The Quartz Tele by Tao Ma

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Tao Ma is going away from the flat panel, the sheer lightweight plasticity, and into heft, weightiness, a thunkiness that Parmenidies himself would find convincing, with the Quartz Tele. Each number has an enormous coloured quartz crystal with an LED to illuminate the proceedings “like a Transformer’s energon cube”. A more conventional screen in the base contains information like caller ID, a calendar, and other more prosaic bits of actual data. Pretty as this may be, I’m already hearing my cat knock the crystals out at 4am. [GT]

Quartz Tele (via Popgadget)

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Black Dice Guru LED watch

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Rounding out today’s look at somewhat geeky watches, the Black Dice Industries Guru watch is another one that’s encrusted with LEDs in a peculiar, eye-bending pattern. Comes in gold (by which I mean gold plate), black (by which I mean black power) and silver (by which I mean pixie dust). Water resistant to 50 meters. £125. [GT]

Black Dice Industries Guru watch

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Catapult watch: you'll shoot your eye out

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You know the joke where you’re holding a drink, and someone asks what time it is, and you turn over your wrist and spill your drink? If you had a catapult watch you could then launch a barrage of BBs in retaliation. Available in black or silver, it also comes with a free supply of ammo. Great for your next meeting (if you want to get fired — hey, maybe your contract has good severance). See it in action after the jump. $49. [GT]

Catapult Watch (via Oh Gizmo!)

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USB doorbell lets you add your own ringtones

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The USB Doorbell lets you swop out the standard chime in your doorsy’s push-button and replace it with whatever nonsense pleases you. You simply upload a .wav file of up to thirty seconds via USB and away you go. Requires three AAA batteries and standard doorbell wiring (it has no speakers, wireless capacity, etc) and is designed for a low voltage circuit (4-24 V). Video of the audio after the jump. $100. [GT]

USB Programmable Doorbell (via TechEBlog)

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Electronic Venus Flytrap actually works as fly catcher

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Not just a random motorized imitation plant, the Fly Catcher has a packet of fly bait in its plastic mouth, which actually lures in flies. The fly swoops in and activates the sensors which, snap! the jaws shut. Dead fly! No fly blood on your hands! The bait is non-toxic and the fly catcher is as humane as a fly killer can be while actually, you know, killing it. Requires three AAA batteries. £ 19.95. [GT]

Fly Catcher (via Coolest Gadgets)

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Build a supercharged eAT-6 "Texan" paper airplane

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Yes, you can send a paper airplane 30 meters — if it has a battery-powered motor on it. Popular Science has a supercharged eAT-6 paper airplane DIY that uses bristol board and a salvaged capacitor to make a paper airplane that leaves the rubber-band blasted variety in the dust. Their total cost is £7, but that assumes £2 for 4 AA batteries and you can probably just steal those from your boss’s pager. [GT]

supercharged eAT-6 paper airplane DIY

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Tokyoflash 1000100101 binary watch

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Somewhat resembling a prop from Venture Bros., the Tokyoflash 1000100101 binary watch uses a combination of coloured LEDs to represent the date, hours and minutes. Green and red show the hours, and green and yellow show the minutes. The strap is carbon fibre with a leather back. ¥13,900. [GT]

Tokyoflash 1000100101 binary watch

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Jetpack International powers up the turbines

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One constant cry we hear in our jobs looking at all the new technology coming down the pike is “Where’s my jetpack?” We told you about the TAM Rocket Belt and now Jetpack International is getting into the game. Their project: a turbine powered jet pack with an estimated flight time of 19 minutes, with a range of 27 miles at a max altitude of 250 ft. Cost is $200,000, or a little under $8,000 per mile. See it in action after the jump. [GT]

Jetpack International (via Oh Gizmo!)

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HRP-3 Promet Mk-II blue-collar robot

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The HRP-3 Promet Mk-II is the result of a 5-year joint effort by Kawada Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to develop a humanoid robot with sufficient skills to enter the workforce (unlike most college graduates). The 1.6 meter tall, 68 kilo robot is made of tougher hardware to enable it to function in tough enviroments. Watch it in action after the jump. [GT]

HRP-3 Promet Mk-II blue-collar robot