Not only did Eone design their timepiece to be simplistic and elegant, they also designed it to be functional. The watch has two ball bearings; one that orbits the outer rim (delineating hours) and the other circles the face (minutes). Yes it’s cool looking, but the functionality of this set up is made with the visually impaired in mind. One can tell the time by feeling out where the balls are; which could also come in handy when checking the time discreetly. Currently, “The Bradley” comes in stainless steel mesh, blue, green and yellow. $195. eone-time.com
4K is barely even on most people’s radars and the guys over at Blackmagic have already created an affordable, studio quality 4K camera. While the camera doesn’t include a lens, it is compatible with all third party MFT lenses, mics and tripods. Blackmagic’s camera has the largest viewfinder at ten inches, allowing you to see everything you film in the extremely detailed 4K resolution in real time. To be fair, a decent lens, sound and lighting equipment will set you back another couple grand; but you can produce high quality content, with a greater resolution than current television, for under five grand. A sweet camera won’t make you Martin Scorsese, though you might be able to give Brett Ratner a run for his money. Ships this June at $2,995. blackmagicdesign.com
This is more for the ladies, but anything that encourages her to get close is good for us guys too. For those who like the slight stubble style or are just too lazy to shave every single day, Soft Goat will keep your face from feeling like a cactus. When we shave, the razor cuts the hairs into points which cause the scratchiness when the hairs grow back out. Soft Goat hypoallergenic pad is sort of like a very fine sand paper (think Mr. Clean Magic Eraser). When rubbing gently in a circular motion, the pad gently rounds the ends of your scruff. Each pad lasts about two months and three pads come in a pack. We know your next question and yes this will work on your genitals. They call it “Soften Her” and just as facial hair gets scratchy and uncomfortable, when guys and girls alike shave their nether regions for their partners, that smooth feeling lasts only about a day. Then it’s like mashing two porcupines together. $12. thesoftgoat.com
Panoz has a legacy of creating race-proven open wheel cars from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, but it has been rather quiet for the last several years. Until now. This year the American sports car brand is turning 25, and to celebrate Panoz has just revealed the 25th Anniversary Esperante Spyder. This exclusive two-seater boasts striking red paint, carbon fiber accents and a gorgeous tan leather interior. It may look like previous Esperantes on the exterior, but there are some notable upgrades under the shell. The chassis is constructed out of a mix of aluminum, carbon fiber and steel. It has an upgraded front and rear suspension, improved anti-lock brakes and a programmable gauge cluster. Customers can now also choose between an aluminum or full carbon fiber body. There are two options of powertrains – a 430 horsepower, 5.0 liter V8, or a supercharged, 5.4-liter V8, with 575 horsepower (which can be tuned to 800 horsepower). $181,320+. www.panoz.com
The Sentry Chrono is a timepiece designed to fit with your work attire just as easily as it does with your casual lifestyle. This redesigned original sports a new six-hand chronograph movement, a 24-hour subdial for precision time-telling, and a date placement. The Sentry Chrono has a medium-sized 42mm stainless solid steel case, along with a dial that features faceted applied indices, a printed seconds track, and custom molded hands. At its core is a Miyota Japanese quartz 6 hand chronograph movement. Available in five different finishes/colors. $300-$350. www.nixon.com
Before you get your hopes too high, the only flavour currently available is mint. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; we don’t imagine bacon scented pants would have the same effect on women as they would on bit—er, dogs. The scratch-n-sniff aspect of the jeans only lasts for about five washes, but you’ll be able to go longer without washing them because they’ll smell as fresh as your breath. Plus, the Naked and Famous denim is made of 100% Japanese cotton; leaving you with a high quality pair of jeans once the gimmick wears off. A word of advice: if you see a girl you like, while wearing these jeans; ignore your instincts and do not scratch your crotch vigorously in on the off chance she actually gets close enough to smell it. If you can see her, she can most certainly see you…touching yourself. $158. tateandyoko.com
We can honestly say this is the most realistic goat simulator that has ever been created. That said the games simulated physics are far from grounded in reality; which is the fun of it. In Goat Simulator, you are dropped in a world filled with hilarious glitches. You can jump, head butt, go ragdoll and slow motion. Not to mention fly around in a jetpack, head butt guys into space or climb a ladder while your goat’s neck flips around with every wrung. Coffee Stain Studios, the creators of the game, intentionally left in all of the strange glitches that developers usually try to weed out. Instead they have been integrated into the core of the gameplay to create a simple but enjoyable game; easily worth the price. $10. goat-simulator.com
It’s amazing the things we can accomplish and create due to a profound laziness. Grillbot is the Roomba of grills. The robot will automatically clean your grill with three rotating wire brushes. There is a smart CPU controlling the Grillbot allowing it to traverse around and focus on the spots that need the most scrubbing. It won’t be able to traverse vertically to different racks but, with a built-in timer and alarm, you can pretty much just set it and forget about it. The choice between cleaning the grill and having a beer while a robot cleans said grill, is a pretty obvious one. $129.95. grillbots.com
The spring is here and along with it comes a lot more sunshine which we all love, but you’ll need a way to protect your eyes. Here’s a way to do it with style. These limited edition sunglasses were developed to celebrate the legendary Louisville Slugger’s 130 years in baseball. Each pair is handcrafted from repurposed Louisville Slugger Ash wood, swung on baseball fields around the world, in the company’s Portland, OR wood shop. The collection included two different models called the Canby and the Haystack. What an awesome tribute to America’s favorite pastime! $250-$500. www.shwoodshop.com
If you were never able to make one of those paper fortune tellers, this origami microscope might be a little tough to wrap your head around. The Foldscope is made from a single piece of paper, though not really; that can be folded into a working 2,000X magnifier. There are some lenses and other tech attached at the back, but the Foldscope still only costs about fifty cents in materials and manufacturing. This microscope can project the image onto a wall with built in LEDs and there are some models configured specifically to spot certain diseases (like having a filter that helps spot Malaria). The engineering behind the design is pretty crazy considering a paper mechanism is used to make microscopic adjustments. The low cost of the Foldscope will certainly help both education and disease detection in underdeveloped countries, unless the creators give it a huge mark-up. $TBA. foldscope.com
Most of you probably don’t have a wine decanter to clean, but there are plenty of frustratingly shaped glasses; impossible to truly clean with a dish washer or sponge. Win some points with the Mrs, while playing with magnets, using Cuisipro’s Magnetic Spot Scrubber. The Scrubber is pretty straight forward, a powerful magnet holds the second piece against the inside of the glass and you clean both sides simultaneously. Hard rubber nubs allow you to really scrub your glassware, but the magnet isn’t going cause anything to crack or break (unless you combine it with a slingshot or something). $12. amazon.com
The hockey season is coming to an end and what better way to spend your off-season than improving your shot (especially if you are on the Buffalo Sabres). The FWD Powershot fits on the top of your stick and measures the speed and power of every shot you take. It then sends all this info, via Bluetooth, to the FWD Sportscard app; allowing you to track your stats in real time. Powershot charges through USB and each charge lasts four hours on the rink and twelve hours in twenty degree weather. $150. quattrium.com
MartinLogan, the manufacturer famous worldwide for its Electrostatic speakers, is now allowing music fans to unleash the music stored on their smart phones, tablets and computers on a brand new premium wireless speaker system, the company’s first wireless Bluetooth and AirPlay system. Aside from its exquisite design and top-notch construction, the Crescendo plays music with accuracy, resolution and detail – like all MartinLogan speakers, and unlike other wireless speakers out there. Hidden inside the gorgeous cabinet are dual Folded Motion tweeters and a 5″x7″ mid-bass woofer. At its core lies a powerful class-D closed-loop 100-watt (140-watt peak) amplifier, while the audio processing is handled by an advanced 24-bit 48kHz DSP (digital signal processing) based preamplifier. Although the Crescendo delivers a deep, accurate bass response, those who desire more bass can hook up an external subwoofer via a dedicated subwoofer jack. Rock on! $899. www.martinlogan.com
Living downtown in a big city like New York is a dream for those who love the urban jungle of world-class restaurants, entertainment, shopping and everything else that such an amazing city has to offer. It’s a dream until you realize the cost of a condo and just how little space you get. But there are clever solutions to the problem like this transforming condo. This 420 square foot condo offers a modular design with a sliding wall, a hidden table, folding beds and other cool tricks. Thanks to its ingenious design, this tiny space is said to sleep four comfortably and host a sit-down dinner for up to ten people. Just don’t expect to ride your bike around the living room. $995,000. www.corcoran.com
Here’s a Kickstarter campaign from Sweden that may revolutionize the way we play first-person shooters. Designed to work with the iPhone 5, Rescape turns the real world into a battle map by overlaying the game textures in a perfect 1:1 match of the room you’re playing in. Your friends will also appear as game sprites when viewing them through the screen. Getting some exercise while gaming and avoiding paint ball welts makes Rescape a good purchase…for a group of friends that all love Apple. Android support has been promised for the future. The peripheral comes with one game, but 13th Lab say the mapping program can be patched to any existing mobile FPS. $39. Kickstarter.com
If you haven’t guessed it by now, we really like virtual reality. Sony unveiled their prototype for a virtually reality headset at GDC this week. You may be thinking, “Didn’t they already make one?” No, the Sony Head-Mounted Display, which we covered a few months back, was more like having a giant screen in front of you; where Project Morpheus is a true competitor for the Oculus Rift. Industry impressions suggest the Rift DK2 has the edge when it comes to image quality and motion blur. That said, Sony’s VR headset is only a prototype and will likely see a great level of improvement as it gets closer to launch. Sony is a powerhouse and they are fully able to throw a lot more resources at the project. Morpheus also has Sony’s new 3D audio tech going for it; capable of producing omni-directional sound based on how you tilt and turn your head. A big downfall, and why we still think Rift is the way to go, Sony’s headset might only be compatible with the PS4 (at least at first), where Oculus is receiving a lot of support from Steam. Still too soon to tell and it will probably be a few years before all the motion sickness kinks are worked out on both sides of the ring. If Tropic Thunder has taught me anything, it’s that it will all come down to the support of the porn industry (that and never go full…well, you’ve seen the movie). No price point yet on the Morpheus, but it will likely have to compete with the Rift’s cost of $350. playstation.com / oculusvr.com
If you’re a regular Guydster reader, you might already be convinced that you’re going to need a smart watch this year. Most of us are clearly too lazy to reach for the smart phone in our pockets. Motorola is the latest manufacturer to join the smart watch race with its Moto 360 device. Like LG’s G Watch, this one will be powered by Google’s new Android Wear OS and offer a clean, traditional design unlike most of the smart watches before it. So far the specs have not been revealed, only a few details. Here’s what we know: there are no external ports for charging or data access. Motorola says that the watch will use an alternate charging method, which we’re guessing will be induction or kinetic (motion) based – and we love the idea! The Moto 360 was designed with a big focus on comfort and looks, which should make it appealing to a broad number of potential buyers. Look out for it this summer. $TBA. Check out a quick video about it on www.youtube.com
LG’s smart watch, known simply as the G Watch, will be the first smart watch that we’ve heard of to sport Google’s new wearables platform OS called Android Wear. Exact details about this device are very limited right now, aside from its looks but like other smart watches the G Watch will be able to display texts, notifications from apps, show you who’s calling, let you answer and decline calls, act as a GPS, hail a taxi and track your active lifestyle. And that’s just the beginning. The exact functionality will depend on the apps that come out for it from various developers. You’ll also be able to say “OK Google” to it and ask questions and get it to display various things for you. Coming second quarter of 2014. $TBA. To see it in action, check out the video on www.youtube.com
Thank you science for making the world a little bit more like a comic book, yet again. We know you’ll all recognize this nifty piece of tech from the pages of Spiderman. The developers of the Bionic Handling Assistant say the device is designed after the trunk of an elephant, but elephant’s don’t have three-pronged hands. Festo’s arm is capable of very delicately gripping object and pneumatic actuators give it a previously unseen (in real life) level of flexibility. Some possible applications for the BHA would include: factory assembly, handling of deadly materials, assisting paraplegics and attaching four of these to your spine and becoming an octopus themed villain. Makes us wonder if Obama really is building an Iron-Man suit. For more info check out festo.com.
Controlling your dreams sounds like a totally wild idea, but it is something that most people experience once in a little while. Lucid dreaming is any dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming, and are able to exert some degree of control over your participation within the dream. In the mid 90s, it was scientifically validated that lucid dreaming can be induced using lights during the REM sleeping stage. The iWinks Aurora is the first device of its kind that capitalizes on this idea and induces lucid dreaming. The Aurora is a headband equipped with EEG (brainwave) sensors, an accelerometer to measure movement and notification lights. It works by using the EEG and accelerometer to recognize the REM sleep stage, and then uses lights and sound to notify the dreamer. The dream sounds are actually played by a smart phone app, which also stores and manages your sleep data. The Aurora can be used with your smart phone or as a standalone device. Lucid dreaming is not just a lot of fun, it is also believed to offer a number of therapeutic benefits. $199. www.iwinks.org
