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By Andrew Liszewski

Normally I wouldn’t consider a hose reel to be OhGizmo! fodder, but this one has a clever trick up its sleeve that easily passes the “hey that’s nifty!” test. The NO-CRANK reel uses a patented water piston engine and the water pressure from your outdoor tap to automatically rewind your garden hose by simply flicking a lever to the ‘rewind’ position. And while I have my doubts that rewinding a hose is actually “one of the most stressful parts of maintaining your lawn and garden” like their PR material claims, I still think it’s a clever idea. And it’s just $39.99 from Buy.com, though I have my doubts it will arrive in time for Father’s Day.

[ NO CRANK Hose Reel ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

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By Chris Scott Barr

It’s Monday, which means most people are back at work and not very happy about it. How was your weekend? Did you notice anything different when you turned on your TV? A bit of snow perhaps? Something tells me that you guys were smart enough to either upgrade your TV or buy a converter box. Or maybe you were like me and just ditched broadcast TV completely. With Hulu and other streaming services, there’s really nothing for broadcast television to offer me.

So did the switchover affect any of you? Surprisingly I didn’t get a single phone call from a friend or relative who was having issues. Even my great-grandparents had everything squared-away months ago. While I didn’t get any calls, the federal hotline for the DTV switch received over 700,000 calls. These ranged from questions about the coupons, reception issues to people that didn’t know how to operate their boxes. Most of the calls were resolved by having people simply re-scan the channels. Did any of you run into these issues, or get calls from relatives?

VIA [ Yahoo News ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

It might not be as high-tech as a Dyson, but this 18-volt compact vacuum from Black & Decker still manages to one-up them when it comes to cleaning underneath furniture. It features a clever pivoting design allowing the vacuum to essentially fold in half, so not only can it reach deep underneath a couch or a coffee table, but you don’t have to get down on all fours to use it. It’s also got “Cyclonic Action” to keep the filter clean and maintain suction power as the dirt canister gets full, and a 3 stage filtration system for cleaner air exhaust. $99.99 from Amazon or other fine retailers.

[ Black & Decker Pivoting Floor Vac ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

I think referring to this over-engineered baby carriage as a ‘robot’ is a bit of a stretch, but if you’ve got $780 to burn and an overly-energetic/clingy baby to deal with, it could be the next best thing to a live-in nanny. Besides a unique horizontal swinging motion designed to lull your child to sleep, the Bomo will also autonomously follow you around the house whilst avoiding obstacles like furniture, pets and other babies that aren’t so privileged.

But that’s not all! Why let Bomo’s sensors decide where it roams when you can switch it into a manual mode and let your kid pilot the chair via an actual accelerator pedal and a fully-functioning steering wheel. On a 3-hour charge Bomo’s battery is good for about 6 hours of use, and all of the upholstery is easily removable and washable since ‘indoor ride-on toys + kids’ is the basic scientific formula for spills.

[ Bomo Indoor Robot Baby Carriage ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

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By Chris Scott Barr

They call the toilet the throne, yet they always look so boring. If I were a king, I wouldn’t want to sit on some boring white seat all day. No, I’d want something nice and fancy. Granted, these Jammin’ Johns Toilet Seats aren’t quite what I had in mind for a king. Unless maybe we’re talking about Elvis.

These rather unique toilet seats are fashioned to look like either a guitar or a grand piano. So if you need somewhere to sit and get musical inspiration while you’re doing your business, these might be for you. They might not actually help to inspire you, but at least people will know where you came up with that killer riff. $170 is a lot for a toilet seat, so you’d better write a few good songs and sell out to pay for it.

[ JamminJohns ] VIA [ FoolishGadgets ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

Remember the Keyport key fob? We first wrote about it back in October of 2007 and though it was a little expensive, we thought it wasn’t a terrible idea. Basically you sent the company a check for $300 along with 6 different keys, and they would send you a custom-made key fob-like device that used a sliding mechanism to house and protect your keys when not needed. Well Larry Greenberg from Gear Diary thought it was a good idea too, so he actually ordered one. Unfortunately though that was back in April of 2007, and it’s now May of 2009 and he’s yet to receive his Keyport key fob.

After several emails and phone calls where he was assured they were still working on fine tuning their manufacturing process (uh-huh) they eventually refunded his $300 saying that when his Keyport was finally completed he’d only be asked to pay what he thought was appropriate. But given the Keyport website is now nothing more than a contact page, it’s pretty much a given that their product will never actually see the light of day. And for the record, Larry is still out 6 keys that Keyport seems to have no intentions of returning.

[ Gear Diary - Keyport Key Fob - Product Vaporware ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

Ugh, kids! What’s the deal with them? They always seem to want attention, or affection or to be simply acknowledged. Don’t they realize we’re only in it for the baby shower gifts, and possibly the tax breaks? Thankfully someone has come up with another way to keep a baby from crying without actually having to interact with them. Thank goodness!

The Lolaloo is a tube-like device that can be attached to a stroller with a set of velcro straps. Inside there’s a weight that slides back and forth which creates a gentle rocking motion, hopefully distracting and quieting a crying child. The intensity of the rocking can be adjusted as needed, and the Lolaloo will run from anywhere between 2 to 4 hours before needing to be recharged. At the moment you can only get it in Germany for about $174, though I can see this being popular with parents all over the world.

[ Lolaloo ] VIA [ Kidsmodern ]

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As promised, Philips has now taken the wraps off its first few Lumiblade OLED lighting concepts which, judging from Philips’ boasting, could well change your life and ours. Now on display at the Euroluce International Lighting Fair in Milan, the concepts are divided into consumer and professional groups, the former of which includes ceiling-mounted products like the one pictured above, as well as some slightly more straightforward desk lamps like the one pictured after the break. What’s more, each lighting device also boasts at least some degree of interactivity, including the ability to recognize hand gestures or, in the case of the professional lighting fixtures, react to passers-by. Interestingly, however, none of the products are actually full-on OLED lamps, with each also supplemented by some LUXEON Power LEDs to provide some more usable lighting.

Source

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CallVantage may have survived being sued by Vonage, but there’s one thing it couldn’t survive — progress. After thrilling us for some time now by magically transmitting people’s “voice” over something called the “internet,” AT&T’s VoIP service will begin weening off customers over the course of this year. Folks will be able to switch to either another AT&T service, transfer to another service provider, or drop off the communications grid altogether — where they will finally have the opportunity to spend their lives in solemn contemplation, with nothing but the babbling brook, the sweet sound of songbirds, and a journal of their thoughts to keep them occupied. The company says that it’s pulling the plug to concentrate on its U-verse voice service, which can only mean one thing: Watson’s got to them. We knew that guy was up to no good.

[Via MobileTechNews]
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Good news for unmanned lawnmower enthusiasts (we know there are at least two of you out there). Husqvarna’s latest, the Automower 260 ACX, can be programmed to send you an SMS text message if something should interrupt the mow job — because sometimes looking outside to see if your robot is still tending to the lawn is just too much to ask. This bad boy gets an hour on a single charge — which should be plenty of time to take down about half an acre of lawn — and upon returning to its docking station, the battery is recharged in roughly forty minutes. Recommended retail price: €4,000 (that’s over $5,200). No word yet on a stateside release.

[Via News Market]