Tech Blog

How to Look Like a Gadget Lover Without Buying Any Real Electronics [Wtf] -
12 Full Color Printed VHS Video Boxes: $9. Full Scale Plastic Washer and Dryer Set: $139. 2 Piece 20" Wide Screen LCD Style Computer Package: $49. Outfitting your entire home with prop gadgets: Probably a bad idea.

If you're like me and ever looked at one of those prop TVs in a store and wondered how much they go for, then the mystery is finally over. You can seek out Props By IDM, a company who sells such fake gadgets, and price check. [Props by IDM via Boing Boing]
What Would You Stick Under A Scanning Electron Microscope? [Qotd] -
Here's some tasty-looking hard candy. And here's that same tasty-looking hard candy scanned by an SEM. Tuns out that there's a company offering to stick almost anything under an electron microscope and we can't help but wonder: What to pick?

SEM Elemental Analysis company ASPEX is offering this great service where people can submit their own samples to be viewed under a scanning electron microscope. They even post results—like these—on the site:

Now, back to the big question: What would you want to see scanned by an SEM? [Aspex via Maria Popova]
First Walking Lego Mecha Is Looking for Lego Godzilla [Lego] -
Lego biped robots are a dime a dozen, even while some look pretty sweet. This one is special: It's the first walking Lego robot. And, unlike your usual feet-dragging toy robots, it actually walks by raising its feet.

This is definitely not easy to do with Lego or any other material. Maybe this guy should start thinking about building a Big Dog. [Flickr via Brothers Brick]
ExiTool: A More Practical Approach To Escaping Your Automobile [Multitools] -
Here are a few things you don't have time to do when your car plunges into an icy lake: remove a Leatherman multitool from your glove compartment; unfold it; cut through your seatbelt; refold it; smash through your window.

Thankfully there's the ExiTool, a clever little gadget that attaches to your seat belt for quick access when your shit goes "glug, glug, glug." It includes a high-carbon stainless steel slicer, a tungsten carbide smasher, and, just for good measure, an LED light.

Sure, having an open blade attached to your seat belt all the time isn't ideal, but it's definitely more ideal than being trapped in your car at the bottom of some murky body of water.

The ExiTool will be available soon for $27, so if you're the type of person that worries about this thing it's probably a worthwhile investment. [CRKT via The Awesomer]
Pluto Fanboys Hate Mail [Science] -
If I were Neil deGrasse Tyson—host of the Pluto Files and director of the Hayden Planetarium—I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Not after reading the hate mail from thousands of outraged American kids.

The kids wrote to de Grasse Tyson demanding an explanation about why scientists changed Pluto's classification from planet into a Kuiper Belt object. The Natural History Museum also retired it from their Solar System model, which logically got a lot of kids reaching for their pellet guns.

Neil, they may sound sweet, but they are vicious, those beasts. [PBS]
Zinnet's Brite-View LinkE Streams Content to Four Devices Over Powerline Networks [Zinnet] -
Sometimes Wi-Fi just doesn't do the trick when streaming something to several devices. Zinnet's Brite-View LinkE system will cover you there by allowing you to stream things over a powerline network to four ethernet devices and at up to 200Mbps.

It's pretty simple: You plug an ethernet bridge into a wall outlet and connect it to a modem. Then you plug the four-port ethernet switch into another wall outlet and tada! You're able to stream content.

The kit's even a pretty decent deal at $90, especially compared to $150-$170 kits. [PR Newswire via Engadget]
The Google App Marketplace: Doing It All in the Cloud [Google] -
We just finished watching Google's live announcement of the launch of the Google App Marketplace. Keep reading for information on what they're offering users and developers. Oh, and know that the Marketplace is live today. Updating.

The event is called "Google Campfire One" and it's all about how easy it will be to create, set up, and install apps using Google's App Marketplace. It appears that the big focus is on how everything—apps and existing Google products—will work together seamlessly and allow for all your tools and data to sit in the cloud. Right now the appeal is for business applications, but the potential seems incredible.

The first portion of the announcement is about what developers will give and get in this whole deal. Google is offering them access to 25 million users and only asking for a one-time fee of $100 and 20% revenue in exchange—that's less than what access to Apple's App Store requires. Of course, Google is providing a solid system with apps being authenticated using OpenID, secured using oAuth, and made available through a universal Google Apps navigation system.

While there are already 50 partners right at launch, we're hearing that after new apps are submitted, they may take a few days to show up in the Marketplace—mind you, there's no word on what kind of approval process there is. But once an app is in the Marketplace, it's easy for users or buyers to add them to their Google accounts: They agree to some terms of service, grant access to data—such as Gmail or GCal, and enable the app. Tada! It'll show up in the new apps drop down.

Now apparently development of these apps is so simple that there are 40 developers who are on a bus traveling to an SXSW event and working on apps right now.

It looks like apps will be easy to integrate into existing Google products as seen by a demo of a payroll app by Intuit—information from it was embedded into Gmail or Google Docs.

Now remember how there have been some nice previews of YouTube videos in Gmail lately? Prepare to see more of that from these new apps because Google is offering developers the chance to set apps to be triggered by certain emails, events, or specific types of content.

What does all this mean right now? For business users, there are plenty of apps already available—ones for payroll, data entry, management, and an office suite—and they'll be able to run everything right from the cloud. For us plain Janes and Joes though, the Marketplace is full of potential at this moment. Think social media, data management, communication—all the things you already get from Google, just better.

Yes, my head's already in the cloud. Hopefully everything else will follow and I'll be able to work and play there.
This Happens to Me Every F*cking Single Day [Cartoon] -
Some days, it happens two or three times. I bet that you and most of your friends and family find themselves in the same situation too. [Loldwell]
Nexus Scooter Carry-On: The Most Fun Way to Get Arrested In an Airport [Concepts] -
For every time you've brought a scooter to the airport and wished it fit into the overhead compartment, I give you the Nexus: a battery-powered scooter that folds into a luggage-sized case. The TSA will love this.

Nexus is a concept designed by Francisco Lupin, and if it were either for a) sale or b) not guaranteed to get me arrested, I'd own one already. Its two electric engines run on four 12V batteries, and can achieve speeds of up to 15 km/h. It'll last two hours on one charge, though if you make it two minutes before being tackled by bored security personnel you deserve some kind of special award. [Tuvie via Dvice]
Glowing Three-Inch Heels: The Adult Version of Light-Up Sneakers [Geek Fashion] -
As a kid I had a pair of Barbie sneakers that lit up with every step. Sadly those aren't made in adult shoe sizes, so I'll have to settle for something like these slinky illuminated heels.

These shoes came from the minds of Rodarte, a two-sister design team, and are a beautiful example of how wearable tech can be integrated into our lives and into our three-inch heels.

Now can someone tell me where I can get a pair? [High Snobette via Fashion In Tech]