If you still prefer to write with a pen but don’t want to transcribe your chicken scratch into various digital formats, this pen will do your dirty work for you. Built-in Wi-fi allows the pen to automatically link your notes as well as audio to your secure Evernote account and it’s compatible with a variety of devices.
Half Quad & half Jet-Ski, the Quadski is a new, American-made amphibious vehicle that can hit speeds of 45 MPH on both land and water. The brainchild of Michigan-based Gibbs Sport Amphibians, the 175-horsepower and very James Bond-esque ATV goes on sale in November.
Personal Pocket Navy
Who hasn’t found themselves looking across a pond, lake, river or ocean with a desire to explore but absent the means to do so? With the Oru folding kayak, a whole new world of paddling exploration just opened up. The brain-child of San Francisco designer Anton Willis, the Oru goes from a package the size of a large artist’s portfolio to a 12-foot, 25-pound water-tight vessel in five minutes (less if you used to make paper airplanes out of your homework).
Constructed of corrugated plastic with structural reinforcements, the kayak is eminently sea-worthy in mild waters; the portable, dependable craft will be available soon for an estimated retail of $500. Visit the Oru site to jump on the mailing list for production notification, and watch the Oru quickly go from portage to paddling in this video.
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Out of sight, out of mind
Ah, the messy desk. It’s the stuff OCD nightmares are made of, single-handily ruining even the best interior designer’s work with one stray pen. You can continue to kid yourself about getting more organized, or simply swap in the Torino Desk Table ($500) by CB2 and hide your disheveled ways with ease. The lacquered white 57″ wide by 24″ deep surface sitting on a solid white oak stretcher base appears a traditional desk to most — and that’s the point. A gentle pull on its top, however, reveals a hidden area with nine square feet of stash space designed to quickly conceal books, gadgets and other office detritus. There’s even hidden cutouts for keeping wires neatly in line. Mother Teresa once said that “Peace begins with a smile”, but a clean work environment must be a close second, right?
Buy Now: $500
Roasting hot dogs over an open fire is a camping tradition — but using traditional campfire forks may leave you with more in the fire than in your mouth. These Curly Hot Dog Roasters ($22/2-pack) prevent this by wrapping your dogs in hand-twisted steel, with a pointed end sticking inwards to prevent accidental burning and poking. Worried about your marshmallows meeting the same fiery fate? Not to worry, they make roasters for those, too.
Whether you’re trying to run your own mini-waterpark or just want to add a full-on play area to your private lake, the Wibit Sports Park 60 ($TBA) has you covered. This massive inflatable structure measures roughly 130′ by 105′, uses three electric pumps to inflate in just three hours, and offers a curved bridge, a cliff, a slide, a mini-pond, long jump and high jump areas, a trampoline, a swing, a free floating catapult, an “action tower”, a ramp, a balance beam, and, of course, a podium for the winners of your own drunken Wipeout-style games.
This hand built, pinewood cooler is more of a gentleman’s beer tote. Better suited for the afternoon BBQ with the lady than the marathon tailgate. After all, it only fits a sixer.
Sure you could simply give your milk a quick sniff, but the cool new Milkmaid – Smart Milk Jug is a state-of-the-art way to monitor your milk. This innovative quart-sized glass milk jug uses pH sensors to detect how long the milk has left until it spoils or if it already has, a smart base with a weight sensor that tells how many cups are left, and a temperature sensor that alerts you when the milk has been left out of the fridge for too long. It even has a free iPhone app that lets you access this data remotely, so you’ll know when to pick up more at the store. A cool idea that’s still in development at Quirky.com, so if you think this handy invention needs to exist, click on over and show your support.
Looking for a better butter dish? The cool new One Click Butter Cutter is a space-saving horizontal butter dish that dispenses a perfectly portioned pat of butter with just a click. It holds a standard stick of butter, protects it from contamination and saves valuable shelf space in the fridge. Best of all, no more toast crumbs stuck all over the butter stick from others double-dipping the butter knife.
