We have already covered two different USB mouses that have a special dedicated feature of warming the users hands, more exactly there was one from Thanko and another one from USBGeek.

While the last one had more features and looked like the perfect peripheral to keep the hands-not-cold during the winter, there is a new thing on the market that with the help of one of the previous mouses can really keep your hands warm forever – it is the USB Warming Mouse Pad.

It is made of wool and cotton and as the name suggests it works with USB, just plug the mouse pad on a USB port and you’re good to go. The 120cm of cable length will probably be enough to reach the desired USB port on your computer or laptop, if not you can buy a USB adapter and make a 2-in-1 connection if you know what I mean…

For security reasons there is a maximum temperature which is 42 degrees, I’m guessing that after reaching that level the warmer shuts itself down just like it happens with some electrical blankets. For each 5 minutes passed there is a temperature rise of 15 degrees, so in 10 minutes you can go from really cold to really warm – perfect for people that live in Antarctica.

The product image might not be the best one (advice to check other images) but the way to use it is simple - insert the mouse and your hand inside the mouse pad. One of the bad things is that it might become a bit difficult to control the mouse movement on those conditions…

PS1 - it costs $22 and comes with blue fish design/shape.

PS2 - I would love to have one of these mouse pads right now, it is extremely cold in Portugal!

The USB Rechargeable Shaver is probably one of those rare gadgets that combine personal hygiene and USB technology, in this case it doesn’t matter if the read/writing speed is good, the USB version (1.1 or 2.0) isn’t important either.

As it always happens with USB related products, there is a LED light to indicate if the shaver is being recharged or not, there is also a smart USB plug that can rotate to make the device more compact in size and format.

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Many people believe that in the future optical computers will substitute traditional electronic-based ones. The biggest challenge for manufacturing optical microchips, however, is to be able to control light within the little devices. IBM recently announced that some of its scientists managed to slow down the speed at which light is traveling inside the microchips.

They basically forced light to travel inside ring-shaped structures made out of silicon. The longest delay was achieved using 56 consecutive rings, and it added 0,5 nanoseconds to the time light would need to pass through the microchip. That increase of 0,5 nanoseconds translates into 10 bits of optical information, which could be considered a break-trough considered current standards. Read the rest of this entry »

So your neighbor thinks he’s cool and all after snagging a spanking new 60GB PlayStation 3, but hardcore gamers know that when it comes to a full-fledged gaming system, nothing comes quite close to the PC, not even Gears of War on the Xbox 360. With that in mind, why not spite the Joneses by picking up the SDXi gaming rig from Shuttle’s XPC 1337 range? You can be sure that you will have the fastest machine around the neighborhood, giving you an edge over your opponents who constantly roam the virtual worlds of World of Warcraft, Counter Strike, Battlefield, and countless others.

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Here are the cold hard facts - did you know that repetitive strain injuries constitute of the nation’s most common and costly occupational health problem? It is by far and large the fastest growing category of work-related illness, and more than 66% of all reported occupational illnesses resulted from prolonged exposure to repeated trauma on the upper body, and the dreaded Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ranks high on that list. We could all go out on a limb and complain about how hardware manufacturers have long neglected users by providing a more ergonomic experience, but being the great nation that we are, there is always something we can do on our part to help ourselves. This is where the Wristease comes in handy.

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The Redmond house recently launched the first commercial version of its operating system dedicated to people that program robots. The software development kit is called “Microsoft Robotics Studio” and according to the company it is suitable both to people playing with robot toys and to people using industrial robots professionally.

Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group, commented that personal computers and robots are closer that what most people think: “I believe that robots represent the next era of PC technology. Today, is your PC a robot? You probably would say no. But PCs are starting to include cameras and microphones, primarily for person-to-person communication. Once they are on board, there’s no reason they can’t be used by other pieces of technology. If cameras can do visual recognition – so your PC knows when someone walks in the room whether it’s you or not and changes its behavior accordingly – is it a robot, then? Maybe. Read the rest of this entry »

On top of the other seven digital frames we already mentioned there is a new one that really grabbed my attention, just like a fireman grabs a person when he/she is about to fall off a building – both situations are similar and have the same feeling.

Anyway, enough with gibberish talk and moving on to the digital frame of the day – the PictureBook Digital Photo Album:

All the other digi frames we previously talked about had one similar feature which is the lack of big storage capacity, therefore consumers could only put like 60 or 80 photos on a frame, sometimes less. The scenario changes when using the PictureBook, since it is suppose to work as an album it has a hard-drive with 40GB, can you imagine the number of photos you can insert in it? I can’t, but the producers/designers (read Brookstone) talk about storing over 20,000 photos.
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So you’re scratching your head thinking about what to pick up for your techie friend who seems to have virtually everything a geek could dream of? Perhaps he has dropped a hint of his liking for enjoying TV shows right smack in front of his PC without ambling over to the living room and turning on the TV set - which is where the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-3000 comes in. Noted for its long line of TV tuner cards that have picked up tons of awards and accolades over the years, you can be sure that the WinTV-HVR-3000 will not disappoint if the impressive list of features are anything to go by.

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