External hard drives are crucial for backing up important data–if (when) your computer crashes, your files are safe and easily recovered. The ioSafe takes data protection one step further: it’s fireproof, waterproof, and comes with a “disaster recovery guarantee,” meaning that even if parts are damaged, the data inside is safe. With this drive, if your computer crashes and your house burns down, all those photos of your cats are safe and sound. It works like a standard external hard drive with USB 2.0 capability, though it does weigh a bit more…

Here’s a bonus video of Wall Street Journal reporters beating up the ioSafe:

Posted: September 29th, 2009 under General.
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This watch looks much too cool to even bother with telling the time. Fortunately, despite its ultra-futuristic and fashionable design, reading the time display is quite simple, with hours displayed in LED lights on the left side and minutes on the right. It certainly looks like it fell out of a spaceship, though. Some models even have mirror strips running the length of the band, adding to the distracting shininess of the timepiece. Imagine a room full of people wearing these–you’d have to put on sunglasses!

Posted: September 24th, 2009 under General.
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This cute little MP3 player brings together the geek’s love of the Rubik’s cube with the audiophile’s need for a high-tech music player. To lock the cube into play mode, simply leave it intact–to build a playlist, twist it around like you would the cube, uncover the buttons that operate the player, and pick the tracks you want.

I would probably get too frustrated at the cube to get much listening pleasure out of this musical toy, but if you like puzzles, this could be the perfect audio accessory to the Rubik’s USB drives and keychains you’ve probably already collected…

Posted: September 22nd, 2009 under General.
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These stealthy ninja USB thumb drives conceal 2 gigabytes of data within their dangerous-looking shells. Just pop off the pointed tip of the kunai [top] or one of the points of the shuriken [bottom] to reveal the tell-tale plug. They’re kind of expensive, but look like harmless toys, hiding in plain sight to keep your data extremely safe.

GeekStuff4U warns on their website that they aren’t responsible for customers hurting themselves on the sharp edges. I wonder if that’s a marketing ploy, or if someone actually did try to sue after stabbing themselves with their own data…sure puts a new spin on the meaning of “hacking!”

Posted: September 21st, 2009 under General.
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[via CrunchGear]

Do you want a flower that will live forever? Do you find “fake” plant options hopelessly dull? Japanese researchers recently developed the Himawari, a robotic sunflower capable of sensing the presence of humans. If you wave your hand in front of the flower, it turns its “head” toward you and activates a set of red and white LED lights in the flower’s center. This sensitivity is accomplished through an infra-red camera, also located in the center of the flower, though it’s a nice ego-boost to think that the flower is mistaking you for a source of light.

It’s probably a bad idea to water the Himawari, but you can still get a nice pot for it.

Posted: September 14th, 2009 under General.
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