Explainer: 10 new ways to feed your social-media addiction
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Courtesy of Nerd Approved
How much time do you spend on Twitter and Facebook these days? For many of us, the answer might be a little frightening. It could be worse, though. Your addiction to social networking could extend beyond the computer and the cell phone if you use the following gadgets. Face-to-face conversations could deteriorate into brief status updates and your entire life could be chronicled automatically — with no event ever being too pointless, personal or boring to broadcast.
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'Like' and 'Dislike' stamps
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
What if you could "Like" things you encounter outside of Facebook — things in your everyday life? You can do just that with these ink stamps. If your kid brings home an "A" paper — "Like" it. Got cash in your wallet? Go ahead and "Like" every bill. Police officer pulls your over for a speeding ticket? Stamp "Dislike" right on his forehead. Actually, wait —I guess there's a reason why Facebook doesn't have its own "Dislike" button. $12.99 - Jailbreak Collective via CubicleBot
Related post: Facebook coffee mug proves you need only one
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Tweet-reading bear
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
If you are visually impaired, or you simply lack the attention span to read text more than 140 characters long, you can get a bizarre-looking desktop bear to read your tweets for you (with a Japanese accent no less). All you need to do is plug the Charatter bear into your computer or your iPhone, sync up to Twitter and it will do the rest. $36.06 - Geek Stuff4U
Related post:Pingo the Penguin is your best Facebook friend
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Twitter-enabled toilet
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
As disgusting as it sounds, tweeting on the toilet is a fairly common occurrence. The real problem occurs when the person tweeting decides to describe the action in horrifying detail. Just be glad they aren't taking it a step further by hacking their toilet to tweet automatically with each flush. Believe it or not, this has actually been done with a bit of wiring and code. You seriously want to try this? Well, instructions for the project are available in the following link — just don't follow me. Aculei
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Facebook status shirt
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
If you thought Facebook status updates were terrible to read before, just wait until you are having a conversation with someone wearing a Facebook status shirt. Say they pull out a water-soluble marker to write something on it like, "I wish I were somewhere else right now." You would probably be justified in writing in a comment with a very permanent — and very pointy — pen. $20 - UpdateMeTee via Fashionably Geek
Related post:A Post-it note pillow can remind you to nap
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The Canine Twitterer
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
If your dog could tweet, what would it tweet about? The Canine Twitterer aims to answer that question with a wearable tag that interprets the motions of your dog and uses that information to select the appropriate tweetable message. For example, if your dog is lying down, the tag could could tweet, "It might look like I'm sleeping, but I'm also working on my tan." The message is then sent to a Twitter account you set up for the dog. It's a good way to keep tabs on the exciting things your best friend is up to while you're away. My guess is that one of the 500 preloaded messages isn't, "Just chewed up my master's ugly shoes. Srsly, she has no taste." $29.95 - Hammacher Schlemmer
Related post: Plush Twitter bird retweets your affection
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Twittering office chair
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
So the Twitter-enabled toilet was gross, but that's nothing compared to the Twittering office chair. You see, this chair utilizes some open-source electronics and a natural gas sensor to detect, yep, you guessed it, flatulence. The system relays your gastrointestinal telemetry to a Twitter account for all to see. It's for the person who is absolutely committed to sharing everything about their lives with followers — and I do mean everything. Instructions for the project are available in the following link. Instructables
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Twitter and Facebook friend mug
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
Social networking fanatics who are really attached to their Facebook and Twitter friends can actually have their profile pictures printed out on a coffee mug. After all, don't beverages taste a lot better when sweetened with popularity? For those who are really, really attached to their followers, it's almost like making out with all of them at once. $15 - Crowded Ink via That's Nerdalicious
Related post: Facebook coffee mug proves you need only one
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Twitter Botanicals Kit
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
The Twitter Botanicals Kit can turn anyone into a green-thumbed plant whisperer: It can detect when your plant needs water, then alert you via Twitter. When the plant is watered, it will send another tweet to thank you for not letting it die. I would imagine that the guilt you might feel for neglecting your poor houseplants would be magnified tremendously if they constantly sent you desperate tweets. $80 - MakerShed
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Tweet-a-Watt
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
The Tweet-a-Watt builds upon a standard power monitoring system called the Kill-a-Watt to wirelessly transmit energy usage of various household gadgets to the user's Twitter account. Each tweet will display the total kilowatts per hour used for the day and compare it to the previous day's total. The idea, of course, is to keep people mindful about how much energy they are wasting — but as far as wasting time on Twitter is concerned, you're on your own. $90 (Kill-a-Watt sold separately) - Adafruit
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Tweeting shoes
Courtesy of Nerd Approved
And now for the ultimate in pointless tweeting. These concept Rambler shoes feature a pressure sensor that tweets every move you make, every step you take ... I will be unfollowing you. A typical tweet might look something like "tap… tap tap... tap… tap" with each "tap" representing the actual footstep and the periods representing the time between each step. Price not available - Popkalab via Fashionably Geek
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