Hasta La Gadget!

This DIY laser pistol can send out a kW-pulse of infrared coherent light.

DIY Pulse Laser Pistol Can Decimate Styrofoam and Plastic
Built by Patrick Priebe, this Pulse Laser Gun sends out a kW-pulse of infrared coherent light. When the beam is focused, it can blaze through plastic, Styrofoam, and even a razor blade—so don’t aim it at any parts you’d like to not see melted. It weighs in at two pounds, is 320mm long, and has a 3m range.

Geek Creates DIY Pulse Laser Pistol [Slashgear]

Logitech’s Z906 Surround Sound Speakers Make Their Debut
The successor to Logitech’s Z-5500 speaker set will be available later this month for $350. Boasting 5.1 channel surround sound and 500 watts (RMS) of power, the Z906 includes digital and analog inputs, a wireless remote, and compatibility with computers, televisions, Blu-ray, DVD, game consoles, and other audio sources through digital coaxial, digital optical, a 3.5mm jack, or RCA audio.

Logitech Intros 350 Surround Sound Speakers [Engadget]

The Book-Like Dodocase Now Has Models for the iPad 2
For $60, you can grab the standard Dodocase, which shares the same looks and traditional bookbinding construction as the original iPad version. But if you want something a little more special, they also have a $90 Limited Edition Dodocase with a solid core of bamboo and a cover of black and white Moroccan fabric.

Dodocase [Dodocase via Crunchgear]

H2O Shower Powered Radio, A Green Way to Jam While You Clean
The H2O Shower Powered Radio, debuting in Europe, gets its power from the flow of water through your shower hose. Water runs inside the case and goes into a micro turbine, which gets a generator spinning; this creates power that’s used to charge up the radio’s batteries. It gathers energy that otherwise would “literally go straight down the drain.” The maker, who previously commercialized another green product, the Wind-Up Radio, claims it’s compatible with 99% of showers.

H2O Shower Powered Radio [Tech Digest via Geeky Gadgets]

RC Bald Eagle Is Basically a Really Expensive Motorized Kite
It’s a gorgeous day outside, you don’t quite feel like the flying the kite, and the neighbors just built some fancy RC helicopter. One up them with this 9.5-foot remote controlled bald eagle. The wings are made of a nylon/Polyester blend and the frame and struts are constructed from carbon fiber. A rechargeable lithium battery allows up to 8 minutes of flight time after 20 minutes of charging. All this for the bargain price of $500.

The 9 1/2 Foot Remote Controlled Bald Eagle [Hammacher Schlemmer via Geeky Gadgets]

Tilt Sensing Quilt: Not Your Grandmother’s Kind of Quilt
This quilt not only keeps you warm when it’s chilly out, it includes 41 textile tilt sensors that can interact to provide a rough height-map so you could figure out what it’s currently draped over or covering (OK, so it’s not super useful, unless you want to discover if your roommate is borrowing your quilt while you’re out). It took a year to complete the quilt, which incorporates 6 tilt sensor petals and 41 tilt sensing beads. Data can be sent to a computer via Bluetooth or a USB.

Tilt Sensing Quilt [Instructables]

The Panasonic LUMIX FX77 includes a touchscreen makeup studio

Gadget Lab Notes is an eclectic roundup of gadget news briefs and intriguing products that catch our eye.

Panasonic LUMIX FX77 Is a Point-And-Shoot With a Virtual Makeup Studio
You’ve probably never stopped and looked at a just-taken photo on your digital camera and thought “Gosh, I wish I’d put on a little more eyeliner”—but your girlfriend probably has. The 12.1-megapixel LUMIX FX77 lets you add lipstick and rosy cheeks to images right on its 3.5-inch touchscreen display. It also features an SDXC memory card slot, a 5x optical zoom and Leica optics, optical image stabilization, HD video capability, and an HDMI port.

Panasonic LUMIX FX77 [Red Ferret via Slashgear]

Smart Surfboard Is Jam-Packed With Sensors To Track Board and Rider Performance
The SurfSens surfboard, developed by Pukas and Tecnalia, is loaded with a GPS compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, strain gauges, and pressure sensors. Data is recorded on a stick of flash memory. These tools are used to measure the performance of both the riders and the board, which Pukas will use to improve their surfboards’ design and features in the future.

The Future of Surfing [Singularity Hub via Gizmag]

I Double-Dog Dare You To Get a Random Tattoo From the Automatic Tattoo Machine
Auto Ink, a DIY CNC-ed tattoo machine, assigns operators a religion (at random), then inks the corresponding symbol onto that person’s arm. There are so many bad ideas wrapped up in this one device, I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s just hope it has an easy to reach manual kill switch, at the least.
Automatic Tattoo Machine [Makezine]

“Megaphones” Hide Speakers Inside Their Familiar Shape
When you want to blast sound into your living space, what better shape to signify that than that of a megaphone? These megaphones are built of wood instead of plastic, and would house legit hi-fi electronic speaker components instead of the voice amplification circuitry you’d find in a regular megaphone.

Megaphones [Yanko Design]

Giant Slide to Unlock Magnet Faux Simplifies Life
Don’t you wish you could slide to unlock everything? It’s so easy a baby could do it (no really, there’s proof on YouTube). Well, some things are definitely better left secure, but you can always pretend with this 17-inch Slide to Unlock magnet. For $6.99, you can affix it to your fridge, the car, or anything else made of metal.

Slide To Unlock Magnet [Perpetual Kid via Craziest Gadgets]

Geminoid-F, A Realistic Humanoid Robot That Blinks and “Breathes”
The first Geminoid robots were developed in Japan in 2005. The Geminoid-F hails from Denmark, and although less complex than its predecessor, its ability to look like it’s breathing and performing involuntary muscle reactions help it jump over the unfortunate gap of robotic creepiness referred to as the uncanny valley.

Incredibly Realistic Robot [SayOMG via Crunchgear]

Sneaker speakers kick out the jams originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why should the audiophile nerds get all the good-sounding gear? Floor-standing speakers, amps that weight a ton and speaker cables as thick as the tentacles of a giant squid might sound good, but they’re not exactly portable.

Battery powered speakers are never going to compete with proper hi-fi gear, but at least we don’t have to settle for sucky portable speakers anymore. The new foxL v2 joins the Jawbone Jambox in the tiny-speaker-big-sound category, and better, it was invented by a rocket scientist.

There are two internal tricks. One is the “Twoofer”, a combined tweeter and woofer which saves space but apparently gives a big sound from a small (25mm) driver. The other, rather cleverer, trick is the “BassBattery”. This uses the mass of the rechargeable li-ion battery as an “acoustic suspension bass driver.”

The foxL comes in two forms: a straight-up wired version and an A2DP Bluetooth version which also adds a mic for hands-free calling, and a call answer button. They are priced at $200 and $250.

A word on this kind of speaker. Even with clever engineering and high-quality internals, the bass from a little speaker is never going to shake the room. I have been trying out the Jawbone Jambox for the last few days and it sounds truly amazing for its tiny size, but there is no real bass thump. You get a good thud, but it’s not the same. The SuperTooth Disco which I tested a while back has a subwoofer built-in. This gives better bass, but the speaker is as big as three Jamboxes.

That said, things are a helluva lot better than they used to be.

FoxL product page [SoundMatters via Oh Gizmo]

See Also:

• Jambox
• Jawbone Creates a Wireless Speaker With Serious Boom
• Ears-On With the SuperTooth Disco Bluetooth Boombox
• SuperTooth, a Block-Rocking Portable Bluetooth Speaker

The Razer Ferox speakers are – being from Razer – aimed at laptop-toting gamers. But the portable, battery-powered speakers would be good for anyone whose notebook’s built-in speakers aren’t up to the job.

The pod-like boxes actually open up when powered-on, shoving the 30mm speaker-cones out of the top and making room for a bass-resonance chamber, which Razer has chosen over real subwoofers. You’ll also have to contend with a glowing blue light shining out from a ring around the base of the speakers.

While having two battery-powered (12-hours, rechargeable) units means you can get better stereo separation than a single two-speaker box, you don’t gain any real independence. The input is via 3.5mm jack only, so you’re going to have to run a cable after all. Bluetooth would make these truly portable.

The price is reasonable enough, however. The Feroxes come in at $60 for the pair, leaving enough cash for pizza and Mountain Dew at your next LAN party.

Razer Ferox product page [Razer. Thanks, Marina!]

See Also:

• Razer Nostromo Gaming Keypad Is Not For the Office
• Razer Shrieks, Whirls Commemorative Boomslang Mouse Around Head …
• Ears-On With the SuperTooth Disco Bluetooth Boombox
• SuperTooth, a Block-Rocking Portable Bluetooth Speaker
• CES 2011: Jawbone Jambox Wireless Speaker – Video – Wired
• Jawbone Creates a Wireless Speaker With Serious Boom
• CES 2011: Jawbone Jambox Wireless Speaker – Video – Wired