Hasta La Gadget!

Tired of your co-workers barging in your office when you’re on deadline or disturbing you while you’re on the phone? Then I know what you need: the CubeGuard. It’s a retractable banner that displays a message for when you don’t want to be disturbed.

The CubeGuard comes in two varieties, with an assortment of background designs: CubeGuard Standard and Build Your Own. The CubeGuard Standard comes with a preprinted message, including “Please Do Not Disturb,” “Out Of The Office,” and “Working From Home.” Build Your Own lets you create a custom message. Each CubeGuard fits entryways up to 50 inches and comes with Velcro and magnets for easy hanging.

CubeGuard was nice enough to send a few of us here at Gearlog personalized messages for hanging up in our offices and cubicles. Find out what we thought of these banners and how you can win one, after the jump.

It’s a shame I didn’t have these unusual sandals with me at the beach over the weekend. I might  have found some spare change!

Hammacher Schlemmer today added to its catalog The Metal Detecting Sandals ($59.95), wearable metal detectors that let you find buried treasure with your feet. The Metal Detecting Sandals, according to a press release, have a “copper coil built into the right sandal–powered by a battery pack that straps to your calf by an elastic band.” The sandals use what’s called “beat frequency oscillation technology” in order to create a magnetic field. The 9V battery pack  then alerts the wearer of metal up to 2 feet underfoot via flashing red LED lights and either a vibration or an audible buzz.

Providing up to 6 hours of use on a single charge, the sandals have PVC uppers, non-skid soles, and polyurethane foam footbeds; they are available in two unisex sizes.

In a world of smartphones that do everything but part the Red Sea, it was only a matter of time before toy manufacturers came up with a toy based on these devices. Enter LeapFrog’s Text & Learn (ages 3 to 5, currently on sale at $17.59 direct). LeapFrog bills the Text & Learn as a learning PDA for the kiddies with an emphasis on spelling and basic computer activities.

The Text & Learn isn’t an actual PDA: It doesn’t connect online and can’t actually store any data. It’s just meant to look like one. The toy measures approximately 6 by 3.75 inches (HW) and comes in LeapFrog’s signature green and white. It runs on three AAA batteries. The sides have some wide grooves etched into them for better grip.

My kids would love a dog, especially the 5-year-old. But between the two kids–one an infant–and a job that’s an hour-and-a-half commute away, I don’t have the energy to care for one more live being. A new possible compromise? LeapFrog’s My Pal Scout ($19.99 list).

Scout and his “sister,” My Pal Violet, should be familiar to those who have played with such LeapFrog products as ClickStart: He’s the stuffed-toy version of the dog owned by Tad in the LeapFrog series of toys and DVDs. On the surface, he seems like many other toys out in the market that use basic technology to appeal to the 6-months-and-up set. He’s adorable, he talks and sings when you press his paws, and he lights up. But look beneath the surface, and you’ll find so much more.

Talk about a geek in training. This lucky baby has her very own iPhone! It’s made of wood, of course, but hey, it’s an iPhone! Plus, it won’t suffer any serious damage should she get the urge to chew on it. And that, my friend, is exactly the point.

Flickr-user cjonesgo, who carved the toy–which he has aptly named the iPhoney–by hand, explains:

Some good friends have a teething baby and there is nothing she wants
more than to get her hands on Dad’s iPhone. This is an attempt to find
an acceptable substitute…

All in all it took about 4 hours to
make. I probably could have done it in less, but I had a very
discerning client. Everything had to be perfect!

It’s all
natural, nearly indestructible, and just a neat thing to have around.
The best thing about this project is, of course, the smiling baby. The
worst thing is that I don’t even have a an iPhone of my own and this
has given me a serious case of iPhone envy!

Now I have to make one for myself, because I am jealous of a baby.

See the whole series of in-progress shots in cjonesgo’s iPhoney Flickr set.

[via Robots and Dinosaurs]