Created by Japan’s PROTOTYPE design team, iPod Cluster Media is an early proof-of-concept that stitches multiple independent iPod Touches into a hive-mind display wall. Each iPod Touch knows what the other one is up to, letting touch signals on one display influence all of the others. There’s even a remote-control iPod that can be used to send information to the display wall. Check out the video below to see some of the cool multi-multi-touch action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The system can even send control information to an external interface (notice the synchronized LED base in the video). PROTOTYPE envisions that their creation will one day be used for interactive digital signage for tradeshows and other exhibitions. While the first version of the iPod Cluster display is formed from a grid of 20 individual iPod Touches, but from the looks of this image, these guys have much, much bigger plans up their sleeves:

I really hope there’s an App for that some day real soon.

[via Mongoose Studios]

Every day that I use my iPhone, I discover yet another cool trick that I never knew I could do the day before. This time, it comes in the form of a little app called Snatch, which lets you turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a completely programmable remote for interacting with applications on your Mac or PC. Just install the included server software on your computer, make sure that your iPhone and computer can see each other over the same Wi-Fi network, and you’re all set.

For starters, Snatch provides you with a wireless trackpad and scrollpad interface for working with just about any program on your computer. The trackpad even supports multitouch actions like a two-finger scroll or two-finger tap. But the real power of Snatch is hidden beneath the surface in its robust remote editor, which lets you create custom graphical buttons and assign them to any key, button or mouse action on your computer. The app can store up to 8 screens of remote control buttons, and provides an easy-to-use graphical editing screen for creating new layouts.

In addition to being able to build your own interfaces, Snatch offers a library of over 20 remote templates including Adobe CS3 palettes, a Hulu remote control or a PowerPoint slideshow controller among others.

You can get your hands on Snatch over at the iTunes App Store for $3.99 (USD).

Awesome! But how does it work? What’s inside? An iPod shuffle, of course.

Except that’s no iPod. Er, it is, but it’s been modified as well. A mod within a mod! Xzibit would be proud.

Modder goteking is a pretty handy guy; he’s been in this space before not once, but twice, and it’s probably a safe bet that we’ll revisit him sometime in the future.

[via TinyCartridge]

That’s the British for you. Let’s hope the Australians respond by beating England at the tournament.

[via Forever Geek]

Users just press and hold the corresponding buttons located at the side of the remote while shaking the controller. The power button is located on one side of the remote, and miscellaneous controls are on the other side.

To make it blatantly obvious that it was inspired by the Wii-mote, channel and volume changing is gesture based, i.e. by shaking the remote in a specific direction.

No doubt, the Shake Control is aesthetically pleasing, and the fact that it doesn’t need batteries is a big plus. But shaking the thing every time you want to change the channel? I think I’ll just wait for Flick Control.

[via Gadget Grid]

These flat LED panels can be mounted on your wall or ceiling (although dancing on these isn’t recommended) and can change colors with the push of a button. Using the panels, you can set the color of your room to suit any mood. Especially if that mood is You should be dancin’, yeah!

Each colorful panel has an array of bright multi-color LEDs that can be switched between 16 different colors using the included wireless remote. The panels crank out 180 lumens of illumination, and in addition to solid colors, can be set to flash, strobe, or cross-fade between colors. Of course, to really achieve any real effect with these, you’ll need to buy a bunch – and in the case of the illustration below, you also need really bad taste.

In addition to wall and ceiling mounting, the panels can be used on the top of a table or on a bar as long as you place glass or plexiglas over the tops to protect them. If I had a bar, I’d totally cover the surface with these – then freeze the whole thing in ice.

These color-changing LED panels are available over at Chinavasion for $52.39 (USD) each.

Like a lot of USB products today, the Air Keyboard is a plug and play device; no software needed. I’m usually unimpressed with dedicated media control buttons on keyboards, but since this one is wireless it’s easy to imagine setups where the controls will actually be used. Cideko claims that the Air Keyboard has an effective range of up to 50 m (164 ft). The company also says that the device can last about 50 hours on 2 AA batteries.

The two shoulder buttons serve as the left and right click mouse buttons. Makes sense right? Sadly the click wheel has no proper counterpart in the Air Keyboard; that little fella is so useful. But let’s look at the bright side: unlike the fugly Combimouse, with the Air Keyboard you can actually use the mouse and the keyboard at the same time!

The Air Keyboard is compatible with both Mac (10.2 onwards) & Windows (98 onwards) systems. Unfortunately we don’t have details on the Air Keyboard’s pricing and availability yet. I hope the mouse sensitivity isn’t crap because if it is and there’s no software to go along with it we’re screwed. And of course I hope it won’t be too expensive. Because I WANT YOU, Air Keyboard.

[via gizmo watch & AVING]

WifiPad provides you with the ability to control any game that uses the keyboard on your computer over a Wi-fi connection. Since you can also design and serve custom gamepads, you can use it to build just about any controller design and custom key assignments you want. It can also be used to build a remote keyboard for other non-gaming applications.

Just start up the WifiPad desktop server application (Windows or Mac versions available), set up your preferred key mappings for each game, and you’re all set to play your games using your iPhone or iPod Touch screen. It took me just under a minute to get up and running, and I was able to control a bunch of Flash games without any custom setup work.

Sure, there’s nothing quite like the tactile feel of real keys or a joypad beneath your fingers, and there is the potential for lag if you have any Wi-fi connection issues, but it is still kinda cool to whip out your phone and start controlling your games from across the room using your wonderphone’s touchscreen.

You can grab WifiPad now over at the iTunes App Store.

[WifiPad]

It really is the perfect gift for bears. Or for people who love fishing. Or for bears. I think we should have bear friends for a change.

The Humminbird RF35 sells for $80 USD and can be ordered at Humminbird’s online shop. Buy one for your fisherman friend and he’ll surely give you a bear hug. Buy one for your bear friend and he might, I don’t know, growl in gratitude.

[via techchee]

The Surveyor SRV-1 Mobile Robot cruises around on smooth and rough surfaces thanks to a pair of tank-like treads, and can be controlled anywhere your Wi-Fi connection can reach. An 802.11 b/g receiver on board the rechargeable ‘bot lets you drive the little guy from any computer on the network – even from across the globe.

Under the hood of the SRV-1 is a powerful 1000MIPS 500MHz Blackfin BF537 processor with 32MB of RAM and 4MB of Flash storage. The robot has a 1280×1024 (1.3 megapixel) color video camera, and can avoid obstacles such as walls thanks to a pair of built-in laser pointers. A 7.2V rechargeable battery pack should let you cruise around for up to 4 hours on a single charge.

And since the robot is powered by open-source code, you can customize the software to your own needs. Me? I’m building Skynet v1.0. Thanks to RoboRealm, I can control my robot army with C/C++, Python, Java, C#, Lisp, Visual Basic, WScript or COM. Of course, I always figured that Skynet would be written in Logo or Whitespace, so I guess I’ll have to rethink my evil plan.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can get your hands on the SRV-1 robot over at ThinkGeek for $474.99 (USD).

Now I’m sure you’ve all seen this remote control interface floating around the net, but let’s have a look at it once more to compare it with the Xsight Touch. This is “Everyone’s Remote”:

Haha. Funny. But when you think about it… It works. So how does the Xsight Touch compete with it’s cardboard covered cousin? By using a touchscreen interface. Universal Electronics claims that the Xsight doesn’t need a manual to set it up. To pair it with your devices, all you have to do is access a menu on the touchscreen.

Simple so far. Then you choose the brand of the chosen device. Supposedly the Xsight Touch can be used with all widely available home A/V devices.

After picking a brand, the Xsight Touch will then flash a picture of a tiger on your screen to scare you into agreeing that yes, it works. Kidding. Just test if the thing works.

Real simple right? Awesome. If you think that’s advanced, the Xsight can do more than that. It can actually be used to control more than one device with a single-click of a button. It’s useful for people who have quite an elaborate home entertainment setup. Say you have an HDTV, a DVD player, and then a separate home theater. You can lump the controls for turning these things on and setting them up under a single Activity, so that when you want to watch a DVD, all you have to do is click a single button.

Simplicity at its finest, right? Unfortunately, no. You have to use a computer to program the Activity. And that is where the Epic Fail is. The Xsight is a remote that requires people to have computer skills – and a computer -  in order to be fully utilized.

Same with the Xsight’s other great feature. In the ‘Users’ menu you can personalize the touchscreen by assigning the logos of your favorite channels for touch-channel switching. No more memorizing numbers, which means it’s a really helpful feature for very old, very young people or very lazy people.

However, it again requires you to go use a computer to program this option. The Xsight’s product page doesn’t go into details about setting up the remote control on a computer. They do mention that the setup is done over the internet, but the point is that the Xsight Touch isn’t really that simple to use. If you want to maximize it’s functions you’ll have to know a bit of other stuff aside from button-pushing.

But is it useful and versatile? Of course it is. But is it available to people outside the UK? Of course not. Not right now anyway. So if you live in the UK and you’re interested, you can go to Universal Electronics’ site to find a store near your area where you can buy the Xsight Touch, or you can get it at Amazon UK for £147.10 ($202.70 USD). Semi-simple ain’t cheap.

[via Shiny Shiny]

We’ve actually featured a similar product before, but that one sports a more futuristic look whereas this one’s for couch cowboys. So if your kid likes Westerns, don’t buy this gun. For your sanity’s sake.

You can buy the TV remote control gun at Wowzzers! for $14.99 USD.

[via 7 Gadgets]

Designer Tobias Wong’s On/Off light switch will remotely control anything you can plug into an outlet. It’ll work up to 100 feet away from whatever you’ve plugged into the remote receiver.

When you want to turn your lamp on or off, open the magnetized lid on this clear Lucite box and flip the switch. And while it’s perfect for turning lamps on and off, it’s also nifty as a control for launching your nuclear arsenal.

Priced at $150 (USD) for the standard chrome version, and $250 for the limited-edition 14-karat gold version, they’re definitely not cheap. But if you happen to have been smart enough to take the deal from the banker, you can pick one up over at the A+R Store now.

Did I happen to mention this mini illuminated keyboard is wireless too? Just plug the included dongle into a spare USB port, plunk a pair of AAA batteries into the keyboard, and click-clack to your hearts content. And in case you can’t tell how small this keyboard really is, check out the size comparison photo below:

While I probably wouldn’t find this keyboard useful for my workspace, it’s actually a great idea for those of you with home theater or media center PC setups. No more fumbling in the dark, and no giant keyboard sitting on the coffee table anymore.

Of course, if you’ve got adult-size fingertips, you might end up typing WEWEWE.,TYERCVNMASBNOPBN.,CVOPM> when you really want to visit my site. If you don’t mind the occasional typo, can get your (tiny) hands on one over at Brando for $47 (USD).

Apparently kids these days also look like grown men. But seriously: look at that thing. I almost wept when I realized that the guy was behind the tank, and not on the tank. Where else will you see an RC vehicle that can literally trample a child?

I’m pretty sure that the tank’s gun isn’t functional, but still. Still. Imagine your kid showing up at their school Christmas party on this. He’ll immediately be everyone’s best friend. Or at least every bully’s best friend.

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Of course something this cool and obscenely large also has a humongous price: the King Tiger is worth £6,600 ($9, 713). If that’s too much for you, Mark-1 is also selling a 1/6 scale King Tiger, base price £2900 ($4,267). If that’s still too much for you then you’re a bad parent. Because giant tanks are the key to stronger parent-child relationships.

[Mark-1 via Tech Digest]

Your friend is prepped for the AC Milan – Juventus match, wearing his del Piero boxers, hot popcorn and San Mig Super Dry at the ready. Just when the game kicks off, the TV shuts down! He turns it back on but it’s suddenly muted! One second Nedved’s lining up for a blaster, the next it’s Eddie Murphy in Norbit!

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Or you pass by an appliance shop. You’re at the pub. Or your little sister’s watching Bob the Builder. You get the idea. Just don’t mistake it for your car’s remote lock, because that would be… that would be awesome. Also, MANNY! MANNY! MANNY!

[via Presurfer]

The RCRC Transforming Robot from AOK can go from ‘bot to vehicle with a quick flick of two joysticks on the included remote control.

When in car mode, the remote lets you drive forwards, backwards, left or right. Flip back to upright mode, and the robot can spin left or right.

In all, the RCRC offers four driving modes: robot, truck, sports car, and “hip-hop dance”, whatever that means. The robot has a built-in rechargeable battery, which should give you about 30 minutes of run time per charge. Check out the video below to see the RCRC in action:

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Boy, somebody clearly needs to go back to driver’s ed. Hopefully you can do a better job steering the RCRC than the guy in the video.

You can get one for yourself over at Hammacher Schlemmer for $89.95 USD.

Available from Perpetual Kid, the remote-controlled electroluminescent sign ($40) can be set to display a multitude of digit combinations. You can even animate the fingers in sequence. But there are only a couple of signs that I think would be of much use for most of my roadtrips.

I suppose if you’re more mellow than me, you might tell the a-hole behind you to “hang loose”, or you could flash the subtle “L” sign to let them know what a loser they really are. But who are we kidding? I’m pretty sure most of the time you’ll set it to flip the bird to the driver in your rearview mirror.

Speaking of flipping the bird…

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They say, “Controlling is very easy with the iPhone 3G. It has five buttons, four of them you can use for traditional driving and when you press the last one, it unlocks the accelerometer control in the same way as in many driving games available on AppStore.” Check out the video here.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It took them just one afternoon to conjure this up. You can get the full how-to and read more at their website. Nice work, boys, very nice indeed!

[via GeekAlerts]

The set comes with a pair of mini infrared remote-controlled robots which can shuffle the ball along the ground and push it into the goal. A press of the “sprint” button gives your robot a momentary boost of extra energy to power through.

The set includes both ‘bots and remotes, a pair of goals and balls and some green “turf” to play your game on. You can grab the complete set over on UK gadget shop I Want One of Those for just £19.95 (about $38 USD).