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Expensive Geek Toys Roundup
An anonymous reader writes "I was recently asked by a coworker to come up with a list of <implied> expensive </implied> and cool gadgets for a VIP. He was interested in anything that was up-and-coming, rare and the usual odd combination of devices (ie. anything with a camera/WiFi that shouldn't have it). I figured that since it was Friday, it may be a good day to see what the /. crew has up their sleeves."
PLEASE do not respond to this article! I can't afford it!
I've had this sig for three days.
Not hideously expensive as things go but the Geekiness factor is astronomical.
Not all of it requires a plug, and not all of it meets your "expensive" criteria, but it's full of great, high-quality stuff you didn't know you needed.
--H
One useful:
The Handspring Treo 600
One not as much
Airzooka Air Gun
this
check out gizmodo for the newest gadgets
http://www.gizmodo.com
_
b
I figured that since it was Friday, it may be a good day to see what the /. crew has up their sleeves.
Are you implying I don't have anything better to do on a Friday night?!
Well Sir, you are correct.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/enterprise/story/ 0,2000048640,20268993,00.htm
"Korea's LG Electronics is selling a 26-cubic-foot Multi-Media Refrigerator, with a built-in 15-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen for watching TV, surfing the Internet or looking at digital pictures."
I don't know about the rest of you, but when I go to the fridge to grab a coke, I like to stand there and watch a quick sitcom on a 15" LCD display. Right...
I always save my last mod point to mod up a good troll. You people are too serious.
Particularly this, i love it, but unfortunatly i bought the 256Mb before the price drop and also shortly before the released a USB2 version which isn't carried by thinkgeek yet.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
I've been drooling over this at ThinkGeek for months since I first saw this. Just can't justify $120.
Green Laser Pointer at ThinkGeek.com
---- Move SIG...For great justice!
Cool is teaching the Aibo to drive the segway while you control it via the 3G cameraphone taped to its head.
This space for rent.
A couple of G5s and iSight cameras. They really are quite fun to play with.
Well you can't get geekier and VIPer than a Seqway.
OF course a 30+inch flat plasma wide screen HDTV also qualifies.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
The Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog has a his/her set of programmable butler robots. The damn things will open the doors and, via their built-in camera, give you a view of your visitors before you get to the door. They also can help you bring in your groceries. They don't give a mention of whether they're able to do a fresh install of Gentoo, though. All this for only ... $400,000.
something like this or if I remember there was some cool ones on here a year or two ago that rotated and you climbed into like going into a space capsule, but those were around $5,000-USD so... Anyway, I think having a good desk is very important.
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
I don't have a product in mind, but I recommend you take 2 weeks and leave no stone unturned in your seach. Make sure you spend time at home in deep contemplation on the issue. Take field trips to see what cool stuff other VIPs are using. Maybe fly to Europe and attend a trade show or two.
After that, spend 4 weeks writing your report.
8)
Isn't a G5 cluster one of the newest/oldest cool things mentioned on /. lately? Better yet, it's pretty easy to make hideously expensive. And you might even consider creating a in-memory Oracle database using 10,000 G5 machines. The VIP would have his/her own Google :)
btw, can we use that as a noun yet? Like a gaggle of geese, a herd a cattle or a school of fish, can we have a Google of computers?
Give him a new iPod. They're pretty expensive and are fucking awesome.
I want one so bad...
Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
I could easily spend a year's salary here.
http://www.modexotics.com/www/p102950_v1.html
'Nuf said.
Shure makes some incredible earphones, and they are $500. Work as earplugs too.
They are even better if you get custom made inserts.
I've been happy with my similar (but $50) Fontopia MDR-EX71SL headphones from Sony, but have been eyeing these others for a while.
the new 40Gig iPod is nice and pricey, and totally cool.
Perhaps the new 1GHz 12" Apple PowerBook?
Certainly a Sony Aibo is expensive and unnecessary, but can be useful in harassing the interns.
Or a UX50 CLIE(TM) Handheld PEG-UX50 PDA. Very cool, and uber-sexy.
If you want impractical, get a Rubberband Machine gun (http://www.backyardartillery.com/machinegun/) Oh yeah. Great for hostile takeovers!
Also check out their remote control tanks that shoot BBs: http://www.backyardartillery.com/tanks/. Sweet. (don't forget the plastic Army men to go along with the tanks!)
Dan's Data (http://www.dansdata.com/) reviews a lot of fun toys like the above. LED flashlights, tanks, and what-not. Maybe a super-modded computer case? Maybe a Powerball (http://www.dansdata.com/gyrotwister.htm#pball would do.
You can always check out the Sharper Image catalog, too. Lots of expensive junk in there.
http://www.zorb.com/
they don't sell them, only to franchises, but everyone can be pursauded with cash, how much you got?
Runnin' On Empty
10. Colossus: The Forbin Project.
9. The Dobbertin Surface Orbiter. It is still not yet a submarine.
8. "Green Laser Pointer at Think Geek.com"
7. Hey McFly! How much would you sell that Delorean for?
6. Knight Industries 2000
5. Friggin' sharks with friggin' lasers on their heads.
4. That Saturn 5 lying on its side at that space museum. Time for destination moon!
3. "The Jupiter 2". Forget a trek ship: this thing once passed through a galaxy in one night.
2. The Atari 1450XLD. I'm still waiting for one after all these years. If Alan Alda still has his, I bet he won't let it go for cheap.
1. SCO. What geek would not love to buy this company and play with it fo a while? Muhahahaha.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Everyone needs a ruggedized 6 million candlepower flashlight with an adjustable 40 degree wide to 2 degree spot beam ... right? I would certainly accept one as a gift. The only catch is it's just a bit pricey.
The TailGator is a gaspowered blender.
No one really needs one of these, but they are pretty cool.
http://www.totallygross.com/
http://www.redcross.com
A donation in his name.
how about a phatbox car mp3 player. it plugs into your stock stereo and emulates a cd changer with voice feedback. linux software is here. up to 60 gigs.
or a kenwood music keg.
or a vw/audi phatbox.
can you tell i love this product? works with the audio controls on my steering wheel. no need to look down at an ipod screen while speeding.
Sounds like your co-worker might an a hidden motive to have you spend "company" time looking at expensive geek toys. Were I dealing with someone that didn't trust very well, I'd watch my back.
Who's to say your co-worker doesn't run to the very same VP and rat you out. When the boss comes back to check it out and asks you about the "toys" you sink yourself when you answer him thinking he just wants more information.
Having worked at a company fill of back-stabbing goons, tends to put me on a very careful stance.
-Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
Just buy a SCO linux license for him! ;-)
Yeah, I'm city livin' chillin' but I'm country at heart...
I'd have to go with the Garmin ique3600.
A palm PDA, plus NAV with GPS all built into a normal PDA sized box. It even talks to you and tells you to turn around when you've gone the wrong way. About 475$.
ique 3600
My ultimate geek gadget would be: a geek.
Then I can ask the geek to do things like "round up all of the coolest geek gadgets and let me know what they are". I will force my pet geek to address me as a "VIP" and interface with slashdot when they can't ask my questions (which makes me feel like I own many more geeks by proxy).
I will keep my geek in a cubicle next to my aquarium full of scuba-divers.
Try making them. A little wood or metalworking, and some help from a Surplus store and you should be well on your way. For comptuer interfaces, game controllers or keyboards are dirt cheap, buy one to take apart.
A googolplex is not "sometimes just called a google." Well, I guess it is, but only by mistake. A googolplex is 10^googol or a 1 followed by 10^100 0s. Note that the search engine is spelled google, and the number googol.
I found this very cool "toy" the other day ( http://shop.store.yahoo.com/airgundepot/eaa-drozd. html )
Not every day you run across a selective fire BB gun.
Imagine how "The Christmas Story" would have gone with this instead of the Red Rider BB gun.
A DVD of Office Space
Chip H.
You might want to consider one of these retro Nixie tube clocks. They come with a technological twist: They use GPS to acquire the correct time. http://www.amug.org/~jthomas/clockpage.html
"I was recently asked by a coworker to come up with a list of expensive and cool gadgets for a VIP.
If the VIP's in management, how about, I dunno, a brain?
Or for that matter, a heart or some courage .
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Future applications: being a remote control for my laptop (playing MP3s, or controlling presentations).
Software used: Bluez, Multisync, Bluetooth Transfer Manager, K68 and (on the phone) KaBlog.