DataGlass HMD Is Latest HUD Pirate Eye Patch

dataglass hmd

Oh how we love us the faux-pirate HUD wearing nerds. Walking around with their technology in their face like it’s something to be proud of. If you don’t mind being ridiculed by the more fashion conscious of us, then feel free to don the latest wearable display to grace tech blogs: the DataGlass HMD head-mounted video display. It hooks up to your flavor of portable PC via USB and displays a virtual 14 inch display right in front of your face. There might however be a saving grace to this device:

Japanese manufacturer Shimadzu is aiming this wearable display at industrial users, who often need to access tiny wearable PCs in a variety of weather conditions. That’s why the company hardened this unit, making it both dustproof and waterproof.

So it’s not aimed at Mr.Consumer. That’s good news though we expect hardcore nerds to still try to buy this, despite the $1636 price tag.

VIA [ SciFi Tech ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 19, 2007  |   No Comments

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Totally Geeky or Geek Chic? Plush Animal Speakers

SkinnyMarie shared these fun Plush Animal Speakers with me, saying that they were given to her as a gag gift because she have been infatuated by penguins since she was five.

While we can all agree that novelty speakers shaped like cupcakes or tiny wooden cubes probably don’t boost the sound power of more serious speakers, these are fun desktop accessories. They are currently on sale for $16 and feature a plug-and-play design that works with laptops, iPod, CD or MP3 player.

Written by Trend Spotter on July 18, 2007  |   No Comments

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Geek Tip: Calling Card Lingo Explained

Even with services like Skype and Jajah, I often find myself searching for a cheap way to call friends overseas and usually succumb to the old-school method of using calling cards. Whenever I purchase calling cards, I’m always weary of certain words like “maintenance fee” and “connection fee” and wonder what their true meaning is. Thankfully Business Week has compiled a list of the “fine print” terms used on calling cards, so we can all be better informed and get the best deals on long-distance calls.

  • Connection Fee: The charge incurred as soon as you make a call.
  • Maintenance Fee: Can be charged at the end of a call, or every week, or every month.
  • Communication Fee: The charge you get when the call is over.
  • Disconnection Fee: Yet another penalty for ending your call-urrgh.
  • Long-Talking Fee: A charge for gabbing for more than 20 minutes.

Written by Trend Spotter on July 17, 2007  |   No Comments

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Nemo Digital Magnifier For The Utterly Clueless

Nemo

Here we have the Nemo Digital Magnifier, brought to you by firstStreet (”for Boomers and Beyond”). From the looks of this thing, it’s designed to prey (yes, prey) on people who have no idea what to think when it comes to gadgetry. Take a close look at those numbers that it’s currently magnifying in the picture, because those are your first two payments on the Nemo. And then you still owe $88.40. Plus shipping and handling. That’s right, the Nemo digital magnifier costs nine hundred dollars. With poor eyesight and 900 bucks you could instead get an eye exam and some pretty sweet glasses. Or custom contacts that make you look like a zombie. Or you could just hire some poor unemployed liberal arts grad to come over to your house and read stuff directly to you while providing insightful (but ultimately useless and oftentimes annoying) commentary.

So what does it do for $900? Well, it magnifies whatever is under it between 4.5x and 9x (and who wants to bet that the 9x is a digital zoom) on a 4 inch (!) screen. It also lets you take “freeze frame” pictures in one of six viewing modes (like black and white), and has a 3 hour battery life. Does it incorporate something obviously useful, like a light to illuminate what it’s magnifying? Not according to the description. I especially like how on the sidebar on the firstStreet website, you can buy two credit card sized optical magnifiers (with built in lights) for $19.95. Which do I think is the better deal? We say just squint, for $0.00.

[ First Street ] VIA [ Coolest-Gadgets ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 8, 2007  |   No Comments

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TomTom Live GPS

TomTom GPS

TomTom GPSTomTom, “the smart choice in personal navigation,” has filed a patent (in Europe) for a car GPS unit with a built-in video camera that integrates driving directions with where you’re actually driving. If you look closely at the terrible patent application image above, you’ll notice that the unit isn’t just projecting an arrow over the camera image, it’s doing something clever and showing how your route turns to the right around building. The next obvious step here is to ditch the little LCD and use a heads-up display or windshield projector, and the next obvious step after that is to get Google to buy TomTom so that Google Street View can get continuous real-time updates from TomTom equipped cars.

[ The Application ] VIA [ Engadget ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 4, 2007  |   No Comments

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USB Flash Drive With Built-in LCD = Great Trade Show Schwag

USB Flash Drive with built-in LCD Display (Image courtesy Electronic Gadgets)

I haven’t been to a single trade show for a few years now but only recently have I finally gotten rid of the mountains of schwag I’d somehow collected. Various LED blinking badges, pens of all sort, toys, puzzles, shirts and enough lanyards emblazoned with corporate logos to encircle the planet. But there are a few items you pick up that you just won’t get rid of. Like my Pixar Wind-up Teapots or any and all USB flash drives, no matter how small they may be.

And thanks to the plummeting costs of flash memory and other electronics it looks like promotional flash drives have gotten even slicker. A company called ‘Electronic Gadgets’ (how unique) has created a simple USB flash drive with a built-in LCD display that will flash your corporate logo or message, and that’s it. No info on the drive’s capacity or remaining storage, just your company’s branding so no one forgets where the drive came from. But if you’re worried your message will be lost when the battery dies don’t be since the display is actually solar powered.

The drive is available in capacities up to 4GB and best of all if you’re lucky enough to be at the right booth at the right time it’s completely free!

[ USB Flash Drive With Built-in LCD ] VIA [ Everything USB ]

Written by Trend Spotter on July 4, 2007  |   No Comments

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