40Tech

My little girl is three. Three-and-a-half, to be exact — and before now, we never had to worry about her putting things in her mouth. I’m not sure what changed, really, but now we have to watch her like a hawk. And we do — but, unfortunately, it was already too late for my iPad stylus. For both of them…

The first one, she chewed on. It was pretty much a write-off. The second one, she decided it would be fun to see what the business end tasted like. Now I’m down two pens. They were the cheap kind, thank the tech gods, but that’s still about $40 down the drain! So I decided: the next stylus will be one of my own making. One that will cost me nothing to make, and that I can easily repair. And thanks to the wonders of the internet, making that happen was easy peasy.

Bye bye 2011. We hope everyone had a great and safe night last night, and we wish you all a fantastic and prosperous 2012 — filled with happiness, good times, and 366 (Leap Year) days of awesome geekery.

To start you off, hit the jump for some sweet geekiness. They’re not tech… but they’re definitely tech-inspired and will get you close to your nerdy heart!

‘Tis the season for giving, but also receiving. If you’re like me, then the holidays are always a time for getting a new gadget or two. With that in mind, what tech goodness do you have on your wish list? Any games, gadgets, or other geekiness? To give you some ideas, here is what I have on my list, in no particular order.

Contrary to the current arc of techno-loving crazy flying about the internet, the laptop is not dead, and tablets — though awesome — have not yet taken over the world. In fact, millions of people are using laptops right now. They’ve got them sitting on (surprise!) their laps, whirring away, blasting their tender parts with heat and WiFi radiation. Apparently, recent reports are saying that’s a bad thing; that it can mess with your baby-having potential. Having just had another cute little baby, I can’t really speak to that — but I have been following reports that WiFi radiation can be harmful, and it’s well-documented that heat is no friend to the business of making tiny humans.

Whether you believe in the dangers of WiFi radiation or not, I think we can all agree that comfort is a good thing. That’s one of the reasons the lap-desk was invented, and — heat and WiFi blocking powers notwithstanding — Digital Innovations’ LapGuard is one of the best I’ve come across.

Pink seems to be the color on everyone’s minds, with men and women alike choosing fancy and cheap pink e-readers over the usual white, black or silver colored e-readers. Besides features and functionality, aesthetics is an important consideration for buyers of laptops, e-readers and other computing devices. Though not many brands have color options when it comes to e-book readers, there are a few manufacturers like Sony, Bookeen, Cool-er etcetera who do offer cheap e-readers in many colors including pink. For those who want to check reviews and compare deals on ‘pink readers’, here is some information on the different brands that have pink e-readers for sale.

Back in October, I wrote a short post about a father-son DIY project that sent an iPhone into the upper stratosphere. In December, the geeks at Google did the same thing, but with more of a mind toward data (and cool picture) collecting. Well, NASA one-upped them all by taking not one, but two Android Nexus S smartphones into orbit with the final space shuttle mission. They weren’t used to phone home or anything quite so cliché (but cool!) — nope, these little robot-bearing phones were actually used to control other, more sophisticated robots: SPHERE satellites.

It may sound like a joke — but it’s not. If you’ve been poking about on YouTube or TechCrunch today, you may have already seen this: an interview (and partial commercial for the new Deus Ex) with Rob Spence, a man who has successfully created a prosthetic eye for himself that is actually an endoscope turned wireless video camera. It doesn’t plug into his brain or anything (we’re a while away from that yet), only outputting to a handheld LCD receiver/viewer, but hey — that’s still good enough for a decent bit of spy-tech, right? At the very least, it makes for a good “neeeeeeat” or “oh-ye-gods-that’s-gross” story.

Check out the video, below. Yep, video — and you do get to see him install and remove the eye, so if you’re squeamish… well, you’ve been warned.

There is a near infinite amount of electronic gadgets available for cars. Some are wacky and unnecessary, and some are truly innovative and useful. Here are ten electronic gadgets that will make life easier for any driver.

Remember IBM? They may not be the premier computer manufacturer they once were, but the world’s oldest computer company is still skating on the cutting edge of technology. Their latest achievement? Two DARPA SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) funded prototype chips that can learn and remember in a way that “begins to rival the brain’s function, power, and speed.”

Can you say Skynet?

This is one time when downscaling technology isn’t a cliché. None of that “cell phone implanted in your tooth” malarkey– the mChip is serious business. Serious, potentially game (and life) changing business.

Once upon a time, getting tested for HIV involved a trip to the doctor, a bit of blood-letting, and a rather tense wait. It was months, at first, then weeks, then days, and eventually it worked its way down to minutes. That’s all fine and dandy if you live in a developed country, but if you happen to live in Africa, where HIV is running rampant, then visiting your local doctor’s office could involve something of a trek. A trek you may not be able to afford or, due to fear of results, lack of time, or whatever other reason, may not be inclined to make.

Researchers at Columbia University have found a way to help.