A Cool Gadget

Who says your Xbox 360 has to overheat and catch fire in order to glow? This new replacement shell from XCM lets your 360 glow green when the lights go down.

The case replaces the entire exterior of your 360 to produce an out-of-this-world green glow when placed in a darkened room. When the lights come on, it still looks pretty cool, letting you peer inside the guts of your console through a pearly see-through outer layer.

You’ll be able to pick up the XCM Pearl Glow Case for the 360 over at Extreme Mods very shortly.

[BTW: The Extreme Mods guys will soon be setting up the U.S. website for XCM over at XCM-USA.com, be sure to bookmark it and come back soon].

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If you can’t keep your apple-shift-Ls straight from your apple-shift-Ps then these performance-enhancing keyboard shortcut skins might be just the thing for you. Designed for use with Macs in Photoshop, Aperture, and more, these skins are like the Cliff’s Notes for the modern era.

I know- you thought you would have memorized every keyboard shortcut by now. Don’t feel bad, a lot of folks need a little boost to optimize their Photoshop prowess or their Final Cut finesse.

The skins are washable rubber, so there’s no need to fear your frappuccino during an all-night editing binge. They’re color-coded by function and easy to take off and put on. Their kicky colors are also, in my opinion, far more aesthetically pleasing than the once-white but now grimy Mac keyboard on which I am typing right now.

Buy them at PhotoJoJo. They’ll set you back $30 for laptop models, $40 for desktop models.They offer shortcut skins for Photoshop, Aperture 1.5, Final Cut Pro/Express, Pro Tools, and After Effects. They’re compatible with black and white Macbooks, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, the Classic Apple Keyboard and the Apple Thin Keyboards.

[via swissmiss]

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The one-trick-pony of a robot does one thing and one thing only - it climbs windows. Action Product’s Climb@tron is a two-legged toy robot that uses special suction cups to let it ascend windows and other smooth surfaces.

Just stick the little 4-inch tall ‘bot on your window, switch it on, and it’ll automatically walk towards the ceiling (or whatever direction you point it in).

It also looks cool ascending the outside of your fish tank, a bathroom mirror or even a metal file cabinet. Climb@tron can be found over on ThinkGeek for just about $8 USD.

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This really attractive (ahem) digital watch comes with a remote control that you can use to control your TV. Because who wants to use a remote control when you can use this watch instead? It makes perfect sense! It seems this is just the next logical step that cheap-o watch manufacturers were forced to take when the calculator watch went out of vogue.

My absolute favorite thing about this device is actually not the watch itself, nor the fact that it only costs $7.25, but rather this bit of marketing jargon on the website, that says “[it] appears to be a normal watch with metal belt, but it’s really a remote control.” Really? It appears to be a normal watch? To who, exactly? Someone standing a mile away? Because that big old remote control tumor-lookin’ thing on the side there is kind of ruining the “normal watch” thing for me.

If you want to get really snazzy, for less than 2 bucks more you can go for this watch that controls your not just your TV, but also your DVD player, VCR, Satellite, and more- or you can get this touchscreen remote control watch, that not only controls everything under the sun, but is also cheaper. Regardless, we all know that until they make a watch that allows you to set your TiVo to record “Lost” on Thursday at 9:59 PM, when you’re miles away from home and sinking into your 3rd beer- they’ve got nothin’.

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This intricate retro sci-fi USB memory drive comes to us courtesy of an enterprising modder over in Russia.

Meticulously crafted from hand-polished brass and copper, the USB drive reminds me of something out of the art deco neo-future of Buck Rogers - or perhaps more apropos - Flash Gordon.

This thing is just plain gorgeous. How could you possibly go back to one of those cheap plastic flash drive after looking at this masterwork?

If you don’t mind reading a little Russian, you can see how it was done by checking out the full work log over on the Modding.ru forums.

[via TopMods]

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While we now know that a robot can cook an omelet, your PC will just have to do with a mouse that LOOKS like an egg instead of frying one.

Elecom’s Egg Mouse (model M-EGUR) features a bold ovoid design, in a variety of colors that would make even the Easter Bunny proud. The size and contour of the mouse looks like it would fit perfectly in the palm of your hand, while looking great on any desktop. The Egg Mouse features a high-resolution optical sensor, and a super smooth scroll wheel that spins like butta.

Previously available only in Japan, gadget importer AudioCubes managed to fly a bunch of these eggs in for consumption stateside. They’re available now for $49 a piece (which works out to be a rather insane $588 a dozen).

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There seems to be an ever-mounting pile of evidence that leads me to believe that robots really ARE going to take over the world. This video series of a super snappy Fujitsu robot learning to make an omelet is definitely not quelling my fears! Interestingly, the human “teacher” uses a Wii remote to guide the training.

This robot, known as the HOAP-3, is part of the Humanoid for Open Architecture Platform and is sponsored by the EU’s Cogniron project, whose mission is to “develop cognitive robots whose ‘purpose in life’ would be to serve humans as assistants or ‘companions’.”

When they hand him the big chef’s knife, though… yikes. As he chops the ham, my head swims with visions of robot overlords crushing the human rebellion with their cleavers. Maybe it’s his flashy light-up eyes and his insanely creepy voice, but I have to ask, is it just me? Or does he seem really, really evil?

Here’s the good news. Even though this robot is pretty sharp- I think his vocabulary is bigger than mine, and his whisking skills aren’t too shabby- he can’t even crack his own eggs. And let’s be honest, HOAP-3 is slow as molasses. Irona, Rosie, and all the other cartoon robot maids were a heckuva lot more efficient. I’m just sayin’.

[via Loving The Machine]

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Ever wanted to know how hot that stove was before you put your hand right on it? Sure, you could use one of those cheap little pocket temperature sensors to tell you the temp, but what are you, some sort of a hilbilly? What you really need is one of these newfangled Splinter Cell-esque imaging cameras.

While it’s not quite as compact as Sam Fisher’s heat-vision goggles, this portable thermal imager goes one better by combining both a visible light digital image with an infrared one, producing single view that lets you get an immediate visual temperature map of whatever you aim it at.

Priced at about $7500, these Fluke thermal imagers are designed for heavy-duty industrial troubleshooting and safety applications, but they’re even better for telling you if the ice cream has thawed or if your mocha latte is cool enough to drink yet.

[via MAKE]

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This cool new remote-controlled car puts you right in the heart of the action, thanks to a tiny wireless camera and a pair of POV goggles.

The VTS (Vision Tracking System) R/C car uses a VGA resolution digital camera to transmit a real-time image from the driver’s perspective to a head-mounted display device. If that’s not cool enough, the motorized camera actually responds to your head movements.

So when you look left, you’re looking out the driver’s side of your little car. Look to the right, and you’re viewing the passenger’s side. It also supports looking up and down. There’s even stereo sound that lets you hear the audio from inside the car.

The whole kit comes packaged in a custom-fitted briefcase, designed to keep your car and accessories safe and sound.

Priced at £599.95 (over $1100 USD), the VTS is one expensive little car, but it sure is cool. If you’ve got an extra paycheck or two kicking around, you can get your grubby little hands on one from UK gadget retailer RED5.

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If you’ve ever found yourself collecting fragments of the Triforce or looking for underground labyrinths, then these handcrafted Legend of Zelda-inspired shoes might be just perfect for you!

These crafty togs give you the chance to walk a mile in Link’s shoes, while forgoing the unpleasantness of dealing with crankypants Ganon and his evil plans.

Each pair is hand drawn (!) with permanent ink and Scotch guarded for extra protection. The appropriately named ohmy sells them on Etsy, and will make you a custom pair in your size for $42. Check them out or place your order on Etsy.

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