Tor hardware privacy adapter
The Janus team have published a preview of their new Privacy Adapter. It’s a small two port router. You just plug it in-line between your computer/switch and your internet connection. It will then anonymize all of you traffic via the Tor network. You can also use it with OpenVPN. The hardware appears to be a Gumstix computer mounted to a daughtercard with two ethernet ports. It will have a web configuration just like a standard router. This looks like a great plug-n-play privacy device. The only improvement we would suggest is adding auto-detect so a crossover cable isn’t required.
Janus is responsible for JanusVM, a virtual machine designed to protect your privacy with technologies like Tor and OpenVPN.
[via @hdmoore]
Removing fisheye distortion
Reader [alex] had a commercial plugin for fisheye lens correction and wondered exactly what kind of magic was behind it. Was it actually doing line detection? He dropped in a square grid to see what it spit out. The warped result indicated that the transformation was completely independent of the photo’s content. Using this result as a guide he was able to create a similar transform using Warp and save it as a script. The script generates almost identical results and now he knows exactly how little magic is involved.
Gas powered blender
We aren’t sure what [stubman] needs to blend, but whatever it is, it must require some serious power. [stubman] put together this industrial looking gas powered blender. While gas powered blenders certainly aren’t a new thing, he did add a nice touch with an electric starter. While maybe not as cool looking as some we’ve previously covered, this one would look good in any shop. Why are gas powered blenders so popular? Why not gas powered pencil sharpeners or gas powered can openers? We’ve seen a gas powered vacuum!
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The holidays can be a hazardous time. Icy conditions, fires in improperly maintained chimneys, attacking that damn clam shell packaging with a box cutter, don't let your Christmas lights do you in!
The perfect compliment to your 
Traveas is a web-based flight tracking tool. Tell Traveas where you are flying out of and in to and the site will keep you automatically updated on the status of weather, flight delays, and other information related to the airports and flights you are using. You can check the status on the site itself, but the best feature is the forwarding of critical updates to your mobile phone. For another service to keep an eye on flight delays, check out 
Every sizable city has a host of tourist oriented locations: gimmicky places, over priced eateries, gift shops. Where The Locals Eat is a restaurant guide to spare you searching for delicious and authentic food.
The reviews of local restaurants are divided among the fifty largest cities in the United States, with the top one hundred restaurants in each city further categorized. You can drill down through the reviews to see where the best place to get sushi, burgers, pizza, shrimp, or any of a hundred odd sub-categories of dining. If the town has a great Asian Fusion joint, you'll find it. 
More importantly, Where The Locals Eat makes it their business to ensure you'll find it. Every review includes the basics: address, phone number, website if they have one and also includes a map, driving instructions, and the ability to send all that information to your mobile phone. If you're sporting an iPhone, there an application called LocalEats. 
If you have no idea what you're in the mood for, but you want something local and delicious, Where The Locals Eat has a Top 100 Map function that displays all of the top restaurants surrounding you. Now when laying semi-comatose from jet lag in your hotel room, you can impress your travel companions by pulling a great (and close!) dining pick out of thin air. 
Spread out your shopping. Spreading out holiday shopping has a host of benefits. Foremost, you can 
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Consolidate. The idea of consolidating aspects of the holiday season came across in different ways for different people, but was a predominate theme. Some people did all their shopping in one swoop—usually online— while others consolidates visits to see the maximum number of people. Others still cut down on prep work by stashing all their presents in one place and doing a mass wrapping and mailing, similar to the previously covered 
Give less stuff. While many of the posters advocating giving less were simultaneously boycotting Christmas entirely, it is worth mention. We've even talked about