I spent last week in Berlin with Ectomo's John Brownlee, which was as expected a total disaster. Watching him mince around his apartment in a fez, fending off his constant nagging to do each other's hair, and breathing in cloud after cloud of noxious pipe smoke did little to engender the Christmas spirit. Brownlee is a one man Chernobyl, except his plumes promote cancer of the goodwill toward mankind.

Worse, he was fueled by non-stop cups of tea and surprisingly tasty instant coffee*, mixed up with a notion-to-sipping time of under a minute thanks to his handy electric kettle. I'd been thinking about getting one myself ever since we last talked about them, but seeing one in action, even in the leprous prehensile operculum of a human gastropod, was a testament to their usefulness.

So I'm buying one, despite my attempt to actually rid myself of extraneous kitchen gadgets. As luck would have it, there's a perfectly decent, 4.5-out-of-5-stars-rated one on sale at Amazon today for $12. And since it's a Friday Sale and will likely go back up tomorrow, I thought I'd pass the savings on to you.

Catalog Page [Amazon]

* Sorry, Tonx! If it's any consolation, I bought a new order of green beans for home roasting yesterday.

I've asked Charlie from Modern Mechanix to put together this round-up of the latest and greatest from one of the web's best retro tech blogs. He's kindly obliged! Expect to see this daily, or nearly. (It's much easier than just linking all his stuff every day!)

Today at Modern Mechanix we looked at RCA's 5-screen television of the future, and learned that in 1936 glass manufacturers used clown suited midgetsto test vinyl coated automotive safety glass. Long before the History Channel got the bug, Mechanix Illustrated had regular segments where they declared everything a "Modern Marvel". In an 1939 articlewe see that engineers were able to make an amazing, quasi fiber optic light pipe that could almost fit in a person's mouth. What kind of child buys a record full of locomotive sound effects? The demonically possessed, apparently. Nowadays everyone is trying to cram web browsers into the family refrigerator, a trend that seems to originate with this 1937 fridge with a built-in radio. Lastly we looked at device for making a jury-rigged tandem out of two bicycles. I'm not exactly sure how the riders handled curbs, but they had to have an easier time then the pair on this micro-tandem we posted yesterday.

Our second intern, Brian Dunn*, has been tasked with getting our Flickr pools hot and healthy. He'll be checking in each week with highlights, including the newest addition which we're calling simply "Boing Boing Gadgets," a sort of catch-all we hope you'll throw stuff into that might work as good "stock photography" for posts here on Boing Boing Gadgets. (Of course, they might be photography, but you get the idea. We do ask that everything that goes in be Creative Commons Attribution licensed for simplicity's sake and that, of course, you have the right to grant that license in the first place.) Okay, enough from me: Wecome, Dunn! –Joel

Now that we have "In the Year 2000" and "Electro Selecto", we're taking our Flickr groups a step further with one specifically dedicated to the site. In the "Boing Boing Gadgets" group, you can post any images you think might be useful for the blog. We're looking for pictures to fill out any posts that lack visual content.

Both "In the Year 2000" and "Electro Selecto" are filling out nicely, but we're insatiable. Keep posting anything you can find. "Electro Selecto" currently features a smorgasbord of old advertisements posted by spike55151 and hytam2. Isaac Asimov shows up with his massive mutton chops to pimp Radio Shack. Ray Charles and Melissa Manchester duke it out over recording tape: Memorex or Scotch? Sony just wants people to be a little nicer to their speakers. Included as well is this creepy instruction manual for The Imagination Machine, where the man's stare calls into question who is imagining what. And of course, Joel reminds us that Atari programming requires more bondage than one would expect.

Avi_Abrams wins the "In the Year 2000" gold star with 34 images, including one of some badass Soviet hydroplane, a rather phallic rocket ship, and a pyramid city. scrubbles posted a series of images from Sentinel by Syd Mead, all of which are quite gorgeous. There's the perplexing Unipod Gyroscopically Balanced Personal Vehicle, learning capsules, and 3D TV (complete with pod chairs). whoever, whomever reaches even further back to 1910's vision of 2000. Gaze in wonder at curiosities like hand-delivered phonograph cylinders, creepy learning caps, and lots and lots of anachronistic airplanes. Also, in the future, radiation doesn't kill everybody.

Tiny cars are apparently all the rage in the future. This man laughs it up in his Funmobile, while this dour man plots mayhem between a set of giant wheels. Future technology meets dated gender roles: the men use their video phones for work and the women use them for shopping.

That's all a great haul, but there must be more out there. So seek it out and join the fun! This man would approve.

Add your meat flavor to our Flickr pools, humans! In the Year 2000 (Retro-future imagery); Electro Selectro (Old advertisements and catalogs); Boing Boing Gadgets (Otherwise interesting imagery!)

* Yes, two Brians! Hence, "Copeland" and "Dunn." They will later form an '80s folk duo.

That didn't take long! Now that Indiana Jones-themed LEGO are in the stores, fan builders are already putting together scenes not included in the first set, like this "Flying Wing" made by "Legohaulic." The blocks around the plane's wheels are a nice touch. (Is there a name for those blocks besides "blocks"? It seems like there should be. "Chocks"?)

Relatedly, while I totally understand why LEGO wouldn't put Nazi livery on sets marketed to kids, it still seems a bit strange that it's okay for kids to see a movie with swastikas in it, but not play with toys that have swastikas. (This isn't an official set, of course, but the same thing applies to the official ones.) I really don't feel strongly about it one way or the other, but I still find it a curious incongruence. Will they take them out of the LEGO Indiana Jones videogame?

Flying Wing [Flickr.com via The Bros. Brick]

Previously: Indiana Jones LEGO Sets Now for Sale [BBG]

Congratulations to Garmin: Their new Forerunner 405 GPS watch, designed for runners, is the first one small and unobtrusive enough to be worn all day, unlike previous models. (The new 405 is on the right, while earlier models are left and center, for not-to-scale contrast.)

I look forward to the day when GPS is just another tiny chip on the board. (What's holding that back? Antennas?)

The Forerunner 405 should cost around $300. That's a lot of scratch for an ugly watch, but the Forerunner line has always gotten solid reviews from runners, who like the ability to track their routes, speed, mileage, heart rate, and more.

Even cooler, the 405's bezel responds to touch, which should make it much easier to switch to different displays or change settings without slowing down.

Forerunner 405 [Navigadget]

Belkin's Washable Mouse was tested by Gearlog, who did more than just get it a bit scuzzy. Instead, they submerged it in a day's worth of food—while still using it. The gauntlet: oatmeal, chili, pudding, and Cheetos. Because the scroll wheel is touch sensitive and the sensor on the bottom is optical, the entire unit is sealed.

These should be the product images on the box.

Hands-, Oatmeal-, Chili-, Pudding-, Red Bull-, and Cheetos-On with The Belkin Washable Mouse [Gearlog]

Crave.CNET.com has a blow-by-blow summary of an on-air debate between the Washington Post's Marc Fisher and Cary Sherman, a representative of the RIAA. The takeaway seems to be that Fisher wheedled out too much from the brief filed by the RIAA (as noted by Techdirt's Mike Masnick) but that the RIAA still won't promise that ripping CDs is a legal right.

From the Crave.CNET.com story:

"They go on to equivocate and say, 'Well, usually it won't raise concerns if you go ahead and transfer legally obtained music to your computer,'" Fisher said during the debate, "but they won't go all the way and say that it's a legal right."

Here was an opportunity for Sherman to declare once and for all that copying CDs for personal use is lawful. He stopped short of that, saying that copyright law is too complex to make such sweeping statements. He did state that there is one full-proof way of discovering the RIAA's policy on personal use: check the record.

"Not a single (legal) case has ever been brought (by the RIAA against someone for copying music for personal use)," Sherman said. "Not a single claim has ever been made."

I read the brief myself. The issue seems to be in the way one could parse the "and" in the statement. "Once Defendant converted Plaintiffs' recording into the compressed .mp3 format and they are in his shared folder, they are no longer the authorized copies distributed by Plaintiffs." (Emphasis mine.) I can understand why people would question the motivation of an RIAA lawyer to specifically point out the ripping process, but I still think the "and" very clearly indicates it was the sharing, not the ripping that was the issue.

RIAA shreds Washington Post story in debate [Crave.CNET.com]

• Philips Sonicare Essence 5300 for $45, E5500 for $54 on Amazon. [Slickdeals]

• IHOP All-you-can-eat pancakes for $5. (It'd a slow deals day.) [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Honeywell Ceramic Heater with Remote for $31, shipped.

The first Indiana Jones-themed LEGO sets are now available for sale. Above, the "Race for the Stolen Treasure" set (#7622). They're not actually all that spectacular, but I might pick up one cheap set just for an Indy minifig. They remind me quite a bit of the old Egyptian-themed sets from the '90s.

Indiana Jones sets [Shop.LEGO.com]

Tony writes:

In case you haven't posted it yet, those nerds like me that still use rabbit ears and free television programming (black & white for that matter), the feds are offering a $40 coupon for those who want a converter box for their non-digital televisions. I believe the retail price of these things will run $50 and higher.

Coupon Program [DTV2009.gov]

Although the initial press email was slim on details, the "Guitar Wizard" game to be shown off next week at CES aims to be a Guitar Hero that actually teaches you how to play guitar. (Sort of like a Rock Band for drums!) The software will ship with a Washburn electric guitar with a MIDI pickup and will sell for around $180 on the back half of next year. It could be a hell of a tool if they execute properly.

Apparently the company's software is already on the market in the Mattel "I Can Play Guitar" product, which appears to be more toy than musical instrument to me. They also have a "Piano Wizard" line that does something similar.

Belkin's new "RockStar" is a simple star-shaped minijack hub to which multiple headphones can be connected, allowing one music player to send music to up to five pairs of headphones. An additional port is a dedicated input, while the other five ports can be toggled from input to output. That seems unnecessary to me—far easier to just switch the one dedicated input cable to the next player in the rotation.

While I can count the number of times I've wanted to get a group of people to gather around and listen to music on headphones on no hands, I still think it's a clever idea. I think there's a reason the hands in the stock photo are attached to children. Plus, it's only twenty bucks.

Belkin RockStar [iLounge]

Although I shudder to think what sort of crusty bits my dog would find a way to insinuate into the slats, I think this "Love Mattress" concept by Mehdi Mojtabvi may have something to it. The middle section of the mattress is broken into slats, making it possible to wrap your arms around someone without cutting off your circulation, or sleep on your belly while sticking your feet straight down. The trick would be to make the slats tight enough that they would hold together when you weren't trying to use them, while still loose enough that they wouldn't squeeze too tightly when in use.

If someone does bring it to market, they probably shouldn't call it the "Love Mattress," despite that there may be a few lonely sleepers who may do just that.

Project Page [Red-Dot.sg via Freshome via InventorSpot]

JVC Victor has made some new earbuds that are encased in real birch wood, which likely adds nothing at all to the aural quality, but does trigger my contractually obligated need to fawn over them. They'll be $130ish when they're released in Japan in February.

Note I did not put these in the "Green" category. If they'd been wrapped in needless bamboo I might have been able to sort of sneak them in, but nope.

JVC to launch wooden ear buds [SlipperyBrick.com]

I've wanted an AppleTV for a while now, not because I particularly like their interface, but just because it seemed like a slick little piece of hardware. Now Archos is showing off the "Archos TV+" and it looks like a winner, although perhaps not as powerful as the AppleTV could be, as video playback seems to be restricted to "DVD resolution" instead of 720p, the standard at which the AppleTV can output. That makes the Archos TV+ a standard definition device, not an HD device, which is a big thumb in an otherwise delicious pie.

Still, it's inexpensive at $250 for an 80GB model and $350 for a 250GB model, comes with a variety of outputs including HDMI, slurps up data over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, and even includes a slick little square remote with a thumbpad and QWERTY keyboard. (Handy for surfing the web via Opera, which is included.)

It really looks like a fine device. Why didn't they make it HD capable? I would have paid another $50 for a video processor that could handle higher resolution.

Product Page [Archos via Technabob via Ubergizmo]

Coming to a store near you after the Consumer Electronic Show 2008*, the tongue-tying "Powramid" is a nice little conical power strip that leaves all six plugs accessible even if filled with oversized wall warts. It won't be as pretty when it's filled with plugs, but I like it. Especially the little LED on the top.

I've given up trying to hide all my wires, zip-tying my power strips down under my desk and all that. I am embracing wires instead, confident that we'll eventually figure out how to remove them from our lives in the next decade or three.

Product Page [KreativePower.com (Nothing says "creativity" like using a "K" instead of a "C!") via Coolest-Gadgets via Oh Gizmo]

* Don't say "fuckfest." Don't say "fuckfest."

This is Dell's new fancy monitor, the "Dell Crystal LCD." I applaud Dell's willingness to put this one to market. Its design certainly makes a statement.

Here's why you shouldn't buy it: It's only a 22-inch monitor with a 1,680 by 1,050 resolution. At this point I wouldn't buy a monitor smaller than 24 inches with a 1080p or great resolution. (The typical monitor resolution at that size is 1,920 by 1,200 pixels.) And if I weren't going to buy a big widescreen monitor it would be because I was going to buy two monitors to use in a dual screen configuration, which the wide glass bezel of the Crystal LCD precludes.

Oh, and it's $1,200—$900 more than other 22-inch models from Dell.

Still, I really like it as a concept and I hope to see more risk-taking and similar design choices from Dell, if only to see that sort of design filter down into their cheaper hardware.

[via Gizmodo and Engadget]

Peter Reid's "LL-142" spaceship model works on two levels, both as an ornately finished model with nary a smooth surface to be found* (almost too much so) and as a tribute to the old LEGO Space themes, completely with blue-and-grey color scheme. The cockpit is an "X-Pod," which were actually sold as carrying cases for small sets of LEGO but also had a simple 2x2 stud array at the top that made it possible to incorporate them into designs. They're somewhat highly sought after these days.

Peter's LL-142 Photostream [Flickr via Bros. Brick]

* This is known in the LEGO modelling community as "greebling."

"The greatest adventure in dining has arrived!" claims the website of "Hot Rock," the vaguely appealing theme restaurant sensation that is sweeping probably nowhere! The idea is simple: diners are given a rock. The rock is hot! Then, by putting meat on the rock, plus just a dash of time, you get...hot meat on a rapidly cooling rock! And the juices barely sputter in your face and all over your clothes! Also, you could cook vegetables on it but what are you some sort of candy-ass!

If warming up a rock in your oven, only to gingerly remove it and place it in a tray to then begin to cook your meal sounds like your idea of a dinner "experience," then you can get one Home Cooking Set from Team Hot Rock for only $80, plus shipping. (Don't forget to pick up the Hot Rock-brand "Premium Grilling Salt" for only $5. Salt is the original hot rock! Besides lava I mean!)

Product Page [HotRock.us via Kitchen Contraptions via CrunchGear]

• Sharp Aquos 32-inch 1080p LCD HDTV $1000 at Newegg [Dealhack]

• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound for $6, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Basic Skyrail Suspension Set for $34, shipped. Looks like a fun construction toy and it glows in the dark! [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Invicta Stainless Steel Watch for $85. It's ugly!

• Pro tip: Don't go – Ethan Zuckerman and Bruno Giussani offer a short PDF with tips on how to liveblog a conference. Zuckerman is one of the most professional, machine-like livebloggers I've ever seen. I learned quite a bit watching him work at Pop!Tech. [LunchOverIP.com via KK]

• Serious Business – "Video Professor" withdraws lawsuit against anonymous critics. [Consumerist]

• Shake the Crime Stick! – Bike-riding crook is busted after stealing GPS. (Not because they tracked him, but because it had the owner's home address programmed in.) [SunTimes.com]

Allan Chochinov of Core77.com writes up this "so obvious it's not obvious" thinkpiece about the usefulness of products that are designed digitally, transmitted to other designers through the internet (via bloggers like yours truly), but are too absurd or impractical to ever reach tangible production.

But I'd argue to not dismiss them quite so easily; that these design ideas, even when they're patently absurd, provide something that is very worthwhile. They exists as small stories—discursive gestures, narrative indulgences, even evocative abstractions. They travel virally exactly because they are there first to tell a story, not because they serve a function. And when you think about it, this isn't such a bad place for design to be right now. Too many of our products are function first/form second—or form first/function second—with narrative, story-telling elements nowhere to be found. How bad would it be if our products began with narrative in the first place; with an idea of the experience of the product in mind, before that product ever had the chance to turn into landfill? Not bad at all, really.

Creative gesture or vapid prototyping? The importance of fictional products [Adobe.com]

Due to a strange bit of Google juice, a throwaway post on Dethroner (a site I own and operate) about the "Infinity Razor," an as-seen-on-TV razor sold with the claim that it never need be sharpened or its blades replaced, has garnered 126 comments from angry, frustrated users. It's comfortably the most popular post I've ever done over there. And since the post's merit as a warning is clear, I hope you'll excuse the cross-linking.

Infinity Razor Reviewed (Verdict: Junk) [Dethroner]

Matt Haughey ran the numbers of Apple's stock price (APPL) before and after each Apple keynote presentation since 1997. The numbers, like Matt's classy site with the tasteful Google ads, are impressive:

The last two years have been amazing, showing 7.3% growth if you held AAPL for 24 hours, and 11.9% if you held it for 48 hours. Bear in mind that a "good" investment is one that does about 10% a year and these numbers are for 1 and 2 days of investment time. If you did this for the past five years, you would have gained 1.5% when held for 24 hours each year and 3.7% when held for 48 hours. Overall, for the entire past decade, the numbers are 1.2% growth for 24 hours and 2.2% growth for 48 hours. Of course, if you held the $10,000 of shares bought in 1997, your investment would be worth $525,187 today (with AAPL around $200/share today, counting two 2-for-1 splits).

I went all in on Intel in my freshman high school Fantasy Stocks game in Statistics and won for the semester. That's when I knew I was destined to be a tech pundit. Not because I got it right, but because that was the first time I felt smug about a lucky guess that didn't affect my life in any measurable way.

Project Page [KeynoteIndexFund.com]

• A spare battery is one not installed in a device. This is an important distinction to remember.

• You will have to transport spare batteries as carry-on baggage, not checked baggage. The TSA does not want loose lithium-based batteries in the check luggage.

• You may put an approved battery in checked baggage only if it is installed in a device. A checked video camera, cell phone, or laptop with a battery installed would be fine—ignoring the folly of doing so due to risk of physical damage—but any spare, loose batteries are now forbidden.

• Spare, loose batteries transported as carry-on need to be securely packed. That means you should use manufacturer's plastic battery caps for spare batteries or pack them in plastic bags. You can also place electrical tape over the terminals of the batteries.

For 99% of us that travel, even battery-heavy folk like bloggers, that should be enough information to help you forward. It's really not that bad. Take all your electronics on board as carry-on and pack loose batteries in plastic.

Where things have gotten slightly more confusing is in the TSA's "lithium content" regulations. Who knows how many grams of lithium are in their batteries or whether the TSA considers their battery a "lithium metal" or "lithium-ion" model?

Fortunately, most cell phone and laptop batteries are under the 8-gram lithium limit. I expect that the real world effect of this will be that extra cell phone and laptop batteries will be accepted without question by TSA screeners.

For camera operators or those who use large-capacity extended life battery packs (like the ones that fit under the whole width of a laptop), you're going to need to be prepared to have calculated exactly how many grams of lithium are in each of your batteries and have that information readily at hand in case you need to discuss it with a TSA screener. You are allowed "two spare batteries with an aggregate equivalent lithium content of up to 25 grams, in addition to any batteries that fall below the 8-gram threshold." In short, carrying lots of low-capacity batteries in carry-on baggage is allowed, while no more than two large-capacity batteries is approved.

This information was gleaned from the Safe Travel.dot.gov bulletin and TSA sites, prompted by my initial balking at my future inability to travel with all my gear which was quickly followed my the realization that for me travel would remain fundamentally unchanged. Which is to say: still a pain in the neck.

[via Bits.Blogs.NYTimes.com]

Chris Thompson rigged up this time lapse intervalometer for SLRs made from a cell phone headset, a 555 timer, and "a bunch of electronics bits." He threw up his HOWTO on Instructables.

While Chris's hack makes the time lapse gear much more portable, many DSLRs have software available from the factory that let you do time lapse if you keep the camera tethered to your computer. Also, many video programs like Apple's iMovie (at least the old version) allow you to shoot time lapse from an attached video camera or the built-in webcam. For obvious reasons, those won't look as nice as shots from a DSLR, but it's a good option for web video.

Below, a video of time lapse shots Chris took with his rig of some fireworks.

Time Lapse Intervalometer for SLRs with 555 timer IC [Instructables]

Stuart writes:

I was poking around over at Appliancist and they had a posting about a new toaster over by Amadana that looked pretty cool. So I hit the link to get more info. But at the bottom of the page, they had included some bizzaro info-graphics of thing you should not use the product for...

First, Amadana is a Japanese company, which explains why they might not have realized that a scapegoat isn't the same as an "acuarium." But bless them anyway. These are great. (I would question that there is anything a ninja couldn't do, should he put his mind to it.)

The first row is for that toaster oven, the second and third rows are for an air purifier, while the last is for a hot plate. Informed!

Rich writes:

I was looking at theremins on ebay and found this terrifying one made out of baby boll's head with glowing satanic eyes!

If that doesn't give you guys Norwegian wood, I don't know this cantankerous, weirdo audience. Even better, it appears the seller has made several different ones, all in the $75 range, so if you want to wave your hands around a baby's head to coax out strange whines you can do it far more cheaply than possible with a real baby. (At least when you factor in blood stain removal, prison time, etc.)

I'm calling it: Borg baby head theremin is totally the hot indie rock trend of '08.

Auction Page [Ebay.com] (Thanks, Rich!)

There appears to be absolutely no functional reason why the Fanimation Air Shadow ceiling fans retract its four blades when not in use besides "looking cool." But since the chunky metal design was already appealing, the fact that it closes in on itself like a flower takes it over the top. If you add one of the lighting kits that can be mounted below, the fan blades can retract to be fully out of sight.

The basic fan itself is $500, with lighting kits adding up to another $400.

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy Oh Gizmo's curatorial acumen? Andrew Liszewski ends up discovering more things I find intriguing that almost any other gadget blogger.

Product Page [Fanimation.com via Trendir via Oh Gizmo]

While it doesn't justify the purchase of a new model just to get it, this "R.P.M. Blender" from L'Equip has a tachometer on the side. It does seem sort of obvious now that someone's made one, doesn't it? I'd like to see this added to all blenders as standard issue.

The R.P.M. is powered by a 900 watt motor that can spin up to 20,000 revolutions per minute. It's available for $134 plus shipping.

Catalog Page [Tabletools.com via CribCandy via OhGizmo]

This cute little digital microscope only goes up to 40x power, but displays its peerings on a built-in 3.5-inch LCD screen, which can also be used to snap photos and video. It doesn't have the charm of a traditional microscope, but I can see people getting a kick out of being able to easily share their discoveries on the web.

The 44340 model from Celestron will be available in February for $300.

Product Page [Celestron.com via I4U via Gizmodo]