Household

It’s not every day that we see gear aimed at “forward-thinking and discerning social elites” — if anything, it seems that the most high-falutin’ types are looking for ways to stay out of our orbit. Then again, our idea of security usually involves Lego safes and Nintendo deadbolt hacks. When we learned that “true peace of mind” could be ours once we had our hot little hands on the BioMirage Coffer — a 16.4 x 10.6 x 5.8-inch, 10.4 lb strong box featuring biometric fingerprint authorization and a USB key — our ears perked up. We’re not sure what this thing’s made of (or that it couldn’t be smashed open if you were so inclined), but who wouldn’t want to own a gadget that “epitomizes symbiotic interactions between people and technology?” Wait… this thing’s $579? We’ll pass.

Speakers come in all shapes and sizes (and colors) — usually the more exotic the look the higher the price. But what would you pay to turn anything you own into a speaker? $80 is the asking price for the Yorozu Audio Sound Revolution kit, a somewhat pretentious name for a little vibrating bud that plays your tunes on whatever you like. It comes in a cardboard milk container that will get you started, but the site shows boxes, bottles, suitcases, and even entire walls dropping beats. Don’t worry structural engineers: with only 2-watts on tap don’t expect to literally rock the house. Oh, and if you’re looking for a cheaper way to get your crap buzzing, you could just make your own from those neodymium magnets you have kicking around.

[Via Engadget German]

We’ve seen a few attempts to turn solar cells into something a tad more fashionable, but this new so-called Hana-Akari prototype from Sony goes quite a bit further than most, with it employing a newfangled “dye-sensitized” technique to spruce up the otherwise drab solar cells. Apparently, Sony not only sees those being used to power the lamp itself (which appears to use LED lights), but other devices as well, although it seems to be keeping expectations somewhat in check by only showing it with a small fan. As you might have guessed, there’s no indication of a release date for any actual products just yet, or a price for that matter, but Sony says that the dye-sensitized process itself is both cheap and effective.

[Via BoingBoing Gadgets]

What if you could relive all the magical moments of your childhood, like playing with the blood pressure machine at your local supermarket? Now, thanks to the personal, portable No Cuff Blood Pressure Monitor, you can. Just slide your hand in and press the button to inflate — it’s that simple. In addition to the hours of fun you’re sure to have as you feel the device lightly squeeze your arm, the blood pressure reader comes with a detachable LCD display that stores as many as ninety readings, offers AM/PM systolic averaging, an irregular pulse indicator, an alarm, and an arm-movement indicator to keep you from lousing up the reading. Not bad for $200, eh? And if you’re feeling generous, maybe you could share this with a sick relative, an elderly neighbor, or anyone who might need to need to check their blood pressure regularly. That is, unless their underwear already does it for them.

[Via Engadget German]

Was it Arthur C. Clarke who said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? If he was correct, it would follow that GE’s new Energy Smart CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulb is most magical. A true product of “ecomagination” (their word), the imagineers (Disney’s word) at GE have taken the their tried and true CFL hardware and housed it in the form factor of a traditional light bulb. Of course there are already a vast number of options for homeowners wishing to go green on the lighting front, but we’re hard pressed to find something that works across the board in traditional lighting fixtures (at least without looking awful as it does so). The product gets its national outing at Target on December 28, and starts popping up at more retailers over the coming months. To tide you over until then, we’ve provided some earth shattering video after the break.

Sure, this isn’t the first homebrew security system we’ve seen, but as long as there are nosey little sisters in the world, there will be a need for this sort of project. Based on the Arduino, the NoKES (NintendO Keyless Entry System) allows the user to set an entry code, which will then have to be entered via the retro-hip NES controller in order to unlock the door. The deadbolt itself is moved by a CD tray, and if you enter the wrong code, attempt to disable the device, or just stop by and knock on the door you’ll get your picture taken. Sounds like just the thing to keep those valuable comic books and He-Man action figures out of harm’s way while you’re off earning your Copyright Activity Badge. Hit the read link for step-by-step instructions, and be sure to check out the demo video after the break.

And you thought The Shining cuckoo clock was terrifying — imagine waking up to this. Designed by French artist Stephane Vigny, the loudspeaker clock does exactly what you’d expect it to. When the time comes, the doors flip open, the bottom woofer extends out and a cacophonic emission of sound is heard as you angrily wake from your slumber. We can’t imagine that outstretched woofer surviving too many mornings of you waking on the wrong side of the bed.

[Via MAKE]

Note to Roomba owners — shut that bad boy off before leaving the house and arming the alarm system. In what we can only imagine was a pretty comical scene, a runaway Roomba in a Denmark home tripped the motion sensors after it acted on its itch to suck up a few pints of dust and debris while its owners were out on the town. Once the alarm was tripped, authorities were automatically phoned in to see what kind of shenanigans were going on. Needless to say, it proved difficult to charge the innocent looking autovac with breaking and entering, but we hear it has been tagged and given a parole officer just in case it tries to cut loose in the future.

[Thanks, morten]

Being the home cinema fanatics that we are, we’d much rather spend around two large to snag one of QuietHome’s THX-certified doors, but our love for all things biometric still manages to make this one tug on our delicate heartstrings. Masterfully crafted by the carbon fiber gurus at Brazil’s own Chaote Carbon, this 99-pound, 7.5- x 4.9-foot door was carefully wrapped in carbon fiber and equipped with a biometric scanner to keep unwelcome guests waiting in the rain. We can’t say we totally see the value proposition considering the $15,000 price tag, but we get the idea the buyer here probably has more money than he can figure out how to spend.

[Via Unplggd]