Google has a new Gmail feature to help those of us suffering from e-mail overload – Priority Inbox.

The idea is relatively simple. The Priority Inbox component watches your e-mail, what you read and reply to, what you delete and other signals and tries to ‘learn’ what you consider important. It then separates your Inbox into 3 sections: Important (at the top naturally), the Starred items, and Everything Else.

Requisite cute video:

So will it work?

Well that question is really misleading. Shuffling your e-mail around doesn’t necessarily address the flood or your capacity to deal with it. Yes, it does help with pushing the important stuff to the top. But if you are simply receiving more mail than you are able to deal with – if your unread message count keeps growing – then you have a much larger issue.

You need to simplify! You need to start unsubscribing from newsletters and those Facebook notifications (or possibly consolidating them

As an amateur guitarist, I’m always trying to emulate my favorite guitar players, and of course, their sound. But without their rack of effects, getting even close to their sound is tough. And once upon a time, effects were very expensive, but as home computers have become more commonplace, effects have found their way (at least partially) into software.

Within the last few years, the iPhone has become one of the hottest gadgets to own. Enter IK Multimedia who have decided to marry the iPhone to a guitar effects rig in the form of the AmpliTube iRig. I got a chance to review this gadget and its associated iPhone app.

Hardware
I must say that I was surprised by fact that I was going get sound out of this little black tubular device barely larger than my guitar’s audio jack, much less a barrage of effects. It was quite easy to hook up. Plug your guitar in with your standard ?? jack into the iRig. The iRig then plugs into your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. The user then has the choice of plugging in their headphones or patching into speakers with a 1/8? jack.

Football season is here at last after hybernating over the spring and summer months, the old pigskin is flying again! Football season begets tailgate season and every year innovative tailgating products are introduced including this Char-Broil gas grill from the Grill2Go series that includes a couple of coolers that you attach to the bottom shelf of the grill to provide a restful and cool place for your tasty beverages.

Furthermore, the Grill2Go Ice has a collapsible design with 2 wheels and a lift-and-lock mechanism similar to rolling luggage with a stay-cool lid handle for easy transport. The removable coolers are each 30-quart coolers while the grill can cool burgers, sausages, brats and ribs over a 290 square inch area. The only downside I see is that the grill collapsed does not include the propane tank so you’ll need to make sure you bring along a strong friend that can carry that!

As it turns out, we have much deeper ‘relationships’ with our computers and other gadgets (think cars) than we think we do. Stanford professor, Clifford Nass, has done the research and even written a book (The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships) on the subject.

We treat computers and other devices like people: we empathize with them, argue with them, and form bonds with them. We even lie to them to protect their feelings.

From an article he wrote in the WSJ:

After being tutored by a computer, half of the participants were asked about the computer’s performance by the computer itself and the other half were asked by an identical computer across the room. Remarkably, the participants gave significantly more positive responses to the computer that asked about itself than they did to the computer across the room. These weren

tugo is one of those items you wished you would have thought of first… it’s a drink holder that keeps your cup suspended between the upright handles of your rolling bag and its unique design keeps your drink level and works as a shock absorber to help prevent sloshing.

tugo easily attaches and is removed to fit in any pocket of your carry-on luggage… tugo is easy, simple, strong and fast.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $12.95 (includes h2otugo!)
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Skullcandy has modified the headphone and earbud industry with incredibly designed and great sounding music ear wear. The Holua Wooden earbuds are popular among those who are lucky enough to own a pair as reviews appear typically between the 4-5 star mark (out of 5) on the various sites the geeks have checked.

The earbuds are quite stylish “sporting wood” with laser cut aluminum accents all wrapped up in a matching wooden carrying box. The wood is said to have enhanced the sound of the earbuds. The earbud wears comfortably with an inducing foam earbud cover and is equipped with a pair of 8mm diameter small size driver units that fit just within the ear canal creating a snug seal for 200mW of input from a 3.5″ gold plated stereo plug.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $87.45
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

If your digital camera can’t keep up with your weekend life, check out the Pentax Optio W90 adventure-proof digital camera. That’s right, adventure-proof as this camera is waterproof to 20 feet for underwater photography or rafting down the Colorado (JIS Class 8 waterproof), shockproof to 4 feet to withstand extreme use, dustproof for use in dry and sandy climate (JIS Class 6 dustproof) and coldproof to sub-freezing temperatures for snowboarding or ice climbing (14-104F)!

With adventure-proof features, you’d expect a big cased camera, but the Pentax Optio W90 is only 4.2 x 2.3 x 1″ weighing in with battery at 5.7 ounces sporting reinforced polycarbonate plastic available in black, pistachio green and orange.

Not only does this camera look and act tough, but the digital camera performs with a 12.1MP sensor and a 5x wide angle optical zoom to cover subjects nearby or far-away (like a bear you decide you

Video eyewear company, Vuzix, has a new model in their Wrap line of video glasses, the Wrap 310XL. Here’s our full review after taking this pair for a test run. (By the way, we’re giving away this pair, so read on to find out how to enter to win!)

First of all, what exactly are these? Well if you’re not familiar with Vuzix, they produce video eyewear for entertainment, military and medical purposes. In the entertainment field, it’s mainly to get video to your eyes from a pair of glasses that look very much like sunglasses. Think VR eyewear. Read on for the rest of the review.

The Wrap 310XL is the next model up from the Wrap 230. The biggest differences are in the resolution and aspect ratio. The 310XL is able to display at 428×240 vs 320×240 for the 230. It is effectively like watching a 55

Guess where you can now make a phone call from? Gmail. Yes, Gmail. If you’ve been using video chat already, then you are already set up for making calls. If not, you’ll have to take a minute or two to install a plugin.

Until the end of the year, calls to the US and Canada are free, and calls to other countries start at $0.02 per minute. Naturally, we have to mention Skype as they’re a direct competitor, and Google’s rates are surprisingly low and beat Skype’s.

Let me just start by saying this is an amazing book. You should just ignore the rest of this review and go buy it!

So you’ve decided to read the review, eh? Very well. Although the book’s title seems to indicate that it’s geared to a small niche of society, don’t dismiss it too quickly. What you will find is a superbly well-written guide that is filled to the brim with information for even the most non-technical reader and/or aspiring cook. In fact, strangely enough, I experienced the same desire to read the book as I think many people have that draws them to watch cooking shows, except that this is book has an order of magnitude more information than the typical show on the Food Network. Cooking or at least food is something everyone wants to know more about – see it, smell it, taste it and the process to get to the end result is just as appealing.

Dyson is known for creating a unique vacuum cleaner with a ball but now they have worked to revolutionize the conventional fan. The Dyson Air Multiplier fans work differently from conventional fans. Using an airfoil-shaped ramp (like a cross-section through an airplane wing), airflow is amplified from 15 to 18 times depending on the model. This creates a smooth, powerful airflow, with no need for fast-spinning blades.

First air is drawn in at a rate up to 5.28 gallons of air per second by an energy-efficient brushless motor. Next the air is accelerated through an annular aperture as it passes over a 16 degree airfoil-shaped ramp to channel its direction. Air behind the fan is then drawn into the airflow though inducement. Additionally, air is entrained from around the machine into the airflow amplifying it 15 times.

With no blades or grille, they’re safe and easy to clean. And they produce an uninterrupted stream of smooth air, with no unpleasant buffeting.

Security company Nmap, decided to toy with one of their scripts which pulls back favicons from websites and turn it into a map of all the icons it found in the top million. Surprisingly, only about 328k were found. What was more interesting was how they arrange it into a huge image with the size of each site’s icon drawn proportional to its traffic.

via NYTimes

I can’t believe the Geeks have never featured Mindflex Brainwave Game. I had to perform a couple of searches to make sure and sure enough, we haven’t.

Mindflex’s Brainwave Game is the closest game we have on Earth to demonstrating Jedi powers as the game is powered by your brainwave activity. Mindflex uses a variation of EEG technology to “read” the intensity of these brainwaves via sensors positioned on your forehead and ears. These sensors do not generate or interfere with brainwaves; they only read what is already there.

Once the Mindflex headset recognizes your brainwaves, it transmits a signal to a fan within the console. This fan controls ball levitation. Your brainwaves, in turn, control the power of the fan. The more effectively you concentrate, the stronger the fan blows and the higher the ball floats. Relaxing your mind relaxes the fan’s airflow, which lowers the ball.

The Illuzine Magazine Rack provides a streamlined way to stay organized with powder-coated metal strips that provide a floating effect when mounted on the wall for your magazines.

Really a work of art by itself, magazines with interesting covers only add to the interest of this simplistic design.

Oh wait… I don’t have physical magazines besides Make. Everything else is on Zinio!

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $29.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Why debate the existence of God with a fish emblem attached to the back of your car when you can show your support for the religion known around the world as Star Trek and pray on the Alter of Roddenberry with this Star Trek Fish Car Emblem.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (pages 63, 65 and 66) states that the experiments with single and more than two nacelle designs, conducted in 2269, proved that having two nacelles is the optimal configuration for vessel control and power generation as represented by this chrome fish with dual warp nacelles.

So boldly go and proclaim your love for all things Trek. Lament that your car doesn’t have an anti-matter warp core, or is armed with photon torpedoes!

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $7.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Young & Cute Online is featuring a marriage of retro and modern in this auto flip alarm desk clock. The clock looks to be a quality retro modern alarm clock which will spice up any desk featuring an alarm and a blue light and weighs just less than two pounds.

The flip clock includes a minute knob, alarm indicator, alarm setting knob and an alarm on/off switch on the left side and a moving gear simply for decoration on the right side. Additionally the flip clock is lite by lights on either side of the flipping numbers.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $49.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Google is testing out ‘live as-you-type search results’. At least that’s what I’m calling it. Google calls it ’streaming’. So far, this is not available to everyone, nor is it clear that it will be. Although with such a bells-and-whistles type feature, it’s hard not to see it becoming standard.

Take a look at the video captured by blogger Rob Ousbey. Better yet, check out the HD version.

via GoogleSystem blog

Whether you spend most of your workday confined to your desk or driving around for hours on end, often times grabbing a cold drink or keeping a food dish warm just isn’t convenient. Now there is an answer, the Deluxe Digital Mini Fridge Cooler & Warmer will remain at your side, keeping your drinks and food at the temperature you desire while operating at a whisper quiet level. Simply plug it into an available outlet near your desk or use the car adapter to take it with you on the road. While compact, the clever design still has a 25 Liter capacity, enough to store up to 30 standard cans. The incredible refrigerator will allow you to set the temperature from 36° F to 140° F for optimal food and beverage storage.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $149.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Zevro, kitchen solutions for modern living, has introduced a Perfetto Pasta Cooker that conveniently cooks 1-2 servings of pasta while conserving energy and water.

The Perfetto Pasta Cooker does not need stirring and you don’t have to monitor boiling pots as you simply fill one liter of water (for non-metric type folks that’s slightly more than a quart or 32 fluid ounces) in the pasta cooker with your pasta. The gadget saves up to 70% of energy and up to 50% of water can be conserved using the Perfetto Pasta Cooker instead of your traditional pot.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $14.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Joseph Joseph creates stylish kitchen and cookware accessories, utensils and gadgets and definitely created a unique gadget for the kitchen with the Index Plus chopping board categorization system. There are four Index Chopping Boards: vegetables, fish, raw meat and cooked food. Each board measures about 30cm x 23cm by .5cm and is paired with a matching color knife so you continue to use the raw meat board with the same knife.

Made from dishwasher safe polypropylene, these handy Index Chopping Boards will keep your kitchen organized and hygienic. These Chopping Boards will satisfy even the most anal cook worried about cross contamination.

For some reason, this product really speaks to me… even though I watched the movie “Meat” and got hungry.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $80.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)