Yeah, I know. The Dark Knight was arguably the best movie of 2008, but can Christian Bale’s throaty rasp really hold a candle to Adam West’s booming baritone Batman? Now you can bring back memories of the classic camp of the original Batman TV show with these great accessories that help you turn your room into a regular Wayne Manor.
Imagine the phone rings when your friends are over for dinner. You saunter on over to your desk, where you proceed to pull this candy apple Batphone out of the drawer and answer the call. Just be sure to end every call with “we’re on our way,” to keep them wondering if you’re living a secret double life as a superhero. Need to make an outbound call to Commissioner Gordon? Just press the button on the face of the phone, and the cover flips open to reveal a push-button dial.
When you’re ready to run out to your garage Bat-Cave for some crime-fighting action, dash on over to this replica of Bruce Wayne’s famous Shakespeare bust, flip open his lid, and activate the switch inside to activate the door to your secret Bat-cave. What, you don’t have a secret door? Then maybe you can plug it into a set of Christmas lights, or maybe your stereo so they turn on when you activate the remote power outlet that’s connected to the Bard’s bust.
The guys over at RED5 sell the Batphone for £50 (appx. $77 USD) and you can find the the remote-control Shakespeare bust over at Red Hot Phones for (holy credit card, Batman!) $312 bucks.
Some clever person has rigged a huge flat screen TV under his bed, using a sliding and rotating mechanism that allows it slide under the bed when not in use and also pop out at the foot of your bed when you want to watch TV. Either that, or we have an authentic transformer on our hands. It’s got to be the coolest way ever to watch TV in bed. It’s so awesome that I dare say most wives can even be talked into incorporating this into the bed frame. Until you start ignoring her for your shows anyway.
I love kitchen gizmos because anything that can make cooking easier, I’m all for it. But the ILVE VELA rangehood brings a whole new level of technology into the kitchen.
This new device is a rangehood outfitted with a 10-inch LCD monitor. That way you can look at a screen right above your stove. Talk about convenient. And with it up high like that, it’s out of the way of splatter and food particles, unlike screens that sit on counters.
The LCD screen can be controlled by means of a wireless remote and you will need to hook up cable to it. There are AV inputs as well, so a DVD player hook up is a possibility, if you find it necessary to have a kitchen DVD player. No word on availability or price yet, unfortunately.
Jakks Pacific has been cranking out a variety of arcade games you can play on your TV for several years now. But all of their arcade systems up until now included 4, maybe 5 games. Their most recent model, the Arcade Gold game system ups the ante by cramming 8 old school arcade games into a single package.
The Arcade Gold connects to any TV and lets you play Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Pac & Pal, Pac-Man Plus, Galaxian, Bosconian, Dig Dug and New Rally X. For those of you playing at home, Jakks has basically combined their Namco Classics and Super Pac-Man systems into a single package, but kept the price under $20 bucks.
All games play with the original arcade graphics and sounds, and the big red ball joystick controller is perfect for retro gameplay. An added bonus over the original models is the built-in memory that lets you save your high scores even when the power is off. The only bad news is that the joystick is only a 4-way stick, making the diagonal-dependent Bosconian all but unplayable. Oh well, whaddya want for $20 bucks?
You can find the Jakks Pacific Arcade Gold game system over on Amazon.
When you’re done playing your video games for the day, or even just watching your television, the TV Cozy is designed to keep your television feeling loved. The cover protects your LCD or Plasma screen from dust and debris and can also add a little color to your living room.
The TV Cozy looks like a TV test screen, complete with bright color bars. While it might be a little loud for the average living room, the idea behind the cover isn’t such a bad one. I know my LCD seems to attract more dust than everything else in my home, it would be nice to have a way to cut down on the dust, and the amount of times I have to clean my set, even by just a little bit. What do you think about the TV Cozy, is it a good idea, or a waste of felt?
Got an evil streak? The makers of the infamous TV-B-Gone remote control have come up with an extra-strength version of their gizmo which can turn off almost any television set from hundreds of feet away.
Packaged in a case that’s designed to look like a super-chunky mock iPhone, the TV-B-Gone SHP (Super High Power) can shut down more than 90% of all televisions worldwide with a simple push of a button. 8 ultra-powerful infrared emitters ensure that no TV will be safe from its hypnotic gaze. There’s even an instant reactivation mode which lets you turn off a bunch of sets in rapid succession.
Check out this video clip of the TV-B-Gone SHP wreaking havoc wherever it goes:
Ready to get your your ass kicked out of the local sports bar or big box retailer? You can get your hands on one of these portable mischief makers over at the Maker Shed for $49.95.
We’re finding out more details about the Sony DMX-WL1t, the companies first WHDI device to transmit video wirelessly in your home. The device first showed up in January at CES, and is making another appearance now, but now with more details.
The DMX-WL1T will have four HDMI inputs, a stereo analog input, a digital audio input, and a component input. The system will have the ability to transmit uncompressed 1080i video and audio to any BRAVIA HDTV with Sony DMex compatibility. The device reportedly has a transmission range over 100 feet, so you could hook everything up in one room, and then play it onto a television in another.
As someone who has cables running all over their house, I’m pretty excited this technology is becoming available.My only gripe is that the device (much like other Sony products) is only going to work with Sony TV’s, so if you want to use it you’re going to wither have to have one or shell out the cash for a new TV.
One concern many people have about plasma TVs is their relatively short lifespan. And until recently, it was commonly thought that you’d only get a few years out of your plasma screen before it was destined for the junk bin. But now it seems you could hang onto that flat-panel a good while longer.
Unless you watch your TV all day, everyday, you’re looking at a around 42 years worth of normal use, according to Panasonic. “Normal” use is about six and a half hours worth of viewing a day. That’s a significant increase from the previous notion that plasmas can only last “a few years.”
That being said, I highly doubt a 2008 TV will be in tip-top shape in 2052. You might still have a picture, but I’d imagine other parts would suffer wear and tear.
I love kitchen gizmos because anything that can make cooking easier, I’m all for it. But the ILVE VELA rangehood brings a whole new level of technology into the kitchen.
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