Shiny Shiny

USB Retro Radio

Sleek and phallic (for optimists) the USB Retro Radio is a solid (190g) chunk of tasty AM/FM sucking-up-one-of-your-precious-USB-ports for power. Just don't give in to the urge to use it as an impromptu blackjack when your co-workers ask you to turn down the Sir Mix-a-Lot. $19 USD. GT]

USB Retro Radio [via Tech Digest]

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Set the mood Indigo with Freeplay's latest lantern

You can lick it, you can stick it - er, you can crank it, you can charge it, or you can plug it in. The Freeplay Indigo Lantern also has a dimmer, which lets you turn it from full brightness (at which it lasts 2.5 hours before needing extra juice) down to night-light gentle glow (lasting 70 hours, making it last all night in nearly all latitudes). Each minute of wind-up gives two hours of night-light. £35 and on the shelves this month. [GT]

Freeplay Indigo Lantern

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Gun-fun-time with the desktop-sized Duck Shooting Gallery

If you've ever felt the urge to shoot up your office... You can sublimate it with the Duck Shooting Gallery. Actually, why sublimate when you can actually shoot? The laser hits sensors on the shooting gallery, so it actually knocks over the ducks, plus keeps track of your score and plays increasingly loud scary music as you get better at it. £25.    [GT]

Duck Shooting Gallery [via Tech Digest]

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Inky Circus Parade: on a Friday this week. Woops.

our science dose (as if that's even near enough) brought to you by the ladies of Inky Circus.

Alright you Shiny Shiny people. We've decided to ditch the Inky Circus round-up. Instead we're going to write up our favorite three posts from the last week an a witty fashion.

So what went down this past week? Well. Let me tell you allll about it.

1. Hot speedy green 'mobiles. That's right. Sure the Prius is cute. And popular. But BMW's new hyrdrogen fuel hybrid and the Mini Cooper in British Racing Green Redux kick serious Prius butt with their big cajones.

2. Next time you go hiking you can mop your sweaty brow on the same kerchief that identifies the animal fecal matter you come across. Bonus or what? 

3. Good news for all those Londoners who battle through Oxford Circus AKA seventh circle of hell for us bipedals. Pedestrian movement scientists (yes, that's their job) are modelling various walking scenarios to better mitigate our non-so-subtle urges to tell those bloody people in our way to "take a &*%$ing hike."

And there's always more of the fun over at Inky Circus.

Top Shiny Stories Today

Here's a round-up of what's happening on the other Shiny Media blogs today:

Star Trip:  Tabloid Tales: Jamie Oliver wants baby number three
Who Ate All The Pies:  Who Ate All the Pies Premiership Pub XI
TV Scoop:  Phillip Schofield attacks Diana butler on air!
Kiss And Makeup:  Deluxe vs. Dirt Cheap: No Spill Powder Eyeshadows
Catwalk Queen:  Luella Bartley at New York Fashion Week, Spring/Summer 2007

Happy surfing!

One Minute Interview: Christmas Predictions from BoysStuff.co.uk

We spent the evening with BoysStuff.co.uk, not only speaking to Dr Mark Tilden, but also getting their Christmas predictions for the year ahead. There's also some random footage of the next generation Robosapien shaking this thang.

One Minute Video Review: Harmon Kardon/JBL Spyro Speakers

We took a look at the Creature II and Spyro speakers from JBL when we were in Berlin. Check out the video, or for more information, click here.

To subscribe to the Shiny Media YouTube channel click here.

ButterWizard - Temperature Controlled Butter Dish

This isn't just any old butter dish, it's a ButterWizard, the latest way to keep your butter at optimum temperature so it isn't too hard to spread or a big gooey mess. It works by sitting on a small rechargeable base which when plugged in keeps the batteries charged but even if you take it off, it'll still control the temperature for two hours. We've mentioned it before but now for fans of coloured appliances you can get it in pink, duck egg blue and cowhide too - RRP £34.95

Product page

Related: Let Your DS Lite Teach You To Cook I Candy Floss Maker I Pink Kitchen Gadgets

Black Chicken Cellphone Holder

I'm not sure exactly why one would choose to have a plush holder for their phone but then there are so many hammocks, cell t-shirts and items of that ilk that somebody must be buying them. Here's a chicken for you then. It doesn't do much but then what would you expect a chicken to do? It'll hold your phone for the princely sum of $14

Product page (thanks Charlotte!)

Related:Johnny Cell Phone Holder I Banana Phone Holder

Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace

Okay, so you're having a picnic. And it starts to rain, so you duck under a nearby tree. And you're struck by lightning. Fortunately, you're wearing your Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace which converts the strike into usable energy and instead of incinerating you, powers up your iPod and fills it with a remix of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite as rendered by Deltron 3030. All this can be yours for only €30 (with matching earrings for another €13). [GT]

Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace

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RoboReptile stomps Europe

Next time you have the urge to reenact Godzilla versus Megalon you can do it in style with the RoboReptile. It screams, it stomps, it struts. To calm it down, you can hood it like a falcon, which it apparently doesn't like - inducing more unpredictable behaviour post-hood. Equipped with touch, sonic and infrared sensors. Goes for £89.95, coming soon to Boysstuff.[GT]

Catch the video of the creator of RoboReptile here.

Tetran - Cute Earphone Cable Winder

The Tetran is a cutesy, spiky, belt loop attach-y cable winder designed to keep your ear buds in check when you don't have them jammed in your ears.  These $13, plastic fellas come in pink, green, yellow, orange and luminous, can double as a stress ball, and are ridiculously cute.

Tetran

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Two Food-Related Gadgets I Can't Get My Head Around

There are people in this world for whom cooking is an art, a matter of layering flavors and textures to create sublime harmony of foodstuff.  I am not one of them.  Ergo, it may  be my own culinary limitations that make me unable to comprehend why anyone would need a $15 tool like the Melon Ease melon slicer - a device with a sole purpose of slicing melons. No doubt the melon slices will always be uniform and look very pretty, but I can't imagine a world in which I would eat enough melon to make this a viable tool to add to my kitchen arsenal. 

Unless I could also use it to vanquish the hideous vegetable beasties one can create with these Vegiforms (pictured here) - plastic forms one can use to give their growing vegetables faces; because man, these things give me the major heebie jeebies.  Food should not have a face, unless it had one before it was food.  (Otherwise you end up with things like this happy face luncheon meat, which is also unnatural and unnerving.)

Melon Ease [via Slashfood] & Vegiforms [via Consume]

One Minute Video Interview: Robosapiens and the perils of being an inventor

Dr Mark Tilden is the genius behind Robosapien, the little guy that dances, prances and generally causes hilarity. He spent some time with us to explain why he's developed a Veloceraptor, what the Robosapien's big brother can do, as well as why it's difficult to convince the opposite sex that robots are friendly.

MoPod Mobile Alerter Charms

The worst thing about mobile phones is the stupid ring tones (crazy frog, I'm looking at you and Dom Joly, you're next on the list) that the general public are forced to endure everytime a phone rings. So save your neighbours, switch to silent and get a MoPod. The characters live in domes which can sit on your desk or bag and will light up, spin and flash to alert you that there is an incoming call. Pick from Devil, Kitten, Monster, Penguin, Monkey and Pup - £4.95 each

Product page

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Sennheiser Style Personal Earphones

Earphones are a tricky thing to get right aren't they? Too small and they fall out of your ears so you get a wrap around pair and then you can't wear your sunglasses. Then you try a big overhead pair and everyone laughes at your outer geek.

Sennheiser Earphone are 'a new design of earphone capsule [that] has special damping and is tuned for a natural balanced sound, with extended bass and smooth clear treble.' Not only that but it has 'twist-to-fit' for best fit and comes with a carry case and cable clip with a stopper for the outer ear that keeps the earphones in place. This style - MX90 -is £49.99.

Denon DF102DAB Hi-Fi

It's smaller than your average Hi-Fi but it can do everything your big sound system can do and more. There's DAB AM/FM radio, plays CDs/CD-R, MP3 and WMA files plus iPod connection with the option to connect other portable audio devices within the alloy fascia. You can get a phono turntable, speakers and optional casette tape decks too. The Hi-Fi with speakers comes in at £500.

Product page

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Review: Samsung NV3 digital camera

Yes, that's the Samsung NV3, as in eNVy. As in 'get this camera and you'll be the eNVy of the local hoodlums, who may take it upon themselves to relive you of such a lovely looking thing', or something. The idea behind this one is that it's not just a digital camera, and a 7.2 megapixel camera at that, but it's also a media player. It takes music, text and movies for you to turn it into an all singing all dancing media player

Continue reading "Review: Samsung NV3 digital camera"

One Minute Video Review: Blackberry Pearl

If you've ever thought that you might like access to your emails, but can't face carrying around yet another piece of kit in your already over crammed handbag, Blackberry think they might have something for you. They've launched the Blackberry Pearl, which is aimed at consumers who value the style of their phone, but want a bit more from it.

To subscribe to Shiny Media's YouTube channel, click here.

Radica's Digi Makeover

You know when you fancy changing your style and you go to the hairdressers to get the Demi Moore and come out with a Dudley Moore ala Monica from Friends? That could be a thing of the past with Radica's Digi Makeover. Use the built-in digicam to take a picture of yourself, upload it to the machine/ connect to your TV and then play about with your hair and make-up style. It's undoubtedly aimed at younger girls so steal it from your younger sister - £59.99 (Radica offer a chance to win one after the jump)

Product page

Related: Cosmetics Cooler I Webcams To Make You Pretty I Liparazzi Light-Up Lipstick

Continue reading "Radica's Digi Makeover"

Helvetica Wallpaper

I had an awful nightmare - ones and zeroes everywhere! And I thought I saw a two... Though with this Helvetica wallpaper you can hope to avert the terrible twos in your baby's room (though frankly, I like it for myself and could definitely see it over my mahogany headboard in gloss white to match my MacBook) by exposing him or her to relentless tasteful logic right from birth onward. Sexy and washable (though alas, no price given). [GT]

Helvetica wallpaper [via PopGadget]

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Wippets (good!) animal monitor cleaners

Wippets, wippets good, for cleaning your monitor.  At a measly $4 USD, it's easy to justify picking up one (or several) of these plushy little toys - tools, that is!  Available in turtle, hippo (mysteriously only $3), and cute little fuzzy lamb, this is a rare occasion that you can rationalize buying a stuffed animal with office petty cash, or better still, writing it off against tax. [GT]

Wippets monitor cleaning toys [via Chip Chick]

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Digital Desktop Frame with a Few Extras

As desktop toys go, this Digital Photo Frame is heads and tails above those kinetic balls (although perhaps not as cool as the desktop volcano).  Not only can it display 22 of your digital photos (in BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, or TIF format), but it can also display the time (clock comes with alarm), the temperature, and the date.

Alright, maybe not heads and tails about the traditional kinetic balls, but at the very least, heads above.  After all, it doesn't make that maddening clicking noise those things make when you bang them together.

Product Page - [via Gizmodo]

USB Aroma Geur

Forget USB lava lamps, as randomised sensory experiences go they are strictly old school.  The future of random pulsating lights powered by USB looks to be the USB Aroma Geur - a new gadget coming out this October that will not only provide a little light show, but will also emit scents that coordinate with the music playing on a specific radio station.

This gadget and service will only be available in Japan initially (to the tune of about $430), so it'll be some time before we discover just what Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" is meant to smell like.  Thankfully.

Digital Lifestyle [via Engadget]

Goggles to Protect Your Eyes from Onion

Do onions make passes at cook's who wear glasses?  Perhaps not, if the specs in question are these Onion Goggles from Broadway Panhandler. Stylistically, they remind me of something the fellas of Devo might have worn, but what they lack in fashion they allege to make up for in function: there's a foam seal that blocks those pesky onion emissions from making your eyes water.

Product Page [via Slashfood]

Science Wednesday: Inky Circus Parade

Your science dose (as if that's even near enough) brought to you by the ladies of Inky Circus. The best of the site for the past three weeks. We got a bit behind because we were enjoying the long hot summer...

Animal news this month: manatees are underestimated, baby tigers are cute (dur), the Thames whale was probably suffering from arthritis, and you can buy unidentified species of sea urchin on ebay.

Things that are good for you: tea (it's full of polyphenols and antioxidants, and it's made of water which is A Good Thing), botox (to get rid of your surgery scars), fruit juice (it protects you from Alzheimers), and crosswords (they're a workout for your brain).

Things that are bad for you: crisps (because they make you fat), stress (because it makes you eat crisps - see previous link), and being miserable (it messes up your lungs).

Things that are just plain disgusting: meat sprayed with bacteriophages to get rid of pathogens, mice that produce rat sperm, and coffee beans covered in fungus.

Also on the site this month, we heard that Madonna thinks she has found a way to get rid of nuclear waste, that Pluto is officially no longer a planet, that older fathers are more likely than younger fathers to have autistic kids, what happens when PhD students get bored, 14 Finches are really cool, that anatomy models rock, and that safe places for addicts to inject themselves are actually a good idea.

And finally. We mourned the passing of eccentric animal lover Steve Irwin.

And there's always more of the fun over at Inky Circus.

Top Shiny Stories Today

Here's a round-up of the latest from the other Shiny Media blogs:

Star Trip:  Tabloid Tales: Justin Timberlake reckons he's David Beckham's doppelganger
TV Scoop:  Andrew Lloyd Webber could be 'ruined' by Maria
Catwalk Queen:  Gwen Stefani Shares Her Clothes With the World
PopJunkie:  Arctic Monkeys win Mercury Prize
Who Ate All The Pies:  Macedonia v England: betting guide

Happy Surfing!

Neiman Marcus MP3 Cases On Sale

Fancy a bit of bling for your mini MP3 case (or just a swish case) then Neiman Marcus are having a clearance sale with plenty of styles to pick from and you'll save a few pounds to spend on your actual gadgets too. This one is by Juicy Couture (and it isn't velour!) and is down to $29. Burberry also have a number of items in the sale.

Neiman Marcus

More cases, covers and bags on Shiny Shiny

Xoro Portable DVD/ TV With Freeview

The Xoro HSD 7500 is another gadget for the TV/ DVD obsessed people who must carry a portable unit with them for fear of missing something. The seven inch 16:9 TFT display comes with a clip that gives you glorious Freeview viewing otherwise you can use DVDs, CD-Rs, audio CDs, view MPEG1/2/4-Video and Kodak Picture CD. There's a rechargeable battery, an integrated card reader for SD and MMC cards and memory stick. It can also be mounted in the car with the included harness. 

Product page

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