The Gadget Blog » Household

Special Beer Fridge Camouflages Alcohol

Rico Mossesgeld — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:30:22 +0000

So want to maintain a nearby stash of your favorite alcholic beverage. But what about inconsiderate co-workers, who consider anything not nailed down freebies? Or what about that ever-watchful boss, ready to fire you at the sight of even the most minor transgression? Sneaking in a sip or two between meetings and long hours of pretending to be busy isn’t a crime, is it?

Enter the secret beer fridge, which hides its true purpose thanks to some simple yet effective DIY ingenuity:

Even better, the secret beer fridge won’t cost you additional time nor money, on top of the price of your typical short fridge, and the effort to locate the appropriate camouflaging material and securing it on the fridge door. Of course the whole setup starts with finding a great location that let’s you pull this off, while making sure HR won’t get on your case for running up the corporate electricity bill.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

DIY Detector Opens Doors Upon Correct Knock

Rico Mossesgeld — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:30:43 +0000

This is so cool! The brainchild of Steve Hoefer, the “Secret Knock Detecting Door Lock” attaches to a doorknob and its corresponding lock with suction cups. Upon detecting the correct knock pattern (by default, the classic shave and a haircut), it unlocks the door to grant access.

Even better, the knock detector is completely programmable. Changing the secret knock cadence is a simple matter of holding the red button while executing a new lock pattern, with a max of 20 knocks. The system simply detects the pattern, and not the tempo, providing allowance for users who knock slower or faster than usual.

But perhaps the best thing about Steve Hoefer’s Secret Knock Detecting Door Lock is that its a result of a DIY project. Conceivably, with the instructions available here, you can secure your own doors, limiting access only to people who know the correct knock pattern.

Secret Knock Detecting Door Lock

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Continue Time: The Best Damn Clock Ever

Rico Mossesgeld — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:07:59 +0000

Really awesome: Continue Time is a clock with only one hand, which isn’t as limiting as it sounds. You see, the single arm is broken into three segments, which rotate independently to represent the hour, minutes, and seconds respectively. So while the hour hand pivots on the clock mechanism, the minute hand pivots on the hour hand, and the second hand pivots on the minute hand!

Courtesy sandermulder.com

Yes, that was pretty confusing. Here’s a video to clear things up:

Due to the clock’s unorthodox form factor, and for the sake of creativity, Continue Time has no casing, exposing its mechanical innards as a “kinetic artwork” showcase.

C’mon, maker sandermulder.com! There’s no need to be artsy-fartsy to sell this product; I myself am sold. Hopefully though you guys won’t limit this creation to only 20 pieces (plus one artist proof). This is an invention that deserves selling to the world! If the massive email traffic representing interest in your product hasn’t convinced you (as reported on the product site), then I don’t know what will!

Pricing and availability info to follow. For now though the maker is pretty mum, apparently happy to bask in the fleeting flavor-of-the-hour interest focus that is the Internet.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

DIY USB Fan

Rico Mossesgeld — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:39:36 +0000

This is an old hack/mod, but it works pretty well. Here’s what you need:

An old desktop case fan
1 USB cable
A piece of stiff wire
Some electrical tape
A pair of pliers
Cutter

Here are the steps to take:

Cut of one end of the USB cable, and unsheathe the main cord it to reveal a red and black wires. These two wires pull power from a computer’s USB port.
The next step is really simple: Strip the red and black wires of the USB and the old desktop fan, then twist them together. Red to red and black to black of course
Get some electrical tape, and wrap the red wire connection with it twice. Continuing the roll, wrap twice around the red wire and black wire. This will keep the red wire from touching the black wire.
Bend the stiff wire to form a “U” and insert the “legs” through one set of the desktop fan’s screw holes. The legs should thread towards the side where the fan blows the air.
Bend the stiff wire so that you can insert both legs into the other set of screw holes, threading the wire towards the opposite side.
Cut off any slack stiff wire, leaving around half-an-inch.
Place the desktop fan on a hard flat surface, with the U on top. Push down hard on the fan frame to “finalize” the stiff wire bends.
Use pliers to bend the slack stiff wire, and hammer it into the frame to make it as flush as possible.
And voila! There you have it! A video of the entire procedure is available here.
Post from: The Gadget Blog

DYMO LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo Unboxing

Rico Mossesgeld — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:25:40 +0000

So you’ve been introduced to the DYMO LabelWriter 450 line, which is basically a duo of specialized printers designed to facilitate label printing. With the arrival of a unit for review, the higher-end Twin Turbo variant, we can finally see what comes in the box:

The DYMO LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo
Quick Start Guide
Manual
Software CD
Starter Address Label roll
Starter DYMO Stamps Postage Label roll
Power cord
Power adapter
USB cable

Within the unit itself are two label spools. It’s easy to notice the smokey translucency of the cover, and how it facilitates determining how much label supply is left. Also prominent are the jagged edges of both dispensers, which allows easy cutting with a relatively forceful downward tug.

The LabelWriter is quite compact, and intial worries about making space on the desk prove unfounded. A recession on the bottom of the unit, which leads to the USB and power ports, allow for some cable management (fold up the cord slack and tuck them into the space).

We’ll put DYMO LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo through its paces soon, so stay tuned for a full review!

Post from: The Gadget Blog

DYMO LabelWriter 450 Specs

Rico Mossesgeld — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:30:05 +0000

DYMO’s pushing a new LabelWriter line, and the company’s sending me a review unit to check out. For now, let’s be content with some product photography and specs:

Courtesy DYMO

DYMO LabelWriter 450 Turbo ($139.99)

Prints fast – up to 71 labels per minute (more than any competitor on the market)
Create labels directly from text in Microsoft Word or Outlook and other programs
Includes easy to use DYMO Label Software that makes it simple to design professional looking labels and manage address books
Quickly create a “one-off” label with the Quick Print widget
Correct US addresses and ZIP+4® codes with included Address Fixer software (Requires Internet connection)
Convert stacks of paper documents to space-saving digital files with DYMO File
LT software
Comes with USB cable, Quick Start Guide and DYMO Stamps starter roll
Up and running in as little as 10 minutes

DYMO LabelWriter 450 Twin Turbo ($209.99)

All the features of the Turbo, plus two roll printing capability
Prints address labels and DYMO Stamps postage without swapping label rolls
Maximize on productivity – load two rolls of the same labels and automatically switch to the second roll when the first runs out

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Key + Keyring Combo is Win

Rico Mossesgeld — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:46:30 +0000

Now this makes total sense: combine a working key with a keyring, and you’ve got a key that can hold your other keys! The official name, “Split Ring Key” sounds so boring though, too technical. so let’s call it the Key Keyring!

Currently for sale at Amron Experimental at $7.00 for a pack of two blanks, the Key Keyring is designed to work with standard key cutters. It’s unclear though where Amron can ship to, and the least they can do is offer bundle discounts for large order quantities. How does $600 for a thousand pieces sound? No word on where this simple-yet-useful gadget is manufactured as well. Personally, I wonder how the new configuration affects key turning, since there’s less area for the fingers to apply pressure on.

Nevertheless, designer Scott Amron deserves kudos for this now-why-didn’t-I-think-of-that idea. He’s currently selling 30% of the patent as an “investment opportunity”. It’s interesting to see what improvements Amron will apply upon access to extra cash.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

The New, “Anti-Stab” Kitchen Knife Design

Rico Mossesgeld — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:30:50 +0000

Yes, we’ve all seen movie characters get blinded by rage pick up a kitchen knife and become murderers. Turns out that scene happens more often in real-life than we like to think, but if a new kitchen knife design takes off, kitchen stabbings could drop significantly.

The Anti-Stab Knife

Debuting in the UK, the anti-stab kitchen knife can still slice and dice, but is tremendously less effective as a stabbing weapon thanks to its redesigned tip. There’s still a pointy tip to facilitate cutting through produce or poultry, though it’s now below a blunt nub which will probably only break skin in the hands of super-strong men or something.

The redesign turns the sharp tip from killer point into a potentially life-saving device. Less elongated than its predecessor, the new tip actually increases the chance of the knife getting caught on something (like clothes) before the implement can plunge fatally into the human body. Obviously, even this knife is unsafe (slashing damage anyone?); the point is to lessen the deadliness of your typical kitchen knife.

Currently there are no details on the availability and cost of anti-stab knives. Expect updates on this great development as they come.

(Thanks BBC)

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Wireless Gadgets Allow Warantless Searches?

Rico Mossesgeld — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:54:37 +0000

Apparently, thanks to ubiquitous equipment like cordless phones, baby monitors, and something called “cell phones” and “wireless routers”, the FCC can demand access to American homes.

That’s because the FCC claims that newer gadgets that use radio waves (or are subject to the same rules that have dictated the government agency’s actions in decades past. In other words, the power to search for non-certified equipment and pirate broadcasters without a warrant.

There’s a reason why the FCC wields such authority. After all, it was created to ensure that transmitting and broadcasting entities play nice and within the allotted frequencies, and prevent the disruption of communications that may have potentially life-and-death consequences. Home privacy and FCC impetus hardly conflicted when radio devices weren’t commonplace as they are today.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case nowadays, and there may be unforeseen complications. If Wired’s interpretation of case precedent and the law is accurate, this kind of unfettered access could have bad consequences:

But if inspectors should notice evidence of unrelated criminal behavior — say, a marijuana plant or an unregistered gun — a Supreme Court decision suggests the search can be used against the resident. In the 1987 case New York v. Burger, two police officers performed a warrantless, administrative search of one Joseph Burger’s automobile junkyard. When he couldn’t produce the proper paperwork, the officers searched the grounds and found stolen vehicles, which they used to prosecute him. The Supreme Court held the search to be legal.

The same article also illustrates a case where a man refused entry to an FCC inspector: “Winton was later fined $7,000 for refusing entry to the officer. The fine was reduced to $225 after he proved he had little income.”

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Study Ball Chains People to Their Work

Rico Mossesgeld — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:30:53 +0000

Straight from a Spanish mind comes an elementary way of ensuring you keep working—or that your kid does his homework. The Study Ball is literally a ball and chain contraption that automatically unlocks after a preset time.

Courtesy of Curiosite

Modern touches include a red LED clock showing how much time is left, and the apparently skin-friendly non-abrasive shackle. The classic ball remains though, and is relatively a bit hard to move around at 20-something pounds (or 9.5 kilograms for those on the metric scale).

Oh, and in case you’re curious, the ball’s diameter is 10.6 inches (27 cm) and chain length is 16.5 inches (42 cm). Three AAA batteries provide the necessary power for this residential compliance object.

Sounds a bit dangerous, especially if you suddenly have to move out of harm’s way (fire, anyone?). But the Study Ball does have an override key, and may not be programmed to imprison anyone for more than four hours.

You can buy the Study Ball from Curiosite. It costs around $115 but is currently unavailable.

Post from: The Gadget Blog