Gizmodo: opener

Crowbar Opener Pops Lids on Beer, Makes You Look Like A Heavy

Kit Eaton — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:30:00 EDT

"Grrrr.... ahhh" is roughly the sound you'll make as you use this crowbar bottle opener to muscle-off the cap on a bottle of lovely beer. And you'll get to whack the opener menacingly into your palm if you're in the mood to look like a heavy. Just don't be too energetic opening the bottle, else it'll swing back and you'll smack yourself inna teef. Yours for $25. [NerdApproved]

Master Lock SmartTOUCH Biometric Garage Door Opener

Brian Lam — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:58:22 EST

The Skinny: Opens your garage via fingerprint of up to 20 others. Survives in extreme temps from -30 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit and wet weather. Costs $130 bucks.
The Catch: The preferred way to open a garage is still the good old janky wireless remote from inside your car. [Smarttouch via Gearlog]

Open Mail Like a God

Sean Fallon — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:30:05 EST

Next time you open up that "past due" notice you can still feel like a bad ass with this Zeus lightning bolt letter opener. All junk mail and coupon flyers will tremble before you and your awesome power —not to mention mailmen, neighbors, kids, and small dogs (if things get out of hand). Available in solid or silver plated brass. Pricing upon request. [Product Page via Torc via Neatorama]

Lightning Round: Plastic Surgeon Package Opener

Jason Chen — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:40:07 EST

The Gadget: The Plastic Surgeon, a cutting tool to open those plastic blister packs that dominate retail packaging. It's shaped sort of like an old-school can opener (the non-turning kind), and is designed to rip the tip off of clamshell packs by slicing all the way around.

The Price: $8.95

The Verdict: Fantastic. Unlike the OpenX, which only really worked for us on one type of plastic clamshell packaging, the Plastic Surgeon works on almost all types. And it works really, really well. Just lift up the plastic auto-close protective cover, jam it into the corner of a clamshell pack, then slide all the way around until you've ended up where you started. If you did it right (and it's pretty hard not to—there's even an included DVD that shows you how to use it) the top comes off. If you're reading Giz, you definitely owe it to yourself to get one of these to open all the electronics you buy. [Plastic Surgeon]

p.s. the Plastic Surgeon doesn't come in a blister pack. It's got a paper backing that you slide off. Think toothbrushes.

The Plastic Surgeon Opens Plastic Blister Packs, Saves Fingers

Jason Chen — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:00:07 EST

Plastic clamshell openers like the OpenX have been around for a while, but despite all that development and marketing, they still lose out in pure usefulness to box cutters or even a pair of scissors. The Plastic Surgeon, on the other hand, looks like it has all the functionality of a box cutter but without all the "saw your finger off" riskiness. You can check out the corny video above for a better idea of how it works, but we'll have a hands-on with this thing sometime soon. Hopefully I'll still have all my digits when I type it up. [Plastic Surgeon]

Open X Package Openers Now Cheaper, Still Great

Jason Chen — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:40:26 EST

These awesome Open X package cutters we wrote about two years ago has a pretty steep price drop. No longer $10, it's now $4.95, and even come with free shipping if you buy 6. Never rip the inside of your mouth opening a package like an idiot again.

We're not sure why you'd buy 6 now that Christmas season is over, but these would probably make the BEST VALENTINES DAY GIFT EVER.

And if you believed that, we wish you good luck getting inside that box ever again. – Jason Chen

Product Page [My OpenX]