Windows are great, you can see things out of them, they shed light and they bring the cool breeze to you. Makoto Hirhara's Bright Blind tries to bring some of these comforts to barren, windowless walls. The Bright Blind hangs on your wall and is constructed from electroluminescent sheets. The light dispersed gives the impression sunlight is creeping in, much like a real blind covered window would do.
Only thing is; there is no real sunlight behind the Bright Blind. It's all a lie. One cleverly constructed illusion, even Eisenheim would be proud of its intricate illusionary detailing. If your residence is the local penitentiary, then we could understand the Bright Blind's utility, but if not, just up and get some air, man. Added bonus, you get some vitamin D out of the real deal, no amount of electroluminescent sheets will give you that. At present, the Bright Blind is a concept, so if you are interested in purchasing, you have a wait on your hands. -Haroon Malik [Technabob]
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Australian police stopped a robbery in Sydney, arresting three men. The funny part? We think one of them may have been wearing an iPod, given that trademark white earbud cord sticking out of his pocket. It's possible that, having cold feet at the last second, this scared masked man cranked some Judas Priests to get in that important armed robbery state of mind. Or maybe he wanted to ensure that his Nike+iPod account gave him credit for all those steps he'd be making later, sprinting from the cops. Either way, it's a bit funny and a bit sad. But from our perspective, mostly just funny. -Mark Wilson
[ABCNews via digg]
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Sixty-six fans is a lot, but if you are planning to mod a standard PC case with fans allover, you shall be requiring that amount of cooling power. We very much doubt the mod retains the PC's original energy star rating, but if you have a problem keeping cool and you continually have your CPU shorting on you, why not put some extra cool on your case?
That is if you can stand the awful sight, deafening sound and dust build up, which will eventually cause your CPU to short out, anyway. Then you can go back to being sweaty and miserable—might we suggest a standard desktop fan? It just seems easier. -Haroon Malik
[Boing Boing]
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The Rocker Kart is a bicycle alternative, retailing at £149.99, the three-wheeled kart lacks any form of visible steering, but that is where the Rocker gets interesting. Apparently, by leaning left or right a patented control mechanism comes into play, altering your course to follow the direction of your weight shift.
That sounds like a recipe for disaster to us, but as we all know such disaster can be equivalent to great fun, and so we want to try this baby out. The build of the device seems to be impressively well done, from the galvanized metal frame to the shapely front wheel, intended for better cornering and, of course, the bad ass flame design adorning the seat and frame. I see a Gizmodo Rocker Kart tournament on the horizon...I see Malik winning a Gizmodo Rocker Kart tournament trophy. I see dead people. -Haroon Malik
[Product Page via Random Good Stuff]
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About the size of a hot tub, this portable nuclear reactor in development by Hyperion Power Generation could be buried in a small cement casing within the ground and provide maintenance-free power to 25,000 homes for 5-years.
An internal chemical reaction produced 27 megawatts of thermal energy powering an external steam turbine to produce electricity. A sort of nuclear battery, we're not sure if it could, should or will ever come to fruition. But it's certainly a neat idea...and the perfect accessory to take our summer grilling "to the next level." -Mark Wilson
[hyperion via sfreporter]
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Even the jewelers at Tiffany's would be impressed by the mix of precious stones and metals thrown into this PS2 controller neck pendant. The ridiculously geeky piece is constructed from 18k white gold, with 68.34ct of black diamonds lining the controller's surface.
We were not so sure you could get 68.34ct of diamonds all in one place without owning a bank, but apparently we were wrong. Still, we are guessing the price is a little over the usual you would pay for a standard Playstation controller. Unfortunately, we do not know what the price paid was, but we are sure the rapper, Just Blaze, saved up for weeks to be able to afford the Playstation inspired bling. Now, if a neck pendant fashioned like a diamond clad PS2 controller does not earn him some serious rapper credibility, there is something wrong with the world. There you have it; crime doesn't pay, rapping does. Perhaps we should start a Gizmodo rapper clan, all we would need is a rival clan to aim our witty slurs at...who could that be? -Haroon Malik [BGR]
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You can never have enough storage but if you can get a huge amount of it in your pocket then all the better.
Buffalo Technology is claiming the first 2.5in portable drive with a staggering 320GB of storage. The 5400rpm MiniStation TurboUSB (HD-PS320U2) will be no slouch either in terms of speeds - up to 64 per cent faster than typical 4200rpm drives is the claim - and with a price tag of £155, it’s not the most painful premium you could pay for this much portable storage. It measures just 5 x 0.8 x 3.3in and weighs under half a pound.
Thanks to being powered off your computer there’s no need to cart around a bulky power brick or cable. The drive is shock resistant and the wraparound USB cable means it should be tidy when pocketing.
The drive boasts some 256-bit AES encryption software and back-up software from Memeo. Due out next month.-Martin Lynch
[Buffalo]
storage hdd gadgets portable
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The biggest pain for those that like to record every family event on a camcorder is that getting the stuff onto a DVD can be a chore.
That’s when ‘those relatives’ start running to you with bags of tapes at Christmas, pleading for help.
Canon is hoping to take some of the pain out of video transfer next year with the launch of its portable DW-100 DVD recorder. There are others like this but this one is promising support for HD video too. This little number can be attached straight to your camcorder, allowing for burning of MPEG-2 Video onto DVDs but also HD video burning – as long as the files use AVCHD codec. This means you’ll be able to play them back on PS3s and most Blu-ray players.
The DW-100 sports a USB 2.0 slot for use with Macs and PCs. It’s out in Japan next March but no prices yet.Jump for a close-up.-Martin Lynch
[Akiharbara]
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
