Awesome Tech

Benjamin Bachmeier built an iPhone-themed case for his HTPC. It has a 40″ Toshiba LED LCD monitor (no multi-touch) that tilts to the side for a more traditional viewing set up. Video here.

Can’t stand bloated digital zoom specs? Olympus’ compact camera is all lens. With an outstanding 36x optical zoom (24-864mm equivalent), it lets you get up close from any distance.

An electronically height-adjustable desk. GeekDesk 2 goes from 21″ to 48″ high with a lifting capacity of 275lbs, while GeekDesk Max goes from 23″ to 49″ and lifts up to 335lbs. Demo videos here.

The Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Albino has all the features of the high-end R.A.T. series – removable weights, palm and pinkie rests, programmable buttons – plus a 6400 DPI sensor and matte white body.

UK Designer Paul Cocksedge heats old vinyl records and forms them into gramophone-style amplifiers for smartphones. He’ll be making a series in a live performance on 8/27 in London.

While we don’t really think there’s anything that special about Roni Margolin’s concept tablet itself, the wireless soft keyboard built into its felt case is pure genius. We want one for our iPad now.

Eric Fischer made this set of maps featuring geotagged Flickr and Twitter posts. Red dots are for Flickr posts, blue dots are for Tweets and white dots are for both. Check these out too.

A unique charging station that uses Ziptails, micro- and mini-USB magnetic charging cables. Delivers 2100mA of power, enough to charge three phones at once. Additional Ziptails also available.

A convenient hub that lets you use, access and share your external hard drive, printer, card reader and other USB-enabled devices over your wireless network. Connects up to 4 USB devices.

They can do battle, perform surgery, and even drive vehicles, but finally, we have a robot that does something useful. An MIT team has been teaching the PR2 robot to bake cookies.

You can’t make music with it, but if you’re a vintage drum machine and synthesizer fan you’ll still love this detailed replica 8GB flash drive of the legendary Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer.

The Icon’s rubber-coated magnesium-alloy frame is water-, shock- and fog-resistant. And if it still breaks, the warranty guarantees immediate replacement “for any reason, anywhere, for life.”

Sound, style and simplicity. The Libratone Lounge is all-in-one sound system. Has a 50W 8″ woofer, two 25W 1″ tweeters and two 25W 4″ midrange drivers. AirPlay-compatible and has 3.5mm input.

Euclideon claims they’ve busted the polygon count limitations of graphic engines, providing insane amounts of detail in this early demo of their tech. Or is it just a scam? (Thanks, Michael!)

Upgrade to your cellphone’s camera with these detachable wide angle/macro, telephoto and fisheye lenses. Mounted via a magnetic ring that adhesively stuck around your phone’s lens.

These book-inspired cases for the MacBook Pro, Air and iPad now have a baby sibling. Protects iPhones while doubling as a wallet. All ports and controls can be accessed without removing the case.

Even if you have a laptop version, you’ll still have to carry a bunch of stuff along with your Xbox 360 console, like controllers, games and the Kinect. This carrying case has room for all of them.

Juice up your USB-powered gadgets with this neat little pack that has a power adapter and a USB hub that can power up to 4 gadgets at once. One of the hub’s USB ports can also be used to sync data.

The BeoSound 5 Encore has a 10.4″ touchscreen for easy browsing of music. Plays MP3, WMA, AAC-LC and FLAC files from local network, online, USB or line-in socket. Also has Internet radio.

Designed by Jonathan Ota and Ethan Frier, Aura is a supplementary safety system for cyclists. The LEDs are powered by the front wheel, and change from red to white as the bike accelerates.

The Boss BR-80 is a multi-track recorder – up to 8 tracks, with a variety of effects – a field recorder – records up to 550 hrs. – and a virtual jam buddy in a very portable form factor.

Created in collaboration with Japanese design studio nendo, the Data Hook is a 4GB USB 2.0 flash drive in a practical carabiner case, so you can easily and securely carry it wherever you go.

A Kinect, a laptop, an LED projector and a program called FaceTracker were used to project the visuals on the face of BELL vocalist Olga Bell in real time in this video for their single Chase No Face.