street legal gas scooters

Street Legal Gas Scooters on CafePress 

Sticker (Rectangular)

From: Mad Toto Scooter Club

Live Love Scooters Kids Dark T-Shirt

From: Live Love

West Coast Scooters White T-Shirt

From: West Coast Scooters

See more designs like these on CafePress

Buzz Machine 

Get off the lawn

There's one thing that Rupert Murdoch, Arianna Huffington, Steve Brill, and I agreed on yesterday – and and there's probably nothing else one can imagine this group would ever find consensus around. At the two-day Federal Trade Commission "workshop" (read: hearing) that asked how journalism will "survive" (their word) in the internet age, we all [...]

Compare/contrast

Tweet: Compare/contrast Rupert Murdoch on the internet (and me) then and now.
In 2005, Rupert Murdoch gave a rousing speech to the American Society of Newspapers Editors calling on them to listen to digital natives. Yesterday, his deputy, Les Hinton, gave a speech to the World Association of Newspapers in India warning them to beware geeks [...]

First, do no harm, government

Relevant to today's FTC workshops (read: hearings) on the "survival" (their word… I would have said "rebirth:) of journalism in the internet age, Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal issue a good set of principles for government involvement (read: meddling or support):
First and foremost, do no harm. A cycle of powerful innovation is under way. To [...]

Cool Tools 

Cool Tools' Holiday Gift Guide

Written by you.

Here's how. In the comments of this entry describe a cool tool you are giving as a gift this year. To a family-member, co-worker, or friend. It can be a previously reviewed Cool Tool, or even better, a new one we don't know about. We'll comb through the submissions in a week or so and then highlight the best of suggestions collected into a full-fledge roundup on the front page.

So what cool tool are you planning to share with others? And why? It can be anything useful (and, okay, even playful). Keep it real. Bonus points for including a link.

-- KK

Rapid Reel

This is a heavy-duty cast aluminum garden hose reel. It costs about twice as much as the plastic reel I replaced and is at least four times the quality and longevity. The materials used are thick cast aluminum, powder-coated, with real stainless steel fasteners and brass fittings. The fittings and bearings are replaceable and heavy duty. The term bulletproof comes to mind.

The reel is configurable as a parallel or perpendicular mount with either a right or left hand hose mount. The design is modular and well thought out. Even the included hex wrenches are well thought out and long enough to reach easily and are of high quality. As a mechanical designer myself, I am able to appreciate a nice robust design and execution.

-- Jack Kellythorne

Rapid Reel Wall Mount Garden Hose Reel
$122

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Rapid Reel

Frieling French Press

After breaking two glass carafes while living in the middle of nowhere, I knew there had to be a better answer to the standard French press. The Frieling is; made of all stainless steel parts, it's insulated and has no plastic anywhere. It is awesome.

Some people think that allowing the grounds to sit in the bottom of the Freieling for an extended period of time (because the water stays hot) will make the coffee bitter. My experience is that it doesn't. Even if you choose not to let coffee sit in the press for the two hours that it'll remain hot, the insulation still makes a difference in the initial four-minute brewing period. Though the temperature of the water in a typical glass French press will decrease immediately, the water in the Frieling retains its heat while my coffee is brewing.

The only downside of this outstanding pot is that I don't get to watch the brewing process. I've found it well worth the trade-off. It's beautifully designed and not easily broken - dishwasher safe, too. I've had my Freiling French press for almost two years now, and the mirror finish still looks great except for a dent or two. It doesn't scratch easily, and it still looks and performs just like it did out of the box. It's the best investment for my kitchen I've made in years.

-- Brechelle Ware

Frieling 0103 5-6 Cup French Press
$60

Available from Amazon

Behringer USB Audio Interface

This digital audio converter is marketed as a high-quality and inexpensive way to digitize old cassettes and LPs. I'm sure it's excellent for those tasks, too, but I've found it particularly useful for making audio recordings on a laptop without a pro-tools budget.

Basically, it's a less noisy way of taking sound from a mic and recording it onto a computer. Recording on an 1/8-inch-line input can be pretty noisy, especially on a laptop. This converter cuts out much of the noise, and makes a usable recording. I recently recorded some narration for a voiceover on a video I'm putting together, and it works pretty well. It's also USB-powered, so no need for batteries or an AC power cord. There are more expensive versions that do a slightly better job, but I find this product does a great job for the money.

-- Drew Reed

Behringer UFO202 U-Phono High-Quality USB Audio Interface with Built-In Phono Preamp
$30

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Behringer

Norpro Stainless Steel Pail

What's truly superb about this countertop pail -- aside from its fun design, reminiscent of a classic galvanized trash can -- is that it's made of stainless steel and is dishwasher safe. We fill ours daily with kitchen waste -- messy coffee grounds, used tea leaves, aging cornmeal mush, soggy cucumbers -- but a quick cycle in the dishwasher and it looks almost as good as new. Years ago I used a plastic bucket designed to perform the same task, but it was difficult to keep clean and less rugged for outdoor trips to our backyard compost bin (the lid kept breaking). Since it gets banged around inside the house and out, I prefer this stainless steel, one gallon-capacity model to its ceramic lookalike.

Yes, there are many clever ways to repurpose some other household container into a waystation for outbound kitchen waste, but I haven't seen one work as well as this sturdy, ventilated design (the charcoal filters for odor control do keep rotting smells in check, while allowing for airflow). Frequent trips to empty a simple Tupperware container would be fine, but our bin's about 30 feet from the back door, and we only end up heading out there about every other day.

-- Elon Schoenholz

Norpro 94 Stainless-Steel Composter Keeper (1 Gallon/4QT/3.8L)
$47

Available from Amazon

Replacement Filters (2 piece)
$4

Manufactured by Norpro