If you’re like me, you occasionally find yourself stranded in the rain without an umbrella, having forgotten to check the Weather Channel online before leaving the house in the morning. No matter how amazingly designed your umbrella is, it’s useless unless you have it around when it starts raining, and buying a dinky little substitute umbrella off the street just to make it home without getting soaked is frustrating and costly.

The Ambient Umbrella’s handle lights up when there is snow or rain in the forecast, unobtrusively but firmly reminding you that you should probably bring it along when you leave the house. Thunderstorms, drizzles, snow, and generic rain all have their own distinctive light patterns, which is pretty cool - some people don’t feel like an umbrella is necessary in the snow, for example - and data is wirelessly transferred from an online weather station to a chip in the umbrella’s handle, so you don’t have to do any downloading or updating yourself. It’s only available for the United States at the moment, but hopefully it will spread elsewhere fast - I would have loved to have something like this when I visited England last summer and it rained almost every day!

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Posted: December 30th, 2009 under General.
Comments: none

This innocent looking spy lighter hides serious surveillance functionality under its flameless tip. It may not light your cigarette, but it does contain a digital camera capable of storing 4 GB worth of 640 x 480 resolution video. Removing the faux-lighter tip reveals the tip of a USB drive, allowing you to conveniently upload your spy footage to any computer while charging the built-in battery.

This has great potential as a security tool. Just, you know, don’t get caught using it. Or trust anyone with a black plastic lighter again, ever. Actually, from now on, I’m strictly using matches…

[via Technabob]

Posted: December 18th, 2009 under General.
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This festive string of light-up R2D2 Christmas ornaments is sure to brighten up any geek’s holidays. There’s just something about the little round robot that never fails to bring a smile to our faces. Not to mention, his beeps and burbles are a lot more pleasant to listen to than the 994th rendition of “Jingle Bells” and the rest of the Christmas music trained to assault you wherever you go during the winter gift-giving season. Protect yourself - deck the halls with robots!

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Posted: December 16th, 2009 under General.
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This computer mouse shaped like a cheery red Lego brick appeals to our inner geek and our inner child - two pretty powerful forces when it comes to deciding what kind of computer accessories to use. While trying to build a house out of these is probably not a great idea unless you have a lot of spare cash lying around, it’s hard not to think of this mouse as a toy, and it looks like it must make work a lot more fun.

[via Nerd Approved]

Posted: December 11th, 2009 under General.
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Capable of transforming from an unassuming yet fashionable piece of silver jewelry into an impressive, futuristic timepiece, this “iron samurai” watch will complement any apparel choice, turning even the most backward geek garb into a space-age fashion statement. Buttons on the right side of the band activate the time and date display, with numbers appearing as bright LED lights snaking through the chain links.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Posted: December 9th, 2009 under General.
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Sometimes a present’s packaging is almost as much fun as the gift inside, and with the winter gift holidays approaching fast, it’s time to start thinking of how to wrap those fabulous geek-gifts you have been stockpiling for months…because, of course, your vast array of electronic organizers and digital calendars have been reminding you not to procrastinate. Right? (We won’t judge…)

Anyway, this Space Invaders gift wrap will spice up any holiday gift instantly. It doesn’t have the game’s addictive sound effects, but it will bring a smile instantly to any geek’s face.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Posted: December 3rd, 2009 under General.
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The pale, pasty geek is a common stereotype–never leaving the house, preferring to obtain his only light from the glow of the computer monitor or television screen, his sun-sensitive eyes hidden behind thick coke-bottle glasses, and so on. In a noble, if extremely strange, gesture to shatter this cliche, the Star Wars merchandise empire has come out with a line of Star Wars branded fishing accessories, including a lightsaber-shaped fishing rod/reel combo, a tackle box emblazoned with characters from the films, and a fishing backpack for carrying all these goodies.

Now all we need are some heavy-prescription sunglasses and we’re set for a day fishing on the lake! Assuming we can take our laptop computers on the boat, of course–I mean, we have our priorities…

[via OhGizmo]

Posted: December 1st, 2009 under General.
Comments: none