Tools

Native Instruments announces Komplete 6 bundle for music creation

By Paul Ridden

16:06 September 13, 2009 PDT

Native Instruments has just announced a recession-busting update to its impressive arsenal of digital musical instruments and effects - Komplete 6. The bundle not only comes with improved versions of amp and effects simulator Guitar Rig, the powerful sound manipulator Absynth and over 44Gb of sampling joy in the form of Kontakt, but it's also being offered at a significantly reduced price too. Read More

Milli-Grip - a new take on the shifting spanner

By David Greig

00:06 March 20, 2009 PDT

March 20, 2009 When you think you have come across all the tools that could possibly add any value, along comes a new one to the ranks. The Milli-grip spanner, from HTM Products of Sussex, is a "must have" for the home handyman. It is an adjustable spanner that fits metric nuts and bolts from 2mm through to 32mm, in 1mm increments. Through its ratchet system, it eliminates the slippage problems (and associated skinned knuckles) inherent in the traditional shifting spanner/wrench, with its worm-gear operation. Suitable for use by both left and right handed people, the Milli-grip can be adjusted to a precise fit with just one hand in a fraction of the time required with the old shifting spanner. Once locked onto the nut or bolt, it will not alter its setting during use. Read More

Voice Recording Tape Measure

By Emily Clark

22:55 May 13, 2008 PDT

This nifty little tool for tradies or weekend home repair warriors is not only a tape measure, but also a voice recorder. When you don’t have a pen and paper handy you can record your measurements into the tape measure and play them back when you need them. Read More

Hitachi's new lithium ion-powered drill

By Kyle Sherer

18:52 March 31, 2008 PDT

Hitachi's new 10.8-Volt Lithium Ion Micro Driver Drill has 88 in/lbs of turning torque, and the 1.5Ah HXP battery can drive 130 3-inch screws into wood with one charge. Read More

Power tool drag-racing back for 2008

By Noel McKeegan

22:01 March 9, 2008 PDT

March 10, 2008 The event that last year spawned the chainsaw powered wheelbarrow and ride-on garden blower will return to the UK in August. The rules of the Silverline Power Tool Drag Racing event are straight forward - take any hand-held power tool, tinker with it to create a drag-ready machine and then race it down a 75 foot track. Read More

Sink or swim: floating Hybrid XPliers

By Emily Clark

23:03 March 5, 2008 PST

March 6, 2008 Robrady is a name most of our readers will associate with bleeding-edge electric motorcycle designs, but the company’s portfolio has several facets including a partnership with marine tool specialists XTools. The latest product to emerge from this collaboration is a pair of rugged hybrid pliers, which like all tools in the range, float when they hit the water. Read More

Zeroshift tool tracker increases aerospace maintenance efficiency

By Gizmag Team

05:29 August 14, 2007 PDT

August 14, 2007 Anyone with a tool shed will be familiar with the scenario - your beautifully erected shadow-board is all but empty because tools are strewn all over bench-tops or have long since disappeared into the ether. In industry this can be much more than just a minor frustration - particularly in safety intensive fields like aerospace where missing tools lead to serious productivity, procedural and safety headaches. A new solution from Zeroshift is designed to solve these tool management problems faced by aerospace manufacturing companies. Read More

Smart tools smoothing out home handyman jobs

By Loz Blain

May 18, 2007 Zircon have added a couple of clever new electronic tools to their range; a laser measuring device that can automatically calculate surface area or volume, and a very affordable metal detector/stud finder. These new products are the latest additions to a range of Zircon tools that use smart technology to make the handyman's life a lot easier. Read More

Power Tool Drag Racing spins up in the UK

By Loz Blain

May 16, 2007 In possibly one of the most bare-chested, manly sports since the caber toss, Silverline is calling for entrants across the UK for the 2007 Silverline Power Tool Drag Racing contest to be held on August 5. Anyone can join in - simply rig up your favourite, fastest spinning power tool with any mods you think are necessary to make it a champion on the drag strip. Wheels, wheelie bars and custom frames are fine, but leave your radio controlled cars at home; they're banned for being "too boring." May the best tool win! Read More

Urban Tool sportHolsters for people who need to carry a lot of stuff elegantly

By Mike Hanlon

February 7, 2007 Part of the collateral damage in the invasion of personal technology has been the increase in the number of important belongings we need to carry with us to function efficiently – just a few short years ago, it was just keys and wallet and sunglasses and maybe prescription glasses and perhaps a filofax, but most of us now also carry a mobile phone and MP3 player, a PDA and maybe we’d even carry a compact camera if we had a spare pocket ... and so it goes. Briefcases, backpacks and bags are the most popular solutions to this gadget clutter, but they make vulnerable targets for thieves, and heaven knows how much pain the loss of a phone, PDA or keys might cause. Indeed, for this humble writer, the personal inventory checks which need to be carried out every time I move location seem to take a disproportionate amount of my limited CPU activity. Now there’s a new and interesting range of garments which carry all of these objects and can be worn under existing clothes. Urban Tool sportHolsters come in a number of functional and quite diverse designs suitable for slipping your whole digital ensemble under a tux or being able to work out in the gym while wearing one comfortably. We really like this idea – for the next decade at least, we’ll have lots of gadgets to carry and this body-hugging holster concept appears the most practical solution. Read More

Ingenious Tile Laying Tools

By Mike Hanlon

May 26, 2005 ExacTile and GuessLess are two ingenious new inventions that make tiling much easier and advanced tiling far more accessible to the Do-It-Yourself marketplace. Both products reduce tile wastage, significantly cut the time required in laying tiles and enable far more complex patterns to be layed. The Intellectual Property on both tools is being offered for sale by Portugeuse innovation company Bdi. Read More

New 28 volt lithium ion battery technology a boost for cordless tool performance

By Mike Hanlon

January 21, 2005 Techtronic Industries (TTI) and its newly acquired Milwaukee brand has shown a new V28 lithium ion battery technology that will offer some useful functionality and additional oomph to cordless power tools. The new 28 volt battery delivers increased power and up to twice the run time of traditional 18 volt models, yet the battery weighs less and the amount of power on offer enables new first-timetools such as a cordless band saw. Read More