Joel Johnson

"MC Mechanic" by Shane Willis

Image: Copyright Shane WIllis (Used with permission.)

This work by Shane Willis is an obvious tribute to M.C. Escher. This should be on the box of every RepRap machine, if you wanted to, you know, actually print out a box.

Joel Johnson

Video: First Footage of Ghostbusters Game

This looks surprisingly great. The animation on Slimer is very nice and the "Spirit Guide Updated" pop-up is very portentous.

Joel Johnson

Laser Hidden Camera Finder Thingy

I'm not exactly sure how this $350 "Laser Hidden Camera Finder Professional" works. For one, the "laser" doesn't seem to be a proper laser, but instead "dual high power laser frequency LEDs." (Emphasis added.) It seems to be able to detect hidden cameras but flashing the LEDs out and catching the light reflected from the camera lens, but that wouldn't seem to address false positives are thoroughly as they claim.

Anybody have a clue how this might work?

Catalog Page [BrickhouseSecurity.com] (Thanks, John B.!)

Joel Johnson

Video: "The Computer Chronicles" Visits Japan Tech Expo '85

A full half-hour video from a show called "The Computer Chronicles" as they travel to Japan for the 1985 Computer Expo in Japan, full of dancing robot girls, an early version of the French Minitel, early text-to-speech, the first JumboTRON—pretty much all the stuff we're currently enjoying today, just in boxes much more beige and square.

I love the robot that plays the organ—such a wonderfully needless abstraction of MIDI.

Ghosts of Tokyo Tech Past - The Computer Chronicles Visits Japan For Expo ‘85 [TV In Japan]

Joel Johnson

Chewbacca Backback

ThinkGeek is now selling this Chewbacca Plush Backpack for $40. Please do not ever wear it out of the house.

Obviously it's too small to be the real Chewie, but it got me thinking. There's another thing we can hate Ewoks for: obviating the revelation of baby wookies. I bet baby wookies smell fantastic, like flowers just on the edge of rot.

Catalog Page [ThinkGeek.com via Gizmodo via Sci-Fi Tech]

Joel Johnson

Ratchet Corkscrew

While this ratcheted corkscrew still forces you to tug and yank and curse the cork out of the top of the bottle, at least you'll have a couple of calories more energy to do so than if you'd used a traditional twist-top corkscrew. Each ratcheted corkscrew is $100, the equivalent of 100 bottles of the finest ripple. A cheaper solution: smashing the neck of each bottle with a handy household ratchet wrench, then filtering out the glass chips with the hem of your oily hobo shirt.

Catalog Page [Solutions.com via Gadget Lab via Book of Joe]

Joel Johnson

Microgenerator Firm Gets Charged Up

Startup M2E ("Motion to Energy") has just received funding to develop its microgenerator solutions, which convert the movement of the human body into electricity. Even better, the prototypes—and likely the finished product—fit inside standard battery housings, making it possible to retrofit existing products.

From Earth2Tech:

Working in a lab at the U.S. Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Chief Scientist Eric Yarger used the principles of Faraday’s law of induction. The law states that moving a conductor through a magnetic field will induce a current in that conductor proportional to the speed of movement. The microgenerators actually fit inside existing batteries, can double the battery life, and can eliminate 30 to 40 percent of toxic heavy metals used in normal batteries, the company claims.

M2E’s Motion to Energy Nets $8M [Earth2Tech.com]

Joel Johnson

Endo: Strong, Simple Fridge Magnet

The idea behind the "Endo" fridge magnets is simple enough: put a powerful neodymium magnet inside a fulcrumed case. Rock the Endo back to unclip it; release to snap it back. Each clip can hold up to one pound of weight (varying by how wide the item held, I'm sure). And they're cheap, too, at just $10 for 3, available in a variety of colors.

Catalog Page [TheEndo.com via Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Turkey Cannon Not as Fun as It Sounds

I'm with This Old House: Anything named the "Turkey Cannon" should really launching poultry into the sky. But until someone else rectifies that oversight, the Cannon does look like an interesting way to cook a turkey, using an elevated metal tube filled with the liquid of your choice to cook a modestly-sized turkey in just a couple of hours—hopefully while keeping it moist inside. It's essentially Beer Butt chicken with a more freedom to jazz up the liquids.

The two reviews on Camp Chef are pretty positive, and the one offered recipe sounds delicious:

We cooked it on our gas grill. We filled the cannon with apple juice and Jack Daniel's. We soaked hickory chips and then placed them in an aluminum foil packet with holes punched in on top to give the turkey a smokey quality. Our 12.5 lb. turkey cooked in approximately 2 hours. It was moist and picture perfect.

Catalog Page [CampChef.com via HardwareAisle.ThisOldHouse.com]

Joel Johnson

Toilet Tunes

"Toilet Tunes" is a simple light-detecting audio player designed to both cover up the symphony of gastrointestinal sounds that accompany your Opus Number Two and to remind you to put down the lid after your final note has rung true. A simple stick-on sensor takes three AAA batteries and attaches to the underside of the toilet lid, triggering the pre-recorded music (including Latin guitar!) or nature sounds from the tank-top speaker.

It's $30—but what price art?

Catalog Page [TaylorGifts.com via Random Good Stuff via Oh Gizmo!]

Joel Johnson

PUR Flavor Options Adds Fruit Taste at the Tap

PUR is now selling water filters that can inject flavor into the water right at the tap (or right as you pour, should you choose to use the pitcher). As our needlessly anonymous tipster noted, "I bet this will lead to a lot of unintentional raspberry flavored hot dogs." Yum!

It's clever and everything, but I hate being beholden to a single company for replacements. Then again, I guess you already have to buy replacement filters from PUR, so...

It looks like replacement cartridges are about ten bucks for a two-pack on Amazon, but the reviews are certainly mixed, saying the flavor runs out pretty quickly, and what flavor there is tastes fairly "very artificial."

Product Page [PURWater.com]

Joel Johnson

SentySafe Fire- and Water-Resistant Hard Drive Enclosures

SentrySafe has teamed up with Maxtor to create a line of fire resistant and waterproof USB hard drives, the better to protect your data in a disaster. The drives can withstand temperatures up to 1,550° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and can be submerged in water for up to 24 hours.

They're maddeningly expensive for the capacity—$260 for an 80GB version—but have undeniable appeal to industrial strength data solution fetishists like myself.

Sentry is also selling a safe with slots of DVDs with a USB cable passthrough to a small drive inside. In fact, it looks like all these units may use 2.5-inch drives instead of full-sized 3.5-inch ones—that would explain the lack of capacity.

Product Page [SentrySafe.com via EverythingUSB.com]

Joel Johnson

Cambridge SoundWorks i765: Superpowered Dock Radio

There's not much this Cambridge SoundWorks i765 radio can't do. It's an iPod dock. It's a clock radio with alarm. Its slot-loading CD player also plays DVDs to an attached TV. It looks like a nice all-in-one solution for small apartments or dorms.

But here's the thing: it's $500. And that's before you buy a little LCD panel to go along with the DVD player. While I'm sure it sounds better than a laptop's speakers, it seems like it would be almost as cheap to buy a little laptop and some nice speakers. You'd only lose the AM/FM radio, but you'd gain, you know, a computer.

Ah well. It should get much cheaper in a year or so. These sorts of dock/radios always drop to more realistic prices surprisingly quickly.

Cambridge SoundWorks i765: The ultimate all-in-one tabletop AV system? [Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Mushroom Floor Lamp by Simon Duff

This mushroom-shaped floor lamp from Australian designer Simon Duff is just great, especially the LED-lit gills and the off-kilter resting position. I can't quite tell if this is a concept only or will be sold, but I suspect the former.

Illuminated fungus on your living room floor [Core77.com]

Joel Johnson

Damning Video: Verizon Reps Misquote Rates 93% of the Time

Fantastic work by on "Eyeless Writer" has produced this video, compiled from 56 separate calls made to Verizon Wireless, in which the same two pricing questions were asked of the customer service representatives—93% of the phone reps got one or both answers wrong. Amazing.

While I hope Verizon gets more than egg on their faces about this one, it's surely not just they who have problems with underpaid, undertrained customer service staff. The entire phone industry has gutted the part of their companies which most directly affects their customers' satisfaction.

There's a maxim my old boss used to remind us of when I was a customer service rep for AT&T, back in the era when getting a phone support job meant going through several weeks* of training: Every mistake you make generates another call from an unhappy customer. Companies must start paying the higher costs to hire quality representatives and give them the training and infrastructure knowledge of the system they need. Having a good understanding of the way the phone and data networks work and keeping all the convoluted pricing schemes straight is very difficult work that takes months or years to really wrap one's head around.

How Bad Can a Cell Phone Company Get?: Verizon Misquotes Rates 93% of the Time [EyelessWriter.com]

* Training which was being quickly scaled back; just a few years before my tour, phone reps were trained for something like six months before ever taking live calls.

Joel Johnson

Three Hundred Game Mechanics

The "Three Hundred Mechanics" project by Sean Howard may not be the sweaty cross-country road race of sexual discovery I've always dreamed of taking*, but it's still quite eye-opening. Howard is attempting to come up with three hundred discrete game design ideas, each of which he writes up in a small dossier with a concept screenshot. He's only into the 60s so far, but has already shown amazing tenacity. He's going to be a walking encyclopedia of game design once he's done (if he isn't already).

Project Page [Squidi.net via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

* Sponsorship opportunities are still available. I'm looking at you, Valvoline.

Joel Johnson

Elektronika MK-152: Retrograde Russian Programmable Calc

While the poster at Paradoxoff is slagging this "Elektronika MK-152" programable calculator—and it is very humble, with only half a meg of memory, membrane keys, and no power supply—I find its sturdy Russian construction and no-fuss design appealing. Of course, I don't have to use it, only admire it from afar.

But as one commentor noted:

The programming language of this device is very easy. There are many problems for non-programmers that should be solved. How much does it spend for engeneer to write program that realize his new function, if he doesn’t programming languages? In C++ it spends more than half of day. In this device it spends less than 15 mins. And about memory for example: a program to calculate square root takes 24 bytes only.

Elektronika MK-152 programmable calculator from the year 2007 [Paradoxoff.com]

Joel Johnson

Matias Folding Keyboard

Not much needs be said about the Matias Folding Keyboard: it folds. It is not wireless, but USB. It will cost $60 when released next month. It weighs just under a pound.

It actually seems like a good time for another folding keyboard to show up, although it's funny that folding full-sized keyboards are now being sold as accessories for tiny laptops, which have taken the role once filled by PDAs.

Product Page [Matias.ca via Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Video: Funny Ford Sync Commercial

I saw this commercial for the Ford Sync in-car computer system last night and thought it was pretty humorous. The way the actors so confidently command their environment really sells it. It's like one of those paleo-future "Imagine the Future" pieces from ten years back, only gone all pear shaped.

Joel Johnson

Jennie-O Freezer-to-Oven Turkey Reviewed (Verdict: Good for Non-Cooks)

The folks at Yumsugar tested the "Jennie-O Over-Ready Turkeys," whole birds which are sealed in a fancy plastic bag, allowing them to be tossed directly into a waiting oven with no thawing. It sounds like a good way for someone who hasn't cooked much before to make a turkey, although the lack of a gibblets/innards/neck pack makes me weep for the stuffing and gravies that won't be made.

The experience is absolutely effortless, but not totally flawless. I didn't wait for the popup button to pop up — I find that by that time, the birds are usually overcooked — so I went with the thermometer method instead. Unfortunately, due to the plastic bag that the turkey is roasting — or is it steaming? — in, it was really difficult to see exactly where you were sticking the thermometer. I also found that gravy made from the drippings was too salty with a hint of artificial flavor to it.

Is the Jennie-O Oven-Ready Turkey Really Worth It? [YumSugar.com]

Joel Johnson

LEGO Battleship Yamato by Jun Brick

Japanese LEGO craftsman Jun Brick is recreating the famous Japanese battleship Yamato in LEGO (the real WWII-era one, not the space battleship). He's documented his build-in-progress on his site, which in some ways may be more interesting in the final product, as you can see how much work must go into the superstructure infrastructure necessary to support such a large scale model. (It's basically a mini-fig scale replica, which must make it 15-20 feet long, at least.)

The Yamato was a nearly legendary bit of engineering and remains an important cultural artifact to the Japanese, something like the way Americans revere the USS Enterprise, our first nuclear carrier. Construction on the Yamato began seventy years ago; design work had begun three years earlier.

Artist's page [Geocities.jp via Hobby Blog]

Joel Johnson

Toys 'R' Us Accepting Any Recalled Toy

Toys 'R' Us Chairman and CEO Gerald L. Storch sent out an email this morning detailing the company's increased commitment to product safety, including the hiring of a third-party toy safety testing lab and a new "no quibbles" return policy:

We believe that when a product is recalled, the most important thing is to get that product out of children’s hands. To that end, we have instituted a "no quibble" policy when it comes to toy recalls. This means Toys"R"Us will take back recalled product whether it was purchased at Toys"R"Us or not - with or without a receipt.

Full letter after the jump.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Craftsman 0.5 Amp 3D Sander for $10, shipped. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon's "Customers Vote" promotion is back. Vote on which product deals you'd like to see to qualify for those deals when they come around. [Amazon]

• Logitech Wireless Music System for PCs for $40, Shipped [Dealhack]

• Various marshmallow-themed products, including a marshmallow shooter, on sale. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot!: It's a Woot-off!

Joel Johnson

I Live

Sorry about the poor posting the last couple days, especially today. I was on a business trip that ended up being very slim on internet. But I'll be back in action very soon!

Joel Johnson

Ramis, Murray, and Aykroyd Back for Ghostbusters Videogame

Holy smokes:

Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are getting back together and revisiting their roles to make a sequel to Ghostbusters 1 and 2 – in video-game form, and we’ve got the first details. Both Aykroyd and Ramis are teaming up for scriptwriting duties and are going far beyond just the typical licensed add-your-voice-to-the-game-you-had-nothing-to-do-with formula. And no, this has nothing to do with the Ghostbusters Zootfly video demonstration that floated around the internet in January.

Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic excitement I have about a videogame...

Game Informer's December Cover Revealed! [GameInformer.com]

Joel Johnson

Kamenstein SmartSpice Rack

Just to prove that the gadgets industry never met a product it couldn't clutter up with a needless LCD screen, the Kamenstein SmartSpice Rack includes a digital cookbook of over 200 recipes and a timer! "All in one!"

Also includes spices.

Here are ways this $65 orbital space turd could have been improved: sensors that note what spice has been removed, displaying cooking suggestions on screen; a giant red button on the top labeled "Pepper," which periodically discharges aerosolized capsaicin into the air whether or not the button has actually been pressed; some spices are actually spray-painted iron filings, while others are not spray-painted; it could have been made of wood and cost $10.

Catalog Page [Amazon via LuxuryHousingTrends.com]

Joel Johnson

Build-a-Speaker Kit from JVC-Victor

While Complex is too high-falutin' for these some-assembly-required speakers from JVC-Victor, I think the presumably modest effort it would take to build your own set of wood cone speakers would be fun. It's not like you're winding your own wire or filling each sub-tweeter with quartz sand or anything*.

The kit's almost 400 bucks, though, so hopefully they sound nice after you've put them together.

JVC-Victor SX-WD1KT Wood Cone Speaker Kit [AcquireMag.com]

* I don't actually know how speakers work.

Joel Johnson

Eco Shoes Dryer

The "Eco Shoes Dryer" from Life in Detail are plastic shoe trees filled with silica gel which absorbs the moisture from your shoes after they've been worn. When full of your foot juice, the Dryer can then be plugged into the wall to accelerate the evaporative process, presumably with a small fan. (Sci-fi tech says they use a battery inside to power themselves during the drying phase, but that doesn't make sense to me. Silica absorbs moisture just fine without any electrical assistance.)

Getting moisture out of shoes helps prevent bacteria growth and subsequent bad smells, but is also good for keeping leather from cracking.

Product Page (Japanese) [BE-S.co.jp via Sci-Fi Tech]

Joel Johnson

Nanosolar PowerSheet: Thin, Inexpensive Solar Panels

Popular Science's Green "Grand Award Winner" this year is the super-thin "PowerSheet" solar panels from Nanosolar, which are both thin and inexpensive to produce. PowerSheet is printed on "sheets as thin as aluminum foil."

Nanosolar's cells use no silicon, and the company's manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. "You're talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it," says Dan Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. "It really is quite a big deal in terms of altering the way we think about solar and in inherently altering the economics of solar."

THE NEW DAWN OF SOLAR [PopSci.com]

Joel Johnson

Fuzzy Flash Drive Cozies from NifNaks

NifNaks.com is the home of Nifer Fahrion, an artist who makes these adorable USB flash drives (among other things). "Maggie," on the right, is probably the only 4GB maggot available for sale online, but I'd love to be wrong about that. We need more maggots in our lives.

Each hand-made drive cozy is around $67. She also makes Cthulhu-themed Christmas tree ornaments, sure to make your Yule tidings unspeakably cheerful.

Catalog Page [NifNaks.com] (Thanks, Jacapplebaum!)

Joel Johnson

Livescribe Smartpen (Probably) Final Hardware

The Livescribe digital pen and paper system, which we discussed a bit before, has shown what is probably the production model of their pen. It's hefty, but still pocketable. If they make a nice little Moleskine-like notebook with their special paper, I might even give it a shot.

Livescribe is taking pre-orders for the system now, although it won't be ready until early next year.

Livescribe Smartpen Gets Realer [OhGizmo]

Joel Johnson

Magnetic Paper: Write Your Ode to Lode

This "Magnetic Field Paper" is simple enough, reacting to the mysterious power of the lodestone. I am unsure if baby's blood is necessary to activate its fell power, but I figure it always pays to play it safe.

From the product page:

Developed back in the 1970s, with ideas that it might become a replacement for paper, this paper makes magnetic fields visible. Any other magnet can be used, and the paper will allow to to make the magnetic field visible.

It consists of a thin plastic sheet containing tiny cells containing liquid. Each little cell contains colloidal iron. Hold a magnet near, and the iron in each of the cells will align, and form a pattern on the paper.

Catalog Page [Grand-Illusions.com via Coolest Gadgets]

Previously: Lancome "Le Magnetique": Magnetic Nail Polish [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Gibson Robot Guitar Official

More details are out about the Gibson Powertune line of self-tuning guitars—for one, they're now being peculiarly branded as "Robot" guitars. Whatever the name, I think we can all agree the new paint job is quite attractive. I'll never have a reason to own one (at least until the point in the future when the self-tuning technology is standard issue stuff) but for pros it's a neat trick.

If nothing else, it gives Create Digital Music's Peter Kirn a chance to slag guitarists:

My favorite line was this, from the press release: "Since the dawn of the instrument, musicians have come to accept the guitar's imperfections and lack of tonal precision as necessary evils. Onstage and off, guitarists have fought to stay in tune. Every music lover and performer has had to suffer through the show—halting, mood-killing atonal droning of a loudly amped guitar being brought into tune."

Or, erm, not brought into tune, as the case may be. (Jump!)

I read that initially as "every music lover … had to suffer through the show," and the whole passage makes it sound like pretty much everybody just has to suffer guitars. Boy, am I ever a Keyboard player.

Gibson to Launch Self-Tuning "Robot" Guitar [CreateDigitalMusic.com]

Previously: Gibson Powertune Self-Tuning Guitars [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Watch Out: T-Mobile Charging $18 "Upgrade Fee"?

Consumerist is running a story from an inside source that T-Mobile will start charging an $18 "upgrade fee" to customers who get a new phone, purportedly to help offset the costs of carrier-subsidized phones. This is, of course, bullshit: the whole rationale behind carrier subsidies is to make an excuse for locking you into a multi-year contract. They pay the money up front for the phone; you pay them back over the course of several months of service.

If this rumor ends up being true, fight them tooth and nail on this one. You shouldn't have to pay twice for the privilege of using a phone on their network.

Tmobile Introduces $18 Phone Upgrade Fee [Consumerist]

Joel Johnson

ReLED Solid State Replacements for Fluorescent Tubes

ReLED Systems offers this solid-state LED lamp that fits into standard fluorescent fixtures, offering a longer service life (ten years, they say) and better power efficiency. Their first product, the "Re-LT5," fits into "virtually any existing 28W luminaire design."

I didn't see any price spec on their site, but I think we can presume these aren't going to be cheap.

Product Page [ReLEDSystems.com via Gizmag]

Joel Johnson

Case Mod: Soviet-Era Wooden TV

This gorgeous lump of wood and pure sex is an all-in-one PC housed inside a wooden chassis that once held a Russian television. What a beaut.

Epic House Move [DarkRoastedBlend.com via Gizmowatch.com via Technabob]

Joel Johnson

Sound Asleep Pillow with Embedded Speaker

This "Sound Asleep Pillow," which has a small speaker inside that is supposedly audible only to the person whose head is resting on it, would be the perfect thing to buy to subconsciously reprogram a loved one via nighttime mental impregnation. They'll thank you for their new productive life of service—because you told them to.

It's £20, but seems like an easy project for a maker-crafter.

Catalog Page [IWantOneOfThose.com via Gizmodo via Random-Good-Stuff.com]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Refurbished BDP9000 Blu-Ray Disc Player for $300 Shipped. When you just can't make yourself buy a Playstation 3. [Dealhack]

• Select Videogames 2 for $30 at Circuit City. [Bargainist]

• 50-Movie DVD Packs for $10, shipped. I'm a sucker for these packs, but they really are the best deal in entertainment ever. [Dealnews]

• Hornet 3 Mini R/C Helicopter for $28, shipped. One of my favorite toys ever at a decent online price. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot!: USRobotics USB Internet Speakerphone 2-Pack for $15, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Experimental Helmets of WWI

This video, created (I think) by the man behind the now-defunct SteelPots.com, is a fascinating look at experimental helmets designed for American forces during World War One. A lot of them have face masks, which would have made our doughboys look like medieval knights. (Thanks, $_node(trunc)!)

Joel Johnson

Blowing Out the Dust: Afternoon Edition

• One Laptop Per Adult Nerd – OLPC's "Give One, Get One" program is underway. [LaptopGiving.org via OLPCNews.com]

• Hello, NASty – Make Leopard's Time Machine back up to a network drive with one simple terminal command. [Ars Technica]

• Not Too Shabby – A first look at the Android/Google Phone user interface. [Bits/NYTimes.com]

Joel Johnson

Asus EcoBook Bamboo Laptop Prototype Gallery

Gizmodo has a gallery of the most recent prototype of the Asus "EcoBook," an "ultra green" laptop that is supposed to come out next year. The internals don't concern me much—I'm sure it'll use some efficient chipset available elsewhere—but the bamboo covering has now been extended to the inside palm rest. It begs to be stroked, the blonde bamboo slowly soaking up the oil from the hand. You may think that's grody and I guess it is a little, but I love what happens to wood when it shows the evidence of human touch. It would be great to have a laptop that gets more beautiful as it is used, not less.

Asus' Updated EcoBook Bamboo Laptop Hands On (Gallery) [Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

My First Birdcam Victim

Since I'm leaving town tomorrow, I thought I'd check the ol' Birdcam to see if the new positioning caught anything besides my (now dying) tomato plants. And indeed: Success!

The easily-flustered mourning doves are back, happily gnoshing on cracked corn. I can't wait to get some better seed out there and see what I can lure in. Last year there were parakeets of some type in the seed. I tried to snap them with my DSLR, but I couldn't, nor were they enticed into my home with calls of "Hey, birds! Free snacks!" As the concrete in my basement will testify, birds are far less gullible than local children.

Previously: Wingscapes Birdcam Review (Verdict: Sort of Awesome!) [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Keysonic Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad

Although I didn't see any North American retailers selling the KeySonic Compact 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard after a cursory Googlin', there seems to be much to recommend the unit from this short review on Coolest Gadgets. For home theater types, the integrated touch pad is a great addition.

I only have 2 complaints:
It takes a while to wake up from sleeping, so you have to tap the control or function keys a few times to kick it into life before you want to type anything.

I found the range limited. Sitting about 3 meters away from the screen I found it dropped a few characters if I typed fast. In the interest of fairness I should point out that I had exactly the same problem with another, completely different wireless keyboard so it’s quite possible that my environment is just hostile to 2.4Ghz wireless. With DECT phones, WiFi, a microwave next door and a 4 foot tall equipment stack in the corner spitting out RF I’m amazed anything works...

Keysonic wireless keyboard - a (Mac) mini review [Coolest-Gadgets.com]

Joel Johnson

Artists Team Up with Microsoft for Zune Originals

My initial experience with my flash-based 8GB Zune 2 isn't very positive—I'm considering not even taking it with me on a trip to San Francisco this week—but the upcoming "Zune Originals" program that will be launching tomorrow is great. For a limited time, you can order your Zune 2 from the site and choose an inscribed background based on one of several pieces of art that Microsoft has commissioned. Your Zune will be in monotone line art, but they'll also send along a full-color poster of the design.

Almost all of the designs are great; varied in style, too. Not so much I can imagine it will lure many to the platform, but for those already convinced, it's a lovely bonus.

Cool Hunting has an interview with the Zune Originals project lead, as well as a run down of each of the designs.

Zune Originals: Interview with Chris Stephenson [Cool Hunting]

Joel Johnson

Jack LaLanne's Physical Conditioning for Intellivision

Ian Bogost, guest editing at Kotaku, shows off his copy of "Jack LaLanne's Physical Conditioning," a tape-based game for the Intellivision. Published in 1979, he guesses that it may be the very first "health" videogame.

No screenshots, but I imagine the first challenge simply prints on the screen: "Tow boat across nearest harbor using only your teeth."

Collecting: Jack LaLanne's Physical Conditioning [Kotaku]

Joel Johnson

Top Ten Off Switches

I'm not much for Top X lists, despite their obvious appeal to our primitive inborn social hierarchy circuitry—I'm evolved, I'm saying—but I'm all about switches. Thus, this "Top Ten Off Switches" list from Crave.CNET.co.uk has bypassed one set of circuitry to appeal to another. Off switches turn me on.

Top ten off switches [Crave.CNET.co.uk via Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Scarpa Grizu Heated Electric Insoles

The "Grizu" from Scarpa are heated show insoles that bring the temperature inside your boot up to 38° Celsius—warm enough to be comfortable, but in theory not so warm your feet will sweat. The insoles can even be submerged in water and will automatically shut off, able to be operated again once dry. They can heat your shoes for about seven hours before needing to be recharged.

The system should be available this winter for a hefty $250.

NEWS: Scarpa Heated footbeds [TrailGear Blog via Coolest-Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

Zune 2 Install: Oof

My Zune 2 review unit just showed up in the mail. Why Vista doesn't have Zune drivers built-in I don't know, but after inserting the included disc, this was my first experience with the Zune 2. Golly.

Joel Johnson

Lowepro SlingShot Shoulder Bag for Cameras

The Lowepro SlingShot shoulder bag, which is slung over one shoulder but can be spun around to your chest for easy camera access, got high marks from Bill Howard over at Gearlog:

The SlingShot is the most convenient camera bag I've used in the field. Buckles keep the zipper from unzipping too far and spilling the contents; a rain shell folds out from the bottom.

I use a small over-the-shoulder bag for my camcorder sometimes. It really is great to be able to get at it without taking off my bag, especially in crowded settings.

Lowepro SlingShot Keeps Cameras at the Ready [Gearlog]

Joel Johnson

Lesbian Alien Sex Scene from Mass Effect Game

Though it's "tasteful" to an almost comedic degree, this lesbian alien love scene from the upcoming Xbox 360 game Mass Effect—first in a planned trilogy from Bioware, who brought you many fantastic RPGs in the past, including Knights of the Old Republic—is sure to be a million unit seller by dint of this scene alone.

It is, as far as I know, the first lesbian alien sex scene in a videogame. Historic!

It is probably NSFW for most people, although I don't think there are any nipples or anything. Then again, one of the characters is an alien, so I may not recognize what nodules on her body are nipples until I play the tutorial.

Joel Johnson

Powerpan Vacuum Dustpan

The "Powerpan" has a small vacuum with suction holes along the lip. Sweep in the big pieces with your broom like normal, then pull the trigger to suck in the little line of dust that always remains.

Entirely superfluous—and with the extra step of emptying the suction bin, probably just as much work as turning the dustpan perpendicularly to the dust line a couple of times—but a decent attempt to solve an age old problem and relatively cheap at $12.50.

Catalog Page [Amazon via Book of Joe via Coolest Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

Ceramic Food Warmer for Steam Radiators

The "Natural Wave" is a ceramic plate that sits on a steam radiator, making it easy to keep drinks and muffins warm. And only muffins! It's not rated for bagels or toast by the National Ornamental Snack and Hotcakes Administration (NOSHA).

It's also not real, or at least not available for purchase. It's just a concept by Byung-seok You, but something similar should be easy enough to cook up for yourself should you live in an old building that still has radiators. (Unlike my building which has modern heat that is never actually on.)

Radiators Have Other Uses Too [YankoDesign.com]

Joel Johnson

Scooter Built from Old Appliances

Artist Nemo Gould is building this fine-looking scooter from old gadgets and appliances, including a tail-light made from an old '50s vacuum cleaner.

The pictures on his site actually aren't in black-and-white, but for some reason that's the way OS X keeps grabbing images from his page.

Scooter update [Nemoatic.com] (Thanks, Meredith!]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Logitech iPod Audiostation Stereo with Dock $50 at Tiger Direct after $50 rebate. [Dealhack]

• Panasonic 42" 1080p Widescreen Plasma HDTV for $990 after $200 rebate at Sears. [Dealnews]

• Dough-Nu-Matic Mini Doughnut Maker for $115, shipped. Soak it in, folks. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot!: More Zune for $90.

Joel Johnson

I Love This Comment

Even though it's half BS—or maybe because—this comment by reader "Semiotix," in response to the "Crisp vs. Crunch" discussion, is fantastic:

Crispy things are compressible and striated. Air or some other interstitial medium is essential for crispiness.

Crunchy things are solid and may cleave in any number of planes. In a rigid food, crunchiness is the absence of crispiness.

These elements give rise to the epiphenomena other food-ontologists have already noted (higher pitch from the sound of something crispy being chewed, as a function of its lower mass per unit volume; greater resistance in crunchy foods, as a consequence of the covalent bonds that characterize them, versus the van der Waals forces at work between layers of crisped foods).

Sweet Spot post [BBG]