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Paroos G-100 GPS MP3 Player

The Paroos G-100 looks suspiciously like the Garmin GPS device, but I don’t think they’re the same. I don’t know. Otherwise, this overseas only device, available, apparently, and it’s pretty low-end in terms of MP3 sexiness: 512MB, FM tuner, USB 1.0. It’s kind of the prevalent attitude these days: if you have some room in…

Tech News Johnb

$20 Brain Weapons

I recall seeing ads for these “wonder weapons” in the back of Popular Mechanics as a boy. Hypnotizer units! Pain fields! Brain death rays! Snoopy Sno Cone Makers! Well, the company that sells plans for these unique death-dealing devices, Information Unlimited, is online and ready to rumble. They only sell blueprints, so you’ll have to…

Tech News Johnb

TX-2 BUTTPROBE

Ok. Now that you’ve cleaned your coffee from your keyboard, just relax. There won’t mention of the anal canal anywhere in this post. The BUTTPROBE is a stomp box for guitarists and vocalists. It features heavy distortion thanks to a set of 4BN6 vacuum tubes designed to create a big mess when you press twist…

Tech News Johnb

Catcher’s Mitts Provide Little Protection

Not too gadgety, but it might give some sports gear folks some ideas. I don’t know much about baseball—my family raised me to be a fan of the Choc Zul Panthers, the highest rated team in the ancient Aztec Deathball circuit—but if catching these balls causes hand trauma, can’t you create a better, lighter mitt…

Tech News Johnb

Fridge Magnet Bottle Opener

I learned the old put-a-beer-bottle-against-a-counter-and-smack trick back in high school, but now, in my 30s, I tend to avoid pounding beer bottles against someone’s Peruvian fieldstone and mahogany kitchen island. But every time I get a few in me, I’m tempted. That’s why this tool will spoil even more of my fun. It’s a powerful…

Tech News Johnb

Slingbox Review Round-up

The SlingBox is SO HOT. Everybody seems to love it and have already created their own personal fan sites. They should maybe write fan fiction: SlingBox shot his web out against the wall and jumped from the roof. SlingBoy yelled after him adamantly “Why are you doing that? The party’s over here!” “The party is…

Tech News Johnb

Estes Hydrogen Fuel Rocket

I loved Estes rockets as a boy. I in fact made a horizontally launching rocket tube device that I shot at my shed. I wore a helmet and didn’t kill anybody but I know that if a bored kid in America’s Heartland made one of those today they’d be on him or her like lightning.…

Tech News Johnb

iPod Mini Everywhere

This interesting piece of patent marginalia shows a potential iPod Mini stuck inside a potential PowerBook. This is actually probably just Apple’s way of covering its arse when someone comes out with a similar notion of an MP3 player built into a laptop, something about prior art or whatever, but the premise is compelling. The…

Tech News Johnb

Siemens SL75 and S75

Now, as far as I remember, Siemens, she go bye-bye. However, it seems like either they’re not quite dead yet or these are the last throes. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-it-sounds-like-when-siemens-dies-108347 The SL75 and S75 are pretty standard: 1.3MP Camera, Bluetooth, TFT. The SL75 is a slider and the S75 is a candybar. Generally, these are aimed at the…

Tech News Johnb

Creative Zen Sleek

I hate the word “sleek.” Otters are sleek and snakes are sleek. Sleek describes something that has shiny, healthy, and slick fur. So unless this Creative Zen Sleek is hitting puberty, it ain’t sleek. I know that there’s another usage, but that applies more to cars and boats than every single electronics product on the…

Tech News Johnb

Navicore Personal Reviewed (Verdict: Small GPS is Nice)

Well, I’ve trekked through the 12 stages of grief and come out a wiser man. I think I lost all my MySQL data unless someone knows of some way to mount a busted disk image. Oh well. Your trek through LIFE—did you catch that segue?—needn’t be as full of grief, however. The Navicore Personal GPS…

Tech News Johnb

Motorola and Nokia Summer Fun

Strangely, Phonescoop posted a look at the new Motorola E895 and the new Nokia GSM/CDMA line-up in one place, thereby either forcing us to link to them twice or be very lazy. We opted for the latter. The E895 is a nice little flip. It’s no RAZR, but we’re already tired of the RAZR. The…

Tech News Johnb

Imation Micro Hard Drive

After giving myself sysadmin sinking feelings every few minutes, we need to look at something pretty. The Imation Micro Hard Drive is amazing in that it’s a mini hard drive that looks like a padlock. This is very similar to the behavior of the great hooded skink which can, at will, appear as Marisa Tomei.…

Tech News Johnb

RubberMaid Paint Buddy

We currently have about fifty cans of old paint in the basement, just waiting to rust, bust, and collect dust. This, therefore, is a clever little solution. The Paint Buddy can hold a small amount of paint is is useful for touching up messy spots where the dog began chewing on the wallboard to escape…

Tech News Johnb

SMARTHYDRO Intelligent Tub

This is what I need right now. I’m having trouble with POP and mod_perl and all sorts of messiness. And I think I’m destroying my dd images but fscking them. Sorry for harping. Ummm… oh. This is a tub that takes orders from your PDA. You can send the tub special instructions and it will…

Tech News Johnb

SilverStone LC18

Case designs have been leaning towards the “pimp-my-mobo” side of things recently and this is no exception. THe SilverStone LC18 has an external LCD monitor on the case and looks like the bastard spawn of a MacMini and ThermalTake death-beast. Featured at this year’s C3, the LC18 is an interesting mix of elegance and over-the-topness…

Tech News Johnb

Spam Makes You Thinner

I’m looking at starting up my IMAP server again, so this is very apt. According to a study in Alberta, Canada—Oh CAN-A-DA!—readers of diet spam tend to worry more about their weight and maintain a lower BMI. In all fairness, I suspect this study was based on emails more like “Hey, did you know that…

Tech News Johnb

Adventures in the Sysadmin Trade

John here. Got back from the NOC last night—the NOC is in DC and I’m in New York, so it was kind of like visiting the reclusive Uncle rather than a fun road trip—and I rebuilt MOST of the system. Now I need to get my MySQL DBs back out of an image of the…

Tech News Johnb

Sony HDR-HC1 Camcorder Reviewed (Verdict: Fantastic)

CamcorderInfo got their hands on the Sony HDR-HC1, the first ‘affordable’ High-Definition Video camcorder available. For around two grand (or less, even), you can get a true HD camera with tons of features, including a touchscreen interface, decent (but slightly limiting) manual controls, and the ability to shoot still pictures, as well. It uses a…

Tech News Joel

Northern Industrial Super SearchEye Spotlight

Ten million candlepower is a lot of photons, and for just $50, this Northern Industrial Super SearchEye Spotlight will give them to you—without cords. Using a rechargeable 12 volt battery and a Philips H4 halogen bulb, the beam is bright enough to reflect off the moon if you are on the surface of the moon.…

Tech News Joel

Paroos G-100 GPS MP3 Player

$20 Brain Weapons

TX-2 BUTTPROBE

Catcher’s Mitts Provide Little Protection

Fridge Magnet Bottle Opener

Slingbox Review Round-up

Estes Hydrogen Fuel Rocket

iPod Mini Everywhere

Siemens SL75 and S75

Creative Zen Sleek

Navicore Personal Reviewed (Verdict: Small GPS is Nice)

Motorola and Nokia Summer Fun

Imation Micro Hard Drive

RubberMaid Paint Buddy

SMARTHYDRO Intelligent Tub

SilverStone LC18

Spam Makes You Thinner

Adventures in the Sysadmin Trade

Sony HDR-HC1 Camcorder Reviewed (Verdict: Fantastic)

Northern Industrial Super SearchEye Spotlight

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