When Bling Becomes Boring
In the first of their series on the excessively luxurious, Trend Hunter named 26 gadgets that are “bling bling boring”, among them, miiSTOR’s platinum £15,500 USB drive encrusted with 456 white diamonds and a SanDisk memory core, and Philips’ heart-shaped Active Crystals 1 GB drive with Silver Shade crystals in Ceralun and polished stainless steel. There is no need to answer the question of practicality here. That much is already clear. These products are fashion accessories that happen to be useful jewelry for the tech-savvy elite, not for moneyed nerds who would be better off with Atari merch. Expect more of these boring bling to come until we can all yawn collectively.
Star Wars and HALO USB Drives
Pop culture is always a great source of inspiration. For the geek/fan in you, there are memory sticks in Star Wars and Halo designs to add to your film and games collectibles. HALO players can get 1GB USB drives in Red and Blue Spartan, and Master Chief in Olive. These retail for $69 each, or $169 for a set of three. There are two sets in the Star Wars series, made up of Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Stormtrooper, R2D2 in 4GB, and Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Princess Leia, Han Solo in 1GB, 2GB or 4GB. Prices range from $59 to $139, with special prices for purchases by set.
Image and info from dynamism.com
Lego Shaped USB Drives – Update
With so many Lego-shaped USB memory sticks out in the market today, does it still make sense to make your own? Absolutely. Lego still has not released an official version of the device, and geeks all over the world have taken to their tool shed to craft their own useful toy using easy-to-find materials. On instructables.com alone, there are three step-by-step instructions on how to encase your tiny storage plaything in a colorful brick reminiscent of your toddler years. That ought to be enough guidance and inspiration to get your started. Just keep away from the kids!
Image by evilelka
Olympic fever on USB
Did you know that the design of the Olympic torch came from the design team at Lenovo, which worked on it for ten months? The winning “Cloud of Promise” design is not only on the torch, but also on Lenovo laptops and USB drives, as the company is a worldwide sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The laptops look more impressive than the storage devices, which are only available in China. Souvenir hunters will be happy to pick these up in Beijing during the Games, but the limited distribution points to one thing: the Olympics may not be so hot elsewhere.
USB Miniquarium Has Close Encounter with Alien Life Forms
This is certainly not the first USB aquarium we’ve seen, but never has there been a population of tiny aliens involved in the festivities. Just fill this USB Miniquarium up with water and those flying saucers will have their first encounter with this plastic city, powered by a USB cable to your PC or four AA batteries. Might be a good night light for the kids.
Microsoft Surface-Gadgetlink2
Microsoft Surface is a 30-inch (76 cm) display in the form of a table, 22 inches (56 cm) tall, 21 inches (53 cm) deep, and 42 inches (107 cm) left to right. The tabletop is acrylic, while the interior frame is constructed of powder-coated steel. The platform’s software runs on a customized version of Windows Vista, and is equipped with wired Ethernet 10/100, wireless 802.11 b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.
USB Webcam with Suction Cup
Webcams that use USB connections these days are growing and this webcam is just one of them. With a suction cup option that allows you to place it anywhere including your screen, you can use your webcam at your convenience at any rate.
Video conferencing is a growing demand these days and the Webcam features and flexibility is certainly one thing consumers are looking for.
Webcams are one of those gadgets that seems to come in all shapes in sizes. While people don’t seem to create nearly as many crazy designs as they do for mice and thumb drives, you still see some pretty wacky stuff.
(Source) Geekalert
Conceptual Sneakers with Built-in LEDs to Light Your Way
It was only a matter of time before someone was bound to develop a sneaker with LEDs to light your way. (There are already LED slippers, like the BrightFeet Slippers.) Such a sneaker would really come in handy, since I always forget to grab a flashlight when walking the dog at night.
ADAM HOUSLEY’S GADGET GUIDE
With iPods, PDAs, cell phones and countless other electronic gadgets consuming our lives, how do you wade through the USB-cable mess to figure out which one to choose? Will you even understand how to use it, or will it end up in the closet along with the Betamax? You come here. USB Gadget Display is Like Vista Sideshow, but Supports Windows XP.