Gadgets Gizmos Gossip

Ever since Apple released the iMac with the swivel base, I’ve been fairly obsessed with getting my screens in a position where I could swivel them and move them closer and/or further away.

Imagine my excitement then when I came across the Vogel Flex Mount, which allows you to attach your iPad to the wall (or anywhere else for that matter) and move it around on the flexible mount:

Attaching the iPad to the mount with an innovative casing design, which makes removing and re-placing the iPad incredibly easy:

I’m not entirely sure how much these retail for, as there doesn’t appear to be any prices on the iPadOnTheWall website. Unless they’re particularly expensive however, I’ll be getting my iPad on the wall as soon as I can get hold of the mount!

Thanks to Gizmodo for the pictures.

Written by Robert, who works for a logistics management company, but is currently spending his day off trying to book a hotel for our Easter family holiday.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been wanting an iPad for a while, but haven’t really had the budget to splash out the money (especially if you want a 3G version with more than 16GB). However, now might be the time to take the plunge and finally become an iPad owner, with a £100 discount off the original iPad throughout the country.

With the release of the iPad 2, Apple has realised that sales of the original model (of which many shops around the UK still have considerable stock) would drop substantially, leaving numerous outlets with stock that might well prove tough to shift. To try and make sure they can get rid of unsold older iPads, Apple has dropped the price of each model by £100 (with greater savings in certain shops).

So now might be the time to grab yourself an older iPad, for a bargain £319 for a WiFi only, 16GB model. If you want the 3G you’ll still have to fork out for the contract, but it’s fairly reasonable in terms of price.

If you’re willing to wait a little bit longer, you might find even better savings, as some people are estimating that the discount could increase by anywhere up to another £99 – don’t wait too long though, as I imagine once they’re sold out, they won’t be re-stocked in the vast majority of cases.

An iPhone-controlled fridge which shoots cans of beer across a room from a cannon has been hailed as the ‘greatest ever bloke’s toy’.

Ryan Rusnak, 25, created the ‘Beer Bot’ when he decided to make his own beer vending machine – which means he doesn’t have to leave his seat again when he fancies a cold beverage.

The first version was a basic vending machine that dropped chilled beers from the fridge into a tray below. But Ryan, form Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, US wasn’t satisfied with a mere beer vendor.

After talking with co-creator Graham Phero, a compressed air cannon was added to the machine.

Ryan said: “My buddy Graham said, ‘how can we throw the beers to us?’

“What about an arm or a cannon?”

The friends settled on air-pressured cannon, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Ryan said: “It was kind of famous last words: ‘how much pressure should we use?’

“The first attempt smashed into the roof and blew it into a thousand pieces.”

Using a netbook computer the pair can log into the fridge via a dedicated web server, using an app developed by Ryan’s friend Josh Lilly.

They installed a webcam in the front of the Perspex panelled fridge to aim the cannon and send a cold can of beer hurtling across the room towards them.

The fridge also has its own Twitter profile, tweeting whenever a beer is fired and sending a notification email to its creators.

Ryan said: All the tinkering and everything took about three months to get it absolutely right.”

He added that making a ‘Beer Bot’ Mark II would be a quicker and cheaper affair.

He said: “The trial and error and creating the device cost £250. But knowing what I do now I could probably build one in a weekend for about £190.”

An iobridge micro-controller device allows the fridge to link to Ryan’s iPhone via the web.

Government tech consultant Ryan, A Virginia Tech University graduate, has received plenty of attention since posting videos of the Beer Bot online, so much that the CEO of the micro-controller company took him out to lunch.

He said:”It’s been crazy. I’ve had tons of people calling me asking to use the videos on new programmes and even to conjure an idea for other appliances like an old Bosch slimline dishwasher or a washing machines, it’s just bizarre.”

Ryan said he plans to celebrate the popularity of the fridge by throwing a party and allowing friends to log into the appliance.