The Modern Materialist : gadgets

Remember Where You Were

Shaun Seneviratne — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:26:00 GMT

[photo via forestgladesiwander's Flickr]

You're bound to see awesome things when you go camping, but you don't go camping every day. You may go back once a year and that awesome spot you found may not be quite where you thought it was.

Never lose that spot again:

The Garmin Oregon 550 takes pictures (3.2 megapixels) and geotags them into your GPS so you can always find that amazing spot again. Now your friends won't just think you were tripping on mushrooms every time you try to explain that majestic waterfall in the meadows.

[$500, Garmin]

[Via DVICE]

When They Were Young

Steph Auteri — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:19:00 GMT

Forever ago, I found myself creeped about by this headless-dog speaker system.

But today, I was lucky enough to see a pic of them before they were all growed up (and decapitated):

[$40]

Find out more about these puppy speakers here.

[Via Gizmodo]

The 25 Mother's Day Gifts You Should Buy Immediately (20-16)

Alex Zalben — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:05:00 GMT

Shaun kicked things off yesterday with our countdown of the 25 Mother's Day Gifts You Should Buy Immediately, and here's the big difference between yesterday's list, and today's: you now have one less day to buy presents for your mother. You are a bad child. Herewith, five more chances to make things right, so don't screw it up, or wait for tomorrow... Get these things now:

[$59, Ruby et Violette]

20. Ruby et Violette Cookies

These are easily the most delicious, and tasteful cookies I've ever had in my entire life. And I've had a lot of cookies. Ruby et Violette hand makes each and every one of their delectable morsels, and lucky for you, child of a mother, ships them out in gorgeous gift packs. You can choose from a number of options, but why not go for the Chenonceau, which comes with 18 cookies, or 9 brownies. Your mom deserves it.

[$95, MOMA]

19. Luna Watch

Nothing quite says, "Mom, thanks for all your years with this company, and by company, I mean giving birth to and raising me," like a classy watch from the MOMA store.

[$59, Williams-Sonoma]

18. Recipe & Entertaining Journal

All kidding aside, one of the things I remember best about growing up is cooking with my mom. Making everything from big dinners, to cookies, to breakfast, recipes and being in the kitchen has always been a part of my life. That's why I think my Mom at least would love this Recipe and Entertaining Journal, to keep her (and our) favorite recipes in a leather-bound journal, to last for the ages.

[$100, Food Network]

17. Barefoot Contessa All Chocolate Basket

I don't know if I've mentioned yet that my mother and I liked cooking together. Probably not. Also, I don't think I've put anything on this list about food, or dessert. But for the sake of argument, say I had, what would make this basket special? Well, first off, Barefoot Contessa stuff is delicious across the board. Second of all, a chocolate sweet tooth is something that my mother, and my grandmother both share with a passion. So yeah, this would be a good gift.

[$99, Zoombak]

16. Zoombak, so your mom always knows where you are

If there's one thing I've learned in my time here at Modern Materialist, it's that women over the age of fifty love gadgets. Kidding! But even with my grade school days far behind me, I'm betting my Mom wouldn't turn down the chance to know where I was at all times.

Pool Sharks: Prepare Your Victory Dance

Steph Auteri — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:06:00 GMT

When it comes to shoving your superiority in other people's faces, there's nothing more important than having a victory dance. My personal victory dance is a mixture of the basic salsa steps, unreserved booty shaking, and hopping from side to side. Other popular forms are:

Who's Your Daddy?
Smackin' That Ass
Stir the Pot, Of Love
Hanging Out...Casual

(These, and other forms of dance, can be found here.)

Pool sharks will now have an easier time of finding their victory groove with the Debut Lunar MP3 Pool Table:

[$745, Debut]

This particular pool table — aside from looking hot — has a built-in universal media player, with controls for volume and light effects. There are also two speakers on either side of the table. Some closeup shots:

[Via Crave]

DIY: The Earbud Owl

Steph Auteri — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:04:00 GMT

[$5, Etsy]

I love how clever this owl-shaped earbud holder is. And so cheap too! Made from 3/16″ thick clear acrylic using a CO2 laser, it'd be easy enough tomake your own.

In fact, its creator has even posted a how-to online. Here are some images of the process:

[Via lifehacker]

Related: Cheap Trick: Cableyoyo

Sale Alert! Flip Ultra for $69.99 Plus Shipping

Steph Auteri — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:55:00 GMT

We loves us the Flip Mino, and the Flip Ultra is even more...um...ultra.The mini camcorder usually goes for $150 on the Flip website, but, for today only...

...Woot! is offering them through their site for just $69.99! Wheee!!!

Dude! Hurry up!

[Via GearCrave]

iLuv These New Portable Speakers

Steph Auteri — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:09:00 GMT

This is what I look like when I'm alone in my apartment with the music blasting.

Sometimes I am wearing underwear.

Other times I'm wearing my Cookie Monster pants.

Someday, I'd like to take my act on the road:

[$34.99, iLuv]

The iSP100 Ultra Portable Stereo Speaker is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Plus, it comes in multiple pretty colors, but the purple is, of course, my fave.

[Via Popgadget]

Spider Mouse

Alex Zalben — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:02:00 GMT

Nope, not a new super-hero for Tobey Maguire to play. This is actually something far more horrible, and not for the faint of heart:

Ack. If I had this, I would scream every morning when I got to my desk.

On a related note, there is also an actual mouse spider, which you can check out here. Now I have to stop writing this post, because I'm creeping myself out.

[Via Japan Probe]

Related: DIY: Do Whatever a Spider Can

World's Most Expensive Clock

Alex Zalben — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:01:00 GMT

Above is Jaquet Droz's La Machine à Ecrire le Temps, a machine that has taken over ten years to build, and has thousands of moving parts. For those of you who speak French, you already know what it does. For everybody else, the machine does one thing, and one thing only: writes the time.

That's it. When activated, the piece writes the time in hours and minutes, and then spits it out for you. And how much would you expect to pay for this marvel of technology?

How about $342,275? Because that's how much one of these babies costs.

Here's a tip: there's a guy hanging out on 42nd and 5th who has some cheap knock-off La Machine à Ecrire le Temps for sale between 12 and 2pm every day. They only write the hour, but they're about half the price. Tell him Zalben sent you, and you'll get a good deal.

[Via Born Rich]

Y U Should Buy This Laptop Bag

Steph Auteri — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:16:00 GMT

[Photo via]

Need a bag that will fit your laptop and all your other work-away-from-home items? Let's not go crazy. It's possible to fit everything into one, compact frame without a shitload of bulk:

[$167, hard graft]

The Y Laptop Sleeve has a y-shaped strap so that you can keep your notebooks, mags, and the like close, and a U add-on pouch for your smaller extras. A final, external leather is there for your iPhone/iPod.

[Via Holy Cool]

Quick Tip of the Day: Do As I Show

Laureen Mahler — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:34:00 GMT

This gadget is utterly, completely, and absolutely awesome. Want to know what it does? It plugs in to your computer and makes virtually anything you can think of interactive. It's called the Violet RFID, and it's a small USB mirror that responds to tiny Ztamps that can be stuck to any object; for example, you could put a Ztamp on your umbrella, wave the umbrella in front of the mirror, and the weather report would pop up on your computer.

If I had a Violet RFID (plus a whole lot of Ztamps to spare), here are the top three things that I would do:

1. Use it as an interactive cocktail coaster.

Put Ztamps on the bottoms of different cocktail glasses, then mix drinks accordingly. Program the Violet RFID to call up appropriate movie quotes based on your beverage of choice. Set a White Russian on the mirror, and the computer replies, "Nothing is fucked here, man." Or, place a shaken-not-stirred Martini on the mirror, and the computer says... Um. Let's see. What else does James Bond say?

2. Use it to order takeout.

Have multiple Ztamps appropriate to your most common food cravings. When hunger strikes, stick the appropriate Ztamp on your stomach, rub it with the mirror, and the Violet RFID orders whatever you desire, be it pizza, Chinese food, or a Palak Paneer burrito from that place around the corner. And yes, it is okay to be that lazy sometimes.

3. Let it improve your love life.

Put a Ztamp on a picture of Nathan Fillion and place it on the mirror. Program the Violet RFID to tweet you from Nathan's account with a place and time for a rendezvous. Hey, even if he doesn't show, think of those moments of anticipation... Note: any sexy celebrity of your choice could be used here. Extra note: yes, I have a huge crush on Nathan Fillion. He is one hot number. Here's proof:

Also, those last two ideas may or may not actually be possible. I'll have to check on them and get back to you.

[$60 for the Violet RFID, $20 each for Ztamps, ThinkGeek]

[via Device Daily]

Watch To The Future

Alex Zalben — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:13:00 GMT

Um, awesome. I don't have much else to say about this, other than I love the idea. And, believe it or not, it's not a concept, it's an actual thing you can buy:

[$100, Watchismo]

[Via Book of Joe]

Sip n' Snap

Laureen Mahler — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:02:00 GMT

When I was a little kid, I had this recurring dream that the entire world was made of Capri Sun. It was absolutely vivid, with Capri Sun weather patterns, Capri Sun clothing, meals made of various liquid and solid forms of Capri Sun, even Capri Sun cars that were filled via plastic straws at Capri Sun gas stations. God, I loved that stuff. And if my dreams of a world made of juice are ever to become a reality, these juice box cameras might be the first step:

[2,280JPY, Fuuvi]

These 35mm cameras are shaped like juice and they take real, actual pictures. The shutter release? Shaped liked a little straw at the top.

Only one thing could prevent this from being the most awesome product of all time: can I still drink juice out of it?

[via Gizmodo]

Relive Your Teenage Rebellion. On Second Thought, Maybe Don't.

Laureen Mahler — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:36:00 GMT

[Photo via]

This is pretty much exactly what I looked like when I was a teenager: the chain bracelets, the cigarettes, even the surfer/skater apparel. Yep, I was a teenage rebel. The only problem was that my mom had a nose like Sherlock Holmes, and she could track down every scent of rebellion, from the mascara that I put on in the school bathroom to the cigarette that I smoked in the parking lot at lunch. If only I'd had one of these smoke-erasing lighters:

[$55, Uxcell]

This 3-in-1 lighter is a serious multitasker. It 1) lights your cigarette, 2) purifies the air around you, and 3) sprays the perfume of your choice. It's ironically marketed as the "healthy smoking machine," and although it's made to plug into your car, I'd bet that teenagers everywhere are ponying up the cash to smoke illicitly and not get caught.

Nowadays I'm a non-smoker, but I can't totally condemn teenage rebellion. After all, I turned out okay. Everything in moderation, right?

via Gizmodo

Converting Mixtapes to MP3s Is Just Like Heaven

Laureen Mahler — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:04:00 GMT

Ah, the mixtape: truly the soundtrack of my youth. In a recent bout of spring cleaning, I came across a whole box of these precious objects, and it made me remember why my mixtapes are pretty much the only remnants of teenagedom that I've hung on to. That steamy summer with David Dunbar? Summed up perfectly in "I Rock U" (tracklist highlights: In Your Eyes, Just Like Heaven). Winter break in Tahoe without parental supervision? Every moment captured in "Partygeist '95" (tracklist highlights: Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Rock the Casbah). You get the idea.

Thank goodness there's a way to bring my mixtape memories up to date:

[$120, First Street]

TapeWriter is a gadget that plugs into your computer via USB and instantly converts old cassette tapes to digital MP3s. It also has a built-in speaker so you can relive your very own mixtape years while you're converting files. And while it certainly isn't the only cassette converter out there, TapeWriter gets big points for its classic aesthetics.

So, giant plastic function buttons and the entirety of my high school mixtape collection on my laptop? Somebody alert BMG if you haven't heard from me in a few days...

[via Slippery Brick]

Downsizing: Your Camera Bag

Steph Auteri — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:06:00 GMT

Shutterbugs: Do you really want to carry around the monstrous camera bag/backpack every time you leave your house?

[$29.95, MoMA]

For those of you with simple point-and-shoots, this cute camera case matches function with style

For those of us with DSLRs (why God, why!?), this case only fits compact cameras.

Quick Tip of the Day: Look Ma, No Knife

Laureen Mahler — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:34:00 GMT

[$10, Amazon]

You guys already know that the kitchen is my own personal danger zone, which why I try to minimize my knife usage. That means I avoid things like slicing small objects (shallots, garlic, ginger, etc), and that means my already-questionably-prepared meals generally leave something to be desired in the seasoning department.

But this little gizmo is the answer to my seasoning prayers. Check out the instructional video, which pretty much instantly sold me:

The Garlic Zoom (which I have hereby renamed Garlic Car) makes chopping up garlic as easy as... um... riding in a tiny little car? In any case, I bet you could use it for lots of small choppables, and anything blade-free has a happy home in my kitchen.

[via bookofjoe]

Cheap Trick: Don't Steal This Laptop

Steph Auteri — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:59:00 GMT

Don't steal that laptop...it's mine!

How do people working from coffee shops handle bathroom breaks? Do they blithely leave their laptops behind while they're in the restroom? Do they use catheters?

The one time I tried working at Starbucks for an extended period of time, I just held it. It was brutal.

[$5.99, The Container Store]

Okay, so this won't protect your laptop from theft. That Laptop is Mine! is more like a pocket protector for your gadgetry, with a sleeve for your business card, a pocket for a small notebook, and a pen/pencil holder.

Dorky as hell, or incredibly smart? You tell us.

[Via Holy Cool]

Shave Standing Up

Steph Auteri — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:21:00 GMT

Legs this hot are hard work.

Women face sharp razors, slippery showers, and sometimes even hot wax in order to achieve the most touchable legs possible.

It's a pain in the ass.

[$29.50, Frontgate]

The shaving pedestal aims to make at least those slippery showers easier to deal with. Men: Prepare yourselves for legs you can't keep your hands off of. Because really? I had sort of given up on shaving, for the winter at least, and you can almost braid my leg hair.

[Via Apartment Therapy]

A Demy-God Among Kitchen Gadgets

Laureen Mahler — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:34:00 GMT

[$300, My Demy]

Aside from constantly injuring myself, I have two main problems in the kitchen: 1) if I don't use a recipe, I'll end up with something that tastes like rubberized oatmeal and end up eating toast for dinner, and 2) I am an incredibly messy chef. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure I should call myself a chef.

Enter the Demy... a device that truly achieves near godliness in the kitchen:

The Demy is a recipe card-sized gadget that syncs up with your computer via USB and stores recipes in a coated (ie slash and spill proof) sleek design. It's not available until May, which means I'll have to continue using antiquated paper recipes until then. Bah!

[via Gizmodo]

Wireless Speakers That Really Travel

Steph Auteri — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:19:00 GMT

I've already purchased these travel-friendly speakers for a third of the price, but these wireless speakers from Hammacher Schlemmer really can travel:

[$149.95, Hammacher Schlemmer]

This iPod dock has portable, wireless rechargeable speakers that allow you to listen to music anywhere in your home. The speakers produce clear sound up to 120 feet away from the dock.

[Via Oh Gizmo!]

Related: Travel-Friendly Speakers

Craziest Headphones Ever

Alex Zalben — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:04:00 GMT

I swear I already posted about these when they were in the design competition stage, but for the life of me I can't find them on the blog. In any case, Nokia held a contest to design crazy headphones. The designer of the above was one of the winners. But for my money, in the crazy department, was blown away by this one:

[Via PSFK]

Quick Tip of the Day: Avoid Premature Deflation

Steph Auteri — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:19:00 GMT

Have troubles with premature deflation?

[$7.98, Harriet Carter]

These tire pressure caps can easily be screwed onto your tire valves so you can see at a glance when your tires need air.

[Via Ooh! Shiny!]

Coffee Makers of The Future

Alex Zalben — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:29:00 GMT

Earlier today, Steph told you how to get the perfect cup of coffee. The natural follow-up question is, how to make it?

I may not have the answer to that, but I do have a line-up of fantastic looking coffee maker... Concepts, I guess? Anyway, one is above, the even crazier looking rest are below:

[Via Room69]

Massage Your Eyeballs

Steph Auteri — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:29:00 GMT

[Photo via]

When your eyes are at work all day (particularly if you happen to be staring at a computer screen for 24 hours straight), they can be the first part of you to get tired.

Enter the Eye Vibrato:

[$64, Amazon]

This nifty gadget soothes your eyes with settings that include heat, vibration, and light air pressure.

That sounds so...nice. My eyes are weeping in gratitude.

[Via Crave]

Related: Sleep with Your Eyes Open

Cheap Trick: Spaghetti Measure

Steph Auteri — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:19:00 GMT

As I'm of the mind that there's no such thing as too much spaghetti, I usually just cook up the entire box, no matter what the recipe tells me to do.

(This could be why many of the dishes I cook taste...not quite right.)

For those who play by the rules:

[$7.50, The Conran Shop]

This Spaghetti Measure has an aperture with you can measure out varying portion sizes.

[Via Ooh! Shiny!]

Calculate Your Perfect Mate

Laureen Mahler — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:27:00 GMT

You know how most people spend years and years trying to find the right relationship? Then sometimes, even after all of that, it doesn't work out? Now the key to finding your ideal mate has been perfected by mathematics, and it's portable:

[￥2,885, Amazon.jp]

The human relationship calculator is simple: enter your birthday plus the birthday of your potential mate, and it will tell you yay or nay.

Two issues I have with this: 1) Isn't this just portable astrology? and 2) Really? A relationship calculator from Amazon.com?

[via Gizmodo]

HandshoeMouse Goes Wireless

Steph Auteri — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:03:00 GMT

Back in the beginning of December, I test drove the HandshoeMouse, an ergonomic mouse that cradles your hand.

Since that times, updates have been made, and a new wireless version has become available for only slightly more money ($139).

The HandshoeMouse remains the most comfortable mouse I have ever used, but I still wonder: Is the cost worth it? What additional features do you wish the mouse included?

Waiting for the Weekend

Steph Auteri — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:19:00 GMT

[Photo via]

Waiting (desperately) for the weekend? Looking for a way to make that wait seem even more excruciatingly long?

[$28, Lazybone]

A watched pot never boils, people.

Note: You'll have to wait for this clock as well, as it's not in pre-order yet. But you enjoy torturing yourself like that, right?

[Via GearCrave]

Related: New Alarm Clock Launch

Bluetooth Bracelet

Steph Auteri — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:51:00 GMT

Want to be just like Dick Tracy, without the monochromatic wardrobe?

[$65, DirectShop]

This Bluetooth wristband could do the trick!

[Via Gizmodo]