Channel the 1950s with a retro iPhone cover

Posted on Saturday, September 10, 2011

Loving some of these iPhone covers that have been coming out lately. The latest one that caught our eye won’t mean much to anyone 30, but might cause a few nostalgic thoughts for the off-spring of baby-boomers. Made to resemble an old transistor radio, the Retro Radio Cover is rendered in an appropriate post-war colour scheme. You will however still need to use TuneIn Radio to listen to actual radio stations on your iPhone.

Innovative Advertisement for Viral Apocalypse Movie – Contagion

Posted on Saturday, September 10, 2011

[Via Devour]

The Tightwad Test – Just How Useable is a $99 Tablet?

Posted on Friday, September 9, 2011

When HP decided to pull the pin on their promising TouchPad tablet, it lead to some extraordinary events. Faced with warehouses full of virtually valueless stock, HP gave retailers permission to slash the price of their WebOS powered devices. The fire sale lead to long queues outside electrical retailers all around the world as word spread on Twitter and the link-sharing sites that the $99  was now the sort of bargain you simply couldn’t ignore. Within about 24 hours all the units had been sold and thousands of people regretted not hearing about it sooner.

The TouchPad debacle lead to increased interest in budget tablets and soon the social networks were abuzz with news of another tablet which, while it was nowhere near as good, still represented excellent value for money. Here in Australia the ZTE9 tablet was being sold by local mobile telco Optus as the MyTab for $99AUD with a 6Gb data package. Within about 36 hours all stocks of the tablet had gone and all retailers both high street and online had sold out. As a Mac and iPhone using geek, I was interested in finding out just what use a $99 tablet is, so I picked one up from electrical retail chain Dick Smiths via their online store. With postage and packing it cost me the grand total of $129. Two days later I took delivery of my cheapo tablet and started to take it through its paces.

TFI Friday Time Waster – Learn to Swear in Foreign Languages

Posted on Friday, September 9, 2011

It’s happened to the best of us – you’re in a bar in a foreign land and some juiced-up idiot has just insulted your national team/mother/girlfriend/man bag/parasol – you start going red with pent up rage. But then what? If you were on home turf you’d spit out a few choice epithets and make the six and a half foot gorilla with the swastika tattoos realise that you’re no push-over.

Well fret no more, my fellow bar-brawlers, because now you can learn to swear in foreign languages. We suggest you teach yourself some choice phrases before you leave, because whipping an iPad out of your hipster satchel is only going to slow things down. The website that can improve your vocabulary in all the right ways is YouSwear.Com – you can search by dialect or swear word – be sure to check out the Battlestar Galactica and Klingon sections. Incidentally, you may be interested in learning that swearing helps reduce pain. No, really.

Unspeakably Cool Gasket Style iPhone Case

Posted on Thursday, September 8, 2011

If you’re over that whole rubber iPhone case thing, then perhaps something in brushed aluminium will sooth your covetous desires. The Gasket Brushed Aluminum Case from id America is available in six colours including aluminium silver, titanium gray, jet black or a sporty rally blue. The cases have a suede inner lining to protect your iPhone’s delicate exterior and will set you back a very reasonable $29.99.

[Via GeekAlerts]

Futuristic TV Viewing Boldly Goes with Sony’s HMZ-T1 Head Mounted Display

Posted on Thursday, September 8, 2011

Fancy looking like Geordi La Forge while enjoying hi-definition movies that only you can see? The Head Mounted Display from Sony can certainly supply this experience, via a device that sports twin OLED screens and virtual 5.1 surround sound headphone. The display apparently offers a wide field of view and has all the controls you’ll need mounted on the side of the unit. Typically understated Sony promo video, below.

Instinctiv – Multi-platform Music Player with Cloud Syncing

Posted on Thursday, September 8, 2011

Ah, the never-ending search for the perfect music player. The latest application to throw its hat in the ring and declare its intentions as your go-to music playing application is Instinctiv, which offers a number of compelling features that may just appease the anything-but-iTunes brigade. Apart from being a multi-platform player (Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, Ovi – but not iOS), Instinctiv offers song IDing, a learning engine that “intelligently organizes your music library” and social sharing of tracks to Facebook or Twitter.

However Instinctiv’s most interesting feature is the SyncStream technology which the developers reckon can bring your entire music library to any device using the Instinctiv Music Player. It uses a cloud-based content delivery system to enable you to find all your songs in your library on multiple mobile and desktop devices and to back that up, there’s an offline listening facility too. It’s a free download, available here.

Keep your iPhone charged up with a homemade wind turbine

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Camping’s great and everything, but finding a power socket in the arse end of nowhere can potentially stand between you and that game of Word with Friends that you’re about to win. Well fret no more, because now you can build your own mini wind turbine and charge up your iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Note or Rechargeable Epliator using just a strong breeze. The 16oz Camping Wind Turbine can produce all the volts you need to stay iActive in the iOutback.

Geek Eats – How to roast coffee beans in a popcorn popper

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Who doesn’t love coffee? It tastes great, you can have it about 500 different ways, it’s great cold and it’s absolutely the best way to wake yourself up when the old 2:30 malaise sets in. If you like making your own coffee, rather than paying $5 for what’s mainly steamed milk, then this article may be of interest to you. It explains how to roast your own beans, using nothing more than a hot-air popcorn popper.

[via BoingBoing]

Five Star Wall – Week 1 – September 2011

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2011

As you may or may not know, George Lucas recently released a special boxset of BluRay versions of the entire Star Wars series. In other of this great moment and leaving aside all geekish talk of added ‘Nooooo‘ scenes, we present you with a Star Wars inspired wallpaper. Add a bit of Deathstar panache to your desktop courtesy of Al. This is the wall you’re looking for.