hammacher schlemmer
Toys
High-Def Digital Pinball Machine Doesn’t Really “Get” Pinball
7:00PM Dan Nosowitz | Hammacher Schlemmer’s digital pinball machine crams a 720p, 32-inch display into a full-sized cabinet, and offers by way of emulation 17 classic boards. But I’m not sure pinball freaks are that interested in digitised flippers. More »
Gadgets
You Can Tell This Coffee Maker To Do Anything But Make Coffee
4:20AM Mark Wilson | Here’s a fantastic idea for a product: A coffee maker that responds to voice commands…just not a voice command to “make me some freaking coffee!” More »
Gadgets
Ecotones Adapts to Outside Sounds to Lull You to Sleep
5:45PM Gizmodo US Edition | Traditional sound machines tend to use white noise or repetitive nature sounds to compete with the cacophony of the outside, but that only works to a certain extent. Ecotones, by Silicon Valley start up ASTI, is hoping to one-up them by actually being able to adapt to the user’s environment. You can choose from 12 different SoundStories–including settings, I bet, like ocean or rainforest–that play at 18-bit quality, better than standard CDs. Audio backgrounds react to cues in the listening space and combine them with hundreds of “natural” sounds to make a soundscape that’s supposedly a lot more relaxing. It’s available through Hammacher Schlemmer for $US299. Wow, anything for a good night’s rest, I guess? [Hammacher] More »
Gadgets
Five Axis Mechanical Core Muscle Trainer Is Wild Bull Riding Fun for the Older Sect
3:30AM Jack Loftus | It turns out the wet t-shirt-wearing girls riding those mechanical bulls at the local bar were actually exercising. No lie, as you can see with this Five Axis Core Muscle Trainer, ripped from the everlasting kitsch-ridden pages of Hammacher Schlemmer. The saddle tilts left and right, up and down, and throws in a few twists for good measure. All the while the motions target your “core muscles,” which are worked as your body attempts to regain equilibrium. The whole idea of a rocking, jocking mechanical exercise bull for the home actually sounds kind of exciting, until you realise this piece of equipment was designed with the senior bull rider in mind. And yes, those are stirrups. More »
Gadgets
Concept Toast-Dropping Toaster is Real After All: The Trapdoor Toaster
11:30PM Kit Eaton | We gave the Nahamer T450 toaster concept design a big thumbs-up for its simplicity… but it turns out that there’s actually a real toast-dropping versus toast-popping machine. The Trapdoor Toaster does exactly what it sounds like it does. It’s a 1400W device, with auto-adjusting guide racks so it can do toast, bagels or pop-tart-style food. You simply slide in your food, and when it’s done it slips out the bottom, and elegantly onto your plate. Out now for US$79.95. [Hammacher Schlemmer] More »
Toys
You Can Finally Pogo Stick In a Pool Thanks to Hammacher Schlemmer
6:00AM Gizmodo US Edition | The swimming pool was really the only place left on Earth where extreme pogo stick users couldn’t rip mad tricks. Until now. “The Only Underwater Pogo Stick” was designed for use in the pool, and allows you to easily “perform a variety of waterborne stunts as you bounce off walls or bottoms.” Instead of a traditional spring (which is for landlubbing amateurs), a rigid ball filled with water fits into the footrest, and lets you bounce about in shallow water or “bound powerfully” in the deep end. Works with in-ground pools only for US$60. [Hammacher Schlemmer] More »
Home
Cordless Propane Mosquito Trap Gives You Al Fresco Bug Jerky
8:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | Effective over up to an acre of land, this battery-powered garden gadget allows you to commit mass mosquito-cide using a tank of propane. Silent and odourless, the trap emits octenol (something that mozzies find sexy, aspazzarently) to lure the beasties close to the machine. Once there, a vacuum gathers them into the “removable catch basin”, or death pan, as I like to call it, where they are dehydrated, giving you the potential to serve mosquito, midge, black-fly and sand-fly biltong at your barbecues. Cost is US$500, and the mosquito trap will run for up to three weeks on a 9kg propane tank. [Hammacher Schlemmer] More »
Gadgets
Photograph-to-Digital-Picture Converter Sounds A Lot Like “Scanner”
5:30AM Benny Goldman | Goofy gadget masters Hammacher Schlemmer are back at it again with a Photograph-to-Digital-Picture Converter that takes your old paper snapshots, and well, digitises them. Now we know what you’re thinking—isn’t this just a scanner with a more complicated name?—and at first, I was inclined to agree. But digging deeper I found that this may not be a bad specialty box for US$150. More »
Gadgets
Astronomer’s Watch Tells Best Time to Watch the Skies
7:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | At first glance this watch looks pretty ordinary, until you notice the lack of minute hands and the 24-hour dial around the edge. It’s actually designed to help amateur astronomers work out the best conditions for sky-watching, so it tracks sunset and sunrise, moon phase and moonrise/set times. All you have to do is tap in your location from one of its 583 pre-programmed cities, and its combination of hands and detailed LCD displays will tell you all you need to know. If only it could predict the cloud-cover conditions, eh? You’re going to have to really enjoy astronomy if you want to buy it, though: it’s US$495.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer. [OhGizmo] More »
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