We love this cute (but totally geeky) chocolate space invader as a thoughtful, but not too over-the-top Valentine's Day present!
Available from www.chocolateinvader.com for $20 and if you order one now before the 14th, you get an extra one free!
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Light up your Valentine next Tuesday with a gift of the SolarKindle Lighted Cover from Solar Focus with a built-in solar panel that charges the reserve battery for the LED reading light while also providing extra power to the Kindle. Bright idea. $59.99.
SYNC by 50 Cent
If your lovebug has been especially sweet this year, treat them to one of the best-sounding headphones on the market.
50 Cent's new wireless headphones from SMS Audio integrates Kleer wireless technology allowing up to four listeners to simultaneously rock from a single source. Additional features include 16-bit digital sound, full on-board controls and passive noise-canceling capabilities. Here's our original review. Wireless cost a pretty penny - $399.95 - or choose a wired version for $299.95.
Soulra XL Sound System with Solar Panel
This solar-powered, heavy-duty sound system promises to play all day or, to be more specific:
5 hrs to fully charge in sun (depends on sun intensity)
8 hours of playback (depends on audio volume)
4 hours to fully charge iPod/iPhone (depends on model)
Snap in your iPhone or iPod to play while the 72 square inch enhanced monocrystal solar panel
recharges the lithium ion battery pack. Your Valentine will love you for it.
$250 at Eton.
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This is a really clever concept from Francois Rybarczyk, which changes the way we charge our mobile phones by taking any unnecessary cables out of the equation.
The phone would come with a special module, which can be left attached to the handset and plugged into the wall directly, or just plugged in on its own then transferred back to the phone later on so you can still use it while it's charging. Genius!
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We love this speaker from Kitsound, which lets you play tunes from a round little koala bear's tummy!
It's basically a dock too, so push your iPhone into the top to play and charge, or use the speaker's 3.5mm aux socket to hook it up to other MP3 players. When you switch it on the little creature's nose will light up and you can swipe his touch sensitive ears to adjust the volume too.
The sound quality probably won't be the best out there, but it's cute for kids or as a fun addition to the office.
You can only get your hands on one of the koala speakers from UK stockists at the moment for £53.99, but expect them to be more widely available in the next few months.
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This handmade video mixer for the iPhone 4/4S, created by Honest & Smile, allows you to record two sided videos. You simply slide the device in, adjust the mirrors and angles slightly and start shooting your video. What a great idea!
We're not really sure why it's called 'The Love Box', but presume it's so you can capture both sides of a loving couple's conversation?! However it's designed to be used we think it's pretty cool, and would be great for getting a quick video of an informal interview or remembering a fun meal with a friend.
Check out a video of The Love Box in action.
Available from thelovebox.com for $90.
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We love this stylish charging dock from Quirky.com, which shows off your fancy gadgets while giving them a bit more juice.
The curved edges mean most of your tech will fit, in fact anything with a USB port will work on the Converge, whether it needs to be side-connected or bottom-connected.
Available from Quirky.com for $39.99.
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We're not quite sure how the Leaf mouse works... but know a device that's powered off its own kinetic energy sounds much more economical than one which needs its batteries changing every week!
The design looks really slick and ergonomical too, ideal if you depend on a mouse everyday and can't stand fooling around with the trackpad.
Like most of the amazing ideas on Yanko Design, the Leaf is just a concept now. But watch this space, any product which uses alternative forms of energy is bound to be a big hit over the next year.
[Via Yanko Design]
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This crazy looking gold stuff isn't a Christmas decoration or a really tacky accessory for your home, but it's a pocket sized portable shelter. Weird, huh?
The Basic House is made from a clever metalized polyester material, which can be folded down into a tiny package or unfolded and inflated by the owner's own body heat to create a temporary shelter.
It may seem like a crazy concept for now, but we imagine it'd be useful during emergencies or in extreme weather conditions, as it uses body heat to keep those inside the right temperature.
[Via Like Cool]
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We've seen pens that record the written word into their internal memories and allow you to send it onto different devices, like the devices from Livescribe and this clever (and slick) recorder pen from last month.
But now you can record the writing, diagrams and crazy scribbles that you've drawn all over that whiteboard too. The Erascan looks a bit like a regular eraser, but as you wipe away your doodles it saves them for you into a built-in memory chip. You can then send all of the data wirelessly to an email address of your choice.
]]> The designers behind the Erascan explain to the guys at the Yanko Design blog:"The design consists of an LCD screen to show the scanned information during the erasing process. It also displays a simple menu allowing the user to select other functions. Navigation control buttons are located below the LCD screen. The letter 'e' and the light pipe around the device light up to show that Erascan is in power mode."
Although Erascan's pretty clever, it may not seem like it's a handy device for your daily activities, but for teachers and those holding regular meetings with big, confusing whiteboards, it could well change the way they work - maybe!
[Via Yanko Design]
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In California, an earthquke is not a matter of "If" but "when." (For a list of the American Red Cross recommendations for your kit, click here.)
We just added to our EQ kit the Blackout Buddy by Eton, an emergency LED Blackout flashlight that plugs and recharges straight from your wall socket, Handily, it also performs as a night light, perfect for the home and office. The fold-up prongs plug directly into an electrical socket for a constant charge. ($15.)
Because you just know that when the next big one hits, it's going to be at night.
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If you're looking for a better way to type on your iPad when you're writing emails and documents, then you'd usually have to get a Bluetooth keyboard or attach the device to a dock rather than tap away on the touchscreen. But, those kind of accessories can be really awkward to carry around, which is why we love the idea behind the iKeyboard, a kind of overlay for your iPad that makes it much easier to type quickly.
The iKeyboard is a light film that sits over the iPad's screen and has depressed keys, meaning you can still use the touchscreen capabilities, but you're less likely to make mistakes and slip around!
[Via Chip Chick]
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How do you get rid of dark spots or those discolorations that suddenly show up on your skin? And what about uneven skin tone? Keihl's may have found a solution.
Kiehl's, the premium line of skin-care products, has developed a new product called "Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution," a clear fast-acting serum that features a brand-new Vitamin C derivative,which is said to penetrate deep into the skin to diminish dark spots, prevent new ones from forming, and result in an "overall radiance and youthful clarity. "
Vit C is the new keyword in skin-care and unlike some others that we've tried, Khiel's doesn't have to be mixed before use, but is immediately active when applied to the skin.
We love an new invention.
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We've been fans of Gelaskin's bright and quirky gadget skins for some time now, combining tough and glossy materials with all kinds of unique designs. However, at CES this year the company revealed its Hardcase range for iPhone 3, 3G, 4 and 4S devices, which we may just love even more.
As you'd expect the cases are pretty durable while still keeping your device slim and they also manage to cover all of the necessary edges without affecting any of the iPhone's functionality. All of Gelaskin's image library can be added to the Hardcase range now too, so you can choose from beautiful works of art to intricate patterns.
Our favourite? Probably the bright geometric pattern above called Intermezzo, but really we're spoilt for choice!
Check out the full collection at Gelaskins.
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Your fashion sense is impeccable, friends call your music tastes eclectic,yet you have the same iPhone case as millions of other people?
Personally customize all the cases or skins for your devices with Skinit, the pioneers in skins, which now has a fun Customizer tool for cases, to show off your unique style.
At CES, Skinit.com debuted the new line of cases which can be personalized - just like its skins. With the Customizer, consumers can upload any image and create custom protective covers that fit perfectly with thousands of devices from mobile phones, laptops, gaming systems, tablets and even medical devices.
I don't know that a Hello Kitty skin on a defibrillator is going to give patients much confidence however.
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At CES we see many products that , sadly, never make it to the market place.So we're happy to report that the new Blue Mic line is out now and we had a chance to play with them.
Blue Mic established themselves with the Mikey mic, which was a boon for home recording, and the new Yeti Pro takes it one step further for musicians.The versatile multi-pattern USB mic, is the world’s first ever THX-certified microphone, and features Blue’s premium condenser capsules in a proprietary triple capsule array, hosting four recording patterns (stereo, omni, cardioid, and bi-directional) that give the user incredible versatility to produce studio-quality recordings in a wide range of situations, i.e. vocals, live or event recording, interviews, broadcasts, instruments, bands, etc. ( Yeti Pro can capture digital audio with up to four times the clarity found on CDs. )
Not only is it a high quality mic, but at $250 its affordable to most aspiring artists. The installation couldn't be easier. (If you're a Mac user, GarageBand recognizes it.)
At CES, we saw the next gerneration Blue Microphones, which were impressive. If you're recording music or videos on your iPhone or iPad -and who isn't these days- there's the brand-new Mikey Digital, a plug-and-play external mic for capturing professional-quality audio on iPod touch, iPhone 4/S and iPad with any iOS audio app. Mikey Digital captures stereo recordings with the highest resolution possible on the iOS platform. A multi-input jack for easy plug-in of other sources such as guitars, instruments, handheld mics, and other sources and a USB pass-thru connection for charging in-use, makes Mikey Digital a perfect multifaceted recording interface for a wide range of sources. ($99) It took the 2012 CEA Innovations award winner in portable multimedia accessories.
Blue also showed off Spark Digital, the first studio-grade mic to offer both iPad and USB connectivity. The combination of Spark Digital’s direct connection to iPad, along with numerous available recording apps such as GarageBand, provides the first mobile studio setup for the iPad platform. In addition, Spark Digital offers USB connectivity, delivering studio-quality audio to any computer, laptop or tablet with USB. ($199)
Musicians rejoice.
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