Life-saving Bazooka wins James Dyson Award

In a situation where there is a drowning victim, having a boat nearby doesn’t always help. In fact, the drowning victim’s life usually hinges on the strength and accuracy of someone’s throwing arm. Here is a better way to throw a precious life-ring: shoot it with this bazooka.


I have a video of the Longreach after the jump so you can see the basic concept. Some of you might be wondering how it is possible to shoot this giant bullet that can magically transform into a floating device, but it uses hydrophobic or rapidly expanding foam. With a range of 150 meters, the victim can hold on until he or she receives the proper help.

Panasonic welcomes you to the Jungle

Panasonic hasn’t been into the home video game market since the 3DO, which was not able to compete with Sega and Nintendo back in its initial release in 1993.


They have chosen to re-enter the video market with the Jungle, this portable video gaming system here. Considering that Nintendo’s 3DS is coming very soon, some might think that Panasonic’s sudden move into the handheld gaming market could be a mistake.


However, the Jungle has something that other handhelds don’t have. It allows the player to play online games like massively-multiplayer online (MMO) ones. So for those who want to take their World of Warcraft game online, it could be a Jungle out there.

Lucky Bums Music Strap Speakers

If you are tired of jamming earbuds into your ears, Lucky Bums has a handy little solution for those that use a backpack on a regular basis. Although I’m not a fan of listening to other people’s music tastes on a long train ride there are situations when a set of speakers would be nice. These are capable of handling a little bit of bad weather and will play the music from any old MP3 player.

Cardboard Camera Recreations

We’ve grown used to our polished gadgets with plastic and metal casings. Yet, one man enjoys making his cameras out of something entirely different. Instead of hard metal pressed up against your eye, he’s making fully functioning cardboard cameras. It’s be a bit of a change from the usual, but you’d definitely stand out from the crowd.




These insanely detailed cameras are by Kiel Johnson. Of course not all of his camera designs are actually functional, but some of them at least run like a normal camera. He makes everything from incredibly ancient recreations to brand new DSLR cameras. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like these are actually up for sale at this point.

Razer to launch new suite of Naga Special Edition gaming mice

There is nothing quite like injecting fresh interest into a particular hardware line by coming up with limited or special editions, and Nintendo has pulled that off to great effect with so many different design iterations of the Nintendo DS line, featuring different decals on the outside as well as a myriad of colors which appeal to a wide range of audience. Razer has taken a leaf out of Nintendo’s book, although Razer will not release that many special editions with their new suite of Razer Naga Special Edition gaming mice in the form of the Razer Naga Maelstrom Special Edition and the Razer Naga Molten Special Edition. We will take a closer look at them later in the extended post.

T-Mobile announces new myTouch smartphone

T-Mobile has a spanking new myTouch smartphone for the masses, where it will play nice with T-Mobile’s equally new and super-fast HSPA+ mobile broadband network. It was constructed to cater for families, where one is able to hold spontaneous face-to-face conversations thanks to the wonders of Video Chat and the ability to reach 4G speeds on T-Mobile’s new network. It is also interesting to note that T-Mobile’s 4G network is available in more cities across the country than any other network. Video Chat on the new myTouch will work not only on a Wi-Fi connection unlike the iPhone 4, and the myTouch’s front-facing camera can work via Yahoo! Messenger or QIK. Heck, you can even leave Video Mail using QIK whenever someone is not around to pick up your call.

Instant Impresario Guitar

Love those romantic comedies that see the main character serenade the love of his life with a guitar, only to win her heart in the end? Does this mean that all is lost if you do not have the ability to let your fingers dance across the strings of a guitar? Perhaps not, as there is help in the form of the Instant Impresario Guitar, where this device will target those who practically have no previous guitar experience whatsoever, offering the instant gratification of playing chords without months of practice. It comes in the same form factor as a hollow-body acoustic guitar, featuring half a dozen strings which can be strummed or individually plucked with the right hand like a normal guitar. As for your left hand, it will press a chord button along the fingerboard. You will be able to play up to 24 different chords thanks to the unique button combinations, while touch-sensitve pads located above and below the strings will be able to deliver additional muting and octave control. Twelve built-in arpeggio settings enable one to enjoy individual string control when in “lead guitar” mode. Each $599.95 purchase comes with four demonstration songs to get you started right out of the box, and while the integrated 1 1/2-watt speaker produces clear notes and chords, it definitely won’t bring the house down. You can choose to have it powered by eight AA batteries if you want to serenade Juliet outside of her house window, otherwise sit in your living room and let the AC adapter provide the required juice.

Fisher-Price Talk To Baby Digital Monitor with dual receivers

First time parents are more or less always nervous about whether their little bundle of joy will be all right or not, and whenever they let baby sleep in a different room, they would sleep better with a Baby Digital Monitor in hand just in case baby makes some noise at night. Fisher-Price aims to offer some sense of peace and security with the Talk To Baby Digital Monitor with dual receivers, where this $89.99 purchase will allow you to communicate with your little one without having to enter the nursery. After all, you might be busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, and want to soothe baby’s crying but can’t do so at the moment simply because you’re attending to your meal preparation at the moment. Just talk into your receiver and you’re good to go, as the receiver sports Accu-Clear Technology that delivers better clarity than DECT. Not only that, you are able to shut off the built-in nightlight without having to enter baby’s nursery thanks to a touch of a button!

Best Countertop Ice Maker

Want to throw a party for your family and friends, and don’t want to take any chances that you might actually run out of ice that night simply because you took the number of drinkers at your place for granted? Instead of being embarassed that there isn’t going to be enough ice to go around, why not pick up the Best Countertop Ice Maker instead? This device is capable of making the most ice in the least amount of time during testing, churning out 18 1/2 lbs. of ice in eight hours. That might not sound like much, but it is 56% more than a lesser model, while all it takes to cough up a 12-cube batch is 8 minutes. It is also one of the quieter models out there in the market, making a mere 24.8 decibels of noise when in action. Using it is more or less dummy proof as well, since all you need to do is fill it up with water, choose the ice cube size and press the button to get going. Capable of freezing ice cubes in three different sizes, it will cost $249.95 to reside in your kitchen.

Remote Visual Doorbell Clock

Hmm, a doorbell clock doesn’t exactly ring a bell in our books (pun not intended), but we guess there was enough research done to justify the existence of the Remote Visual Doorbell Clock. What does this $39.98 device do anyways? Regardless of whether it is powered by either an AC adapter or a quartet of AAA batteries, it will provide additional notice whenever someone is at your door step (an alert watchdog would do equally well, but at least you don’t have to clean up after the clock). Each time the doorbell is pressed, the clock will play one out of 32 selectable tunes, lighting up and flashing crazily away for 10 seconds to boot just in case it is late into the night and you are listening to your favorite relaxation tunes with a pair of noise-isolation earphones. Works great as long as you remain within a 50 foot radius from the doorbell.

The iCub robot learns archery

Humanoid robot iCub learns the skill of archery. The learning algorithm, called ARCHER (Augmented Reward Chained Regression) algorithm, was developed and optimized specifically for problems like the archery training. Photo: Dr. Petar Kormushev
(PhysOrg.com) -- The humanoid robot iCub has learned a new skill: archery. After being taught how to hold a bow and shoot an arrow, it learned for itself how to improve its aim, and was so successful it could hit a bullseye after only eight trials.

Toshiba unveils glasses-free 3-D TV

Toshiba Corp. believes it has a solution for television viewers who like 3-D but hate the glasses.
The Tokyo-based company on Monday unveiled the world's first high definition liquid crystal display 3-D television that does not require special glasses - one of the biggest consumer complaints about the technology.
Toshiba describes the TVs as being for "personal use." Whether consumers embrace the new TVs remains to be seen. Many might be put off by the fact they'll have to be very close to the screen for the 3-D effect to really work not to mention the steep price tag.

Samsung to launch smartphone, tablet PC in Japan

Visitors try out Samsung's 'Galaxy Tab' at a trade event in Berlin. South Korea's Samsung Electronics has saidit will release a smartphone and tablet PC in Japan before December, its latest move in an ongoing battle with US giant Apple.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it would release a smartphone and tablet PC in Japan before December, its latest move in an ongoing battle with US giant Apple.

Electronic Cigarettes

Allow me to introduce you to the e-cigarette. These battery-powered gizmos sound like a ridiculous party gag, and as a matter of fact they are. But they also deliver users a serious portion of vaporized nicotine that is supposed to sate even the most demanding of smokers. As Der Spiegel reports—with a healthy puff of irony and caution—e-cigarettes could be “Smoking 2.0.”
In particular, these gadgets sidestep the 4,000-plus chemicals present in standard cigarette smoke that plume into one’s lungs from the burning of tobacco and tar. This allows e-cigarette smokers to avoid the 50 or so cancer-causing components of normal cigarettes. Not surprisingly, e-cigarette companies make grandiose statements about the health benefits of their wares.

Latest Hp-Pavilion-m9600

Are you known? HP is launch new PC.HP is top dog of the computer industry. further - the Pavilion Elite m9600 series PC. Each purchase will be accompanied by a widescreen monitor, where the Pavilion Elite m9600 will deliver the speed, reliability and performance required for demanding multitasking in addition to handling graphic-intensive files and movies with aplomb. The prices starting from $949 only. The HP featuring an Intel Core i7 920 processor, a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GS graphics card, a 500 GB hard drive and a SuperMulti DVD burner that is able to generate both DVDs and CDs with custom labels