It looks as if the "Keyport," which was shown as a concept a few months ago, will actually be making it into limited production. Your likelihood of getting one seems slim, though: you'll need to have already been on the "I'm interested" list; the process for getting your keys cut involves sending six copies to the company; the whole thing cost $300. Maybe you could just drill a hole through your keys and pin them all together instead? Or what if someone made a small, metal ring...?

KEYPORT PRODUCTION [Notcot.com]

These "Murf" watches from Nixon, just dropped onto the desks at Wired, are attractive but huge, like wearing a '70s quadraphonic amplifier on your wrist.

Price is not-yet-known, but they're projecting around $200.

Mail Call: Nixon Murf Watch is Retro Cool, Heavy As Sin [Gadget Lab]

The AMPCO 7920 sledge hammer costs $900—for a reason. It's made of completely non-sparking, non-magnetic, corrosion-resistant, beryllium-free metal*, the better to work in environments where an errant spark could go all explodo.

Tool Pr0n: A $900 Sledge Hammer [Toolmonger]

* Fuckin' beryllium.

Children sit on meteors, space helmets off, gawking at the Commodore's amazing graphics while their blood boils.

More Retro Tech Awesomeness - 1982 Japanese Commodore Max Machine Commercial [TVinJapan.com]

Our brains are programmed to recognize human faces, which is why we see faces in clouds, but not clouds in faces. (I think Steven Pinker said that.) If that weren't the case, this entire "Faces in Places" weblog couldn't exist—it would just be a collection of random images of gadgets and wires.

Faces in Places [FacesInPlaces.blogspot.com via Cool Hunting]

The Infinite Response Vax 77 keyboard not only folds in half for easy storage in an aircraft's overhead locker, but will feature polyphonic aftertouch. (Press the keys harder after they're depressed to add extra effects, such as zazz, very much unlike pianos or organs.) Both features make this 77-key unit a bespoke affair, sure to be super-duper spendy.

Product Page [InfiniteResponse.com via Music Thing]

Brian Ashcraft profiles Japanese reality show Game Center CX, where a worksuit-wearing "section chief" is filmed as he attempts to beat some of the hardest videogames from the past.

Now starting its eighth season, Game Center CX is a certified hit among the ultranerdy otaku set, with merchandise ranging from DVD boxed sets and books to coffee mugs and Arino action figures. In November, Bandai Namco Games will release a Game Center CX title for Nintendo DS starring Section Chief Arino. Players hang out with the TV star and play retrogames, complete with lo-res graphics and "Engrish" translations. (No US release is planned — zurui!)

Japan's Reality-TV Gamer Just Keeps Playing and Playing and Playing... [Wired.com]

• EarCheck Middle Ear Monitor for $13, shipped. Check for ear infection. [Slickdeals]

• Lands' End Cool Blue Laptop Messenger Bag for $25, shipped. With built-in EL lights. [Dealnews]

• 50% off dog costumes at Petsmart. Okay, not a tech deal, but I think humiliating dogs is hilarious. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot!: Polaroid T737 7MP Digital Camera for $105, shipped.

• Should Have Used Child Labor – OLPC project hits snags, delaying production until November 12th. [Reuters]

• Bags Full of Coins – "What do you take with you during an evacuation?" [Lifehacker]

• I Aim to Crash This – Wired's Epicenter blogs the "She's Geeky" conference. [Epicenter]

• Please, sir. May I have some more? – AT&T charges man $18 upgrade fee to extend his contract. (Check your bill.) [Consumerist]

• Snow Cash – Signed, limited edition hardcovers of Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash are on pre-sale for $100. [Amazon]

• Hobby Whores – Military contractors charge licensing fees to model companies for likenesses of U.S. military aircraft. [Danger Room]

LAPTOP magazine got an exclusive first look at the Asus Eee PC 701, the solid-state 7-inch laptop that many people have been greatly anticipating. Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer stepped up to review it, giving it four of five stars in its Linux-based version.

Asus is forging a new class of device with the Eee PC. Yes, you can get a laptop with a bigger screen and better specs for the same amount of money, but this machine wasn't designed to go toe-to-toe with bargain-basement Windows laptops. It's an excellent secondary computer for households with children, and it's a very good primary computer for novice PC users who never had the time or patience to master an operating system.   In many ways, too, the Eee PC is a new-and-improved version of the Internet appliance concept, as its easy-to-tote, easy-to-use design makes it simple for anyone to get online.

Exclusive First Review: Asus Eee PC 701 [LaptopMag.com]

We didn't get enough good, original entries this week to do the Neuros contest correctly. I blame myself—I made it too difficult, forgetting that most people don't want to work to get free stuff. (Who can blame them?)

So I'm going to extend the contest out one more week, change the way to enter, and up the ante. It will take a minimum of work, but you can do it without leaving your desk, so this one might be worth giving a go.

Cosmology@Home is a new distributed project that aims to discover the cosmological model that "that best describes our Universe." It does this by running simulations of astronomical and particle physics data on your home machine—a "simulated universe."

I've started a "Team bOING bOING." To enter into a random selection to win the Neuros OSD, simply do the following:

• Go to the Cosmology@Home project page and download the client.
• Join Team bOING bOING.
• Crunch some units!

Crunch until next Wednesday night. I'll select one team member at random to win a free Neuros OSD settop box plus NAS. (I'll contact you via the Cosmology@Home system, so be sure you use a real email address.

In addition, the member who crunches the most units by midnight EST Wednesday will win an unlocked Nokia N95 smartphone.

If you have any questions, I'll respond to them in the comments, but it doesn't get much easier than this. It takes like 60 seconds to get up and running. Good luck! For science!

Image: Marc Wathieu

Kuka, what appears to be a fairly standard industrial robot, has been reprogrammed to inscribe the entire Martin Luther bible onto a endless roll of paper. It uses a calligraphic style translated by its creators RobotLab from an early font called "Schwabacher."

I love bibles; I love industrial robots. I find whole project haunting.

Product Page (German) [RobotLab.de]
Marc Wathieu's Gallery [Flickr]
[via BotJunkie via Gearfuse]

Earth2Tech has a great post about ethical ways to recycle your gadgetry. Bookmark this one!

SecondRotation, a site that will sell your old electronics on eBay (EBAY), said this week that they will be accepting older, “worthless” gadgets to recycle in an effort to stem the flow of e-waste into landfills. The site was already useful before the move: Simply log on, find your device, answer six yes-or-no questions, rate the gadget with one to four stars, and hit “calculate.” You’ll get a price quote and if you want to sell, you simply package it up and call DHL, who will pick it up at your home.

How To E-Cycle Your Gadgets [Earth2Tech.com]

Be aware, the "Giant Swiss Army Knife" from Wenger is now available at Thinkgeek for a cool grand. It features all 85 tools currently available in various other knives from Wenger. It weighs three pounds—and includes a key ring.

Catalog Page [ThinkGeek.com]

This year's Tokyo Auto Show is turning out to be one of the most exciting in years, with tons of great concept cars (not to mention the introduction of the Nissan GT-R). The latest: This Fuso Canter "Eco-D" concept dump truck from Mitsubishi. The Fuso is one of the great truck brands of the world, used for a variety of purposes.

The Fuso has been on my short list of "To Be Converted Into Mobile Reporting Rig" vehicles for a while; unlike others on the list, such as Pinzgauer, I could actually afford a Fuso. But now I want it to be this Fuso.

Mitshibishi Fuso Canter Eco-D Concept Dump Truck [Jalopnik]

Previously:
• Suzuki Biplane Concept: Motorcycle, Not Aeroplane [BBG]
• Nissan GT-R Cockpit Display Gets Videogame Touch [BBG]
• Daihatsu Mudmaster-C Concept Kei Van [BBG]
• Honda PUYO Concept [BBG]
• Suzuki's Tonka-like X-HEAD Concept Truck [BBG]

While discussing the merits of insulated glasses, Amanda Clark pointed out these great glasses from Dutch designer AMT (?). I'm not actually sure if they're insulated, but they're quite attractive.

From the designer's page:

the shape of a drinking glass reflects its content: columnar flute for champagne, curvy goblet for wine, short shot glass for straight liquor, stout highball for cocktails. but what if only the negative space of glasses assumes these iconic shapes? that’s the premise of amt’s line of pyrex glass barware. all glasses have the same outer shape, but pour in a drink and the glass’s inner identity appears.

Three of the planned four glasses sets are available at Charles & Marie.

Product Page [ByAMT.com via Serious Eats]

There's hardly anything more boring that iPod docks, I know, but this "Wake Up" alarm clock model from Boynq approaches (but does not quite exceed) awesome. The off-kilter design is cute and quirky without going over the top. (Although I don't know why it needs the grey swooping support bars; the whole thing should be sharp-edged.)

The best part, though, is the remote: when your iPod is docked, it can control music playback and function as a snooze button, but when you take your iPod with you for the day, the remote slides into the same slot, never leaving you with a garish hole in the middle of your speaker system.

The Wake Up also includes syncing over USB and video out. (I'm not sure if it supports video out on the new iPods that have that crappy, unnecessary lock-out from Apple.) It's on sale in Europe already at around $185, but I don't know if it'll be released in North America anytime soon. It's also available in Black.

Flash Product Site [Boynq.com via Technabob via Red Ferret]

Equipment Today did a whole post about "compactors," the rolling vehicles used to tamp down soil for building roads and trenches. (You may know older models as "steamrollers.") While many of the larger models are interesting in their own right, I have to say these smaller, remote-controlled models are extra nifty, especially since I didn't even know this sort of thing existed. Imagine what you could do to your kid's toys with these! Or to your kids!

Product Spotlight: Compaction Equipment [ForConstructionPros.com via Toolmonger]

Crave.CNET.com has this picture of the Yamaha "Bobby" concept folding electric scooter, shown at this year's Tokyo Auto Show. (Great name!) Sadly, while this is the expanded version, the folded-up mode isn't all that much smaller. I'd still putt-putt—or whirr-whirr—the hell out of this.

Bobby, the foldable scooter [Crave.CNET.com]

Image: Number 9, Mark Gardner. (Photo: Dan Winters)

Nate writes:

This is a pretty fantastic article from this month's issue of "Portfolio" about the top 10 patent holders [by patents awarded] in the USPTO. The article is interesting because it really highlights the wackiness of the patent system (most of the patents are displays, chips & flower pot covers) while also celebrating these fellows (no ladies in the top 10) for being pretty smart mofos. The slideshow is also great. I am a sucker for collections like this!

Masters of Invention [Portfolio.com]

The "FluteTronic" is a homebrew instrument that plays like a traditional flute, but uses various levels of light to trigger a sensor which in turn controls a synthesizer. A similar sensor in the mouthpiece controls the vibrato. The noise it makes isn't exactly music, but then again neither is Jethro Tull.

Project Page [Rare Beasts] (Thanks, Brian!)

I don't think this prototype laptop stand design is quite there yet—propping up your laptop on a rounded, slippery bit of acrylic doesn't seem like a winner—but the addition of "fingers" at the back to hold cables in place when away from your desk is quite clever. Even if you have a laptop with all its ports along the side like a Macbook, the Fingers design might still help prevent the terror of cables slipping off the edge of your desk down into the wire brambles under your desk.

There don't appear to be any real plans to produce the Fingers unit, but some enterprising laptop stand company may try something similar soon.

Concept Page [OofDesign.co.uk via Yanko Design]

The latest graphing calculator from Texis Instruments, the "TI-Nspire," has an all new interface, including a set of tiny alphabet nubbins in between its buttons to make it easier to input characters. But if that makes your professors freak out about all the course work they've built around the popular Ti-84/83 interface, the TI-NSpire can be thrown into a full compatibility mode, including a replaceable faceplate with the traditional TI-84 Plus layout.

The TI-Nspire is available for around $140. It probably does another fancy things, too, but I can barely spell "maths," let alone understand them.

Noisy Flash Product Page [TI-Nspire.com via Oh Gizmo!]

Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology have developed a robot they say can recognize—and respond with—human body language.

From Pink Tentacle:

The droid’s body language skills are due in large part to technology that allows it to observe, recognize and remember human behavior. NICT’s robot learns body language by watching — much like children, who learn nonverbal communication by watching others — and it can mimic the observed behavior with natural human-like motions. The robot also creates 3D maps of each body it observes, and it commits the map to memory. These maps allow the robot to remember how people and their bodies look, even when viewing them from different angles. In addition, the robot is equipped with delicate force control mechanisms that allow for precise motion and safe physical interaction with humans.

I bet it alawys gives you the cold shoulder. Because it's... I apologize for my attempt to humor, fleshsack.

Android acquires nonverbal communication skills [Pink Tentacle]

This blackboard globe from Japanese "no frills" retailer Muji has serious appeal. It's the perfect kind of this to leave out when your less prurient friends come over and see what kind of strange worlds they create.

It's only £7 online, or if you're a New Yorker, you can wait for Muji's Soho store to open November 16th and hope they carry it.

Catalog Page [Muji.eu via Swissmiss via Core77]

Gerber makes a multi-tool for demolition explosive technicians that has a blasting cap crimper in its pliers. I probably find that cooler than is warranted.

Dealmonger: Gerber’s Demolition Explosive Technician’s Multi-Tool For $79 [Toolmonger]

We all enjoy giggling at strange Japanese inventions from time to time, but rarely are their products really that weird. It's a different culture with different sensibilities, is all. I mean, what person on the planet wouldn't enjoy pissing in a cardboard box while sitting in gridlocked traffic? Right? Who's with me?

When you see this portable toilet from Kaneko Sangyo Company, called the "Kururmarukun," don't just look at it as a some-assembly-required cardboard toilet bowl with a water-absorbent sheet and a concealment curtain. Think of it as Japan's gift to a cross-legged world, too proud to get out of their cars and take a leak in a ditch but not too proud to fill up box with their own urine.

(I realize men have it easier than women when it comes to mobile liquid evac, but I can't imagine any American crawling into the back of their SUV and using this thing. Which is a shame, in a way. It would at least give all the other people stuck in traffic something to watch.)

Kaneko Sangyo portable toilet is small enough to fit inside a car! [FarEastGizmos.com via Coolest-Gadgets]

Japanese toy company Tomy will be releasing its own riff on the super-popular "Picco Z" mini R/C helicopter in November, dubbed the "Heli-Q." Tomy's design uses an attractive clear plastic body to house the motor and radio, as opposed to the Z's durable foam chassis. (As long as the weight is the same, it doesn't really matter, although it may perhaps be a little more difficult to mod tiny forward thrust wings onto the Heli-Q.)

The little caption that describes the Heli-Q calls it the "world's smallest radio controlled toy helicopter," which indicates it uses actual R/C; The Picco Z line uses infrared controls. Prices and availability unknown, but I can't imagine it will cost more than $30. (And if it does, just go get one of the Picco Z products or its derivatives. Seriously my favorite toy in a long, long time.)

Image Page [Tiscali.co.uk via Gizmodo]

• 15% off coupon at Batteries.com [Bargainist]

• Canon SD1000 7.1MP Camera $170, shipped. [Dealhack]

• Audio-Technica Precision Studio Headphones for $60, shipped. [Dealhack]

• Today's Woot!: Oh my fuck, boys! What if it's a samsquanch Woot-off!?

Chris Kohler has created this Venn diagram to try to better explain which of the four Playstation 3 models have which features. If it seems confusing, it's because it is.

I know it's just the context tickling me, but why hasn't anyone made a game based around Venn diagrams? It seems like there could be a game in there. Perhaps a really boring game.

Diagram: Comparing The PlayStation 3 Models [Game|Life]

I don't have any Windows Mobile devices handy to test it on (thank god!) but I think it's impressively nifty that someone has built a multi-track audio editor for the platform, dubbed "MeTeoR." The developer has just released a new version, adding time stretch and more to the 12-track recorder. I can imagine this being quite a useful tool for the patient mobile podcaster.

MeTeoR is $30.

Product Page [4Pockets.com via Palm Sounds]

The "iShoes" are electric roller skates with a 5-7 mile range over flat surfaces, controlled by a tethered, uh, control tether. They can reach speeds of up to 15MPH. They're said to be in testing, with available and pricing data yet to be announced.

They look extremely unsuitable for wet-weather use.

Product Page [TheiShoes.com via Gizmodo]

ExpoImaging's ExpoAperture2 are $30 circular cardboard rulers that help you calculate proper depth of field when shooting with an SLR (digital or analog).

The ExpoAperture2 comes with two depth of field calculators--think of them like circular slide rules--one that covers wide and normal focal lengths (15-135mm) and one that covers telephoto focal lengths (70-600mm). The kit also comes with small plastic sleeves to store the discs, a reference chart to help you figure out the size of your camera's sensor or film, and a user's manual on CD. The manual includes a very good explanation of depth of field and how and why you'd want to control it. The result is a deeper understanding of photography that should benefit any but the most accomplished photographers.

How deep is your field? [Crave.CNET.com]

Rob Beschizza, who shares my obsession with tiny, mostly useless QWERTY devices of the Psion mold, has played around with the PocketSurfer2, which uses an internal GRPS modem to connect to a proxied data connection for fastish data. It's only $200 (plus data plan), but it could really use some sort of 3G radio to slot itself more firmly into the category of devices I wistfully write about—but never purchase—on my full-sized laptop.

One Day, The PocketSurfer People Could Rule The World [Gadget Lab]

The new S