If you own a garage then the one thing you can probably attest to is that for all the space in it, the moment you start using it for storage of any additional items is just the first step towards the day that you look a the clutter where your car used to be and think “Where did it all go wrong?”

Even if you’re an expert at keeping your garage from looking like a cut episode of “Hoarders,” you will probably agree that there is too much wasted space in your garage that is just out of range from being useful.

There’s a project on Kickstarter now, though, that aims to improve the storage effectiveness of any garage owner whether they be the meticulous planner, or the stuff it to stow it type.

It’s called the myLIFTER and it’s essentially an easy to assemble and use electric winch and pulley. Controlled by an iPhone app (or optional remote) and designed to take advantage of the higher, traditionally empty, space in your garage, each myLIFTER can support up to 50 pounds and can be combined for larger items. That means that a single unit may be good for holding some extra bags like this:

Wheras multiple units can easily hold any number of unbelievable things such as this:

Besides durability, ease of installation and use seem to be the biggest objectives of the myLIFTER designers. From everything shown, they seem to have accomplished that as this looks to be the simplest design of this type on the market that is still completely capable.

While that will obviously be easier to determine once the myLIFTER actually hits the market, considering that it has already passed its Kickstarter goal with some time to go, at least we know that a release date will come.

Of course if you’ve been looking at the pictures of this device in action and already formulating uses for it in your own garage, then be sure not to hesitate and pre-order one now while the funding is still going on.

I personally never got into all-in-one computers. As someone who primarily games on their PC I usually require a computer that can make virtual worlds tremble, and all-in-ones typically aren’t built with those kind of high specs in mind.

That being said, I do love the minimalistic style of their design and also very much understand their usefulness for certain demographics and needs. You’ve also got to appreciate the variety of all-in-one options on the market today, ensuring that there is usually the perfect option available for anyone in the market.

If that is you, be prepared to consider a new contender as LG has now unveiled the first all-in-one Chromebook called the Chromebase.

Besides being a real looker (the Mac influences in the design are immediately apparent), the Chromebase runs off of Chrome OS which means you should expect the reliable performance and smoother navigation that comes with the well designed platform. As usual, it’s power is pretty middle of the road (its 2GB RAM and the Intel Celeron CPU are the real buzzkills), but it should be able to handle average programs with relative ease.

Of course, while the price isn’t available yet, you should expect to see that as another selling point considering the low cost philosophy of the Chromebook line.

Otherwise, this is one sleek machine that should definitely be on the radar of all-in-one shoppers everywhere.

While I’m not sure when exactly ugly Christmas sweater went from genuinely dreaded gift from a well meaning grandmother, or perhaps maniacal aunt, to a hipster fashion trend that is now a highly coveted holiday accessory so popular that entire parties are themed around them, there’s no denying the shift did happen.

Should you find yourself falling victim to this trend this holiday season or perhaps even invited to one of those said parties, you’re going to naturally want to find yourself an ugly sweater of your own. While all of your favorite online outlets and shady thrift stores most likely offer some, there’s only one site that is offering an ugly Christmas sweater worthy of the modern age.

Designed by Digital Dudz and available through morphsuits.com, these sweaters each feature a velcro pocket that stores your Apple or Android phone and, in conjunction with an app, allows you to display a variety of animated Christmas themed images. The final effect gives off the, very convincing, illusion that your sweater image is animated on its own accord. In the case of the fireplace sweater, you can even interact with the animation by double tapping your phone to extinguish and ignite the fire at your will.

Going for around $55 a piece, this will likely become the most expensive sweater you’ll ever own and only wear maybe once a year for a laugh. However, in that pursuit,  they are incredible successes that are sure to draw a significant amount of passerby attention, or make you the unofficial “winner” of any ugly sweater party should that be your thing.

When famed game company Valve announced the introduction of the open source linux based “Steam OS” earlier this year to compliment their new line of Steam Machines, they made it clear that they have every intention of bringing PC gaming to the living room in a way never thought possible.

While nobody who’s ever glanced at their success record would ever doubt Valve’s ability to accomplish this goal, the lack of specifics on the subject at the time of announcement left some questioning just how they’d accomplish such a herculean effort within the industry.

Since then, however, the unveiling of a few Steam Machine prototypes to go along with some additional details regarding the OS, have cleared up the picture somewhat and rightfully raised expectations.

However no prototype has personally intrigued me more than the recently announced Jetpack PC from PiixL.

Described as a slimline PC, the Jetpack is capable of sliding into your TV frame whether it is mounted or propped up on a stand. Once installed it allows you to instantly start using your TV as a PC that can support either Windows or Steam OS. While the specs are not currently available, PiixL has said the Jetpack has universal GPU compatibility and looks to be more or less as customizable as a standard desktop (though some parts like power supplies are likely not interchangeable).

Starting at a $1,000, the practicality of the Jetpack as a gaming PC solution is going to depend largely on whether or not on the built in specs and exactly how customizable and accessible it is.

Regardless of the specifics though, the Jetpack is an amazing example of the creativity inspired by Valve’s big move into the living room. If this is only an early example of the technology that will be fueling that move, then the coming years should be very interesting for the PC gaming revolution.

The mobile gaming industry has made significant strides in terms of technological development and animation. The industry, once secondary to that of console and desktop games, now dominates the market with more than £20 million mobile gamers in the UK alone.

Many argue that the rise in mobile gaming is thanks to the launch of the very first iPhone back in 2007. The release of this product and the invention of the App Store soon after revolutionised the world of mobile gaming, and games at large.

The rise of mobile gambling

The iPhone was also one of the first to launch a mobile gambling product, and the industry has taken flight ever since. The mobile gambling sector has specifically managed to lead the way graphically, which is surprising considering the gambling industry as a whole has always been lagging slightly behind when it comes to its animation. Mobile casinos like Fortune Frenzy have impressed most users with their excellent game play, smooth animation and great graphics. Having updated most of their games in HD this year, 2014 will see the mobile casino upgrading all of their games in high definition, as well as a variety of new releases.

The improvements that Fortune Frenzy has made to its games both reflects the mobile gaming market now, and anticipates its development for 2014. The industry is due for massive expansion thanks to the increasing amount of smartphone owners, the rise in mobile games, and the amount of mobile gamers opting to gamble on their phone.

A study produced by the relatively new mobile casino shows that there is a rise in smartphone owners who gamble on their devices, or would consider gambling in the future. This statistic may be skewed by the overall increase in smartphone owners, but does point to the fact that attitudes to mobile gambling are beginning to change. Once considered a pastime that only a few indulged in, now many smartphone owners are far more tempted to have a spin or place a bet.

Whether you find them behind suspiciously hollow walls, buried in suspiciously placed staircases, or at the end of a suspiciously long corridor filled with more enemies from hell with the capability to rip your throat out through your feet than you knew could ever exist, it has always been a constant joy to discover video game treasure chests.

Unfortunately treasure chests in the real world tend to be far more rare, meaning the joy of discovering one doesn’t really enter your day to day life. You can let this fact bum you out, or you can do something about it by picking up one of the 8-bit treasure chests available from Think Geek.

This 4” wide box painted in a pixelated art style runs off of two AA batteries, and stores the various items you can fit into it. Adding to the video game motif is a “Pulp Fiction” style glow that emits when you open it, along with an 8-Bit style tune that plays when you do the same (though it sadly isn’t the “Legend of Zelda” secret discovery tune).

Sure it’s not exactly discreet, but many things that are bad ass rarely are. At $29.99 this is the perfect gift for the gamer in your life, even if it does just serve as a desk decoration.

I love Netflix and Hulu. Hell, I think most of us do.

If I had to make a complaint about those services, though, it’s that they both have an incredible tendency to not have the exact movie I want to watch at that time. This isn’t so much a fault of their massive libraries, as it is the result of the impossible task that is acquiring every film and TV shows that have ever been made, along with being able to anticipate the exact whim of every user.

The Cinema One from Kaleidescape proposes an interesting solution to this dilemma. It allows you to store up to 600 DVD quality titles or 100 Blu-Ray quality titles within the player to be accessed at your leisure. The movies themselves can either be downloaded from the Kaleidescape store, or ripped straight from the DVD and Blu-Ray source.

Think of it then as your own personal steaming service then that is catered entirely to your tastes. Even better, it offers services that Netflix and Hulu can not such as custom DVD like scene skips for every title, and video and sound quality that is simply not possible with the traditional streaming methods.

As absolutely incredible as the concept and actual product is, the price is a real buzz kill. Coming in just shy of $4000, this is already a big ticket item before you even consider the additional costs of purchasing movies to add to it (though it does come with 50 free movies upon purchase). While the whole “no subscription fee” thing helps somewhat, even then that’s a price tag that limits the market considerably.

Based on concept and design alone, though, this is one of the most notable devices released this year, and will certainly serve well as the centerpiece of any true film buffs entertainment center.

Perhaps I’m just odd (I’ve been accused of it before), but I really enjoy the sounds of the city in my apartment. Much like staying inside and listening to the rain, there is a certain joy that comes from absorbing yourself in the world outside while also enjoying the comforts of your home.

However there are times when the hustle and bustle of the city is not the optimal soundtrack for your relaxation. Sure you can play some music or ambient noises to drown them out, but the effect can be quite harsh and serve as a poor substitute or combatant to the ambience of the outside world.

Designer Rudolph Stefanich apparently felt the same, which may explain what led him to design a world noise canceller prototype of sorts called the Dial it Down.

Featuring a touch controlled dial and affixing to the inside of your window, the Dial it Down acts much like a pair of noise cancelling headphones and can either tone down, or completely block the noise of the outside based on your settings. More impressive, though, may be its ability to filter and replace the exterior noise and turn it into something more docile like the sounds of nature or even just isolate certain noises until you’re hearing exactly what you want to in your home.

While still in the prototype stage, it’s clear that the complex design of the Dial it Down is more than just a whimsical notion and is realized enough to actually come to fruition. Let’s hope that is the case too, as its ability to allow the user to control the noise of their home in a more organic and natural way not reliant on blasting as many decibels as possible is a very desirable luxury.

Originally this was going to be something about Black Friday sales, but whilst browsing the interweb I came to two conclusions.

1. Nearly every site on the internet advertises Black Friday sales right on their front page.
2. The sites which do directly feature sales, collect the best Black Friday sales from said sites.

So, with approximately 100% of the internet already on top of this Black Friday thing, I thought I’d focus on something that traditionally goes completely ignored on Black Friday.

Safety.

Yes, since today is the day millions of shoppers will be packing stores and attacking their wares without a single regard towards basic decency and safety, why not highlight a product aimed at providing just that?

The turn signal gloves from Zackees are aimed at providing bicyclists and skateboarders a much needed alternative in making their intentions known to pedestrians and motorists around them. It gives the non-motorized street travelers of the world an electronic turn signal of their own, and requires little more than a hand movement in the appropriate direction to activate.

Even better, knowing their product will primarily be bought by hipsters, Zackees paid special attention to the style of the gloves, so wearing a turn signal on your hands looks as un-nerdy as humanly possible.

There’s no guarantee for success in the gadget market, but when you create something that is practical, useful, stylish, clever, and innovative it’s usually a good sign that your product will find an eager market. We’ll see if that holds true when the turn signal gloves start crowdfunding on December 9^th through Kickstarter.

Free image courtesy of franky242/FreeDigitalImages.net

Just as technology advances, so do the opportunities for top class gaming. It is not so long ago that the Nintendo Wii appeared to alter the gaming world forever. But such is the pace of technological change that new possibilities are appearing all the time.

For example, it would seem that popularity is shifting from the console to playing on mobile devices. This is hardly surprising given that an estimated 1.2 billion smartphones and tablets were set to be sold in 2013. The result is a whole expansion of gaming horizons with the significant potential of monetization. One of the most interesting aspects to this trend is that the growth in mobile gaming is attracting both entertainment giants such as Disney and small-scale start-ups. In fact, it is estimated that 42 per cent of gaming start-ups are focused on mobile use, representing the potential which is only now starting to be fully exploited.

There are also significant spin-offs to the boom in mobile gaming. It has meant that game development is not only limited to the traditional game publishers and it is possible for smaller enterprises to break into this market. Acutely aware of this opportunity, there is an increasing trend in funding game development through crowdsourcing projects such as Kickstarter. Start-ups and mid-sized companies which smell the opportunity of mobile gaming are keen to raise cash and this is now possible thanks to the growing importance of crowdsourcing projects.

Away from mobile developments, there is also an emerging trend in social casinos. Zynga Poker was once the market leader in this area, but it has now been caught up by a variety of titles, including the new CasinoEuro games. Once upon a time online casino gaming meant a mandatory visit to a dedicated online casino. However, you can now place a bet directly from your favourite social media outlet. This appears to be a particularly popular option for Bingo players in Britain. There is every reason to expect the social casino market to continue to grow over time.

However, the burgeoning gaming options on both mobile and social media appears to have had a detrimental impact on the mass multiplayer online games. Perhaps games such as World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons were always considered to be niche pursuits. However, they built up a loyal and lucrative following. It appears though that free gaming options elsewhere have forced these games to follow suit and offer their product for free. Even Star Wars: The Old Republic, developed at a cost of $200million has been forced to offer free play. The future of these games appears to be in the balance.

On the technical side of things, 2013 has seen a continued improvement in motion control games. Although revolutionary, the Nintendo Wii sometimes demands contrived body movements in order to play properly. Thanks to Microsoft Kinect, there is now a whole body sensor to use on the Xbox One. It allows for more natural movement and so from now on you need only to gently lean to the side during a car racing game in order to turn corners, rather than contort your entire body.

Virtual reality gaming is also making great strides. Keep an eye out for the Oculus Rift, which provides a rapidly improving virtual reality headset. Another trend to monitor is the growing popularity in streaming gaming. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are increasingly integrating this into their gaming possibilities.