By Andrew Liszewski

As powerful as today’s laptop computers are they still tend to lag behind desktop systems. One area in particular is with graphics cards. Since they’re limited in size they just can’t compete with some of the huge desktop models from ATI or Nvidia. A company called Magma though is now selling an easy to use device that will allow most ‘desktop-only’ PCI Express cards to be used with a laptop.

The ExpressBox1 is like an external drive enclosure except that it’s designed to hold a PCI-E graphics card. There’s a smaller version that supports cards up to 6.6 inches in length and a pro version for cards up to 12.28 inches in length. They connect to a laptop via the ExpressCard/34 module and a PCI-E cable and Magma claims there is no latency in the connection since there’s a theoretical maximum throughput of 2000Mbps (or 250 MegaBytes per second) in each direction. At the moment the ExpressBox1 is only designed for single-width video cards needing a maximum of 55 watts of power. However double-width cards that require auxillary power will be supported later this year.

Of course performance has never come cheap in the PC world. The standard version ExpressBox1 is available on the Magma website for $729 (that’s without a graphics card) while the Pro version is available for $749.

[ Magma ExpressBox1 ] VIA [ I4U News ]

Hardware, Technology

Originally by Andrew Liszewski from OhGizmo! on May 8, 2007, 10:59am

By Andrew Liszewski

I’ve seen plenty of sport watches capable of tracking and displaying your heart rate but this is the first time I’ve seen the technology shrunken down to the size of a ring. (Albeit a fairly large one.) The Heart Monitor Ring pretty much does the same thing as its larger counterparts and will track your heart rate and continuously display it on the small LCD display. (It has a range of 30-250 beats per minute.) The ring also has a user-definable max/min heart rate target as well as timer and stopwatch functions making it ideal for fitness buffs.

And even though the Heart Monitor Ring might look like a novelty item it’s apparently FDA approved. Get your own from Taylor Gifts for $39.98 and find out just how out of shape you really are.

[ Heart Monitor Ring ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

Fitness, Health

Originally by Andrew Liszewski from OhGizmo! on May 8, 2007, 10:34am

By Andrew Liszewski

Cellphones have become so feature-packed that they make even the most advanced home phones look like they belong in a caveman painting. In an attempt to bridge the gap this device allows you to use any MP3 as your home phone’s ringer.

The relatively small Magic Ringtone MP3 Ringer connects to your PC via USB and is capable of storing a single MP3 file. Once it’s been uploaded you connect your phone line and phone to the device and whenever there’s an incoming call the MP3 file will play. It’s as simple as that.

It’s currently available from Evertek Wholesale for $12.

[ Magic Ringtone MP3 Ringer ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

Household, MP3

Originally by Andrew Liszewski from OhGizmo! on May 8, 2007, 10:13am

By Evan Ackerman

Despite years of trying, I’ve never been able to successfully replicate a balloon dog, and now I know why: these bouncy little critters are complicated. Turns out that my particular problem was that I had the cervical vertebrae misaligned, which I realized thanks to Jason Freeny’s comprehensive and detailed anatomical map of the domestic balloon dog:

I’ve had to crop the poster somewhat in the image above; make sure to click through to see the full version on Jason’s site, which includes the evolutionary history of the balloon dog along the bottom. He’s making a limited edition of signed 18″ square prints which are available now for $89 each. As for me, I’m going back to making balloon snakes, which I can actually get right most of the time.

[ Pneumatic Anatomica Prints ] VIA [ ART ]

Art, Toys, Unusual

Originally by Evan Ackerman from OhGizmo! on May 8, 2007, 4:53am

By Evan Ackerman

Rice is a staple food for most of the world, with over 200 million metric tons being harvested annually. That works out to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,257,477,920,000 grains of rice, in case you were wondering. And in order to cook all of that rice, you’d need something like 170 billion rice cookers. Or would you?

Japanese developers have created self heating boxed rice, which (with the simple addition of cold water) steams itself. The rice is precooked at 4,000 atmospheres of pressure, which preserves it. An exothermic agent inside the box reacts with the added water to heat up the rice in about 15 minutes. It’s designed for disaster areas (does my apartment count?), but according to the news report, the product is currently on the market, and side dishes are in the works. “Hotto! Raisu” is about $2.75 per box, which includes pickled ume plums.

[ Mainichi Daily News ]

Food

Originally by Evan Ackerman from OhGizmo! on May 8, 2007, 4:36am

By Andrew Liszewski

We first became aware of how crappy our run of the mill vacuums were thanks to James Dyson. But now it seems even his cyclone technology isn’t enough to make our homes truly clean. Halo Technologies believes you have to kill every single organism and pathogen hiding in your carpets and furniture and the best way to do that is with ultraviolet light. Their Halo vacuum includes a UV-C bulb on the underside that serves as a potent germicide killing anything exposed to the light.

…the Halo™ UVX Ultraviolet Vacuum can kill potentially dangerous micro-organisms by disrupting the DNA structure of their cells. Run the Halo™ UVX Ultraviolet Vacuum over your carpets as you would with a normal vacuum, activate the UV-C bulb with the trigger on the handle and you’re instantly and safely deactivating the DNA of the dust mites, viruses, bacteria, fleas, lice and mold that had been lurking between the fibers.

Their description of disrupting the DNA of these unwanted pests sounds pretty cool but unfortunately it doesn’t make the task of vacuuming any less boring. But if you’ve got yourself a healthy dose of Howard Hughes-esque germophobia the Halo UVX Ultraviolet Vacuum is available on their website for $399.99.

[ Halo UVX Ultraviolet Vacuum ] VIA [ Freshome ]

No Tags

Originally by Andrew Liszewski from OhGizmo! on May 8, 2007, 11:49am

By Andrew Liszewski

There seems to be a classic gaming revival going on and I’m pretty sure part of it’s due to the XBox Live Arcade and the Wii’s Virtual Console making many of these titles available again. (For those unfamiliar with MAME that is.) To cash in on the fad PRO-Keds has released an Arcade Series line of shoes featuring designs inspired by classic coin-ops like Pac-Man, Centipede, Asteroids, Galaga and more.

The designs aren’t exactly subtle and you can expect to pay about $70 per pair. Alternately you can grab yourself a pair of white slip-ons, a black sharpie and just ‘emulate’ your own pair of arcade themed shoes for a lot less money.

Also it seems that the PRO-Keds site is a mess of flash design so I must give thanks to the people at Arcade Heroes for going to the trouble of hunting down and grabbing stills of all the shoes.

[ PRO-Keds Arcade Series ] VIA [ Arcade Heroes ]

Clothing, Design, Gaming

Originally by Andrew Liszewski from OhGizmo! on May 9, 2007, 1:05am

By Andrew Liszewski

While the toothbrush section at your local pharmacy has become pretty high-tech in recent years there’s probably nothing that can compare to the new Ultreo. It’s the first consumer grade ultrasonic toothbrush and it was developed by researchers at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab. In other words by people who know what they’re doing.

Ultrasound is already used in professional dental cleaning equipment because it’s the right frequency to vibrate bubbles. As they vibrate at more than 20,000 times a second they move the surrounding fluids and produce thin layers of water that clean off plaque. But getting this to work in a handheld device that was also affordable was the real innovation. The head of the Ultreo includes an ultrasound transducer and a special ‘waveguide’ that directs the ultrasound energy into the bristles and bubbles. Without it the ultrasound energy would simply dissipate and be useless.

Besides its cleaning prowess the Ultreo doesn’t disappoint when it comes to other features either. It has an auto shut-off timer that will turn the brush off after the “dental professional-recommended 2 minutes of brushing time” and also has a 30 second interval signal to help you clean all the areas of your mouth equally. It uses replaceable brush heads and has a replacement indicator letting you know when it’s time for a new one. It can even keep track of the brush heads for 2 separate users if you’re not a fan of sharing your brush.

The best part in my opinion is that the Ultreo is available for only $149 on the company’s website. I know plenty of people will think that’s outrageously expensive for a toothbrush but when compared to other high-end models on the market it’s quite reasonable given what it’s capable of.

[ Ultreo Ultrasound Toothbrush ] VIA [ Medgadget ]

Health, Innovation, Medical

Originally by Andrew Liszewski from OhGizmo! on May 9, 2007, 1:55am

By David Ponce

HDTVs are really starting to kick into the mainstream, and people are paying attention. One of the most important specs to look at when shopping for a new HDTV is the contrast ratio: the deeper the blacks, the clearer and sharper all the other colors will look. So that’s why we’re excited to hear about Pioneer’s Project Kuro line of high quality flat screens that boast up to 20,000:1 contrast rations, and what they claim are “black levels that are 80% deeper than before”. This is true 20,000:1 contrast, not its puffy cousin “Dynamic contrast”.

The line will include 10 different models, with resolution ranges from 720p at 16,000:1 all the way up to 1080p at 20,000:1, and sizes ranging from 42 inches to 60 inches. No word yet on price, but the lower end models will hit market in June, while the 1080p should come out in September.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Crunchgear ]

Displays, Home Theater

Originally by David Ponce from OhGizmo! on May 9, 2007, 2:53am

Originally from Strange New Products on May 9, 2007, 5:02am