I had a chance to use a very basic laser distance meter while trying to figure out the size of each room of my summer house to later use in a home design architect program. The technology for engineers and architects is much more ahead of what I needed surely.

Leica announced their latest laster distance meter model, Disto D8. The device perfectly measures distances from 0,05 meters to 200 meters. Accuracy is amazing ± 1.0 mm. The results can be immediately send into other vital applications like Excel, Word or AutoCad. It can even auto generate blueprint for AutoCad programs. Do you want to know the length of a building at a distance and how far away this building is? It is simple. Just point the laser to your target, arrange the angle position and the device will do the rest.

The problem with long distances was finding the laser point. Now, Leica has a solution with x4 optical zoom where you can aim the target using high resolution 2.4-Inch colour display. It is a perfect device but not cheap at all.

Available at Amazon

Another detailed Leica Disto D8 Review

It is a strange feeling to look at a strategy board game table which Vikings and other Northern European people actually played for centuries starting around 400 AD. A game of war where the sides are not even equal! The center king’s objective was to escape to the board’s periphery or corners, while the greater force’s objective was to capture him. There is no luck in the game, only strategy. The game rules are mostly known due to medieval sagas and adapted to modern world with addition a few rules to balance both sides. There are many variants of this ancient game.

I have found a handmade stone Hnefatafl (King’s table) board at Etsy.

Read more at Wikipedia about Hnefatafl

Amazon Top Rated Board Games

Wood is actually so popular amongst amateur designers and some manufacturers. Some of the most interesting examples would be Wooden Mobile Phone from Russia, wooden earbuds and wooden carpets. But, what about usage of stone for gadgets! Unfortunately, it is not a popular topic yet due to limited application features such as heaviness. Still, there are rare examples of stone gadgets and some of these badly fail achieving the desired style effect.

Stone Mouse : The parts of stone are cut, polished and glued together by Russian designer Neko.

(Possibly Fake) Stone USB Hub : On the first sight, this 4-ports USB hub looks like a regular stone from the beach or like a brain if you look more. But Craziest Gadgets had another idea reminding us about plastic potatoes

Klipsch AWR-650SM Stone Speakers : If your newly bought 5 star hotel needs to impress the guests, think buying a pink outdoor speakers. Available in a granite, sandstone or red rock finish. Product Page

Stone Laptop Table : Cut a rectangular granite and sell it as a laptop table for $120. At least, a designer at
Etsy homemade products shop thinks that easy way

Stone iPod Dock : For those who want their iPods in a stone dock. Very old gadget news but it is the only thing related to iPod as a stone until today.

I want to finish my article with a Keyboard Monument made from stone. Proudly Russian as well

After posting some articles to make our world a better place using natural and green material, here comes a shocker for my readers. If disturbing your guests with these creepy gadgets is not enough, try this bloody woolen carpet. At the first sight, I thought it is a poor fat cat. No, in original Dutch design site, it is said that it is a car-flattened fox.

Some green life enthusiasts perfectly blend their obsession for eco-friendly environment with contemporary art styles. Here are 4 successful examples of creativity.

Rotating Eco Dome Home

360 degrees rotatable and built strong enough to resist natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes. The energy for rotation comes from solar panels. Originally from France but now available to US by Solaleya.

Hundertwasserhaus Green Architecture

Designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and finally built in 1986 by architectors after a 3 years of effort. Grass and trees are everywhere including the rooms. Now, a perfect tourist attraction and protected as a cultural heritage.

Free Spirit Sphere Tree House

One of the most successful tree house applications are located among the marvelous trees of the west coast rain forest of Vancouver Island, Canada. Free Spirit Spheres can be rented or even purchased. Suitable for elves to meditate and trolls for wild attacks.

Amazing Hobbit Home

Maybe, this home is the one which deserves the most praises. It was built by an amateur constructor in Wales spending only £300o. He just got the help of his father-in-law and a few visitors. A happy Tolkien powered hobbit style home life is the essence.

Being a newsletter reader to high quality green blog Inhabitat can bring you surprising prizes. I don’t talk about regular stuff where you can find in any shop. It is about $950 valued winning a Strida 5.0 SX Limited Folding Bicycle. All you have to do is joining their newsletter and telling them why you are the correct person who should grab this gadget with a photo in their original post about the bike. If you liked the idea, be fast! The contest will end in Friday, June 19th at midnight EST

The traditional day for pleasing and spoiling our Dads will arrive very soon. I have listed here a few Father’s Day Gift Ideas while I was looking for what can be bought something interesting, useful and unique except belts, watches, car repair kits, perfume or usual electronics stuff.

Mr. Beer Premium Gold Edition Home Brew Kit
Especially for creative fathers who love to enjoy themselves and reveal the gourmet inside. Suitable for both beginner or advanced beer home brewers. The kit includes every item (including re-usable keg & bottles) to prepare 2 batches (4 gallons) of beer at home in 1 to 2 weeks. Inexpensive, easy to use kit.

Theo Gray’s Mad Science : Experiments You Can Do At Home – But Probably Shouldn’t !
He doesn’t need to be a chemistry professor to enjoy Burning, Freezing, Exploding, Loud, Toxic Science! All experiments are clearly explained with large colorful photos. Alert ! Your dad can be so dangerous after reading this.

I Love Coffee!: Over 100 Easy and Delicious Coffee Drinks
Unique Coffee recipes, artistic coffee design, history, brewing techniques. Authored by an expert in this field, Susan Zimmer. It is all about espresso, latte, mocha, cappuccino coffee with various sugar syrups, cinnamon sticks, chocolates, martini, other liquors etc.

Orion SpaceProbe 130ST EQ Telescope
You would not surely prefer to buy a junk science toy which he will be bored of it very soon. A serious intermediate class telescope to be able to identify planets, moon craters, saturn rings and stars. Plus you get Starry Night astronomy software for free. Expensive but a really special gift for astronomy and science curious dads.

Using technology in textile is not a new thing. I knew clothes with magnetic fields, hiding in ultraviolet waves and even having some biological properties, anything you can imagine on basic physics field.

But, latest news from MIT is really stunning. Some MIT researchers from  materials science and engineering department achieved to create a working camera on several hundreds micro-meter (µm) sizes fiber. The process is the following. First, they integrated eight light sensors into a polymer cylinder (25 mm diameter which is big) and carefully reduced the cylinder to a diameter of hundreds of micrometers.

The electron microscope scan image shows the camera in a single fiber in micro level.

Can you imagine a sheet of textile with a million of such fibers working together?

Professor Yoel Fink at MIT says that a folding sheet of telescope or obvious military applications in the future are possible.

Good news as well for secret camera professionals and dedicated amateurs

Via MIT Technology Review

A French design studio turns any regular fire extinguisher to a unique design and sells each for € 95. I guess it is a perfect choice for companies which want to impress their clients who are walking through the corridors.

Found at Fire Design France

When you look at the shoes photo below, I am sure you will suddenly feel running like Usain Bolt or climbing your favorite mountain crazily. Let’s confess honestly, eventhough we don’t make sports well it would be so attractive to wear a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers on our dirty city streets. Seriously, it is something like walking barefoot and can be useful in places where you are not allowed in shoes. The company states that their shoes not only provide lightness and protection but also helps conditioning more than 100 muscles in the foot and covering each toes seperately. We well spend money on stylish iPhone cases, why not throwing a few bucks more for sportive silicone foot cases