Hasta La Gadget!

I’m sorry to disappoint athletic Pokémon fans out there. This is not a jockstrap, it’s a drinking cup shaped like the monster catching Poké Ball. I’m not sure if it’s licensed, but I’m pretty sure Nintendo would rather license this and release all of its games on iOS than approve a Pokémon Ball Cup.

It holds 20 oz. of liquid. Er, drinks. Dammit you and your dirty minds! You can order one from PartyBell for $3 (USD), although as of this writing they’re on sale for $2.

[via That’s Nerdalicious!]

We buy safes to keep our valuables out of other people’s hands. But what if we want to keep something out of our hands? Unless you’re really strong, a safe would be overkill. David Krippendorf and Ryan Tseng have an alternative – the Kitchen Safe, a container with a lid that can be set to unlock only after a certain amount of time.

To set a time, just rotate the dial on the lid until you see your desired duration on the display below the dial. When you press the dial, the lid will lock and the display will begin counting down. You can lock the lid for up to 10 days if you want. If you can last that long without that thing that you love so much, you probably don’t need to buy a timed safe to keep you away from it. On the other hand, it can help you reduce your daily snacking habits.

Pledge at least $29 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Kitchen Safe as a reward.

[via Cool Things]

It’s true that cheap affordable Android tablets are a dime a dozen at most trade shows these days, but here at CTIA 2013 we stumbled upon something that caught our eye — a 7-inch dual-core tablet running Jelly Bean that costs just $65. The Maxwest TAB-7155DC aka. Ippo Y88 measures 182 x 122 x 10mm (7.16 x 4.8 x 0.39inch), weighs 187g (6.6oz) and comes in several hues (black, white, silver, red, blue and pink).

It features a 7-inch 1024 x 600-pixel capacitive multitouch LCD, an Infotmic IMAPx820 SoC (1GHz dual-core Cortex A5 CPU with Mali 400 GPU), 512MB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage, dual VGA cameras (front and back), WiFi b/g/n and a 2800mAh battery. The screen isn’t covered in glass and there’s no sign of any Bluetooth or GPS radios, but then again, what do you expect for $65? You”ll find a power / lock key, DC socket, micro-USB port (with on-the-go support) and mini-HDMI output on the top edge, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack, volume rocker and microSD card slot on the right side. A microphone and speaker round things up in back.

The tablet runs a mostly stock version of Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.1, to be specific) and includes the usual assortment of Google apps along with access to the Play Store. Performance is adequate — not buttery smooth but perfectly usable. Build quality and materials are surprisingly decent for the price (the plastic is color-through), but the display leaves a lot to be desired (viewing angle are poor and the acrylic covering the screen is scratch-prone). Then again, it’s only $65, right? Check out the gallery below for our rose-colored hands-on with this inexpensive tablet.

Filed under: Tablets, Google

Comments

Some of you may have heard of Philips’ Ambilight, a technology that’s only present in some of the company’s high end TVs. Ambilight projects ambient lighting that matches the colors and brightness of what’s being displayed on screen. Lightpack does the same thing and then some. Plus, it can be installed on any TV or monitor.

Lightpack consists of a small central device that you attach at the back of your TV. The box connects the 10 small LED strips that provide the lighting to a desktop computer where you’ll install Prismatik, the software that controls the LEDs. Prismatik analyzes the images being output from your PC or Mac to your display and instructs the LEDs to light up accordingly.

Keep in mind that Lightpack isn’t capable of analysing data coming across an HDMI cable to add ambient light to TVs without a computer. Its makers are working on another project to do that, but it’s not likely to make it to market any time soon due to HDMI/HDCP licensing issues, Phlips exisiting Ambilight patents, and high production costs.

Prismatik also has many advanced features. For example, you can turn the LEDs into mood lighting even when your TV is off. Because Lightpack is built on open source hardware and software, if you know how to program you’ll be able to extend its functionality, like using the LEDs for Skype notifications or for indicating the temperature. Watch the video for more:

Pledge at least $80 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Lightpack unit as a reward. Note that the current unit only works with displays that have a diagonal length between 10″ to 50″. If you have a larger TV you might need to get two Lightpacks.

It makes sense that phones with lots of bells and whistles are among the most expensive that you can find in the market. But if all you want is a phone to call people or send them a message, then this $12 handset might be for you.

The big catch is that it’s pretty hard to find, because apparently, it’s only available in China.

This is no smartphone by any means. But if money’s tight and all you need is a basic cellphone, this could very well do the job. Hacker Andrew “Bunnie” Huang came across this particular cheap phone when he was at the Mingtong Digital Mall in Shenzhen, China and was impressed at the extremely low price of the device.

Of course, you get what you pay for. While the device is an unlocked, contract-free quad-band GSM mobile that comes with a charger, USB and microSD ports, and Bluetooth connectivity, it’s also built with a meager two-color OLED screen, and only has 8MB of storage. Plus all of the components are soldered in place, so it would be very difficult to repair or replace any parts. But for 12 bucks, you can just buy another phone if anything goes wrong with this one.

[bunnie:studios via Boing Boing via Dvice]