Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on November 1, 2011
Retro Chrome USB Mic Works with iPad
LAS VEGAS — Samson is proudly showing off its new Meteor Mic at CES. And rightly so: the thing looks stunning, with chrome-plated retro-styling and cool, fold out tripod legs.
The USB microphone is designed for podcasting, and features a 25mm diaphragm, a cardioid pickup pattern and a stereo one-eighth-inch headphone jack for monitoring. It’s also driverless, showing up natively as a USB audio device. That means you can plug it onto an iPad via Apple’s camera connection kit and it will just work.
I actually have a different Samson mic, and while I don’t use it much, it sounds great a hell of a lot better than the iPad’s built-in mic. If the Meteor Mic sounds as good as that one, it could prove to be very popular for budget podcast setups, especially at a price of $100. Available April.
Meteor Mic [Samson. Thanks, Mark!]
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This post was written by Journalist on January 7, 2011
Skin Turns iPhone into Polaroid Land Camera
The iPhone is already the spiritual successor to the Polaroid, able to deliver great results, instantly. So instead of wishing that whichever company currently owns the Polaroid brand-name would just make a great new camera already, why not just make your iPhone look like the iconic Land Camera?
Buy this skin, designed by Canada-based Ryan Astle, and you can do just that. The reusable plastic stickers come in a pack of two – one big one for the back, so the subject of your photo can see how retro-serious you are about your snaps, and a little sticker for the bottom panel on the front, adding a fake button on either side of the home button.
Of course, the Polaroid name itself isn’t mentioned, because this might distract Polaroid’s current owner from churning out cynical cash-in crap for long enough for a visit to court. There’s really no doubting what the design is “inspired” by, though, and it can be yours for just $15. The skin will fit any iPhone model, not just the current one.
Photoroid Skin [Infectious / Ryan Astle via Giz]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 29, 2010
8mm Vintage Camera is Hipstamatic for Video
IPhone photographers get all the retro-licious fun. Apps like Hipstamatic and Instagram let you mess with your pristine digital pics and make them look as if they came from a low-quality plastic camera from communist-era Eastern Europe. Now videographers can join in the image-degrading hijinks, with 8mm Vintage Camera.
The app does exactly what you’d expect. It adds dusty, speckly artifacts to your footage, and you can shoot through a variety of virtual lenses (flickering frame, light leak and color fringing, for example) and capture the video onto one of several “films”. You can also add random jitter and movement to the movie, as if the projector was having trouble keeping the film fed neatly through its gate.
All the effects happen in real time, so you see on-screen exactly what you are recording. There are modern touches, too: you can light up the iPhone’s flash whilst recording, and the familiar touch-to-focus feature is in there. Exporting options are good, too. ITunes sharing is supported, as is email and saving to the camera roll, but you can also send movies straight up to YouTube.
Best of all, the app is just $2. Sure, my $800 Micro Four Thirds camera might shoot great-looking, hi0def video, but this looks like way more fun.
8mm Vintage Camera [iTunes via iPhoneography]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 27, 2010
TDK Resurrects the Boombox
Somebody call up Radio Raheem. We have some good news: The boombox is back.
TDK’s retro-styled portable speakers ditch the tape deck (although they do still have a radio), but otherwise you get an authentic 1980s experience. The “2 Speaker Boombox” puts out 20-Watts, and the “3 Speaker Boombox” goes up to 35-Watts. Both boxes have six-inch drivers, and the 3-speaker model adds a six–inch sub to the mix.
The Boomboxes have a variety of ways to get music into them, from a 3.5mm jack to a USB-port. Thus you can hook up your iPod as well as a guitar or mic to jam along, or just walk the streets with the thing on your shoulder, as God intended. If you have a USB-stick, hard-drive or iPod plugged in, you can use the Boombox’s controls to skip tracks.
The smaller box has a handle as well as a shoulder strap the bigger unit has a handle only.
Despite all this modernity, there is one part of this that is a real throwback to the days of breakdancing: D-cell batteries. They don’t need 20 of the things, like Radio Raheem’s boombox, but they get close. Depending on which one you buy, you’ll need 10 or 12 D-cells to run the thing. Available April 2011, for $400 and $500.
2 Speaker Boombox [TDK via Core77]
3 Speaker Boombox [TDK]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 27, 2010
More Details of Fujifilm’s Retro-Tastic X100 Revealed
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Fujifilm has released some new details of its forthcoming X100, the retro-styled rangefinder with the big sensor and innovative viewfinder design.
First, a recap, if you don’t remember me raving about this thing back in September. The X100 is styled after classic 35mm rangefinders, has buttons and dials for everything (including a proper aperture-ring around the lens), a 12.3MP APS-C sensor, and a 23mm (35mm equivalent) 2 lens (not removable). It also has a bright optical viewfinder with a prism inside which allows you to superimpose dat on the top, or to swap in an entirely electronic ‘finder instantly.
THe new info adds to this already impressive feature-set. Now we know that manual focus will be controlled with a ring around the lens, as God intended. There is also a distance scale for pre-focusing and, kicking it old-school, setting the hyperfocal distance (ask your dad).
There is also a rather odd “RAW” button, which, according to the British Journal of Photography, does the following: “When shooting in JPEG mode, it enables the user to instantly capture both raw and JPEG files, plus it also allows raw files to be developed in camera.” Does this really need its own button?
You also get an ISO button, as found on any decent SLR, and we now know that the movie-mode will capture footage at 24fps in 720p. The codec is still unknown.
The X100 is shaping up to be the hot camera of next year (it comes out early 2011), but there are a couple of things that may hold it back. First, it will cost $1,000. That seems even more expensive when you add the fact that the lens is fixed. Maybe Fujifilm should have gone the Micro Four Thirds route and adopted that standard instead of adding yet another one to the marketplace? Sure, the lenses wouldn’t be all metal and shiny, but they’d sure be useful.
Fujifilm reveals new X100 details [BJP]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on December 13, 2010
Play Button, an Annoying MP3-Player In a Button
The Play Button is either a desperate attempt to incorporate all the annoyances of analog music into a digital package, or it is a genius marketing move which will perhaps usurp the USB thumb-drive as the ultimate in corporate schwag giveaways.
It’s an MP3 player, and it’s built into a button. The front of the button (or badge, as it is called in Great Britain) can be customized to show an image of the latest cool-haired band of the moment, and the body has a single jack socket used for both headphones and for charging the battery within.
And then things turn bad. The controls are set into the back panel, making them hard to get to, definitely a case of function following form. Worse, there is no way to change the music, or the order it is played in. Mercifully, you can skip backwards and forwards, but in every way you are treated as if you are listening to an old LP or CD.
It’s tricky to say if an iPod has a larger environmental footprint than CDs and vinyl. On the one hand, iPods get tossed out every few years while record collections are kept. On the other hand, the packaging for a CD alone uses more plastic than that of a few a Nanos. The Play Button combines the worst of all of these.
The device is aimed at bulk orders, so you’ll have to wait until you local bank loads one with Christmas songs as a festive “fun” giveaway before you can open one up and hack it. Until then, why don’t you join me and cry a little inside at this willful technological step backwards?
Play Button product page [Play Button]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on November 22, 2010
Griffin iPod Nano Strap is a Colorful 80s Throwback
Somehow, Griffin has managed to take a laundry-list of dork-tastic follies and combine them into a single product that actually looks quite good. It’s called the Slap, and it turns your iPod Nano into a watch.
The Slap is a version of those old slap bracelets that are still used to make reflective cuffs for cyclists. Inside is a strip of memory-metal that you can straighten out, but that instantly circles your arm and grips it when you slap it against your wrist.
This strip is encased in brightly-colored silicone, recalling the poor fashion choices we made in the 1980s.
Finally, it copies the already unoriginal idea of turning the clock-faced Nano into a wristwatch.
And I can’t help but love it. Until you try wearing the new Nano on your wrist, don’t laugh. It’s a surprisingly practical place to put it, even if snaking the headphone cable up your sleeve out through your collar is a little fiddly. I have carried the Nano this way, both on my existing watch-strap and (nerd-alert) on a Honl Speed Strap Velcroed around my arm.
Griffin’s Slap has a semi-enclosed capsule for the iPod, with a single hole for the headphones to enter. The volume and sleep/wake buttons are covered, but have raised nodules over them to help you click through. The touch-screen is of course always exposed.
The Slap will be available soon, and comes in a double-rainbow of eye-searingly bright colors. For the boring Henry Fords out there, it also comes in black. $25.
Slap product page [Griffin]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on November 17, 2010
Bionic Wrench Replaces Whole Kit with Single Tool
Why have I never seen his before? It’s called the Bionic Wrench, and it’s an adjustable wrench that appears to actually work.
You’ve been there. You need to remove a bolt and you’re either too lazy or too ill-equipped to use the correct-sized box-wrench. Instead, you reach for an adjustable spanner which, if you’ve come this far in my story, you likely picked up for a few bucks at the thrift store. The cheap tool needs constant readjustment and even then it strips the shoulders from the bolt or slips, grazing your knuckles.
Enter the Bionic Wrench, which arrays six hardened-steel blocks in a circular enclosure. When you close the handles, these blocks become the jaws of the wrench and close down onto the six edges of the bolt, clamping it tight on all faces like a box-wrench. And if you orient the thing the right way, it will tighten on the bolt-head as you push, whether screwing or unscrewing.
It’s ingenious. Like I said, this too has been around for a while, but it’s always worth pointing out something so clever and practical.
You won’t be able to toss this in a back pocket like you would a traditional adjustable wrench, nor will it be practical in small spaces, but in the workshop, this looks indispensable. It even works with stripped bolts. Available in various sizes, from $25.
Bionic Wrench product page [Loggerhead via Core77]
LoggerHead Tools Bionic Wrench [Rainy Day Magazine]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on November 3, 2010
Farewell, SL-1200: Panasonic Scratches Iconic Technics Turntable
Panasonic will discontinue its famous SL-1200 record-player after 38 years of service. The SL-1200, a favorite of DJs around the world, is fading away due to a lack of demand, and the difficulty of sourcing some analog components needed to make it.
The SL-1200, currently in its Mk6 incarnation, was never the best sounding turntable (although it was originally designed as a home hi-fi component): What it was is tough. Packed into cases to travel to gigs, or just sat in a club DJ booth soaking up abuse as nonchalantly as the DJs nostrils sucked up coke, the SL-1200 would last pretty much forever. This made the SL-1200 the turntable of choice for club-owners, and by extension every single DJ in the land knew how to use it.
Pushed out by smaller, better and often cheaper alternatives, and then by digital music (an iPod is a lot easier to carry to a gig than a record-bag, although it offers less opportunity for smuggling in drugs), the deck has been in decline for years. But should we mourn its passing?
Not really. While it was a reliable piece of kit, it never sounded very good. The inherently jittery direct-drive meant it was never destined for audiophile status, and the abuse from jobbing DJs meant that the stylus would be trashed in weeks, and not replaced for months after that.
Still, it’s a little sad to see such an icon retired, like the demise of the cassette tape and the on-again-off-again death of Polaroid film. On the plus side, you should still have no problem picking a pair up: I see various flavors of the SL-1200 in second-hand stores all the time, and they should keep working longer than you do. And if you’re a real fan, Panasonic hasn’t stopped making them just yet.
Dead spin: Panasonic discontinues Technics analog turntables [Tokyo Reporter]
SL-1200 Mk6 product page [Panasonic]
Photo: Rodrigo Senna/Flickr
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on November 1, 2010
Classic Finnish Casserole Still Amazing today
The Sarpaneva casserole was designed in 1960 by Timo Sarpaneva. I saw it for the first time today, and I’m blown away by the features it packs into such a minimal, simple design. Sarpaneva is Finnish, and designed this cook-pot for iittala (for whom he also designed a logo). The casserole is made from cast iron and the handle is beechwood. Then things start to get interesitng.
The pot can be lifted by the two cat-ear-like handles cast into the body, and this is how you’d heft it into a hot oven. Slide the elegantly-curved beech stick through these hoops, though, and you have a cool handle which can be used one handed.
Want to remove the flat lid? The same handle does the job, one slotted end hooking firmly under the lid’s own small handle. Neat, but there’s more. Inside, the pot is enameled in a handsomely contrasting white, so you can cook anything in there without it sticking, and it holds 3-liters, or just over 3-quarts.
This Finnish classic is apparently so well respected in its homeland that it even made it onto a postage-stamp. It’s easy to see why. Even the fanciest of kitchen gizmos today aren’t so well thought out. I want one of these now, although I’m a little scared by the price: $260.
Sarpaneva [Littala]
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This post was written by Journalist on October 19, 2010
Brit Nostalgia-rama: ZX Spectrum Emulator on iPhone
Fire up ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection on your iPhone and you’ll smile at the familiar sound of a program loading from a cassette tape. Launch one of the six included games and you’ll cringe at the graunchy, square-wave racket that blasts thinly from the phone’s speaker. How the hell did my parents put up with that noise back when I played for hours on end back in the 1980s?
The Spectrum originally launched as a 16k home computer in the UK, way back in 1982, but the most popular version (amongst my friends, at least) was the 48k version which followed soon after. It had no internal storage, loading software took many minutes from those error-prone cassette tapes, and you had to hook it up to a TV to enjoy its eight-color delights. I loved it, and as it only cost 129 (probably, like, one million dollars back then) it was as popular in the UK as the Commodore 64 was in the US.
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection emulates the Speccy, and comes with six games: Frank Bruno’s Boxing, Chuckie Egg, Harrier Attack, Turbo Esprit, Saboteur and Buggy Boy. More are lined up for release this month, and apparently “one of the 80s’ biggest” developers is already signed up (please be Ultimate Play the Game. Please).
Games load in seconds, not minutes, and you play using an on-screen controller. Originally, you would have had to use the rubber keys of the Spectrum’s squishy keyboard, but the app has a more modern layout with buttons in a ring. And how are the games? Ugly, basic, frustrating and boring. In short, the emulation is perfect, and the button-mashing gameplay and impossible learning-curves remain intact. If any of your friends whines about the “good old days” of 8-bit gaming, steer them away from that NES and give them a few minutes with Chuckie Egg. They will shut up forever.
The app is 99-cents, or more accurately, 0.59, available now. For Brit nerds of a certain age, it is probably an essential download.
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection [iTunes Store]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on October 4, 2010
So Hot: Fujifilm X100 Mixes Optical and Electronic Viewfinder in Gorgeous Retro Body
Fujifilm’s retro-fantastic X100 is probably the hottest-looking camera you’ll see this year. Announced at this year’s Photokina tradeshow, the magnesium-clad compact makes it look like Fujifilm took the wish-list of many photographers and made it real.
The first thing you’ll notice is the styling, which looks almost exactly like the rangefinder cameras of the past, right down to the flash being placed where the little bright-line illuminator window would go on, say, a Leica, and the giant viewfinder being placed over to the left (from the user’s point of view).
In fact, the whole camera is laid out like an old-style rangefinder. The shutter-speed is set by turning a dial on the top plate (as it the exposure compensation). The aperture is set by twisting a dial around the lens itself and the on-off switch is a collar a round the shutter-release. In fact, from the product-shots, it appears that the shutter-release is drilled and threaded for a manual cable-release.
Then we get to the lens. The 2 lens is a fixed 23mm, which equates to 35mm on a full-frame camera. This is the classic focal-length for a rangefinder, and coupled with the 12.3MP SLR-sized APS-C sensor, means that you’ll be able to throw backgrounds out of focus, as well as shoot in very low light (the maximum ISO of 6400 will help there, too).
But the real “holy shit” moment comes with the viewfinder. It works just like a normal optical viewfinder, but has a prism stuck in the middle. Light from the scene in front passes straight through to your eye, but off to the side is a tiny 1,440,000 dot LCD screen. When on, the panel can either superimpose camera-info onto the image or – get this – function as a super high-res optical finder. You can switch between modes with a hardware button (it’s the lever on the front) Here’s the picture:
To be clear, this means that you can use this like an old-style camera, with distraction-free framing but also with the parallax errors of a non-through-the-lens finder, or you can swap to see what you’d see in an SLR. I’m guessing that you’d also get the focus points shown, and maybe even an in-finder histogram?
The X100 will also shoot 720p video, and has a regular 460,000 dot screen on the back, along with the usual host of digicam buttons, and there is even a built-in 3-stop neutral density filter so you can cut out some light and still use the lens wide-open in bright sunlight.
I’m ridiculously excited by this camera. It’s coming out in March of next year, and, at $1000, I predict that Fujifilm won’t be able to make them fast enough. This, you probably already know, is the camera Leica should be making.
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Finepix X100 [Fujifilm]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on September 21, 2010
Portable, Battery-Powered Turntable. For Playing Records
If a gadget is on sale in Urban Outfitters, it’s a fair bet that its a piece of junk. The curious combination of good clothes and crappy novelty gifts is obviously aimed at ironic impulse-buyers, but the Crosley Radio Revolution is possibly the weirdest thing yet.
The Revolution is a small, portable, battery-powered turntable. Yes, a turntable for playing records. It comes with the requisite retro-styling and 1950s colorways, but just who will buy it? At $180, it is too much to buy as a joke gift for a friend who maybe still has a couple of LPs on the shelves. But it’s doubtlessly tinny built-in stereo speaker and lightweight tonearm aren’t going to do it for the real vinyl junkie: if you’re still buying grooved disks then you’re probably an audiophile or luddite. Either way the Revolution is not for you.
The Revolution does at least come with a USB-cable and software for ripping records to a computer. I imagine scouring rare-record dealers’ stores with one of these and a netbook or even iPad and quietly copying tunes in the listening booths.
Even if you do want this, you should avoid Urban Outfitters anyway. They might have an exclusive on those muted colors, but they also have an exclusive on that price. Buy on the web or slip over to JC Penny and you can have the black one for $30 less, at $150. Coming “soon”.
Revolution product page [Crosley. Thanks, Jenny!]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on September 16, 2010
IFixit Tears Down 1975 Magnavox Game Console
Oh man, the iFixit crew just hopped up another step on the Stairway to Awesome. They have opened up and explored a Magnavox Odyssey 100, successor to the world’s first home games-console.
Kyle Wiens and his nerdy team are better known for flying around the globe to buy brand-new Apple products in order to tear them apart, photographing and detailing the internals for our voyeuristic techno-pleasure. The Magnavox teardown marks a week of more retro autopsies, and reveals surprising circuit designs and even some analog controls inside the 1975 console.
The case is held together with a single flathead screw, easily removed, Once inside you see not only a circuit-board but also a mess of wires and components. This, according to the know-alls at iFixit, was because Magnavox wanted to ship the console fast, and wasn’t sure that Texas Instruments would have the chips ready on time. There are also pots (potentiometers) which can be twisted by the user to adjust the positions of the on-screen goals and walls of the two built-in games, tennis and hockey.
We’re looking forward to seeing what other historical devices iFixit will be ripping open this week in celebration of its new line of game console repair manuals. I have my fingers crossed for a Vectrex, if only to see just how they managed to cram such a big wad of amazing inside.
Magnavox Odyssey 100 Teardown [iFixit. Thanks, Kyle!]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on August 31, 2010
Gorgeous Retro Bike-Computer Counts with Class
If you want to know just how fast you can go on your vintage fixed-gear conversion, but can’t bear to put an ugly plastic computer onto your beautifully curated bike, this concept bicycle speedometer could be right up your bike-lane. It comes from Estonian designers Redfish Creative and, despite some flaws, looks pretty gorgeous.
The computer works just like any other wireless bike-computer, with a fork-mounted sensor that detects a spoke-mounted magnet as it thrum-thrums past and beams the info up to the head-unit on the bars. The difference is in the interface which looks more Gran Turismo* than Tour de France, all analog dials and twisting knobs.
The speed is shown with a needle on a dial and the mileage (or, in this case, kilometer-age) reads out on a retro-style odometer that can be switched from trip-distance to total distance at the slide of a switch. The wheel-size, which needs to be input for this kind of rotation-counting setup, is dialed in via a knob on the magnet-sensor unit.
And now the flaw, although not really a big one. The Bicycle Speedometer has a built-in electronic “bell”, triggered by pulling back on that side lever. The sound would be both a drain on batteries and less loud than a proper metal ding-a-ling model, and the holes to let out the sound would also let in the water.
Ditch the bell and I’m sold. The device is mounted with a leather-covered clip. Classy.
Bicycle Speedometer [Redfish via Core77]
*not the video-game.
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This post was written by Journalist on August 30, 2010
Wooden Charging Dock Makes iPad Look Like a TV From Mad Men
Search for an iPad case on Etsy and the choices run from leather to moleskine-lookalikes and felt. But Jonas Damon, a creative director at Frog Design, wanted something that could take the sleek, slab of glass that is the iPad and house it in a case that looks like it could have jumped out of the set of Mad Men.
So Damon transformed a fruit crate into a retro iPad charging dock. The dock takes the form of a 1970s or 1980s era television, complete with the cathode ray tube housing at the back, he says.
“I sought to enrich the iPad with something I have an emotional connection to the home appliances of my upbringing,” says Damon on the Frog Design blog. “This lo-fidelity design language is very appealing in contrast to the gloss-black slick design trends that are currently the norm.”
Damon says the “lack of personality” of the iPad has helped people to create their own enclosures.
“In this sense, industrial design, or folk-industrial design, is thriving,” he says.
Check out more photos of the wooden iPad dock:
Encased in its wooden enclosure, the iPad looks like an old TV.
A side view of the wooden case. The back is designed to mimic the housing for the cathode ray tube.
The wooden iPad dock includes interesting detailing on the front.
Photos: Frog Design
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on August 16, 2010
Andy Aaron’s Retro-Victorian Calculators Actually Work
Andy Aaron makes calculators. Unlike the cheap, solar-powered drugstore calculator on your desk, his adding machines are gorgeous pieces of machinery, assembled to look like something you might find in Charles Darwin’s field kit.
“I strive to have my pieces look like they are functional, utilitarian, mass-produced devices plucked from some imaginary office of another era,” Aaron writes on his website.
They work, he claims, and there’s clearly a market for the several machines he makes each year: They’re all marked at “sold.”
Photo: Aaron Adding Machine (via Kottke)
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on August 12, 2010
Apple’s First ‘Magic’ Trackpad from 1997
It turns out that the Magic Trackpad, released yesterday, isn’t the first external trackpad from Apple. Way back in 1997 the $7,500 Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh came with a detachable trackpad in its keyboard. It wasn’t a Bluetooth pad, of course, but instead popped out and remained tethered by a wire. And once it was removed, according to Wikipedia, a classy patch of leather was left underneath lest you have to look at an extra square of desk instead.
What are the other differences? Well, apart from not using the fancy new capacitive touch of all Apple’s glass-paneled trackpads and touch-screens, there are surprisingly few changes: The size and the color, and that’s about it. But what about the buttons, you ask? Well, the new Magic pad actually has buttons. With typical Apple style, these are secreted in the little rubber feet under the pad’s front edge. Press down on the whole pad, just as you would with those on the MacBooks, and they’ll click.
So there you have it. Nothing is ever really new, if you look hard enough. And Apple doesn’t really hate buttons. It just hates the ones you can see.
New Magic Trackpad: not so new [Simon OS via ]
Apple Magic Trackpad [Macworld]
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 28, 2010
Death of Film: Last Roll of Kodachrome Processed
What do you know about Dwayne’s Photo Service of Parsons, Kansas? It is the place where the very last roll of the Kodachrome was processed.
Kodachrome, the slide-film that inspired songs, was discontinued by Kodak last year at 74 years of age. The color emulsion was a victim of its own weird processing requirements, which didn’t use the usual E6 chemistry designed for transparency film, and therefore wasn’t worth supporting in the age of digital.
The last roll was shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry, who shot the 36 exposures in New York (actually, the last three shots were exposed in Parsons before dropping off the film at Dwayne’s). The pictures will be part of a National Geographic piece in the near future.
McCurry’s film may have been the official last roll off the production line, but Dwayne’s will still process any Kodachrome that you might have until December 10th this year. And then it will shut down, forever. People may still shoot analog, but with the death of Kodachrome comes the spiritual death of film.
Last Kodachrome roll processed in Parsons [Wichita Eagle via Retro Thing]
Photo: Fay Ratta/Flickr
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Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 23, 2010
Hydrophobic Floppy-Drive Leaps Away from Spills
Remember the Gesundheit Radio, a sneezing wireless manufactured back in 1972 by the fictional Attenborough Design Group? The radio would sneeze twice a year to expel dust that had built up around its tubes and dials, a spring (and autumn) clean which would help it live a longer (imaginary) life.
Well, that wonderful whimsy has been joined by more anthropomorphic gadgets from the same designers (actually a pair named Chambers and Judd). First is the Antitouch Lamp, a tall wisp of a standard-lamp which shies away when a person comes near, using cables and pulleys to bend like reed in the wind. This stops you from touching the halogen bulb at its top and leaving your greasy, life-reducing fingermarks thereon.
Better, and way cuter than a snooty lamp, is the 3.5-inch disk-drive called “Floppy Legs” (above). This sits on your desktop, wary but serene, waiting for the inevitable coffee-spill. When it comes, four legs pop out and it leaps back and stands on tiptoe, out of harm’s way.
Wouldn’t these gadgets be great in real life? A floppy drive may not be the most handy of items, but a water-fearing keyboard or even cellphone would be. Imagine your poor iPhone throwing out its tiny limbs and trying desperately to gain purchase on the shiny porcelain as it slides, slowly and inevitably, down toward the fetid toilet water. Forget the oleophobic coating. We want hydrophobic legs.
Floppy Legs [Chambers Judd]
Antitouch Lamp [Chambers Judd via Core77]
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Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 20, 2010
Rainbow Apple Sticker: The Ultimate iPad Accessory
This is the sticker your iPad was made for: The iconic rainbow-colored Apple designed by Rob Janoff back in 1976, reproduced in self-adhesive vinyl.
Due to all that battery packed inside the iPad’s slim frame, no light reaches the rear case, so we are deprived of the glowing apple found on the lids of MacBooks. The black plastic apple that sits there instead provides a welcome textural difference for the fingers to fondle while reading, but it lacks glitz. Still, it’s a lot better that the almost impossibly lame original Apple logo, which featured ragged scrolls and a picture of Isaac Newton under an apple tree. That logo, swiftly replaced, would have looked more at home on a Lynyrd Skynyrd album cover than on a piece of consumer electronics.
This multi-hued sticker will cost you just $3.50 from the Etsy store. If you buy any other, larger vinyl design from the same seller’s store, they’ll throw this one in free. Not bad. If Apple was in any way nostalgia-minded, it should include these stickers in the boxes of its products instead of those awful, thin white stickers that we throw away by their thousands every day. Or worse, find stuck on the back of a Toyota Prius, like I saw once on a visit to – you guessed it – San Francisco.
Retro Apple Logo Decal for iPad [Etsy/CoolDecal]
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 6, 2010
Three-In-One Retro-Console Uses Original Game-Controllers
The RetroN 3 Video Gaming System is a piece of hardware that gets almost everything right. The red (or black, thankfully) box houses chips capable of playing any NES, SNES or Genesis (Megadrive) games you may still have lying around. Simply slot the cart into the correct top-hole and you can play anything from Streets of Rage through Super Mario Anything to, erm, Top Gun: The Second Mission.
Output is via S-video or composite AV, and input is via a pair of wireless game-pads. But here’s the clincher, the feature that makes this probably the greatest retro-gaming rig we’ve seen: You don’t have to use the supplied controllers. The box has six extra sockets so you can hook up two each of your original joypads for all three consoles.
The box is quite reasonably priced, too, considering the amount of kit that you get, at just $70. Sure, it doesn’t have the old-school, chunky plastic good-looks of the originals, but so what? It’s retro-gaming heaven.
RetroN 3 Video Gaming System [Hyperkin via Oh Gizmo!]
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 6, 2010
Carmen: Internet Radio On Your Car Radio via Radio
Wouldn’t it be great if you could listen to internet radio in your car? With Livio’s new Carmen, you can, provided you’re happy with a rather weird, convoluted, time-consuming and almost Rube Goldberg-esque experience.
The best way to give you an idea of the whole complicated mess is to describe the process. First, plug the Carmen into your computer, fire up the companion software and then choose the from the internet radio stations available (“more than 42,000 stations”). The Carmen will then record these for you, DVR-style, in real-time. To make that clear, you won’t be downloading an hour-long show in seconds like you would with a podcast: you’ll be waiting an hour for it.
Once the 2GB stick is loaded up, you take it to the car and plug it into the cigarette-lighter socket. Then you turn on the car’s radio. The Carmen works by sending the MP3s via FM (although you can opt for an aux cable). It even comes with a small remote control so you can search on the floor for that instead of squeezing the Carmen’s tiny buttons.
To recap: You spend hours recording radio shows only to re-broadcast them to your car stereo. And for this you spend $60. Alternatively you could just use the radio in your car, or hook up the cellphone or MP3 player you already have to your car stereo. That would cost you nothing.
For all my complaints, I admit I have a soft spot for the Carmen: the idea of recording songs and shows off the radio to listen to in the car takes me back to my childhood. Thank goodness somebody is applying today’s tech to 1970s problems.
Available for pre-order now.
Carmen Car Audio Player [Livio. Thanks, Joe!]
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on June 23, 2010
