A Cool Gadget

The “nailed” memory stick makes it look like you got very frustrated with your computer, and in a fit of rage, hammered a nail into it. It sends a much different message than, say, storing your data in a chicken wing.

This is the first product from plankton, a new design company based in the Netherlands. The USB stick is made of polyurethane and iron and has a 1 GB memory capacity.

This doohickey will set you back €29,50 (a little over $46 in the U.S.A.) You can buy your own from plankton, and make the guy in the next cubicle think you’re a whole lot tougher than you really are… in case some of your other flash drives have made him think you’ve gone soft.

How’d you like to win a really cool modern watch from Tokyoflash? Well, if you can tell time, you could win a free watch! Read on, and learn how.

So here’s the deal: Head on over to the Tokyoflash website and find the product pages for the each of the following 10 modern watch designs:

For each watch, make note of the time that you think is on the FIRST watch photo on the product page, then e-mail your completed list (alongside the watch names above) to tokyoflash@technabob.com. If you’re paying attention and actually reading this, here’s a freebie to get you started:

That’s the S-Mode Oberon IPB, and the time reads 11:36. Easy, no?  AM/PM doesn’t matter, so don’t worry about that either.

The 3 people who get the most answers correct will win their choice any one of the watches listed. If more than 3 of you get the entire list correct, winners will be picked from a random drawing from the top entries.

Thanks to the guys over at Tokyoflash for providing the prizes for this giveaway!

Only entries e-mailed to tokyoflash@technabob.com will be eligible. One entry per e-mail address please. Contest ends at 11:59pm Central Time on Monday, August 11, 2008.

Brick-Brick Correction Tape is a fake-o Lego that hides a roll of correction tape. If you have more than one, you can snap them together like Legos.

The website says, “It is funny that you can’t realize it is a correction tape by its outlook.” My outlook is: isn’t correction tape is all but obsolete, what with the developments we’ve made in the wonderful world of computing? Who needs this in 2008? Low-level government functionaries in third-world countries? Old West barkeeps with handwritten ledgers? Clumsy scrapbookers?  Luddites?

This concept is decidedly lower tech than other Legoriffic products like these. Still, anything that even looks kind of like a Lego is pretty cool in my book. Now I just have to figure out a way to work correction tape into my daily activities and I’ll be all set.

Meanwhile, you can get one of these for $7 here. They come in green, yellow, red, or black, but you don’t get to pick which one you get, you just get a random color. Order a whole bunch and you can click them together to make a correction-ready, rasta-themed desk array.

Do you have loads of old hard drives laying around your house? Do you love the sweet tinny tones of wind chimes clinkity clinking on your back porch? If so, this is a great project for you- you can turn your old, unused or crashed hard drives into this set of aluminum wind chimes.

To learn how to make your very own set, check out this instructional video. Spoiler alert: he opens up hard drives, takes them apart, and makes them into wind chimes.

My favorite part of the video is when he refers to one of his trashed hard drives as an “IBM scuzzy ultrastar.” Is that the official name? It turns out not to be so “scuzzy” when it yields “a whopping six platters!” This guy has an infectious enthusiasm for hard drives of all shapes and sizes. I like him! The wind chimes, meh, not so much.

[via Make:]

The incorrectly named USB Robot 4-Port Hub has 4 twistable USB ports and no discernible robot parts whatsoever.

You can twist each port up to 270 degrees, although off the top of my head I can’t think of why I would need to do that. I mean, it’s pretty cool and all, and it’s a fun way to anthropomorphize your USB action, but I’m not sure if it’s strictly necessary in terms of functionality. The hub folds up into a nice, neat square when not in twist mode, sort of like a super lame Transformer (Nightbeat, anyone?)

Also, it seems unnecessarily HUGE. You can get one here for $12.

[via GeekAlerts]

What could be better than the yummy, sugary goodness of cupcakes? I’ll tell you. Yummy, sugary, Space Invader cupcakes, that’s what!

Pixel baker extraordinaire Hello Naomi is at it again with her video game baked goods. This time, they’re adorned with the 8-bit aliens who ate so many of our quarters way back when. I suppose it’s our turn to get back at them by biting their heads off. Mmmm, alien frosting.

Naomi has also been responsible for cranking out such wonderful video game delicacies as these Pac-Man, Super Mario and LEGO cupcakes.

You can check out all of Naomi’s too-good-looking-to-eat treats over on her Flickr Photostream. Now, I must go eat something sweet and play a game.

In the beginning, there was the roller skate, then came the skate board and later the Rollerblade. So what’s the next conveyance that we’ll be strapping to our feet to roll around the street?

image via core77.com

Orbitwheels move sort of like inline skates, but a wheel rotates around your feet, instead of under them. The large donut-shaped wheel whirls around sideways, letting you do all sorts of crazy tricks and spins with relative ease.

Unlike Rollerblades or skates, you just step into the Orbitwheels, so you don’t need to tie any laces or fasten any buckles to get going. Of course with any sporting good that has you hurdling down the sidewalk willy-nilly, protective pads and a helmet are a probably a good idea unless you plan on breaking some bones.

Orbitwheels are available for pre-order now from NewDaVincis for $159.99 a pair.

Pay tribute to one of classic arcade games of all time with these Asteroids-inspired lighting fixtures.

Each lamp is comprised of 24 facets, each slightly different in size and shape - which makes them look really cool when placed in multiples and set on different sides. They measure about 12″ in diameter and about 11.5″ high and their unique design allows them to be used as a floor or table lamp, or even hung from the ceiling as a pendant (with an optional kit).

Designer Koray Ozgen of UK lighting maker Innermost initially created a hand-blown glass version of the Asteroid lamp, but realized that a durable plastic model would be ideal for use indoors our out.

Until recently, the lamps were only available in the UK, but U.S. based DesignPublic has just started to carry the fixtures for $176 each. (damn, that’s a whole lotta quarters that I’ll need to save up!)

[via bltd]

This isn’t exactly high-tech, but it’s a strange enough gadget that I wanted to share it. It’s a waterproof radio for your shower that’s disguised as a shampoo bottle.

Sooo… what’s the rationale behind this product? The only thing I can think of is that it’s to prevent theft of your super awesome shower radio. But that doesn’t make sense because this thing looks really cheap. I mean, I have single bottles of real shampoo that probably cost more than a whole case of these things. Whatever the reason, this wins the prize for being the most pointless gadget I’ve come across lately. (OK, so realistically, maybe it’s a tie with the s’mores maker, but it’s definitely up there.)

The stats: it takes 3 AAA batteries and adds absolutely no value to your life or decor. It looks like it’s a wholesale item, so if you’d like to stock these in your (obviously somewhat craptastic) shop check out the deets on Alibaba.

[via ShinyShiny]

Hmmm. Would you rather be caught drinking on the job, or sneaking sensitive company data out of the office? Now you don’t have to choose, thanks to this new portable hard drive that looks just like a hip flask.

iomega’s eGo Leather Hard Drive may not actually carry your booze, but it will hold up to 250GB of your favorite files, so you can sneak them around any place you can carry an open container. The drive is a dead ringer for an actual hip flask, complete with curvy metal ends and a rich leather wrapper. And just in case you really do go out on a bender and drop the thing on the ground, it’s got built-in Drop Guard protection to keep your data safe.

I say, why not keep one of these in your inside left pocket, and a real flask in your inside right? Of course, just don’t make the mistake of opening your real flask and pouring your 30-year old Glenfiddich onto your keyboard. Now that would be a true crime.

It’s available now over on ThinkGeek for $149.99.