Archive for: June 1, 2009

If there’s one thing I dislike more than folding laundry, it’s doing the dishes. But they’ve got to get done somehow, because I hate having a dirty kitchen more than either of those things. (Credit: Ubergizmo) Electrolux is always coming up with creative ways to keep your … Originally posted at Appliances & Kitchen Gadgets

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Concept dishwasher is full of hot air

By Andrew Liszewski If you’re looking for an extremely stripped down way to play media files on a hard drive through your HDTV, this SATA hard drive adapter from Brando is as simple as it’s ever going to get. (Until hard drives themselves get an HDMI connector that is.) It functions like a standard SATA USB adapter, allowing you to connect either a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA hard drive to your PC via USB, but it doubles as a media player too, letting you connect the drive to your hi-def TV via HDMI, without the need for a computer in-between. It supports pretty much every type of multimedia file you could ever want to play, from MPEGs to VOBs to the all important Divx files when it comes to video, and MP3s, WAVs and even AC3 when it comes to audio. It also comes with a decent sized remote for controlling playback, a basic composite video breakout AV cable and a universal AC adapter, and you can order one now from Brando for $69. [ SATA HDD Multi-Media Player Adapter ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

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SATA HDD Multi-Media Player Adapter

By Shane McGlaun Being a guy in the south cooking on the grill is a way of life. We don’t wait for good weather; all we need is an open flame and a pair of tongs. The cardinal rules are don’t overcook the steaks and keep the wife away from the grill. Most guys know that when you are cooking a good steak, you don’t just cut it open to see if it’s done. You have to use a thermometer. The catch is that if you are inside cooking something else and the grill flares up you can have a burnt steak quickly. Brookstone has a wireless grill thermometer that will let you know when your steak is done without you having to cut it open to see how pink it is. The device has a temp probe you ram into the steak and a wireless transmitter with a 300-foot range. The receiver clips on your belt, tells what temperature the meat is at, and speaks to you saying “almost done” and “done” so you know when to take the steaks off the grill. If your steak jumps from 140 to 300 degrees, you can also run out and put out the flames before your dinner is a crispy mess. [ Brookstone ]

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Talking Wireless Grill Thermometer Helps Cook Steak

By Shane McGlaun Keeping the games, controllers and game console tidy and stored out of the way when not in use can be a big issue for some users. Entertainment centers are often too small often leaving a tangled mess of wires and games lying around. A new storage product for game consoles and accessories called Game On has been unveiled. The device can be mounted to the wall and has an upper shelf that holds games and a lower shelf that holds the game console itself. On the sides of the storage center are brackets that can hold up to four controllers or guitar accessories. Game On is available in black, white, green, blue, red, and yellow for $59.99. Exactly how the system mounts to the wall isn’t made clear, I would assume it screws in. I just hope that the Game on attaches securely, it would really suck for it to fall off the wall and break your console. [ Game On ]

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Game On Stores Game Consoles and Gear on the Wall

By Shane McGlaun One of the features I have often wished that my iPhone had is the ability to be wirelessly synced to iTunes. I can never seem to find my charge and synchronize cable when I need it. The iPhone has Wi-Fi and wireless sync seems like something Apple could offer. Until the feature is offered by Apple, Alereon has announced that it will be debuting a new iPhone accessory at Computex that will allow wireless synchronization and more. The accessory features one of Alereon’s wireless USB chips inside allowing for full-speed USB connectivity to a Mac or PC without needing a wire. The gadget connects to the charge port of the iPhone or an iPod and has an internal battery. The battery inside the accessory gives the iPhone or iPod longer runtime between charges. No drivers are required for the wireless sync to work according to Alereon. Pricing and availability are unknown. [ Alereon ]

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Alereon to Debut Wireless Sync Accessory for iPhone

By Andrew Liszewski This Manual Hard Drive Destroyer kind of reminds me of those hand-cranked quarter stamping machines you see all over touristy towns like Las Vegas. But this contraption doesn’t leave your hard drives imprinted with an image of the Luxor. Oh no. Once you’ve inserted your drive, using one of the drive height adapters as needed, you simply turn the handle 8 full rotations and the hard drive will be bent in half ‘approximately’ 90 degrees. And that mangling will pretty much guarantee the platters won’t be able to spin any more, preventing unwanted users from accessing its data. Now I’m not 100% sure if the data is completely destroyed via this method, as there has to be some government agency with the ability to read even a bent drive, but in a pinch it could at least buy you some time before an incriminating file is recovered. [ The Model MHDD - Manual Hard Drive Destroyer ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

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Manual Hard Drive Destroyer Looks Like Fun

By Andrew Liszewski Wow, this is definitely one of those toys you wish you had thought of first. It’s gonna be a nightmare trying to find these on store shelves come Christmas time. I’m glad I only ever get my friend’s kids war bonds. [ YouTube - Turbo Heather Xtreme ] VIA [ BuzzFeed ]

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Turbo Heather - Xtreme Radio Controlled Southern Belles

By Evan Ackerman There was a lot of cool stuff at Maker Faire this year. Like, seriously, a lot. I was there for both days and I didn’t feel like I managed to see everything, although my sore feet and full memory cards would beg to differ. Gallery of pics, after the jump. Can’t tell what something is? Post in the comments and I’ll give you my best guess.

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Maker Faire 2009 Gallery

By Evan Ackerman One of the most popular attractions at Maker Faire are the Tesla coils. There were several scattered around, although the most prominent are the twin 10-foot coils constructed by Nevada Lightning Lab. The coils have no problem bridging a 25 foot gap with several million volt discharges, and they can wirelessly power nearby electronics as well as cook hot dogs. There was also a somewhat smaller (okay, WAY smaller) coil from the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. It was a sparky little guy, though, and a brave grad student (or a not-so-brave one who knows how electricity works) donned a suit of metal armor and did battle with the electrons. More pics, including a lovely closeup of a discharge and a long exposure of a three phase Jacob’s ladder, after the jump. [ Nevada Lightning Lab ] [ SCIPP ]

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Maker Faire 2009: Tesla Coils

By Andrew Liszewski CES is a veritable playground of every type of electronic device you can think of, but one of the things that really caught my eye at this year’s show was a line of laptop bags and gear cases of all things. Now if you’re the type who just crams all of their toys in a bag and couldn’t care less about what happens to them, there’s a good chance you’ll have no interest in this post. But if you’re like me and need to be assured your stuff isn’t going to get dinged or scratched up in transport, you might want to take a few seconds and check out my hands-on look at the Cocoon laptop bag. I was sent the company’s 15-inch laptop case to have a look at, which they describe as having “an ultra-simplified form factor that is streamlined for performance without theatrics.” And they’re not kidding. The bag features a shock absorbent molded case which is extremely clean and simple. I don’t know about you, but I don’t necessarily want to draw attention to myself when carrying around a bag with a laptop and other expensive electronics inside, and the Cocoon feels like it will go mostly unnoticed, which is great. One addition I’d maybe like to see is a set of rubber feet on the bottom of the bag. More often than not when traveling you need to set your laptop bag down, and keeping it upright and balanced between your legs isn’t always an option. And even though the Cocoon does feature a stiff molded case, the bag will not stand up on its own without tipping over. I’ve also found that I’m more comfortable setting a bag down on the ground if there’s a set of feet that will ...

SiteAdvisor Enterprise is a security add on for Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers that identifies sites linked to spyware adware spam viruses browser based attacks phishing or online fraud This version of SiteAdvisor Enterprise can be deployed in the following versions of ePolicy Orchestrator 3 6 1 and 4 0 This version of SiteAdvisor Enterprise can be installed over the previous version It is not necessary to uninstall the previous version As a new feature policy settings for HTTP proxy servers can be configured

Maxthon is a powerful web browser with a highly customizable interface It is based on the Internet Explorer engine which means that what works in IE works the same in Maxthon but with many additional efficient features like Tabbed Browsing Interface Mouse Gestures Super Drag amp Drop Privacy Protection AD Hunter Google Bar Support External Utility Bar and Skinning
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Changes in Maxthon 2 5 2 6608 Beta 4 2009 6 01
Core
Fixed some IME input problems and IME window position problems
Fixed a flash full screen display problem
Fixed a webpage layout problem under IE8 when script plugin is auto started
Fixed problem that dropdown list and menu item cannot be selected under IE6
Fixed problem that middle click on link does not work after page zoom under IE8
Fixed a password input problem of an online bank using custom activex control
Fixed a Send Page by Email and Send Page Url by Email problem
Fixed problem that external download manager does not work for float button
Fixed IME text selection window position problem under split view
Fixed some webpage transparent problems see windows below
Fixed problem that anti freeze stop working after certain shortcut key operations
Fixed problem that close all tabs may cause crash of maxthon
Improved mouse cursor responsiveness
Interface
Fixed problem that Force Open in New Tab may open certain ads in new tab
Fixed some session saving problems
Undo closed tab also restores scroll position now
Fixed some float button position problems under IE8
Fixed some dialog focus problems when windowsblind is running
Fixed problem that maxthon does not get focus when clicked
Fixed webpage position problem when ...