I swore I’d never wear them. We called them the Five Fingers of Suck a few years ago and I was sure they were crazy. Friends, I’m here to tell you I was wrong. And I’m sorry.
Here’s my story: I ran a marathon a few years ago. I got plantar fasciitis and couldn’t run after the marathon. I worked through that inflammation but by the time I was ready to run again I had gained thirty pounds. Wham. Shin-splints. So I was a fat former runner with leg problems. The prognosis wasn’t good.
So I tried a few things – the elliptical, weight training, losing some freaking weight – but the thing that saved me were these shoes. Read More
I’m going to be kind here and say that EVGA Interview is an interesting product. It is a dual monitor system with two 17-inch screens attached to a base. It’s a good idea, it really is. I’m just concerned that $600 is a bit much to pay for two screens in this configuration.
The trick here is that the screens turn over when you twist them into position. Want to show someone across the desk from you something? Flip over the monitor. It bears to note, however, that you need two graphics cards – DVI or VGA capable – to use both monitors at the same time.
If you’re craving city life or a university setting, Ann Arbor, Michigan is the place to be. Ann Arbor is the seventh largest city in the state of Michigan, with a population of 114,386, of which more than 30% are college or university students. Since its founding in 1824, Ann Arbor has flourished into a city of intellect and culture that has influenced the nation and the world. In the mood to relive your college days? Visit the University of Michigan campus; go to the Big House, experience a tailgate, or just wander through the Diag. But maybe you’re in the mood for a night in the city. Try the array of restaurants and bars that make up downtown Ann Arbor, ranging from martini bars like the Black Pearl, jazz venues like the Firefly Club, to world renowned concert halls like Hill Auditorium. No matter what kind of mood you’re in, Ann Arbor has a way of satisfying every craving. Check it out.
Whether you want it to put the lotion in the basket or have some great fun running around in the back yard after dark, the Jakks Pacific EyeClops Night Vison 2.0 Binoculars are for you. These super cool, $59 binocs have a built-in infrared night vision system for spying on folks in complete darkness up to 50 feet away.
While I’m not quite sure I know any eight-year-olds who need night vision binoculars, these things definitely work. They run on five AA batteries and display a small, clear image of the subject on an internal screen. There are multiple settings including a green filter as well as improved infrared LEDs. Read More
OK. I’m happy to report that Round 2 of the Gadget Club Contest passed by without a hitch and now we’re on to Round 3. Before I show you the new entrants, however, let’s announce the Round 2 winner, shall we?
And you said the recession was making it hard to find a good watch. Well fear not, friends. The Praesto Fliegeruhr (Whatever. Just call it the “flying hour” or something) will cost $360 for a pre-order and will be shipped around November when the custom watches are shipped to the manufacturer. Plus you get a t-shirt!
Hello, my name is Christopher Hawker. I am a professional inventor, specializing in innovative consumer products. My company is called Trident Design, LLC. I have developed many products in numerous industries and have over 20 products on the market. My most famous invention is the PowerSquid, a cephalopod-inspired power strip with outlets situated at the end of short cords, thereby eliminating the problem of losing outlets to bulky transformer plugs. John Biggs, editor-in-chief of this blog, has asked me to write the story of the birth of the PowerSquid and its development and journey to market. This is the Song of the PowerSquid.
In the summer of 2006, I got a call from the president of Power Sentry to tell me that they were being bought by Philips, the Netherlands-based consumer electronics giant. My initial instinct was that this would be a mixed bag. They were just too large. He reassured that it would be great for the PowerSquid, with the awesome brand and marketing power of this giant, worldwide corporation suddenly behind our product. What really ended up happening was that the huge corporation barley noticed that it sold PowerSquid, since it had thousands and thousands of other products. The lack of focus quickly became evident as the relationship began to unfold. Most notably in their responsiveness to our needs as Flexity, which usually amounted to, “bad news delivered late.” Nevertheless, we continued to push Flexity. Philips agreed to let us distribute their other power products to our customers, so we became a distributor of the original non-surge PowerSquid, as well as their lower-end (UL Listed) surge protectors.
We successfully sold the Calamari into Dell’s and Apple’s online stores, which were two of our major targets all along. Unfortunately, they both sequestered them to the last page of their surge protector sections. We had no “pay-to-play” money to get higher placement. With no special attention drawn to them and backwoods positioning, neither venue proved as successful as our own site.
Hello, my name is Christopher Hawker. I am a professional inventor, specializing in innovative consumer products. My company is called Trident Design, LLC. I have developed many products in numerous industries and have over 20 products on the market. My most famous invention is the PowerSquid, a cephalopod-inspired power strip with outlets situated at the end of short cords, thereby eliminating the problem of losing outlets to bulky transformer plugs. John Biggs, editor-in-chief of this blog, has asked me to write the story of the birth of the PowerSquid and its development and journey to market. This is the Song of the PowerSquid.
Part 1: Genesis
This is a story of the birth of a product, a company and a career. It’s an example of how to turn ideas into reality. But, more importantly, it is also a story – albeit a cautionary one – of how to earn a profit from new product ideas, something easier said than done. Read More
The Prime-8 is a cute robot from Bossa Nova that can shoot missiles and pound you and your loved ones into submission. It is based on the HREX robot. Read More
This whole thing wasn’t very promising. When I got the Cresyn C750E $99.99 earbuds they came in a bland, non-descript package. The package contained the headphones, a carry bag, and 3 different size ear tips. Once the headphones were out, I noticed how well designed they were.
The cord is thick, durable feeling, and relatively short (just less than 4 feet). You may think, “Short? That’s not good!” but I would have to disagree, after relying on a pair of Bose Around-Ears as my primary headphones, I have grown to hate 5+ foot cords. They are great for plugging into the back of your computer, but god help you if wander near a doorknob. The Cresyns, on the other hand, are a perfect length. They plug into the MP3 player in my pocket with enough cord left over that I don’t have to worry about pulling them out of my ears, but not enough that I snag on any protrusion threatening my personal space. The jack seems equally durable, its slightly less than 90-degree angle made out of a semi-rigid plastic will spread the bending stress headphone jacks experience in your pocket. Read More
A little bird sent us these images Swatch’s upcoming Tourbillon collection, the Turn to Her and Turn to Him. I don’t have much information but I do know that Swatch used to make automatic mechanical movements but stopped some time in this decade. This new movement appears to use a rotating cage to move the balance wheel in a full rotation around the central stalk, a design decision which differs from the standard stationary tourbillon cage.
This looks like a limited edition movement and the guy’s model is beefier than the iced-up ladies’ model. It seems to come in a limited, numbered edition and may be similar to the special edition tourbillon sold quite a while ago.
The HTC Hero just landed at my humble office/abode and I’m pleased to report that it is, in fact, all that and a packet of crisps. The phone is slim and sexy with a great UI – one of the best I’ve seen on a smartphone since the phone that starts with ‘i’ and ends with Phone – and it’s quite snappy, a huge improvement over my experience with the G1. Read More
If you’re anything like me whenever you pop up from the subway or metro you’re always lost. No matter where I am I can simply stick my head up like a grotesque and hairless badger and find myself in a brave new world, completely unsure of next steps.
Luckily, if you live in New York you can use the AcrossAir Nearest Subway App for the iPhone 3GS. This app overlays nearest subway stops on the live image in front of you. That’s right: this is a HUD for straphangers and it works amazingly.
You can hold the iPhone flat to see arrows pointing you to various subway stops or hold it up to see signs and distances for nearby stations.
Remember the Radio Shack Battery Club? Back in the old days you’d go into Radio Shack with a card and they’d give you free battery once a month. It was heaven. I used to go in and grab a 9-volt – the best battery to have, by a long shot.
Well, Radio Shack and Peek just teamed up with us to offer you the Peek/Radio Shack Free Gadget Club. For the next three weeks we’re giving away one Peek device – your choice – and another gadget (anything you want up to $500 in value) from Radio Shack. Sure as heck beats a D-cell, right? Read More
Ah, the netbook. Back in 1999 or so I remember one of my co-workers spent over $3,000 for a mini Sony Vaio PCG-C1, the kind with the tiny keyboard and woefully underpowered processor. Fast forward a decade and we’ve come full circle with the netbook. These still woefully underpowered laptops still have tiny keyboards but they cost a pittance and, for a certain subset of users, they’re some of the most compelling pieces of hardware to come out ofTaiwan and Japan in years.
Origin Story
The netbook was supposed to save the PC industry. Cast your memory back to 2007. We were just on the edge of the global financial precipice. Desktop sales were flat and laptop sales were soaring. All seemed fine. But there was a problem: the laptop market was considerably different than the desktop market. Desktop PCs sat comfortably in a den and were upgraded over time. Junior wanted to play The Sims so he installed a new graphics card. Sis wanted a scanner – she added an all-in-one. Dad was going through a mid-life crisis so he bought a new case. PCs generated sales in peripherals and, once the PC was maxed out, it was relegated to the basement and a new one purchased. PCs cost a pittance to make and could be sold at a slight profit.
Laptops, on the other hand, were stagnant. You bought a laptop and held onto it. For many it became a main computer, but one you never upgraded. You could add some memory and plug in a printer, but you weren’t purchasing overpriced graphics cards or hard drives. Read More
Greg Grunberg and his partners August Trometer and Rick Yaeger have a successful iPhone App called Yowza – it’s basically a location-aware coupon app that gives you great deals at major merchants – and Greg plays Matt Parkman on NBC’s Heroes, a program I’m told is quite popular with a certain demographic. They are two very cool guys.
I got a chance to talk to Greg and August about building iPhone apps, acting while topless, and was quite close to getting Hayden Panettiere’s phone number for you all.
CrunchGear: So… Yowza, is this your fallback move? Is this what happens when the bottom falls out of this whole acting fad?
Greg Grunberg: Exactly. This is for when they’re thinking about firing me and I’m like “I don’t understand, why is make-up putting some sort of an STD sore on my face? What’s going on? You know, is my character going to be killed off?”
I have always been business minded, always been sorta an entrepreneurial guy, I played a character on Felicity that was modeled after me actually. JJ Abrams is one of my closest friends so when he was creating that show, he was like, I’ve got the perfect character Sean Blumberg, He’s always looking for the next idea.
I mean I’ve been friends with JJ since preschool, believe it or not. All through college I was selling this and selling that, different businesses and stuff. Read More
I get the feeling that anyone out there who does this will not look like the person(s) in this video. However, it’s nice to imagine vaguely Rastapunk Brazilian girls doing this to each other. Interestingly, I realize that came out horribly wrong but I know you kids are thinking the same thing. Read More
In this new series we’ll be offering you a list of cool things to do in cities across America and around the globe. This Geek Weekend we present Philadelphia, the city of geek love, where you can check out ENIAC, a Star Trek exhibit, and buy a geeky faucet.
Whether you want it to put the lotion in the basket or have some great fun running around in the back yard after dark, the 
This whole thing wasn’t very promising. When I got the Cresyn C750E $99.99 earbuds they came in a bland, non-descript package. The package contained the headphones, a carry bag, and 3 different size ear tips. Once the headphones were out, I noticed how well designed they were. 
