Hasta La Gadget!

ICufflinks turn your wrists into sleeping computers

I don’t know what’s most impressive about the iCufflinks. It could be the fact that these glowing standby-symbols fit their electronics into such a tiny package, or it could be that the makers at Adafruit actually reverse-engineered the pulsing sleep light from Apple’s MacBooks.

Each cufflink contains an LED, a battery and the controlling circuitry. Screw the CNC-machined aluminum capsule closed with a fresh button cell inside and you’ll get a gently pulsing light for up to 24 hours.

And the light does look uncannily like Apple’s. Apparently this is patented, and while the patent says it is sinusoidal, Adafruit says not. To reverse engineer the wave, Adafruit measured the brightness of a Mac LED using an oscilloscope, a photocell, some extra circuitry and — of course — duct tape.

The cufflinks are also open source, so you download the schematics, CAD files and the rest to make your own. That’s a lot of work to do, though, so you might be better off just buying a pair. At $128 (even the price is nerdy) they’re not cheap, but it’s unlikely anyone else will be wearing them at the party.

Available now.

iCufflinks v1.0 [Adafruit. Thanks, Phil!]

Reverse engineering the Mac ‘breathing’ LED [Adafruit]

See Also:

• Bike Cufflinks Link Cuffs, Look Awesome
• USB Cufflinks, For the Man Who Has Everything (Except Taste …
• USB Cufflinks Are Surprisingly Classy
• Transformer Cufflinks

If prisoners wore fancy shirts, they’d wear them with these brutally useful stays

I’m pretty sure that putting a sharp, pointy sliver of titanium next to my throat is a bad idea, even if I am doing it myself. And yet this is the premise of the Titan Multi Tool Collar Stays from Exuvius, a pair of collar straighteners that will also cut and screw, and perform various other handy operations.

Collar stays are those stiff little plastic sticks that stop your shirt collar from curling up at the tips. Exuvius idea is to make these from tough but light titanium and incorporate screwdrivers, a bottle opener and a sharpened jaw for cutting threads. The tips are shaped to screw screws, but are still pointy enough to gouge a decent chunk of flesh.

Handy, to be sure, but you’ll have to remember to switch them between shirts lest you find yourself tool-less in a time of need. For the slightly steep asking price of $30 you do at least get two pairs of stays, and for the well-off, four pairs can be had for $50.

Available now.

Titan Multi Tool Collar Stays [Yanko Store via Oh Gizmo!]

See Also:

• Cyclists' Airbag Helmets Bursts Forth from Stylish Collar
• Explosive Dog Collar Keeps Heads Above Water

This nerdy neck-wrench is actually pretty pretty

This is the Honeycomb Pendant with Cord. It is also the necklace that MacGyver would wear. Take a closer look and you’ll see that these “honeycombs” are in fact wrenches.

It’s not just a fashion coincidence, either. These hexagonal holes are made to twist nuts. You can tweak any bolts sized 8, 10, 12 and 14mm.

I wish that it extended just a millimeter more at the top end, so it could be used to take the wheels off a bike. Still, the 2.75 x 1.25 x 1/8-inch lump is made from stainless steel, so it probably isn’t any lighter than the little wrench I already carry. And that one has a bottle opener built in.

The Honeycomb Pendant with Cord is available for pre-order now, for $74 (currently discounted to $55).

Honeycomb Pendant with Cord [Blend Creations]

See Also:

• Titanium Pocket Wrench Weighs Almost Nothing
• Hands-On: Surly Jethro Tule Bike Wrench and Beer Opener

These awesome glasses will totally disguise your identity, even to your mom

Urban Outfitters, purveyor of designer clothing and plastic tat to the masses, is now selling these rather fetching censorship shades. Called the “Embarrassing Photo Protective Sunglasses”, the sunnies prove that Urban Outfitters’ marketing department is as tone-deaf to quality a the buying department.

The shades feature a strip of plastic which is suspended before your eyes by the familiar nose and earpieces. To you, it is see-through. To an unwelcome paparazzo it appears as if your eyes have been censored from the photo.

The problem is that these black strips, however they are applied, do nothing to obscure your identity. Black out the eyes of a genuine superstar, like David Hasselhoff or Jean Claude Van Damme, and you would have no problem recognizing them.

The only people who would be disguised by such a gimmick are those who are already unknown. People like you, me and the entire cast of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!. Fortunately, they come at a price us plebs can afford. The Embarrassing Photo Protective Sunglasses will run you just $12.

Embarrassing Photo Protective Sunglasses [Urban Outfitters via PetaPixel]

See Also:

• Infra Red Shades Protect You From the Man

Moleskine has started stamping its name on plastic bags

You now how sometimes a strong brand, known for making one thing, and making it well, branches out and slaps its trademark on all kinds of other goods? We call it a “cash-in”. On a completely unrelated note, Moleskine has expanded its product rangie.

The “iconic” notebook company has added a whole range of bags and pens to its lineup, and the results aren’t pretty. Let’s take the messenger bag, a black plastic number who’s sole similarities to Moleskine’s books are the high price and the elastic strap that keeps it closed. A strap that works perfectly on a small, rigid book, but less so on a big floppy plastic bag.

The base is rigid, though, so it can stand up on its own, and the bag has several divisions and flaps for holding laptops (up to 15 inches) and Moleskine’s own accessories, such as the Multipurpose Case. This “case” is in fact several soft pouches which velcro to the inside of the bags to help organize things.

The bag is fine, and would be a great deal if you bought it in the junky suitcase store downtown for $20. As it it, the messenger bag comes in at €118, or $170. Even if the U.S price ends up lower, as is likely, that’s still a lot for a plastic bag.

But if you are going to buy one, drop me a line after you have done so. I have a very nice Adidas notebook you may be interested in. Just $120.

Moleskine messenger bag [Moleskine]

See Also:

• Moleskine
• Kindle Case from Moleskine Mixes Paper and E-Ink