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The Hanfree is a really big iPad stand

Hanfree must be the most absurd iPad accessory we have ever seen. It’s so preposterous that it looks more like something out of Mad Magazine than a real product.

The Hanfree is a giant stand. It has a boomerang-shaped base and a long, bent stalk which attaches to an iPad case by way of an articulating joint. Thus ensconced, the iPad can be suspended in front of you when you’re sitting on the couch, standing at the kitchen counter or even — and this is where things get silly — placed under your pillows so that the stalk hangs the iPad above your head.

It’s worth watching the promo video, too. In it, the Hanfree comes to life and stalks the poor owners around their homes. These people, astonishingly, don’t run in terror but instead greet the skinny robot with horribly fake smiles. Perhaps they are being held prisoner in their own beautiful loft apartments by a psychopathic stand and are afraid to annoy it, just like James Caan in the movie Misery.

Hanfree is a Kickstarter project, and you can pre-order one for $50. If the Hanfree ever makes it into stores, then it will cost $80, so it seems like a good idea to get in early. If you do buy one, though, and wake up one day to find it standing at the foot of your bed holding a sledgehammer, and then discover that there is a wooden log between your ankles, don’t be surprised.

Hanfree iPad Accessory [Kickstarter. Thanks, Seth!]

See Also:

• The Pencil iPad Stand: Smart Enough to Impress a New Yorker …
• Genius: FridgePad Turns iPad into Giant Fridge-Magnet
• Hand-E-Holder Turns iPad into Giant Mitten

No, not those MiniDiscs. The ones we’re talking about, created by researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, are much, much smaller — less than 300 nanometers across. The tiny disks of magnetic material are formed using glass spheres that are themselves about 300nm in diameter. They are arranged into hexagonal shapes on top of a thin, magnetic layer and are then bombarded with argon ions. The ions wear away the magnetic layer that is not protected by the glass spheres, leaving behind tiny disks. The argon also starts to eat at the glass too, shrinking the spheres and, as they erode, chipping away at the edges of those newly formed disks on the surface. This gives them a nano beveled edge, allowing for a so-called vortex twist that enables magnetic storage of individual bits at incredibly low power. While it remains to be seen what kind of storage density can be achieved in this manner, we do know one thing for sure: you’re a real trooper if you made it through that post. Give yourself a pat on the back and three internet points.

Mini disks with slanted edges could save your data, not the music industry originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Chopula spatula has a large, stiff head

Chopula might just be the ideal spatula, despite its punny name. By clever choice of materials and shape, it manages to out-spatch most wood, plastic and metal spatulas.

The head, made of silicone rubber, is curved to scour out food from every nook and cranny of a pan, and also stiff enough to cut soft foods without scratching delicate non-stick finishes. It’s also wide enough to flip your eggs over-easy without breaking the yolk.

And see that odd dog-leg right at the junction between handle and blade? That forms a built in stand that keeps the head of the Chopula off the counter-top, which means one less thing to clean.

I’m sold. I wince every time the Lady uses a metal fish-slice in the non-stick frying pan, so I will happily send the Chopula people $13 in exchange for one of their spatulas. Now, if only they could do something about her habit of using my chef’s knives on the ceramic tiled counter-top.

Chopula product page [Dreamfarm via Oh Gizmo]

See Also:

• Toast It Notes is a Pun-tastic Sticky Note Holder
• Puntastic
• The Only Five Kitchen Tools You Really Need
• 1800-Year-Old Roman Multitool
• Credit Card Cutlery: Ordinary Cutlery, Without the Cut

Remember the Gadget Lab home-made stealth camera bag? It was an old, ugly army surplus canvas bag with padding added inside to make it both camera-friendly and thief-unfriendly. Well, if the Any Bag Camera Bag Insert had existed back then, I may never have made it.

The insert is a small, strap-free bag that “turns every bag you own into a camera bag.” The minimal bag has a magnetic snap-closed flap, five small pockets around the edges and a moveable velcro divider. And that’s it. You put this inside any other bag you have and it creates a little safe haven for your camera gear.

The bag is 10.5 x 7 x 4 inches — big enough for an SLR with a long lens, or an entire Micro Four Thirds kit — and is made from waterproof waxed canvas. And when I said it was strap-free, I told a little lie. It has some tiny leather straps so you can grab it and pull it out of your rucksack, airplane carry-on or messenger bag.

How much for this versatile little sack? $59, and it’s available now.

The Any Bag Camera Bag Insert [Photojojo. Thanks, Jen!]

See Also:

• Stealth Laptop Sleeve is Curiously Familiar
• Make It: Stealth Camera Bag
• Stealthy ThinkTank Photo-Bags Expand to Fit Everything
• Gadget Lab Reader Makes Stealth Camera and Netbook Bag
• Hands On With Lowepro's 'Stealth' Camera Bag

After Saturday’s blast at Fukushima’s No.1 reactor and Monday’s blast at the No.3 reactor, we were hoping that’d be the end to the nuclear plant nightmares. Unfortunately a third blast occurred in the small hours of today, at the second reactor. More »