Archive for the ‘Random Gadgets’ Category
9th November 2008
With a somewhat weird name that doesn’t make sense until you understand how it works, the Audio Bone Headphones operate by conducting sound via the bones in your face directly to your inner ear. This means you don’t actually insert anything into your ears or place anything over your ears. These headphones connect with the bones directly in front of your ears.
I ran the Audio Bone headset through its paces to see if it performed as well as advertised. I was initially surprised to find that there was remarkably more of a frequency response than I had expected, and a side benefit of not having to wear a (potentially) uncomfortable set of ear plugs or headphones, and these were nice and light. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives ended.
I found that the sound quality (freq response) and volume varied depending on exactly where you positioned the headset. Since it just sits using the little pressure from the clothespin-like structure, it means that it can easily shift and change position when you move your head.
The volume was entirely too low. Although you can wear earplugs and still ‘hear’ the audio from this headset, it changed the freq response, making it more bassy. However, in any kind of noisy environment, they become unusable. So forget trying to use these on an airplane without earplugs. You’re better off using noise-canceling headsets anyway.
My recommendations for the next generation of Audio Bone headphones - work on the volume response as well as getting them to sit more stably in 1 position. This may mean turning them into powered headphones, and raise the weight, but if there’s a market for non in-ear/over-ear earphones, then the volume has to go up.
If you’re still interested in trying out a pair, you can get a pair for 9.
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9th November 2008
If you already have TiVo and Netflix subscriptions, come December, you should have the ability to stream movies and TV episodes available from Netflix directly through your TiVo DVR box.
This is already in beta with thousands of TiVo customers, and will probably take a firmware upgrade.
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9th November 2008
If you’ve got gadgets that demand batteries, then chances are you’ve got batteries all over the house, and you just don’t know how much juice (aka charge) they’ve got left in them. So instead of prying open that gadget to stick a bunch of batteries in there to see if they work, which is a lot of time-consuming trial and error, not to mention not knowing which ones are really still charged, get your hands on the inexpensive IOGEAR JuiceMeter.
The JuiceMeter tests AA, AAA, C, D, N, and even 9 volt batteries. Portable enough to keep on your keychain and very simple to use.
Buy Now!
Price: .62
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
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9th November 2008
Is this the green, zero-gas replacement for your car? Quote: “The SBU is an electric self-balancing unicycle which uses accelerometers and gyroscopes to control the forward and backward movement with an electric motor. Basically, it pedals for you.” Watch the video.
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9th November 2008
In our time of higher energy and household costs, it’s a good idea to monitor those costs closely and see where we can cut back, not to mention that saving energy is just a good, green practice. For example, Kill-a-Watt has a number of products to directly monitor whatever is plugged into it, but how do you monitor usage in your entire house?
TED, The Energy Detective, is a real-time, electricity monitor. TED monitors your energy usage and displays the info in a simple, LCD display. It even jacks into your PC and lets you monitor historical usage with a custom software app (additional). It’s near real-time, with no more than a 2-second delay between events and reporting, and it updates every second.
So that your entire house is monitored, TED has to be installed directly into your home’s power circuits, so you’ll either need to be very familiar with electrical systems or hire an electrician for the 15 minute install. TED has a few different models. The base model (TED1000) is about 0 and the TED Model 1001 has a USB interface.
Gimme!
Price: TED 1000: 0, TED 1001: 5, TED Dynamics software:
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)
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