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Bluelounge - The Sanctuary

2008 Jun 9, 4:44"The Sanctuary is a beautiful, simple solution to a real everyday problem. A place to put the multitude of personal items we all carry around so they are easily located again when later needed and, always fully charged"PermalinkCommentsgift gadget design cable battery phone mp3player charger shopping product

The Botanical Twitter Kit is a sound machine for your plant - Boing Boing Gadgets

2008 May 12, 5:05"It uses moisture sensors to detect your plant's well-being, then connects to Twitter via Ethernet jack to send surprisingly human-like messages about the excruciating minutiae of your plant's boring, sedentary life. Tweets about how much water it just haPermalinkCommentshumor gift plant twitter hardware

Bit-cycling : WebSlice Viewer Gadget (Alpha)

2008 Mar 31, 10:36"The advantage, of course, is that developers can integrate WebSlices into their applications just as easily as they can integrate RSS feeds. To illustrate this, and to try out developing a gadget, I created a WebSlice viewer gadget."PermalinkCommentswebslice ie8 rss msdn microsoft sean-lyndersay blog vista vista-gadget extension

ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Handset Review

2008 Mar 23, 1:25

I ordered a ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Handset to use at home. When I come home I plug my phone in to charge in my room, but then I can't hear it ring elsewhere in the hosue. The idea was to take this handset which wirelessly connects to cellphones via bluetooth and place it in another part of the house so that I can tell I'm getting an incoming call. The only issue I have with that setup is that it ringing isn't any louder than conversations held over the phone, that is, the ringing is a little quiet.

The handset pairs with cellphones in the same manner as any other handset over bluetooth. It has an internal rechargeable battery which is charged via a standard USB port built into the base of the handset and it comes with a USB cable. Next to the USB port is the only button on the phone which is pressed to answer a call, hang up a call, or begin voice dial, held down to turn the handset on and off, and held down longer to begin pairing with a cellphone. There's a blue LED in one of the holes in the microphone portion of the phone which blinks to indicate if its on or trying to pair. Transitioning between on, off, and pairing produces a cute sound and a change to the LED.

Overal I'm pleased with its simplicity and use of common parts although I wish there was a way to adjust the volume of the ring.

PermalinkCommentsthinkgeek bluetooth cellphone phone product handset

ThinkGeek :: SnūzNLūz - Wifi Donation Alarm Clock

2008 Jan 14, 10:24Alarm clock that donates money to a charity you dislike when you hit the snooze button.PermalinkCommentsalarm clock humor geek gadget gift thinkgeek wifi wireless product alarm-clock

Zune Software Update

2007 Nov 19, 3:47I really appreciate that the first gen Zune's get the new Zune's firmware and software. I like the updated Zune software personally because its faster and simpler, has better podcast support, and the whole social thing has is on their website now. So, I guess I like the software because it has new features that should have been there in the first place.

The social thing is like a Zune social network. It uses your Xbox Live friends to seed your Zune friends list, lets you do the expected social network stuff, lets you preview songs, and unlike first gen Zunes which required face to face time with other Zune owners, allows you to send songs to people. It also lets you display your recently played tracks and your favorite tracks, similar to what Last.FM has, via a Zune Card. I like the Zune Card from a technical perspective because it separates the Zune Card view, written in flash from the User Card data which is in XML. I hope they intend to keep the XML available via this UserCard Service because I think there's potential to easily do cool things.PermalinkCommentsmicrosoft technical music zune social

Portal is fun; the cake is a lie!

2007 Oct 22, 4:47I purchased the Orange Box off of Steam a bit ago and like others before me who have discussed elsewhere, I already owned two of the five games that come from the Orange Box. However, the combined price of HL2E2 and Portal, the two games I actually wanted was supposedly equivalent to the price of the Orange Box bundle. Incidentally, if anyone would like HL2 or HL2E1 I can gift them to you.

HL2E2 was excellent of course but the big surprise for me was Portal. (Mild spoilers follow) It has a sort of zen simplicity: there are a few simple game-play mechanics, a handful of textures and objects, and a deceptively simple story all used well and tied together to produce an entertaining and polished game. It seems a bit short but its probably better to end with the gamer demanding more. The humor and the sort of play within a play aspect of the game is what really sold me though. It has the funniest ending theme I've heard (also blogged by the creator). The voices of the automated turrets are so adorable I would feel compelled to hug them if they weren't always trying to kill me. Additionally the weighted companion cube seems like an experiment in understanding gamers' attachment to NPCs. In this case the NPC is a box and yet I still felt awful incinerating it. The whole time I was vaguely reminded of Solitary the reality show that sticks contestants alone in small rooms forcing them to endure various tests all the while being watched by a humorous computer with a female voice. Someone should sue...

RPS has articles on Portal including a Portal review, a page suggesting Portal is a tale of lesbianism, and others.PermalinkCommentshl2e2 game hl2 solitary valve portal nontechnical

How-to: Make your own 1920's style bluetooth handset - Engadget

2007 Oct 11, 7:49A how-to on creating a bluetooth handset for your cell-phone. I want this but like a regular phone and without the DIY part.PermalinkCommentshowto bluetooth phone hack hardware article diy

Moved

2007 Aug 6, 4:07I've moved from my previous apartment in Redmond into Sarah's condo in Kirkland. Over the past week I'd been coming home from work and packing and sorting all of my belongings. Everything had a few destination options: I donated two carts of computer related junk (two CRTs, two desktops, six laptops, untold number of cables, piles of network and sound cards, etc) to RE-PC and six garbage bags of clothing that I either never wear or into which I have worn holes into friendly looking clothing donation bins. Of course I still need to find some place to get rid of my 15 inch CRT TV, VCR, DVD player, and X-Box. I finally emptied my bags of coins that had been collecting for about seven years (one of the bags was from my college orientation) through Coinstar and got ~$160. Some items seemed to fit very well at work like my satirical RIAA propaganda poster and my Darth Vader Nutcracker. This past weekend I had movers come and actually move my furniture. Most of its now in storage except for my living room which is moved into Sarah's second bedroom. Now all I have to do is unpack...PermalinkCommentsmove personal repc recycle nontechnical

ThinkGeek :: Gadget Shoulder Holster

2007 Apr 18, 11:31A shoulder holster to replace your wallet, store your keys, ipod, etc. Sounds neat but I imagine it would take some explaining at the airport. Also, I like the idea but I don't think I'd want anyone to see me wearing this.PermalinkCommentsshopping clothing gadget shoulder holster bag

How-To: Get TV shows off of Windows MCE and onto your iPod (with video) - Engadget

2007 Mar 1, 7:26Tutorial on getting TV shows that I've recorded with Windows Media Center Edition onto my iPod.PermalinkCommentsconvert howto ipod windows transcode tool free tutorial video

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO » Review: Yahoo pipes

2007 Feb 8, 3:22Don't you hate it when someone implements your idea before you?PermalinkCommentsyahoo rss pipes feed review article
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