Lifestyle

All-in-one anti-surveillance device

Forget about all those traffic radar detectors that have come on the market recently. The truly paranoid need far more sophisticated equipment to find out who's watching them, such as this "All in One Professional Counter-Surveillance Device."

The $350 piece of hardware can supposedly detect GPS trackers, wireless hidden cameras, audio bugs, phone taps and laser eavesdropping systems, as well as disable their transmissions. There's just one problem: As Navigadget points out, it may very well jam every other digital device in your home.

Robot bloggers on way--Crave frets

Crave constantly begs for more resources, like any self-respecting blog, but a robot helper isn't exactly what we had in mind.

NEC's "PaPeRo" is designed to automatically assemble multimedia features for blogs, finding relevant material online based on conversations you have with it. (We're not kidding.) Just talk to the bot, Fareastgizmos says, and it will analyze the one-way discussion and find related photos, graphics, music and other accompaniments to post along with a video recording of the conversation.

Now we don't think that bloggers are in imminent danger of being replaced by a … Read more

Remote-controlled water cannon

Warm weather will be back before we know it, so it's not too soon to start thinking about water toys and beach gadgets. (For therapeutic distractions from the cold, if nothing else.)

This has got to be our favorite so far: a remote-controlled water cannon. Uber-Review suggests getting 10 of them to have a water war.

With backward, forward and spin movements, the water cannon can supposedly shoot streams as far as 10 feet. For our money, that's $129 well spent.

Smart scale tells how buffed you are

We generally try very hard not to think about exercise equipment when not at the gym (or even when we are at the gym, actually). But this is one fitness item that may be impossible for us to ignore.

If you've ever wondered what, exactly, your workout routine was doing for specific parts of your body, this intelligent scale from Tanita might interest you too. Far more than just indicate poundage, the new BC-545 model delivers "individual body composition readings for five body segments (each arm, each leg and the trunk area)," according to Gizmag. To get … Read more

Laser belt claims to make you healthy

Crave has seen some bizarre health and fitness equipment, but this may deserve a category all its own. The Korean-made "Photo Sauna Cauterizer" (cauterizer?) emits a laser with a "low level of radiation" for what its manufacturer claims are a variety of health benefits. An understandably skeptical Red Ferret says the claims involve "some kind of oxygen rejuvenation." Call us chicken, but anything that mentions cauterization and radiation in the same sentence isn't something we want strapped anywhere near our waistlines, or anyplace else on our bodies.

This bot even does the dishes

We used to joke that Japan was hurtling toward a human-free society, but now we're starting to worry that it's true. The island nation, already concerned about its rapidly declining population (of humans), has recently debuted bots that can clean buildings, plow snow, detect smoke and even police grounds while others escort hospital patients and take their temperatures.

But now robots are entering the ultimate inner sanctum: the kitchen. BornRich says a team of more than 40 Japanese researchers spent four years creating a domestic bot that can, among other things, wash dishes. (Maybe it's not such … Read more

This week in imminent doom at the hands of cyborg animals

What the hell is going on these days? Seriously.

All of a sudden, scientists have created living remote-control pigeons, monkeys that can control huge robotic arms using only their brains, and cats that are getting pimped-out bionic eyeballs. And then there's that gaming helmet that can read your mind. It's awesome, but it's also creepier than 70 clown Draculas.

Here is what I'm talking about, yo.

Real-life pigeon cyborgs: Simply by placing a bunch of electrodes and red wires in a pigeon's brain, scientists at the Robot Research Center at the Shandong University of Science … Read more

Air purifier zaps germs at 400 degrees

A USB air purifier is fine when you're on the road, but at home you need something more powerful for a fully sterilized bubble. That's when you might want to consider the "Airfree Platinum 2000."

Its name may sound like something out of RoboCop, but the purifier claims to eliminate 99.99 percent of all germs. The secret weapon is a ceramic core that reaches 400 degrees, a temperature where no micro-organism can build their germ villages, according to Appliancist. (Airfree claims that it functions at these levels without burning down the house. Glad they mentioned … Read more

A purse that can charge up your phone

Regardless of what you think of its design, this is no ordinary handbag. The "Power Purse's" name refers not just to its importance as a fashion accessory but also to its functionality--as a portable source of solar energy.

The bag is covered with small solar panels that can power cell phones or any other gadgets through a USB port built into its interior. MobileWhack says the ingenius purse was designed by a student at Iowa State University and marketed through Solarjo, "a company that produces unlikely items from something that looks quite ordinary."

The price … Read more