A Snail USB Drive Is the Most Adorable USB Drive

The 8BG drive is $22. At first glance, you don't even really expect it to be a tech accessory. It's all one piece—the mouth of the critter is the cap on the drive, so you don't need to worry about losing the top, which always seems to get away. It's functional, and more importantly, very adorable. More here.

How Your Blender Uses Physics to Make a Smoothie

4-In-1 Measuring Spoon Leaves You One Thing To Wash

On one hand, the Dash 4-in-1 measuring spoon from Umbra reduces drawer clutter, leaves you with just a single tool to wash, and looks pretty snazzy in the process with its avocado finish. On the other hand, if you've multiple ingredients to measure, particularly wet ones, at some point you're going to probably end up getting your hands dirty touching this. Then again, at $8 a pop you can always just buy two. More here.

The Science of Aging

Carry a Tiny Supernova In Your Pocket With the Ultra-Bright LED Lenser F1

You might think all flashlights are created equal, but don't tell that to a flashaholic. There are large online communities of flashlight aficionados who take their illumination very seriously, and there's a good chance even they'll be impressed by LED Lenser's new F1 which manages to squeeze a whopping 400 lumens from a single CR123 battery.

It's true that CR123 batteries aren't as easy to find in stores as regular old AAs, but it's a fair trade-off. What you sacrifice in convenience, you gain in longer runtimes and greater illumination. CR123 batteries use a lithium-cell inside instead of alkaline, and output three volts instead of the 1.5 volts from a AA battery. So it allows flashlights like the F1 to blast an impressive 400 lumens while still boasting excellent battery life.

Of course you don't have to run the F1 at full power. You can extend its battery life even further by dimming its LED bulb to its lowest setting. But if you're going to drop $80 on it, you might as well go big or go home. More here.

Flexible Flat-Pack Furniture That Actually Looks Pretty Comfy

What you gain in convenience when opting for flat-pack furniture from stores like Ikea, you lose in comfort. But with a clever enough design, it turns out that your flat-pack seating can actually look comfortable and inviting—as South Africa-based Wintec's Stratflex line demonstrates.

At first glance it's hard to believe these contoured curvaceous pieces actually came from a box. But thanks to the use of strips of flexible polymer embedded in the various panels, when disassembled all of the various components will lie completely flat. And by incorporating grids of the flexible polymer into the surfaces where people sit, the seats are actually just as easy on your butt as they are on your eyes. Now if they only didn't range in price from $185 for a simple chair, to $1,500 for a three-person love seat. More here.

The World’s Smallest Automatic Umbrella

The Weather Channel reporters, with all their talk of Doppler radars and satellites and fear mongering weather graphics, are, in the end, just a bunch of liars. They may say you're in for sunny skies, but just hours later you'll find yourself beneath a torrential downpour, umbrella-less and unprepared. Hammacher Schlemmer has finally found a solution to the unreliable virus that is The Weather Channel in the form of the pocketable, keep-it-with-you-at-all-times World's Smallest Automatic Umbrella.

Measuring in at a mere 8 inches long when fully closed, the teeny tiny umbrella can actually open up to a full 40 inches in diameter, shielding you from whatever the heavens hurl your way. And from the look of its guts, small doesn't have to mean flimsy; it's packing a steel shaft, ribs, and stretchers that have—supposedly—been tested to withstand winds better than other, even larger compact umbrellas. Although, given some of the crap out there masquerading as rain protection, that may not be saying much. Still, $30 isn't bad for a fully automatic, pocket-sized umbrella that you can keep on your person at essentially all times. More here.

Rats Communicate With Each Other By Sniffing

Next time you see animals sniffing in each other's presence, there might be more happening than you expect. New research suggests that a humble intake of breath actually allows rats to communicate with each other.

In a series of experiments, carried out at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, researchers used radio telemetry recordings of nasal respiration to identify how rats reacted when others sniffed in their direction.

The results, published in Current Biology, suggest that when rats of a higher status sniff in the direction of other rats, subordinates decrease their breathing rate. The researchers claim it's akin to the rats saying "don't mind me." Daniel Wesson, the lead researcher, explains:

"We know that rats and other animals can communicate through vocalizations, physical contact, odors, and also visual displays. To find that there was an undiscovered form of communication these animals had been using right in front of us this whole time was truly a neat experience."

In fact, when smaller rats failed to lower their breathing rate, dominant rats would often attack them! All of which suggests that there is far, far more to the simple sniffing that animals do than we may have previously thought—and that might help us understand the complex communication systems used by animals more clearly. Dr Doolittle would be proud. More here.

A Graphene Antenna Could Give Us Wireless Terabit Uploads in One Second

Wireless uploads of big files take for-ev-er. But researchers at Georgia Tech Universityhave plans for an antenna made of crazy thin graphene that would let you transfer a whole terabit of data in just one second.

Within a couple of feet, researchers could move a terabit per second, but in theory, from a closer range, you could move as much as 100 terabits a second. That's about 100 high-def movies in less time than it takes you make a cup of coffee. Graphene, you crazy.

MIT Technology Review explains how the antenna would be made:

Graphene could be shaped into narrow strips of between 10 and 100 nanometers wide and one micrometer long, allowing it to transmit and receive at the terahertz frequency, which roughly corresponds to those size scales. Electromagnetic waves in the terahertz frequency would then interact with plasmonic waves-oscillations of electrons at the surface of the graphene strip-to send and receive information.

Of course, this is just the preliminary groundwork on a piece of tech that doesn't exactly exist yet. Next the Georgia Tech group will have to figure out manufacturing, and how to make the necessary components—signal generators, amplifiers, and so forth—so the antennas will actually work. But the thought of lightning-fast wireless downloads is enough to be a little excited for the future. More here.

These Klipsch Earphones Are Your Cheap-But-Decent Deal of the Day

If you want decent audio on the go and don't want a pair of clunky over-ear headphones, a great choice is the Klipsch S4i. $45 dollars nets you a pair of black Klipsch S4i earbuds with free shipping. This is the version with a remote and mic, and it usually retails for $60 and up elsewhere, and it's even priced lower than the remoteless version. If you had a feeling your stock earbuds weren't quite cutting it, today's a great day to give the S4i a shot. More here.

Finger-Shaped Tacks: Handy in the Creepiest Way Possible

Do you have piles of miscellaneous papers scattered haphazardly around your home? Are you Russel Crowe in A Beautiful Mind? If any of the above apply to you, these thumb tacks taken literally may be exactly what you're looking for.

The all-white, phalangeal tacks are a clever, easy way to add some fun to any bulletin board, photo collage, or paranoid barrage of highlighted newspaper clippings. You can even arrange them into a five-finger pattern, giving you your very own hand to sort of kind of hold—no real human required. You can pick these particular ones up for $10 at Handy-Thumbs. More here.

A Map That Shows How Salty the Seas Are

Some briny deeps are brinier than others. The Atlantic Ocean has two huge "deserts" of extra-salty water, the result of little rainfall and lots of evaporation.

These tangy tracts have been revealed by NASA's Aquarius instrument, which is aboard Argentina's Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft and is dedicated to studying the salt content of the oceans.

NASA has just released the first year of data from Aquarius, running from December 2011 to December 2012. In the image above, red and orange areas are very salty, while green and blue areas are less so.

Patterns of salinity are expected to change over the coming decades as the climate shifts, with knock-on effects for major currents and regional sea level rise. More here.

Microsoft Might Owe Denmark More Than $1 Billion in Unpaid Tax

A new report by Denmark's national broadcasting corporation, DR, suggests that Microsoft owes the country over $1 billion in unpaid tax.

The report claims that Ballmer and co owe the Danish Treasury a total of 5.8 billion kroner, a hangover from the 2002 acquisition of Danish financial software company Navision. The OS giant sold rights to some of Navision's software to it Microsoft's Irish subsidiary at a suspiciously low price so that it could transfer valuable assets out of Denmark—where taxes are high.

Now, the Danish Treasury is chasing Microsoft all the way to Redmond to try and claw back billions in taxes and interest. It remains to be seen how successful that will be. More here.

Bring the Drive-Thru to Your Kitchen with this Instant Breakfast Sandwich Tower

Breakfast sandwiches are one of the best ways you can start the day (taste-wise, at least). But they tend to be logistically difficult. Either you've got to take the time to carefully assemble one, or pay some scruffy, minimum-wage employee to make one for you. Hamilton Beach's Breakfast Sandwich Maker merges the best of both worlds.

A cleverly stacked arsenal of cooking-spaces, the Breakfast Sandwich maker makes multi-tasking a priority. The tower of chow cooks your egg in one compartment on the top, warms a slice of pre-cooked meat in the middle, and warms your cheese and other assorted fillings in a spot of the bottom. All between two English muffins for easy removal. And all this in five minutes or less.

Hamiliton Beach is releasing its breakfast baby into the wild later this month for the reasonable price of $30.  More here.

Can This iPhone 5 Case Really Boost Your Wi-Fi Reception?

If you're stuck with a limited iPhone data plan and rely heavily on Wi-Fi to avoid overage charges, spending $50 to vastly improve your reception when leeching from free hotspots might sound like a real bargain. That is, if the Linkase manages to deliver on its promise of boosting Wi-Fi reception by as much as 50 percent.

So how does it work? Well, that's a bit of a gray area that seems to border on snake oil. The case uses a technology called EMW—or electro magnetic waveguide—to boost your iPhone 5's signal snatching capabilities. But from the Linkase's website, that actually seems to be a combination of a case that prevents your fingers from touching and covering the iPhone's antenna, and an additional extending antenna that increases its reception prowess. Given this was the form factor for many handsets before the iPhone arrived, it's not that surprising that it works. But does anyone really want to go back to having something sticking out of their sleek handsets? More here.

Your 3D Printer Could Eat Empty Milk Jugs Instead of Expensive Plastic

Oh 3D printing. You're so glamorous. You're so cool. But, let's be honest, you're soooo expensive. Maybe instead of printing with $30 spools of plastic you could print with empty shampoo bottles and milk jugs. Oh, you can do that? See, this is why everyone loves you.

Researchers at Michigan Technological University have created a plastic extruder, called Filabot, that turns home recyclables into usable filament for 3D printing. Basically the machine takes 4-inch pieces of plastic and shreds them, before melting the plastic and extruding it through changeable nozzles, and shaping it for use in printers. Filabot works with thermoplastics like HDPE, LDPE, ABS, and NYLON, though PVC is out because of, you know, serious toxicity risks and stuff. The group calculated that Filabot uses a tenth of the energy needed to recycle empty bottles to produce its filament.

The first model, the Filabot Reclaimer, is in production now. The unassembled Filabot sold on Kickstarter for $350 so pricing will probably be in that range. This thing could really be worth it for avid 3D printers, and could drive down costs for hackerspaces and other groups. More here.

A Sailboat Napkin Holder Is the Most Clever Napkin Holder

Napkin holders! Oh sure grandma, I'd love to see your collection of antique napkin holders. Okay, yes boring topic, right? Nope, not when your napkin holder turns into a sailboat when you pop actually napkins in it like this one.

This ceramic vessel is all kinds of adorable. And it doesn't scream HEY THIS IS A NAUTICAL THEME. I love it. It's $31, and would probably make a good gift, not just for grandmas. More here.

An Umbrella Made of Cork to Plug Up the Rain

Totally sustainable, naturally impermeable, and protector of drinkables, cork is an incredible thing. But more than being functional, it's all the rage with the kids these days! And we can see why. This newly unveiled cork umbrella from Pelcor is lovely to look at but with the added, smug bonus of knowing your all-natural shield is renewable, too.

And for the burgeoning cork enthusiast, Pelcor has an entire collection of cork-based goods for your perusal. You can check them out right over here.

Reinforce Your Wardrobe With a Industrial-Strength Rebar Hanger

Is all your bad-ass clothing just too much for those flimsy, plastic, run-of-the-mill hangers. Do your pants or shirts, weighted as they are with pounds of pure awesomeness, need something more structurally sound to keep them in order? The "Man Hanger" suits your very strange needs.

Made from real, industrial-grade rebar, hand-bent into shape (somehow), and coated to prevent rust and corrosion, the Man Hanger is a marriage of strength and finesse fit to support those clothes that bring out both your softer side and your inner tough guy. That is, if you have any pants that fit that well.

Granted, "Man Hanger" is a god-awful name, and at $25 one Man Hanger is roughly twice as expensive as 40lbs of actual rebar (including shipping!), but unless you can bend steel, this is your only choice. Do you really need to drop that much on something that belongs in the closet and under clothes? Probably not. But damned if we don't want one. Or 12. More here.

Drink Like a Pixie WIth This Adorable Leaf-Shaped Cup

Unless you're completely snobbish about only consuming bottled water, this cute silicone cup—crafted in the shape of a leaf—will let you enjoy a drink without having to get your mouth anywhere near a tap, faucet, or bubbling spring. And it's just $12 and washable, so you'll never have to feel guilty about asking for a disposable cup again. More here.