Hasta La Gadget!

I sleep pretty deeply, but staring at a cold, pale, disembodied hand that holds my smartphone to stop my alarm will probably wake me up almost immediately. This smartphone stand from Harry Allen is supposed to elicit a response from anyone seeing it or touching it inadvertently in the middle of the night.

The iPhone Hand Dock is even wall-mountable for further freak-outs. I guess that it’s an interesting way of keeping your smartphone close, especially if a hand coming out of your wall doesn’t scare you too much. It’s definitely something unique that will please certain people. It’s made out of resin and marble. It was also cast from Harry Allen’s own hand.

This clever, but creepy looking smartphone stand is available from Areaware for $65(USD). You might want to start thinking of ways to incorporate these into your haunted house this October.

[via Make:]

There are tons of media players on the market, and a number of relatively inexpensive “pico-projectors” as well, but here’s a fun gadget that combines both into one cheap and compact little package that costs less than $100.

The USB Music Projector has a deceiving name, as it doesn’t project music at all – it projects still images and video, of course. Measuring just 2.67″ x 2.44″ x 0.78″, and weighing just 84g, this portable media player is small enough to be carried in your pocket or worn around your neck, but has a tiny projector built into it that can be used for impromptu video playback.

The gadget uses an LED light source rated for 20,000 hours of use, and can play video files in MP4 (H.264), MOV (H.264), AVI (H.264, MPEG 4, MJPEG). It’s also an audio player, with support for MP3, WMA and WAV files, and has a built-in speaker in addition to a headphone jack. It’s not clear how long you can run the projector on a single charge, but it does ship with an AC adapter for longer viewing sessions.

Storage is provided using a microSD(HC) memory card, and you can also connect to a PC using a USB cable to “synchronize projection ” whatever that means. I’m assuming they’re talking about some sort of display mirroring, perhaps through DisplayLink – or possibly just a PC remote control app for use with still images on the projector.

Specs aren’t provided for the projector itself, but I’d guess the resolution and brightness aren’t anything special, and you most certainly will need a darkened room to watch video. That said, the USB Music Projector sells for just $99(USD), which seems like a bargain in my book. You can grab one over at Brando if you’d like to check it out.

It’s true that surfing the web through public connections isn’t that safe. I still remember a crazy computer virus I got in Thailand that migrated from my compact flash card onto my home system. Cloak aims to improve network security by sending traffic through a VPN that encrypts all of your Internet traffic.

Cloak is easy to set up and currently only works for iOS devices and OSX computers. Android and Windows versions are coming along though. This app is to be used in unsecured networks, like at the airport, coffee shops, and while you’re traveling. It looks like something that’s worth using if you use public connections a lot.

Cloakis free for the first 2 hours per month or 1 GB, but after that you’ll need to sign up for a premium account, which cost between $8 and $15 per month depending on your data needs.

[via The Next Web]

While some of our phones are still designed in the West, most of them are manufactured in China. In Beijing, the latest Xiaomi Phone was officially launched. It will be carried by Chinese-specific carriers, such as China Unicom and China Telecom.

It’s not sure yet if this Android smartphone will be released stateside, but its specs and price make it an interesting device. It sports a 4.3-inch 720p IPS display and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. It’s got a quad-core chip with 2GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. The 2MP front-facing camera is matched with a 8MP rear-facing one. The 2,000 mAh battery is standard, but it can be upgraded to a 3,000 mAh one, which should make it autonomous for a lot longer than many other phones.

The Xiaomi MI-TWO will cost 1,999 RMB (~$314 USD) and will be released this October on Chinese carriers.

[via Ubergizmo]

Whether you are always on the road, or spend a lot of time at your friends’ houses, Bluetooth speakers are a nice thing to have around. This little cubic speaker looks like a good way to go if you need to share your tunes on the go. The 1Q is a portable Bluetooth speaker that’s housed in wood, resulting in better quality sound than typical plastic enclosures.

1Q was designed by Vers Audio and launched through Kickstarter. This little 3-inch speaker is designed to work in tandem with another to deliver stereo sound. The output is 6.5W, so it won’t knock off your socks, but the designer says that it’s optimized for 1Q’s small size. The charge is supposed to last about 10 hours, which isn’t bad.

The project is already fully funded, and surpassed its humble $10,000 goal almost tenfold! You’ll have to wait until a retail version is released to get your own, which will sell for $120 before the holidays.

[via Kickstarter]