Meloncard: A way to exchange business cards in the future

A designer named Alan Sien Wei Hshieh has developed a new way of exchanging business cards that does not involve any paper. His MelonCard, which is just a concept at this point, is an idea ahead of its time whose time has come.
After all, don’t you think it’s odd in this digital age that we still exchange these little paper rectangles every time we want to do business with someone?
In the age of the MelonCard, everyone would have one of these devices that you see here. This card-size piece of scratch resistant glass would be attached to a thin plastic strip that would have its own flash memory, Bluetooth, and power supply.
If two businesspeople want to exchange information, then they would simply slap two Meloncards together like a high-five. Apparently, two accelerometers onboard automatically exchange digital info, so you can contact your contact later.
I love the idea of the MelonCard, but my source believes that if this theoretical device used Bluetooth, it would eat up a lot of power. In other words, you couldn’t use it for too long without recharging, and the usage time is too short, what is the point? Perhaps we need some sort of universal cellular phone app that can do the same as the Meloncard.

spy gadget

There are all types of spy gadgets out there, the trick is finding the one that blends in the most with your style. After all, if you have top of the line electronics everywhere, a cheap alarm clock is going to stand out. If you have very sparse college room type furniture then a tissue box holder with a camera in it is probably going to raise some eyebrows. Well this tiny clock is just one of the many ways you can spy on people while you’re away.
Some might find it a touch paranoid that you have video surveillance going on, but if it helps you sleep at night, then it’s worth the cash. This tiny camcorder is built into the clock and has a built-in rechargeable Li-Battery. That battery will work for up to 2 hours of continuous use. It has 4GB of built-in memory and then is able to use a USB flash drive. It hooks up to your computer to swap out data and charge through a USB cable. It has a switch on and off button that will kick on a light that only briefly twinkles to let you know it’s working. You can purchase the camera for $47 from Gadget Brando.

Premium Optical Lens

It has been a while since we covered the OWLE, a device made to harness the video capturing abilities of the iPhone 3GS. Back then, the OWLE (Optical Widgets for Life Enhancement) was in a concept stage, but the OWLE Bubo is ready for pre-order.
The Bubo has a hotshoe mount with LED lights, with four tripod mounts. It has a standard 37mm lens that is threaded so you can put other lenses on it, besides the one that the Bubo already comes with. I believe that it also comes with a front-facing microphone.
So what are we looking at, some new way that video bloggers can gain better video footage? I certainly hope so.
By the way, I think I know why they call it the Bubo. Anyone remember the 1981 Ray Harryhausen Greek myth film Clash of the Titans? Yes, Bubo was the name of the mechanical owl that Athena gave to Perseus to aid him on his quest. I guess someone wanted an R2D2 character in their classical Greek movie adaptation.
Anyway, this OWLE has been on quite a quest since its first concept drawing, and the designers won some award for iFund’s “Most Promising Startup”. The Bubo will be available for pre-order tomorrow for $99.95.

SlimTouch Bluetooth Keyboard

I have reviewed Bluetooth keyboards before, and this Adesso SlimTouch Bluetooth keyboard is designed for those who like the shorter and slimmer design of netbook keyboards. It is also good for those who don’t have a lot of room in their backpacks as it is not very thick. The WKB-4000BB will work with Windows XP, Vista, and the spanking-new Windows 7.
I had a chance to try it out for myself, and I liked what I tried. The SlimTouch Mini keyboard comes with a Bluetooth USB dongle that is so small…how small is it? It is so small, the box had to have an arrow saying “USB dongle” or a new user would not have been able to find it. Yeah, that joke isn’t very funny, but usually those “how (insert adjective here) is it” jokes usually aren’t.
For those who want to be free of the mouse as well as a wired keyboard, the SlimTouch also includes a GlidePoint touchpad with a convenient scrolling feature.
Adesso boasts that the keys of the SlimTouch have low profile scissor switches for quiet typing, but these keys sounded about as “loud” as the ones on my laptop. Not that the typing of these keys would keep anyone awake, mind you.
The Adesso SlimTouch Bluetooth Keyboard can be purchased at the Adesso site for about $129.99. It requires two AAA batteries for power, and pairs quite easily with computer or even mobile phone.

Griffin Technology wants you to Simplifi your life

I believe that it was Henry David Thoreau who wrote in Walden: “Out life is frittered away by detail…Simplify, simplify, simplify!” Of course, if he really wanted to take his own advice, he would have written “simplify” only once.
One of the things in life that really need to be simplified is our desktops. Many of us have all sorts of accessories to our PC like memory card readers and iPods, and the Simplifi is designed to take up a lot less real estate on the desk.
The Simplifi is clad in anodized aluminum, and attaches to the computer via USB. Fortunately, no software is required, and my computer recognized it right away.
From there, it can be used to read and write media cards like the SD, XD, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, and the Memory Stick Pro. It also has two USB ports in back for any USB device that you wish to use as well.
It can also be used as an iPod or iPhone dock, and it has six dock inserts for this. It also comes with an AC cord, but I was able to get the Simplifi to read and write memory cards with the USB alone.
The Simplifi can be purchased on the Griffin Technology website for a price of $69.99.

New 27″ iMacs wake up on the wrong side of the CPU

Ubergizmo has a story about 27″ iMacs which are experiencing buggy hardware issues such as “erratic hard drive behavior,” buggy playback of flash video which cause the CPU to reach 105% of it’s capacity, and issues pertaining to bad operating system installation. Now I know that flash is a memory hog, but that’s ridiculous.
Stories began cropping up in Apple’s support forums where users have discovered that the issues begin to occur once the computer goes to sleep and then begins to wake up. Some have used workarounds like hitting the power button to sleep and then waking it up again. This apparently “calms” the CPU down and frees up resources.
But a better solution is to contact Apple immediately while users Apple Care warranty is still in force. Or return the iMac to the Apple Store for genius’ to either fix or replace.

Sanwa Waterproof Case with built-in speaker protects MP3 player

If you’re a person that uses their bicycle often, likely you’ve been caught in the rain before. If you’re one that enjoys your music, that can run into a bit of a problem for your speaker and MP3 player. Well this speaker will allow for you to keep your music playing and still keep it protected from the water. With this speaker you’ll also still be able to hear the traffic for safety reasons, unlike just using a set of headphones.
The speaker case mounts to the handlebars on your bike. It has a built-in speaker within the case, then once it’s unzipped it reveals a pocket just for your MP3 player. That pocket will hold and protect MP3 players ranging in size from the tiny on up to an iPod Touch. To turn the volume up and down the controls are on the outside of the case. The case can also be clipped to your belt loop instead of the handlebars. It will cost you ¥3,980 or about $44