Gadgets & Gear

People go camping to get away from the city and for the most part – leave a lot of their fancy high-tech gadgets at home as most camp sites don’t have electricity. But wouldn’t it be pretty sweet if you could use the heat from a fire to charge your gadgets such as phones or tablets? I think so!

The BioLite CampStove does just that. Not only does it heat your food but charges your device(s). The heat generated from the stove is converted into electricity and you are able to charge various devices with a USB connection. Using heat to produce electricity is not the only cool feature the BioLite CampStove has to offer.

TAG Heuer is mostly (99.99%) known for their watches but they also dipped their toes into the luxury smartphone market with the Link phone and now they’ve introduced the TAG Heuer Racer cellphone.

The TAG Heuer Racer smartphone is designed after GT race cars and features lightweight materials normally found on racing cars.  The phone’s chassis and body is made out of carbon fiber and titanium and the phone comes with shock resistant rubber encasement to protect the inner workings from getting damaged if/when it falls out of the user’s hands.

A few weeks ago I moved into a new apartment, and as with any apartment that’s been previously occupied, this one was a mess. The walls were scratched, the cupboards were greasy, and the floor was covered in dust, dirt, and the type of debris that one doesn’t want to investigate too closely. In short, it was disgusting. To make matters even worse, the vacuum I had was garbage. Thankfully, my vacuum situation dramatically improved about a week ago when I was offered the new Dyson DC43 “Animal” vacuum to review. I’ve had heard that Dyson makes pretty amazing vacuums, and I decided to put that to the test.

Though “unfortunately” I had long since cleared the floors of the original debris, the movement of furniture and the pitter patter of my feet across the floors generated quite a bit of additional dirt as I

For someone who enjoys collecting and yes – sometimes even using – survival gear, little trinkets like this are hard to resist. Unfortunately, I haven’t had an opportunity to try this out yet, but this flint and steel paracord survival bracelet from Bison Designs is just too cool to wait on.

What you see is another not-so-typical survival bracelet, in the vein of the paracord bracelet with handcuff key I previously wrote about. You can’t use this to pick the locks on handcuff keys, but from what I’ve read, it’s pretty handy for starting a fire. Even more important than the fire starter, or the lengthy piece of 550 paracord used to make the bracelet, is the

My parents recently got back from a trip to Saudi Arabia and one of the first things we asked them besides the usual small talk was the prices of gasoline. As expected, I was told that the gas stations pretty much give it away for free. The prices are high in North America but the poor folks in Europe have it even worse than us when it comes to fuel costs. When the prices really skyrocket, the local news agencies tend to shed light on a few individuals around the city that produce their own biodiesel for personal use. Of course everybody starts to think about making the switch but soon lose interest when they find out the type of processes that are involved and sourcing the supplies.

Biodiesel refers to diesel fuel that is made out of vegetable oil or fat-based oil. The current trend is focused around hybrid and electric vehicles but those vehicles only account for a small number of car sales. If you happen to own a diesel vehicle and can manage to source yourself a decent amount of used oils, then the BioBot BB20 desktop oil waste processor might be something to look into. The bacon fat may not be good for your health but at least it can power your vehicle.