Get Perspective on the iPad 2

Alright, maybe that title is a little esoteric for the subject matter – but check out this coolness below.

This is the kind of 3D I’m excited about – the kind that removes the need for glasses. Sure, it might be hard to create 3D without glasses in a cinema setting where you’re unable to use head-coupling, but for personal devices? It’s great.

On a final note, something needs to be done about the term head-coupled. It’s gross.

Facehuggers, a modern classic example of head-coupling.

~@tali3sin

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PETA helps promote Super Meat Boy?

Team Meat, the team behind the brutally unforgiving platform game Super Meat Boy got some unexpected free publicity this week when they became the latest target of animal rights group PETA.

PETA, apparantly objecting to Super Meat Boy’s meat-themes launched it’s own ironically-bland parody game called Super Tofu Boy. Made in Flash, the game attempts to duplicate the gameplay of Super Meat Boy, but instead it’s the Meaty guy that’s the bad guy this time as he exacts bloody, vengeance because his girlfriend has decided that she prefers tofu. Or something.

More after the wall-jump.

Unboxing the Parrot AR Drone

We love unboxing gadgets! …and the AR Drone from Parrot is GREAT fun. The Drone is controlled via an iPhone app which works by tilting your phone to steer whilst viewing a live video feed through a camera mounted in the Drone. It’s a truly usable Augmented Reality device.

 

How to buy in Australia: We ordered it from Amazon.com. It took 3 days to be delivered to Sydney from the US and cost just under $350.00 AUD including delivery.

So here it is the unboxing through to a test flight…

 
Amazon delivers it in a HUGE box…

Slightly smaller, but still big box inside…

The Drone is neatly packed surrounded by protective cardboard.

No unwrapping necessary. It pops straight out. Nothing to assamble.

Battery, battery pack and stickers for the external shell.

It comes with the outdoor shell, and adaptors for Au, UK, US, EU.

Below: Unboxed looking at home in the studio…

Below: @bradyohalloran takes an instagram photo of the AR Drone:

Below: Flight Test: This a video taken from the Drone’s camera in the studio.

Below: We do like the idea of attaching a GoPro camera to the Drone to attain HD video – here’s a nice clip of someone flying the drone pretty high… (you can unlock the altitude sensor in the iphone app allowing you to go up as hi as the wifi lets you).

Below: The Promo Vid for the AR Drone.

Things you should know before you buy:

You get one battery that lasts for about 15 mins flying time.
Charger comes with four adaptors incl AUS, UK, US, EU.
You need an iphone or ipod touch to control it.
You don’t need a wifi network (the Drone creates one).
It takes about 5-10 mins to get to grips with the controls.
You need a seperate app to record video.
Onboard Video is 15fps
There is a secondary camera on the bottom of the Drone.
You need 2 of them to have a virtual dogfight.
It’s much bigger than it looks.
It’s a lot of fun.

Project launch: The Fresh Start Project

“We wanna make this digital” is the cry of many a client when they enter their ‘digital’ agency with a shiny new TVC and poster under their arm. Too many agencies will take a client’s TVC (and money) and make it ‘digital’ simply by putting a browser around it or sending it’s animated cousin off to Double Click.

I’m proud to say that’s not what we do here at Amnesia Razorfish. When our client, realestate.com.au, shared their really nice ATL spring campaign with us, we got really fired-up by the challenge of making this campaign come to life in the digital space. We didn’t want to simply TELL consumers that realestate.com.au helps give people a fresh start, we wanted to actually GIVE someone a fresh start. Some one that really needed a fresh start.

Say hello to The Fresh Start Project from realestate.com.au.  The aim of the campaign is simple. Build a a new home, for a family in need, through people’s use of realestate.com.au. As users interact with realestate.com.au they collect ‘bricks’ which they can donate to the 1 million brick target. In partnership with Habitat for Humanity Australia, the house will be built. There’s no augmented or virtual reality here. Sure – it won’t cause world peace, but it will make a real difference to a real family in real need. And that’s why I love this project so much. Hope you do too.

Visit the site >

Historical Moments of Internet Social Power Changes

I was just checking my folder where I keep interesting screenshots of stats (ok, I admit they’re probably only interesting to me but hey… I just like sharing). So here’s some ‘interesting’ moments where power shifts occur in the world of social and UGC. (Note: Stats are from the publicly available Alexa site). Note that I screen grabbed these at the time and saved them because there’s not always a guarantee you’ll be able to get the data in the same state in the future. Currently Alexa now only goes back 2 years since they changed their data analysis so the first screenshot below is something of a collectors item (if you collect screenshots of stats that is).

~ @eunmac

Below: Jan 2007 YouTube clearly passes MySpace.

Below: What has happened since (in a little under 3 years)

Below: Another change in global domination in 2009. Facebook passes YouTube in July.

 

Below – What’s next? Despite the hype surrounding Twitter it’s got a long way to go to catch Facebook which continues to grow at a phenomenal rate with YouTube appearing pretty solid – although interestingly Twitter appears to be now on par with MySpace and looks set to pass it next month.

 

Twinfluencers Experiment: Watching Australian and US Journalists, CEOs and Twitterati using Twitter

An experimental site, www.twinfluencers.com created by Amnesia Razorfish launched ‘softly’ today. It takes a live look into “influencers” and what they are saying on Twitter as it happens.

www.twinfluencers.com monitors US and Australian Journalists, Twitterati and CEO’s

What does Twinfluencers do?
Twinfluencers is a dashboard showing live tweets from Twitter users considered to be influencers within specific groups (Journalists, CEOs and Twitterati). Currently we are breaking these out into Australia and US regions.

FAQs:
So what’s the point?

Whilst there are many tools which track trends, hashtags from the masses this tool takes another angle and provides a peek at live information being generated from these influencer groups. You can jump in at any time without needing to be a Twitter user. It also saves you having to follow and segment the 900(ish) people that Twinfluencers is watching!

Why did we build Twinfluencers?
Firstly, we love doing experiments – the point is we’re not 100% certain of ‘what comes next’. Secondly, we’re of the school of thought that if we’re going to become better at working in social media then “doing stuff” is the way to go. Building the tool may prove useful or useless, but the mere act of building it allowed us to learn some new things. We might yield some insight and analytics that become usable -that would be a bonus. Finally– we couldn’t find a tool that produced what we wanted to see so decided to do it ourselves (although half way through build we found a similar tool muckrack.com for US journos which is actually very good).

What might the site do in the future?
The lists will be keep being compiled and updated. We may add other countries if the demand is there. It would be nice to see some historical data, trends etc from these groups. There are a few minor UI tweaks to be made. We’ve already been asked to do a celebs version, although we specifically avoided celebrities in this round. Alternatively – if we learn nothing or find something better to do then maybe it will just fade away 😉

How many people are in the lists?
At time of writing, but being updated regularly at present;
Australian: Journalists (500) Twitterati (101) CEOs (30)
USA: Journalists (105) Twitterati (101) CEOs (30)

Where do the lists come from?
This was possibly one of the harder parts of the experiment and something we consider to be work in progress:

• Journalists: We received lots of help from Dave Earley (@earleyedition) in sourcing a very consolidated list of Australian Journalists. US Journalists came from a variety of public sources and some Razorfish US assistance – we also decided to limit the number down to about 100, compared with a much more expanded number of Australian Journalists.
• Twitterati: This was a slightly tougher list to quantify. In the end we based the list mainly by combining and filtering results from Grader, Retweetability index, Twinfluence, Twittercounter. We removed known ‘spammers’ or those using ‘follow agents’ to grow their count and occasionally factored in the start date of the account (earlier being better).
• CEOS: Various sources (some tips) including Laurel Papworth.

How can I get my hands on the full list of these groups?
Whilst we’re still in beta testing we’re not openly distributing. The plan is that if the site generates any ongoing interest we will open the lists up – initially to individuals who are willing to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of the lists, and then open to public. Please remember, keeping these lists up to date is quite a lot of hard work.

”How can I get on the list? ARrgh – I deserve to be there!”
Firstly – tweet something and wait a couple of minutes (there can be a delay before you see your tweet appear). Not there? Yes… We know how this works and of course there are people who should be on there who aren’t and vice versa. We’ll keep adding but we’re trying to make this less about the egos, more about a tool that offers some value that we can learn a little from. For those who believe they have been wronged (and we do not mean to wrong anyone) there are some instructions on the site at the bottom of the page to suggest follows, “but” we will apply the same filtering and vague scrutiny to try to keep a balance. 🙂

Twitter Hugs making the world a ‘betterer’ place… @pepsi @cocacola

From a genuinely random and spontaneous twitter experiment (here) that led to Coke and Pepsi becoming ‘friends’ on Twitter there’s been a fair bit of press coverage. Nice to see Biz Stone, founder of Twitter tweet it out too (here).
Maybe Twitter Hugs are something we’ll see more of in the future.
Adding links below as they come in:

Posted by ~@eunmac

Above: The original tweet from Coke to Pepsi:
Below: Pepsi says Hellooo back to Coke.

Global Press Coverage:

http://adage.com/digitalnext/post.php?article_id=137709

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/917650/Coca-Cola-Pepsi-bury-hatchet-Twitter/

http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/DigitalPM/News/917650/Coca-Cola-Pepsi-bury-hatchet-Twitter/?DCMP=EMC-Media-PM-Bulletin

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2009/07/coke-and-pepsi-hold-hands-on-twitter-whos-next/

Founder of Twitter Biz Stone – tweets out the news:
http://twitter.com/biz/status/2438852220

Reuters : http://blogs.reuters.com/shop-talk/2009/07/07/cola-truce-coke-and-pepsi-trade-niceties-on-twitter/

Coke says “Hello” to Pepsi on Twitter. A brand first?

UPDATE: An historic moment in branding?
As a result of the twitter experiment below Coke said HELLO to Pepsi via Twitter (and started following them too). [Update] Pepsi responds in kind. All within 18 hours.
  http://twitter.com/CocaCola/statuses/2413906945

 

Pepsi replies:
http://twitter.com/pepsi/statuses/2423584043

Pepsi Canada joins in:
http://twitter.com/PepsiCanada/statuses/2423730800

And just like that, the world feels like a slightly better place.
Ahh maybe Twitter really is more than just “what I ate for breakfast.”

Thank you Coke and Pepsi for being good sports 🙂

What happened:
– We started the experiment at about 9.42am July 1 in Twitter (Original Tweet here)

– There were a significant number of RTs
– Coca-Cola responded less than 3 hours later with the tweet above.

Currently Pepsi have not replied or followed back… but we’re watching 🙂

The Original Experiment/Post:
Oh we all know Coke and Pepsi are age old bitter rivals but this is a new age of SOCIAL and we want to see something change between these arch enemies – even if it is just courtesy. Currently they are both on Twitter but at time of writing neither follows the other (http://www.doesfollow.com/cocacola/pepsi) or (http://www.doesfollow.com/pepsi/cocacola).

Join the fun: Let Coke and Pepsi know what you want: ReTweet this now!

Coke and Pespi Twitter accounts… why not end the cola wars and follow each other?
It would be like a public hug. (…Then you can go back to being rivals). So who’s first?

www.twitter.com/pepsi

www.twitter.com/cocacola

Well we want to see it happen… we’ll be watching…!
C’mon show us you have a sense of humour and do the follow!

Oh… The Re-tweets will keep coming at you until you do 🙂

 

UPDATED Following situation:

Post by:
-@eunmac

NikePlus Race for unfit Twitter Users…

You know it makes sense… All that tweeting isn’t shaving any cm off the love-handles is it? OK, this is just a bit of fun… but at the same time if you can run 5km you’ll probably feel a bit better no matter what the time!

The Rules:
– 1 month – finishes on 14 June
– Open to all people who are unfit and on Twitter.
– No Treadmills – get outside!
– Open to international
– 1st Prize = Pride!

Instructions
– You’ll need an ipod/nano/touch and a Nike+ Sensor (they cost about AU$30)
– The challenge is here – you just need to sign in. 
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=all_challenges,2935985
– Use #5km as the twitter hashtag 🙂

New to NikePlus? 
Check it! You get to look at cool charts and stats and see how unfit you really are!

Razorfish : “Send us your Business Problem”

During his 2009 Client Summit presentation, “Innovation Hell,” Joe Crump did something quite extraordinary: he challenged event attendees to send Razorfish their business problems, a global problem, or just something that plain bugs them. 

He promised Razorfish would spend the next year to create an innovative solution to the problem. (You can view Joe’s presentation on SlideShare or Vimeo).

To submit an idea, clients need only jot an email to [ innovate at razorfish.com ]

For instance on Twitter @scottlum of Microsoft asked, “Can we educate, inform & synthesize change for Swine Flu using social media w/out spreading disinformation, confusion and panic?”

You get the idea… now you have the chance to have those thought leaders at Razorfish look at your problem.

Also: Make sure you read the David Deal (VP Marketing for Razorfish) post on the subject of innovation Hell” here.

~eunmac

say it with me: Razorfunfish!

So, our fearless leader Iain is across the pond right now, stirring up trouble at the Razorfish Client Summit in Las Vegas. While we were sleeping, he challenged the world to another Google battle (remember Velociroflcoptersaurus?) and this time, I’ve decided I’ll actuall DO something about it. This time, it’s a battle for the word Razorfunfish. Here’s a little stop-motion we threw together this afternoon:Vodpod videos no longer available.

razorfunfish! [razorfish client summit 2009] from heather ann snodgrass on Vimeo.

It was really fun! Looking forward to doing more of these in my spare time…

Most confusing emergency exit sign ever?

Best explanation of this sign so far…
1. Find the nearest three headed monster
2. Jump inside it with your children
3. Run to the right?

 

Of course the irony is that we saw this sign whilst taking a tour of the Queen Mary 2. Happy to say that there was a pretty amazing lifeboat only 10 ft away from where we took this shot.

AdNews Agency of the Year 2009 Results

Another big night of awards and hundreds of lively Australian advertising people, agencies and clients. Hosted by Peter Overton surrounded by high school cheerleaders it was a fun night by all counts.

The good news for us; Amnesia Razorfish somehow scooped the Interactive Agency of the Year for the 3rd running. Admittedly a huge surprise for us as we felt all the other agencies in the digital category (Deepend, Soap, Host, and Tribal DDB) were all deserving given the great digital work they had all done in the industry in the last 12 months.

In addition Amnesia Razorfish also received a “Highly Commended” award in the Media Agency of the Year category – something we’ve been working hard on for a couple of years now  so great to get some recognition in this space.

The big award of the night, (the overall Agency of the Year) went to winner of NSW Agency of the Year, Host – a popular choice by all counts.

Thanks to AdNews for putting on another great night 🙂

Adnews Agency of Year Winners list 2009:

Interactive Agency of the Year– Amnesia Razorfish –
Media Agency of the Year – Ikon Communications
Media Agency of the Year–  (Highly Commended) – Amnesia Razorfish
Vic Agency – Clemenger BBDO Melb
Creative Network – DDB Australia
Promotion Agency – Momentum Worldwide
Experiential Agency – Play Communication
Media Network – OMD
Specialist Agency – Downstream Marketing
Emerging Agency– Colman Rasic Carrasco
Media Campaign – Naked “Sprite – Thirst for Truth”
NSW Agency  – Host
Ad Campaign– BMF TED 696 Project fro Lion Nathan
Overall Agency of the Year – Host

Congrats to all winners and finalists 🙂

11 plug-ins and scripts that will change the way you use Twitter. No technical ability required.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how anyone can easily change the Twitter web interface with Firefox and the GreaseMonkey plug-in (here). The great news is that this process is so easy that there’s little reason not to give this a go – you really are only a few clicks away from what’s shown below. Here’s some power UI enhancements I have chosen – and yes, this list goes to eleven.

Have fun, @Eunmac

Setup:

1. You’ll need Firefox. (here)
2. You’ll need to install the GreaseMonkey Addon (here)
3. Now click the links below to add new features to change your Twitter interface.

1. Nested Replies in Twitter: (install here)
This is by far the most useful script for me. It collates a threaded conversation of replies inside the twitter page. Without this it is very hard to see what conversation took place.

2. Add Bio’s to Friend Following/Followers page (install here)

When you’re checking out someone’s ‘following’ page you get no information other than a picture and a name. Useless! Anyway, if you add this script and you’ll see all their details including a bio, follower info and even last tweet. Here’s me checking out who Guy Kawasaki is following:

3. Sidebar Replies Panel (install here)
See all other replies sent to another Twitter user.

4. Auto shortening of URL (install here)

5. Mentions and unread replies: (install here)

6. Add Friend Name Helper (install here)
Auto suggests names from your following list.

7. Add Retweet Button (install here)

 

8. Power Twitter. (install here)
This is plug-in for Firefox. It displays videos and images nested inside conversations.

9. Expand Short URLs (install here)
Don’t get fooled by those short bit.ly urls anymore, this plugin will reveal the full url inside the web interface.

10. Endless Tweets (install here)
This is pretty cool, as you get to the bottom of the page, the page simply gets longer so you never have to move back and forth between pages.

11. Add search and Tools to sidebar (install here)
 

Other useful scripts:
Hide All re-tweets. (install here)
Block tweets with specific words (install here)
Reveal followers. Places icon over those following you (install here)
Shrink tweets with Tweetshrink (install here)

Want to see all the twitter scripts? There are over 300 on userscripts.org (here)

Found any more great tools? Add them to the comments please 🙂

Test Yourself: Can you tell which is a 3D image and which is Real?

The real world and virtual world are gradually blurring together. Fooling the human mind into not being able to separate these two worlds is still a challenge because our brains are pretty hard wired to spot incredibly subtle details that allow us to identify the fakes from reality, especially when computer graphics are in motion. At some point in the not too distant future it is likely that we will not be able to tell. Can we really trust what our eyes are telling us?

Spotting the difference is harder with still images. Can you tell which ones of these are real and which are fake*? Answers at the bottom or on rollover.

Take the test: Real or FAKE:
(Answers shown as you rollover image)
*Please click on the image for the original references and sources.

(1)

(2)
(3)

(4)

(5)

(6) 

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)
 

Want to share how well you did? – Tell us how many you got right in the comments 🙂

Select/ highlight the text between the brackets below for a summary of the answers.
[ 1,2,5,7,8 – REAL
3,4,6,9,10 – FAKE / 3D]

Customising the Twitter Web Interface

I don’t use the Twitter web interface too much. Tweetdeck is so far ahead in terms of usability and functionality. However… This weekend I was pretty surprised when I saw a tweet from @MichDdot (here) who had a totally different web interface to mine. I was thinking he must have some inside beta version, but it turned out that what he had was available to all of us…

Anyway, he was kind enough to let me know what he’d done, so I thought I’d share with you how I have managed to make my Twitter web interface much more usable (screenshots below):

Above: Notice changes in interface screenshot (from top to bottom)
– Grader information
– Twitter Search and People Search
– Retweet
– Nested conversations
– Embedded replies
– (I’ve done a heap more on the homepage too)

Above: On the homepage (twiiter/hone) I’ve added:
– Ability to autotype follower names when typing @ or D
– Search
– Following names
– Nested conversations

How is this done?

1. Install GreaseMonkey plugin for FireFox (here)
2. Add custom GreaseMonkey scripts (here) from USerscripts.org

There are dozens of scripts available for customising Twitter, the above are just the ones I chose but there are many more.

Simple! Thanks again to MichDdot for the headsup – a recommended follow!

Any Q’s – ping me on Twitter –  Regards, @eunmac

Christian Bale Vs Microsoft Songwriter

This is what you get when you mashup Christian Bale going insane on the set of a movie and use Microsoft Songwriter to compose a song to it. Just a bit of fun – we still like Batman.

Warning – contains adult language 😉

Original Audio from Perez Hilton’s blog:

http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-02-bales-verbal-barrage-christian-will-eff-a-bitch-up

Classic Levi’s TV Ads Collection. 1985-1997

Remember these classic Levi’s Ads? Oh yes, you will! This is the collection of the most memorable ones, many of which are imprinted on the brains of a generation, running between the mid 80’s to late 90’s. Brilliant choice of music that inspired countless imitations over the years. Here they are… the originals 🙂

Note: Clip ‘Prison’ has a very famous main character…

Above: The Launderette (Nick Kaman) 1985
Music – Heard it through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye

Above: The Bathtub. 1986
Music : Wonderful World – Sam Cooke

Above: The Refrigerator 1988
Music: Mannish Boy – Waters, Muddy

The Pickup. 1989
Music : Be My Baby-The Ronettes

The Bike (1990) –
Music – The Joker/Steve Miller Band

Pool (1991)
Music The Clash – Should I stay or should I go.

Prison (feat a very famous movies star) 1991
Music: Twentieth Century Boy – T-Rex

The Swimmer (1992)
Music: Mad About The Boy – Washington, Dinah

The Fall / Oilrig (1994)
Music: Music by Peter Lawler – Fictional Self

The Procession (1993)
Music: Scream Jay Hawkins – Heart Attack and Vine

The Creek 1994
Music: Peter Lawler | Stiltskin – Inside

Spaceman 1995
Music: Babylon Zoo

The Mermaids (1997)
Music: Smoke City- Underwater Love

Is it just me or was Mermaids the last of the great Levi’s ads???

Note/Help!:
There are several notable missing ads from this collection/era which can be identified by the soundtracks:
Erma Franklin – Piece of my heart
Ben E King – Stand by Me

(If you find the above please post in comments thx!)

Edit: Thanks to @oonai5000 for posting some of these Levis commercials.

Top 10 Coolest Gadgets on Ebay for under $10

Earlier this year I set myself a mini project – find ten cool gadgets for under $10* on Ebay. I tried to keep postage included in the cost but allowed a couple of items to sneak over, simply because I had saved money on a few others.

The good news is that I found ten kind of cool gadgets. Instead of posting to this blog I’ve waited a few months to see if any of these were any good- ie whether I actually used them or if any of them broke.

Here is the top 10, starting with the worst. Number one is a cracker – in fact it was so good that someone stole it :(((

* ($10 Aussie = $6.80 USD | £4.50 UK | €4.90 Euros )

THE TOP 10:

10: USB Vacuum cleaner (find them here on ebay)

 
Average price: AU$8.00 including postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 6/10
Quality: 1/10
Real world usefulness: 3/10

This would have been a zero except for the fact that it has an LED light on it which came in handy a couple of times when I was trying to peer into dark places inside the computer. This thing has no suction. Whilst I really liked the idea because computers and keyboards attract dust like a flies to a poop, this USB vacuum is absolutely crap.
____________________________________________________

9. Weather Station (find on ebay) 

 
Average price: AU$7.00 +$5 postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 2/10
Quality: 6/10
Real world usefulness: 4/10

It does what it says, temperature, time, date, humidity blah blah blah. But it’s pretty boring really. It was also slightly over $10 with postage.
___________________________________________________

8. Voice disguise for mobile phone (find here)

 
Average price: AU$10.00 +$2 postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 6/10
Quality: 5/10
Real world usefulness: 2/10

Total gimmick, that’s about it. I have very little need to disguise my voice or sound like a female. Given that my mobile phone sends the number to callers anyway, it’s not like I can get away with anything anyway!____________________________________________________

7. Laptop (or child) Theft Detector (find here)

 
Average price: AU$10.00 +$5 postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 8/10
Quality: 3/10
Real world usefulness: 2/10

I was actually excited about ordering this. I have a couple of small kids who always run off so the idea of a proximity alarm going off if the two things get separated by more than 30ft is kind of cool.

Here’s the problem. It goes off randomly on occasion. The transmitter batteries don’t last very long. You have to constantly turn both ends on and off. I like the idea – but again this gadget fails to deliver as I’d like.
____________________________________________________

6. Tiny Wireless Mouse  (find here)

 
Average price: AU$6.00 +$5 postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 4/10
Quality: 2/10
Real world usefulness: 9/10

This thing “was” great. The usb adapter slots away really well. I was using this a lot. But then it broke after 3 months. Maybe I was just unlucky? Shame.
___________________________________________________

5. Worlds Smallest Universal Remote Control (find here)

 
Average price: AU$7.00 including postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 6/10
Quality: 7/10
Real world usefulness: 6/10

I think this would be useful for some people. It’s small enough to go on your keychain. The only real downside is configuring it. It’s a pain in the neck. Always fun for hanging out the local TV shop and turning their TVs on and off!

__________________________________________________

4. Roll-up Flexible Waterproof Keyboard (find here)

Best price: AU$6.00 including postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 6/10
Quality: 6/10
Real world usefulness: 6/10

Six bucks (including postage) is a bargain. That’s a big reason it made number four. I actually found it useful a few times when the kids were playing on the computer. No fear of them spelling some sticky gloop on it. Ok they keys are not fantastic, but you can feel a press easily enough, plus it’s very lightweight. It’s also a handy
spare if something goes wrong with your main keyboard.
_________________________________________________

3. Alcohol Breath Tester (find here)

 
Best price: AU$7.00 including postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 8/10
Quality: 6/10
Real world usefulness: 6/10

I believe the best policy is not to drink anything at all (if you’re planning to drive) but of course you do find yourself in situations where you might want to test the person who’s about to drive you to see if they are safe! We found this device kind of fun when we were staying at home after a couple of beers – just testing each other to see who was over. How accurate is it? Well the detector is primitive (green yellow or red) so it seems pretty basic, but three beers in an hour and it went straight to RED every time. My advice, it’s a novelty not a tool – but still worth $7 bucks. Yes, it even has a an LED light on it.
________________________________________________

2. LED Laser Torch (here on ebay) or (here)

 
Ave price: AU$9.99 +$5 postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 7/10
Quality: 9/10
Real world usefulness: 9/10

OK – I used this so much that I lost it. The one above isn’t quite the same but I did manage to get something very similar for under $10 including delivery off Ebay. The batteries last for ages, there are multiple settings and the laser is, well a good toy for making cats and dogs chase around the little red dot. A bargain gadget.
__________________________________________________

1. Electric Shock Laser Key Ring (here) or (here ebay)

 
Ave price: AU$6.00 including postage
Gadget Wow Factor: 8/10
Quality: 9/10
Real world usefulness: 9/10

The winner! We had so much fun with this that is, until someone stole it. Basically if you press the wrong button, instead of getting the laser you get a pretty huge electric shock. So provided you’re not playing this prank on someone with a pacemaker, this thing is a hoot for $6 incl postage. They don’t always show up on Ebay so I included another link above.

________________________________________________

Got any ideas or great finds for Gadgets under $10 – let me know:
www.twitter.com/eunmac or leave a comment below. 🙂

Google – “Get rid of the designer”

It always worries me when I see something involving the words “create” and “no designer necessary”. Whilst I’m sure Google recognizes a need in making life easier for companies to get their message in front of consumers without the ‘high costs of using designers…I fear a plague of more terrible display ads impending…

http://www.google.com/adwords/displayadbuilder/