Technabob » suction

Octopus Earbuds Stick to Phone Screens Like Tentacle Suckers

Range — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:00:20 +0000

Are you tired of fiddling with your earbuds when storing them and taking them out of your pocket? Take a look what Red Dot Design concept winner Donghee Suh has created. The Octopus Earbuds are fitted with suction cups that will adhere to your screen when they’re stowed.

The suction cups on the earbuds are inspired by the ones you’d find on an octopus’ tentacles. The flexible silicone flap on the front of each bud will become an impromptu suction cup when flipped forward.

They were designed to keep the wires of your earphones from always being tangled up, but really don’t do anything to address the cable itself – but sticking the earbuds in place should help keep things from getting too messy.

For now, these are just a concept, but would you really want to stick your earbuds to the screen of your mobile device? It might be a good way of never losing them again, but I don’t know how dirty they would make the screen of your device.

[via Yanko Design]

Mount Me Sticks Your iPad Just About Anywhere

Shane McGlaun — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:00:33 +0000

There are a ton of reasons you might want to mount your iPad somewhere other than between your hands. It would be a great way to ensure that you can put the iPad on a wall for kids to watch streaming movies on for instance. It would also be great if you like to cook to mount the iPad in the kitchen so you can watch videos or read recipes too.

A new device that has a ton of mounting options has surfaced called the Mount Me Freedom. That definitely is a strange name, but the mount is really cool. The thing comes with an articulating stand that lets you adjust the angle of the iPad and it can be wall mounted too. Your iPad sits in a special case with a quick-release so you can easily pop it out of the mount. It also comes with four suction cups for mounting to smooth surfaces.

I don’t think I could bring myself to ever mount my iPad with suction cups. You never know when a suction cup will just give up and crash your precious tablet to the floor. The Mount Me also has a strap for mounting to your leg, it can mount to a car headrest, and it can be mounted to a tray on an airplane. The Mount Me costs $49.99 (USD) and you can pre-order now to get 10% off.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Remote Controlled Spider Climbs Walls, Ceilings

Technabob — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:32:34 +0000

If I saw this giant creepy spider scurrying across my ceiling in the middle of the night, I’d be on the phone to Orkin faster than you can say “spiderpig”.

Now you too can freak the hell out of your significant other with this oversize remote-controlled spider with glowing LED eyeballs. No Boundaries’ infrared R/C spider not only can make its way across your floor, it can climb walls or even move on your ceiling. I suppose climb is actually the wrong word. You see, my spidey sense is telling me that this guys legs don’t actually propel him along. Instead, a powerful fan creates enough suction to hold the plastic arachnid in place on horizontal or vertical surfaces, and movement is acheived through tiny wheels on the bottom of the bug. C’mon, really? What’s the last time you saw a spider with wheels and light up eyes. And right now doesn’t count.

Still, this creepy (non)crawler looks like it could be fun for at least 3 or 4 minutes – or until the cat kills it, whichever comes first. You can grab one over at UK Gadget shop I Want One of Those for £29.99 (appx. $49 USD).

Zero Gravity R/C Cars Will have You Climbing the Walls

Technabob — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:30:39 +0000

Remote controlled race cars are pretty much a dime-a-dozen these days, so I’m always happy to come across one that’s a little left of center.

Contrary to its name, the Air Hog Zero Gravity Micro R/C car does not defy gravity. However, the car does turn the world on its side by driving not only on floors, but on your walls too. Just flip the switch, place the car on the wall, and you can drive up, down, left and right all without falling off. You can even drive on the underside of a table if the surface is smooth enough.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

So how does this little car work it’s magic? The vehicles contain a special system that works like a mini vacuum cleaner. A powerful fan creates suction to hold the car to the wall, and a special skirt around the perimeter of the car keeps the vacuum seal.

The cars come in a variety of colors and measure about 4.75″ long. They run on rechargeable batteries and should run for about 10 minutes on a single charge. Keep in mind that the remote control is infrared, so it will only work when you have line-of-sight access to the car.

You can get your grubby little mitts from UK gadget retailer Firebox for £29.95, or in the US from Amazon for about $47 USD.

Climb@TRON Robot Scales Smooth Surfaces

Technabob — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:40:18 +0000

The one-trick-pony of a robot does one thing and one thing only – it climbs windows. Action Product’s Climb@tron is a two-legged toy robot that uses special suction cups to let it ascend windows and other smooth surfaces.

Just stick the little 4-inch tall ‘bot on your window, switch it on, and it’ll automatically walk towards the ceiling (or whatever direction you point it in).

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It also looks cool ascending the outside of your fish tank, a bathroom mirror or even a metal file cabinet. Climb@tron can be found over on ThinkGeek for just about $8 USD.