A Cool Gadget

This modern twist on the classic pedometer doesn’t just track your steps, it lets you keep tabs on the quality of the exercise you get during your day-to-day life.

Unlike meters that just count your steps, the Seiko SlimStick uses modern dual-axis accelerometers to track the magnitude of your movements, giving greater value to more intensive exercise. Just clip the compact SlimStick onto your clothes or stick it in a pocket, and it’ll track your activity level.

The SlimStick can count calories burned over the course of the day, amount of time you were active, the number of steps you walked as well as an overall exercise quality score. It’ll store up to twelve weeks of summary data, so you can check your progress over time.

All those smarts fit into a sleek brushed aluminum case that’s just about the size of a pack of chewing gum. They’re available in silver, pink or gold metal finishes, and retail between ¥5,775 and ¥6,984 (appx. $55 to $67 USD). Seiko is currently selling these only in Japan, where you can find them at AssistOn.

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Think the Segway is just too geeky for your Born to Be Wild bad boy lifestyle? Then check out this cool new motorcycle born at the intersection of Geek Street and Hog Heaven Avenue.

The Uno is a self-balancing motorcycle that uses a pair of gyroscopes to constantly keep its rider upright.

Designed by 18-year old inventor Ben J. Poss Gulak (and built with the help of a team of bike builders and engineers), the 120-pound motorcycle is so easy to ride, its only control is a single on-off switch. To ride forward, lean forward, to reverse, simply lean back. The degree to which you lean increases or decreases your velocity. By using a pair of wheels, the bike can also make turns based on your side-to-side movements.

The one-of-a-kind motorcycle was recently demonstrated at the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto, Canada. Its current whereabouts are unknown, but I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize it if you see it coming down the road.

[Motorcycle Mojo via Nowhere Else]

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Here’s a fun bit of decor for fans of Nintendo’s Super Mario games. It’s a friendly invincibility star from the game, which can play a little tune while it sits on your desk.

Just like those brilliant yellow stars in the Super Mario series, simply activate the star, and you’ll instantly feel invincible (even if your office-mates think you’re a complete dork). With a flip of the switch, the star glows and plays the familiar invincibility tune from the SMB games.

The way my typical work day goes, I think I’ll need to line up about a dozen of these to keep me safe from bureaucrats, whiners, brown-nosers and the other general annoyances of the day.

The star measures 5.75 inches and can be mounted on a wall or placed on your desk thanks to an included stand. It’s powered pair of AAA batteries, so you can take your invincibility on the road too.

The Super Mario Singing Glow Star is available from ThinkGeek for $17.99.

[via GeekAlerts]

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For those of you who think all music should be played on guitars and drums, games like Rock Band keep you jamming all night long. But for those who prefer to blow into their musical instruments, look no further than this new game for the Nintendo DS.

Fresh from Japan, Mokushise! Zenko Kutaikai!! Let’s Brass!! takes the musical gaming concept and applies it to a whole new genre. Milestone’s new music simulator game for the DS lets players play instruments like the trumpet, tuba, saxophone and piccolo simply by breathing into the DS’ microphone. By combining your breath with stylus movements on the touch screen, you can make beautiful music.

In addition to its instrument simulator modes, Let’s Brass includes a fully functional digital metronome, and a handy electronic tuning fork as well.

The game comes loaded with about 150 songs, and even lets you play wirelessly with up to three other musicians so you can form an electronic quartet (assuming you’d want an all-wind instrument band).

If you’re curious to find out if the game blows or sucks, it’s now available from game importer Play-Asia for $39.90.

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Craving a little Guitar Hero while you slave away at your nine-to-fiver? Just because you have to wear a suit and tie to work doesn’t mean you can’t show your gamer spirit while you’re working your busy executive lifestyle.

This spiffy Guitar Hero necktie sports a set of colorful fret buttons which you can “play” with any time you like. While the only music you’ll hear is that damned tune that’s stuck in your head from last night’s marathon session, at least you can practice your expert mode chord progressions while your boss flips through his latest PowerPoint slides.

Made from “silky” polyester, the Guitar Hero tie is available from Zazzle for about $30.

[via 4 color rebellion]

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No, Mario isn’t going on an exotic vacation from the Mushroom Kingdom. Instead, his likeness is making the rounds of the art circuit thanks to these most excellent stencil paintings by street artist BilliKid.

Recently sighted in South Beach, Miami, the stencils feature a dayglo backdrop and a bold graphic treatment of Mario that makes him really pop.

Next up for Mario is a stop in Lutry, Switzerland, for the upcoming Game & Watch art show at Vantard Gallery, which runs from April 26 to May 24, 2008.

[via Flickr]

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Who among us really likes being awakened from a deep slumber by a jarring alarm buzzer? Sure, you could get yourself a clock radio or MP3 alarm clock and play some Enya or Kenny G to ease into the day, but who really wants to listen to that? This concept for a visual alarm clock could very well revolutionize the way we wake up.

This simple, yet brilliant pillow alarm clock is designed to gently wake you by exposing your eyes to a glowing cloud of illumination, gradually increasing in brightness over a 40 minute period. Created by Ian Walton of embryo, in collaboration with Eoin McNally, the glo Pillow uses a cutting-edge LED fabric substrate below the pillow’s surface to work its magic.

Once you’ve been roused from your sleep, just lift your head, and the pillow displays the current time using an easy-to-read dot-matrix display that lives beneath the pillow case. The design also incorporates convenient controls built into a soft flap on the side of the pillow.

At this point, the glo Pillow is only a concept design, but I’m hoping that embryo eventually manages to gear up production for these.

[via IDasia]

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While this little guy could just hang out on your desk looking cool, he’s much more interested in helping out instead of just sitting around doing nothing. Not only can he function as a brilliant desk lamp, he can hold on to your iPod when you’re not keeping it in your pocket.

Industrial design shop Sumajin’s 12-inch tall FLEX Light Bearer has a pair of adjustable hands which can hang on to an included lighting fixture, or can be swapped out for grippy hands which hold your media player while it’s charging or syncing. If you’re looking for a bit more of a mood light, he’ll hold a tea light candle instead of an electric lamp.

FLEX is made from ABS plastic and comes in three colors: white, black and silver. At a rather pricey $200, he’s not for everyone, but if money isn’t an object, you can find him at Sumajin.

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This sophisticated compact robot has been available in Japan for about a few months now, and is now finding its way to American shores.

The HPI GR-001 G-Robot features 20 motors that can be programmed to follow your every command. In addition to the included PS2-like controller, you can also direct the G-Robot using your computer and the included animation software.

Keep in mind that the GR-100 is a kit, and requires about two hours of assembly time. The photo below gives you a pretty good idea of what you’re in store for before you plunk down your hard-earned dough. Oh yeah, the instructions are in Japanese, so that’ll add to the challenge.

If you’ve got a spare $2400 lying around with nothing better to do, you can order one from gadget importer AudioCubes.

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This awesome NES casemod manages to squeeze a fully-functional Nintendo 8-bit console into the body of one of the system’s own game cartridges.

The Fami-Card started out its life as an original Super Mario Brothers cartridge. French modder Kotomi carefully ripped out its guts and transplanted them with the innards of one of those NOAC (NES on a Chip) system clones.

The console manages to cram in an NES cartridge slot, power and reset buttons, a pair of joystick ports and composite video and stereo audio outputs.

There’s something just a little mind-bending about a game cartridge that isn’t a cartridge at all, and instead is a console itself. If you think about the concept too hard, it might just cause a rift in the space-time continuum.

[via Ben Heck Forums]

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