Hasta La Gadget!

Is it possible to build a better Post-It note? One look at Jun Inokuma and Yuri Naruse’s house-shaped block of sticky-notes says yes.

The house shape is no coincidence – Inokuma and Naruse are architects – but it is also something of a by=product of the shape of the stickers themselves. Imagine slicing a house-shaped loaf of bread. Now imagine the slices are paper, and that you are somehow way better at slicing a paper loaf than a bead one. Now, if you still can, imagine the little house-shaped notes. Have I lost you? Here’s a picture:

As you can see, the notes, named IE-TAGs, have everything that a Post-It has, along with a handy roof-shaped tab to mark a page in a book.

There’s another reason for the house-shape. The notes are made from wood taken from the construction waste of real houses, recycled into paper. The notes only exist as a concept right now, but the fact that the design has been trademarked offers hope that we will be able to neaten-up our notebooks in the near future.

IE-TAGs [Narakuma via Core77]

See Also:

• Toast It Notes is a Pun-tastic Sticky Note Holder
• Pick Punch Cuts Plectrums from Credit Cards
• 20-Pound Aluminum Rubber-Band Gun Takes Things a Little Too …
• Virtual Pen and Ink Lets Kids Scrawl on Walls

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve seen any new tools from the security-minded folks at Swann, but it’s hitting back with a new head-mounted camera at CES. The Sportscam is a familiar device — similar to Contour and Go Pro units we’ve toyed with in the past — but rather than seeking optimal image quality at a premium price, this guy sticks to the basics. The VGA camera can only log clips at a resolution of 640 x 480, so HD junkies best look elsewhere. But it’s still encased in a rugged plastic shell, one that’s both shockproof and waterproof, and it’s capable of holding up to five hours of footage on a single 16GB microSD card. There’s a rechargeable Li-ion battery that’ll last 2.5 hours, and it ships with a variety of mounting options (though we’d suggest around your head, obviously). As we alluded to earlier, this one’s a lower-end product, and that $99 price may entice those who would otherwise never consider such a thing. The full release is after the break, and it’ll start shipping in the US of A next month.

Continue reading Swann’s shockproof, waterproof Sportscam straps on your cranium, captures momentous occasions

Swann’s shockproof, waterproof Sportscam straps on your cranium, captures momentous occasions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

You got a brand new Moleskine notebook or diary for Christmas. You also got a fancy new pen. And if you’re really lucky, Uncle Pete gave you just over $13 (or €10) to spend on anything you like. Generous old Uncle Pete.

Might we suggest you pick up the Pen Clip, designed for Authentics by Stefan Diez. It’s a metal tube that clips into the spine of a notebook and lets you slide in any pen, be it a write-anywhere space-pen, or a cheap-o Biro. It’s a handsome way to keep pen and paper together.

It will be useless, of course, if your pen already has a clip (clipped pens can be forced into the Moleskine’s spine, like an epidural into a human’s vertebrae, but the spine will crack after a while). The Pen Clip can also be clipped to posters, calendars and anything else.

The $13 is for the small sized clip. If you received a large pen for your gift, then you’re out of luck: the large clip costs €13, or $17. Uncle Pete doesn’t look so generous now, does he?

Authentics Pen Clip [Connox via Oh Gizmo!]

See Also:

• Moleskine-Shaped, Bamboo iPad Case
• How To Turn an iPhone into a Moleskine Book
• Wallet-Emptying Moleskine Multi-Pack. Verdict? Gorgeous
• Fisher Space Pen – Wired.com
• Contractor Space Pen Looks the Part
• Neither Pen Nor Pencil: Write Endlessly In Metal

No, not that Yoshi, but the real, officially licensed critter with a penchant for chomping Goombas and dropping eggs. Nintendo’s 3DS handheld has, according to 3DS Buzz, been stolen from a Chinese manufacturing factory and leaked all over the Internet. This version is a little different than what we saw at E3 and even the “official” version from the September 29th announcement, the Select, Home, and Start buttons having been made flush into the screen bezel. Also, a 1300mAh battery is confirmed, as is 96MB of RAM. We have another picture of it below, showing it’s size compared to everything from a Game Boy Micro to a DSi XL, nicely demonstrating that Nintendo’s new hotness is a little bit smaller than even a standard DSi. That’s progress for ya, folks.

Update: David T. wrote in with a video of the thing in action — well, in non-action, really. It’s embedded below, and as you can see the poor backless 3DS is decidedly non-functional.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Nintendo 3DS escapes production line, strikes a pose with Yoshi (video)

Nintendo 3DS escapes production line, strikes a pose with Yoshi (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 07:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 3DS Buzz  |  TGBUS.com  | Email this | Comments

As the new year was rung in, iPhone alarms remained curiously silent.

Apple has confirmed an iOS bug that left the iPhone without functioning alarms on the first of January. Multiple tests on the iPhone alarm showed that it failed to go off when the digital calendar rolled over from Dec. 31, 2010 to Jan 1, 2011.

Apple spokesperson Natalie Harrison told Macworld that the the bug had been officially recognized, and would fix itself on Jan. 3.

“We’re aware of an issue related to non-repeating alarms set for Jan. 1 or 2,” Harrison said. “Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning Jan. 3.”

However, some iPhone customers in Asia and Europe said they were still experiencing alarm malfunctions as of Jan. 3, according to Reuters. Also, some U.S. customers said on Twitter this morning that their alarms weren’t working.

“This is why I missed the gym this morning,” tweeted Rik Nemanick, a Saint Louis resident.

Apple claims the alarm issue has only affected non-repeating alarms — meaning if your alarm is set to go off at the same time “every Monday,” for example, it should have worked today. However, for those who set a one-time alarm for this morning, some may have experienced the malfunction.

If you’re paranoid about sleeping in late, the quick fix for the issue is to set recurring alarms. To set repeating alarms, launch the Clock app, hit the + sign to create an alarm, then tap Repeat and choose the day(s) you want this alarm to go off regularly.

The alarm code in iOS seems to be pretty buggy. This latest problem follows a bug that caused alarms to sound an hour late when both Europe and the United States flipped over from daylight saving time at the end of the summer.

An unreliable alarm clock is a frivolous bug, but it’s particularly embarrassing for Apple, a company that prides itself for fine details of its products. Here’s hoping that Apple issues a complete rewrite of its clock app whenever it releases the next iPad or iPhone.

iOS bug prevents New Year’s alarms [Macworld]

Photo [Eflon / Flickr]

Updated 10 a.m. PST with reports of people still experiencing the alarm issue, as well as instructions on how to fix the alarm.

See Also:

• iPhone Alarm Bug Lets Europeans Snooze an Extra Hour
• Wake Up! Five Great iPhone Alarm Clocks