Tactical Necktie is What Jack Bauer Would Wear to a Wedding

ThinkGeek is showing off an interesting new product called the Laser-guided Tactical Necktie. It’s aimed at the man who has to wear a tie in the corporate warzone. The necktie goes around your neck like a normal tie, but has special features to help you get ahead in the office – and to torment kitties.

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Up top, the tie has a D-loop where you can attach essentials like a grenade or maybe a can of squeeze cheese. Under that is a removable pouch with a buckle where you can keep matches for starting the fire you use to burn the place down next time your check is late.

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Underneath that pouch is a molle system, which lets you hang more manly stuff, like bacon-wrapped bacon. The coolest part is the laser pointer in a removable pouch on the bottom. With that pointer, you can torment random kitties with the red dot of death or use the laser to burn out the retinas of your enemy in the cubicle next door.

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Now to crush your dreams, this is one of those famous ThinkGeek April Fools’ Day pranks. To give you a bit of hope back, ThinkGeek has a history of making their prank products real – so you never know.

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One Man’s Quest To Prove How Far Laser Pointers Reach

One Man's Quest To Prove How Far Laser Pointers Reach

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who did this, but the first thing I did when I got my first laser pointer was go outside and point it at the moon. I’d stare and wonder if someone was up there, would they be able to see the little red light shining from the Earth?

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Use a Laser Pointer to Turn Your iPhone Into a Microscope

We’ve seen ways to turn your iPhone into a DIY microscope before, but they always require buying something kind of exotic, like a ball lens, or an actual microscope. This new take from Yoshinok on Instructables just requires $10 bucks, a shitty laser pointer, and little bit of makin’.

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Shark With Frickin’ Laser Pointer

I don’t know about you, but there is just something crazy about the idea of sharks carrying laser guns on their back. As though these lean and mean underwater predators are not deadly enough on their own, imagine what would happen when they are endowed with the “gift” of a laser beam which can be fired at will via attached backpacks near their fin? The thought is definitely scary, and while it might exist in some fictional worlds, Thinkgeek has decided to bring it over to this side of reality with the $14.99 Shark With Frickin’ Laser Pointer.

Good thing this shark is small enough to hold in your hand, and it has been tamed – so much so that it does not bite, but the laser bit of it is what interests us and justifies a purchase by anyone who wants to make an impression at his or her presentation, without actually looking too childish. Sporting a Class 1 laser, the Shark With Frickin’ Laser Pointer is powered not by pounds of human flesh or sea lions, but rather, a trio of 1.5v LR44 which thankfully has been included with each purchase to help you get started right out of the box.
[ Shark With Frickin’ Laser Pointer copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Star Trek TOS Phaser Laser Pointer

Star Trek fans, listen up! You have always wanted to own a laser pointer than you can call your own, although it would have been way cooler if said laser pointer came in the form of a Star Trek phaser. Well, that wish has now come true, never mind that we are still months away from Christmas, thanks to the availability of the $34.99 Star Trek TOS Phaser Laser Pointer.

This time around, things would definitely work differently as you can opt to set corporate presentation skills to “Stun!”, so go ahead and wow the rest of the board room with your eye for detail and slides, tiger! The Star Trek TOS Phaser Laser Pointer comes across as a tiny prop replica with meticulous details, and it also has an integrated keychain so that you are able to bring it with you everywhere. This is an officially licensed Star Trek TOS prop replica, and its red laser will be activated by the front trigger. Rock climbers too, might find this useful if they want to use their imagination and think that they are scaling some boulders in a far away, alien land.
[ Star Trek TOS Phaser Laser Pointer copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Kokuyo – “Kokuyoseki” – ring-style device for stress-free, remote presentation control on your PC

Kokuyo - "Kokuyoseki" - ring-style device for stress-free, remote presentation control on your PC

For those who often give presentations, Kokuyo’s new invention could be a very helpful device. It’s a ring-looking small device called the Finger Presenter “Kokuyoseki” that enables you to toggle between slides on a presentation even if you are far from the PC.

Totally hands-free and freedom to roam the stage away from your PC and no need to assistance from others.

If you have a pencil type laser pointer, it can be combined with “kokuyoseki” and it will immediately upgrade to a high-tech laser pointer that can turn/turn back pages in your presentation.

Price: Open price

Illegal Laser Pointers Are Everywhere, Including Your Drawer

You have to be suspicious when anything as cool as a laser is readily available to the PowerPoint-loving public. And a new study shows that more than 75 percent of lasers violate the Code of Federal Regulations. That’s a lot. More »

FAVI Mini Bluetooth Keyboard Has a Trackpad and Works with Just about Anything

If you have a HTPC in your living room or spend a lot of time using a tablet or smartphone and wish you had a small keyboard, check this out. A company called FAVI Entertainment has released a palm-sized keyboard that supports just about any portable device on the market including Android tablets and just about anything else with Bluetooth connectivity. The keyboard features a trackpad for pointer control as well.

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Looking an awful lot like another keyboard we’ve previously featured, this on is called the FAVI Mini Bluetooth Keyboard and is designed for thumb typing. It has a full QWERTY keyboard and the keys are backlit for use in dark environments. The trackpad is on the right side of the keyboard and on the left side are buttons to control left and right mouse clicks. The trackpad also supports tap to click. The keyboard has a full assortment of media playback control hotkeys, as well as PowerPoint slide control keys. It’s even got a laser pointer built into the end.

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Any device that has Bluetooth built in will be able to connect to the keyboard and computers or other devices with a USB port, but lacking integrated Bluetooth can use the included receiver. The wireless range for the keyboard is 50 feet, and it is available now for $49.99 over at Staples.


Alpha Range iOS game requires a pico projector and laser pointer, we go hands-on (video)

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Granted, a magical little smartphone is all the gadgetry most casual gaming fans require to get their fix, but when LaserVR’s Travis Haagen popped by our informal meetup at Portland’s Ground Kontrol to talk about Alpha Range, we couldn’t help but be impressed by the project. The game has a classic Asteroids / Space Invaders feeling to it, but Alpha Range is more than just another bit of mobile nostalgia. For one thing, you’re going to need a lot more than just your phone, including a projector (pico will do fine for your needs) and a tripod. You project the game field onto a the wall (in the case of Ground Kontrol, we taped up a few pieces of paper, which worked fine) and interact with objects using a laser point.

When your iOS device is facing the wall, its camera monitors the field, using computer vision algorithms to detect your laser shots in real time, finally discovering a novel use for laser points that doesn’t involve annoying rock bands or cats. Hitting the circular enemies will cause them to vaporize or perform other functions like opening up a black hole, depending on their color. The game was pretty responsive and incredibly addictive — in fact, we were a bit bummed when we finally had to put the laser point down. Such fun isn’t cheap, however — it’ll run you $8 from iTunes, on top of the price of all the accessories involved it getting it off the ground. Still, it’s nice to see an innovative take like this on a classic gaming scenario.

We’ve got a video of the Star Trek: The Next Generation-inspired game after the jump.

Continue reading Alpha Range iOS game requires a pico projector and laser pointer, we go hands-on (video)

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Alpha Range iOS game requires a pico projector and laser pointer, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video)

Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay video

Laser tripwire security systems can be expensive propositions that don’t always work as planned — just ask Raytheon, which saw its $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System for JFK International Airport undermined by one wayward jet skier. Taking that as a form of dare, Justin Huynh and teammates at Liquidware have devised a much cheaper (if also much smaller) tripwire of their own. Any interruption of a laser pointer’s beam is caught by an Arduino light sensor that promptly sends the alert to an Android-running BeagleBoard xM; if a toy like Bruce the shark dares cross the line, the BeagleBoard sends a Twitter message to let the authorities, or at least Huynh, clamp down on the trespasser. The invention won’t replace Raytheon’s handiwork anytime soon, although Huynh notes that additional or more powerful sensors could theoretically catch real, muscle-bound sharks and not just their plastic counterparts. The supply checklist and source code are waiting on the company’s project page below, so those who’d like to ward off miniature invasions can get started today.

Continue reading Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video)

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Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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