Hasta La Gadget!

In its wild state, the Taipan Shadow isn’t something you’d ever want to meet. According to Wikipedia, the Inland Taipan snake has the “most toxic venom of any snake species worldwide”.

Round the back is where things get interesting. There is a zip-open “luggage trolley pass-through”, which is a flap that lets you slide the bag over the handle of a rolling suitcase and a small pocket for your cellphone or MP3 player. It should be comfortable, too, as the strap is made from seatbelt webbing.

Yes, you could say this this is just another laptop bag, but there aren’t so many out there that look as nice as this. Available in 13, 15 and 17-inch sizes depending on the size of your notebook, priced at $80, $90 or $100.

Taipan Shadow laptop bag [Booq]

See Also:

• Rush-Hour: Booq Bag Is an Office in Your Lap

Do you remember this wonderful Faceless Watch from its internet debut back in April of this year? If you are Gadget Lab reader sp1nz, you certainly will, as you called it “awesome” in the comments. Likewise, should your handle be bloodyserb, your single word comment tells us everything: “WANT!” (no need to shout next time).

The watch was supposed to be available two months later, in June, and I actually checked back to find it still merely a swirling mist of vaporware. Now, though, you can buy one, and it’ll cost you a paltry $15.

The Faceless Watch is now called the Iron Samurai, although it still appears as a man-bracelet until you hit the button on the top and the LED numerals “light up like surfacing lava” (the digits are also described as “blood red” and “crimson” elsewhere on the product page, so you can take your pick.)

The watch gives both time and date, and that’s enough. Even if you don’t want one, it’s worth visiting the store page for the outrageous claims made for the watch, from celebrity owners (Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and, erm, Brian Eno) to the device’s amazing effects on the owner (the watch will “increase its wearers’ strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma by as much as 20 points each”).

Iron Samurai Watch [Chinavasion via Oh Gizmo!]

The Mirror Watch is both a handy wrist-mounted mirror and a stylish, chunky LED watch, allowing you to stare lovingly at your own visage while covering up your narcissism with the more socially acceptable combo of watch-glance-and-yawn.

The watch is from Hong Kong-based Cheuk Kee Lai, and can be had in brushed stainless steel, black, or with a gold-plate. The shiny front panel works like a mirror until you press it to activate the glowing numbers which shine through from below.

I’m always being asked by the Lady for a quick lend of my iPod Touch, new enough that it’s back is still shiny enough to use as a mirror for some street-side lipstick application. This watch would possibly be more useful, and much less likely to get scratched in use. I can’t be the only one who keeps his iPod in the same pocket as coins and keys. Online store coming soon

Mirror Watch product page [SD Works via Book of Joe]

When Steve Cabouli had his wallet stolen in an airport a few years back, he didn’t just get mad. He fired up Google and searched the internet high and low for a “hi-tech wallet”. After failing to find one, he decided to make one. So was born the iWallet.

The iWallet is a kevlar and carbon fiber box with a fingerprint-reading lock, so, like Judge Dredd’s Lawgiver gun, it can only be used by its owner (unlike the Lawgiver, the iWallet doesn’t blow off the hands of a would-be-thief). It also has Bluetooth inside, and if the “wallet” wanders too far from your compatible cellphone (BlackBerry) then an alarm will sound.

But what if the battery runs out? Sadly, there is no mention. What if a thief manages to make off with your valuables, perhaps because you have the wrong kind of cellphone? You are, of course, out of luck: The iWallet might be “tamper resistant”, but once the thief has your iWallet in his home or thieve’s den, a screwdriver should make swift work of prizing it open.

Better is the final feature, a feature that means that you won’t need to wait for a pickpocket in order to lose your money. That “feature” is the price, a wallet-emptying $600 (or a mere $300 for the fiberglass version).

We shall leave you with the promo video, so fantastically cheesy and full of hammy acting that it could easily pass as a croque monsieur. Available December 11th.

iWallet Product page [iWallet]

Recently, I have been toying with experimental packing. A suitcase with all the clothes, cables and computers layered neatly inside is a good idea right up until you open the lid to check you packed something. Then it all goes wrong.

My latest method is to first layer and then tightly roll clothes into a few fat cylinders secured with ball-bungees. This keeps them wrinkle-free and arranges them into easily removable blocks. That way you can hunt around inside your bag for gizmos and the clothes stay in place. I call this method The Tetris.

Spacepak is similar, only you get to buy new, cool luggage gear. The modular system comes in various sizes for suits, shoes and even lingerie, and the airtight, watertight bags have one-way valves so you can squish them down to remove air and it won’t come back in. The bags are split with a moving, central sheet, so you wear clothes from the clean side return them to the dirty side, a very handy feature on its own.

The best, though, is just how tidy this all looks, letting you live out of a suitcase without turning your hotel room into badly-run laundromat. John Brownlee, ex-Wired and Boing Boing Gadgets blogger, and good friend, could have done with a set of these on his recent visit. After bare minutes left alone in the Lady’s room, which he borrowed for his stay, every single surface was covered with his junk (and a fine dusting of pipe tobacco). If you ever wonder what goes on inside a man’s twisted mind, take a look at his bedroom. $30-$100.

Product page [SpacePak via Uncrate]