Awesome Tech

If you liked Parrot’s AR.Drone, build your own using Arduino; Paul Rene’s aptly-named Quaduino features four rotors, pitch/roll//yaw controls, a compass, barometer, and accelerometer.

Praised by professional guitarists, Line 6’s Relay G30 is a 6-channel stompbox-style 2.4GHz digital wireless system with 10Hz-20Khz frequency response and 120dB dynamic range.

Korg’s Sound on Sound is loud and clear with its unique selling point: it’s able to record unlimited tracks; it also packs a speaker, mic, Sound Stretch, and microSDHC card slot.

John Hunter’s Quicklauncher is a 3,600 ft. underwater space cannon placed near the equator that can be easily swiveled since it floats; it’ll shoot satellites 13,000 mph at only $250/lb.

The Miniguru keyboard’s slogan is “Always on the Home Row,” and it just may do so with a built-in trackpoint, a “swirl” key-activated second layer, and three levels of tactile feedback.

The Ultimate Ears 18 Pro Custom Monitors are Logitech’s flagship in-ear monitors; they feature 6 hi-fi speakers in each earphone, a 4-way crossover, and 3 tuned sound channels.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is no spring chicken, but Snake fans will dig Astro Gaming’s Audio System/Headset MGS4 editions; choose from three speaker tags and a black or white headset.

Introducing Iron Chef: Inkjet Edition; Cornucopia: Digital Gastronomy is an ongoing project by two MIT grad students to develop a 3D printer that mixes, deposits, and cooks food.

UrbanEars’ Plattan headphones target minimalist audiophiles; the tonal-colored cans sport a cord mic, fold down to the size of your fist, and can share music with other headphones.

Sean Carney’s Weather Clock looks old fashioned, but it’s actually high tech: an Arduiino scrapes data from the Internet and displays temperature and conditions using two servos.

OtterBox’s Tandem Series is godsend for Palm Pre owners in search of a case: it features silicone-lined polycarbonate front and back shells that let you slide the screen smoothly.

Earthy both in terms of design and eco-friendliness, Design Hara’s HTPC is a mini-ITX unit with recyclable cypress or rose wood chassis; it also uses 1/3 the energy of desktop computers.

Jay’s DIY phaser may be a class 3B laser that uses a 12X Blu-ray diode, but you’ll throw your Vulcan side out the nearest airlock once you watch the video above: PEW! PEW! PEW!

Lenovo’s China-only Lephone includes a snap-on keyboard a-la the Ideapad U1; the phone itself features a 3.7″ touchscreen, 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU, and two cameras (one front-facing).

The AirStash is the swiss army knife of flash drives: it’s not only wireless, pocketable SD card storage for your iPhone/iTouch, but also streams movies and music and shares files.

Mad Catz goes mature with their new Eclipse Collection; it mixes upmarket metal finishes and minimalist design with touch-sensitive technology on their keyboards and mice.

Part printer replacement, part ereader, Plastic Logic’s QUE proReader features an 8.5×11″ touchscreen, Office/Outlook compatibility, virtual keyboard, WiFi, BT, and 3G. Thanks, everyone!

Razer slices into the console market with the Onza and Chimaera, both for Xbox 360; the former is a controller with adjustable analog sticks while the latter is a 5.1 circumaural headset.

We’re a bit past 2001, but Sony’s Bravia NX800 evolves your home theater with 1080p HD, 240Hz refresh rate, WiFi, and a monolithic pedestal that tilts the 46″-60″ HDTV 6 degrees.

Those of you lucky enough to live in a 4G area, Overdrive arrives 1/10/2010: the MiFi-like router connects to Sprint’s WiMAX and 3G networks and share up to five devices over WiFi.

Available 1/25/2010 with Verizon, Palm doubles down with the Pre Plus (16 GB, no home button) and Pixi Plus (WiFi); both can also serve as 3G hotspots with up to 5 devices tethered.

Dell Alienware’s M11x packs a 15″ laptop into a sub-12″ form factor; it features an 11.6″ 720p screen, Nvidia GT335M card, 6+ hours of battery life, and DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA-out.

It may be gimmicky, but 3D arrives in home theaters this year via Sony and Panasonic, with both releasing 3D-capable TVs which will require special glasses; also: DIRECTV HD 3D.