feet

SoftStep KeyWorx controller: Hands-free computing

Afraid that the excessive use of the mouse and keyboard will someday make you suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome? Maybe you should let your feet take over some of the job. And Keith McMillen Instruments (KMI) has something that enables you to do exactly that.

The company announced today the SoftStep KeyWorx multitouch foot controller, which it claims is "the world's first foot-controlled digital interface." According to KMI, SoftStep "works with any computer program to speed up access, making the computer as easy to use as a car's gas and break pedals."

The new … Read more

The 404 581: Where we try to eat the meat off the chicken feet (podcast)

Warning: Today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast is not for the faint of stomach. Please take a moment to scoot that trash can closer to your person prior to viewing.

404 listeners Derrick the Unofficial 404 Photographer and Henry the Unofficial 404 Uncle surprise us in the office today with breakfast! Well, kind of. Chicken feet, anyone?

That's right, the boys were kind enough to make a stop in Chinatown to pick up a few select dim sum dishes for us to try on the air, and by "us" I actually mean "Wilson,&… Read more

Suction feet for your iPad

On its Web site, BlueLounge has a quote from Albert Einstein that says, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but simpler." Well, when it comes to accessories, the company's Cool Feet ($12.95) product, which was initially designed to raise a laptop just enough to "allow a constant cooling airflow," is about as simple as you can get, and now the company is marketing it toward iPad owners.

We're not sure how much sense this makes for an iPad, but we can see how the feet, which have integrated suction cups for … Read more

Biometric bridal bouquet changes color for mood

The electrode-equipped Galvanic Skin Response bouquet doesn't give the couple much question about wearing their hearts on their sleeves: a blue LED glows when they're calm but a white one turns on when the nerves or excitement kick in. But that's not all.

The bride and the groom--who met, appropriately, working on a corset that tightens with heart rate--implemented a variety of biofeedback gear to datalog their big day.

The bouquet of white flowers is attached to two electrodes, one worn on the bride's wedding ring finger, natch, via velcro strap, and the other in … Read more

Surveying application

Surveyors, environmental impact researchers, historical impact researchers, cell-phone tower site locators, and real estate developers--these are just a few of the folks who will find real value in this nicely featured application for plotting maps based on survey or GPS data.

Metes and Bounds launches a large window with a row of icon-buttons along the top, a vertical pane with some data controls on the left side, and a large drawing and editing pane taking up most of the window's real estate. A Drawing Wizard automatically opens at launch to prompt the user for the type of drawing he … Read more

Need more storage? Try a chicken foot

Could anything be more bizarre to the Western world than watching an Asian lady chew on chicken legs with relish in the reality TV show Survivor? How about a chicken foot USB drive? Like Whazatt? No, really, that's what the company calls itself. Call it a fowl sense of humor (groan). Though at a pricey $44.95 for 1GB of flash memory, this is far from chicken feed.

(Source: Crave Asia)

Rock out with your stuffed animals

With all due respect to our fellow Cravers, we weren't exactly huge fans of speakers recently incarnated as penguins and hogs. It's just that they seemed so ... predictable.

But how often do you see stuffed animals with their own working headphones? Now that's original. The 'phones, in this case, are actually speakers that connect to your MP3 player. These iFlops come in a menagerie of bears, elephants, frogs, pigs and monkeys, as seen in this photo from Chip Chick. No penguins, though. (Sorry, Caroline.)