Washable Keyboard - join the scrub-a-dub club

The Washable Keyboard has got to be awesomeness incarnate. No more digging dead McNuggets out from under the spacebar, or wiping old rancid Mountain Dew stains from the numpad, just drop the whole dang thing into the sink and give it a good scrubbing. Lovely. It’s also dishwasher safe, and anti-bacterial, which puts it one step ahead of Windows Vista, eh? £39.95.

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10 Awesome Flash-Animated Interactive Websites

Ever wanted to draw a song or discover more about how the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead? How about learning about cocaine from Pablo the pooch, who just happens to be a talking doggy drug mule? No? Then what about connecting up the stars to create your own constellation then see it wrap around your screen in 3D?

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Rugged outdoor tablet netbook computer

Rugged PC makers, Trimble, have just released another go-anywhere PC. The Yuma is an outdoor, high reliability portable tablet PC designed for the more rugged and outdoorsy type jobs or for people who are a little more clumsy than most. The Yuma can survive most types of punishment. It has an ingress protection rating of 67, so it’s pretty much dust and waterproof and it can handle temperatures from -30C to 60C.

It’s powered by the ubiquitous Atom processor with the usual 802.11 b/g, USB slots, Bluetooth and the Yuma adds GPS and 2 built-in cameras. The screen is a smaller 7″ model however it runs at 1024 x 600 so you can still see everything. You can add functionality via the SDIO or ExpressCard slots and it has a 32Gb SSD for reliability. Oh and just for giggles, it runs Vista.

There’s no keyboard but it has a stylus and an on-screen keyboard and function keys scattered about the bezel. It doesn’t have built-in 3G mobile broadband, but where it’s going there’s probably no service anyway. With a battery installed it weighs a little over 1kg and lasts about 8 hours. The dock is optional. No prices yet, but it launches in April, 2009. Just don’t drop it on your foot. More info here

Trimble, the world leader in outdoor rugged computing, brings you the new Yuma rugged tablet computer, able to withstand even your challenging work environment. Safeguard your software and data in the face of dust, sand, mud, humidity and extreme temperature.

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All in one electric hub powers up your old bicycle

All in one electric hub powers up your old bicycle

The boffins at MIT are working on an all-in-one electric wheel hub called the GreenWheel which when retrofitted to old bicycles converts them to electric power. There are plenty of Chinese electric wheels on the market, but this one goes a stage further by folding all the technology, including batteries, into the single hub, making it easier to install and use. The development prototypes still need to have the wheel spokes rejigged, but they’re working on an alternative so it can become more DIY friendly. What’s more, the single wheel should be able to power the bike for 25 miles, which is astonis

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Infrared Nighttime Camera

Camouflaged, waterproof, silent and heat sensing, this Infrared Nighttime Camera grabs 3 megapixel stills and/or video and stores them onto an integrated 1 GB SD card. We’re talking 2800 photos or 500+ 10 second video clips. The rechargeable battery lasts for around 14 days and charges up in 2 hours, and the whole thing hooks up to a USB port to allow downloading onto your computer. A great way to capture scavengers, ne’er do wells and the next door neighbour stealing your hubcaps. £219.00.

Cameras like this are often used by professionals such as hunters, forestry workers, zoologists etc. There is no shutter noise and no flash to disturb the observations. 40 infrared diodes sense the body heat and motion of humans and animals: Inside a 12m (36ft) perimeter and within an angle of 110°. If both are detected the weatherproof camera silently releases the shutter and the data is stored to the internal memory, or optionally to the supplied 1 GB SD card.

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Bayer's Contour USB Meter Empowers Patients

Simple to use, the patient simply insert a test strip into the meter and take their test as usual. The Contour gives the test results on the easy to read color OLED display and logs it for later use. Able to hold up to 2,000 test results, the devices is a great way to track blood glucose patterns which can be a boon to both doctors and patients. Based on Bayer"s CONTOUR system, the meter utilizes the incredibly accurate No Coding technology for results patients can trust. Bayer also added the AutoLog feature that allows users to mark their tests as Before Meal or After Meal for more detailed records.

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Weather Alarm Clock Photo Frame – triple function combo keeps you dry, happy and on time

The Weather Alarm Clock Photo Frame crams a lot into a mini desktop sized package. You’ve got yourself an indoor outdoor weather temp station thingy, a 16MB digital photo frame and an alarm clock. Wake up, check the weather, remember the wife and pop down for breakfast in the seedy motel dining room. Perfect. £49.95.

Weather station, clock and photo frame in one. The first of its type we’ve seen, this neat little gadget combines 3 useful functions to free up space on your desk, worktop or bedside table. * Clock with alarm and indoor temperature/humidity * Weather station with weather icons and temperature trend indicator * 1.8″ digital photo frame with 16Mb memory stores up to 120 pictures. * Mini USB port for importing images.

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