The diminutive LEAP box sits in front of your PC or Mac and plugs into a USB port. It then can detect gestures in 3D with enough precision to measure individual finger movements down to 1/100th of a millimeter.

Here’s a sneak preview video of the LEAP in action:

Not too shabby, eh? I love how you can use objects like pencils or a pen to interact with the screen without touching it, or use your finger as a gun controller for an FPS. Plus, they say you can network multiple LEAPs together to create larger areas for interaction. Though at this point it can only detect hands and small objects, not entire bodies like the Kinect. Then again, do you really want to stand up to use your PC? Perhaps the best news is that the LEAP is going to sell for just $69.99 (USD) – or at least that’s the pre-order price.

About the only downside is that at this point, there’s no word on when the LEAP will hit the market – but if you’re willing to take a risk on what looks like a very promising technology – you can pre-order one now. They say they won’t charge your card until it ships.

If you’re interested in some more extensive demo footage of the LEAP, check out the video below:

The switches are made out of a sheet of aluminum with black chiclet-like keys on them, reminding me of  the keyboard on a MacBook. That’s not a bad thing, and it definitely makes these light switches unique. They’ll change the mood of an apartment or a room, especially if you replace all of your traditional light switches with these.

You’ll have to contact PLH to get yours, and I’m not sure that they’ll work in American homes since they’re designed for Europe, so you’ll want to confirm that before you order.

[via Jay Mug]

Made from brushed aluminum with white plastic accents, the Space Bar desk organizer will allow you to maximize the space that you’ve got available on your workstation. It’s simple yet elegant.

It’s got six extra USB ports, four in the front and two in the back. There’s also a mini-USB port. You can stow a keyboard up to 18″ long and 1.5″ high. The Space Bar can support up to 30.5 lbs in weight, which means that it will support a 27″ iMac or Cinema Display with no problem.

It comes in silver and sells for $79.99(USD) over at quirky. Unfortunately, it’s currently out of stock, so I’m not sure when they’ll have more.

The screenshot above and the video below shows Flutter pausing and playing a YouTube video, but the current version of Flutter will only work with iTunes and Spotify. Still, the demo does give a good idea of what Flutter does.

I tried it out myself and it’s easy and fun to use. It’s surprisingly accurate, although I was only able to test it on iTunes because I don’t have a Spotify account. That said, I found it hilarious when I discovered that even if you put another application in the foreground, the gesture will still work as long as Flutter and iTunes are still both running, so be sure to turn off either Flutter or iTunes before you use a video chat app.

For now, it only supports a single gesture to play and pause tunes, but developer Bot Square will soon add other gesture-based functions to Flutter. Accessing Hot Corners via gestures would be nice. You can download Flutter for free on its website, although you do have to sign up and register an email address.

[via The Next Web]

At least there’s the occasional good good game released for Mac OS X machines – if a little late. Now the classic RTS Company Of Heroes has hit the Mac, in its most complete form.

That means that you can join in on playing the game, which has been available on the PC for a while. The version being offered for the Mac is the Complete Campaign Edition, which includes the original game, plus the Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor expansion packs. So basically, you’re getting three games for the price of the original PC game.

You can find Company of Heroes: Complete at the Mac App Store for $49.99 (USD) and start playing right now.

[via Ubergizmo]

Perhaps if the iDesk is ever produced, it will be more affordable than Surface, but I have my doubts. Regardless, operating a multitouch display desk like this sounds pretty sweet, since it would be capable of not only running apps of its own, but providing you with virtual input devices for your laptop and mobile devices, including keyboards and touch-input surfaces.

Will Apple ever make something like the iDesk? There are certainly rumors that the next version of the iMac might have a touchscreen, but that’s not been confirmed. If they do, maybe they’ll be able to scale touchscreens successfully larger screens in time, and eventually drive the prices down to make something like this affordable. For now. We just get to look at a pretty concept.

[via MacLife]

The OS X version has everything the iOS version has, just on a bigger screen. You get a 16 car grid, Quick Race and Career modes, 15 racing tracks and over 30 officially licensed cars. There’s the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35), and 2012 McLaren MP4-12C to name a few.

You can get Real Racing 2 for OS X now from the Mac App Store (for just $12 more than the nearly identical iPad version). Also, be aware that it is a 711MB download, so just be patient Speed Racer.

[via Ubergizmo]

Capcom announced yesterday that Mega Man X is now available from the iTunes App Store. The classically challenging 2D action platformer will have you ripping your hair out, thanks to its unforgiving bosses. You’ll get improved graphics and an easy mode for all you newbies.

It’s not an exact port of the original Super Nintendo game, but it’s the best you’ll be able to do on your iPhone (unless you jailbreak it and run an SNES emulator). Mega Man X is available right now at the iTunes App Store for $4.99.

And if you don’t know why you would want to play yet another old game instead of the latest console game, watch this.

[via Ubergizmo]

There are two models, the Libratone Live and the Libratone Lounge. Thanks to Apple’s AirPlay, users can stream songs from their iTunes music libraries, on either a Mac or PC, to the stereo. This will also work on iOS devices via a Wi-Fi network. The Libratone Lounge is the larger version, while the Live is the smaller one that can be moved around.

You can choose a few different colors, from slate gray, blood orange, lime green, black, and vanilla beige to match your surroundings. The Libratone Lounge starts at $1,299 (USD) while the smaller Libratone Live sells for $699.

[via Ubergizmo]

When connected together, it sets up a a 256-bit AES encrypted connection between the two halves of the iTwin, providing secure data transfer between devices. Once the connection is set up, the other half of the iTwin can be carried with you and plugged into any computer for a secure cloud-style connection for sharing files.

iTwin also provides a remote disconnect code so if the dongle is lost or stolen you can kill the connectivity between the devices. Another cool part about the device is that it will give you access on the road to any amount of storage that is connected to your computer. It’s like your own personal cloud system. For more info on the iTwin head over to their website.

The 4TB hard drives will be part of Hitachi’s G-RAID and G-DRIVE lineup of external drives. Their perforated, all-aluminum cases look pretty nice. Matching the look of the Mac Pro tower, these drives are clearly targeted at Apple users. All models will come with Thunderbolt support, while PC users will have to be content with eSATA and USB 2.0 (sorry, no USB 3.0).

The drives will start shipping in October. Other hard drive makers will certainly release their own 4TB drives in the near future as well.

A company called mLogic has announced that it has a new docking station with a little something extra that users will appreciate. The docking station is called the mDock and it replicates all the ports on the side of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro computers. You can plug monitors, speakers, printers and other items into the dock and then only need to unplug one device when you come and go.

The docking station has a USB port and a headphone port on the front for easy access. It also comes with a hard drive inside for backing up your data. The drive can be had in 1TB or 500GB flavors and both are Time Capsule compatible. The 500GB device is $219(USD) and the 1TB sells for $299, and both will be available this November.

The film is placed upon the Magic Trackpad. You can use different functions, from directional keys, page up, page down, etc.  Each kit comes with three different “key” configuration overlays for you to choose from. One even combines the numeric keyboard and trackpad. There’s also one with several programmable keys, which could make this a pretty convenient accessory.

The Magic Numpad kit sells for $29.99 (USD) and you can pre-order it from Mobee, but it won’t start shipping until October.

[via Ubergizmo]

So what does a grand buy you? A 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor, 21.5-inch LCD screen, AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 256MB, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a Superdrive and OS X Lion. The next cheapest iMac that’s available for the mass market costs $1,199.

Instead of the Thunderbolt port, this iMac has a simple mini Display Port.  For $200 more, you can get a 2.5GHz Quad-Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and 500GB of storage. While some people might perish the thought of getting this sub-$1,000, a lot of students will purchase this because of the price-point.

[Apple via MacRumors]

The Command Key Ring was designed by FORMA Laboratories, and is available in a variety of finishes. Expect to pay $51(USD) for it in stainless steel, but the silver version costs $91 in matte and $101 in glossy finishes. There are also gold and bronze-plated versions for a bit less.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If the Command Key Ring isn’t your style, check out the other rings available in FORMA Laboratory’s shop on Shapeways. There’s the Power Icon Ring and the LEGO Brick Ring that both look pretty awesome.

[Shapeways via Designyoutrust]

The hard drive comes in 2TB or 3TB capacities and has 2 extra USB 2.0 ports and 2 Firewire 800 ports. It connects to your Mac via USB or one of the two Firewire 800 ports. It comes pre-formatted to work with a Mac out of the box, and it was apparently designed to fit perfectly on top of the base of your iMac or Apple display. It’s also got some LED lights showing the approximate amount of used storage, which is a nice feature.

The Iomega Mac Companion costs $195 for the 2TB version and $295 for the 3TB version.

[via CNet via Ubergizmo]

The Apple Genius, being the genius he is, immediately noted the machine was not a real MacBook Air. I would have expected him to stick his nose in the air and toss the man and his faux Mac to the curb. But that’s not the case. The Apple Genius reportedly fixed the dude’s real technical issue on the fake MacBook.

The only proof of any of this is the photo you see here. Of course, there are fake Apple Stores in China though, so maybe he brought his fake MacBook to a fake Apple Store. This store appears to be real, what do you think?

[via M.I.C. Gadget]

Depending on where you go to school, and how old you are, iPads might be allowed or not, but this handy case might make yours a little less conspicuous. The BinderPad created by ZooGue and the case fits your iPad into any 3-ring binder, and should keep your tablet safe and sound while lugging your books around.

The BinderPad is quite light, thin (½ inch) and durable. It’s definitely an interesting case if you’re at school a lot and use your iPad much. It will cost you $29.99 (USD) over at ZooGue and it’s available in black or gray, and only works for the iPad 2.

[via Cool Hunting]

The only bad news is that the USB stick with OS X will arrive in August at the Apple Store for $69 (USD), which is more than double what the online version of the OS costs. Good or bad? I don’t know, but it’s nice to have the alternative.

There is an alternative. If you want to save some money, just pop on over to an Apple Store and use their free WiFi to download the 4GB OS X Lion install files. You can download Lion and copy it over a USB drive yourself. All you need is to open the package (Show package content) and navigate to Content-> Shared Support -> InstallESD.dmg and copy this dmg file onto a flash drive.

Aside from the typewriter, the mod also has a couple of other pieces ancient equipment. The mouse for instance, is a repurposed Morse code telegraph key, and the 56K modem is made up of old telephone parts. And it has a floppy drive.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s a shame the video doesn’t show the computer in action, although I did find the screenshot below on the Mac Store’s imgur page. Apparently Mac OS 7.5 was released in the Victorian Era, because that’s what this computer is running. It has a word processor, a calculator, a spreadsheet program and even a flight simulator and Tetris.

As you heard in the video, the mod is on exhibit at The Mac Store in Eugene, OR. I hear the second generation of the Steampunk Mac is going to have one USB 1.1 port and will run OS X Garfield.

[via GizmoWatch]