More than One Small Step

Forget the pedometer, no one cares how many steps you’ve taken in a day if you can’t find any relevant meaning in your movement combined with the rest of your day. That’s where the Fitbit comes in.

The Fitbit can calculate anything from the miles you’ve traveled and the calories you’ve burned to how long it took you to fall asleep and how many times you woke up in between. For $99 the Fitbit is definitely a calculating time savor, and with the health obsessions sweeping the states I can’t see how Fitbit can lose. I don’t know how I’d feel about wearing the little thing around all the time, but hey, it’s not as ugly as it could be.

To See or not to See

The University of Washington has set out to manufacture another super power (sort of).

Researchers at the university are working on the first bionic eye designed like a contact lens. Forget correcting vision, how about improving it? Picture visual holograms for pilots, web surfing, science fiction in general. Circuits and antennas are all included within the contact itself. Currently a separate device will send info to the eye, but hey, it’s closer (and smaller) than anything designed currently.

Right now everything is still in prototype mode, it’s all still too big, too expensive, and too toxic for use in the real world. But it’s nice to know someone’s working on super vision.

Back to Basics

We’ve made cameras disposable, accesorizable, and shiny. Now, at least in the design world, there’s another type to keep a watch on.

The OneShot Camera is just that. A simple lipstick sized digital point and shoot. It would come without an LCD display and without a memory card slot. So basically what you buy would be what you get. What do you get beyond a miniscule device? Simple charging, just shake the thing (like you would a bottle of orange juice) to recharge. Storage capability will make a huge difference, but I can see a market for this thing.

Caffeine Fix

I don’t drive to school (currently) but I know loads of people who do. I also know loads of people who drive to work. And I know just as many people who need their coffee in the morning.

That’s why there’s the Emerson Auto Mug. It’s just like any other to go mug you’d take to work except it comes with a car power adapter this mug will heat your coffee as you drive, no luke warm espresso at the office anymore. Word is the mug is available at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Learning to Share

We have lots of group projects in college, more than you’d think you’d have to deal with once you’ve left high school behind. The business world too is getting more collaborative in the digital age. Well it’s time to make collaboration even simpler.

Introducing the iTwin. Basically its two USB drives but if you plug one into your computer and your friend/buddy/partner plugs the other into his own computer you can share instantly! Instant access to the other computer, no wires, no more cramming around one small laptop screen to work on a single project. It sure sounds convenient to me. The iTwin is due out in 2010 for about $99.

In-case you want a tripod

So, the new ipod nano comes with a camera, as well as a screen for movies. Well, not there’s just the accessory to help you both watch and shoot your own miniscule masterpieces.

The kickester. The kickester is an ipod case that doubles as a stand for the ipod nano. No more holding the screen up to your face on an plane let it rest on your fold out tray, propped up by the extendable kick stand of sorts on the back of the case. So too does this stand make it stable and easy to film if you choose to. At $14.35 it’s not out of the range of most ipod cases to begin with, but it’s a little bit more useful.

Magic Motion

So I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and being a huge nerd comes along with the territory I guess. So although I know how lame this looks to other people, I think it’s pretty fun.

The Kymera Magic Wand universal remote is a magic wand for your television, literally. Just like spells in HP there are specific gestures to control volume and channel. It’s $84 so it will set you back a bit, but so will any other movie related prop or memorabilia, and this is much more useful.

Speak!

So, for now, it only translates in Japanese, but I think that just makes it all that much more amusing. Tomy has released a new dog translator, the Bowlingual Voice.

You heard correct, a collar that will translate your dog’s barks into plain English (well, Japanese for now anyway). It’s a new addition (the old addition didn’t have the recorded human voice capability) and claims to be able to decipher six different doggy emotions for over 50 breeds of dogs.

The handheld controller features an action dictionary, to further decipher a dog’s mood, as well as a dog quiz, and doggy scheduler. I mean, obviously I’ll have to wait for an English version, but what a kick it would be at parties.

Marvel-ous

The evolution of comic books continues. iTunes has boasted a handful of comic reading applications for its ipod touch and the iphone, but now Marvel comics has officially jumped on board.

Through the comiXology, Fanelfly, iVerse, and Scrollmotion official Marvel comics can be downloaded and read for anywhere from .99 cents to $1.99. Current releases aren’t as extensive as they could be, but everyone starts somewhere, and it certainly is another step forward in comic’s accessibility.

Sun Stability

I’m a fan of solar chargers, and the environment, so it’s nice when an official tech company can get behind a green idea and officially endorse it.

That’s what has happened for Novothink’s solar charger for the iphone (second generation) and the ipod touch. The charger has been endorsed by Apple and even looks pretty appealing. Designed almost like a car dock for the iphone the charger slides over the back of the phone (or ipod) and contains LEDs so you can see how much of a charge you really have.

Sure the extra pack will be a little bulky, and a little expensive ($70) but think of the energy you’ll save. Think about the on the go possibilities. It could just be worth