Hasta La Gadget!

For times when you really need a flashlight in the car, you should have a small, powerful LED flashlight with long-lasting lithium batteries. Example: The Duracell Daylite CR123 LED Flashlight, $27 street (above left in photo), puts out a tremendous amount of light, runs for a long time, and it’s just six inches long. You’ll trade in your car before the batteries die from old age (10-15 years). A similar Duracell Daylite flashlight using two AA cells will be a couple dollars cheaper.

You can pay your dealer as much as $100 to tell you what the Check Engine light means each time it comes on, or you can buy a handheld diagnostics tool such as CarMD for about the same price ($120 direct) that plugs into your car for a quick good-not good indication, then into your computer for a detailed rundown of what’s wrong, time after time. CarMD works on up to three cars, does more emissions and safety checks than earlier models, handles hybrids, and the site provides more how-to-maintain-your-car info to keep you involved in between plug-in diagnoses.

Why, it’s another robot-themed hotpot restaurant! This time we’re looking at Jinan — once famous for demolishing a whole stash of illegal arcade machines — up in north China, where a ballsy robotics manufacturer started trialling a robot-themed eatery. While there are still human chefs working back in the kitchen, some near-hundred customers will be served by six robots (about ¥40,000 or $6,000 each to build) that follow a white line to seat diners and deliver dishes. Oh, and don’t expect any slapstick comedy here — these bland-looking droids will only stop if you dare stand in front of them. You’ll have to hurry up, though, as this venue closes in about 16 days; but for those who can’t make it, we’ve got a video right after the break.

Continue reading Chinese hotpot restaurant gets robot waiters, may soon be serving droids as well (video)

Chinese hotpot restaurant gets robot waiters, may soon be serving droids as well (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve never experienced the joy of conveying four precisely-played tracks onto a single, rattly plastic cassette tape, prepare to see what you’ve been missing. The iconic Tascam Portastudio is coming to iPad in a very virtual way, a $10 app that presents a simplified replication of the original’s decidedly more tactile controls. You can mix four inputs to stereo output, which is stored on a pretend cassette — and can then share via iTunes or Soundcloud, which is rather more useful than a picture of a tape. It’s available right now for the iPad only, with no plans for a release on any other platform. Yeah, boo.

Tascam Portastudio for iPad could make you a four-track superstar all over again originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPhone uses a lot of power. Whether the battery is too small or we just feel compelled to play with it more than with other devices doesn’t matter. What matters is that half way through the day, you can find yourself with a dead phone. Tjeerd Veenhoven decided to do something about it, and instead of just, you know, plugging the thing in, he made the iFan.

Fashioned from an old computer cooling fan and a bumper-style case to house the electronics, Veenhoven’s iFan charges the iPhone fully in six-hours. Sure, that’s a lot longer than using a power adapter, but it’s also a lot less than I would have expected. He plans to cut that time with a more efficient fan.

Best of all are Veenhoven’s usage scenarios, which involve catching the wind while “sun bathing at the beach, doing walking trips in the mountains or just holding it outside your car window while driving along…”

That last one gives me a great idea: Attach this to your dog’s collar and take a road trip. What could possibly go wrong?

iFan, charge your phone with wind [Tjeerd Veenhoven]

Photo: Tjeerd Veenhoven

See Also:

• Solar Charger For iPhone Swiftly Sucks Up The Sun
• Mystery Charger Glows Like iPhone Battery Icon
• Europeans Realize Dream of a Single Charger for All Cellphones …
• Fetish: High-IQ Toaster, Wind-Driven Gadget Charger, $9K Diving Watch