Origin of Cool » Gadgets & Toys

LSTN Headphones Helps Restore Hearing To Deaf Children

David Lowe — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:20:16 +0000

LSTN Headphones caught my attention recently when of our Cool Connoisseurs Yasmine Alsairafi dropped me an email. It wasn’t that the headphones looked awesome but that there was an underlying mission: for every pair of headphones LSTN sell, they help to restore hearing to a child in a deaf school. Great idea I thought!

I was sent a pair to try out and boy was I not let down. I studied sound recording a few years back and have always had a keen ear when it comes to music. Having used Apple’s earphones on my iPhone (they always fall out and the sound is tinny) and gone cheap with a pair from The Sharper Image (lasted a while but you need a battery to boost the bass and the wire comes loose from the headphones), I was desperate for a reliable pair that enhanced my tunes.

On arriving, I liked the LSTN packaging and then realized that these phones were definitely Origin of Cool material. You can fold them up into a little carry pouch that they included and even unplug the wiring from each headphone. Unlike most headphones that have a rubbery wire that often wears down, the wiring is covered in an eloquent woven material that looks as if it will last a while. The headband is padded and adjustable. The acid test was to see how long it would take for them to hurt my ears. I would say if you keep them on continuously, it might be an hour or so but they feel great and I would recommend them as DJ phones as they are very versatile and can be rotated and held to your ear if they are around your neck. The pair I got are made from an ebony wood which gives it a sleek finish. I love these things and they haven’t been off my head in the few days since I got them!
More info here: http://www.lstnheadphones.com/

Why Tablet’s Are Worth It

Rachael Edwards — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:12:37 +0000

Not quite sure if tablets are your thing? Maybe it’s time to reconsider what the new face of technology can do for you. Tablet PCs offer portability and ease to any and everyone. You can easily browse the internet, access your e-mail, shop till you drop, watch your favuorite movies (Netflix has an app for that!), play games, read the latest books, chat on Facebook and all other social media sites, those are just a few of amenities tablets offer.

One of my favorite brand of tablets is the Xperia™ Tablet, it allows you to use a remote control to command your TV, Blu-Ray Disc player, HiFi system and even your cable box! Instead of using your phone and laptop at the same time to do simple tasks on the go, use your tablet to do everything than a laptop could offer. One thing I love about my tablet is the ability to take it anywhere with me, quickly and comfortably. I love having it to watch my favorite videos while waiting in long lines or whipping it out at the grocery store to price check an item compared to other stores.

Tablets like the Xperia™ Tablet, offer a super clear image and are insanely fast. My laptop is only a few years old but due to its slow speed I rarely use it and I have switched almost entirely to using my tablet now .You can upload music, podcasts and music videos from your favorite artists. Stream music sites like Pandora, Soundcloud, etc. Another one of my favorite things about my Tablet is it allows me to see pictures via Instagram and Twitter much larger than on my phone. I can screen shot or save these picts and then email them to myself in one touch. Tablets really are the way to go this day and age.Talk about making life simpler. I rarely spend a day without using my Xperia™ Tablet. Are you ready to experience the ease of technology can bring you? Check it out, simple as 1, 2, touch.

Xperia™ Tablet

Sponsored Post

Meet The Rolls-Royce Of Strollers

Rachael Edwards — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:00:53 +0000

I am not a mom, I don’t want a baby any time soon but I have to have this stroller. Power folding, LCD Dashboard, built-in generator, four cup holders, USB charging cable accessory, sunroof, daytime running lights, pathway lights, four-wheel suspension, and those are just a few of the amenities the 4moms Origami stroller offers.

4moms is a small start-up company based out of Pittsburgh. The idea for the company originated after holding a focus group between four real-life moms. The mom’s offered insights into what it is like to be a full-time mother the smallest tasks turn into the most difficult. If only someone could make a more functional version of all the necessary day-to-day items like the stroller. These four well spoken and opinionated women combined with tech and retail geniuses created the company 4moms is today. Thus the reason they choose 4Moms as their company name. The team members behind 4moms are dedicated to finding the newest, easiest, most innovative solutions to make parenting tasks easier, and more importantly enjoyable for families everywhere.

BendyBuds Headphones Stay In Your Ears And Wrap Around Your Sunglasses

David Lowe — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 23:57:53 +0000

BendyBuds are in-ear headphones that don’t fall out of your ears. After the massively successful Uberpong ping pong project, Origin of Cool’s have collaborated with BendyBuds (patent pending) and new inventor crowdfunding site Vovation to bring you a new invention. These innovative headphones attach to sunglasses and bend to fit your ears meaning the buds stay in!

BendyBuds are an invention by Conley Giles who founded The School of Invention. The Austin based inventor says,
“As an active person I prefer the in ear style earphones, the problem was they were always being tugged or getting pulling out of my ears. I observed that like many people, I often wore sunglasses when I used earphones, so I decided to figure out a way to suspend them from my sunglasses. So I began developing BendyBuds by incorporating a soft flexible wire into the earbuds speaker wire that would maintain the shape it was bent, allowing it to be custom fit to the users’ sunglasses or ears. This resulted in the earbuds being suspended from above the ears to rest comfortably in the ear without being tugged from below with every movement.”

Initially BendyBuds will be produced in black but if enough are purchased during the crowd funding campaign on Vovation.com, BendyBuds will be produced in additional colors.

Back the campaign now: http://vovation.com/campaign/detail/566
Find out more and follow BendyBuds on Facebook (facebook.com/bendybuds and Twitter (twitter.com/bendybuds).

Are you an inventor and want to get your invention crowdfunded and launched? Create your campaign here: http://vovation.com

Coolest Game Of Beer Pong Ever

David Lowe — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:34:21 +0000

The iStrike Shuttle has been created by Hong Kong based company Dream Cheeky. Their gadget syncs up with an iPhone app allowing you to fly it over your opponent’s cups. When you think you have locked your target, press another button and a ping pong ball drops out of the iStrike and into a cup! Beer pong has never been so cool! Check out their Kickstarter here:

via Uberpong

Ping & Pong: Mauro Gatti Creates Coolest Designer Toys Ever

David Lowe — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:09:50 +0000

Mauro Gatti has created arguably the coolest artworks/designer toys out there. They are part of the Kid Robot Dunny 2012 Series. Ping & Pong are two twin brothers that are table tennis masters. And the reason for their bright green color? Mauro explains, “they eat a lot of zucchini, peas and broccoli!”

Check out Mauro’s site here
via Uberpong

Urban Cassettes: Eco Friendly Artwork

David Lowe — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:00:38 +0000

Having seen the rise of designer toys like Munny’s and Dunny’s, a new trend that Origin of Cool has spotted is eco alternatives to custom/vinyl/designer toys. The designer of these recycled cassette tapes, Igor Filjushin, has created the coolest artwork and laid it over the top of an iconic musical format. In his words, “I found about cool design toys,and wanted to collect and to them but I hadn’t enough money to do this. So years later, I found some tapes and decided to give second life to them instead of putting them in garbage. This is a cheap alternative/ECO toy (because it is recycled in new way). Maybe in the future I will do more of them because I know a lot of places where is possible to find them.”

Check out his work below:

Link to Igor’s behance profile: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Urban-Cassettes/4947945
Sent in by @Sirtobas

Special Forces Watch Lets You Beat The Bad Guys In Style

Paul Frade — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:00:56 +0000

Origin of Cool: Germany

Show embedded map in full-screen mode

These amazing watches have been created by a designer named Sam, from Germany. I have searched far and wide to find his full name but all I keep coming across is Sam. These watches work with three themes, based on a radar for land, air and water. Blue is for sonar, green for radar and red for scanner. By pressing a button the display turns into one of the radars and displays three dots. Each dot represents either the hour, minute or second hand.

Via: Design Buzz

Transmutation Toys By Meredith Dittmar

David Lowe — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:00:23 +0000

Meredith Dittmar’s Transmutation exhibition is being hosted at the Toy Art Gallery starting on Saturday, June 16. Using clay, she sculpts this crazy characters that are reminiscent of Pete Fowler’s work for The Super Furry Animals and his ‘Monsterism‘ project. What do you think Origin of Cool readers?

via Tomopop

5 Cool iPhone Camera Lenses

Kristyn Currie — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:47:32 +0000

There’s a new kind of photography that’s sweeping the globe – iPhoneography. Stemming from the use of vintage camera inspired apps (most notably Instagram), Apple has refined and improved upon the iPhone camera with each new model released, with their latest – the iPhone4S – boasting an impressive eight megapixel resolution, a custom lens with a larger ƒ/2.4 aperture, higher quality auto-white balance and colour accuracy, reduced motion blur, and an enhanced backside illumination sensor. So what better way to test out your most portable camera than with some cool lenses?

Holga iPhone Lens
The Holga iPhone lens boasts a case featuring nine different filters upon a rotating disk. Better yet, it’s as simple as can be – you spin the disk until you reach the lens you desire (the effects of each lens can be seen on your screen as you go), you aim your iPhone, and then you shoot.

Described by the aficionados at PhotoJojo as “nine toy cameras all in one”, the Holga iPhone lens can easily replace any of your downloaded photo apps (sorry!) with its red, yellow and blue filters with clear centres, multi-image lens for double, triple and even quadruple images, colour lenses in both red and green, a macro lens for those up-close and personal shots, and – of course - lenses for those classic, dreamy vignettes that Holga probably caught your attention with in the first place.

iPhone Lens Dial
The iPhone Lens Dial will see you keeping company with Monsieur Fisheye (0.33x), Madame Wide Angle (0.7x – can you call an iPhone camera lens ‘bootylicious’?) and their charming teenage son Telephoto (1.5x). Why the fancy names? Well, these lenses deserve a bit of special treatment, considering that the three of them are optical quality, glass-coated, and live in a slim aircraft-grade aluminium case that weighs a mere 10oz.

Switching between lenses is done by means of a simple wrist flick and disc rotation. If you’re simply too fraught with excitement over your fancy-schmancy new iPhone lens and can’t steady your shaking hands, fear not – the case comes equipped with two tripod mounts, optimal for both portrait and landscape shots!

iPhone Telephoto Lens
This little lens cares about nothing except helping you get up close and personal with what your shooting without you doing any of the legwork. An excellent example of big things coming in small packages, this lens will transform your iPhone camera into a magical telephotographic creature, capable of giving you a shot that is eight times closer than could otherwise have been possible – perfect for concerts, sport games, or even some light stalking.

Purchasing this beauty gets you not only the Little Lens That Could, but also a mini-collapsible table tripod (featuring a mini-ball socket, allowing you to shoot from any angle), a cleaning cloth, and a snazzy matte black case that can be left on your iPhone once it’s time to remove the lens and carry on your merry way.

iPhone SLR Mount
This handy-dandy little case-adapter combo is looking to turn your iPhone into a DSLR. No, really. With the iPhone SLR Mount, you can attach your Nikon SLR or Canon EOS lenses to your iPhone. With two strap loops and a tripod attachment also included, you’re bound to fall head over heels for this brawny aluminium case.

Basically any lens can attach to your iPhone with this sweet little baby: the Nikon SLR Mount is an F-mount adapter, so all Nikon lenses are compatible; the Canon SLR Mount is an EF-mount adapter, therefore Canon EF-S or FD lenses may not be used. But that’s okay! All of your Canon EOS lenses will! Your images will originally be saved upside down as there are no mirrors inside the SLR Mount, but this can be easily fixed in basically any photo app using an iPhone4, or in the normal photo editing program on iPhone4S. Post-production may also see you lightening up some images, as PhotoJojo estimates a loss of 1 – 2 f-stops when the adapter is in use.

iPhone Rangefinder
Have you ever wanted to be a secret agent? Maybe an undercover superhero? Well, unfortunately this iPhone can’t help you with that – nor can we, although we’ll support you if you choose to dress up for the day (heck, send us photos!). What it can do is provide your iPhone with a complete cover in the style of a classic rangefinder camera. Think of it as the equivalent of a Batman costume for your communication device!

“Kristyn,” I can hear you judging, “This isn’t a lens! Your article title is misleading!” Yeah, okay, caught out. Would it appease you if you were told that the iPhone Rangefinder not only gives your sneaky little iPhone the appearance of a camera, but actually transforms your iPhone into a camera? Better and more lightweight than any utility belt (here’s looking at you, Adam West), this case will fit your iPhone out with a removable tripod mount, a functioning shutter button (also accessible via the volume + and – buttons) and viewfinder, two camera strap loops and aperture numbers. Another bonus? While you’re out and about snapping happily with your faux-rangefinder, you remain easily contactable, as the case doesn’t block any buttons whatsoever. Not that it matters, of course, if people contact you by flashing a light into the sky…

Photo credit to the team at PhotoJojo.

R2-D2 Replica Robot At Austin Maker Faire

David Lowe — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:00:38 +0000

I met Jamie McShan at the Austin Maker Faire last week and immediately fell in love with his R2-D2 replica robot (spot the Star Wars geek!). Jamie lives in Dripping Springs, Texas and started building Star Wars‘ favorite robot in August 2008. He completed construction in June 2010. His creation is flawless and even plays “The Cantina Theme” from the original Star Wars. Check out this interview I did with Jamie:

LEGO Art: PBS Web Series

David Lowe — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:45:45 +0000

Origin of Cool is a big fan of LEGO having featured the popular toys in several articles. For some creative people, LEGO has evolved from toy to art form. PBS have created a web series called Off Book that explores cutting edge art and the artists that make it. In this episode, three LEGO artists talk about their creations; beautiful mosaics, stop-motion videos and cool sculptures. Take a look at the 8-foot tall hummingbird and life size polar bear to see creativity at its very best. What I love about this is that way that by creating something remarkable in an unremarkable setting, it changes the way people think about that environment. Think of all the ways this could be applied with other toys or art pieces to positively affect people’s perception on something.

Cool Computers Of The Future

arifranklin — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:44:47 +0000

Remember in Minority Report when Tom Cruise had all those nifty computers he could play with just by moving around the projections they created? How about seeing quarterbacks check their forearms for the playbook? Well, there are some new computer concepts coming our way soon that should help us both do some advanced computing via projection and look really cool because, let’s face it, when does having a device on your arm not make you look like a badass?

SONY’s Nextep concept places an entire flexible OLED computer on your wrist, complete with holographic projector, pullout touchscreen, and we assume some sort of genie summoning abilities.

Another concept with a flexible OLED design (we’re noticing a trend) features a complete, full sized laptop that you can rollout and rollout at your hearts desire. This one has airport convenience written all over it.

[SONY NEXTEP]

[ORKIN ROLLTOP]

13 Cool Ideas For Ice Cream

Tom Vangeneugden — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:00:05 +0000

The weather in Belgium and The Netherlands is not spring-proof, at all. It’s really rather rainy and cold. But since Origin of Cool covers the coolness around the globe, this post goes out to all the people sitting in the sun right now and those who wish they were enjoying summer. Following on from our 10 Cool Sunglasses For Summer article, here’s the coolest ice cream gadgets. Making ice cream can be more fun and creative as shown below:
1. Fill up this machine with your favorite toppings

2. This snow cart turns your regular ice cubes into fluffy snow

3. Ice cream cone art

4. No more manual ice cream cone rotation needed

5. To make perfectly shaped ice cream sandwiches

6. The Ben & Jerry’s pint lock

7. If you need to reach the bottom of the bowl

8. Design you own deserts

9. Fun for kids

10. Making ice cream as a game

11. Dippin frozen dots

12. a waffle maker for cones

13. to make miniature ice cream towers

images: Brit

The Lytro Camera 3.0: Create Your Own Living Photos

arifranklin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:38:10 +0000

Once in a lifetime an invention comes along that is poised to change the way we interact with the world around us. These are the things that, once we have them, life simply isn’t the same. We mean inventions such as the light bulb, the television, the internet, and of course, the Segway.

In all seriousness the Lytro is quite remarkable. It’s the first commercialized camera that takes photos by capturing light fields, which allows for the display of much more information than traditional camera sensors. As a result using the Lytro you can refocus any photo after you’ve taken it. Check it out below:

Visit here for a whole gallery of “living” images to refocus around!

Image Credits: Engadget.com