Quirky
Latest
Pivot Power strip starts shipping, folks who ordered a year ago rejoice
Don't you hate it when you preorder something and it doesn't show up for, like, a year? We know of at least 960 early adopters who can feel your pain. The Pivot Power strip, which lets you rearrange six outlets to plug in adapters of any size, went on sale in June of last year for $23 a pop. But, because the community-driven website Quirky is selling it, the ordering process wasn't as simple as paying and waiting for it to show up on your doorstep: the company would only ship them when 960 people "committed" to buying them -- not unlike how a certain number of people are needed to activate a Groupon deal. Well, the company quickly met its goal, the strip is at last shipping, and Jake Zien, the inventor (that's that giddy fellow up there) couldn't be more pleased. When we first reported on the Pivot Power strip's availability, more than half of those pre-sale slots had already been filled so we're not sure just what took so long. Since then, Zien & Co. have been spending their time seeing the thing through the manufacturing process. In any case, if you missed the boat the first time, it looks like there might still be additional units up for sale. [Thanks, Dan L. and Zo] %Gallery-123507%
Tactile kiss transmission device finally makes it okay to smooch your computer (video)
They say the vast majority of communication is done physically rather than verbally, but in the realm of technological advances we seem to have rather neglected the transmission of physical contact. Thankfully, there's always Japan to provide us with off-the-wall innovations, this latest one being a kiss transmission device that will record, relay, and -- if you wish it -- replay your finest tongue gymnastics. It's the height of simplicity at the moment, with a plastic implement taking input from one person's mouth and conveying it to a second box, intended to be gobbled up by the recipient of this techno-affection, who may respond in kind or just sit back and enjoy the thrill of it. The researchers sagely point out that there's more to be done, as the sense of taste, manner of breathing, and moistness of the tongue are all important aspects of a kiss that have yet to be recreated. Once they do get their kiss transmitter to v2.0, however, they envision a pretty neat market for it in reselling kiss replays performed by celebrities. For now, you can see a celeb-free video demo after the break.
Screen Grabs: iPhone messaging app spotted on a RAZR in Traffic Light
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. The iPhone was indeed the handset to supplant the well-loved RAZR as America's favorite, but we're not so sure its messaging interface ever made it onto Motorola's slim clamshell. That hasn't stopped Fox's Traffic Light from rewriting history, however, as last night's episode featured a RAZR receiving a "smiley-faced emoticon" text message encased in an all-too-familiar grey speech bubble. Catch this crazy new invention on video after the break. [Thanks, OMGitsShan]
Kiss Controller lets you play a bowling game with your tongue... while it's in someone else's mouth (video)
Oh, this isn't weird at all! The Kissing Controller, an experimental project by one Hye Yeon Nam, is designed so that players of a bowling game can impart power and direction to their spherical projectile by performing the timeless act of smooching one another. A customized headset is required for one of the participants, acting as the input receiver, while the other straps a magnet to his or her tongue and goes to town with some literal full motion controls. Thrust is added to the on-screen ball in accordance with how vigorously you move your tongue around, something we're sure your partner will appreciate. Video after the break.
Perch: the Bluetooth speaker / smartphone dock of your dreams, shipping soon for $180
Okay, so maybe that's a stretch, but there's no question that Quirky's latest socially-developed product is one of the slicker wireless speaker / dock combos out there. Dubbed Perch, this two-piece device acts as a standalone Bluetooth speaker if you'd like, but it also includes a dock / tray for holding your device while it's charging. It's model and brand agnostic, and it's up for pre-order right now for $179.99. Gallery's below, but don't dive in if you're easily swayed by eye candy. %Gallery-113323%
MSI reveals mad Sandy Bridge motherboard with eight PCIe slots, eight USB 3.0 ports, and three BIOS chips
Straighten up and salute the Big Bang Marshal, MSI's attempt at redefining the term "overkill." This XL-ATX board packs a total of eight PCI Express lanes (though it only has the bandwidth to simultaneously feed four x16s or eight x8s -- relevant if you're crazy enough to think about using more than four GPUs), three separate BIOS chips, extra 8-pin and 6-pin 12V power intakes, and a thoroughly excessive set of power regulation components. The less extremely minded among you will appreciate having a full array of eight USB 3.0 ports on the back, though we can't get over the measly four DIMM slots on offer. Word is that features might change before the Marshal goes to market in the first quarter of next year, so let's hope more room for your RAM sticks is among the tweaks between now and then.
Visualized: here's looking at you, fanboy!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to mock the above self-portrait without resorting to obvious jokes about the iPhone needing a bumper, the iPad lacking a camera of its own, or prefixing insults with the letter i. Come on, it's Christmas, let's be a little more like San Diego and keep it classy. For his part, David Polette, the author of this piece, admits to no Photoshop trickery whatsoever, having relied simply on his camera, Apple gadgets, and no small amount of patience to line things up just right. Android users, care to play along as well? [Thanks, David] Update: Ask, and ye shall receive! Tipster Antonio did up his own version of this with a Galaxy Tab and a G2. Check it out below!
Misa Digital's stringless Kitara goes up for pre-order: $849 for a truly unique musical instrument
Remember the Misa Digital Guitar? Well, it's called the Kitara now, it's taken on a fresh lick of paint, and it's ready to be pre-ordered now for an April delivery. The Kitara discards old fashioned strings and has you strumming along on a multitouch display instead, populating the fretboard with a litany of buttons that modify the aural output from your digital input. It has an onboard synthesizer, but the real magic will happen once you plug it into your own audio equipment and start experimenting. Basically, it's like the Kinect of electronic music -- just needs a few inventive souls to harness its potential properly. They'll need fat wallets too, mind you, as turning this invention into a viable product has meant a lofty $849 starting price in the US. See a video demo and the full Kitara press release after the break. %Gallery-110587%
The Fingerist turns your iPhone into an iKeytar, available now
Remember The Fingerist, the guitar headstock-themed speaker and case for your iPhone or iPod touch? You know, the one with the shoulder strap for public (and private) performances with all of your favorite music making apps? Well, it seems that it's finally available in the states. Indeed, there has been so little fanfare behind this announcement that the company responsible, Evenno, hasn't even acknowledged it on its site. But don't worry: we found this bad boy for $150 on Amazon. And if that's not enough, iLounge has done a series of hands-on photos (see the More Coverage link, below). Or, if you're like us, you can skip the thing altogether and groove to Rick Wakeman after the break. We do have one more thing to say about the Fingerist, however: at least it's not endorsed by this guy.
Grippity 1 back-typing keyboard finally up for pre-order, asks for $60 and your patience
To say the Grippity has been a long time in coming would be an understatement. The quirky keypad that stashes the buttons around back seemed to have all but vaporized into thin air after showing some early promise, but hey, it's back now! Back with a vengeance, which in this case means pre-order availability on its eponymous site at $60 a pop. Mind you, the earliest deliveries are scheduled for February, so we do hope you have enough to distract you while waiting through this holiday season. January should be nice and fun, though, as we're sure the Grippity guys will find a way to hit up our CES 2011 trailer for another hands-on opportunity with this trackball-equipped peripheral -- which is now billing itself as the ideal media center controller. We'll let you know how well the Grippity plays that role as soon as we can.
Windows Phone 7 beats iPhone 4 and Android ... in a grilling contest (video)
Let's face it, it's a question the world's been dying to know the answer to: which of the T-Mobile G2, HTC Surround and iPhone 4 will withstand a (literal) grilling the longest? Well, just in time for a mildly singed breakfast today, we have the answer. As you might have surmised from the title, HTC's WP7-equipped Surround showed the most endurance, though in the end it too cashed out its Earthly credits and moved on to that great scrapyard in the sky. Video of its final moments awaits after the break.
Dude, it's an iPad on a stick! (video)
Think you've seen all the weird and wonderful uses an iPad can be put to? You've clearly not been to Lithuania, where a protest against the country's emigration policy temporarily disintegrated into a laugh-fest when a serious-looking gent whipped out his Apple tablet ... attached to a stick. Cognizant of the drizzly weather, he also encased his sublimely high-tech placard inside a plastic bag, proving once again that it's not the gadget but the gadget owner's imagination that limits usage scenarios. See this sign of our times bobbing up and down with disapprobation after the break. [Thanks, KArolynaz]
Quirky Contort contorts around your excess cabling, doubles as 4-port USB hub
Quirky's community has just outed another nifty peripheral that might just come in handy when looking for a few stocking stuffers later this year. Or, you know, right now if you can't make heads or tails of your USB peripheral collection. The Contort is a plug-in 4-port USB hub, and the cord management roll enables users to keep an iPod Dock Connector cable, micro-USB cable and mini-USB cable neatly spooled for charging just about anything. It's up for pre-sale as we speak at $29.99, and we can only offer you the best of luck in resisting. %Gallery-106188%
Tokyoflash reaches new heights of unreadability with latest concept watch
Technically speaking, the maze-like array of diagonals you see above is actually showing you the time. But, as is Tokyoflash's wont, the point here isn't so much about time itself as it is about the journey of figuring it out. Well trained ninjas might be able to decouple the numbers from their unhelpfully similar background, but for the rest of us this "Optical Illusion" LED watch will be an enigma of random black lines wrapped inside a lime green mystery. Thankfully, it does come with a button to clear away the mists of confusion if you ever need to, you know, actually tell the time. The watch remains a concept for now, but if enough people vote in favor of its unnecessarily convoluted design, Tokyoflash might just go ahead and build a few. So why not jump off the fence and make your voice heard in the source below?
Verbatim's Clip-it is a USB drive with paperclip ambitions
It sure is hard to differentiate yourself in the highly competitive world of ever-shrinking USB storage. To avoid this trend of disregard, Verbatim has sent its latest offering off to paper management school and the results are now apparent for us to see. The new Clip-it comes with an added incision in the middle of its lilliputian body that allows it to act as a paperclip or maybe even a handsome accessory to your geek chique outfit. Verbatim makes sure to tell us (about eleventy times) that the Clip-it has scooped up a red dot Design Award for its ingenuity, and prices the thing at eminently affordable €8.99 (2GB) and €11.49 (4GB) levels. Those correspond to $12 and $15.34, respectively, meaning you could have the whole set of seven colors for less than what you'd have to spend on just one iWatch.
Trek Support backpack promises to keep its contents charged
Sure, you can just toss an external battery in your backpack to keep your gadgets powered on the go, but why stop there? Some of the "influencers" over at Quirky didn't, and have come up with this so-called Trek Support backpack as an alternative. As you can see, it packs a removable "gadget dock," which can itself be charged up and then in turn charge up to three different USB gadgets simultaneously. You'll also naturally get a dedicated laptop sleeve, plenty of pockets, and a TSA-friendly design. Of course, this is a Quirky project, which means it'll just remain a concept unless it raises the necessary funding through pre-sales. Ready to do your part to make it happen? It'll cost you $130 at the source link below. %Gallery-102950%
Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 RTM with funeral parade for BlackBerry and iPhone (update: Thriller video!)
The iPhone's dead, long live the Windows Phone. That must be the genius proclamation that incited Microsoft to celebrate Windows Phone 7 reaching RTM status with the incomprehensible procession you see above. An elaborate parade, replete with hearses and black capes, was organized last week to denote the passing of the BlackBerry and iPhone into the land of unwanted gadgets. We'd say this is done in poor taste, but we don't enjoy stating the obvious. We will, however, enjoy the fallout from this poorly judged stunt. See our favorite image after the break and lots more at the source. Update: Apparently the team also engaged in a Thriller dance. Words are failing us, so just hop on past the break and mash play.
Keepin' it real fake: N-KIA E68 shows what an innovative Nokia handset might look like (video)
Yo Nokia, you can keep your E5 and its HD Voice fanciness, we want ourselves an N-KIA E68. Why, we hear the enraged Nokia acolyte ask, why would we defile Nokia's good name in such a manner? Mostly because this phone has one of the most fun and ingenious slider mechanisms we've seen yet. So what if we've got no idea what wannabe OS it's running and so what if it'll most likely fall apart on us a month into owning it? We still want one, dammit! Video after the break.[Thanks, Derrty]
Viking Modular's SATADIMM jacks an SSD into your memory slot
Explaining the differences between DRAM and non-volatile storage is about to get that little bit harder, thanks to Viking Modular. The company's decided to "borrow" the DIMM form factor for its latest enterprise SSD offering, equipping it with a 240-pin array to draw power from your spare memory slots. Of course, you'll still need to hook up a SATA cable to get data flowing to this SSD -- at a very respectable 260MBps for both read and write -- but we must admit we're in love with the very idea of it. This new design offers another option for consolidating storage right onto the motherboard and should help case modders yearning for ever-slimmer enclosures. Alas, the SATADIMM is only available to enterprise and OEM clients for now, but we can't think of any reason why it won't test the consumer waters as well -- if not by Viking, maybe someone else? [Thanks, David]
Visualized: Tesla owner talks smack using world's greatest vanity plate
Owning one of the world's most electrifying and exclusive four-wheelers not enough for you? In that case, you'll probably be wanting a bright orange paintjob and a vanity plate that rubs pretty much every other road user up the wrong way.
