Gadgets Blog » gadget of the week

It’s tough to be an entrepreneur these days with costs being so high in the global marketplace. From this problem, sites such as Kickstarter.com were developed that allowed people to donate to projects they felt worthy of funding.

You may only get $10 or $20 per person, but thousands of people donate, and people have received thousands of dollars for their projects, from inventions to movies. Recently, someone’s idea to create an iPod Nano watch earned $600,000 in 20 hours, which shattered records for Kickstarter.com.

The idea came from a former Nike creative director who had experience in developing watches for the mega shoe corporation. He got the idea when Steve Jobs commented that the new Nano was so small that it can easily be worn, so the iPod Nano watch was born.

The watch doesn’t actually come equipped with a Nano; instead, it’s a wristband that people can attach their Nano to when they go out. He developed two types. One allows people to take the Nano in and out at their leisure, and the second becomes a permanent dock for the Nano.

This fall, my parents surprised me with an exceptional gift just before my return to college. While I had owned a digital camera before, the unit they gave to me now was above and beyond anything I had previously expected out of a camera. Modern point-and-shoot digital cameras are stunning with their wide array of features and incredible photo quality. For an aspiring photographer, they make an excellent entry point into a lifelong hobby. But if you’re interested in acquiring a tool with a little more power behind it, where should you turn?

One possible answer is today’s gadget, the Samsung NX100 digital camera. The device is what Samsung has dubbed a “compact system camera.” Essentially, this line of cameras represents a middle-ground market for photography, great for users who want something more than a point-and-shoot but who aren’t ready to shell out upwards of $1,000 for a high-end device. With 14 megapixels and a keen autofocus feature, the NX100 has all the makings of a great intermediate camera.

It’s remarkable to think about how much computers have changed, even in my own short lifetime. Growing up with the family desktops, I recall upgrading from 8 to 16MB of RAM on an old IBM machine.

There were the programs run in MS-DOS, there were the bulky tube-based monitors and trips to the Apple 2-E computer labs at my grade school to play Oregon Trail.

All of these memories were of machines that boasted less power than is in my current telephone. It’s the remarkable thing about technology, the rate at which it progresses. Size and power leap upwards in exponential jumps.

While you can certainly find an external hard drive larger in size than Samsung’s new SSD Solid State, you’re not likely to find one boasting the same kind of specifications.

Early last week, I took a deviation from my normal summer work routine for something exciting: classes in Microsoft Access taught by an expert training firm in Downtown Los Angeles. Typically, my commute to work is fairly simple. I live close to my job, so it’s easy to bicycle there in the morning. But for the long commute into Downtown Los Angeles, I was instead faced with what must be one of the most nightmarish commutes in the country. A drive that typically takes twenty five minutes was extended to nearly an hour and a half, forcing me to leave for the classes a staggering two hours before they began.

The obvious solution is that of mass transportation. While Los Angeles does boast the Metrolink, a train service from the Inland Empire that connects with the subway system, Anatoly Unitsky sees an entirely different version of rail transit. While trains are relatively inexpensive to operate, the sunk costs of constructing a rail network are incredibly high, as much as $350 million per mile of track. Unitsky’s solution is called String Rail, and it looks like some sort of bizarre combination between a chairlift and a monorail.

I’d like to first of all wish everyone a happy Mother’s Day for yesterday. Prior to the holiday itself, I’d been writing several gift guides for some nifty gadgets that could be great for the special occasion. And although it’s a day late, today’s Gadget of the Week would have made an excellent addition to the listed ideas. The Amazon Kindle, however, is a great gift not just for Mom, but for anyone, including yourself! While the much-hyped iPad stands to potentially intrude on Amazon’s share of the e-reader market, a recent update to the main Kindle software looks to jump-start hopes of an improved Kindle in the next year.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Kindle and the idea of electronic readers in the first place, here’s a crash course. Released by Internet distributor Amazon, the Kindle is tuned into the website for distribution of a wide variety of books. These files, which range in price but are generally less expensive than their physical counterparts, are then downloaded to the internal hard drive. The second generation of the Kindle then added some great new features, including 3G wireless Internet access as well as a fantastic Wikipedia integration, giving any Kindle user access to the online encyclopedia.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve gradually been exploring the realm of gadgets outside of the typical norm. Whether these gadgets have been located in the kitchen or office, the beauty of such tools is in their ease of use and how simply they make mundane tasks a breeze. Such is the case with today’s gadget, which doesn’t have much use outside of hardcore construction. However, the Sonin 10300 Multi-Measure has a variety of applications providing easy and intuitive features intended to help you take your tape measure into the 21st century.

The Multi-Measure pro has several different uses that make it versatile during a construction process. First and foremost, with its two unit design, the Multi-Measure pro takes the place of an ordinary tape measure to give quick distance read-outs up to 250 feet. These electronic measurements are given by moving the two units a ways away from each other and can be programmed to display in feet, inches, or a fraction of the two, as well as decimal feet, yards and meters. This easy-to-use process can eliminate the need for a second person during measurement, and its electronic length will put ordinary measurement devices to shame.

Built out of sturdy yellow plastic, the Sonin 10300 Multi-Measure Pro is designed to last, with a protective casing and hardy buttons designed to take the amount of punishment that is typical on a hefty construction job. The interface itself functions much like a digital watch, with one button used to switch modes of measurement while another button is dedicated to initiating the measuring process. Tracking and validating functions are combined with a working memory to beef up the features on this unit, although you’ll likely spend most of your time in its default mode, as opposed to the other modes like surface area and volume measuring.

If you’re a fan of tools, as any gadget aficionado should be, the Sonin 10300 is an excellent addition that provides both technological innovations as well as practical application to solve what has been a long-standing issue in construction. Without the need for a second person during simple tasks, your flexibility will vastly improve. Soon, one will be able to move furniture in a single bound, find the appropriate picture for a wall, and other fantastic feats by oneself. While the Sonin 10300 Multi-Measure won’t transform your everyday life in the normal sense, it will make such efforts far easier and will pay off when you need it most.

It’s no secret that there’s a special spot in my heart saved for awesome musical gadgets. Around two weeks ago I wrote article for smarter outlining everything that you need to make dance music. Recently, however, my entire musical world was literally turned on its head when a friend introduced me to today’s Gadget of the Week: the Novation Launchpad. With an aesthetic design rivaling that of Apple’s line of sleek gadgets, today’s item packs bright multi colored lights into a multi-function surface compatible with Ableton Live, the premier computer software for live DJ-ing.

While the Novation Launchpad, on its surface, appears to be nothing more than another MIDI controller, it’s the dynamic relationship between the software and hardware that makes this gadget such an asset for musicians. The Launchpad was developed in cooperation between Novation and Ableton, meaning that the device itself has functionality tied to specific aspects of the program. While the bulk of the unit is an 8×8 grid of buttons, lighting up in different neon colors to designate their function at that given moment, additional buttons along the top of the device allow the user to easily switch between modes on the fly. With just a few simple button presses, you can edit volume, panning, program new notes, and edit parameters on audio sends.

The unit itself is compact and operates via a USB port on either a Mac or PC computer. While it can be a great tool for using Ableton in a studio setting, the proper time and place is during a live performance. With just a laptop and the Launchpad, it’s straightforward to jump from place to place in the performance, triggering drum and synth loops with just the press of a button. This is great for more complex pieces, as performing some of the same functions with a mouse simply isn’t feasible in Ableton.

If you’re interested in electronic music, the Launchpad is a must-have. At only $199, the features stemming from this product will open up new avenues in your musical repertoire. If you don’t already have a copy of Ableton, it can be purchased in a convenient bundle with additional features tailored directly towards the Launchpad. With it’s good looks and better specs, the Launchpad is a professional-grade tool available for even a starving college student like myself. And if you’re still not impressed, check out the Launchpad in action!

Gamers and Tom Clancy fans everywhere can finally rejoice: Sam Fisher is back in a blaze of silent and lethal glory.

This Tuesday marks the release of Splinter Cell Conviction, the latest entry into one of the most innovative video game franchises in recent memory. Ever since the release of the original Splinter Cell on the XBox, the folks at UbiSoft have utilized the Tom Clancy brandname to create some fo the most gripping and intense gameplay on the market. While games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto specialize in the realm of over-the-top violence, the thrills to be found in the Splinter Cell series are of an entirely different breed. The name of the game is stealth, as you step into the shoes of a highly trained NSA agent capable of all sorts of daring infiltration and covert operations.

The latest entry in the series, due out this Tuesday, expands upon that formula with innovations that are technically and thematically impressive. “Projection Storytelling” is amongst the most interesting. While not altering the gameplay in any way, Fisher’s thoughts and objectives appear on objects in the environment itself. There’s no glaring mood-breaking text glaring across the screen. This unique approach to plot development will be interesting to explore throughout the intense twists and turns Conviction has planned for us. The plot is supposed to hinge upon Fisher’s family and an underground organization.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be.

At this point in time it would be endlessly redundant to discuss the hype building up to the release of this, Apple’s newest foray into the world of tablets. There have been press conferences, Internet flame wars, and countless borad stereotypes of who will be first in line to get their hands on one. It’s all moot now, though. It’s here. The iPad is here.

So now what? Reviews have poured in from around the Internet, detailing every in and out like the folks over at Engadget did. Yes, the iPad is good. It has a gorgeous screen, Apple’s iconic minimalist design, a bevy of intuitive features, applications that can do all sorts of things, compatibility with the iPhone, strong battery life, and so on and so forth. It does everything Apple promised it would. It even comes bearing the signature Apple price tag. But what does this all mean? Comparing the iPad to other forms of computers almost seems counterintuitive. Is it a computer? Yes, but it’s not like any other computer.

Herein is the true beauty of what the iPad does for computing. This is, in so many ways, the most significant development in computing we’ve seen since the widespread use of the laptop and wireless internet. With other manufacturers rushing to create tablets akin to Apple’s child, it’s clear that this is a game changer.

But there’s more at stake here than shifts in supply and demand of computers. The iPad represents a new way to use a computer. The hands-on interaction is something that will be present in computers of all shapes in sizes. While a keyboard is excellent for precise typing and speedy wordprocessing, the iPad’s touchscreen provides an interface that can be used for all other types of activities. Through the development of applications, the iPad can be a book, displaying pages in high-definition on it’s vivid screen. The iPad can be a video player. The iPad can be a glorious new way to surf the Internet, touching links to open them, making hand gestures to move forwards and backwards. Touchscreen technology is still relatively young in terms of personal computing. The iPad is the first gadget to take those innovations and make something new of them.

I will do my best to contain my joy at getting to review something as wonderful as Lego King’s Castle, but it will be a difficult task. Lego blocks remain one of the most glorious staples of my childhood. The small bricks provided hours of entertainment as my brother and I constructed whatever complex system the bricks were originally intended for, be it a Mayan temple, a space ship, or a racecar. Then the bricks would meet their ultimate destination: the large bin of Lego blocks, where they were recommissioned for whatever imaginative fancy we envisioned. The sublime beauty of Legos is in their versatility. There are no limits upon their potential.

The Lego Castle series is one of the longest-running themes in the Lego kingdom, and with good reason as well. In 1978, Lego first introduced the castle pieces, with bricks designed especially for the ramparts, towers, and dungeons. Along with the building bricks, pieces shaped like medieval war machines were included, featuring siege equipment and elements of the fantastical, such as dragons and trolls. Under this wide thematic Umbrella, Lego introduced a number of different Lego Series, bearing names such as the Forestmen and the Black Knights. For 2010, Lego is preparing to unveil the latest entry, the Kingdoms series.

Unlike the last few Castles, the new Kingdoms series will move away from some of the fantasy elements that had been present since the early 1990s. Instead of trolls, dwarves, and dragons, there will be a focus on traditional medieval building, with plenty of castles and knights to go around. The King’s Castle piece in particular looks impressive, with stone-grey blocks building a set of two towers and a drawbridge. A catapult affixed to the tower will be able to shoot projectiles at any encroaching armies. While the set won’t be out until June or July of this year, there is certainly plenty of potential for fun with these castles.

If you simply can’t wait til this summer, there are still plenty of Lego Castle options available from the 2009 run. There’s some great fantasy pieces as well, with the Troll’s Mountain Fortress and Troll Battleship having some excellent designs with lots of unique pieces included. If you’re looking for a great toy for your kids or grandkids, it’s hard to top a good Lego castle. Make sure to find a set with a solid number of pieces, usually more than 500, and let imagination do the rest.