2013/01/10

iMD, Mpowerd, Private WiFi, AutoRip...

iMD has a feature-rich, high-tech filing cabinet which among other things, uses LEDs in lieu of labels to identify folders. Apparently the cabinet is controlled by a smartphone app. Many cool features if you don't mind paying $2,000 for a filing cabinet!

A company called Mpowerd is selling a $16 collapsible, solar lantern that charges in six hours and outputs up to 12 hours of light depending on the chosen brightness setting.

An app called Private WiFi is now available for smartphones and PCs that allows you to tunnel through their VPN service when using public Wi-Fi. Rates for the iOS app appear to be $1.99 for 1 GB and $7.99 for 10 GB. I can't speak to the quality of the service but be careful what you do over open Wi-Fi networks.

If you bought a CD from Amazon in the last 12 years, you may be entitled to a free copy of the album in MP3 format. Not sure that the AutoRip service applies to every CD ever sold by Amazon but apparently the selection is quite large. I guess there's demand for a service like this but what I'd really like to see is a way to trade in cassettes and LPs for the same album in MP3 or FLAC format. Maybe $1-$2 per album? Not holding my breath for that one.

Black and Decker has brought cordless screwdrivers into the 21st century with a model called Gyro. The more you twist the drill, the faster the bit turns. Just check it out.

Celluon has a gadget called the Magic Cube that somehow uses "friggin laser beams" to project a virtual keyboard and trackpad onto nearly any flat surface. The rechargeable battery is rated just shy of three hours and connects via USB or Bluetooth. I'm almost willing to pay the $150 asking price for the WOW factor alone, but if this thing could give you a mouse pointer on an iOS device, I'd order one in a heartbeat!