The Bytelove Gadget Blog

In the past few weeks, I wrote quite a number of posts on clocks/alarm clocks. Some of them quite practical, some just classy. Actually, I was growing quite tired from clocks, so when I saw this gadget for the first time (and incorrectly assumed that it is yet another clock) I wanted to just close my browser window.

Well, I stopped at the last moment – I thought it looked nice and promising enough to overlook the clock that I imagined was inside (no, there was no clock inside).

The Zen Dolphin apparently does not have a function as complex as showing time. Nope, actually all it does is imitate swimming while being illuminated from the bottom, and make dolphin/underwater noises. So, what is the use of having one, you might ask. Simple. It looks great. It’s simply a cool little thing to have (and it can pass off as relaxing if you choose your words wisely).

I understand that the picture doesn’t really show why exactly I like this little trinket. Therefor, I suggest you watch the video on the product page. Lastly, let me just say that I believe this would be a great present – nice enough, doesn’t have allusions to any major celebrations, and is unlikely to conflict with anyones’ religion (everyone who believes in the satanic dolphin cult, raise your hand, please).

The Zen Dolphin is $39.95 at MyVirtualZone.

I assume we all know what’s a cuckoo clock is, right? Cartoons that we saw as children (Tom&Jerry for me) taught us at least that much (It also taught me that whoever is at fault, you have a far better chance of getting away with it if you’re the weak little oppressed-looking mouse).

Well, it appears as though someone decided that hearing the same bird over and over again could be annoying (I wholeheartedly agree). And that someone was able to turn his/her idea into reality. Introducing the Bird Song Clock! For each of the twelve hours you get a song of a different bird. Starting from the hour 12 clockwise the birds are the Tawny Owl, Chaffinch, Cuckoo, Great Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Barn Owl, Wren, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Nightingale and Robin. An inbuilt light sensor makes sure that the songs do not wake you up in the middle of the night (Imagine the old times when the clocks had loud chimes to announce a new hour and did not have a light sensor that would shut them up when you wanted to sleep).

The clock comes in a matt green frame and is 20cm (8”) in diameter. Adding the realistic bird drawings and the minimalistic design, this clock is designed so it would look good anywhere. Personally, I think it would look good in a room full of bookshelves full of not-so-light literature, or on a wall in your workspace. Of course such a clock would make a wonderful gift.

The Bird Song Clock is £19.95 including VAT (EU) or £16.98 excluding VAT (Outside EU). Fount at eDirectory.

Anyone here has a habit of visiting clubs from time to time? I am speaking about the ones where darkness, strobe lights and overrated pop music (and maybe light alcohol, and (legality depending on the country) sometimes light narcotics) rule tens (hundreds?) of entranced humans as they attempt to move in tune with music while trying to use their brain as less as possible (believe it or not, these words are by a guy who frequents such clubs 1 – 2 times a week).

And with such numbers of somewhat zombie-like people, one naturally attempts to get noticed by being different from the mass. The popular means to achieve that include glowing bracelets and glowing sticks. Nice little toys, eh? Look great after dark, match any style of casual clothing (can’t really expect such things to look good when wearing a business suit, now can you?). Problem is, these things are so cheap (well, they are cheap when buying in high quantities, from a supplier. Clubs often sell them for 5 – 20 times the original price) and there are so relatively few laws applying to them, that they are a pretty common sight. And who cares about stuff that everyone knows about?

Well, how about flashing (no pun intended) a truly glowing smile? With these flashing mouthpieces (made from rubber. Should be more comfortable than the plastic vampire teeth mouthpieces you might have tried), with 4 ultra bright LEDs each shining simultaneously, your smile will be hard to miss (by the way, believe it or not, ultra bright is an actual LED classification).

The Flashing Mouthpieces are £1.99 (discounts are available if you buy more than one) at Glowsticks.

Is there anyone among us who didn’t want a talking pet parrot in their childhood? Well, I certainly do remember wishing for one.

Well, that desire quickly disappeared once I got shown what a parrot truly is – a loud, hyperactive bird, incapable of staying silent or still for more than a fraction of a second. Having a talking pet still remained an attractive idea though.

Well, now you can have a pet parrot that is capable of repeating your words, and yet at the same time doesn’t cause any of the problems live pets tend to (fails at the whole “Friendship and Companionship” business though – well, nothing is perfect after all.). Powered via USB or by 2 AA batteries, the USB Talking Parrot will memorize words it hears from you, and then choose the worst moment possible to shout the words out in it’s ‘parrot voice’ while flapping it’s wings.
(Luckily for you, unlike normal parrots, these come with an “OFF” switch)

The USB Talking Parrot is £19.95 at BoyStuff.

If you have been keeping up with the world’s trends, you should be familiar with a game called Guitar Hero. For those completely oblivious, that’s basically a game that imitates a guitar, where people have to play songs of various difficulties. This game allows them to perform rock solos without taking the actual time to learn to play the guitar (As someone who is taking the time to learn to play the guitar, I tend to look down on people who brag about their ‘guitar hero skills’, but that’s just me).

Well, playing the guitar on the screen didn’t really give you the feeling of an actual guitar (the keyboard feels distinctively different from a guitar, wouldn’t you agree?). Sure, there lately have been a few physical versions of the game, some actually resembling guitars, even coming close (well, not really) in size. But they usually were still operated with buttons, and, as such, still didn’t give you the real feel.

Now the Guitar Hero Air Guitar is an improvement. While you will look like a total idiot while playing it, you will also get the pleasure of hearing a sound produced when you strum with the pick (you won’t be strumming any strings though). The kit is made up of a miniature amp (slightly bigger than your palm), an ‘air cartridge’, a belt buckle and a pick. After inserting the ‘air cartridge’ into the amp, you wave the pick over the buckle, and the first sound from your chosen song (there are 5 songs in the air cartridge that comes with the kit, and new ones will soon be released) will be played. Essentially, you will only need to strum in relatively similar rhythm to play the songs.

There is also an output socket which can be used to connect headphones (if you haven’t quite gotten the hang of playing yet and want to spare the embarrassment, or if your neighbors are making death threats to you), or, if you really want to annoy someone, connect to external speakers.

As nice as this toy is, I can still see a few problems with it:
1.Only 5 songs. There will be additional cartridges later, but they will cost you.
2.The guitar sound, while nice for a toy, is below the one a middle level electric guitar can produce.
3.Simply put, you’ll look like an idiot playing this. On the other hand, playing any toy instead of an actual instrument will make you look stupid – at least this is rather cool

Official site: AirGuitarRocker
You can buy this for the lowest price on: Target.

Imagine this seemingly typical, everyday situation: you are walking down the street, and you see some rare sight – an old, rare and almost legendary car (For example, some of you might know of the Trabant), the first flowers of spring (if you’re a romantic) or just something like a street performance. Now unless you have a perfect photographic memory (rare and hard to develop) and a permanent memory recall (even rarer and even harder to develop), the first thing most of you will think of doing is to whip out your camera-equipped cellphones and take a picture. Well, what if you don’t have the time to do that (i.e. The object is moving) or cameras in any form are forbidden?

Well, this gadget solves those little problems. The Spy Camera Sunglasses have a 1.3Mp camera just beside the right lens. Want to take a picture? - just press a button on the pocket-sized RF remote control. Don’t worry about the number of the pictures – you can’t exactly fill the 1Gb of inbuilt memory in one attempt. And when you’re not taking pictures, the sunglasses also serve as an mp3 player.

Now, the following will be based on my experience (I own mp3 player sunglasses by the same company. They look more or less the same too):
First of all, the lenses are wonderful. They look good from the outside, and they are very clear from the inside (just remember to remove the protective layer not only from the outer, but from the inner side as well), as well as easy to clean. The music/headphone quality is simply great – you hear a perfectly clean stereo sound. Lastly, the storage case is padded, made from hard carton with magnetic clips holding the lid – reliable, and will last for years.

The Spy Camera Sunglasses are $99.99 on ThinkGeek.

Do you remember those times when rock concerts were a regular and ordinary occurrence? When rockers dressed in the weirdest of rags and that still passed off as tasteful? When rock was still rock and not heavy pops?

Well, as most of that took place in the golden 80s, most of you probably don’t (neither do I) due to being too young to remember that. I have, however, seen many hours of video recordings. And I find one tradition particularly attractive. During a power ballad, people would whip out their oil lighters (a typical example would be a Zippo lighter) and raise them above their heads, creating a sea of small lights. Now, however, usually what people do (on those rare occasions when real rock is performed) is just use disposable lighters – if they are not totally mutilating the tradition by just using their cellphones. In my eyes, that is a step down.

Well, the Big Daddy Lighter is something that could be actually considered as an improvement (sort of). 4.5″ wide x 6.5″ tall x 1.5″ deep, this lighter produces a 3.5inch (~8.5cm) high flame - something that my inner (or, in the opinion of my friends, outer) pyromaniac simply loves. However, the flame is pretty thin, as it uses standart Zippo wicks (and zippo flints, before you ask) – so, while the flame is thin, at least the parts are replaceable.

As you can see from the pictures (do look into the pictures on the website), the lighter is slightly too big to be called “pocket-sized”, though some people do report being able to keep it in their pockets. Naturally, a lighter this size takes much more oil than regular sized ones – about three cans of Zippo fluid are used to fully fill this giant.

The Big Daddy Jumbo Lighter (without the fluid inside – shipping regulations) costs $14.95 at Vat19 (this is the best price I came across).

Back in the days when the concept of a modern times gadget was laughable (not necessarily referring to the middle ages) people had to face a task of finding something to amuse themselves with each and every day. That is, of course, excluding those that had to work from daybreak till dawn to be able to live (depending on the time period, that could be the majority of the world).

Well, those that could afford some fun used to take part in a wide variety of activities. Those considered artistic would draw or attempt to write works of literature. Others, less talented would attempt to sing or dance (in this aspect, the world didn’t change much – that still happens far too frequently). And those who regarded themselves as intellectuals would pit their minds against opponents in an old Indian game called ‘chess’.

However, time goes by, and times change. And today’s product is a great proof of it. I’m rather certain that if you attempted to use this chess set in , oh, the middle ages or so, you would be roasted in a huge bonfire (not a particularly pleasant way to leave this world). Nowadays, though, you’ll get only some strange looks at worst (depends on who you are – no one would think it’s weird for me to own such a set).

On a 12 inch (~30cm) square board (which reminds me of a dungeon) that has 4 skulls in place of legs), you and your opponent pit your skeletal head armies against each other (there are black and white skulls).

This set could actually solve one problem that quite a few chess fanatics have – lack of willing opponents. Most people don’t particularly like chess, or they lack patience for it. But really, who could resist playing with something like this?

The Skulls Chess Set costs £29.95 (could be cheaper, but souvenir glass chess sets tend to be even more costly). Found at Gobaz.

Here’s a riddle for you (I’m not ripping off ‘Brainiac’, am I?): who is dead, yet walks, moans and says “Ughhhh….BRAAAIIIIINS!”? That’s right, a zombie.

Side story: recently I had to pull through an evening with a lot of masked (and incredibly loud, louder than I’ve ever been at least) six year old nuisances children. Anyhow, when the reason for my torture adults asked them to tell them what they knew about zombies, everyone started shouting some thing or another about Frankenstein or mentioned eating flesh and brains. When asked about vampires, all they could say was “they drink blood”. A question about Count Dracula returned zero results. A strong evidence that zombies are more famous than vampires, wouldn’t you say?(that or those kids were brain-dead, which isn’t so hard to believe after 6+ hours with them)

So, what do you need to do if you want to join this society of living corpses? Well, basically, walk slowly and in the strangest way imaginable, moan, have a glazed look and the classic part – eat brains. Now, raw brains might not be incredibly appetizing, and a zombie is technically too stupid to cook (though cooked animal brains is considered a gourmet dish). Solution? - fake, edible brains.

The Brain Mold allows you to use gelatin to produce an edible jelly model of the left hemisphere (slightly bigger than the average though, but chances are your’s are too). All of the brain parts are there, so the jelly can be used for educational purposes. Still, nothing beats good old brain-eating-zombie routine (there’s a recipe included to make the brain jelly brain-colored just for this purpose).

The Brain Mold is 7.89$ at PrankPlace. Affordable enough, and if you think of it, the faces of your guests when you serve them brains have an estimated price of priceless

In the past, I wrote about a number of alarm clocks – ranging to extremely loud ones to pleasantly sounding. Well, it is of course a good thing if the loud ringing of the alarm wakes you up. But even if you are woken up, what do you do? If you’re lucky, you manage to get up and start the day. If you’re not….well, in my case, I just turn off the alarm and get back to sleep. And all that while still relatively unconscious.

Well, what could be better in order to truly awake than giving your system a little shock…literally. The Shocking Alarm Clock, sporting an appearance of a retro style alarm clock, will release a slight (or not so slight, depends on your way of seeing things) electric shock into your hand as soon as it touches the electricity conducting exterior while reaching to turn off the infernal wailing of the dead alarm. Of course, if you manage to hit the ‘off’ button without touching the exterior, you will be spared the shocking wakeup – though the chances to do that while you’re still half-asleep and with your eyes closed are pretty slim.

Oh yeah, common sense or, in some cases, it’s closest equivalent (what? I know people who are like that…) dictates that electric shock should be avoided by young children, as well as people with certain medical conditions or those who use electronic devices such as heart stimulators.

The Shocking Alarm Clock is $9.99 at X-tremegeek.