Tascam Outs New DR-07 Mark II Audio Recorder, Touts Adjustable Mics

If you're in the market for a quality audio recording device to capture demos somebody other than your mother would listen to, here's your chance to get those songs past her and out into the real world.Tascam, maker of professional music studio equipment, has just announced their newest addition to the recording family, the DR-07. Depending on what you'll be recording, the device allows the user to capture sound in XY or AB configuration using the adjustable dual microphones -- the XY adjustment for a tight stereo recording and AB for ambient, larger noise. The Mark II comes bundled with a 2GB microSD slot, features 17.5 hours of battery life and grabs MP3 audio at up to 320 kbps or WAV audio at up to 96 kHz. If you're interested in picking one of these up, hit up the more coverage link and drop the $150.

How Pee Helps Us Understand Social Media

So what exactly is the difference between how we use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare? Like most everything in life, it's easiest when you think in terms of pee.

 

 

Does This Shoe Fit You?

To publicize the Kang Shoe Company, this 3m-long electric shoe car has been driving around China at speeds of 30mph (48kmph), with one driver and a passenger at the wheel (lace?) of the car.

There are plans to build 40 of the things, so the company can have a whole wardrobe of shoe-cars to step into when a bit of hype is needed. I do wonder what the in-car hi-fi system is like—and whether there's a special radio station that plays nothing but drum & lace, and sole music?

This Tokyo Girl Levitates Daily

What do YOU do every day? Pick your nose? Argue with your girlfriend? Polish your iPad? I bet it's not as cool as this young lady from Tokyo, who photographs herself in a new levitating pose every day.

 

 

WD My Book Studio Edition II Goes To a Whopping 6TB Now

Western Digital's My Book Studio Edition II was already at the top of the leader board, with four interfaces (FireWire 800/400, eSATA, USB 2.0) and 4TB of storage. But now that the external hard drive comes in 6TB—for a relatively reasonably $550—and adds Apple Time Machine compatibility—it's a pro-level Mac user's dream. Assuming you don't have anything better to dream about than external hard drives.

 

 

You’re My Carbon Fiber Guitar Hero

Weighing in at 3lbs, this acoustic guitar is not like other acoustic guitars—you could almost say it's the Darth Vader of guitars. Evil to the core.

Creator Blackbird Guitars is asking $1,600 for it—quite a lot, yes, but they've done some tricky fiddling with the guitar's shape, by extending the shoulder to the 10th fret to increase the volume, and treating the asymmetrical hole as an amplifier. Just don't go playing the Imperial March on it.

 

 

Never Squint To Read The Time Again With This Watch

Analog watches can be terribly difficult to read, and can lead to squinting and adjusting your arm position to focus your eyes on those blasted dashed lines and watch hands. The Zoomin Watch concept fixes that problem.

The hour and minute hands are replaced by mini magnifying glasses, which makes reading the time as easy as a digital watch.

Could You Live in This Ultra Minimalist Home?

I like minimalism. But Aires Mateus's House In Leiria goes a few notches beyond being merely clutter-free—the Portuguese abode doesn't just have stark interiors but a strikingly featureless white exterior, too.

Aside from the serious white paint costs that must come with keeping this racquetball-court-of-a-home pristine throughout the year, it's just an uncomfortable space to inhabit.

The headache continues when you consider how kids, pets, guests, rodents, neighbors' pets, and various meteorological phenomena are basically all continually conspiring to dirty up your place. In an all white house, that one scuff becomes essentially impossible not to notice. So, yes, it seems like cleaning would have to be something of a constant at the House In Leiria. At least you don't have to spend any time washing the windows.

 

 

Leg iPad Stand

The PadPivot doesn't just work with iPads, claims the designer, with all sorts of tablets and ereaders fitting in the stand's slot of sticking to the washable adhesive grap.

I particularly like the way you can tilt the iPad for gaming, when it's used as a leg-brace. Most clever! It'll be available from April.

 

 

Books Sculpted to Look Like Their Authors

For the Dutch book week, several books were hacked into and carved to look like their author's faces. There's Anne Frank and Kader Abdolah up above, looking all wooden-headed. Which author would you choose to carve?

 

 

The Toy Tazer Is Great for Tasing Kids

Have a rowdy bunch of kids? Why not tase them a little bit to teach 'em a lesson? The Toy Tazer is perfect because for one, they're dirt cheap at only $3.40 and for two, it's not that harmful at only 3.6V per shot (versus 50,000 in police tasers). Let your kid know what it feels like before he really gets tased, you know? It's only good parenting. 

 

 

These Indestructible Rubber Speakers Amplify Your Earbuds to 80dB

There are plenty of situations which warrant music but aren't exactly conducive to real speakers, vacations and day trips foremost among them. Tembo Trunks, a Kickstarter project conceived by two Australian brothers on holiday in Africa, looks to be the perfect acoustic compromise.

The Trunks are collapsible silicone cones that function as amplifiers for regular iPod earbuds. They fold and stack for easy travel, require no power, and can withstand being run over by a car. Basically you toss 'em in your pack and forget about them until you need 'em.

Flaps on the back of the cones secure earbuds in place—they're designed for Apple's stock buds but presumably work with others as well—and amplify the music the buds are emitting to 80 dB, somewhere between a regular conversation and the racket made by a lawnmower. Maybe not dance party-level boom, but certainly loud enough for a group of people to enjoy.

 

 

Official LEGO Minifigs Get the USB Legs They’ve Always Dreamed Of

USB sticks and LEGO minifigs have finally tied the knot, never to be separated again, til death do them part. They run a reasonable $25 for 2GB capacity, and you'll never have one of these two things without wanting both of them in one adorable keychain item ever again.

Whoa! Your New iPad Will Stick To Your Fridge

Provided your new iPad is attached to its magnetical Smart Cover, it'll cling on to your refrigerator like a spider monkey to a tree branch. Or like something magnetic to something metal. It's true! It seems like it's all being held up by the magnets on the flap of the Smart Cover—I could definitely use it as a reference while cooking (read: doing FaceTime with my Mom while she tells me how to cook) without being too worried about slippage. Disclaimer: don't do this at home, because maybe your refrigerator isn't as magnet-friendly.

 

 

Google Earth Showing New Satellite Images of Japan

You're probably going to want to polish up and open Google Earth. Google has been processing new updated satellite images of Japan and they're constantly trying to find more as fast as possible. They're on top of Kushiro, Tokyo, Kamaishi, Fukushima (before outer structure collapse) and Yokohama right now.

I Just Bought a Bottle of Ketchup on Facebook

While I was punching in my credit card details on Facebook for a bottle of Heinz ketchup with balsamic vinegar (I'm a sucker for anything limited edition...and ketchup), it occurred to me just how strange it was to be buying anything—let alone a condiment!—on Facebook. But that's the world we live in now.

Have you ever bought anything on Facebook? As more and more people are using sites like Groupon, and taking advantage of companies' offers after following them on Twitter, it makes a lot of sense for brands to take to Facebook to properly "own" their promotions. Everything about the sale of the bottle of ketchup (which is only available to UK fans of Heinz, I'm afraid) was done on Facebook—and crucially, they included the option to share the deal with my Facebook friends.

Spamming my friends' feeds is something I wouldn't normally do—but why do we (and I say "we," because I'm seeing it regularly in my webetiquette-savvy friends) feel that sharing details of a promotion is ok? We're literally falling for the trap. We're endorsing and advertising Heinz, one of the biggest companies around. A company that needs no help selling products. If this limited edition bottle of ketchup was being sold in a supermarket, it would inevitably sell just fine, without any promotion on the social media channels.

It's a clever move of Heinz's (and its PR/marketing team), and we're going to be seeing a lot more of it in the future, whether we like it or not. You'll have to literally hide under a rock (or disconnect your router) to not notice these well-targeted plays at our pursestrings. Please "fan" my product—and welcome to the digital supermarket.

 

 

Olympus’ TOUGH TG-810 Camera Feels the Brute Force of 100kg Blows

Could you withstand a force of 100kg? Olympus is claiming its TOUGH TG-810 camera can. Naturally, I'd like to see video evidence of that (wouldn't we all?), but all we have for now is Olympus' word. What we can probably take them on is the three-sensor GPS, electronic compass and inbuilt manometer (ladies, that's not what you think it is—it's actually a pressure-measuring tool).

In regards to optics, the camera has a 14MP sensor, with a 5x wide zoom on the lens. ISO rangeis 80 - 1600, and it can record video at 720p. Further pushing the envelope on its "all adventurer" schtick, it also has four underwater scene modes. "Capturing escapee genitals from bathing suits" probably isn't one of them.

You'll be able to pick it up sometime this month for €299 in Europe, or $400 in the US.

 

 

You’d Be Hard-Pressed to Find a Cheaper Ring-Flash Than This $40 One

Looking a whole heap more professional than a DIY ring-flash, Photojojo's $40 flash is light in two ways: it weighs just 700 grams, and uses the light from your existing flashgun to illuminate your photos evenly, and strongly.

It doesn't have its own lights like expensive ring-flashes, but if you're not willing to fork out double or even triple the price of Photojojo's F160, then it's a nice compromise. 

 

 

Walk to the Beat of These Sneaker Speakers

Shoes with speakers have been heard before, but not like this. This set of sneaker speakers uses the iconic Air Force One as the housing and comes complete with a full range speaker, tweeter, amp and volume controls. The wood base that the urrforce ones stand on actually makes the set look tasteful. It was handmade by Alex Nash  for the Havana Club as an art project.

 

 

Try and Solve This 17×17x17 Rubiks Cube if You Dare

Unofficially, this is theworld's largest cube puzzle. I get a headache just thinking about how one would go about solving this functioning 17x17x17 behemoth.

Comprised of 1539 pieces and roughly 5.5-inches-long in each direction, creator Oskar van Deventer fabricated each individual part using a 3D printer, then he dyed and sorted each piece before assembling it into what your see here. The dyeing and sorting took 10 hours, while the assembling took another five. Hello, tedium!

If you'd like to dye, sort and assemble one yourself, you can spend roughly $2000 in partshere. If you want a finished product, you can check it here.