Gadgets, Travel

TSA-Friendly Laptop Bags?

I saw on OhGizmo that there are laptop bags that now let you keep your laptop inside the bag. Of course, that all depends on whether or not the TSA actually bothers to realize it can stay in the bag. They might be so used to all laptops being taken out that they won’t care that this bag avoids that mess.

When I travel, I have up to 5 things that have to go through – my suitcase, my shoes, my laptop, and my laptop bag, and the miscellaneous stuff like my cell phone, tolietry bag (where’s that shampoo bomb the government is so scared about?), etc… It’s crazy to have all those things go through for each person.

Gadgets, Random, Web

Sold at Amazon…

I was reading boingboing, and someone found uranium ore for sale on Amazon. Sadly, the page no longer functions on Amazon.

But we have Google, and Google never forgets. Here is the link to the cache of the original page.

Why would Amazon even take this page down? What’s even more interesting is that the comments are still active. I think the comments are even better than the fact they were selling uranium at all. Take this one:

I bought a can of this about 4.5 billion years ago, give or take a few million years, but when I went to use it today I noticed only half of it was still in the can. I swear I put the lid on tight. I’d give it more stars if it came in a better package.

Gadgets, Home, Julia, Video

Julia’s Keyboard

This is one of my favorite videos taken of Julia so far.

While looking through our stuff, we discovered an old keyboard. Apparently, it’s a pretty cheap sampling instrument, and there can be a bit of demand for them on eBay. Anyway, it’s the perfect size for Julia, and she has a ball playing music on it. She’s especially fond of the included demos, and is particularly proud of herself when she starts it up on her own.

In this video, Julia decides she needs to dance along to the included rhythms. Just watch the video, it’s well worth it.

Look for the video after the jump.

Continue reading


What is this iPhone?

You may have heard about this new all-in-one device from Apple called the iPhone.

I think I would like to get one sometime, if it didn’t have that whole phone thing in it. I really don’t want to have a phone in there, especially one from AT&T. As for everything else in it, that’s awesome. To use it as an iPod or picture viewer, or a PIM, or just an internet browser seems very handy.

Am I alone in this thought? Maybe the next iPod will use the same basic design as the iPhone. That would be pretty neat.

Gadgets, Home

Catching Up, Part 2


So continuing to catch up here, I have recently started brewing my own beer. A couple weeks ago, I started brewing my very first batch, and went with something pretty neutral. I need to get the process down first before trying anything different.

After the brew sat for a couple weeks, it was time to bottle. The picture to the left is the finished result – 44 bottles of beer. Now they will sit for about a week, then they are ready for drinking.

Speaking of brewing at home, I ran across a still that makes 1.4 liters of 92 proof liquor in only 4 hours. You add the material to it like a coffee maker, turn it on, and come back 4 hours later with your booze. Of course, you could take the booze and run it through again, making it even more potent. How crazy is that? And at only $300, it might pay for itself pretty quickly. Two issues, though. The company is based in Germany, so shipping could be a pain, and it might not be exactly legal around here. And I don’t see anywhere on the site where you get the mash from.

[tags]Beer, Homebrew[/tags]

Gadgets, Random

Will it Blend?

This has been floating out there for a while, but I just wanted to share it with everyone. I was fascinated by a series of videos from Will it Blend. Basically, a guy puts random stuff if the blender and tests to see if it blends. It always does. By the way, they are advertising for the blender, so it’s not just some random guy blending stuff because he’s bored.

There is something just goofy about the videos. And they are a hoot to watch. There’s something about destroying stuff that is just so appealing.

As a side note, I think putting the ads at the end of the video is a great idea. It’s amazing that people are putting ads within ads.

Gadgets, Home

So What Did You Get?

So Christmas has come and gone, and lots of presents were exchanged. My favorites: a Lego Mindstorms set, and a home brew beer kit.

The Lego kit was totally out of the blue. I had it on my wishlist but never expected to get it. The home brew kit is something I’ve wanted for a while, but could never really justify the initial expense.

So look forward to my lego creations and my beer creations. Hopefully, they won’t mix together too much.