The ultimate winter gadget gloves

by David Edney

It’s freezing outside, especially if you live in blizzard areas, and touching the talk button on the cellphone with big bulky gloves is a daily problem we all face. Fortunately for us, a company in Montreal has solved the problem of operating all your gadgets while keeping your hands warm. The glove is called iTWYF or, I Touch With Your Fingers.(uhhhh?…) Three of the fingers have enhancements: the thumb has a velcro strap that exposes that finger, the index finger has a leather strip that can be used for “target-specific” fingering like iPoding, and the middle finger has a tiny stud on it that you can use as a stylus for touchscreens. The gloves actually don’t look bad [Of course, by this, David means they look horrible. Right? -Ed.] and they come in three colors and sizes to boot. They cost only $39 and will have you on your way to happier gadgeting in the cold.

(c) www.ohgizmo.com

$3000 piano mod reminds George Clinton of the mothership

Resourceful tinkerer "Proximasolaris" has put together a piano mod that would make even some Samic owners a bit envious. Retrofitting a Korg Triton Extreme, hiding two monitors behind a motorized cabinet, and placing a slew of blue LEDs and other mechanics, he managed to put $3,000 worth of gadgetry into an old fashion vertical piano. While it is not the first modification we have seen like this, you should still click on through to see the vid of his tricked-out instrument -- go ahead, bask in the glory of what's possible with a little extra loot and 250 solid man hours.

(c) www.engadget.com

Iqua Snake 2: Hands-Free Bluetooth Weirdness

While I’m on the subject of companies at the Sands during CES, check out this device from mobile-communications manufacturer Iqua (the company’ll be at the Sands if you’re Vegas bound). With an MSRP of $179, the Snake 2 hands-free Bluetooth headset attaches to the headrest of a car seat (almost all car makes and models according to Iqua) and lets you talk for up to eight hours on your Bluetooth-enabled device.

Speakers are located on each side of your head and the neck is flexible, so you can adjust it according to the height of the user. However, if you were to use it in a convertible as the photo suggests, I doubt you could hear a damn thing. Looks like call-answer and -end buttons are on top of the mouthpiece making them easy to acccess without taking your eyes off the road.

What would be fun is pretending no one else is in the car with you and getting the person on the other end of the call to say something completely horrible. But maybe that’s just me.

(c) www.crunchgear.com

Samsung plans to sell fuel cell for laptops this year

January 2, 2007 The major drawback of the laptop computer at this point in its short history is battery life and with battery technology the subject of massive global R&D, and the promise of fuel cell technology for laptops in the short to medium term, we are drawing ever closer to being able to survive off-the-grid indefinitely. Accordingly, it was heartening to see Samsung’s announcement last week that it intends to commercialise its fuel cell technology for laptops before the end of 2007. The announcement was in Korean, and some tech blogs (notably Playfuls, engadget and akihabaranews) have had a go at translating it, so if you want the original guff, maybe try it yourself with machine translation from Google, Babelfish or WorldLingo. The pictured Samsung is using a fuel cell dock which will apparently run a laptop for a month, though a smaller version is planned for commercialisation.

(c) www.gizmag.com

Gibson HD 6X Pro Digital Guitar

by Andrew Liszewski

Since I don’t know of a professional studio out there that doesn’t rely on digital technology these days for the recording and mastering processes it seems odd to me that analog pickups and mics are still a common means for recording instruments. Now I realize that most instruments are analog in nature but the sooner you can get that sound converted to a digital signal the cleaner it’s going to be in the end.

Gibson seems to be heading in the right direction with their new HD 6X Pro electric guitar. First off the most important aspect is that the guitar is a traditional Les Paul design so that the musician doesn’t have to compromise by playing on some weird digital hybrid. The pickups on the HD 6X are a new ‘Hex’ system designed by Gibson that uses 6 small humbuckers positioned under each string at the bridge that send 6 individual signals to studio-grade preamps allowing them to be immediately digitized.

These digital signals are then sent to a BoB (break out box) via a special ethernet port designed by Gibson called ‘MaGIC’ that can carry up to 32 bi-directional channels of audio over a single cable. The BoB can then be connected to a multi-channel sound card where the guitar can be recorded with a piece of professional software such as Cakewalk SONAR which is included with the instrument.

The Gibson HD 6X is available now and retails for about $5,000.

(c) www.ohgizmo.com

Hypercolor Spoons: Red When Your "Soup" is Hot

Labeled "powerful" by Gizmodo's own Brian Lam (he may have had some sarcasm in that IM), the Color Changing Spoons shift color based upon the temperature around them.

So let's run these spoons through a little field test scenario...

Scenario A
Jon: Male, 19 years old

Upon returning home drunk from the bars and amidst the courtship of a young lady, Jon decides to make a little snack for himself and his companion. Knowing Cambell's Chunky will give them the energy for "the big game", Jon heats some soup up in the microwave. When his date touches the steaming beef sirloin stew to her lips, it burns and disfigures them with puss-filled blisters. Meanwhile, the shock forces the girl to flail violently, causing her to knock her soup bowl, flinging the liquid into Jon's eyes. He is blinded for life.

Scenario B
Jon: Male, 19 years old

Upon returning home drunk from the bars and amidst the courtship of a young lady, Jon makes soup to power a night of romping. He also provides his lady with a Color Changing Spoon. She notices the soup is hot, waits, consumes and proceeds to get knocked up that eve.

3 spoons will only set you back $9.50, but a child will cost you much more. What's so powerful now, Brian Lam? – Mark Wilson

(c) www.gizmodo.com

World’s Most Expensive Office Chair

If you are one of those blessed rich tycoons, who wraps-up a million dollar deal every now, then this Gold Office Chair is just the throne for you! This gold plated chair, designed by Hadi Teherani, is the world’s most expensive office chair that flaunts a rich price tag of 50,000 euros! Now, this one seems fit for the Trump, so you can even settle for the less pricey silver version of this chair! The gold chair is also available in a variety of color options to compliment your office décor!

(c) www.bornrich.org