Gadget Freaks

Where would we be without the computer mouse. That little disposable piece of modern technology that is used by hundreds of millions each day. Here at GadgetFreaks we took a bit of a peek about the net to see what’s new and wierd as we bring you ‘Five Nice Mice’.

1- The Origins Of The Species.

According to Wikipedia, the mouse was invented in 1963 by Douglas Englebart. It was a rather ungainly device ( see below ) which used a large wheel and was constructed of wood. The builder of his design, Bill English, later went on to invent the ball mouse whilst working for Xerox in 1972. Now 83 years old, Mr. Englebart must look at what he started with his invention and have a quiet chuckle to himself as the computer mouse becomes increasingly high-tech and/or bizarre.

2 - USB Vacuum Mouse

From Japan, here’s a rather unique and quirky spin on the mouse. It’s a mouse and it’s a USB vacuum cleaner. Yes folks you heard right, this 800 dpi laser mouse incorporates a tiny vacuum cleaner with removable dust reservior, a scroll wheel and an on/off switch for the cleaner. Keeping your workspace clean just got a whole lot more gadgety !

3 - USB Hand Warming Mouse.

Yet another mad mad mouse from The Land of the Rising Sun. This rather neat and relatively normal looking mouse actually keeps your hands warm. Reaching a maximum temperature of 45 degrees celsius, it has an 800 dpi resolution. Looks like Mac users may be out in the cold though as it only supports Windows NT/ME/2000/XP. However, as it is plug and play and therefore needs no driver we may see Mac users warming to it! 

4 - Fingerprint Reader Mouse.

For those security conscious gadgeteers, fringerprint recognition technology is now available in a mouse. With it’s cool gadget grey and black design this mouse has an 800 dpi sensor sensitivity, a 508 dpi finger sensor and a 256 bit encryption algorithm. It boasts a 1 in 1000 false rejection rate and a 1 in 1,000,000 false recognition rate. It can also be used as a decryption tool for files and drives, a protection layer for website log-ins and it can be set up with 10 fingerprint samples to allow multiple users. That is one smart mouse!

 5 - The Body Mouse.

This would have to take the cake for the most grotesque, bizarre, repulsive, creepy and just downright wrong gadget we’ve seen in a while. Looking like something from a Frankenstein movie, The Body Mouse was designed in 2002 by Chris Lomaka and seems to have just seen the light of day. There are no technical details available for it and I am not sure I want to know too much anyway ! The realism of the hair, skin and nails is positively creepy….I so want one ! Great for keeping the faint of heart away from your computer ! A definite chick magnet for geeks or the perfect mouse for crazed eccentric med students or morticians with a sense of humour?

Over the past decade or so there has been a sharp decline in tobacco company sponsorship in all sports globally. Bans on tobacco advertising in all forms of media and motorsport have all but closed off the last avenue for the tobacco industry to parade its brands to the public en mass. An increasing number of countries have outlawed public tobacco branding even in the form of sponsorship in Formula One and Moto GP. This has pushed most companies to abandon these sports in droves and leaving with them are their huge investment dollars.

A quick look at todays F1 car and Moto GP bike reveals a whole new generation of sponsors picking up the huge bill involved. In exchange their brands are proudly displayed on the machine’s livery and plastered over just about anything involved with the teams. In fact there is more diversity among the sponsor companies with IT, financial management, airlines and even power drink corporations occupying the wings and wheels of the world’s most glamourous and dangerous sports.

One such company is SanDisk which has been a sponsor of the Moto GP Ducati Team. To celebrate, or maybe even cash in on their investment, they have released a series of computer accessories with a Ducati Moto GP theme. Boasting ‘Ultra High Performance’ the gadgets come in the style of the Ducati Moto GP team colours and are even styled like the machines and feature imagery of their #1 rider Casey Stoner.

CF Card Ducati Moto GP USB SD Card

Being the Moto GP fanatics that we are here at Gadget Freaks, we want these gadgets so bad it hurts! Considering that Casey Stoner is current World Moto GP Champion and one of the most exciting and popular riders in the sport and the huge international following the historic Italian motorcycle marque enjoys, we think SanDisk are on a winner.

After the carnage of the Australian F1 Grand Prix where millions of dollars of damage was inflicted in rather slight racing incidents and looking at our USB dongle graveyard we decided to look into indestructible gadgets. So we set to work to bring you the kind of gadgets that would survive a nuclear holocaust and be found in thousands of years by future archaeologists.

Of course following any nuclear destruction of our civilization you will be needing a communication device. You know, something to call around and see who’s left. The Sonim XP1 mobile phone is reported to be indestructible and has been tested by being shot by a 9mm Glock and a Swedish newspaper, Metro, shot it with a Remington Rifle. Hmmm we want one!

As I mentioned before we here at Gadget Freaks have collected what amounts to a ‘Dongle Graveyard’. Old dongles that no longer work because they’ve been dropped or put through the wash or the dog got to them etc etc! When will someone make the unbreakable dongle? Ask no more! ‘From Russia with Love’ comes the Titan USB dongle that can withstand 2000LB of pressure. It is constructed of a space age graphite/aluminium then cased in titanium. Limited to a production run of 100 they come in 1 0r 2 GB models with the 2GB selling for around US$247. Yikes…not cheap but seemingly indestructible. Just don’t lose it!

However, if you don’t want to fork out the big bucks or you are a DIY kinda gadgeteer you may want to check out this clever chap’s solution to the USB Dongle dilemma. Engineering student Russel Jones has come up with a very cool aluminium casing( that be aluminum for those over the big pond) that is fabricated around an existing USB disk. Very gadgety indeed!

Another gadget that could possibly survive a nuke is this ‘Wireless Silicone Keyboard’. We’ve seen the wired version in pubs and they seem to take the punishment handed out by Lagerists ( people who specialize in drinking copious amounts of beer) without problem. You can roll it, you can fold it, you can stuff it, you can wash it, you can squash it!. It is strong and flexible and wireless and whoa look at that colour, we call it Atomic Blue.

Ok so imagine this. You are sitting in your post-holocaust hovel with your indestructible gadgets and there is a cruel nuclear winter going on outside. However, we need to get food and water but it’s glowing green out there! Luckily for us we have a very smart beast of burden we can send out to gather what we need. Due to the ‘predicted’ fact that cockroaches will increase ten-fold in size and rule the post-nuked planet we innovative humans are already at work developing ways to exploit this future resource.

This Sci-Fi scenario is taking shape in Tokyo as scientists are removing the antennae from cockroaches and replacing them with PEE( Pulse-Emitting Electrodes) that can be controlled remotely via a miniature backpack carried by the roaches themselves. Researchers are even developing micro-cameras to equip the mighty roaches with. The range of applications for this technological marriage between Homo sapiens and Anastatus tenuipes is mind boggling. It sure has us here at Gadget Freaks a tad more boggly than normal! Read more………