The Pen. What could be more ordinary? Sure, occasionally James Bond will use some cool tricked out pen to off someone or cut his way into a submarine or something, but by and large, the pen has not realized its true potential in our lives. But it’s starting to. Here are a couple of bad-ass pennovations that can be had for under 50 bucks (and one about 5 times that):
Copy Machine In Your Pocket
Okay, this is cool. Here’s the concept: Write on a piece of paper with this pen. You now have a piece of paper with what you’ve written or doodled, AND a digital copy of the exact same thing on your PC. No need for a tablet or any other stuff; just the pen (which uses “ordinary ink refill”) and the wireless receiver which plugs into a usb port. An awesome tool for journalists, or anyone who relies on their notes.
Geeks.com currently sells the wireless IOGear Digital Pen
for $48.97.
Video Pens
Geeks.com is selling this little beauty for $49.99. It’s a functional ball-point pen using standard refills, but it can also surreptitiously record color AVI video files (with audio) onto its 4GB internal memory and later dump them via USB onto a PC. Perfect for the minimalist spy, or for sleepy students, bootleggers (Important Note: Do Not Bootleg. Bootlegging is Illegal.), expose’ journalists, and I dunno, lots of criminal-types (Important Note: Do not engage in criminal-type stuff. Criminal-Type stuff is widely reported to be illegal), cops, perverts (Important Note: Do not be a pervert. Perverts are widely disliked, and perverted behavior is often illegal), and people who just think a video pen would be hella cool to mess around with.
Currently selling for $263.13, this one is pricier, but Chinavision’s Wireless Spy Camera Pen wins major points because this video pen, you see, comes with a Solar Panel. And as anyone knows, you can’t stop a spy with a solar panel. Go ahead, take Radio Shack away, strand him in the desert. He’ll keep coming at you, fully capable of surreptitiously documenting all of your misdeeds. He just needs a few hours of sunlight, and his secret DVR pen is back in action. You can’t put a price on that.
But that’s not all that distinguishes this super spy pen. Instead of storing it’s data on the pen itself, it transmits video and audio to a wireless receiver (which you can also use to watch the video live–in case you need to peek around a corner without being seen, or set up an impromptu surveillance post in enemy territory–or play it back later to blackmail the bad guy’s gardener into helping you, or something), and because the video is not stored on the pen itself, if you’re captured, you just say, “Aww, Man! Ya got me,” and you hand over the pen. Then, you wait for your moment to escape with the real data, safely duct-taped to your groin.
That really seems to be the only thing missing actually. I’m going to suggest that they include the duct-tape in future versions.
(I actually own one of these, and for $85, it’s a surprisingly good lens) and wrap it in black fabric and duct tape until it fits snugly in the can. (You focus by sliding the lens inside the tube.) Now attach your new Pringles lens to the camera, and you’re ready to take high quality, extreme close ups.
) will show you how to cut up and tape a couple of Pringles cans together to make a handheld launcher.
, a couple of heat sinks, a usb cable, and some foam-core board. Throw it all together (see video below), and you have a usb-powered mini-fridge.
