Gadgets posts

Have you ever spilled ketchup on a table and wished there was a way to pick it up in its current form and replace it intact somewhere else? Of course not, but that fact didn’t stop Japanese restaurant gadget builder Furukawakiko from inventing something that does just that. Despite racking my brain, I cannot think of a single use for the device. That doesn’t make it any less amazing. I suppose if you drop mustard on the table and it falls into a perfect form of the Virgin Mary, you now have an apparatus to preserve the holy condiment in all its glory. …

Anyone who enjoys the Halo series on XBox will probably recognize the design of these helmets. The similarities are striking, but it’s not by chance. The military and technology companies have been working with them to put together some amazing hardware, that takes it beyond the level of Spartan headgear. You actually get to see and understand what the soldier is seeing, making decisions on the battlefield much easier. This graphic, by our friends at DocShop, takes a look at the future of military vision technology. …

Have you ever wished you could simply put Google in your mind? You could search for whatever information was out there in the world by thinking about it. You could do internal searches and find information that you had forgotten. It would be the ultimate “busy lifestyle” must-have gadget. At least that’s what our friends at GetSatisfaction have envisioned. In sarcastic style suitable for #techituesday, we present to you the Google Helmet. Sadly, this probably isn’t far off from what may happen in the future. Click to enlarge. …

As the rush to get hands on the iPad 2 starts, there are still some who want to make a decision based upon reviews and opinions before jumping for another Apple product. While their track record has been exceptional, it hasn’t been perfect and there are definitely competitors who may or may not be better buys. The Motorola Xoom is one such competitor, one that many consider the only one around right now that could put a dent (even if only a minor one) in the iPad frenzy. Below, you will find several videos and links to reviews on other high-quality tech sites. If you want to make the smartest decision, take…

Let the money exchange flow both ways. That’s what is starting to transpire in the Nokia/Microsoft deal and there are a lot of zeros involved in the transactions. Microsoft is set to pay Nokia Oyj over $1 billion for the development and promotion of Windows-based phones. In exchange, Nokia pays Microsoft for each copy of Windows used in its phones. Stocks have fallen over 25% since the announcement of the agreement between the two companies less than a month ago. According to Colin Gillis, analyst at BHC Partners, “This gives Microsoft scale and allows Nokia to rip out costs. Microsoft is getting…

Lavo is a backpack that functions as a hand-washing device for clothes. It operates by giving users a way to wash their clothes with biodegradable washing detergent. Simply add the clothes, mix in some detergent, grab some water, and get to work. As for the drying part… Lavo leaves it to you to figure it out. That said, it’s a fairly unique idea that should be popular with campers, which is also part of the reason why you’ll never see me using it. …

The Segway was going to revolutionize the way we travel medium distances. It didn’t. Now, there is a new personal mobility device that wants to pick up where the Segway left off. Karen Day at CoolHunting reports that the Solowheel will be available in the US in March. A “self-balancing electric unicycle,” the Solowheel uses gyroscopic technology. Its 1000-watt rechargeable lithium-ion battery powers lasts two hours and can recaptures energy when going downhill. The portability of the device gives it a leg-up on the Segway, which many avoided because of the whole issue with “where do I park this…

In a recent test using Speedtest, the AT&T iPhone proved to be around twice as fast as Verizon for 3G speeds. This isn’t a shock – Verizon has always claimed to have a more reliable network, not a faster one – but the huge differences makes one wonder if they should carry 2 iPhones: 1 for calls and one for media. One sidenote: while AT&T proved to be faster on data, it was also much more prone to losing connection in other tests, a problem that has plagued them and likely caused the shift by Apple to include Verizon in their club. Verizon never lost connection despite the slower connections. “I…

And here is a visual riddle to help ferry you into the weekend – Escher’s Waterfall, come to life. I’ve been sitting here for longer than I should trying to figure this one out. Any insights, Techi readers? Or did we really just kick science in the teeth? Before some humourless troll decides to remind us that science can’t be kicked in the teeth nor anywhere else, that was a joke. But in the impossible offchance this is real, we just basically solved all humanity’s problems. In the words of a great internet: “what is this I don’t even”…

Apple rolled out a subscription service today that will allow publishers to put their content on apps and charge for them through the App Store. The subscription billing service is based upon what they and News Corp have done with The Daily. By applying the App Purchases billing system to a content subscription model, publishers will be able to set prices and lengths of subscriptions and offer them to consumers at various levels of commitment. By putting it all in a centralized location specific to content publishers, users will be able to manage and monitor all of their subscriptions at once….