New USB Hub doesn’t care which way you plug in your cable

There are hundreds, if not thousands of USB hubs available on the market today. Some are shaped like animals, robots, or have some sort of other fancy function, like warming a cup of coffee. However, the inevitable problem that you will face has nothing to do with the functionality of the hub, but with your ability to put the male plug into the USB port right side up.

For those of us that find this horrendously frustrating, now is the time for celebration, as Buffalo has developed a hub that will never let that happen again. No more squinting to see if you’re putting it in right side up the first time or not, as this hub will take either plastic part up or down. This is really the first of its kind as far as a USB hub goes. It comes in blue, black, white, and pink, all for the rather reasonable price of $23.

Credit: RocketNews

New USB Hub doesn’t care which way you plug in your cable

There are hundreds, if not thousands of USB hubs available on the market today. Some are shaped like animals, robots, or have some sort of other fancy function, like warming a cup of coffee. However, the inevitable problem that you will face has nothing to do with the functionality of the hub, but with your ability to put the male plug into the USB port right side up.

For those of us that find this horrendously frustrating, now is the time for celebration, as Buffalo has developed a hub that will never let that happen again. No more squinting to see if you’re putting it in right side up the first time or not, as this hub will take either plastic part up or down. This is really the first of its kind as far as a USB hub goes. It comes in blue, black, white, and pink, all for the rather reasonable price of $23.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/02/21/behold-the-usb-of-the-future-no-more-fumbling-to-put-it-in-right-side-up/

http://buffalo-kokuyo.jp/news/data/2012/02/955/

View the original article here

Motion Activated Pet Bowl seals away the food when no one is around

Owning a pet is a big responsibility. This living creature depends on you for everything, including shelter, water and food. Unfortunately, some of us have rather busy lives, and don’t have time to put down a fresh bowl of food every day. Some might argue that if you don’t have time for that, you probably shouldn’t own a pet, but I digress. If you’re one who would rather put a giant bowl full of food down, but don’t want the smell of dog food in the room, you might check out this Motion Activated Pet Bowl.

This high-tech food bowl features a motion sensor to detect your furry friend. When it comes near, the lid will slide off into two halves revealing the food. When no motion has been detected for five seconds, it slides the lid back into place. I guess I’ve never really had a problem with dog or cat food smelling up my house, so this $40 gadget seems like a bit much to me. But if you want your pet to have their own gadgets, just like you, then I suppose this would be perfect.

View the original article here

Can your iPhone act as a self-defense weapon?

When you’re at the end of your day, you start to head to your car so you can kick off your shoes at home. However, if you are stuck walking out to your car at night, chances are you get a little nervous when you feel that things are ?too quiet?. You can’t really carry a gun or knife on you during the work day, but what about having a spare iPhone case?

It’s called the Smartguard iPhone Case, and its main goal is to keep you safe. It has a specially shaped can of Oleoresin Capisum pepper spray built-in. A plastic tab will make sure that it doesn’t misfire, but within this tiny canister is 6 half-second bursts of excruciating spray that has a five foot radius. Needless to say, this is going to stop a mugger in their tracks. It appears that this is only available in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria though, costing about $50 for the case, and $27 for additional bottles of pepper spray.

View the original article here

Self-Balancing Unicycle 2.0

We have all wished at least once in our lives that we could be coordinated enough to do something like figure skating, playing a sport, or riding a unicycle. Thanks to the interest our society seems to have in making efficient people movers, now you can do at least one of those things. No, there’s not a product out there that’s going to transform you into a great figure skater, sorry.

It’s called the Self-Balancing Unicycle 2.0, and while it may resemble a unicycle, it involves no pedaling whatsoever. However, you can go a distance up to twelve miles without falling off. Well, once you’ve spent about twenty minutes getting acquainted with the thing that is. It produces more than 1000 watts of power, which means you can even go uphill with zero effort from you. This compact and lightweight device can be yours for the rather steep price of $1499, though I would rather just get a bicycle and do all the work myself for that kind of money.

View the original article here

Tetris Desk Lamp will fit just about anywhere

When you want a source of illumination for your desk, you don’t just want another fluorescent light bulb casting a garish light onto your work. That is both boring and stifling for your creativity. That’s why you should look into something like the Tetris Desk Lamp (warning, PDF), as it is both wonderfully colorful, and doesn’t function like any other type of lamp.

This officially licensed product uses the inspiration from the game to provide you with light. Each individual tetrimino (yes, that’s what they’re actually called) will light up if and when it is stacked upon another already lit one. You can arrange these however you would like, which also means you can control how much or little light you would like at any given time. There is no word on how these things are powered just yet, but I would assume that there are batteries involved. If you would like one, have about $50 at the ready for this September when they come onto the market.

Credit: ActionFigureInsider

View the original article here

Build your own iPhone Boombox

We all like to listen to music on the go. Whether it be in the car, on a stroll in a woods, or having a picnic at the park, it’s nice to have some background music to accompany your day. Your iPhone likely carries a good hunk of your music, but it’s difficult to get much sound out of such a tiny device. Instead of paying a hefty sum of money on purchasing speakers, why not make some of your own?

This iPhone Boombox project over at Instructables will give your music a boost without taking up much space or money, compared to other portable systems. All it needs are simple materials like fiberboard, a speaker, switch, and battery pack to make music on the go inexpensive and accessible. You will have to shell out some money on materials, but making something with your own hands is definitely a priceless experience, right?

View the original article here

AquaClimb adds a rock wall to your pool

Rock climbing seems like one of those overly adventurous sports that is left up to explorers and daredevils. Sure, there are harnesses and things of that nature to make sure you don’t fall, but having only the solid Earth to catch you if some misfortune befalls your equipment is not an encouraging thought. What if there was a way to have a giant pool of water waiting to break your fall?

Its name is the AquaClimb, and it is a sport like none other. It has a stainless steel frame with a transparent climbing surface so that no light is lost. Four color-coded climbing routes will give you varying degrees of difficulty. Although, I can imagine that being weighted down with water would make things difficult enough. It can be mounted on either an indoor or outdoor pool, and can be retro-fitted for existing pools. This watery excursion could be yours for $4,500, but will likely cost a little extra if you don’t want to mount the thing yourself.

View the original article here

Self-Balancing Unicycle 2.0

We have all wished at least once in our lives that we could be coordinated enough to do something like figure skating, playing a sport, or riding a unicycle. Thanks to the interest our society seems to have in making efficient people movers, now you can do at least one of those things. No, there’s not a product out there that’s going to transform you into a great figure skater, sorry.

It’s called the Self-Balancing Unicycle 2.0, and while it may resemble a unicycle, it involves no pedaling whatsoever. However, you can go a distance up to twelve miles without falling off. Well, once you’ve spent about twenty minutes getting acquainted with the thing that is. It produces more than 1000 watts of power, which means you can even go uphill with zero effort from you. This compact and lightweight device can be yours for the rather steep price of $1499, though I would rather just get a bicycle and do all the work myself for that kind of money.

View the original article here

Do you need a little extra privacy when you sleep?

Living the college life can be rather difficult at times. It is especially hard if you are staying in a dorm with a roommate who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. If you were at home, you would likely just go to your room and shut out the distractions, but if you both are living in the same space, that would be a little bit impossible.

The Privacy Pop is a way to seal out unnecessary distractions from your studies or work with very little fuss. It’s essentially a tent that sits on top of your bed, and can be zipped shut when you need some peace. This isn’t going to keep out the sound, but it will certainly make your roommate think twice before trying to interrupt you. Your personal space must mean quite a bit to you if you purchase one of these, as dropping $200 on a tent while living the life of a poor college student is no easy task.

View the original article here

Motion Activated Pet Bowl seals away the food when no one is around

Owning a pet is a big responsibility. This living creature depends on you for everything, including shelter, water and food. Unfortunately, some of us have rather busy lives, and don’t have time to put down a fresh bowl of food every day. Some might argue that if you don’t have time for that, you probably shouldn’t own a pet, but I digress. If you’re one who would rather put a giant bowl full of food down, but don’t want the smell of dog food in the room, you might check out this Motion Activated Pet Bowl.

This high-tech food bowl features a motion sensor to detect your furry friend. When it comes near, the lid will slide off into two halves revealing the food. When no motion has been detected for five seconds, it slides the lid back into place. I guess I’ve never really had a problem with dog or cat food smelling up my house, so this $40 gadget seems like a bit much to me. But if you want your pet to have their own gadgets, just like you, then I suppose this would be perfect.

View the original article here

The Chill Can turns warm drinks into cold in seconds

The age-old annoying issue of how to chill a beverage quickly has found a solution.

West Coast Chill, an all natural energy drink, features the Chill Can, a patented beverage can created by Joseph Company International. This self-chilling can contains a built-in heat exchange unit that uses a C-CO2 adsorbent-desorption system to cool the beverage in the can. A reduction of the pressure of CO2 gas inside the can absorbs the heat from the beverage, reducing its temperature by 30o within three minutes.

With the push of a button, this energy drink goes from warm to cold, so it’s always almost ready to enjoy. Available in the U.S. and aparantly the UK, I wonder when this technology will be available for other refreshments like our favorite brew? One can dream!

View the original article here

WaterBOB Emergency Drinking Water Storage

Seeing as everyone seems to think that a zombie apocalypse is on the way, it’s best to be prepared, right? One of the most important things to keep on hand is a fresh source of water. Knowing that everyone is going to hit the grocery stores and markets first thing, you likely want to find a way to avoid all of the chaos. This is where an item like the WaterBOB Emergency Water Storage comes in.

We all have a bathtub that could easily hold tons of fresh drinking water, but because it is more likely caked in grime and dirt, it would render any suitable drinking water useless. The WaterBOB is essentially a plastic bag that is both large and strong enough to fit in your bathtub, and hold up to 100 gallons of water. This comes at an extremely low price of $22, and even if the zombies don’t come, it’s better to be prepared than be caught in an emergency with nothing to drink.

View the original article here

Would you walk to the kitchen to shut off your alarm?

It’s amazing how many different methods that we have developed to get ourselves out of bed in the morning. There is an entire industry that thrives off of annoying people so much that they have to drag themselves out from under their warm blankets each morning. While I’ve seen plenty, this Ramos is the first that an actually make you walk clear across the house to shut it off.

The Ramos comes in two parts. First, there is the beautiful clock itself, made from teak, and feature Nixie tubes that display the digits. The other section is a wireless number pad, that you can stick anywhere in the house. Once the alarm goes off in the morning, you’ll have to walk to wherever the pad is, and enter a special code. The designer even went to far as to include a backup battery, in case you were thinking of simply pulling the plug. The Nixie version of the Ramos will set you back $350, while an LED version will replace the expensive tubes with LEDs, bringing the price down to $150.

View the original article here

Get turn-by-turn directions and crowdsourced traffic information with Waze [Daily Freeware]

If you have a smartphone, there’s a very high probability that it has GPS built into it. This can be used for a lot of different functions, though one of the most basic is getting directions from point A to B. Unfortunately a lot of turn-by-turn navigation apps cost a good bit of money. But why pay for something, when there’s a free alternative out there?

Waze is an interesting navigation app that uses crowdsourcing for information. Just by turning on the app and driving, the app learns about roads, routes and traffic conditions. If someone else is using the app on a road that you’re planning on using, you can be notified if there is slow-moving traffic. You can also mark speed traps, accident locations, and more, just with a couple of taps. Like any good navigation software, Waze will guide you to your destination using turn-by-turn voice commands, in addition to the on-screen map. Just make sure that you’ve got a way to mount and charge the device while you’re using it in the car. You can download it to your iOS, Android, Blackberry or Nokia phone.

View the original article here

The Pet’s Water Cooler

When it’s a hot summer day, the best thing in the world is a nice, cool glass of water. Having a cup of H2O that has been sitting out for a few hours does nothing to cool you down. Seeing as they can’t saunter off to the fridge for some ice cubes, this might be why your pet is found panting during the season of scorching heat.

If you have a pet, and want them to have the same refreshing experience without being forced to share, you may want to look into the Pet’s Water Cooler. Lined with a non-toxic gel that only needs two hours in the freezer, your favorite furry friend can have chilled water for up to eight hours. The interior is a removable shell, while the exterior has a rubber base that will help to stop sliding. For $49.95, it beats having to keep replacing batteries or running back and forth from the fridge to keep things cool. Not to mention that it comes with a spare bowl so you can have one in the freezer while the other is in use.

View the original article here

WaterBOB Emergency Drinking Water Storage

Seeing as everyone seems to think that a zombie apocalypse is on the way, it’s best to be prepared, right? One of the most important things to keep on hand is a fresh source of water. Knowing that everyone is going to hit the grocery stores and markets first thing, you likely want to find a way to avoid all of the chaos. This is where an item like the WaterBOB Emergency Water Storage comes in.

We all have a bathtub that could easily hold tons of fresh drinking water, but because it is more likely caked in grime and dirt, it would render any suitable drinking water useless. The WaterBOB is essentially a plastic bag that is both large and strong enough to fit in your bathtub, and hold up to 100 gallons of water. This comes at an extremely low price of $22, and even if the zombies don’t come, it’s better to be prepared than be caught in an emergency with nothing to drink.

View the original article here

Would you walk to the kitchen to shut off your alarm?

It’s amazing how many different methods that we have developed to get ourselves out of bed in the morning. There is an entire industry that thrives off of annoying people so much that they have to drag themselves out from under their warm blankets each morning. While I’ve seen plenty, this Ramos is the first that an actually make you walk clear across the house to shut it off.

The Ramos comes in two parts. First, there is the beautiful clock itself, made from teak, and feature Nixie tubes that display the digits. The other section is a wireless number pad, that you can stick anywhere in the house. Once the alarm goes off in the morning, you’ll have to walk to wherever the pad is, and enter a special code. The designer even went to far as to include a backup battery, in case you were thinking of simply pulling the plug. The Nixie version of the Ramos will set you back $350, while an LED version will replace the expensive tubes with LEDs, bringing the price down to $150.

View the original article here

AquaClimb adds a rock wall to your pool

Rock climbing seems like one of those overly adventurous sports that is left up to explorers and daredevils. Sure, there are harnesses and things of that nature to make sure you don’t fall, but having only the solid Earth to catch you if some misfortune befalls your equipment is not an encouraging thought. What if there was a way to have a giant pool of water waiting to break your fall?

Its name is the AquaClimb, and it is a sport like none other. It has a stainless steel frame with a transparent climbing surface so that no light is lost. Four color-coded climbing routes will give you varying degrees of difficulty. Although, I can imagine that being weighted down with water would make things difficult enough. It can be mounted on either an indoor or outdoor pool, and can be retro-fitted for existing pools. This watery excursion could be yours for $4,500, but will likely cost a little extra if you don’t want to mount the thing yourself.

View the original article here

Kisai Stencil watch makes you read between the lines

I imagine that it must be fun to work at a company like TokyoFlash. The people there spend their time coming up with watches that appear nearly indecipherable, while actually being quite easy to read. The latest in their line of crazy watches is the Kisai Stencil.

This may actually be one of the easiest TokyoFlash watches to read, as it displays numbers. When you first glance at it, you may only see a random assortment of vertical and horizontal lines. However, it’s what’s in the negative space that really matters. Once you realize this, the numbers will practically jump out at you. If you’re in the market for a rather unique watch, this one will set you back $99 for the next two days. After that, the price will jump up to $139.

View the original article here

Watch YouTube clips without your web browser [Daily Freeware]

When you want to listen to a specific song that you don’t own, what do you generally do? Pirating the song isn’t the best answer here. Generally the best legal thing you can do is head over to YouTube and punch in the song’s title. Maybe you have a bunch of songs on YouTube that you want to listen to. For that, you can create a playlist, but managing that inside of a browser can be a bit annoying sometimes. So why not use a dedicated program for listening to YouTube videos?

That’s exactly the idea behind YTubePlayer. This standalone program was designed to play videos from the popular site. You can choose to watch the videos, or simply minimize them into a small set of controls, much like you would find in other media players. You can then queue up a group of songs or a whole web series and watch them in succession. Definitely a neat concept.

View the original article here

How clean is the air you breathe?

There have been many things labeled ?organic? that I have seen, but rarely do you see someone advertising organic air. While I have no idea what makes air organic, or non-organic, it seems as though this particular air-cleaner has pin-pointed this subject matter. There are a lot of things floating around in the air we breathe, so I suppose it’s better that it’s as natural as possible.

Going by the name of the Organic Air Scrubbing Purifier, this device aims to do exactly as its name implies. Using a fan to draw in impurities in the air, a combination of an organic enzyme and water will annihilate any organic matter such as mold, viruses, and pet dander. Many traditional filtration systems can’t remove pollutants smaller than 0.3 microns, but this purifier destroys VOCs (gases emitted by paint, cleaning supplies, bacteria, and other allergens). This super-clean air will cost you though, as it comes with a $400 price tag.

View the original article here

6-in-1 Hammer does more than drive nails

When you think of a hammer, you think of a very weighty object that is meant for pounding nails into the wall. Never would you think that it had the capability to delicately screw in those tiny screws that are found on a pair of eyeglasses. Well, that is unless your hammer has more than one function.

Its name is the GAM Hammer 6-in1 Claw Hammer and Phillips Screwdriver Combination Tool. While it may be quite a mouthful, it does have a plethora of functions. Of course is has its regular nail-smacking and removing capabilities, but it also caries four different screwdrivers inside. It contains two large Phillips style blades, and two small flat heads. The smallest of which is capable of handling the aforementioned tiny screws. It only costs $20, and looks like it would be an excellent addition to homes of those who want to streamline their tool drawers.

View the original article here

Can your iPhone act as a self-defense weapon?

When you’re at the end of your day, you start to head to your car so you can kick off your shoes at home. However, if you are stuck walking out to your car at night, chances are you get a little nervous when you feel that things are ?too quiet?. You can’t really carry a gun or knife on you during the work day, but what about having a spare iPhone case?

It’s called the Smartguard iPhone Case, and its main goal is to keep you safe. It has a specially shaped can of Oleoresin Capisum pepper spray built-in. A plastic tab will make sure that it doesn’t misfire, but within this tiny canister is 6 half-second bursts of excruciating spray that has a five foot radius. Needless to say, this is going to stop a mugger in their tracks. It appears that this is only available in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria though, costing about $50 for the case, and $27 for additional bottles of pepper spray.

View the original article here

Digital Pillbox helps you keep track of your medication regimen [Daily Freeware]

If you, or someone in your house has a pill regimen that they have to take on a daily basis, it can be hard to keep track of them. Some are to be taken every few hours, while others are at specific times of day, and there are some that you can’t take at the same time as another. That’s why there are pill boxes out there with alarms to remind you at the appropriate time. However, what if you’re not sitting at home when you need to take a dose? Well now you can use your phone to keep track of such things.

While it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to set a number of alarms on your phone, this Digital Pillbox app will be more useful. If you’re carrying a box of pills with you, it might be hard to remember which one is which. you could always keep individually labeled bottles, but that would take up a lot more room than a small multi pill box. This app lets you take photos of each pill type, and when your alarm goes off, you’ll see a picture of the one you need to take. You’ll even be able to make your own database of pills, creams, and more. This allows you to easily create new schedules for each, without having to go back in and reprogram each one. Currently it is only available on the Android Market, but should be available for iOS devices soon.

View the original article here

6-in-1 Hammer does more than drive nails

When you think of a hammer, you think of a very weighty object that is meant for pounding nails into the wall. Never would you think that it had the capability to delicately screw in those tiny screws that are found on a pair of eyeglasses. Well, that is unless your hammer has more than one function.

Its name is the GAM Hammer 6-in1 Claw Hammer and Phillips Screwdriver Combination Tool. While it may be quite a mouthful, it does have a plethora of functions. Of course is has its regular nail-smacking and removing capabilities, but it also caries four different screwdrivers inside. It contains two large Phillips style blades, and two small flat heads. The smallest of which is capable of handling the aforementioned tiny screws. It only costs $20, and looks like it would be an excellent addition to homes of those who want to streamline their tool drawers.

View the original article here

Build your own iPhone Boombox

We all like to listen to music on the go. Whether it be in the car, on a stroll in a woods, or having a picnic at the park, it’s nice to have some background music to accompany your day. Your iPhone likely carries a good hunk of your music, but it’s difficult to get much sound out of such a tiny device. Instead of paying a hefty sum of money on purchasing speakers, why not make some of your own?

This iPhone Boombox project over at Instructables will give your music a boost without taking up much space or money, compared to other portable systems. All it needs are simple materials like fiberboard, a speaker, switch, and battery pack to make music on the go inexpensive and accessible. You will have to shell out some money on materials, but making something with your own hands is definitely a priceless experience, right?

View the original article here

Digital Pillbox helps you keep track of your medication regimen [Daily Freeware]

If you, or someone in your house has a pill regimen that they have to take on a daily basis, it can be hard to keep track of them. Some are to be taken every few hours, while others are at specific times of day, and there are some that you can’t take at the same time as another. That’s why there are pill boxes out there with alarms to remind you at the appropriate time. However, what if you’re not sitting at home when you need to take a dose? Well now you can use your phone to keep track of such things.

While it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to set a number of alarms on your phone, this Digital Pillbox app will be more useful. If you’re carrying a box of pills with you, it might be hard to remember which one is which. you could always keep individually labeled bottles, but that would take up a lot more room than a small multi pill box. This app lets you take photos of each pill type, and when your alarm goes off, you’ll see a picture of the one you need to take. You’ll even be able to make your own database of pills, creams, and more. This allows you to easily create new schedules for each, without having to go back in and reprogram each one. Currently it is only available on the Android Market, but should be available for iOS devices soon.

View the original article here

New USB Hub doesn’t care which way you plug in your cable

There are hundreds, if not thousands of USB hubs available on the market today. Some are shaped like animals, robots, or have some sort of other fancy function, like warming a cup of coffee. However, the inevitable problem that you will face has nothing to do with the functionality of the hub, but with your ability to put the male plug into the USB port right side up.

For those of us that find this horrendously frustrating, now is the time for celebration, as Buffalo has developed a hub that will never let that happen again. No more squinting to see if you’re putting it in right side up the first time or not, as this hub will take either plastic part up or down. This is really the first of its kind as far as a USB hub goes. It comes in blue, black, white, and pink, all for the rather reasonable price of $23.

Credit: RocketNews

New USB Hub doesn’t care which way you plug in your cable

There are hundreds, if not thousands of USB hubs available on the market today. Some are shaped like animals, robots, or have some sort of other fancy function, like warming a cup of coffee. However, the inevitable problem that you will face has nothing to do with the functionality of the hub, but with your ability to put the male plug into the USB port right side up.

For those of us that find this horrendously frustrating, now is the time for celebration, as Buffalo has developed a hub that will never let that happen again. No more squinting to see if you’re putting it in right side up the first time or not, as this hub will take either plastic part up or down. This is really the first of its kind as far as a USB hub goes. It comes in blue, black, white, and pink, all for the rather reasonable price of $23.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/02/21/behold-the-usb-of-the-future-no-more-fumbling-to-put-it-in-right-side-up/

http://buffalo-kokuyo.jp/news/data/2012/02/955/

View the original article here

Kisai Stencil watch makes you read between the lines

I imagine that it must be fun to work at a company like TokyoFlash. The people there spend their time coming up with watches that appear nearly indecipherable, while actually being quite easy to read. The latest in their line of crazy watches is the Kisai Stencil.

This may actually be one of the easiest TokyoFlash watches to read, as it displays numbers. When you first glance at it, you may only see a random assortment of vertical and horizontal lines. However, it’s what’s in the negative space that really matters. Once you realize this, the numbers will practically jump out at you. If you’re in the market for a rather unique watch, this one will set you back $99 for the next two days. After that, the price will jump up to $139.

View the original article here

Eclisse Table Lamp

There are some of us who are fond of the moon, and its various stages of light production. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have reminders of that giant glowing orb inside of your home? It seems as though the Eclisse Table Lamp was built by someone who is a lover of the waxing and waning of the moon.

Standing at 18 centimeters, this orange metal lamp gives you the option of direct, or diffused light. There is a white shell on the interior that swivels about the light bulb with a circular opening that will reveal as much, or as little light as you desire. Although, you must be rather fond of this artsy lamp if you want it, as it costs about $141.

View the original article here

StrokesPlus lets you assign shortcuts to mouse gestures [Daily Freeware]

When you need to copy text from one place and paste it to another, how do you go about it? Do you highlight the words, then right-click, then click ?copy,? then right-click again in in your text field and hit ?paste?? Or perhaps you go up to the Edit menu and select ?copy? from there. I’m going to bet that most of the time you do neither of these things. Instead, you probably press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, because it takes a lot less effort. Now what if you could take that same concept, and apply it to mouse gestures? With StrokesPlus, you can.

Maybe you work in an environment where it’s easier to simply use a mouse, rather than sitting at a desk with a keyboard in front of you as well. Or it could be that someone only has use of one hand, and doesn’t want to have to switch between both input devices. Whatever the reason, StrokesPlus allows you to assign shortcuts like copy and paste to mouse gestures. You can teach the software any gesture that you like, and assign a variety of tasks to that gesture. When you’re ready to carry out one of those functions, just hold down your gesture button (this can be assigned any button on your mouse, or even keyboard) and draw the gesture that you created. It can be something simple like drawing a line from left to right, or a letter of the alphabet. This is certainly one of the more interesting accessibility programs that I’ve come across in a while.

Credit: FreewareGenius

View the original article here

Do you need a little extra privacy when you sleep?

Living the college life can be rather difficult at times. It is especially hard if you are staying in a dorm with a roommate who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. If you were at home, you would likely just go to your room and shut out the distractions, but if you both are living in the same space, that would be a little bit impossible.

The Privacy Pop is a way to seal out unnecessary distractions from your studies or work with very little fuss. It’s essentially a tent that sits on top of your bed, and can be zipped shut when you need some peace. This isn’t going to keep out the sound, but it will certainly make your roommate think twice before trying to interrupt you. Your personal space must mean quite a bit to you if you purchase one of these, as dropping $200 on a tent while living the life of a poor college student is no easy task.

View the original article here

Eclisse Table Lamp

There are some of us who are fond of the moon, and its various stages of light production. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have reminders of that giant glowing orb inside of your home? It seems as though the Eclisse Table Lamp was built by someone who is a lover of the waxing and waning of the moon.

Standing at 18 centimeters, this orange metal lamp gives you the option of direct, or diffused light. There is a white shell on the interior that swivels about the light bulb with a circular opening that will reveal as much, or as little light as you desire. Although, you must be rather fond of this artsy lamp if you want it, as it costs about $141.

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How clean is the air you breathe?

There have been many things labeled ?organic? that I have seen, but rarely do you see someone advertising organic air. While I have no idea what makes air organic, or non-organic, it seems as though this particular air-cleaner has pin-pointed this subject matter. There are a lot of things floating around in the air we breathe, so I suppose it’s better that it’s as natural as possible.

Going by the name of the Organic Air Scrubbing Purifier, this device aims to do exactly as its name implies. Using a fan to draw in impurities in the air, a combination of an organic enzyme and water will annihilate any organic matter such as mold, viruses, and pet dander. Many traditional filtration systems can’t remove pollutants smaller than 0.3 microns, but this purifier destroys VOCs (gases emitted by paint, cleaning supplies, bacteria, and other allergens). This super-clean air will cost you though, as it comes with a $400 price tag.

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Watch YouTube clips without your web browser [Daily Freeware]

When you want to listen to a specific song that you don’t own, what do you generally do? Pirating the song isn’t the best answer here. Generally the best legal thing you can do is head over to YouTube and punch in the song’s title. Maybe you have a bunch of songs on YouTube that you want to listen to. For that, you can create a playlist, but managing that inside of a browser can be a bit annoying sometimes. So why not use a dedicated program for listening to YouTube videos?

That’s exactly the idea behind YTubePlayer. This standalone program was designed to play videos from the popular site. You can choose to watch the videos, or simply minimize them into a small set of controls, much like you would find in other media players. You can then queue up a group of songs or a whole web series and watch them in succession. Definitely a neat concept.

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The Pet’s Water Cooler

When it’s a hot summer day, the best thing in the world is a nice, cool glass of water. Having a cup of H2O that has been sitting out for a few hours does nothing to cool you down. Seeing as they can’t saunter off to the fridge for some ice cubes, this might be why your pet is found panting during the season of scorching heat.

If you have a pet, and want them to have the same refreshing experience without being forced to share, you may want to look into the Pet’s Water Cooler. Lined with a non-toxic gel that only needs two hours in the freezer, your favorite furry friend can have chilled water for up to eight hours. The interior is a removable shell, while the exterior has a rubber base that will help to stop sliding. For $49.95, it beats having to keep replacing batteries or running back and forth from the fridge to keep things cool. Not to mention that it comes with a spare bowl so you can have one in the freezer while the other is in use.

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Comic Books and Science

Most people don't think of comic books as a way to learn about science, but sometimes even unorthodox sources can provide great insights. Some of them are formal reference books, like those in the Manga Guide series, while others are more narrative, such as the Feynman biocomic. I've gathered some of these books together into a list of science comic books.

Do you have any suggestions for other comics or graphic novels that teach about science? If so, you can suggest them in the comments below and maybe I'll add them to the list.

Of course, even if the comic book isn't specifically focused on science, you can still glean some scientific truths from them, as described in The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios.

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