Hasta La Gadget!

Finding ways to stealthily transport alcohol has been a long-time obsession for man. We’ve used just about anything imaginable to do so, too, including fruit and animal bladders. Around the 18th century, though, we found a more refined and possibly more sanitary way to do so with the hip flask, which, at the time, was mostly used by the privileged class. So it should come as no surprise that The Macallan and Oakley’s recent collaboration has amounted to the most over-engineered and expensive mass-produced flask known to man. More »

What’s great about mechanical watches is that you don’t have to understand what all the visible gears and other mechanisms inside actually do to appreciate them, they’re still utterly fascinating to watch. But the revolutionary constant force escapement in Girard-Perregaux’s new timepiece is worthy of note because it’s a straight-up mechanical masterpiece. More »

The Design Museum’s Designs of the Year awards showcase the most innovative and imaginative designs from around the world, over the past year, spanning seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Transport and Product. Here are the winners for each category, just announced today. More »

Today, at an event in New York, GE announced that it will open up “thousands” of patents from its library of some 20,000 to inventors using Quirky’s crowdsourced product development platform. That means that if you’re bright enough, you can use a GE patent to invent something. GE will still collect royalties on your brain power, but they promise not to sue you. More »

If you’re like me, you’ve got lots of stuff scattered across your desk, and it looks like quite a mess. I’m always on the hunt for ways to keep things in order, and I think I may have found something worthy of placement in front of my 27-inch iMac.

The Desk Rail embraces the “less is more” school of design, providing a convenient desk organizer in what amounts to an anodized aluminum channel, with a grippy foam lining. This simple design allows it to hold on to everything from smartphones to pens to eyeglasses to small notebooks. Plus, it measures 16-7/8″ wide – exactly the same width as Apple’s Extended Keyboard. On the bottom of the Desk Rail, you’ll find silicon feet to prevent it from scratching your desk and providing clearance for your keyboard’s cable. Weighing in at 2.5 pounds, it’s also unlikely to slip around.

It’s even got room for you to run charging cables from either end of the rail, thanks to moveable doors with a small cable cutout. This ingenious design eliminates the need for a docking stand for your gadgets – which I always thought were a rip-off anyhow.

If you head over to Kickstarter and order right away, you might still be able to get one of the early bird specials for the Desk Rail, and pay just $55(USD) like I did. Otherwise, it’ll cost you $65. In either case, there’s a $10 shipping fee as well. There’s also a limited-edition anodized black version that sells for $135, and a crazy-wide 36-inch version for $185 if you need lots of space.