On the odd occasion we find ourselves perusing our personal library via candlelight, we usually have the misfortune of spilling hot wax all over our hands (and our leatherbound books). If you face a similar situation — or you just like the old fashioned idea of touring your darkened home like Uncle Scrooge — perhaps you’d enjoy the Goodnight Eileen lamp from Chilean designer Christine Birkhoven. The energy-efficient candle-shaped LED employs magnetic induction to deliver electricity to the lamp, using its ceramic base to recharge. We’ve also found romantic candlelit dinners are much more enjoyable without the fear of accidentally singeing your arm hair.

If you've ever found yourself in the rare, but nonetheless frustrating predicament of needing to eat sushi while you have only your glasses on you, Brad Gressel's got an inventive solution. The American industrial designer's STIX eyeglasses give you a whole new reason to keep your eye on what you're eating. Combining the practical (needing to see, needing to eat) with the fashionable, you'll find a pair of handy stainless steel tipped chopsticks inside the hollow plastic arms of these glasses. Covering all the bases, they're also fully washable, and the ends of the glasses are left open so there's no nasty bacteria build-up. Plus, there’s a third function. if you're not eating or trying to see, you can always use them to put up your hair.

Do you love gold? No, really love gold. Like an 1840s miner loves gold? Like an unfunny Mike Myers character loves gooooold? U.K.-based Continental Mobiles want to turn your cellular device (or iPod) into a gold plated piece of precious hardware. And not just gold. You want a diamond bezel around that sucker? Sure, why not! How about a bit of platinum for the connoisseur? You don’t even have to ask twice. Besides, what’s a few thousand pounds for a truly unique, bespoke gift? Now if only there was someone we could pay to stop us from losing it.

Did Columbus rock a Garmin? Did Marco Polo Mapquest his way to Cathay? Did Magellan use a … Magellan? No, these men were pioneers who found their way using instinct, courage, and something called a sextant. Modern man relies too much on computerized map systems anyway. Add the analog touch with a paper GPS. Ok, so it’s just a notepad made to look like Internet directions, but the day that we surrender our ass backwards shortcuts and illegal detours is the day the machines have taken over.

As you get older, you tend to forget about majestic mid-day siesta that is nap time. When you’re a kid, there’s no better time (except for recess) than bunking down on your He-Man mat with a handful of juice and cookies and a head full of addition and subtraction problems. But, the time has come again for the afternoon snooze. The Nappak is essentially an inflatable bounce-house that blows up to a small cubicle. Well, not that small. If we had to choose between this and a bedroll, we’d risk a little embarrassment for the sake of comfort. Now if it only had some sort of curtain we could take our pants off.

The biggest problem with commuting by bike in a city is probably getting hit repeatedly by cabs. That, and when you come out of the store only to find your nice new Kryptonite lock hanging around the bike rack sans bike. PUMA’s Glow Rider, manufactured by Biomega, is the third incarnation of their branded bike (and you immediately thought sneakers) and solves most of these problems. First, the stylish single-gear solves the visibility issue of riding at night by adding a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint. Available in green or orange glow, just let your bike soak up some solar rays and it should radiate an alien aura for the duration of your ride. Twin disc brakes can literally stop you in your tracks. And, with its wire lock system, the only way somebody is stealing this bike is if they take that entire rack with them. (Note to thieves: don’t reread that last statement.)

Related: Jens Martin Skibsted From Biomega Bikes

Ever since Back to The Future, Part II, our vision of things to come have always involved inventions like shoes that could tie themselves and hoverboards. That changed when we took a look at the conceptual design for the F1/Carbon GMT watch by designer John Pszeniczny. This Formula One Racing inspired digital watch is constructed of Swarovski crystal, carbon fiber, metal, and rubber, which makes it look more like a flux capacitor than a wristwatch. It also contains 18 rubies that representing the 18 cities on the F1 circuit, from Britain to Bahrain, and can tell each city’s local time. The watch is still a prototype, but we’re hoping they start rolling out with a consumer model some time in the…er…future.

Ah, Mimobots. Nerdy enough to help us appear left-brained, arty enough to help us appear right-brained, and tiny enough to keep our top secret files close to our hearts at all times.

If you’ve yet to experience the flashiness of one of these flash drives, today is your lucky day, as our good pals at Mimoco have graciously unloaded some of their new tokidoki ‘bots into our wide open arms. These latest tech wonders are smothered in the classically kawaii artistry of Italian designer Simone Legno (who we interviewed not too far back), and combine cute and creepy to create some of the most hyped Mimobots to date. We know you want some, so here are your choices for retrieval: A) Battle off hoards of rabid tokidoki fans/throw down some significant dollar; or B) Get arty/nerdy with us.

Game plan: Study up here. Consider what those little ‘bots are up to (Satan pasta and pineapple bombs, oh my!). Write us a little creative short story explaining your theory (or haiku, or song, or algorithm — we don’t care, whatever). Cut and paste to the comment section. Cross your fingers and wait.

May 5th we’ll announce our first and second place winners — who will receive flashy prizes on an only slightly descending scale — and publish their entries. Okay….GO!

In this digital age, our lives operate at the mercy of our gadgetry. When a phone battery loses its last ounce of power, down goes one of our most vital lines of communication. It’s easy to forget to bring your cell phone charger, your iPod charger, and any wires that may help breathe life into any of your other complex machinery you own. Thanks to the wonderfully inventive folks at Bluelounge, you don’t have to worry about remembering to bring all of those wires and gizmos with you every where you go. Their latest invention, The Sanctuary, is a simple and stylish way to carry all of your contraptions in one place while making sure they remain fully charged at all times. This trendy tray not only conveniently fits all of your doodads but also houses a universal charger that is compatible with 1500 plus devices from most major brands as well as a USB port allowing hundreds more to be effectively charged. Stop struggling to find outlets for all of your devices and get The Sanctuary, for yourself and for the inventions you rely on.

If you're at all like us, you like to sit back and enjoy the occasional bag of Cheetos while watching your favorite TV shows. The problem with that is you end up getting orange dust all over the clicker to mix in with last week's sticky chicken wing residue. Indeed, your remote is a cesspool for all sorts of bacteria, which no doubt serves to threaten your harmonious relationship with your germ-phobic roommate. Well tell him to put away the handiwipes, because the electronics mavens at Bang & Olufsen insist it doesn't have to be that way. They may have found a permanent solution for your filthy clicker complications. No, they haven't made a self-cleaning remote...but you're close. Aided by designer Joris Van Gelder, the gadget gurus have created a prototype for the new touchless B&O remote control. While we don't have the specifics on how exactly this thing works...it appears as though the user touches a blank area where light projects the user's channel options...or you know...something. Ah what the heck, just check it out for yourself and you'll know what we mean.

Whether you're willing to call yourself a nerd or not, you've likely perused the pages of Gizmodo, one of the internet's favorite gadget guides. Reporting techie playthings at the rate of around 60 posts per day, Gizmodo employees chase dorky developments with all the frenzy of paparazzi, sharing their wired finds with hoards of daily visitors.

Currently translated into nine different languages, readers of Gizmodo don't have to speak binary to learn about the newest toys. With a staff of writers gifted at making dock connectors sound sexy - and Apple products practically pornographic - the pages of Gizmodo are loved by software developers and day traders alike, and serve to keep those in search of wit, wisdom, and the next best conversation starter happily satiated.

Heading up the Gizmodo revolution is Brian Lam, a Wired expat, known for his trade show disguise tactics and nerdy know-how. Read on as we learn why the internet is the new magazine, the blog is the new suburbia, and why Engadget can, uh, just call itself Pepsi.

Joshspear.com: What enticed you to leave Wired for your current position at Gizmodo?

Brian Lam: I got a lot of my content from blogs. That didn’t feel great.

JS: You've been the editor of Gizmodo for almost two years now. How has the site progressed in that time?

BL: I’d say there’s a lot more teamwork going on, and that’s helped us pass a lot of operations that work as a set of lone wolves. (Read More…)

We’ve been Jawbone fans since the beginning, even back in 2004 when the first non-bluetooth version launched. Creating the “best bluetooth headset ever” and “sexiest way to talk” wasn’t enough for Yves Behar, so he had to go on and create a line of ridiculously sexy limited edition headsets shown above — we approve. Gold is for sweet talk, black is for dirty talk, white is for trash talk.

They were made in a *very* limited quantity, so these will no doubt dry up quickly (and you can’t buy them anywhere). Good thing I secured a set of them here at TED to give away to you, my fellow readers, right?

But I’m not going to let go of them easily, here are the rules:

The best sweet talk to me gets the gold adorned sweet talk headset, dirty talk, gets the sexy black dirty talk version, and trash talk (talk trash) gets the coveted shiny white trash talk version. Leave your dirty, sexy, and trash talk in the comments for me, and have fun. (FYI: comments below may be a liiiiitle NSFW. Just a heads up.)
Full product shots after the jump, courtesy of fuseproject…

Related: Jawbone Films
(Read More…)

Attention all guitar heroes: do you spend the entirety of your daily grind day dreaming about those legendary rock ‘n’ roll video game moments you're going to create once you get back from the office? Don't you wish you could take your Xbox with you to work and get a few hours of practice, shredding through hot tunes on your coveted heavy metal axe? Well, day dream no more, because now you can wow your co-workers and fellow members of the working class by kicking out the jams all day sans video game console. The folks at Basic Fun have teamed up with the Guitar Hero's creators at Activision and Red Octane to create a portable version of the game on an itty-bitty guitar with a folding neck and LCD screen, allowing you to bust through tunes from Guitar Hero I and II on the subway or in the conference room. For those about rock, we salute you!

Via Chip Chick

Most electronics are not meant to be designed or customized by the consumer. In fact, besides for the PC, users had to hope and pray that the suits heard our cries for features and product ideas. Bug Labs, a startup based in New York, hopes to change all that with their completely customizable kit system. Starting with a foundation of Linux-based micro-PC, users can then add on pieces that provide things like GPS, small displays, cameras, speakers, etc. Custom JAVA code can then be developed to accomplish nearly anything they imagine. Think of it as Lego goes high-tech. Certainly a lofty goal but it’s this kind of toolkit that may empower the home tinkerer to realize his or her dreams.

I've never been a huge fan of those earbud headphones that stick right in your auditory canal and wrap around your cochlea. They go a long way towards speeding up your imminent loss of hearing long before you're old enough to be senile and they don't even keep your lobes warm. However, with Von Zipper's Snow Muffs Head Phones you can keep on rockin' in the freezing world while your auditory instruments remain snug as a bug in a rug. These fuzzy sound systems fit on just about any pair of ski goggles, so you can hit the slopes and slalom to the smoothest sounds around.

Via Gizmodo