NerdBeach

USB Talking Globe offers up to date geography education

Geography education seems to be very weak in today's society, and given that we are more interconnected than ever before, that is probably not a good thing.  The Always Current Talking Globe may help with keeping your geographical knowledge up to date, since the educational device will plug into an USB port and update once a week.  According to the website:

30 learning activities with facts about countries geography, currency, political leaders, history, language, and population are narrated in a clear digital voice. Once a category is selected on the control panel, users place the stylus on a country to listen to up-to-date global info, or they can compare the currency, population, and travel times of two countries by moving the stylus between the two nations.

Young geographers test their knowledge in “Find” mode; the globe asks up to four players to find countries, capitals, and cities, and users race against the clock to locate the correct locations with the stylus. Simply connect the included USB cable to a PC running Windows Vista or XP and access the manufacturer’s website to download current statistics and world news; download service is free for the first year ($14.99 per year thereafter).

The Always Current Talking Globe from Hammacher Schlemmer measures 14(H) x 12(W) x 12(D) inches for $179.95.

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Wireless USB microphone with big retro look

Wireless microphones for computers are nothing new, but I have not seen one to date that has the style that the Retro USB Microphone from Brando does.

The mike works up to 3 meters away from the USB receiver, and weighs about 149g.  Perfect for walking about as you rant to someone on messenger.  We suggest that you rent a few RKO pictures in order to prepare for proper use of the microphone.

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Spy Video Camera Watch looks very convincing

Most of the time that I've seen a spy watch in a "anywhere reasonable" price tag, it was very obvious that it was a camera and/or it had really poor capabilities.  But the video spy watch from Brando is something a bit more interesting.

The camera lens in actually in the upper part of the numeral 2 above (now you see it, don't you?).   The video camera watch is decent enough on the presentation that it would not be noticed under casual scrutiny (and you could considering covering the mini-USB port to make it even more so). The watch camera shoots at 352 x 288 pixels, but it has 2GB onboard to allow for a lot of spy videos.  The watch is rechargeable from any USB port, and as far as we can tell it might actually tell the time as well. 

 

The 2GB Spy Watch costs $236, and you can find it at Brando.

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Lenovo IdeaPad launched at Olympics

The Olympics saw the release of the Lenovo IdeaPad U8, and the little machine has our interest.  The Asia-only MID sports an impressive range of features, including:

  • Silverthron-class Atom processor
  • 4.8 inch touchscreen
  • 350 grams
  • measures 21 x 173 x 84-mm 
  • Up to 2GB memory
  • 6GB flash storage
  • dual cameras
  • USB dongle for China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB)
  • 802.11 b/g WiFi
  • GPS
  • EDGE and hopefully China-specific TD-SCDMA 3G

Now if they could only release it in the states, but with WiMAX as well.   Nice.

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