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Retro phones finally done right

Making retro-style phones seems to be an obsession with some companies, for reasons that continue to baffle us. We've seen updated phones from the 1930s to the 1960s, sometimes with just parts of them available.

But UncommonGoods has taken the concept to its truest form, restoring actual phones with modern wiring, cords and microphones. If you're interested in getting one of them, be aware that availability is limited: Like so many other things, there isn't an abundance of phones that survived the '60s.

For lazy pasta lovers

File this under "for the ridiculously lazy"--a rapidly growing category of late.

USB-powered devices are slowly rising to the iPod case's level of ubiquity. Who isn't selling one of these? It may be because no one is feeling the urge to do anything more than an arm's length from a keyboard any more.

Case in point: Gearlog has a USB Noodle Strainer that, quite honestly, resembles a foot bath. It's for making cold soumen noodles when you're presumably too engrossed in battling virtual armies of the undead, or are allergic to kitchens, … Read more

Turn any flat surface into a speaker

Now this is something for the dedicated audiophile: What if you could turn any flat surface into a speaker?

The "Nimzy Vibro Max" promises to do just that, by reproducing sound through vibrations spread across any flat platform made of a hard substance such as metal, plastic, wood or glass. The idea has been tried before, but GadgetCentre says the cube-shaped Vibro Max has an integrated amplifier that's more powerful than previous models. Perhaps it's yet another technology that can be incorporated into our campaign for wireless home entertainment.

Did George Foreman approve this?

I'm female. I don't mind pink. In fact, I kind of like it. I wore a pink shirt the other day, and my iPod is housed in a hot pink iSkin. I wouldn't buy a pink RAZR (the quintessential example of a pink gadget) but if someone gave one to me along with a nice fat data plan, I'd take it. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I'm not a pink-hater.

That being said, I see absolutely no reason for the existence of a baby-pink George Foreman grill, which GadgetCandy drew our … Read more

World's simplest plug-in speakers

Technology can be a funny thing sometimes. Just when we've finished carping about something--in this case the dearth of wireless home audio systems--someone comes along with a product that goes in the opposite extreme. Case in point: The "Plug & Enjoy" mini-speakers from Yanko Design.

These tiny speakers do precisely what their name implies, plugging directly into the wall for your listening pleasure. According to OhGizmo, they work this way: "Roughly the size of a power adapter, the speakers plug into any outlet and are designed to receive an FM signal from your stereo, iPod, … Read more

Listen to the rolling ball

This may look like a shiny alarm clock with a shiny ball on top--and, well, it is. But not just any ball. The silver orb is actually part of the apparatus, determining the radio station depending on where it's positioned.

Rather than a simple dial or buttons, the magnetized ball moves along a tick-tack-toe-style grid until it rests in one of nine niches that changes the programmable channels, according to Coolest-Gadgets. Just don't lose that ball, or you could end up listening to Paul Harvey for the rest of your life.

All-in-one 'I-TV' from Italy

Who says the PC-TV is dead? A decade ago, a lot of bets were placed (and lost) on the convergence of television and the computer as a single uber-device for the home. But the concept is alive and kicking in, of all places, Italy.

Coolest-Gadgets says a company called Mc Person has unveiled an "all-in-one" system that will offer "television, radio, Internet, high-definition video, house automation, health monitoring and more." The "I-TV" concept, as it is known, works wirelessly and is controlled through a single remote.

It sounds too good to be true, unless … Read more

Equal-opportunity media

A digital music application that forces Apple, Sony and Microsoft to play nice? It's a Christmas miracle. Or something.

Recently released SimpleCenter 4.1 from Universal Electronics is a PC-only software application that organizes and plays any music, movie and photo format. It's an equal-opportunity program, able to sync media files with a diverse group of devices--an iPod, PSP, Xbox 360, Nokia N80, N93, USB sticks and other PlaysForSure players.

On the plus side, posessors of the Nokia N80 can wirelessly update their media content from their home PC using SimpleCenter, which is cool. However, though SimpleCenter allows … Read more

Create your own starry nights with HomeStar

I guess there are a lot of things you can do with a home planetarium projector, like the HomeStar Pro Planetarium that I read about on Uncrate. You can use it to create spectacular ceiling art for your next party (just make sure nobody spills anything on the $350 projector), or to woo that cute astronomy geek next door. Or, you could (gasp) actually learn about the night sky. It's got all kind of cool stories behind it, you know, like science-y stuff and mythology and whatnot. For real.

But, since it's Monday morning and I've already … Read more

Alarm clock features old-school TV design, incongruous remote

This cute little alarm clock that i read about on Tokyomango looks like one of those little portable TVs that made a brief splash in the '80s. Actually, in my opinion, it looks more like a toy radar device that would be found in a Fisher-Price "My First U.S. Navy Ballistic Missile Submarine" playset. But that's beside the point.

So it looks like it operates just like your average alarm clock. And since this is the Age of Laziness, it comes with a remote control. As Tokyomango's blogger points out, the remote control is, well, … Read more