects already done and brainstorm for your own ideas.
Have some ideas of your own? Leave them in the comments below and maybe someday we can all benefit from your genius.

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Posted by Sean in Nerd, Unique, Gadgets
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Turn your lights on before you enter your home with this easy to use remote controlled outlet device. Rated for indoor or outdoor use these simply go between your lamp (or whatever you want to power remotely) and the wall socket and suddenly you have wireless command of these devices.

I think this would also be great when heading downstairs for that late night snack or turning on outside lights without actually having to go outside. Visions of an instant party atmosphere also dance in my head with mood lighting, music, and fog machines being turned on with a single click of your remote. If you can think of any out of the ordinary uses for this device feel free to leave a comment to share with the rest of us.

$39.95

Taged as: electronics, gadgets, lighting

Posted by Sean in Household, Gadgets
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Inspire someone to think of alternative energy every morning as they are awakened by their water powered alarm clock. Just fill up the H2O battery in this multifunction clock and put it’s clock, alarm, countdown timer, or thermometer to good use.

This multifunction clock changes from one mode to another by a simple 90° rotation. Just rotate it to set the alarm, or view the temperature of the room, then rotate it back and it’s telling time again. The water normally powers the clock for 2-3 months before you have to refill it again. This would also make a great camping item as it requires no batteries, is compact, and rotates easily to tell you the temperature, in °C and °F, of your tent or camper.

$19.99

Taged as: eco friendly, electronics, gift idea, green gift idea, Think Geek, under $25, unique

Posted by Sean in Alternative Energy, Holiday Green Gift Guide, Gadgets
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