Top 10 Toys

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 | Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »

iFly Vamp Indoor/Outdoor Radio Controlled Flying Bat
While radio controlled helicopters and planes get all the attention, if you are looking for the ultimate in home radio controlled aviation, this bat may be for you. The i-Fly Vamp is a radio controlled Styrofoam bat that flies via its flipping wings. To make things even more intense, the i-Fly comes equipped with glowing red LED eyes for practically pitch black dark operation.

While the bat can be difficult to fly- until you get the hang of it. It’s a great toy for almost any kid or adult. The i-Fly Vamp hovers around the $50 mark and is available at Interactive Toy Concepts.

USB Doomsday Device Hub
Just like in every James Bond movie, the USB Doomsday Device Hub helps you destroy the world by first activating switch one, then flipping switch two and then turning your authorized key to arm the device. Once your USB Doomsday Device Hub is armed, the plastic shield can be lifted and the big red button can be pressed.

Besides looking very cool on any presidents, I mean programmers desk, this device is also an extremely practical USB hub with 4 ports. You can pick this bad boy up at ThinkGeek.com

Digital Photo Keychain
For all you tech geeks out in computerland, this charming digital keep-sake is perfect for your girlfriend (if you are lucky enough to have one). While there are many different styles of the digital photo keychain, most include a 1.5 inch LCD screen and a USB port to connect to a computer. You can easily fill up this device with many photo formats including: JPEG, BMP, PNG and GIF. It should be noted that images are automatically formatted to fit on the tiny screen. Most digital photo keychains store about 72 images.

NovoPhone Retro Cell Phone Handset with 2.5 mm Jack
Remember the old days when a phone handset was big, bulky and beautiful. Well if you are sick of those slick Bluetooth earpieces or even the less ridiculed hands free headsets, this retro cell phone handset is for you.

This handset is a good old telephone handset. It is heavy, made from tough plastic and big enough to let everyone know that you are packing a traditional phone. This handset works with most phones; however it is not compatible with either the RAZR or Nokia phones. Available at X-Treme Geek.

R2-D2 Interactive Droid
No tech-toy list would be complete without a Star Wars product and this R2-D2 interactive droid is perhaps the most fun I’ve had since 1977. R2-D2 stands about a foot tall and works via voice activation. It even includes an extendable utility arm which is perfect for holding drinks, etc.

R2-D2 just doesn’t look good on your desk or in your room, he also obeys commands, flashes his lights, plays games, beeps and whistles and can navigate with sonar and infrared sensors. He is much smarter than the average dog and understands up to 30 phrases. Perfect for the home and great with kids, R2-D2 is a good little pet robot. Available at the Sharper Image.

USB Heated Gloves
If your boss hasn’t paid the heating bill and your hands are freezing at your computer keyboard, then you’re probably thanking your lucky stars that you can slip on your USB heated gloves. These gloves are perfect for any office environment and only require a working USB port (computer, Playstation, Xbox, etc). The gloves have a cut fingered design- so you can still type away and it includes two heating levels. Available at Kleargear.

Rollaway Piano Keyboard
Perfect for any traveling musician, this flexible, silicone piano can be rolled out in a moments notice. The keyboard includes 49 full size keys and a built in speaker. It weighs less than 2 pounds and works via 4 AA batteries or AC adapter. Perfect for work, home or on the road. This item is available at Kleargear.

ZipZaps- High Performance Remote Controlled MicroCar
Looking for extremely small remote control vehicles, ZipZaps are super small 2.5 inch pocket sized radio control cars that zip around super fast. They come with a full size controller and are extremely affordable- around $20. ZipZaps are first sold as part of a starter kit which includes a chassis, a 16,000 RPM performance motor, 12:1 gearing, body shell, wheels, tires and rims. It also includes a six way controller charger. Besides the starter kit other accessories are available, such as four different powered motors. They include: control, performance, turbo and NOS Nitrous. Perfect for those that want something that is extremely powerful, but simple to use. This item is available at Radio Shack

Garmin eTrex Vista CX Color Handheld GPS
If you are lucky enough to venture away from your computer, you might need this device to keep you on the right path. The Garmin eTrex Vista CX Handheld GPS is not only small, lightweight and cool looking, it also offers many features that are perfect for you rugged outdoor geeks. Features include:

• Bright, full-color TFT display, automatic routing, and long, 20-hour battery life
• Powerful navigation chip for supreme accuracy
• Includes barometric altimeter and electronic compass
• MicroSD memory slot; includes 64 MB memory card
• Preloaded with an Americas autoroute basemap

Weighs 5.6 ounces and runs on 2 AA batteries. Available at Amazon.com.

Penguin EZ Pull Stainless Steel Cork Screw
Yes geeks another techy wine cork to add to your collection. This one called the Penguin EZ Pull is made from beautiful stainless steel and extremely easy to use. No more chunks of cork in the bottle, instead you can look super cool effortlessly opening that bottle of wine next time you throw a Star Trek party.

To open a bottle simply raise the handle of the penguin, place it on top of the wine bottle, lower the handle which inserts the cool magnesium corkscrew and then lift the handle to effortlessly remove the wine cork without any twisting. This item also comes with a super cool looking storage case. Available at Sharper Image.

Waterproof Digital Camera

Sunday, December 16th, 2007 | Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »

I purchased my Olympus Stylus 790 SW for two reasons: It’s shockproof and it’s waterproof. Since then, however, the camera has impressed me with its intelligence and its ability to create quality shots under almost any circumstances.

The shockproof and waterproof labels come with important disclaimers. It’s shockproof only on falls up to five feet. In reality, almost any digital camera will survive a 5′ fall. The 790 SW’s metal body, floating circuit board and internal shock absorbers should provide significantly more than the stated shockproof performance.

The 790 SW is waterproof up to ten feet. That may not seem like much, but when was the last time you were below 10′ of water?

Both the shockproof and waterproof performance can be enhanced with Olympus accessories. The PT-041 Underwater Housing increases the waterproof guarantee up to 40 meters. The Silicon Clear Skin provides a cozy rubberized cover to protect the camera (and the finish) against the effects of drops.

The 790 SW is also freeze-proof to 14F (-10C). I’m not freeze-proof, so this was not an important feature for me.

Similarly, the camera’s 7.1 megapixel resolution far exceeds my requirements. My photos will be compressed significantly for publication on the web. Most of them will be published at less than one megapixel.

The 3x optical zoom is very nice to have. No digital zoom can ever take the place of a decent optical zoom feature and it’s amazing to have a 3x optical zoom on a camera this tiny.

The 2.5″ HyperCrystal LCD is an amazing performer, especially in sunlight.

SCN mode allows you to configure the camera quickly for the type of photo you intend to take. You can choose from 23 different options with presets to help ensure the best picture possible.

Guide mode is the real genius of this little camera. The shooting guide enables you to set an enormous variety of photographic effects — and preview them on the screen before the photo is taken. It’s like having your own photography instructor in your pocket.

This is an awesome little camera.  If I had a complaint, it would be that the camera may be just a little too little for my club-like hands.  Other than that, this may me the most perfect pocket camera on the market today.  And it’s waterproof. 

Proxy List Upgrade

Saturday, December 15th, 2007 | Posted in Internet | No Comments »

We’ve recently completed a major upgrade to our proxy list.

This upgrade improves the user interface, makes it easier to find new proxies, and adds support for viewing the proxy database in our fourteen supported languages.

In addition, as this proxy list script is entirely owned by us, we can and will invest in further improvements in the future.

French Government Tries to Shut Down eBay France

Friday, December 14th, 2007 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Just when I was beginning to think more highly of the French because they elected such an awesome President, the French government has made another decision which makes them look like fools.

The French government allows two types of auction businesses. One is a traditional auction house, which operate under orders from the sellers to sell their goods to the highest bidder. The second type is an auction brokerage, where the business does not intervene in the business between the buyer and the seller.

The French government claims that eBay France is the first type of business and eBay claims that it is the second type of business. In an attempt to muscle eBay, the French regulatory authority is attempting to shut down eBay France for operating without the proper permit.

The French government needs to sharpen their understanding of eBay and of the Internet in general. They need to understand that they are a small regional government with very little power to change how the Internet works. eBay could easily set up eBay Switzerland and transfer all business from eBay France there — effectively cutting the luddite French government out of the picture entirely.

The French government has the power of legal coercion, but eBay is backed by the forces of free-market economics. Government is powerful, but economics is a tireless process for change. In the long run, no government can withstand the relentless onslaught of market forces.

Microsoft To Relax WGA

Friday, December 7th, 2007 | Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »

When Vista was first released late last year Microsoft announced that they were to tighten their Windows Genuine Advantage system by making it so that if a user was found to be using a non-genuine version of Windows, they would slowly have their copy of Windows limited.

Since this system has been setup, Microsoft has had many complaints from their customers that their genuine operating systems have been limited due to this system being put in place.

WGA has been used in Windows since Service Pack 2 was released August 6, 2004 where they made you activate your copy of Windows with Microsoft. This could either be done online or over the phone. Microsoft has no plans of removing this feature, but in the latest build of their service pack (Windows Vista Service Pack 1) they are going to remove the system that limits users without a valid copy of the OS. This could either be a good thing for Windows hackers or it could mean that they are going to replace this with an even tighter system.

Whatever happens to the WGA system, this will all be revealed early next year when the service pack is released via Windows Update.

Firefox 3 Beta 2 Schedule Confirmed

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 | Posted in Firefox | No Comments »

At the last Firefox 3 Status Meeting, Mozilla planned the release schedule for the second beta of Firefox 3.

The development tree will close for checkins at midnight tonight, then several days will be spent fixing little errors before the QA and build teams start working on it. Code freeze is scheduled for December 7 and the final ship date for beta 2 is currently planned for December 21, but could still be postponed into early January.

I am currently running Firefox 3 beta one as my primary browser, and I’m quite happy with it’s performance, and I look forward to the release of Beta2 , too see if the little bugs have been fixed now.