360 DEGREES Weblog

It’s always helpful when tech start-ups scheme new ways for you to burn through that bank account. Like YBUY, the membership-only site that charges a monthly fee in exchange for trying out the latest and greatest in gadgetry, like an iPad 2 or Xbox 360, sans shipping fees. The fresh-out-of-beta portal offers approved users the ability to return or purchase the pre-selected goods after a 30 day trial period, with that recurring charge going towards the full retail price if you choose to opt-in. Its co-founders claim to curate the ever-changing roster of high-end kit, taking into account the best product reviews (ahem) and even featuring certified refurbs. So, what’s the catch? Well, there doesn’t really appear to be any. It’s simply up to you to curb that tech enthusiasm and keep your credit card balance resting peacefully at zero.

Peleg Design’s “Video Notebook” bears an uncanny resemblance to a VHS cassette, and comes with labels for extra verisimilitude.

€ 14.50

Coming home from work is a cause for celebration because it means you can sit and watch Star Trek until you have to sleep. Although, it’s a little bittersweet because you can only be a spectator to such a fantastical world. You keep hoping and praying that somehow the TV will engulf you so that the only job you’d have to worry about would be on the Enterprise.

Well, get ready, because a small piece of the magic is ready to come home to you. Over at ThinkGeek, there is a Star Trek Electronic Door Chime, and it will give you all the awesome door opening noises you could ever want. Not to mention the red alert button that would be great for waking up unsuspecting housemates. It only costs $30, which is likely why it’s sold out at the moment. Fear not young cadets, more should be on their way at any moment.

Through a combination of good marketing and of actually being available in America, the Roomba vacuuming robots are well known. But they’re not the only cleaning bots on the block. Ecovacs has been making these for years, but at CES this year I stumbled onto something I hadn’t see before. It was a cleaning robot that cleaned windows. Vertically. It’s called the Ecovacs Winbot and it’s a robot that splits in two. Both halves are joined together by strong magnets, with your pane of glass sandwiched in between. The cleaning is done through a 3M cleaning cloth, so I’m not sure how much dirt or grime it can handle. But it does work as expected, making its way across a window until it’s clean. Of course there’s a bit of a problem in that you’ll probably need two people to get it going in the first place, one inside and the other outside, each holding one half. But if manual cleaning is something you really hate, there’s a robot for that now.

The Winbot is currently available in China and Europe for $399.

In advance of the official start of CES 2012, Cobra Electronics has introduced a follow-up to its Cobra Tag dubbed the G5. The latest iteration of the Tag, which is a bluetooth device that pairs up to your phone and triggers alarms of your choosing when the two items become separated, now takes advantage of the Bluetooth 4.0 Low-Energy standard. This means the Tag will now offer more than six months of use before requiring another charge, and is interoperable with the Bluetooth 4.0-capable iPhone 4S in addition to its usual list of Android devices. Cobra expects to begin shipping the G5 sometime in Q2, and will maintain its predecessor’s asking price of $60.

8mm digital camera? Yup, we were confused too, but not after seeing some footage shot with the Fuuvi Bee Pocket Camcorder ($80). This retro-styled shooter records dreamy, old-school looking 640×480 video — complete with “noisy speech” — onto MicroSD/SDHC cards, and runs for up to 100 minutes on its rechargeable battery. Oh, and did we mention it’s ridiculously small?

Looking for the next cool underwater ride to spend your money on? AquaVenture’s SeaBird might be what you need. The company recently announced a new version of its SeaBird submarine – a unique submarine that doesn’t rely on an engine in order to move through water. If you’re wondering how it gets from once place to another, the answer is simple. No there’s no magic or trickery involved, but thanks to the help of another vessel.

Yes, you read right: the SeaBird is attached to a boat on the surface via a 400 feet long cable and is towed towards where it wants to go. Since it doesn’t rely on its own engine on working, it can travel at speeds to over 40 miles per hour, which makes it faster than any other personal subermersible available.  Pretty impressive – just make sure nothing gets caught in between the cables while it’s being towed, or it won’t be a very pretty sight.

The SeaBird will be able to seat two passengers, and will have features such as positive buoyancy which lets it float to the surface when the towing vessel stops or is discontinued from the SeaBird. The submarine is also capable of performing rapid 360-degree rolls and climb and dive steeper than most roller coasters, if zooming through the water isn’t exciting enough for you.

No word on when the SeaBird will go on sale, but it is currently in the works and will have a base price of about $210,000 when it does.

Putting delicate wine glasses in the washing machine can be a risky proposition. Secure them with these cheap and elegant flexible plastic tethers that tie to the stem on the one end and attach to the washing machine on the other.

They’re $15 for a pack of 4

If you’re in a situation where you need to start a fire to stay warm, you need to know you can count on your fire-starting gear. These Stormproof Matches ($6) are about as reliable as they come, coated in a chemical that makes them both water- and windproof, ensuring that you’ll be able to get things going, no matter what the conditions.

When it comes to Google, widespread mobile payment is just a question of months, but until then let your plastic speak all against the recession. Besides aforementioned call to consume, hard graft constructed a card case that is light to the pocket and speaks the famous leather-wool signature the Austrian company is known for.

$45