Cool Toy Review nabbed these first shots of the Indiana Jones-themed LEGO sets that will be available this year. I know I'm going to be buying at least the one on the top-right. I'm a sucker for LEGO trucks, especially when driven by tiny LEGO Nazis.

Image Page [CoolToyReview.com via Brickset]

Punch in your phone number and serial number, Apple will SMS you a code, punch that in, get a code for the credit. Took me about 60 seconds. [Apple]

MAKE points out this new "New4LR," or "New Four-Legged Robot," an "open"—but possibly not open source—successor to Sony's now defunct AIBO robot dog project.

The Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany has developed a new four-legged robo-critter they're hoping will be a worthy successor to Sony's defunct AIBO (at least among researchers, hobbyists and the education market). The bot is basically a big, badder 21st century take on AIBO. It works with both Linux and Windows CE, has a color headcam that's 10 times higher-res than AIBO, and uses a 500 MHz AMD-Geode-LX800 32Bit processor with 256 MB (extenable up to 1 GB) DDR-SODIMM main memory on a PC104 board from Digital-Logic. They never use the term "open source," but they say the bot will sport "open, modular and reconfigurable hardware and software structures." They hope to have it on sale by the end of 2007 for around (gulp) US$4800.

AIBO's open-source successor? [MAKEzine.com]

One of the people at Art Lebedev, makers of the upcoming "Optimus Maximus" keyboard with embedded OLED screens in each key, has posted this teaser shot of a full-sized version in action. It almost looks like the keys are flipped to random colors instead of having useful images on both, but it's still nifty in a sort of Logan's Run sort of way.

I won't be dropping $1,500 for a keyboard anytime soon, but it's easy to imagine keyboards five or ten years out that use ePaper on the keycaps to switch the labels without having drawing so much power (or putting tons of light in your face).

First Optimus Maximus Arrives at Moscow [Livejournal.com/Optimus Project]

Although stories about senior citizens playing the Nintendo Wii are hardly new, these latest ones from a short piece in The Sun are painfully charming. Watching old folks playing Wii remains one of the most amazing bits of free marketing Nintendo ever devised.

It's working, too: 1UP passes on an FT story that claims that Nintendo, for the first time in 17 years, has taken the worldwide lead in sales of a videogame console.

(This is the place I'd normally complain about the lack of titles for the Wii, but since I've been playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and finding it first rate, besides a few annoying boss battles, I will shut up about the lack of titles until sometime after Super Mario Galaxy is released.)

OAPs say nurse, I need a Wii [TheSun.co.uk]

The "Immobilizer" is a 900k-volt stun gun in the shape of a cell phone. And a rather modern, convincing one, at that; it even has a faux camera on the back. It also has a built-in 12 LED flashlight, with the button for "LIGHT" just millimeters away from the one labeled "STUN." Don't get confused!

Of course if the Immobilzer was shaped like an even more expensive phone, you could use it to lure in muggers, as well.

It's $85, plus shipping.

Product Page [SecuritySafetySpy.com via Red Ferret]

Damn Wired's Chris Kohler for stealing my story about Harmonix, the creators of Guitar Hero and the upcoming Rock Band. Sure, he actually travelled to Boston to interview the team, wrote up a whole piece showing how much Harmonix loves music, and uncovered great gems like this one about David Bowie, but I had thought about doing the same piece at least once or twice while sitting around sipping beer. Prepare the lawyers, Kohler!

Eric Brosius, Harmonix's senior sound designer, sits in his cramped office discussing one of the perks of his job -- getting to listen to the original unmixed audio tracks of classic songs. He raves about the raw vocals of "Suffragette City" by David Bowie. "There's a part where Bowie goes, 'Aw, hit me!' and you can hear him giggle," Brosius gushes. "That stuff is totally fascinating."

There is probably no game I am more excited about than Rock Band.

Full-On Rock Band Makes Jamming Follow-Up to Guitar Hero [Wired]

Above is the original commercial teaser for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360, referenced by most as "Museum." It's short and worth watching.

Some have criticized it for capitalizing on the emotions we feel for veterans of real wars. Some have criticized it for ostensibly spoiling the game, since the fake veteran wouldn't be alive in the Halo universe had Master Chief (the character you play in the game) had not won. (But I mean, duh, of course you can win.)

But the real reason you need to watch the commercial, if you haven't already, is to gain context for this send-up from the folks at Consolevania. It's brilliantly done and so sadly accurate of the Xbox Live experience.

• Today's Woot: Polk Audio RM8000T/RM50T Tower Speakers (Pair) for $405, shipped. That's about half off the Amazon price. [Woot]

• Logitech Cordless Internet Pro Desktop (Mouse and Keyboard) for $22, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Estes Sky Rangers Blue Angels ROG R/C Airplane for $56, shipped. [Dealnews]

A short list today, but there weren't very many notable deals, and I'd rather put up a short list than one filled with stuff that isn't anything special.

• They've Got the Touch – The first official review of the iPod Touch is glowing. [PCMag]

• Join Us – "What it's Like to Switch to Ubuntu" [LaptopMag.com]

• S.H.E.E.P. – "Hype Sheet: HP Hollas Back, Girl" [Gizmodo]

• Come On, ePaper – One man's travails with a wi-fi picture frame. [OhGizmo!]

The "Sportsmobile Ultimate Adventure Vehicle" is built out from a full-sized Ford van, complete with raised 4x4 chassis and pop-up bed a la the VW Vanagon.

Sportsmobile vans are custom jobbers, which they're more than happy to build out for you (they also do non-offroad customs), but they're also willing to sell you plans for building the same getup yourself, should you prove handy with blowtorch and welder. The idea behind using a van is to convert the interior space into something more livable than a truck, without losing the off-road capabilities like an RV.

Company Page [Sportsmobile.com] (Thanks, Bug!)

This "108Time Box" from Biaugust is a single roll of paper containing nine years worth of calendars, each month represented with a different text treatment.

Sadly, it doesn't appear to actually be for sale. It would be the last calendar you didn't need anyway you'd ever need!

Design Page (Flash) [Biaugust.com via Pan-Dan via Core77]

These Mooncakes, made to be consumed as part of a celebration of a mid-Autumn Chinese festival, appear to be officially-sanctioned swag from Nokia.

Cellphone Mooncakes [Spluch via GeekSugar]

Cory had posted a few of these metal sci-fi sculptures on the main page earlier this week—this Stormtrooper, for one—and some of the commentors mentioned that they'd seen lots of similar pieces in shops around Bangkok. While I can't say for certain this shop, called "Yumi's Modals," is the source for all of them, they certainly have a wide array of similar designs, including pieces from Star Wars, Alien, Robocop, Gremlins, and more.

Some of them, like the Spider-Man table and chairs set, are downright creepy. And some of them, of course, aren't anachronistic at all, just made of metal and parts. (Others, like this droid, clearly look as if they could be powered by hateful vapours.)

Company Page [YumiModal.com]

Related: What the Fuck is Steampunk? [BBG]

The Husqvarna Auto Mower is the latest (nearly) fully automated robotic lawnmower to be literally unleashed into yards across America. It works much like robot mowers of the past: slowly and randomly, casually meandering through your yard making constant, quiet snips, then finding its way back to its charging station when done. It's not smart enough to learn the boundaries of your yard on its own, but instead travels until it reaches a wire that must be buried in, or stapled to, the edges of the yard. A PIN code activation may not prevent the unit from being stolen, but will stop any thieves from using the mower in their own yards.

Husqvarna claims the mower will cost between $15 to $25 a year to operate, which is good, as the price is probably in the $1k to $3k range, if the prices of competing mowers are anything to go by.

Product Page [AutoMower.us via Gadget Lab via Uncrate]

As Core77 points out, the way this concept dashboard from Johnson Controls presents the speedometer is sort of hurdurrringly obvious:

While the bulk of the dashboard is ho-hum, at least one new detail is worth looking at, the speedometer gauge. While the gauge to the left of it has the conventional center-mounted needle, the large gauge has a "ring pointer," where the pointer is a graphic on a clear, rotating ring. This simple design innovation frees up the center of the dial so you can display more information.

They could also have the indicator locked to the twelve-o'clock position with the numbers themselves rotating, although it would probably be a little more difficult to visually parse the spaces between the hash marks.

What a difference a gauge makes [Core77]

Nullsoft is releasing a new beta version of the venerable Winamp MP3 player today, full of features crafted with an eye towards taking on Apple's iTunes. Eliot Van Buskirk explains on Listening Post:

- The Winamp Remote feature allows you to stream the music and videos on your home computer to any other computer, a Nintendo Wii, or a cellphone, simply by leaving your home computer on and logging in to winamp.com/remote (iTunes, on the other hand, only lets you stream to computers on your local network).  I demoed Winamp Remote on a Wii and found it ran smoothly, with an easy-to-learn interface. ... - A sharing feature lets you email -- or text (!) -- a playlist to anyone you know.  Just create the playlist and enter their email address or (music-capable) cellphone number; they receive an email or text message with a link to the playlist, which then streams from your computer.  Playlists can be as short as one song, giving you a way to text message your friend the Jeffersons theme song just as he's leaving that hot job interview.

Sounds pretty great! I think many of us have fond memories of Winamp, even after we left it behind to move to library-based interfaces like iTunes since they make large music library use easier. (Although Winamp has had a library feature since at least version 3, it never quite all came together.)

Between Winamp 5.5 and Songbird (and nerdier options like Media Monkey), the desktop music library competition may be heating back up.

Winamp's 10th Anniversary Version Edition Will Challenge ITunes [Listening Post]

Jeff Gates writes:

Joel, I noticed you posted a link for the Belkin iPhone headphone adapter yesterday. I've been in contact with Griffin as I was waiting for theirs. And it's now for sale on their site (starting today!).

They show both the black and white model but they are only selling the black one right now (I've contacted them to make that clear on the site).

Griffin is selling theirs for $10, plus shipping, putting it in the $13 range. That's not too bad as these things go, but I'm still too cheap to miss with it, not only because I think it's too expensive, but because it's one more thing to lose. (Yes, I'm that guy that will drop $600 on a phone, but not $13 on an accessory.)

Besides, what I'm really looking for is something that adds an extra line with a microphone, so that I can use any set of headphones I wish—iPod headphones don't even stay in my ears when I'm sitting still, let alone moving—along with the phone functions. I'd maybe pay $13 for that.

Here's what I did to my headphones to get them into the iPhone's goofy little headphone jack: trimmed the outside plastic with a box knife, then sealed the whole mess up with a tiny piece of heat shrink tubing.

Product Page [GriffinTechnology.com]

Virgin America shared more details today on its partnership with in-flight wireless broadband provider AirCell -- air-to-ground wireless internet will be available on all VA flights "sometime in 2008," and will be offered two ways: BYOD (bring your own device, laptops or pdas or whatever), and also through the inflight entertainment system called Red.

AirCell also has a deal in the works with American Airlines for air-to-ground wireless, but from what I can suss out in the press release, two things make the VA deal different.

First, every single VA plane will have the connectivity, not just a chosen few. AA may be planning the same, eventually, but VA's committing to it from the start.

But even more interesting -- through "Red," VA will also be offering what amounts to a fleet-wide, airborne social network. Guests on one plane will be able to interact with other guests on that plane -- and with flyers on other planes within the VA fleet -- using Red. As I understand it, they've got some pretty ambitious plans in the works for in-flight interactivity. This could get really interesting.

Snip from joint press release issued just now by AirCell and VA:

Customized for Virgin America, the system is anticipated to allow guests to connect to the internet with the AirCell Broadband Service, using either their Red™ seatback video screens or their own wifi enabled portable gaming devices, laptops, PDAs or Smartphones. As such, in addition to the many entertainment choices currently offered by Red™ guests will be able to check and send web-email from their seatbacks through Red™’s TALK -- the airline’s onboard chat system -- using popular instant messaging services such as MSN®, Google® talk, Yahoo! ® Skype, and AIM®.

“We believe that broadband connectivity on our planes will help enhance the inflight experience for our guests,” said Charles Ogilvie, Virgin America’s Director of Inflight Entertainment & Partnerships. “Whether it’s IMing with your friends, updating your blog, getting a stock quote, sending photos from your trip to friends, watching a movie or sending a work email, we plan to make it all available on a Virgin America plane.”

Link to press release.

Previously on Boing Boing:

Getting high with Richard Branson: Virgin America's virgin flight

Update: Dan Gillmor rightfully scolds us for adopting a popular marketing term in this post. He says:

You're not a guest if you're paying... This drives me nuts. First the hotels pretend we're "guests" and now Virgin America is trying to pull the same thing. Please don't buy this language switcheroo.

Although the write-up is short on technical details, the "Life Saver" water filtration bottle claims to clean up water in just a few seconds, filtering out any contaminants longer than 15 nanometers, including viruses, without the use of chemicals.

The first wave of bottles sold at the "Soldier Technology Conference" in the UK for £190 a pop which is, well, a ton of money for a water bottle. I look forward to finding out more about how this actually works.

Bottle makes dirty water drinkable [Telegraph.co.uk]

A improbably arrhythmic bow-tied professor raps to two preppy saps about the miraculous new features in Microsoft MS-DOS 5 update—it frees up 48k!^*—punctuated by a chorus of three backup soul singers reminding us that "No PC should be without it!" An amazing five whole minutes long, as Professor Rap has a lot of ground to cover, including how much money you'll make selling MS-DOS 5, which is as easy as selling fries with a burger.

Do me a favor and blast this loud and proud in your office today, especially if you're still running some version of MS-DOS. (Thanks, John!)

* QEMM 4 LYFE, bitches.

In a study The Economist is calling "nurture strikes back," a videogame—Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault, a first-person shooter—has helped improved a set of women's ability to perform in spatial awareness tests, even months after the test was conducted.

As a control, other volunteers were asked to play a decidedly non-action-packed puzzle game, called "Ballance", for a similar time. Both sets were then asked to do the odd-man-out test again.

Among the Ballancers, there was no change in the ability to pick out the unusual. Among those who had played "Medal of Honour", both sexes improved their performances.

That is not surprising, given the different natures of the games. However, the improvement in the women was greater than the improvement in the men--so much so that there was no longer a significant difference between the two. Moreover, that absence of difference was long-lived. When the volunteers were tested again after five months, both the improvement and the lack of difference between the sexes remained.

Clearly this means that more women should be playing first person shooters with me. It is about Halo 3 season. Who wants to join my all-women team? (I, as the sole male, will stay on board as the control subject. It's for science.)

Psychology and the sexes [Economist]

Hennessy Hammock has been around for several years, but thanks to a tip from the comments and my absolute lack of desire to do anything online this morning, I spent the better part of an hour browsing the company's website, reading stories from satisfied customers, and daydreaming about taking a backpacking trip out of the city sometime soon. (And in fact, I think I'm going to.)

Like inventor Tom Hennessy, I thought the Army-issue hammock tents where some of the coolest things ever made; unlike Hennessy, I didn't invent an improved version of my own. The Hennessy hammocks feature an open slit at the bottom, making egress simple, while still sealing up when you're fully inside from the way your weight shifts. (Although larger models also shore that seam up with velcro.)

I especially liked reading about some of the little tweaks users of the hammocks have done, like this funnel and bottle contraption that is used to weigh down the rain flaps as well as fill the bottles with rain water.

Prices vary between under $100 to upwards of $500 depending on how well appointed a model may be, from a backpacking model that's just under two pounds to a military-grade model that can support extra stress and weight.

I want one pretty badly, just like I wanted that Army hammock from twenty years ago, but I think I'll resist until I get one more hike in, just to prove that I've got some self-control. Anyone know any good mountains around NYC that have EV-DO?

Company Page [HennessyHammock.com]

Some people are really not loving one part of the new iPod Classic and Nano interface: the album art that appears underneath the menus.

The problem is two-fold: The art scrolls ever-so-slightly behind the menu, which some people find distracting; some people are embarrassed that the iPod, which randomly selects album art from your music, will display something you are embarrassed of owning in public.

Kirk McElhearn had the first issue:

Let me explain how this works, for those who do not have new iPods. When you are on the main menu (the top-level menu), or the Music menu (which leads to Playlists, Artists, Albums, etc.), you see album art on the right half of the iPod screen. This is a random cover from your music, and it changes about ever 8 seconds. It also moves around; you know, like those annoying Flash ads on web pages that distract you so you can't read articles?

The second complaint came mainly from my friend John, who lives in perpetual fear that his mother will discover he listens to music less than wholesome, despite that there is a literal ocean between them. Floating cover art, as McElhearn rightly points out, should be something you can turn off in the settings. As for the shame in music selections, I would remind John that his mother loves him very much, even if she is terrified of what a creepy, leering monster his music indicates he has become.

It's Official: Apple's Stupidest Interface Innovation Ever [McElhearn.com via Daring Fireball]

• Free 1.1 Ounce Sample of Folgers Gourmet Selections coffee. I'm sure it's total crap, but hey, free coffee! (With your address and contact info, of course.) [Bargainst]

• Today's Woot!: Razer HP-1 Barracuda 5.1 Channel Gaming Headphones for $65, shipped. [Woot]

• White Sports Cap for iPod Nano for $10, shipped. Should you need a baseball cap with a slot for a 1st or 2nd gen iPod nano—you lost all your pockets in the war, say—then you are now set up. [TechBargains]

• Refurb Apple iPhone 8GB for $350. Let early adopters' loss be your gain. [Dealnews]

• Refurb Philips 2GB GoGear Micro Jukebox MP3 Player for $25, shipped. Perfect for a kid not old enough to trust with something more expensive. [Dealnews]

• Refurb Soyo 32-inch Widescreen LCD TV for $400, shipped. Only 1366 by 768 pixels and with a crap warranty, but it's cheap. [Dealnews]

• Helicopter flight to NYC airports for $100 each way. What's most interesting to me is that it only costs $170 normally to get a helicopter to the airport. It costs like $50 to take a cab! [Dealnews]

• Rosy Future – An ad for the Sprint version of the upcoming Centro, Palm's smaller version of the same old thing. [Morning Paper]

• Californian Standoff — Apple takes a no-aggression stance toward third-party iPhone hackers. [Gearlog]

• Really? Mac? — Guitar Hero III coming to both PCs and Macs. [Game|Life]

• Free as in Free – Free tool lets you unlock the iPhone for use on non-AT&T carriers. [FreeiPhoneUnlock.com]

• 6. Because It's Awesome – "Five Reasons You Should Be Playing Peggle" [Game|Life]

• Peripher-hell – Rock Band on the Xbox 360 will not come with a wireless guitar, thanks to Microsoft's stupid tarriff on third-party controllers. [Gaming Today]

• Bleepin' Bleeper – "I Just Spoke to a Robot Telemarketer" Gearlog

This toy octopus concept from Jaehyung Hong is designed to make cleaning up the beach a playful activity for kids. Once all eight orifices are filled with plastic bottles, the octopus will float.

(I presume there are two more slots on the bottom, or the designer just didn't want to call it a hexopod. Or a sectopod, despite the esteemed history of the term.)

Help An Octopus Find His Legs [Yanko Design]

Image: Rick SolowayRick Soloway has just uploaded these images of the gorgeous Gift Kodak No. 1A. He writes:

This is the lovely and hard to find Gift Kodak No. 1A that was made for only one year 1930-31. The Bauhaus-like motif is repeated on the camera and the enamel and metal inlay on the wooden box. While this camera was produced during Walter Dorwin Teague's tenure at Kodak as a consultant/designer, we have not been able to locate drawings or signed designs to confirm this camera as one of his. Definitely maybe. Very hard to find, and very pricey. This camera belongs to a friend of mine with disposable income.

Another 1A Gift Kodak was sold for an unknown price by this fellow; his picture shows the motif is repeated inside on the lens housing.

f_kodak_gift [Flickr via m, appeal. via Monoscope]

While I am not suggestion you purchase these lamps from Rejuvenation, you have to admit they'd go perfectly with those bat-winged ceiling fans.

Price? $1,500 apiece. Better get to turning a rich widow into a helpless ghoul using your pale Carpathian savoir-faire. (You might also use a cone of concentric rings emanating from your eyes or forehead. Or just rob her, sheesh.)

Rejuvenation's Bat Pendant Lights [Apartment Therapy]

Although there is very little different under the hood, Palm has officially announced the Treo 500v, a Windows Mobile 6-powered smartphone that will be available on Vodafone in Europe and as-yet-unannounced carriers here in the States. Still no Wi-Fi, because Palm are bastards.

Press Release [Palm.com via Phonescoop]

What's great about the latest model of the Pure Digital's pocket video cameras isn't what they can do today—this latest "Flip Video Ultra" can shoot up to an hour of video on its 2GB of internal flash memory—but what they'll be able to do in a year or two when they'll be in the discount bin: still take decent video with a device that you don't mind losing.

In the meantime, if you've got $180 to spend on a camera, get one that takes miniDV tapes. It might be larger, but the quality will be better; failing that, you'll be able to record for more than an hour at a time. It likely will not be pink and white, mind you.

Pure Digital Technologies introduces new Flip Video Ultra series [Crave.CNET.com]

The "Cocoon" outdoor emergency shelter was described by my online acquaintance "jinx" as being, "a pinata for bears." I bet it would be hell on your knees.

Design/Portfolio Page [Coroflot via Oh Gizmo! via ElectroPlankton via PreSurfer via Dump Trumpet via Reuben Miller via CubeMe via Yanko Design]

While the dainty power needs of the new Lenovo ThinkCentre A61e desktop machine are laudable—it can be powered by an optional solar panel alone (although who knows how big it might be)—the press release announcing the desktop PC underlines both how little inexpensive the electricity we pull from the mains really is:

• A user could save, on average, more than $20 a year in energy costs and the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emissions created by two round-trip plane flights from Boston to New York.

• A customer deploying as few as 50 desktops could expect to save more than $1,000 a year in energy costs alone. And it could help avoid more than 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

...

2 Based on Lenovo and TBR calculations using a single AMD Athlon 64 X2-based processor. Based on a 5% per year increase in electricity rates and on a daily PC usage pattern that includes 70% of time spent in sleep state, 5% of time spent in idle and 25% of time spent in an operational state. Average electricity price based on American 2007 average retail price 8.37 cents per kilowatt hour.

It's always great to save power where you can, but it's funny to think that a person might spend $400 on what is one of the most energy effecient desktops around only to save, say, sixty bucks in power costs over the lifecycle of the machine.

Also, while we're on the subject, this line is sort of bullshit:

the ThinkCentre A61e desktop uses up to 90 percent reusable/recyclable materials as well as 90 percent recyclable packaging

I hate it when people sneak in "reusable