Courageous Cockroaches to the Rescue!

http://youtu.be/Oppn3oikNxA

We’re Going to NYC for Adorama’s Secret Sale and Canon Event!

Before we get into it… John P and I are going to New York! Why, you ask? To party of course! Adorama is having a Secret Black Wednesday Sale! They’re staying open late – until 10pm that day and there will be HUNDREDS of items on secret sale! I’m thinking about blindfolding John so we don’t go broke…

In addition to the sale, they’re teaming up with Canon for a Capturing the Action event at the Altman Building in New York City! You’ll be able to get your hands on Canon’s NEW 7D MkII DSLR. Always fun to play with new toys!

Sports Illustrated photographer David Bergman, and New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor will be there, PLUS raffles, giveaways, food, and an open bar! It’s big enough to get us to leave the Geek House and fly to New York for an evening. It’s gonna be awesome! Keep an eye on John’s and my Twitter, Facebook and Google+ posts to join in on the fun! And if you’re IN New York, be sure to join us in person! Links below.

Withings Activité is a Stylish Fitness Tracker

Let’s talk wearables! Come CES in January, I’m expecting to see TONS of wearables. Don’t worry – we’ll be keeping you up to date on the best of the best… from the Show Floor with our #CESlive coverage every day of the show! You’ll want to be watching for sure!

But Withings didn’t want to wait till CES to launch their new wearable. If you don’t recognize their name, they’ve been doing fitness trackers and scales and baby products and all kinds of things over the years to keep you healthy. And now they put the Activité on pre-order. It’s a beautifully designed Swiss-made fitness tracker… in the form of a watch with a real leather band. It uses Bluetooth to connect to your phone and automatically update the time according to which time zone you’re in. When your phone flips over, so will the watch.

It’ll track your steps. How far you’ve walked. How many calories you’ve burned. How good your sleep is. It’ll serve as your alarm clock. It’ll automatically detect when you’re running and start tracking your runs. It’s water resistant and will be able to track your laps when swimming. Now, it’s not a Smart WATCH – there isn’t a display to show you your incoming calls and text messages. There are no apps. But if you’re a watch man and LOVE good design… and hate the idea of a boring looking fitness tracker… the $450 price tag might just be worth it.

Filip 2 Smartwatch Can Help You Keep Your Kids Safe

For only $99 and $10 a month, you could get your kid a smartwatch. Now… c’mon. Before you heckle at the idea, just stay with me. There are absolutely times when it’s necessary for parents to give their kids this kind of technology. Special needs kids could benefit from it. Kids who have no sense of danger when it comes to being friendly to strangers. Single parents who work multiple jobs and can’t be around their kids 24/7.

The Filip 2 is available on the AT&T network. There’s one button for emergencies. If they’re in danger, they just press and hold it and it’ll trigger a location beacon and call an emergency number preset by you. So it could be your cell. And it’ll keep calling contacts until it reaches someone. Now, the kid won’t be able to just call anyone and talk for hours. You can set 5 numbers they can call and get calls from. You’ll always know where your kid is with the built-in GPS. A geofence can be setup, so if the kid leaves the safe area, it’ll let you know.

Compacts and Batteries Meet with Pearl

On the flip side of fashion, let’s talk mirrors! Compact mirrors to be exact. You guys know we love Hyper products. Daniel just launched a Kickstarter project for the Pearl. It’s a compact mirror that also serves a portable battery pack! It’s 3,000 milliamps to charge your phone or a portable speaker. A great gift for your mother, sister or loved one. They’re $25 each or $69 for 3 and come in 3 colors – red, silver and gold … and when he says he’ll be delivering in time for Christmas, I believe him because he has a history of delivering!

Damson Audio Winners – And a NEW Giveaway!

For the last week, we’ve been giving away 5 pairs of Damson Jet Bluetooth Speakers. There was a TON of response to it! You guys love these things! I mean… how can you not? You can stick it to any surface and make that wall or mirror or desk a speaker! That contest has ended, BUT Damson didn’t want to disappoint you all, so they said… you know, why not? Let’s give 5 more pairs away! And… it’s open to everyone in the world. Not just US. So go to http://geekbeat.wpengine.com/giveaways for all the details.

Congrats to the first 5 winners:
Greg Haugsness
Maximillan Fornacon
Thomas Braun
T Jiang
Terry Story

The Perfect Drink for Any Occasion

If you’re feeling the need to celebrate a little because you won a speaker, I have the perfect drink for you! It’s non-alcoholic so you can have as much as you want. Are you ready?
Think Doritos. Think Mountain Dew.
Now put them together.
Doritos flavored Mountain Dew.
Yep. Pepsi admitted to testing out the product on some college students. Cause they’ll try anything.

Researchers Reveal Rescue Roaches!

If they ever actually release it and you ACTUALLY try it, just rest assured that even if you keel over in the middle of nowhere, you can always be rescued by cockroaches! Well. Ok. You have to be alive. But surely Pepsi won’t actually kill you.

Anyway… so last year I think, I told you about some experiments on cockroaches to tie into their brains and control them. I know… where’s PETA when you need them!? Well, now these researchers at North Carolina State University have a purpose for it. They attached a circuit board to the cockroach and connected it to the bug’s brain. They can send a signal to the roach to turn left. Or to turn right. The idea is that they could have the roaches roam around a disaster zone and search the rubble for survivors. Some roaches could be what they call sensors. They’d listen for noise and direct the others… drones… to come. And then they “call home” essentially and tell humans where to come do the digging and rescuing.