Technabob » disguise

Phone Gun: Deadly Phone or Ugly Gun?

Lambert Varias — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:20:16 +0000

The Italian police have recently recovered a gun disguised as an ugly, outdated, monochrome-screened phone. That’s right: monochrome. James Bond would rather have his testicles torn off, boiled and then fed to him than be caught using this ancient tech.

The phone was seized in a raid of the Naples-based mafia group Camorra. According to BBC, the ugly outdated monochromatic phone gun can shoot up to four .22-caliber bullets out of its antenna ”in quick succession”. Look at that abomination. In a world filled with iPhones and Blackberrys, how the hell is that a disguise? What’s next? Pager Grenades?

[via BBC]

Sqish: Camouflage Satellite Dish

Technabob — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:50:53 +0000

If you drive down the average city street, you’ll see scads of ugly satellite dishes protruding from the side walls, balconies and roofs of homes like some sort of convex grey metal virus. So it was only a matter of time before someone would come up with a way to do away with all those unsightly dishes.

The oddly-named Sqish (I know, a ‘Q’ with no ‘U’) conceals a satellite antenna inside a compact rectangular box, which can be covered with a camouflage weatherproof label to help it blend into its surroundings. What’s really cool is that you can actually send a digital photo of your surroundings to the Sqish folks, and they’ll make a custom camo sticker to make it blend in perfectly to your environs.

At this point, Sqish satellite antennae are only available for UK satellite customers using services such as Sky or Freesat. Hopefully, they’ll work up a version for Dish or DirecTV at some point.

If you’re fortunate enough to be in the UK, be prepared to drop £149 (appx. $294 US) for the antenna, and another £25 (appx. $49 US) for each custom matte photo sticker.

[Sqish via Daily Mail via Unplggd]

Transformers: Gadgets in Disguise

Technabob — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 14:58:14 +0000

Just in time for the new Transformers movie to hit screens, Hasbro has released a new series of the classic toys, this time based on today’s most popular high-tech gadgets.

The Real Gear Transformers series conceals little toy robots disguised as cell phones, digital cameras, portable video game systems among other things.

Other designs include an MP3 player, camcorder and some (not so high-tech) binoculars. The toys are expected to hit shelves any day now and should cost about $10 each.

Now if only Hasbro could make these into really functional gadgets, I’d buy ‘em in a minute.

[via Crave via Engadget]

Disguise Your Voice on the Cheap

Technabob — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:40:15 +0000

This DIY Digital Voice Changer Kit lets you mask the sound of your voice by playing with the pitch and vibrato of your speech. Just speak into the built-in microphone, adjust the pitch control, and you can sound like anything from a hostage taker to a mouse on speed.

The kit is just $12.95, but does require assembly, so you need to be electronically inclined. You’ll also need to connect either an external speaker or amplifier to hear your modified vocal stylings.

[via The Red Ferret Journal]