Category: Gadgets and Tech

Yes, we’re back on the Lego. I’ve lost track of how many quirky Lego-based designs we’ve covered in the past, but up there with all of them is the Zip Zip storage device.

This Australian device uses a Lego brick to house 1GB of storage for your files, music or videos – available to plug into any device or computer with a USB socket. You can choose from black, white, red, blue, green, and yellow, all ‘8’ bricks, with the top half holding the technology and the bottom half acting as the cap.

Pure novelty, but not badly prices at $59 Australian dollars, which is around £24.

Find out more at the Zip Zip website

More vintage-style technology, this time with the Snowball USB microphone, which offers recording to your PC with a piece of kit that wouldn’t have looked out of place next to a 50s crooner.

Vintage looks, but for very modern activities, like recording tracks for saving on your PC (such as a guitar break or a vocal) or if you do a spot of home DJing or podcasting, it’s ideal for that too. This professional-quality microphone plugs straight into your PC or Mac, requires no additional software to work and packs in plenty of functions to fine-tune your input.

Available with a stand and the USB cable, it retails online for $99.95 (around £50).

Find out more at the Gadget Locker website

There’s something horrible happening in the pubs and clubs of the world – proper vinyl DJing is being replaced by very improper iPods and laptops. While I’m dead against that, I’m quite impressed with this bedroom-friendly Bird Electron DJ-4 retro iPod mixer, which is new to the shops of Japan.

This retro-styled micro mixer hooks up to your speakers, stereo or headphones and consists of a stainless steel casing and two vintage guitar volume knobs to fade your music in and out from the two music sources. And you don’t have to use iPods – any music source can be used, including those trusty vinyl decks.

It’s also cheap at the equivalent of £40 – so if you know anyone heading to Japan, ask them to pick you one up, And one for me please.

Bird Electron website (in Japanese)

Via Engadget

It’s rare to see the word ‘retro’ associated with a mobile phone – apart from the sadly-missed Samsung P300 calculator phone. But today it was used again to promote the Alcatel Elle N°3 GlamPhone, which is claimed to be influenced by the plastic space age design of the late 60s.

I can’t say I’m entirely convinced, but I can see where they’re coming from, with the curved shape and white plastic exterior. But this handset, a collaboration between Alcatel and fashion magazine Elle, is much more modern than vintage. If you like the look of it, the GlamPhone will be available in a choice of colours, each with a colour screen, MP3 player, 1.3 megapixel camera and a matching Bluetooth headset.

No news of price as yet, but it’s likely to be fairly cheap when it arrives in June.

Find out more at the GlamPhone website