My first thoughts on seeing this USB mouse with in-built fan-powered palm cooler and rotary LED message scroller: “Holy moly that’s one craptaculous bit of gadgetry!” But then I reconsidered. First, who wouldn’t like a less sweaty palm when mousing for protracted periods? And second, that message scroller (which even has its own remote control) could carry some incredibly useful phrases. “Mum…Don’t Turn on The Monitor. AT ALL”…life-saving stuff like that. Wonderful, and yours in green or red for $US35. [Gadget4All]
Are your coworkers always giving you a hard time about being away from your desk and not knowing where you are? Grab this US$27 LED Message Board from Brando and always have a sign showing where you are. Sure, a Post-it or a mini-whiteboard would accomplish the same thing, but are they USB? Do they light up with red dotted letters? Are they that much more hilarious when the words “Fuck off Phil” scroll across their body? We think not. [Brando]
There’s no official confirmation yet, but TMONews says that T-Mobile is working on a system to let its users block SMS, MMS, email and IMs from other users one at a time through a call to customer care or a visit to a retail store. It’s unclear whether you can block calls, which would be even better thanks to annoying automated calling systems that somehow call you for days on end but don’t say anything. Is T-Mobile the first provider to activate call and message blocking? Why don’t more providers do this? [TMONews]
Remember the LED message wand? Brando’s now got a miniaturised version that fits in the top of a ballpoint pen, and can display messages up to 20 characters in length. Perfect for covert cross-classroom messaging? As long as the teacher doesn’t spot the flash of a red LED across the room. Available now for US$15. [Brando via Geek Alerts]
“Shopping” at Ikea is more of an enjoyable afternoon outing than an quick in-and-out errand, so anything that helps make the experience even more pleasant gets a thumbs-up from us. This Ikea Mobile kiosk was found in Seattle by Unpluggd, and allows you to scan bar codes for products to get sent via SMS to your phone.
We’ve seen plenty of higher-tech solutions to the problem of leaving messages for others in your household, but this multipurpose Blackboard Wall Clock looks like a simple way to take care of two things at once.
The 9-inch square clock was created by English sculptor Richard Miller out of a hunk of Pennsylvania blank slate, so it almost qualifies as a work of art as well as a space-saving communications device. But you’d think for $80, at least they would have included an eraser. – Charlie White
Product Page [Eco Artware, via The Uber Review]
Got a lot of messages to leave for your family? Don’t like writing? Then this message magnet is for you. The unit comes with six small photo frames where you can put in pictures of your whole family in order to easily identify them when you need to leave them a message.
Each message can be up to 10 seconds long, which should be long enough to tell them to pick up milk, eggs, or whatever else you think you need to say. Our only complaint is the lack of support for alternative families — Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan would be disappointed. – Jason Chen
Product Page [Discovery via Random Good Stuff]
