How many times have you wondered what to do with all your gear on the beach? How many times have you had rust stains on your clothes from hanging them over the umbrella rig? Or had sand in your camera? With the Pole-R-Bear Handy Umbrella Hooks, (almost) any umbrella pole can be made into a convenient hanger for all your stuff. Made from rubber with four rubber coated hooks. USD 12:99.brbr
Birgitta Olsson of Färgelanda has been awarded the 2008 prize as the year’s Swedish female inventor. Her idea, the Spoldosan (approx. Flush-pod), has been developed into a product with great commercial promise. The flush-pod is meant to be used to rinse away stagnant warm water left in pipes, shower-heads and hoses, etc. By letting the water run through the Flush-pod into the drain, the amount of water vapor in the air is drastically reduced as is the risk of spreading the Legionella bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease.brbr
The Lighthouse tea light holder is one of designer Carina Ahlburg’s latest bright ideas. The tube/tower can hold one lighted tea light on top, and several more in reserve below. You fill the Lighthouse via the opening near the top, and remove one tea light at a time through the opening at the bottom, much like any old dispenser. We like. Also check out Ms. Ahlburg’s clever collection box for recycling old newspapers, that we posted on a while back.brbr
All cellphones rely heavily on their UI. Some are good, some barely OK, and some suck. But to a blind or visually impaired person this does not matter, since he or she can’t use the phone anyway. They would be happy with a phone without all the bells and whistles, as long as it is good for calling up friends and family. Now, apparently, Indian phone service provider Spice has recently showed a USD 20:- braille cellphone. Phone manufacturer Doro also has a cell phone model meant to facilitate for the elderly or visually impaired, but although it has a very simple UI, it does not use braille. Now our question is this; how hard could it be for Motorola, Nokia, Samsung or Sony-Ericson to add braille to the keyboard next time they re-design one of their phones?brbr
Clifton Burt from Mississippi writes, I just wanted to let you know that our design resource center recently used letters from a discarded sign to construct the haiku from your Simplicity blog post of April 21, 2007. Thanks Clifton!…
The Save-A-Deer whistle is an animal alert, deer warning device that aids in accident prevention with animals. Help save human and animal lives through reduced deer and vehicle collisions. Not to mention, you will be able to avoid the severe damage animals can do to your vehicle. Tack till Helen M. for the tip!brbr
The breathable sealskinz type boot liner has a patented fabric structure of three highly engineered layers including a membrane capable of allowing perspiration to escape while not allowing water to penetrate (Gore-Tex principle). Each sock is high-pressure tested to make sure there are no leaks. That makes them suitable for most any activity where you risk getting your feet wet. And at USD 14:95 they will not break your budget.brbr
From the website: The Baked Potato Grill Cooker makes it twice as fast to cook a potato on the grill … Stick your potato onto the prongs of the rack, then place (it) on the grill. The metal rack will conduct heat from the grill, cooking it from the inside while it’s also cooked from the outside. Also keeps the potatoes from rolling around. USD 7:99.brbr
Arthur C. Clarke, possibly the most visionary sci-fi author of all time, has reportedly passed away. He had just turned 90 years old. The AP alert reads:brbrAP News Alertbr
1 hour agobr
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Aide says science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90.brbr
Clarke is most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. He is also is accredited with inventing the concept of the communications satellite. Wikipedia.brbrbr
The Eject Power-strip is a concept that uses a pedal device to eject power plugs that lead to devices not in use to prevent vampire power consumption. That’s pretty neat, especially if the power-strip is hard to get at, i.e. under a desk. But being clever, unfortunately it does not help you get the stuff connected again, since it appears you still have to bend down and crawl under the desk to plug them back in. Maybe further development is required, like making the pedal device into a circuit breaker… brbr
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