What did the gadget elves bring you this Christmas?

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Our household was blessed with 432 rare earth magnetic spheres, a staple-free stapler and a ThinkGeek catalog - thanks Bro! Also in the gadget gifts were a couple of headsets, chemistry set, a train set and "Built to Last" by David Macaulay.

Thanks everyone.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

A parcel from one of the Muzgadget Bros has arrived. It says "Monkey powered awesomeness enclosed". Can't wait to open it.

Merry Christmas and may your stockings be filled with cool gadgets.

HeroRat

An amazing project that uses the incredible sense of smell that rats have for mine and tuberculosis detection.

Learn more about the awesome sniffer rats at HeroRat.

Sun Jars

It is only just after 4:30pm and starting to get dark here. Winter is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere. I'm thinking that the MuzGadget bros on the other side of the world who are heading into Summer could make a sun jar and send us some of their excess sunlight.

Create Your Own Sun Jar: Lifehacker Edition with the instructions on LifeHacker.

Innovative electronic musical loops

With violin, xylophone, whistling, voice and some complex electronic loops, Andrew Bird makes some innovative music.




Andrew Bird's one-man orchestra of the imagination | Video on TED.com

Creating Squidoo Lenses on the run

I have created a Squidoo lens about creating Squidoo Lenses on my mobile phone. Check out Making Squidoo Lenses with Opera Mini on a Sony Ericsson Smartphone.

I challenge the other MuzGadget Bros who have devices like the iPad, iPhone or Android-based phones to join Squidoo make a lens on their devices about the lens building experience.

Balloon to space and back

Enjoy this video of a flight to the edge of space with a homemade spacecraft.
Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.
As seen on Geek.com

Looxcie - an always on wearable camera

The Looxcie wearable camcorder lets you capture unexpected video moments and easily share them. Cool features include smart phone remote control, last 30 seconds clip capture and integrated bluetooth headset.

 

With the 180° rotating ear bud you can wear it on either ear, or you could get two and produce 3D point of view movies.

Looxcie Wearable Camcorder: Capture Unexpected Moments

Vintage fire engines

The youngest Muzgadget Bro got married on the weekend. His day (and night) job is as an air force firefighter and so he arrived in style on vintage fire truck.

Meanwhile halfway around the world at the 79th Izmir International Fair, I saw an even older fire appliance. A Shand Mason & Co "First Prize" horse drawn steam powered pump from the late 1800s.

Congratulation on your wedding Bro. Sorry I couldn't be there. Have a great honeymoon.

Robotic Balls

Controlled by a smart phone, these robotic balls (in prototype) from Gearbox have a gyroscope, compass and other cool technology built in so when you tilt the phone, the ball moves in that direction. Hackable, the ball's serial port can be used to control other devices. Fun cat teasing toys.

This startup says "play with our balls, please!"

Eyeborg

Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence has replaced his damaged eye with a wireless camera.



Read more on Cyborg eye gives insight on Stuff and Eyeborg Project.

Ultra-low footprint "desktop" PC

Check out this A PC The Size of your Phone Jack? article I stumbled on treehugger.

Powered by the 5V on the ethernet cable, this PC without storage would be ideal for offices (or wired homes with servers).

The Falkirk Wheel

Just over a year ago we visited the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. An amazing piece of engineering that has replaced a complex system of locks and has helped to revive canal boat tourism.

A boat entering the bottom of the wheel.

Another boat entering next to ours before we go down again.

The Falkirk Wheel in action.

Using Archimede's principle of displacement, the Falkirk Wheel uses very little energy to lift the boats up and down in rotating balanced tanks.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Living small

Jay Shafer makes small houses. Real small.

As seen on Yahoo. Learn more at Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.

Sci-fi airshow

An awesome preservation and promotion of the historic Sci-Fi/fantasy film/TV vehicles. Take the guided tour if you can't wait until it comes to your local spaceport.




Shuttle/ Viper

See more at http://www.scifiairshow.com/

Intelligent drinking glasses

These smart but low tech  drinking glasses tell you what is inside them.

Learn how 2009 - reddot design award winner, Damjan Stanković has designed the Cipher Drinking Glass at http://relogik.com/cipher

Blogging from Word 2010

This post comes courtesy of the Blog document template in Word 2010 Beta.

The template is very clean and simple, just showing a blank space to enter the post title and an area for the content. No distractions.

On the Insert tab of the Word ribbon is a Screenshot button which can capture any non-minimized window except the one you are working on, so sorry no picture.

When you start to use the template, Word asks if you want to connect to a blog account. A warning that my username and password are likely to be transmitted unsecured is a bit of a concern.

It would be helpful to tag this post, but the Insert Category button is unavailable.

Word could be useful for blogging if you use Word a lot or you want to write a long post.

I'm going to push the Publish button now.

Rolltop

How long do you think it will be before we see this rollable laptop/pad available as a real product?

Future Designer laptop - ROLLTOP //Diploma Thesis//

Nearing the limit of Moore's Law?

Moore's Law describes how the number of transistors that can be cheaply placed on a computer chip doubles almost every two years. In 2005, Gordon Moore noted that transistors would eventually reach the limits of atomic levels and scientists working with nanotechnology have now created a transistor using apparently only seven atoms.

The "Quantum Dot" embedded in a single silicon crystal in the heart of the nanoscopic transistor measures only 4 nanometres across and promises a new generation of super computing.

'Quantum dot' promises faster PCs | Stuff.co.nz

Visiting the London Science Museum

Last July we visited the London Science Museum - well parts of it. There is too much there to see it all in one day.

Some of the highlights included exhibits in the "science museum 100 celebrating a century of science", such as a Cray supercomputer, half a Mini, and many many more important contributions to science and technology.

 

Print a brick

Ginger Krieg Dosier from the American University of Sharjah (UAE) has invented a method of producing printable, bio-manufactured bricks.

Printing layers of sand, bacteria (Sporosarcina pasteurii), yeast extract, urea, calcium chloride and water starts a biological process where the bacteria produce a glue that binds the materials together. Printable bricks can be almost any shape and are as strong as marble.

A neat feature is that the same bio process can be used to bind bricks together doing away with the need for traditional mortar.

More details on Metropolis Magazine.

As seen on Printable Brick Could Cut World's Carbon Emissions by "At Least" 800 Million Tons a Year | Fast Company

Did you know New Zealand has a space program?

Rocket Lab is a commercial rocket company in NZ, delivering small payloads into space and to suborbital heights for scientific research and experiments. Solar physics, micro-gravity, climate change measurements and launching ashes into space for memorials are just some of the applications of these small, efficient, low-cost rockets. The research from the program has developed several innovative technologies including environmentally-benign fuels.

Rocket launch - NZ blasts into space

Rocket Lab : Ātea-1 Suborbital Rocket Launch

More on Rocket Lab Ltd - Innovative access to space

Flying camera

A DSLR camera mounted on a RC helicopter gives smooth HD video.

Aerial video with helivideo.com Our legacy video. from Heli Video Productions LLC on Vimeo.

As seen on Make & DIYPhotography

Pen from potatoes

I rarely use pens, but here is an interesting video about an ecologically friendly writing implement.

DBA 98 Biodegradable Pen from DBA on Vimeo.

All our old favourite video games in one video

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.

Chromoscope - different ways to look at the universe

Joining together datasets from several all-sky projects, this tool lets you see what is out there in different wavelengths.
Chromoscope - View the Universe in different wavelengths

Robot Zoo

We visited the Robot Zoo exhibit at the Kanyon mall in Istanbul last week. Our kids really enjoyed it.


Featuring large interactive robotics, the exhibit explained how the creatures worked. You could make the chameleon change color, move its head and body and stuck out its tongue.



Other creatures included a giraffe, rhino, bat, platypus, fly and squid.

My first search plugin

Have you ever had issue with a forum that will only allow searching for keywords longer than 3 characters. One forum I frequent often is www.pbxinaflash.com/forum. This is a great forum but the problem is the search functionality of the forum only allows for anything over 3 characters.
This is a problem when searching for things like "SIP, IAX, FAX, XEN" etc.

So I created my first open search plugin. Open search plugins are small XML files that add a search enginge to your Firefox or IE search box.

Here's how I did it.

• in Firefox I installed this plugin Add to Search Bar :: Firefox Add-ons
  
• then used Google advanced search to search the forum
• and saved this as a search
• I used this search myself for a month or so and then thought I would share it with others

Originally posted as draft by Robin 23-Apr-09.

New design

The MuzGadgets blog is nearly 3 years old and has been overdue for a design change. For the new look I have used the new Blogger Template Designer gadget.

Tilt-Shift

The Sandpit - An amazing video of a day in New York using the tilt-shift technique that makes everything look like models (as in miniatures, not fashion).
The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.
As seen on Make Blog.

Pedal powered monorail

A safe human powered urban transport system - Shweeb.

Hovercraft? Boat? Aircraft?

Technically a boat but who cares what it is - it looks super cool fun and it flys.


For sale on Trademe FLYING HOVERCRAFT

Sally Sells You Stuff

Sally profiles tech gear in this funny live action comic series.

Pen shaking

Ever had a pen run out of ink - it usually means it is time to buy a new pen. This is a rather drastic solution.

Black Macbook or White Macbook?

A couple of friends have traded keys on their Mac books to cool effect.

iPhone Driving

"iPhone Steeting Wheel"

An interesting interface.

Kitchen Computer Build

A DIY Kitchen Touch Screen Project



Read the details at The iPhone Inspired DIY Kitchen Touch Screen Project

Sugru - Silicone 'clay' for hacking stuff

This waterproof, flexible new material comes in a range of colors and sticks other stuff. Really good for repair work or creating special parts. 

Currently sold out.

As seen on New silicone 'clay' lets consumers modify troublesome products - Springwise

Google Wave

Still have some Google Wave invites to give away.

Solar-powered flying machine

A designer is planning to revolutionize air travel with a solar-powered balloon. The Aerolabe is being designed based on the energy efficiency of birds, though I think one version looks more like a fish swimming through the air.

Flexible modular chair

I just stumbled upon this interesting, flexible configuration chair.

Modular chair
by grrrrreg

Here's your flying car!

Introducing the Transition®. Simply land at the airport, fold your wings up and drive home.

Dominoes everywhere for the holidays

Musical Dominoes!

Dominoes Everywhere for the holidays from Jared Lyon on Vimeo.

Just a quick follow-up to my initial domino video to say season's greetings and happy new year.

With this second video I wanted to be more personal, but I also really wanted to see if I could get the dominoes to hit bells and play a song.

And of course, there's no better time of year for bell songs than the holiday season. I specifically chose "Carol of the Bells" because it's not just a Christmas song. Believe it or not, its origin goes back to an old pagan New Year's chant from the Ukraine.

So with that, I hope you enjoy it, and again happy holidays.

Happy 2010 - Where's my flying car?

2010 has arrived, but where is the technology we were promised when they talked about the future at primary school. Sure we have seen a lot of technology developed in the last 40 years, but where is the flying car and the shopping mall on the moon? I guess they are not that important. What gadgets do you want to for Christmas 2010? Put in your wish list now and let's see if the inventors can design and make them this year.

LiveScience has a list of 10 Profound Innovations Ahead.