helium

You'd probably resist buying vinyl albums if you needed a different record player for each one. And wouldn't it be annoying to need a bunch of different gadgets to watch your favorite movies on video? (We know; you already do). That's pretty much the situation with digital music files, especially compressed files like MP3s. It's a rare music collection that doesn't have a few songs in weird or orphaned formats.

That's not a problem if your media player handles it all, but it's an issue when you're loading up tunes to take … Read more

Shark Week is over, but the Discovery Channel seems to have forgotten about a new species at the top of the underwater food chain: Air Swimmers. Unlike RC blimps and other flying mechanical toys, these Mylar balloons add realism and movement with moving fins that swish back and forth to propel the fish through the air.

How does it work? It's simple, kind-of: a 1.5-volt AAA-powered motor attaches to a small plastic pod on the bottom of the balloon, and the accompanying controller uses infrared reception to control the tail rudder's speed and navigation.

The set-up requires … Read more

We first drooled over the LG Watch Phone at CES 2009, but as we have yet to see signs of it in the U.S., we have to make do with gadgets like this Bluetooth Wristband Communicator from Helium Digital.

The HDBT-990 is not even a watch, but you can use it to receive calls with incoming caller ID, vibration alerts, and even A2DP audio streaming (though you'll probably risk annoying your neighbors). It has up to 4 hours of talk time and 160 hours of standby time, and promises noise-cancellation, as well. It'll be available in February … Read more

On Friday, the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) released photos of damage to the Large Hadron Collider, CERN's flagship particle accelerator. The particle accelerator was damaged by a liquid helium leak in September, nine days into an experiment to test fundamental theories of physics by colliding beams of protons inside a 17-mile ring.

Picture 1, above, shows two of the most severely broken interconnects, which are between the magnets in LHC sectors three and four. The superconducting magnets, used to direct and focus the proton beams in the experiment, are cooled by liquid helium. An electrical fault caused … Read more

Iomega continues to impress us with its sexy, sleek external hard drives. We just recently reviewed the eGo Helium, a drive catered to Apple fanboys. There's also the eGo Camo that's useful for secretly accessing your data in the forest, and the eGo Brown Leather that makes a perfect present for your friendly neighborhood alcoholic. This time, they're introducing two new drives to their eGo line. Check 'em out!

This is the eGo Encrypt. It actually bears a striking resemblance to the eGo Helium, with its silver case and clean lines, but this one is a little … Read more

The eGo Helium drive from Iomega really loves your MacBook Air and would like to respectfully ask for its hand in marriage.

You see, the two were virtually cut from the same cloth and share an uncanny amount of similarities. From their subtle gray chassis (off topic: what's the plural of chassis? Yep, chassis) and their finely shaped edges to their proprietary file formatting system (HFS+), they're so in touch with each other that $143 seems like chump change to pay for the wedding.

The only thing missing in your MacBook's life is just a little extra … Read more

Wanna talk about the Iraq war on the Internet without igniting a flame war? Helium Debate could be a good choice.

A new feature of user-generated information site Helium, it tries to construct a forum for more civilized discourse on the Web. First launched in October 2006, the site has contributed articles on topics that range from the benign ("Bananas and Their Benefits") and banal (weight-loss tips) to highly inflammatory stuff like "Was the war in Iraq beneficial to U.S. interests in any way?" The Debate feature allows articles to be categorized by the writer'… Read more