Joel Johnson

Alexander Graham Bell May Have Swiped Telephone Patent Says Book

While the details around Bell's patenting of the telephone have always been suspiciously murky—Bell's "first post!" submission was just hours before rival Elisha Gray's—the upcoming book The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret by Seth Shulman claims that Bell pretty much stole Gray's technical ideas whole cloth.

From a short AP preview of the book:

Shulman argues that Bell — aided by aggressive lawyers and a corrupt patent examiner — got an improper peek at patent documents Gray had filed, and that Bell was erroneously credited with filing first.

...

For instance, Bell's transmitter design appears hastily written in the margin of his patent; Bell was nervous about demonstrating his device with Gray present; Bell resisted testifying in an 1878 lawsuit probing this question; and Bell, as if ashamed, quickly distanced himself from the telephone monopoly bearing his name.

Book Argues That Bell Stole Phone Idea [AP.Google.com via Techdirt]

Joel Johnson

How Circuit City Committed Suicide

From Prospect.org's Beat the Press, summarizing this piece from the Washington Post:

The basic story is that last March, the wise men who run Circuit City came up with the brilliant idea of laying off their more senior salespeople, who get $14-$15 an hour, and replacing them with new hires who get around $9 an hour. It turns out that this move was not very good for business. One of the reasons that people go to a store like Circuit City, rather than buying things on the Internet, is that they want to be able to talk to a knowledgeable salesperson. Since Circuit City had laid off their knowledgeable salespeople, there was little reason to shop there. ... The Post reports that Circuit City's executive vice-presidents will get retention awards of $1 million each.

Santa Claus Comes for Failed Business Executives [Prospect.org via Daring Fireball]

Joel Johnson

Macbook Pro and WPA Wi-Fi Error

I'm technically on vacation this week, so I don't feel too badly about my lack of posting, but I had still expected to be able to do more casual blogging this week. Unfortunately, my Macbook Pro (first rev) refuses to connect to the WPA-locked access point I was planning on using. Just gives me a "connection failed" message after I put in the password.

This is the second time that this inability to access some WPA Wi-Fi access points has screwed me. I had a similar lack of connectivity in a hotel just a few weeks ago, essentially making it impossible for me to work or (more realistically) waste hours of my life on the internet.

My question is this: has anyone been able to figure out if this is a problem with Apple's implementation of WPA or with the firmware of the wireless routers to which I'm trying to connect? There are clearly tons of other people with the same issue, but since I haven't seen any recent fixes from Apple, it makes me wonder if there isn't something wrong with the older routers, especially since it's more likely that routers never have their firmware updated. I use WPA on my network at home, though, so it's clearly not every WPA router.

Anyway, not a mindblowing kvetch or anything, but I was wondering if anyone has suffered from the same issue and figured out a way to work around it.

Joel Johnson

Portal in LEGO

I'm about as over Portal riffs (rifts?) as anyone—all good things must come to an end—but how could I not link this one?

Best of the Orange box [Brickshelf.com via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Joel Johnson

Stephen Fry on Electric Toothbrushes

There comes a time in every gadget blogger's life when he must write about an electric toothbrush. You either accept the fate with a dingy smile or explode in a clatter of gnashed, flying teeth. Fortunately for us, the young Stephen Fry has approach his time with the "the Oral-B®, Professional Care™ Triumph™ (with Wireless SmartGuide) Oral-B (”powered by Braun”)" with aplomb.

A base station, where sits and charges the toothbrush itself, transmits by radio to a receiving element. The receiver substation is a plastic cartouche complete with obligatory LCD screen called a SmartGuide (phrases compressed with UpperCaseLetters such as this are DeRigueur for today’s sad MarketingPerson), which gives a reading of how long you’ve brushed, and how long you’ve got to go in each of the quadrants of the mouth, according to “professional” brushing standards recommended by dentists. It also tells you the time and rewards you with a smiley face when you’re done. Sigh. I think I’m in love.

Why I love smart toothbrushes and loathe internet plug-ins [StephenFry.com]

Joel Johnson

Team Fortress 2 Griefers Implement Forced Trivia Game

UPDATE: I removed the Stage 6 video, even though I think the people complaining about installing the DIVX codec were being a bit unreasonable. That said, my first duty is to the convenience of all readers, so despite my instinct I have removed the embedded version. It's still linked below if you want to see it.

"Team Roomba" takes griefing, the act of being a total asshole to members of your own team, to a whole new level. I love the Stockholm Syndrome people start to exhibit towards the end. And you have to wait until the end (or the mid-way point, at least) to see some of the most inspired griefing I've ever seen.

Video [Stage6]

Joel Johnson

Rub My... Uh, I'm Not, Uh... You Know

Tim Vandecasteele has create a web application for the iPhone designed to teach men how to digitally pleasure a woman's nethers—if only female reproductive organs were as sensitive as a perfectly smooth sheet of hardened glass. I'll never be in an uncomfortable, unfulfilling relationship with a patio door again!

It's called "RubMyClit." I feel dirty just typing that, but I have a duty to you, the reader.

Project Page NSFW [RubMyClit.RateThatThing.com]

Joel Johnson

What Should I Do In Berlin?

Next week I'm going to Berlin. I'm not really going with an agenda, but is there anything I should see while I'm there? I like: art, food, music, things powered by electricity, forlorn ruins, and things that vibrate.

Joel Johnson

Vlog: Pico-Z Havoc Battle Set, Troika AM/FM Radio

I made an internet television.

Previously: In Which I Melt Down Over the Troika AM/FM Radio [BBG]

Joel Johnson

PopMech Gets First Drive of the Aptera Electric Car

First: I hate the stupid-ass Brightcove player that Popular Mechanics uses for their video that makes embedding difficult.

Second: I hate those stupid-ass Popular Mechanics editors for getting to drive an Aptera Typ-1e before I had a chance too. It's certainly my most looked-forward-to electric vehicle. They've got tons of exclusive pictures and (as mentioned) video. Damn you, Ben Stewart!

Think the Typ-1 looks funny? Well its shape is designed for maximum aero efficiency—the coefficient of drag is an astounding 0.11. Aptera founder and CEO Steve Fambro says sticking your hand out the window of an average car driving 55 mph creates more drag than the Aptera’s entire body.

Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e: Exclusive Video Test Drive [Popular Mechanics]

Joel Johnson

Suzuki Omnicord (1981)

Cool Hunting has a short piece on the Suzuki Omnichord, a sort of digital autoharp of which I'd never heard. There are even more recent models with MIDI out and expandable sound banks.

Suzuki Omnichord [Cool Hunting]

Joel Johnson

Blockbuster.com Price Hike: A Single Data Point

I'm canceling my Blockbuster.com account in light of today's price hikes, their second price increase since August. (I am not alone.) There is a Blockbuster store literally a stone's throw away from my apartment, but I'm done dealing with the creeping prices and decreasing service. For just $4 more a month, I can move to a three-discs-at-once plan at Netflix—and Netflix won't push my rental history to Facebook without my permission.

Joel Johnson

Saeco Etienne Louis Espresso Machine by Carlo Borer

Hunter S. Mencken points out this amazing espresso machine from Swiss designer Carlo Borer, noting it "looks like WWII naval mine." It's gorgeous—and might even be available for purchase, although I can't quite determine if that's so. (I'm nearly positive it is, but the Saeco web site linked at Appliancist doesn't seem to list it.)

While it does remind me a of a mine, as well, the tripod legs and the phallic handle below remind me of a Vernsian Wellsian Martian automaton.

Saeco Etienne Louis espresso coffee machine Appliancist via Born Rich via Coolest-Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

John Gruber is Some Sort of Knee-Jerk Shill Who Rails Against Anything ‘Anti-Apple’ Simply for the Sake of Defending Apple, and if He Loves Apple So Much Why Doesn't He Just Marry Them?

Sorry, but someone had to say it.

(For the record, I think Penenberg's a good reporter, but having only read Gruber's dissection of the Apple piece in Fast Company and not the piece itself, it does sounds like it's mostly shot-in-the-dark prognostication that doesn't even make the assumption that Apple will release new innovative or well-polished products in the next year. The problem with writing these sort of projection pieces about Apple is that nobody but Apple knows what's coming out of Cupertino in the next year.)

Joel Johnson

Diesel Sweeties' R. Stevens Reviews the Wacom Cintiq 12WX (Verdict: He Like On It)

R. Stevens, the mind (and hand) behind webcomic Diesel Sweeties as well as renowned robot sock purveyor, treated himself to one of those new Wacom Cintiq drawing screens and was kind enough to write up his impressions for us here. Thanks, "R.," if that is your real initial.

The newest Cintiq from Wacom is a baby, but a very wise Buddha baby. It's taught me something that I'm sure untold years of therapy couldn't—leaving the house is a good thing! Eight hours in and I'm already a lot less freaked out about attending conferences and doing work on the road.

First things first. I use a Cintiq 21UX [pictured right with the 12WX below] in tandem with a mouse at my desk, two-handed ambidextrous-stylez. The first thing I did upon receiving the 12WX is try to replace the larger one with it. I lasted about fifteen minutes before putting the big one back. The 12WX doesn't replace a larger tablet, but instead creates a new form of portable art studio.

Tablet PCs are old hat and they've got two problems that kept me away: Windows as the only Photoshop-capable, legal OS choice and horror stories from friends who have had cracked hinges and other physical flaws keep them away from their work for days at a time. Both these things horrify me. Not in a good Lovecraft way. This Cintiq solves both.

Combining a laptop with a second screen is a nice innovation. The input device and display don't care what hardware you hook them up to. Wacom could discontinue this product tomorrow, but you could still have it attached to the fastest laptop on the planet in five years. It's flexible and easy to share. I can see how a studio would buy one of these and lend it out to whichever artist is traveling without moving all their files to a shared laptop.

The tablet itself is very attractive- dark plastic with multiple textures, not too much shine on the screen, comfortable viewing angle, good color. I haven't calibrated it yet (and frankly, my eye is not properly trained to judge this) but I'd say the color on the 12WX is at least as good as a normal laptop in this regard. I could hold mine in the fingertips of one hand. It's that light and thin. There's a fold-out stand built into the tablet which you won't even notice if you don't use it.

Wacom would probably slap me for wasting their tech like this, but the 12WX is probably the best screen I've ever read a webpage on. Imagine a larger, slightly lower resolution matte iPhone with all the intimacy of a paperback book. This is the baseline for all future eBook readers to be designed off of. (sorry, Amazon)

We had a few pen calibration issues on first doodle, but nothing worth condemning the device over. It's not easy to calibrate a pen when you move the tablet around. My co-reviewer did an animation thesis on a tablet PC and she thinks the issue is just a matter of getitng used to it. Also, having come from a wobbly-hinges-and-all tablet PC, the first thing she mentioned was how sturdy this Cintiq feels in your lap.

Out of the box, Wacom includes pretty much everything you need. Macbook (non-Pro) and iMac users will need to purchase a separate Apple mini-DVI to DVI connector, but that's not Wacom's fault. The Cintiq' accepts DVI and VGA and both cables are provided. They even throw in a DVI adaptor for Apple's slightly "off" implementation of fullsized DVI. There's no carrying case per se, but the product box is sturdy, handled and about the size of a large briefcase.

The power brick (or "Video Control Unit") that the device runs off of is less awkward than I had feared. It's about the size of a naked hard drive, but much lighter. Power comes out one end, video and USB work their magic from the other. Once you plug it all in, this little guy gets out of your way and lets the tablet do its job with a single wire in your lap.

As a whole, the 12WX is portable, but not quite "take it on the subway" portable. It's more of a "I'm spending the night at my boyfriend's house" or "I can't miss a deadline while at a hotel" kind of thing.

There's a tiny bit of cable clutter, but it's managed about as well as possible while still using standard cables. (and allowing for both VGA and DVI)  The fact that you can run to the mall and grab replacements in a pinch while traveling will do wonders for your blood pressure.

In closing, this little guy is a strong yes with caveats for professionals.

Do look into the 12WX if you travel, do field photo or drawing work, drool over the idea of a pen-based tablet Mac or want to try the "Cintiq Experience" at a lower price point.

Don't buy the 12WX as a stepping stone to a larger screen that you know you need for studio work. It's a wonderful device, but it doesn't replace a large workspace anymore than a notebook replaces a painter's canvas. I also wouldn't buy it if you're a Japanese manga superstar who has to ink his pages while commuting via bullet train- that kind of portability is for a one-piece device.

Thanks to Meredith Gran, who offered me the perspective of a former Tablet PC user who moved to a Mac with Cintiq.

Joel Johnson

Biashara Phone with Credit Card Scanner

This "Biashara" phone with a built-in credit card scanner is being marketed to vendors in Africa, who (in Kenya at least) have stuck primarily to cash because credit card terminals have not been readily available. The phone can process about 300 transactions before it has to be recharged and can print receipts to a wireless printer.

There is presumably some sort of monthly service premium and a per-transaction fee, just like credit card processing everywhere else.

Product Page [SwiftKenya.com via Core77]

Joel Johnson

Baker's Edge Brownie Pan Reviewed (Verdict: Not Worth It)

Farhad Manjoo reviews the Baker's Edge brownie pan, which makes sure no brownie is delivered without its share of fudgey crust. Sounds like a poor gimmick.

After testing it against a traditional brownie pan -- i.e., a $5 model from the supermarket -- I'm lumping the edge pan along with the other things I've been lukewarm about. ... Once I'd cut up the brownies from both batches into the same plate, they were virtually indistinguishable. I can think of many other factors -- the recipe, chocolate quality, baking time, oven calibration -- that would have made a bigger difference to the final product.

Kitchen gadgets: You don't really need a brownie edge pan [Machinist]

Joel Johnson

Apple, ThinkSecret.com Settle; Think Secret to Be Shuttered

Think Secret, the Mac rumors site that was sued by Apple, has reached a settlement with the company of its obsession. Apple will drop the suit, while Think Secret will shut down, protecting its sources. Editor "Nick DePlume" is said to be "pleased."

Mac rumors aren't exactly of Deep Throat-class importance, but congratulations to DePlume for keeping his sources safe.

Settlement Page (It's getting hammered right now.) [Think Secret]

Joel Johnson

Liquid Image Snorkel Mask with Built-in Camera

The Liquid Image is a relatively inexpensive snorkeling mask with a built-in digital camera, available in 3.1- and 5-megapixel versions starting at $100. Tiny crosshairs on the mask give you some idea of how well framed your picture may be, while embedded LEDs let you know the camera's in picture-taking mode. A MicroSD slot offers memory expansion.

Besides the obvious issues of getting the focus correct, I think it's pretty neato. It's certainly one less thing to try to carry when you're in the water, although it's a pity it's only rated to 15 feet. (The camera, I presume, not the mask.)

It looks like the mask is being made by a toy company, too, which usually means the price drop will be fairly swift. I wouldn't mind trying one of these out.

Teaser Product Page [LiquidImageCo.com via Krunker via Technabob]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Halo 3 Collector's Edition for $40. [Slickdeals]

• Black and Decker CHV9600 Cyclonic DustBuster for $10, shipped. [Slickdeals]

• D-Link 320RD Wireless Media Player for $80 after $50 rebate. [Dealhack]

• 5500K Color Corrected Fluorescent Lamp Photo Bulb for $4, plus $6 shipping. [Dealnews]

• TomTom ONE GPS Navigator for $130 for members for BJ's Wholesale Club. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is the Soyo FreeStyler 500 Bluetooth Headset for $13, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Video: Seiko Memory Bank Watch Ad

What I find most interesting about the Memory Bank watch series is how forward thinking they were back at their introduction, but how little Seiko did over the years to improve the design. Casio (which I realize is not the same company) is still making "Data Bank" watches today that have changed little from the original design.

[via Watchiso (with a "rotary LED" watch ad, too) via CrunchGear]

Joel Johnson

Tite-Tie Tie-Down Tool Probably at Home Depot

The "Tite-Tie" is a little metal widget that lets you create a simulacrum of the famous "Trucker's Knot" tie-down without actually knowing how to tie a knot. It was originally only available in Australia, but is now supposedly available in America at Home Depot.

Chris Howard, the Tite-Tie's inventor, wrote this description on Toolmonger earlier this year:

The Tite-Tie is made from heat treated steel (not plastic) and is rated for 1985lbs. The reason why I invented this product is because there are 9 different way to tie a trucker’s knot and more and more people are becoming confused or not bothering to learn but still try to secure cargo with ropes. The Tite-Tie gives a super strong tie down with no knot tying, and the one size fits small to large ropes, you can even use webbing straps.

Tite-Tie Now Available In The US — Or So We Hear [Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Spy Drones to Hang from Powerlines like Trash

The US Air Force Research Lab is toying with the idea of letting spy drones recharge by hanging on power lines, disguised as garbage.

From New Scientist:

In addition, so as not to arouse suspicion, AFRL says the spy plane will need to collapse its wings and hang limply on the cable like a piece of wind-blown detritus. Much of the "morphing" technology to perform this has already been developed by DARPA, the Pentagon's research division. Technologies developed in that program include carbon composite "sliding skins", which allow fuselages to change shape, and telescopic wings that allow lift to be boosted in seconds by boosting a wing's surface area.

Spy planes to recharge by clinging to power lines [New Scientist via Kottke]

Joel Johnson

Ski Mojo Personal Shock Absorbers

The "Ski Mojo" is a wearable shock absorber that cradles the upper thigh, alleviating some of the stress the comes from skiing. MedGadget has a snotty quote from a "wintersports editor" at The Times of London about how these sorts of things are "in the same category as heated chairlift seats" which I think pretty much sums up my opinion on them: they sound great.

The Ski Mojo clips run around $600 a pair. Too bad they aren't less expensive. I'm sure they'd be most useful to those just learning to ski who haven't yet built up their stamina.

Product Page [SkiAlLDay.co.uk via MedGadget via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Buy 2, get 1 free on Dr. Seuss books. Works out to be $2.50 per book. [Slickdeals]

• Nokia N800 Internet Tablet for $180, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is the iRobot Roomba 510 Vacuum Cleaning Robot for $205, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Blowing Out the Dust: Afternoon Edition

• How Bazaar – Huge profile on Etsy, the online craft shop. [NYTimes]

• Shattered Glass – Market research firm iSuppli tears down an iPod Touch, guestimates it's about $150 in parts. [BusinessWeek.com]

• Next Time – Review of the Phosphor watch with the changeable eInk face. Sounds a bit crap. [WatchReport.com]

Joel Johnson

Peggle Comes to iPod; I Come Apart

I understand that there are probably several million more traditional iPod users out there than iPhone and iPod Touch users. I've been content to live without officially-sanctioned games for my iPhone. But today Apple crossed the line: they put Peggle on the iPod but not the iPhone.

I thought I had the world's most powerful phone here, Apple! What in the name of Philip W. Schiller's meaty forearms is taking so long?

Joel Johnson

Illy Push Button House

When last we mentioned the Illy cafe built in a shipping container, we noted that Adam Kalkin had built other shipping container living spaces. Here's one.

Called the "Push Button House," it expands completely in 90 seconds. MoCo Loco has a nice little gallery of images.

Illy Push Button House [MoCoLoco.com]

Joel Johnson

Genius Traveler 350 Portable Trackball for You People

I know some of you freakazoid trackball people are still out there. (Don't email me to complain. You're the one with the problem!) But because I am not the type of judgmental person to point out what heinous, horrible human beings you are for choosing to use an alternative input method, I will do the Christian thing and mention that someone has made a product to address your disability, while also asking that you please leave the public internet to those of us who know the majesty of God's own peripheral, the laser mouse.

Oh. The product. It's called the Genius Traveler 350 and it's a portable USB trackball. I don't actually know how much it costs, but I'm sure the state will pay for it with doctor's approval.

Tiny trackball mouse gives travelers a new choice for mousing [Coolest-Gadgets.com]

Joel Johnson

Sippin on the Rocks: Scottish Granite Cools Your Scotch

"Sippin on the Rocks" are little cubes of granite hewn from the Scottish countryside, designed to be chilled in your freezer, then placed in your glass to cool your scotch without watering it down. Cute, if a little odd. I'm going to go on record and say that I like my scotch just ever so slightly watered down, either with about a teaspoon of tap water or a single chip or small cube of ice. It may impugn the full flavor of the whisky, but at least I'm not worried a hunk of granite will slide out of the glass into my teeth, either.

A set of two cubes, including a custom wooden box, is $75 shipped.

Product Page [SippinOnTheRocks.com via Thrillist]

Joel Johnson

What Disposable Cameras Can Do

Pim writes:

I sent a number of disposable cameras to a few people - children and farmers - at a small village in Lesotho, Southern Africa and asked them to take pictures of their life.  What returned are some truly amazing pictures, un-mediated by the professional photographer's eye.

I posted a number of them here, you might find them interesting.  They are really amazing, especially considering they were taken by a throw-away Kodak, by folks who mostly had never even touched a camera before.

We are doing this as part of our Menu for Hope, the fourth annual fundraising raffle run by me and a whole bunch of food blogging friends to raise funds for the UN World Food Program - last year's campaign did over $60K in two weeks.  This year's plan is to support the school lunch program in Lesotho, where the WFP not only feed the kids but is pushing a new initiative to buy from local farmers to support the program.  We help feed the kids, which keeps them in school, and also support their parents and community farming.

Faces from Lesotho [ChezPim.com]

Joel Johnson

Contest: Gelaskin x Boing Boing Gadgets Cosmology@Home Team

I am pleased to introduce our first Boing Boing Gadgets intern/research thrall, Mr. Brian Copeland, hereafter to be known only as "Copeland." His first task is to start getting some of these prizes in place for our C@H team. There are more to come. Time to take back first place!

For those of you interested in a little computational charity, Boing Boing Gadgets has started a team over at Cosmology@Home. (One we sort have neglected for a month or so. Sorry about that!) Professor Ben Wandelt has some science smut to describe what the team is computing for now:

The goal of Cosmology@Home is to search for the model that best describes our Universe and to find the range of models that agree with the available astronomical and particle physics data. In order to achieve this goal, participants in Cosmology@Home (i.e. you!) will compute the observable predictions of millions of theoretical models with different parameter combinations. We will use the results of your computations to compare all the available data with these models.

As an incentive for donating your CPU's time, we're offering 25 randomly selected members of the team a GelaSkin for your iPod/iPhone, along with one to accessorize that laptop (color coordinating is extremely important, after all). To sign up, follow the instructions on Cosmology@Home's main site, then search for team "boing boing." Winners will be picked Friday.

Project Page (Get crunching!) [Cosmology@Home]
Product Page [Gelaskin.com]

Joel Johnson

DealExtreme.com: Cheap Crap with Free Shipping

DealExtreme.com seems to be an online retailer where you can buy all that cheap Chinese crap you were never sure you needed. (You probably don't.) Worse, they have free shipping.

Products range from the potentially useful, like the $45 personal cell phone jammer to kitschy, like a $7 motion-activated lung-shaped screaming ash tray. They've got those splatting pig balls for $2.50. A Zippo-shaped lighter with 4GB flash drive inside. A $7.50 PCI PC diagnostic card. A $2.50 browpencil-style travel chopsticks set.

There's even a "Random Stuff" button on the side allowing you to spin the Wheel O' Crap. I am a'flutter, yet I will resist. This is just about the pinnacle of "wanton consumerism" mountain, but from way up here the prices look so small.

Catalog Page [DealExtreme.com] (Thanks, Snack Admiral!)

Joel Johnson

Report Shows Hackability of Voting Machines

Threat Level's Kim Zetter, in a summary of a recent security survey of electronic voting machines made my Election Systems & Software:

They found that a voter or poll worker with a Palm Pilot and no more than a minute's access to a voting machine could surreptitiously re-calibrate the touch-screen so that it would prevent voters from voting for specific candidates or cause the machine to secretly record a voter's vote for a different candidate than the one the voter chose. Access to the screen calibration function requires no password, and the attacker's actions, the researchers say, would be indistinguishable from the normal behavior of a voter in front of a machine or of a pollworker starting up a machine in the morning.

Report: Magnet and PDA Sufficient to Change Votes on Voting Machine]

Joel Johnson

Sno-Baller Snow Ball Maker

The thing about snowballs is that the shape doesn't matter so much as the density. That makes this Sno-baller, a scissoring snowball scooper, a bit suspect. I can't imagine that you'd be able to pack them down as tightly as you'd want for the to retain their shape in air (but still explode in a cloud when they hit your target).

It's only $9, but you can buy a lot of snow for $9. Anyone used one? I'll willing to believe these could work, even if they do seem ridiculous.

SNO-BALLER - PERFECT SNOWBALL MAKER [TheGreenHead.com via Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

Gum Ease Cryoanesthetic Mouthpiece

The "Gum Ease G100" is a cryoanesthetic dental mouthpiece that dulls the nerves in your gums without drugs, instead using cold to temporarily deaden the maxillofacial nerves. Because it doesn't completely freeze, it doesn't glue itself to your gums with frozen saliva, either.

Even if your oral surgeon chooses to go the ol' drugs route, the G100 can be purchased over the counter for home use, where it can be used to dull pain post-procedure. That sounds better to me than using it in the chair, although in fairness the only way I can deal with dentistry is to be knocked right out.

Product Page [Biomedeviceltd.com via Red Ferret via Engadget]

Joel Johnson

Questioning Everything About What We Toast Today

Sometimes designers, god bless 'em, are up their own asses. It's not that this concept toaster [pictured top] is horrible, but it's not unassailably brilliant. Yet the description by the designer George Watson is overwrought. Here's a taste:

There has been little development of the toaster since the start of the century…When the toaster was first invented eating toast was a social activity that took place on the breakfast table…This toaster is designed to engage the user, re-invigorating the social context of toasting by questioning everything about what we toast with today.

Of course, the first phase is off, too, as a wide variety of toaster variants were cast adrift in the market in the last century, including the somewhat infamous Toast-O-Lator which made bread brown using the same drive-through concept as Watson's toaster. Besides coughing crumbs out its front and occasionally catching on fire, the Toast-O-Lator did a little re-invigorating of the social context of toasting itself.

Ceramics for breakfast [DesignBoom.com]
Restoring the Toast-O-Lator [Jitterbuzz.com]

(Thanks, Knutmo and Rocketdyke!)

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7K 7.2MP Digital Camera for $130, shipped. Amazing how inexpensive nice cameras are these days. [Bargainist]

• Chenbro Dual Intel Xeon 2.4GHz 1U Rack Mount Server for $409, shipped. If only they made rackmount gaming rigs. [Dealnews]

• Panasonic SC-PT750 1,000W 5.1 Home Theater System with HDMI for $317 with in-store pickup at Circuit City. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Belkin FM Transmitter 3 Pack for $15, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Sony Little TV Concept

Sony has designed this tiny little TV, designed to be held in the hand.

From the concept description page:

Fast forward to 2007, when TOKYO FIBER set the stage to reexamine TV sets in the context of textiles. This time, it is textiles that may redefine television sets. Introducing fabric in TV design can again change the product landscape and stimulate our senses in entirely new ways. Sets that rest comfortably in the palm of your hand. Sets projecting images that reach you like the song of a little bird by your pillow. They are a form of "senseware"; small, round, and soft reinterpretations of products that feel nice and have character.

It also reminds me quite a bit of the "8-inch LCD TV" from the first Plus Minus Zero collection, which looks like a CRT tube removed from its housing, but has a small LCD panel inside. I would have picked that up when I was last in Japan, except they wanted $1,500 for it.

Concept Page [Sony.net via Yanko]

Joel Johnson

Cube Jigger by Josh Owen

This aluminum jigger designed by Josh Owen has six common alcohol measurements carved from each side, making precision cocktails a cinch. (If you can prevent the alcohol from splashing over the relatively shallow sides.)

Catalog Page [UnicaHome.com via Uncrate]

Joel Johnson

Aerogrow Aerogarden Reviewed (Verdict: Unnecessary)

Video: A video I made a couple years ago showing how the Aerogrow goes together.

Farhad Manjoo, Salon's "Machinist blogger, takes the Aerogrow Kitchen Garden out for a spin.

Do you need an indoor garden? Most likely the sentiment's not "need," not the way you need shelter, food, fair elections or "Super Mario Galaxy." Fresh herbs aren't any longer very tough to get; even in the dingiest of cities in the bleakest of climes, the nearest big-box market is likely to stock at least cilantro, flat-leaf parsley and basil, if not marjoram, chervil and savory.

That's the first line the skeptic brings to any discussion of the Aerogarden -- the device seems to fill a need you didn't really have. The second is this: It does so at much cost!

The Aerogarden sells for either $149.95 or $169.95 (The more expensive model is outfitted in stainless steel rather than plastic and includes a more advanced grow timer.) It ships with one seed kit; extra kits go for $19.95 each.

There's actually nothing wrong with the AeroGrow's design. It's quite well made. It just isn't necessary and no more easy to use than the old fashioned method of a few small pots in the kitchen window.

Kitchen gadgets: Do you need an indoor herb garden? [Machinist.Salon.com]

Joel Johnson

LEGO Iron Man by the Arvo Bros.

Arvo Brothers, a pair of extremely talented LEGO modelers, are back with this wonderfully detailed, contemplative Iron Man sculpture.

Image Page [Brickshelf.com via Neatorama via CrunchGear (Peter, it's called a hobby. It's okay.)]

Joel Johnson

Spy Cam Hidden Inside Retro Calculator

While hidden cameras are as old as the hills (at least hills made in the last century or so), there is something especially insidious about this one, stashed as it is inside the pleasantly innocent printing calculator. I think what makes it so clever is that this old calculator is something you wouldn't give a second glance in an office, but would also be unlikely to use, leaving it peering from the top of a file cabinet.

This camera isn't wireless like some, but instead records to an internal SD card. The camera is motion controlled to save storage space. The whole rig costs over $500, though, so you better be sure you really need to catch your fellow employees doing something nefarious.

Every time I post about some hidden camera I expect to get a shocked email from a reader explaining how they discovered the very unit spying on them at work. Yet I never have. Perhaps it's because they've all realized that they've been caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing.

Product Page [4HiddenSpyCameras.com via Ubergizmo]

Joel Johnson

Video: Swedish German Self-Cleaning Ruins Cokehead's Evening

Not that I've ever done cocaine in a public restroom (seriously), but I'm pretty sure that you do the coke off the tank, not the seat. Nevertheless, a cute commercial, even if I spoiled the punchline in the title.

[via Dose Nation]

Joel Johnson

Student Given Detention for Using Firefox; Update: Kid Not Exactly Blameless

According to this scanned detention slip, some poor kid was given detention for running Firefox on his school computer instead of (presumably) Internet Explorer. I wonder how his teacher even noticed? It's not like there's enough of a difference in the way the two browsers work that it could be spotted across the room.

11th Grader Given Detention For Using Firefox [Gadget Lab]

Update: Our own Cory follows up on this story. Seems not everything is as it seems:

I just spoke to the principal of the high-school -- nice enough fellow. According to him:

* The kid altered the document after scanning it

* The kid was punished for mouthing off to the teacher, not for using Firefox

* The kid had been asked to work in Word on a resume (the assignment) and kept looking at the Web instead (and this was a recurring problem)

* The kid has admitted this and will be posting a followup/correction/retraction today

Update 2: The school's principal has responded.

The reports, blogs and other sources on the Internet indicating that a Big Spring student was assigned detention for using the Firefox internet browser instead of Internet Explorer are untrue and were based on the fake letter. Detention is assigned in our schools after appropriate warnings are given. If students continue to engage in non-academic activities or fail to follow a teacher’s directive during class time, discipline can and will be assigned.

And that kid thought he was on their shit list before.

Joel Johnson

Crank Brothers Multi-19 Bike Tool

The Crank Brothers Multi-19 is a tiny multi-tool for cyclists and looks chock-a-block with handy tools in a no-snag flask case.

From Cool Tools:

It has the same chain tool as the previously-reviewed Multi-17. The two are nearly identical, except the Multi-19 has double the number of screwdrivers (two flat, two Phillips). Plus, in addition to the following hex keys (2, 2.5, 3, 5, 6 and 8), there's also a 4m, which just so happens to be the size needed to adjust my rear derailer's pulley bolts (can't imagine I'll ever need to do that -- let alone on the road -- but it's comforting to know I'm carrying a hex that's pretty much suited to every inch of my bike).

Crank Brothers Multi-19 [Cool Tools]

Joel Johnson

Cerevellum Bike Computer Prototype

The Cerevellum is a bicycle multi-function system, built around a proprietary central "head-unit" that includes a video-capable screen. While modules that monitor heart rate and deliver GPS functionality are planned, the primary feature is the "Hindsight," a rear-facing camera that mounts on the seat post to give the rider a clear view behind. I'm pretty sure that is intended to be in the main package, but considering this unit is still in prototype phase, it'll probably be a while before we know any firm details.

Product Page [Cerevellum via Gadget Lab via Bicycle Design]

Joel Johnson

Zip Tie Ring by Natalia Gomensoro

These Zip Tie Rings are crafted by Natalia Gomensoro right here in Brooklyn. They are available in both men's and women's sizes for about $85 - $95, although I suspect you'll pay more should you choose to have her cast one in gold.

Catalog Page [SupermarketHQ.com via Notcot]]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

— SanDisk Sansa Clip 2GB MP3 Player for $45, shipped. [Dealnews]

— Eton Sound 100 AM/FM Radio for $50, shipped. [Dealnews]

— 8-pack AA Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable batteries for $15 in-store pickup at Circuit City. [Dealnews]

— Today's Woot! is a Kodak 8MP Digital Camera and Multifunction Printer Bundle $155, shipped.

Joel Johnson

"Green Plug" Tries to Push Smarter Charging Standard

Considerable power is wasted by battery chargers and wall warts, even when they're not recharging or powering a device. The "Green Plug" standard aims to remedy that problem by establishing a universal plug system with an intelligent charging base that will power down the charger when not needed. It will even work as a hub, powering multiple devices and turning off the power to each as necessary.

Great idea, but getting companies to settle on a universal power plug system—and then stop bundling superfluous chargers with their product—will be quite a hurdle for the company to clear. It took several years for phone companies to come to an agreement about mobile charging standards. If the Green Plug system could also work with other plug formats, especially USB and its variants, it would have a much greater chance of succeeding.

Company Page [GreenPlug.us via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Famos Vegetable Peeler

The "Famos" vegetable peeler is a simple steel kitchen tool, capable of shearing not only vegetables, but hard cheeses and chocolate. It's only $12 (plus shipping), although the vendor appears to be out of stock at the moment. The blade is attached by two screws and looks thick enough to withstand sharpening, so it should withstand many years of kitchen duty.

Catalog Page [KioskKiosk.com via NYTimes.com via Cool Hunting]

Joel Johnson

A Mess of Kitchen Timers

Design Sponge has collected a simple links-and-pictures gathering of a couple dozen kitchen timers. They left out my current favorite: the LEGO Egg Timer.

kitchen timer roundup [DesignSpongeOnline.com]

Joel Johnson

Lighted Shower Head Changes Color with Temperature

This shower head's embedded LEDs change color with the temperature of the water, going from white to blue to red as it heats up. Even niftier, though, is that it requires to external power source to work, instead powering itself from the pressure of the water itself, presumably with a small turbine.

Right now it's listed on Alibaba.com, which means it's not easily available in a store, but perhaps will be when someone contracts the Chinese manufacturer to produce a bulk order.

Product Page [Alibaba.com via Gadgets-News via Coolest-Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

Army Establishes Internal Games Office

The Army has set up a project office specifically for building and deploying training videogames:

No, the Army isn't about to start handing out copies of Halo 3 to troops, TSJOnline.com notes. “I haven’t seen a game built for the entertainment industry that fills a training gap,” said Col. Jack Millar, director of the service’s Training and Doctrine Command’s (TRADOC) Project Office for Gaming, or TPO Gaming.  Instead, the new office -- part of the Army's Kansas-based National Simulation Center -- will focus on using videogame graphics to make those dull military simulations more realistic, and better-looking. 

Army Sets Up New Office of Videogames [Danger Room]

Joel Johnson

Video: Philippe Starck Critiques Amazon Kindle Design

Link: sevenload.com

Two real takeaways from this short, on-stage commentary by designer Philippe Starck: the placement of the Kindle's buttons on the side means that the first time you hand it to someone, they almost always turn a page accidentally; that the designer was unwilling to disappear from his design, determined to make his mark visible in the final product.

The former criticism is valid, I think, but only for that particular scenario. Unlike some, I've found the Kindle's large page turning buttons on the side to be very well placed and comfortable to use in a variety of positions. (I do question why there is a need for a "Back" button on the right hand side that performs a different function than the button on the left that flips back a page.)

The shape of the Kindle itself is actually growing on me a bit. It's clear they wanted to try to create a shape that was iconic, and the shorn corners do make it slightly more comfortable to hold, although I'll concede they are mostly gratuitous negative space. The main problem with the Kindle's design is still the keyboard, which while usable, is not needed at all while reading books. Future versions should stash it away or make it virtual.

To return to the former issue of accidental button pushing, I've found a very similar issue with the Rock Band controllers, even for seasoned players. Because the most natural place to grasp a guitar controller is on the neck right under the headstock, exactly where the buttons are, accidental button presses are common when handing off the controller. Worse, when trying to get four people synced up on the screen, where a single button press from any controller can take you back to the menu or hold up the menu selections, it's far too difficult to get everyone playing. (And besides accidental presses, the longer it takes to get into a song, the more likely it is that someone will absentmindedly hit a button while warming up.)

That's less a hardware design flaw in Rock Band, though, as it is evidence that there needs to be a "Band Leader" mode that either locks out the other players' input until a song is selected, or locks the fret inputs to force players to use only the directional pad on the guitars.

[via Core77]

Joel Johnson

Oakley Minute Machine Titanium Edition's Band is Interesting, Ugly

While I think the overall design is embarrassingly goofy (no surprise, considering the manufacturer), the Oakley Minute Machine watch certainly has an interesting band, made from interlocking titanium segments with self-lubricating carbon rings. It's almost cool, but the watch face itself looks like a mindlessly designed enemy spaceship from a cut-rate sci-fi shooter.

Prices vary quite a bit online, but appears to be in the sub-$1,000 range.

OAKLEY MINUTE MACHINE REVIEW- 12.13.07 [Notcot.com]

Joel Johnson

Blowing Out the Dust: Morning Edition

• Some Call It "Rental" – A company wants to try a cell phone-style subscription plans for cars. Free car, but you pay them for fuel. [Jalopnik]

• Stunning – Hands-down the coolest photo project of the year: Jonathan Harris' "Whale Hunt" project, with pictures of an Inuit whale hunt timed to his heartbeat in a lovely Flash interface. [TheWhaleHunt.org]

• Doubtful – A "jetpack & beverage company" claims they intend to sell a commercial jetpack in 2008. [Money.CNN.com]

• Best Worst – PopMech's top 10 worst gadgets of 2007. Nice to see someone else wonder what the deal is with the Pleo. [PopularMechanics.com]

Joel Johnson

Madiba Adventure Truck

Jeff Veit writes:

You said you started counting your pennies when you saw the Earthroamer, but those are uncomfortably small and not that good for extended trips. What you need is Madiba - a fully kitted out, custom-built, expedition truck. Most of the details are on OverlandTruckForSale.com which is a site I built to sell it for my pre-net parent. He's its current owner.

What I like best about Madiba is more mundane: there's a proper spares inventory and the tools to do most jobs in remote spots. Survival-critical things have backups. You'd probably have a problem if you seized the engine or broke an axle, but short of truly major mechanical problems you are able to repair most ailments. Might even be able to repair an axle. It's got a cocktail cabinet: not something you get in an Earthroamer. You don't sit on the toilet with your feet in the shower like you do with the Earthroamer and Sportsmobile. So no wet tracks through your living space afterwards.

For Sale Page [OverlandTruckForSale.com]

Joel Johnson

Video: Guitar-Activated Vibrator

When NOTCOT got both a simple plug-in amplifier and a vibrator that is controlled by an audio input delivered on the same day, naturally they had to rig them all together, creating a double set of sex toys that vibrate when the guitar is strummed.

(The video just shows it in action outside a body, so is safe for work.)

GUITAR + VOX + OHMIBOD- 12.14.07 [Notcot.com]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• The complete Arrested Development on DVD for $30. Come on! [Slickdeals]

• Lots of coupon codes for R/C planes and helicopters at Hobbytron. [Dealhack]

• Asus Eee in black for $350 (but not shipped until after Xmas); $360 for white, shipping now. It's the "Surf" Edition, though, which has a couple of limitations, like slower, soldered-in RAM and no webcam. [Dealnews]

• Call of Duty 4 for Xbox 360 for $40, shipped. If you like cinematic shooters, it's one of the best. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a remanufactured Dyson DC14 Full Kit Upright Vacuum for $255, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Analogue Ring with Built-In Microphone

This attractive Sterling silver ring has as built-in microphone that can be used with a standard 3.5mm minijack plug. It gives new meaning to talk to the hand, right? Am I right here? What with the popular expression?

Hello?

Is this thing on?

It's a custom jobber from Analogue Aesthetics and is available for sale on Etsy for $105. It's probably too bulky for some folk, but it's got a clean look that I like quite a bit.

analogue ring [Etsy.com] (Thanks, Jemma!)

Joel Johnson

Billboard Inserts Audio Voices into Your Head

A new billboard on Prince Street in Soho—that's in Manhattan—uses a directional sound system from Holosonic to broadcast a message directly into your head for only you to hear. It's being used, of course, for advertising.

It's an ad for "Paranormal State," a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby and residents who have to walk unwittingly through the area where the voice will penetrate their inner peace, it's another story.

Hear Voices? It May Be an Ad [Adage.com via Listening Post]

Joel Johnson

Brazilian Company Gives Away iPods Inside Popsicles

A Brazilian ice-cream company is hiding 10,000 "propsicles," fake frozen treats that have an iPod Shuffle secreted inside, in packages with their normal popsicles. Crunch!

However, since people would be able to tell that an iPod is inside by looking at the package itself, they had to find an alternative. The popsicles with prize inside had to be exactly the same as the regular popsicles. The obvious solution was putting the shuffles inside a real popsicle, but this was ruled out as the humidity would have destroyed the shuffle in no time, even with plastic around it. The other idea: a fake ice cream that looked exactly like the real thing. "We developed a special prototype that emulates the real ice cream;" Neto says, "it protects the iPod from humidity, and it feels like the real ice cream. It is virtually impossible to fell the difference without opening the package." Their testing proved successful.

Ice Cream Company Gives Away 10,000 Frozen iPods Inside Popsicles [Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Fünde Razor Was a Triumph!

What a great night we had in Brooklyn, raising money for the Child's Play Charity. I want to thank all these companies that donated items to be given away, including Lego, Net Devil, the Bond Street Group, Dawdle, and Steel Series, as well as donations from EA/MTV/Harmonix and Scott Alexander of Playboy. And of course thanks to Barcade, who for the third year in a row have donated the use of their space for free.

I want to especially thank Brian and Izzy, two troupers who showed up and basically ran the Rock Band tournament and freeplay time, respectively, while I puttered around. (Especially Izzy, who I accidentally roped into the role by wandering away for a cigarette, then neglecting to return. I'm a jerk! But she is not.)

We raised just shy of $4,000 from donations and the raffle, and there are still a couple of lingering donations that may still roll in. The Denver event raised over $1,000, which is a fantastic first showing. I can't wait to see what they do next year.

Congratulations to all the winners. Thanks to everyone who came out. I was in a foul mood right before the event started, a real stinker, and my spirits were forcibly raised by the good will and camaraderie that was on display. You guys are champs.

One more thing.

There is a third companion cube. It will be up for auction...soon. Perhaps even today, if I recover! Stay tuned. Update: The auction has begun!

Joel Johnson

Late Morning Tech Deal Highlights

• Logitech Harmony 550 Remote Control $70 at Tiger Direct [Dealhack]

• Refurb Roomba Scheduler for $130, shipped. [Dealhack]

• Hammacher Schlemmer Online (not so) Private Sale, up to 70% off. [Dealnews]

• Behringer iAXE393 USB Electric Guitar for $91, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Nikko 1:10 Scale Fast and Furious R/C Car for $30, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Fünde Razor is Tonight!

New Yorkers and Denver...ites? Denivens? Denversions? People who live in Denver!

Tonight is Fünde Razor, a now-annual event in which people get together to drink beer, win prizes, and play videogames (including Rock Band)—all to raise money for Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity.

It's a blast.

If you aren't able to make it to Brooklyn or Denver, please don't hesitate to donate directly to Child's Play, which raises money to purchase games and toys to liven the stay of kids who are in children's hospitals. (And even if you come out to Fünde Razor, it's nice to pick out a few games to send directly to the kids.)

On a related note, if you are coming to the Brooklyn event at Barcade and have either a 1) microphone stand, or 2) a drum throne that you would be willing to lend me for the evening, that would certainly up the rock experience quotient. Give me ring if you can: 347 495 0610.

Event Details [FundeRazor.com]

Joel Johnson

Mechanical Monster Building in Post-War America (1947)

Modern Mechanix has a doozy of a scan today: a five-page spread from the May, 1947 issue of Mechanix Illustrated about George Harold Messmore, an engineer who built mechanical dinosaurs for display in expositions and the like.

Man of the Monsters (May, 1947) [Modern Mechanix]

Previously: Video: The Inassailable Awesomeness of Overdrift [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Douglas Hammers

While still reticent to discuss hammers after the last time I made fun of one for being expensive, I am compelled to pass on these attractive models from Douglas Hammers, which feature a "Head-Handle Interface Technology," a fancy way to say that the head is attached to the hilt with pins instead of being jammer through the top of the head and held in place with a spreader. I make no claims to their efficiency; they just look neat.

Many weights are available, starting at $60 and going up to $70. Replacement handles are around $20.

Product PageUncrate]

Joel Johnson

Skull Helmet

While I think anybody who rides a motorcycle without a full-faced helmet has a wish to have their jaw sheared off and wrapped around their trachea like a bone choker, I have a feeling the chopper-and-hog set have few such concerns. And as such, this Skull Helmet from Santiago Chopper meets their primary criterion: open-throttle badassery.

It's $150. Update: Kurt L. adds: "The skull helmet is out of stock and not DOT or Snell approved." Who cares? I'll see you in Snell!

Product Page [SantiagoChopper.com via Oh Gizmo via NotCot]

Joel Johnson

eTime Home Endoscope Reviewed (Verdict: Disgustingly Effective)

Legendary gadgets proto-blogger Dan Rutter has reviewed the "eTime-home-endoscope," a AU$100 web cam with a bevy of attachments that be used to stuff it into your local Katie Couric. To whit: the picture on the right, which shows all the stray hairs that reside inside Dan's keyboard. I'm hungry already!

If you want to take still pictures of some nook or cranny without the vignetting of the attachments, it's easy enough to use the camera with nothing on the end of it at all. You lose the ability to adjust focus on the fly, and any gunk in the object you're photographing will of course be able to get on the camera (you could avoid this by putting a layer of plastic wrap over the lens, at the cost of making focus adjustment even more annoying). But the results may well be worth it.

ETime Home Endoscope ("Digital Pen Camera") [Dan's Data]

Joel Johnson

Bioplastics Manufacturer Expanding

Cereplast, a manufacturer of bioplastics, is expanding into a new production facility, capable of producing half a billion pounds of biodegradable plastic by 2010. That's good news for Cereplast and good news for the bioplastics industry in general, but for some reason beyond my ken the company hasn't been doing so well, according to Earth2Tech:

The company, which trades on the bulletin board under CERP, needed to issue some good news. In November the company reported some not-so-stellar third-quarter financials. According to their release, the company reported a net loss of $1.6 million, or a penny a per share, for the latest three-month period, compared with a net loss of $1.1 million, or a penny a share, for the third quarter 2006.

But I've got a spoon made of bioplastics on my desk which I pick up and bend every once in a while, waiting to see how long it will take before it feels like the slightly soft plastic will start to lose strength. It's just been a couple of months so far, but it is hands down the most interesting disposable spoon I've ever treasured. I keep talking about trying to do a piece about why this stuff couldn't be used in consumer electronics. Maybe next year!

Cereplast to Build Big Ol’ Bioplastics Plant [Earth2Tech]

Joel Johnson

Millepede Cable Ties

Millepede Cable Ties are at first glance just regular zip ties—until you discover they can be unlocked and reused. And because the fastener works through any of the holes in the tie, you can cut off any excess after tightening it down and reuse it.

I can't believe I've never heard of these. Even if they don't hold as securely as zip ties, they'd still work for 90% of the things I do.

Millepede Cable Ties [Cool Tools]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Sanyo Xacti E1 Waterproof Camcorder for $350 at B&H. [Dealhack]

• HD DVD and Blu-ray players for under $300 at Amazon. [Dealhack]

• Dymamic Mini Microphone for $4.50, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Tiny Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car for $72, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Several Victorinox Swiss Army Knives are available for under $10 at Amazon. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a NavMan N40i NavPix 3.5" Touchscreen GPS for $165, shipped.

Joel Johnson

The Man-from-Mars Radio Hat (1949)

From the cover story of the 1949 issue of Radio-Electronics (formerly Radio-Craft) about the latest in portable audio technology, the Radio Hat.

Power is supplied by a tiny 8-ounce battery pack that fits into a pocket and connects to the set through a 36-inch length of thin 3-conductor wire. The appearance of the set is bizarre but strangely impressive, as seen in the photographs.

At a glance, this "man-from-Mars" personal radio would appear to be a child's toy but after using it for a few hours, we began to see its possibilities.

For example, it is just the thing for baseball fans who want to keep up with the doings of the out-of-town teams while rooting for the home-town favorites in the local ball park. Followers of the sport of Izaak Walton will be wearing their radios as they head-rod and reel in hand-for a spot on the banks of the old mill stream. For beaches, hiking, bicycling, picnics, or strolling in the park, the Radio Hat will prove its worth to all who wear it.

The Radio Hat [SWTPC.com] (Thanks, BrianK!)

Joel Johnson

Pirate Scope Spyglass

There are no electronics in this "Pirate Scope." No clever new approach to an old design. No rare materials used. No sustainable method of production.

It's just a beautiful spyglass made of plated brass with a simple mahogany chest. It's $70.

Catalog Page [RestorationHardware.com via Uncrate]

Joel Johnson

Video: Mister Rogers Plays Donkey Kong

Sure, Mister Rogers keeps calling Mario a "carpenter," but let that slide. It's just nice to know that perhaps the nicest man to ever grace our televisions didn't treat videogames like some sort of befouling devil media, but just another neat thing in our lives.

Don't miss special guest appearance from actor Keith David, known among other roles as the voice of the Arbiter in Halo, as a friendly quarter collector.

Joel Johnson

V-Moda Vibe Duo Nero Headphones for iPhone Review (Verdict: Way Better Than Apple's)

I've spent about a month with the V-Moda Vibe Duo Nero headphones. I am not displeased.

Designed specifically to work with the iPhone, the Vibe Duo Nero are different from the Vibe Duo only by the addition of a control button on the microphone like the one on the stock iPhone earbuds. And while it works, it can be a little bit finicky to use, as the metal button is only slightly raised on the round metal microphone housing, making it occasionally difficult to locate without looking, especially with gloves on. That sounds worse in writing than it is in practice. Certainly don't let that dissuade you from purchasing them.

The iPhone has become my primary music device, which means I no longer have to question whether or not I am going to carry my iPod with me or not. Unfortunately, that meant I had to carry my headphones with me everywhere. My previous on-the-go headphones were the Sennheiser PX100, and while I have nothing but good things to say about their audio quality, they aren't exactly pocketable, especially when you're only wearing jeans.

The Vibe Duo Nero on the other hand slip easily into a pocket. When using the included spring-close leather case, they even remain generally free of tangles.

Sound quality is very good, although few "low-end" in-ear models are going to be able to reproduce sound as well as full-sized headphones. For public transit riders like myself, though, the sound from the Vibe Duo Nero is actually a little bit better than most, simply because the earphones act as earplugs, blocking out outside noise. That's especially good since turning up the volume on my Sennheisers to drown out the subway noise was certainly bad for my ears.

The mid-range tones seem to be the weakest, actually, while bass is fairly round. That's pretty much in line with every other in-ear headphone I've used, so that's not a ding against the Vibe Duo Nero specifically.

If you don't use an iPhone, I'm not sure the price premium ($100ish instead of $50 or so for similar headphones from other brands) is worth the solid metal construction and attractive design. (The burled metal ring around the outside is really nice looking.) Headphones, after all, are easily lost. But for iPhone users who want the whole experience that the stock earbuds offer—taking calls, skipping tracks, pausing music—without the crappy sound and barely-functional design from Apple, the Vibe Duo Nero seem like an obvious choice. Just be sure you get the "Nero" model, not the regular Vibe Duo, which doesn't have the button. (But does have the microphone.)

Product Page (with stupid Flash soundtrack) [V-Moda] Amazon]

Update: After two or three months of happy use, my Vibe Duo stopped working. Many others have reported the same issues. Considering this, I have to advise skipping the Vibe Duo Nero earbuds unless you're prepared to ship them back to V-Moda every few months for repair.

Update Update: V-Moda has changed the build of the Vibe Duo and I think they've got the durability problem licked.

Joel Johnson

Video: LEGO Taggers

[via Core77 via Wooster Collective]

Joel Johnson

Nextlink Invisio G5 Bluetooth Earpiece Reviewed (Verdict: "To Be Taken Seriously")

Red from the Red Ferret Journal reviews the Nextlink Invisio G5 "world's smallest" Bluetooth headset, giving it generally high marks all around, noting the small size does make it a bit fiddly when in use. What I hadn't realized is that the mobile charging station [on the right, not to scale] actually has a battery of its own, capable of topping off the G5's somewhat miniscule battery even when you're away from the mains:

The real innovation of the product is the clever little cigarette box sized charging station which contains a battery to keep your headset charged while on the road without needing the power cable. It’s a great feature as it protects the device as well as improving the talk and standby time by a significant amount. The specs say that the standby time extends to 30 days (with 20 hours talk) with this box, so it’s a real winner. Again the whole thing is easy to use, just slot the headset into the case and snap the lid shut. The case will then start charging the headset automatically with a quick 10 second show of the LED lights to prove that it’s all working as it should. Nice.

Hands on with the Invisio G5 - trying not to lose the smallest Bluetooth headset in the world [RedFerret.net]

Joel Johnson

Road Pro In-Car Sandwich Maker

This sandwich press is powered by the standard 12-volt plug most commonly found in automobiles. It may be dangerous, but who can resist a roadkill sandwich? A croaked monsieur if you will.*

It's $20 at the S King company and includes a five-foot power cord for back seat short orders.

Product Page [SKingCompany.com via Jalopnik]

* Oof.

Joel Johnson

Video: The Paradox of Choice, or Why Apple Only Sells Four Computers

Psychologist Barry Schwartz's talk at TED 2005 about why greater freedom of choice may lead to misery, not happiness. Some sort little notes/quotes:

• 6.5 million stereo combinations could be created from the components available in a typical retail store.

• Phones are confusing because they offer too many features.

• All the choice makes it possible to get a product better suited to our specific needs, but the process of selecting may make us feel worse. Adding options increases expectations in light of lack of perfection.

• The secret to happiness is low expectations.

• Material affluence enables choice, which leads to peculiar depression.

From personal experience, I can't help but think he's on to something. The less I focus on getting everything just so in my material life, instead focussing on the problem at hand, the more content I seem to become with what I have. For example, I wanted to be able to stream MP3s into my living room from a network drive. I bought a SqueezeBox. It works, mostly, and gives me free reign over my entire MP3 collection.

But it adds something else that can (and does) break in my network, another interface to learn and master, and doesn't ultimately do more than simply bringing my iPod into the other room and plugging it directly in could do considering how infrequently I actually listen to music. And it adds to the glut, another object in my life for which I have only mild affection, instead of one that I feel betters my life in ways proportionate to the amount of attention I give it.

(That's nothing against the Squeezebox specifically; it could be anything that does its intended job. The failing is in my expectations, not its attempt to meet them.)

[via Daring Fireball]

Joel Johnson

AquaMaker AM10 Extracts Water from Air

The AquaMaker AM10 generates potable water from moisture harvested from the air—up to 36 liters in 38 hours, depending on the level of humidity. It's designed to replace traditional office water coolers, and when you calculate in the overall cost of distributing bottled water, it may very well be more efficient. Yet I can't help but point out that there is an even cheaper source of water in every office: the tap.

Still, for what it is, the AquaMaker looks well designed. It includes an air filter that removes dust, spores, and bacteria from the moisture it turns into water, cleaning the air in the process.

According to Ubergizmo, the AquaMaker AM10 retails for $1,200 and costs about $15 a day to operate. That's far too expensive for most part of the developed world, but perhaps in tropical, high-humidity areas where fresh water is hard to come by but power is not it might be a smart solution.

Product Page [Aquamaker.com via Appliancist]

Update: The manufacturer of the AquaMaker sent updated, accurate operational costs for its device: "The MSRP for the AquaMaker AM10 is $1799. The operational cost is only $17 dollars per month."

Joel Johnson

Horrible Trademarked Marketroid Words

Trademork has a selection of the "worst word mashup trademark filings," portmanteaus so hideous they can barely be pronounced. It's unbelievable that these are real.

COLLABONEERING - Innovative Analytics & Training LLC
Collaborative engineering? Mork wishes he was a collaboneer so he could go collaboneering.

...

INNOVISIONEERING - Econolite Group, Inc.
An endeavor involving innovation, vision and engineering? Sounds cool, until you try and jam these three words together. Ouch!

WORST WORD MASHUP TRADEMARK FILINGS [Trademork]

Joel Johnson

Lovers' Breakfast Table

This little "Lovers' Breakfast Table" is only available at Amazon UK—and it's out of stock there. But it's a pleasant little design, with chair arms that become part of the table when not in use. I hope someone emulates and sells it here in the States. They should make the table legs a little less pedestrian while they're at it.

Lovers' Breakfast Table [Apartment Therapy]

Joel Johnson

Plastic Surgeon: Blister Pack Knife

Here's another knife designed to make dealing with blister pack plastic packaging easier: the "Plastic Surgeon." It's nine bucks, plus shipping, although you can get similar products like the Open X for around the same price. (And I've seen the Open X sold in stores.)

You know what would be better? If retailers would just stop asking for companies to sell items in blister packs. I know they think it helps prevent theft. Maybe it does. But as a reformed teenage shoplifter (at least the teenaged part), I can assure you that thieves are only too happy to carry these sorts of knives with them, the better to liberate the item from its packaging in a dark corner.

Product Page [PlasticSurgeonOpener.com]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player + 10 HD movies for $240, shipped.[Dealnews]

• Black & Decker 18V Pivoting Hand Vacuum for $50, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a RCA Lightweight Behind the Neck Headphones Two-Pack for $10, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Wireless Tasers Fired from Shotguns

The new "XREP," for "extended range electronic projectile," can be fired from a standard shotgun, making it possible to send a Taser stun bolt through the air.

Taser has turned its weapon into a connected series of six darts arranged in an arc. The company says the device can be extended in a chain or stacked "like Lego," depending on the needs of the user.

...

The first electrode hooks on to the target, the second electrode falls and makes contact elsewhere on the body, completing the circuit and activating the shock. It can blast someone as far as 30 metres away, and, unlike the current stun guns, whose shock lasts five seconds, the XREP lasts 20 seconds, enough time to "take the offender into custody without risking injury to officers."

Tasers: the next generation [TheStar.com via Crime Scene KC]

Joel Johnson

'cause I'm the Unknown Stuntman

Nearly every time I fly, I think about dying. It's not entirely a bad experience. I consider it my time to make my peace with mortality.

I also consider it time to imagine myself improbably falling through the air towards my death outside the plane.

If I had my phone in my hand, I think, what would I do with it? Would I hold the headphones against the wind to my head to listen to a final song? Or would I try to send a final SMS to my loved ones?

Every time I read about airlines finally adding Wi-Fi to planes I can't help but think: it won't be that long before we can read emails and instant messages from someone about to die as their plane falls out of the sky.

Joel Johnson

CradlePoint PHS300: Pocketable EVDO to Wi-Fi Bridge

The last time I looked at a device that bridged an EVDO modem and a Wi-Fi hot spot they were about the size of a small commercial router and needed to be plugged into the wall. This wasn't that long ago. Two years maybe?

CradlePoint has just introduced the PHS300, a pocket-sized unit that does the same thing—make the EVDO from a 3G-capable device, like a USB stick or compatible phone, into something you can easily connect to with any device that uses Wi-Fi. And it's battery powered. (Although it can plug into a wall, too, of course.)

That's about all there is to it, but I'm just shocked how small they've gotten while I wasn't looking. It wasn't that long ago that a similar project took a whole backpack.

The PHS300 is $180. (And you'll need to buy an EVDO device and subscribe to a data plan, of course.) I want one badly, but I figure if I just wait another couple of years this will just be integrated into our phones.

CradlePoint introduces battery powered ‘Personal WiFi Hotspot” [EVDOinfo.com via Engadget]

Joel Johnson

Reborn Vase Concept Dries Flowers for Display

Wholly unnecessary, the "Reborn" vase is still nigh-on brilliant in concept. It slowly turns your fresh cut flowers upside down over the course of a few days, the better to dry them, then brings them back upright after they've dried. There's absolutely no reason that this concept should ever be made into a real product, but there's a poetry to the idea I find really appealing. This is the kind of stuff I'd love to see more of if the impact from the production were less of an issue. Until then, a little bit of a twine and a rafter will have to do.

Flower Power Fun From A Vase [YankoDesign.com]

Joel Johnson

Make Fireplace Logs Out of Old Newspaper

I love fire. It's the best. So simple. So easy to understand. Sometimes I think I smoke cigarettes just so I can keep a lighter around.

Which is to say: I don't have a fireplace. This winter I'll be snuggling up to an electric heater with a mug of warm Gatorade, as per traditional in New York. Naked and alone, slathered in Chinese take-out, exactly as each of my friends instructed me to do when I asked them if I could come over for the holidays.

Which is to try again to say: I have no need for a "Newspaper Brick Maker," a device with which to smoosh damp newspaper into bricks for burning in the fireplace. It's nowhere as good as recycling the paper, of course. In fact, it's probably worse than just throwing it away, since it will release the carbon into the air instead of going back into the ground.

Which is to finally say: I guess don't buy this $30 press. But I think that it's a neat idea. Pity about that whole environment thing.

Catalog Page [TaylorGifts.com via Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

SideSwipe Blade Keeps Mixer Bowls Clean

The SideSwipe Mixer Blade is an aftermarket addition for head-tilt stand mixers which adds silicone fins that keep the sides of the bowl scrapped clean, preventing wasted dough, but also precluding the joys of licking the bowl.

It's $25. Versions for bowl-lift KitchenAids, Cuisinart, and Kenwood mixers are expected next year.

(Warning: The link at The Kitchn includes a video that auto-plays.)

Product Page [SideSwipeBlade.com via TheKitchen.com]

Joel Johnson

"Auto Suck" Road Head Simulator Reviewed (Verdict: "AAA")

In this pun-filled review, Freddy and Eddy gave the "Auto Suck," a cigarette lighter-powered fellatio simulator, an extremely positive score.

Value priced at $38 the Auto Suck is worth every penny. It’s perfect for road trips, camping, trucking, a limo ride, or just a quick lunch hour spent in the car. The power cord is easily long enough to reach just about anywhere in the vehicle, including the back seat. No emergency kit should be without it.

Auto Suck [FreddyAndEddy.com] (Thanks, Bryan!)

Joel Johnson

Acorn-Shaped Wooden MP3 Player

This wooden MP3 player, dubbed the "ACORN" for obvious reasons, is just 35mm tall. A small joystick on the top would seem to control playback, but I really hope that they somehow incorporated a twist on the cap to control something else, such as volume. A standard minijack connection comes out fo the bottom.

It is just super adorable, with loads more charm than any iPod Shuffle.

The internals are apparently based on the same "DIY DAP" hardware that Evergreen already sells for around $40, which make it simple to craft your own shell for the simple players.

An ACORN DAP from EverGreen [AkihabaraNews.com via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Gag-Sized MP3 Player

Image: B. Reinier

MP3 decoding hardware is now so inexpensive that it can be placed into outsized gag gifts, like this "Colossal"-brand MP3 player available for sell at what appears to be your average crapstore. Is it sad that I sort of want one?

COLOSSAL MP3 Ppayer [Flickr via Engadget]

Joel Johnson

Video: Japan's Dekochari Art Bicycles

You've all probably seen the crazy custom vans and ornate heavy trucks in Japan, but perhaps you've yet to have been exposed to the dekochari, flashing, mobile carnivals built on bicycles. The above video is from a documentary about the phenomenon, set to the song "Ichiban-boshi Blues," which was the theme to a movie from the '70s that, according to Pink Tentacle, sparked the whole "decorate things in a crazy fashion" dekotota trend.

Dekochari art bikes (video) [Pink Tentacle]

Joel Johnson

Cord Lamp is (Snake) Charming

It doesn't get more simple than the "Cord Lamp," a $150 lamp that transitions seamlessly from cord to turgid stand. It's $150 at the San Francisco MOMA store, but I bet an enterprising maker could find a way to stiffen a standard cord for less. If you could find just a cord with a light fixture in the first place!

Catalog Page [SFMOMMA.stores.yahoo.net via Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

G4's Floppy Disk Invite

G4's CES event invitations this year came printed on a 5.25-inch floppy disk. It makes me wish I had a still-functional drive around to see if there's anything on it. (The only one I know I still own is an old TRS-80 and it's sitting in a shed in Missouri.)

Joel Johnson

Bacteria Figurines Based on Moyashimon Manga

These bacteria figurines are apparently based on characters in the manga/anime series Moyashimon (a.k.a. "Tales of Agriculture", in which a student at an agricultural university discovers he can communicate with bacteria and other microorganisms.

They are very likely available only in Japan.

BACTERIA FIGURE TOYS [Hobby Blog]

Joel Johnson

Best Rechargeable Battery Kit?

Every time I buy a pack of disposable AAs I think this is the last time. Then I glance at the retail prices of rechargeable battery kits and cringe, thinking there must surely be a better option than paying the off-the-shelf prices. It's time for my hypocrisy to be amended.

I could have sworn I'd asked this same question of you all before, but try as I might I can't find it in the archives, so let's go again: What's the best place to buy a set of AA batteries and a charger? I'm happy to pay for quality, but cheap enough that I want to know I'm getting the best deal.

Joel Johnson

Steampunk, Anglepoise Webcam is No Mod

Could the cheap Chinese manufacturers be sniffing out our propensity for steampunk computer peripherals? This "Driverless Webcam" has an obviously anachro-fantastic design, although its $12 price belies its plastic construction. Still: shiny! (For me it's less about the admittedly attractive top and more about the articulated arm. If I owned my residence, I'd put every screen I have on some sort of counter-levered arm, and perhaps keyboards and other peripherals, too.)

Don't let that cheap price lure you, though. Apparently the shipping starts around $26, so you might want to wait until someone imports a crate of these things via tramp steamer.

Product Page [ChinaVIsion.com via Brass Goggles]

Joel Johnson

The Fascination: Nebraska's Three-Wheeled Space Car

While the three-wheeled "Fascination" looks to have been constructed in full-sized prototype form in the early '70s, its engine, a "Nobel Gas Plasma Engine" that needed no fuel to operate 60,000 miles, was not. (Wonder why!)

A reader to PopCult magazine offered this first-hand experience:

It was a very cool car. I even rode in it once or twice! Quite a revolutionary design, too. It had air-filled rubber shock absorbers like on today's buses. It had a mid-engine design, behind the back seats, and the engines were going to be from Renault–I think they were Wankel or rotary engines. I don't remember anything about "Nobel Gas-Plasma Engines" that the website mentions. Because it was mid-engine, the front of the car was very light. Supposedly, if it got hit broadside, it would just spin around on the back wheels.

Because it only had three wheels, you could drive it into a ditch and you'd never lose contact with any of the wheels and the road. You could also turn the front wheel almost perpendicular to the car, which meant you could turn nearly in its own radius, and you could parallel park with about 12 inches of total clearance. It got 40 or so mpg.

A space age transportation innovation [PopCultMag.com]

[via Core77]

Previously: Aptera Three-Wheeled Electric Car May Reach Production [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Gomboc: World's First Self-Righting Object

The "Gomboc" is a mono-monostatic object, a three-dimensional thing that has only one way to stand up. Like a weeble, you might offer. (I'd be right there with you.) But apparently, no. While a Weeble could in theory be balanced on its opposite, egg-shaped side, the Gomboc is only stable at a single point. It is therefor always self-righting. (Plus, the Weeble rights itself because of extra weight in its ample bottom, while the Gomboc is the same density throughout.)

The scientists who discovered the Gomboc shape are now selling acrylic versions of the same online, each with a special serial number and certificate. Unfortunately, each one starts at €900, with an additional cost based on its serial number. Seems a bit over the top for what is ultimately just a lump of plastic.

Self-Righting Object, The [NYTimes.com]
Project/Product Page [Gomboc.eu via Metafilter]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Band of Brothers complete DVD series set for $26, shipped. [Slickdeals]

• Play-Doh kit in a retro canister with lots of tools for $8 on Amazon. [Slickdeals]

• Buy one, get one free Blu-Rays movies. [Dealnews]

• Craftsman C3 6-piece 19.2-volt combo power tool kit, including drill, two saws, sander, and hand vac for $135, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Polaroid Ultra-Compact 7 Megapixel Digital Camera for $85, shipped.

Joel Johnson

First/Worst: Online Nickname?

When I began to bop around the dial-up BBSes of the Greater Kansas City area as a pre-teen, I dubbed myself "Captain Dude," pilot of good ship "Icewind Dale" in Trade Wars 2002.

My second handle was, of course, "Drizzt."

Joel Johnson

Push Presents: When Creating Life Just Isn't Enough

While not about gadgets, this article in the Times, "A Bundle of Joy Isn’t Enough?" about gifts given to mothers to commemorate the birth of their babies, is reflective of the vile priorities we've cultivated in this consumer society.

In a more innocent age, new mothers generally considered their babies to be the greatest gift imaginable. Today, they are likely to want some sort of tangible bonus as well.

This bonus goes by various names. Some call it the “baby mama gift.” Others refer to it as the “baby bauble.” But it’s most popularly known as the “push present.”

...

Michael Toback, a jewelry supplier in Manhattan’s diamond district, traces the practice to a new posture of assertiveness by women. “You know, ‘Honey, you wanted this child as much as I did. So I want this,’” he said.

...

In the recovery room, her husband, Paul, presented her with a pair of diamond earrings. “I was on cloud nine,” Ms. Slosberg said. “It was the perfect present to make a frazzled, sleep-deprived, first-time mommy feel absolutely glamorous.”

She added, “I wonder what 17 hours of labor will get me next time?”

A Bundle of Joy Isn’t Enough? [NYTimes.com]

Joel Johnson

World's *est: Nextlink Invisio G5 Bluetooth Headset

Nextlink, whose older "AX" model was the only Bluetooth headset I could be arsed to keep in my pocket (until I gave it away), has announced the "Invisio G5," purported to be the world's smallest. Whether it is or not, it's a just a wisp of a thing, weighing less than six grams. It's not much bigger than an actual tooth—or much smaller, depending on your species.

Of course battery life will be affected by the fact that there's little space to stash a capacious one, but the G5 looks to do alright, with four hours of talk time and 150 hours of standby. As long as you remember to charge it as often as you do your phone you'll probably be alright.

I like the look, too. In fact, were it not available only in Europe at the moment, I might consider taking the leap to Bluetooth again, even though I currently have a perfectly functional headphones/mic combination at the moment.

The G5 is about $160 in U.S. monies.

Product Page [Nextlink.to via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Jeremy Clarkson Rides in Autonomous Auto

Jeremy Clarkson, host of perhaps my favorite television show Top Gear, took out a modified BMW 3-series on last week's show. The car was driven around the track once by a human, recording telemetry, and then played back the course using a combination of that data and military-grade GPS data at speeds of up to 100 MPH.

We're getting closer and closer to pilotless cars!

(Hey, what's the name of that short story, probably several decades old, about the family that gets trapped in the car that won't stop driving and refueling, causing them to eventually die? I remember the story, but nothing about its name or author.)

[via Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

Noah Shachtman on the FujiFilm S6000fd Camera

Danger Room's Noah Shachtman took a FujiFilm S6000 DSLR-alike with him on his last trip to Iraq. The photos came out fine—when he could keep the batteries in the camera.

For example, one day in Fallujah, I jumped out of a Humvee, to snap a couple of shots of a food run that wasn't exactly playing out according to plan. The batteries all spilled to the floor of the truck. So I spent a couple of minutes scooping up Duracells, instead of documenting what went down. The same thing happened over and over again, during my month in Iraq: any time I really wanted a picture, the batteries would come flying out of the camera. Not even a heavy application of duct tape could keep this alkaline equivalent of projectile vomiting from happening. It's like the camera was South Park's Stan, and there was always a cute girl on the playground.

My Puke-on-Command Camera [Danger Room]

Joel Johnson

Zenith Flash-Matic: World's First Wireless TV Remote

The "Flash-Matic" was the first wireless television remote control, develop by Zenith.

From Zenith's remote history page:

Zenith engineer Eugene Polley invented the "Flashmatic," which represented the industry's first wireless TV remote. Introduced in 1955, Flashmatic operated by means of four photo cells, one in each corner of the TV screen. The viewer used a highly directional flashlight to activate the four control functions, which turned the picture and sound on and off and changed channels by turning the tuner dial clockwise and counter-clockwise.

While it pioneered the concept of wireless TV remote control, the Flashmatic had some limitations. It was a simple device that had no protection circuits and, if the TV sat in an area in which the sun shone directly on it, the tuner might start rotating.

Flash-Matic Tuning [J-Walkblog] (Thanks, John!)

Joel Johnson

Home Is Where Their Hearts Are: A Boing Boing Gadgets Holiday Deployment Checklist

From darkest Amazon, a selection of essential items with which the holiday stay with your family may be enjoyed with little-to-no emotional, social, or evidential trace.

Three-Hole Ski Mask

Expose only the minimum amount of flesh to your family at dinner, cooly slipping one centimeter lengths of candy cane into your mouth at constant rate, the resonant crunch drowning out their insipid prattle. Small holes in the side will allow the addition of sunglasses, further protecting you from eye contact.

$5

Sclerotome Pain Chart

Great as a conversation starter—and ender—this handy Sclerotome Pain Chart shows embryological sclerotome pain pathways, the better to pinpoint sclerotogenous pain from spinal levels C-1 through S-3. Ball peen not included.

$55

SVAT Imitation Security Dome

While the temporary nature of your stay may prevent the installation of proper security features, the SVAT ISC302 Outdoor Imitation Dome Security Camera with Blinking LED will keep them guessing while you install what meager protections you can muster. Perfect for the bathroom, or directly over the piles of presents.

$20

Hornady 7mm RemMag 139Gr IB Hvy Mag/20

Hornady's proprietary bonding process keeps the core and jacket together no matter where the bullet may penetrate, maintaining 90% of its mass even through "tough hides and bone." The InterBond, with its premium polymer tip, delivers "deep penetration and a destructive wound channel."

A classic stocking stuffer.

$46

An Historic Photo Print

Liven up your kid sister's room with a tranquil historic print. We suggest this rustic scene depicting the garroting of a prisoner at Bilibid Prison in the Philippines. Also available printed on a pack of 20 greeting cards, perfect for sending out holiday wishes for those too far to touch in person.

$30

Anti-Riot Tactical Helmet

It's the part of the holidays no one wants to discuss, but we know in our crystalline cores to be true. Someone is going to fuck the mashed potatoes. Be ready.

$60

Lock Jaw Door Security Device

Sure, the deadbolt you installed last year is still in place, but anyone with a bump key and a thirst for blood can pop the lock while you recharge. Add this additional security to the door, where its high-grade alloy and titanium brass plating will prevent anyone from entering without your permission—even if they have the key.

Even if they made you make a second key.

They made you.

$20

Ancient Art Of Strangulation (Paperback) by Haha Lung

The holidays are no time for serious mental edification, so kick back with a little light reading. Dr. Lung takes a spirited romp through the history of the Thuggee, the murderous cult who took strangulation out of Borscht Belt clubs into the national spotlight.

$15

Relaxman Relaxation Capsule

Preprogrammed music and lights lull you into a somber catatonia of reflection, priming the brain for subconscious tactical planning. A rested mind is a scheming mind!

The Relaxman is completely heat and light proof, so be sure to keep your immediate location as secure and tango-free as possible.

$40,000

Squeeze – Greatest Hits

The holidays aren't just for old traditions. Make a few new ones! Make gathering in a circle around a single flame in the darkness listening to hit songs from U.K. new wave band Squeeze—"Another Nail In My Heart"; "Trust Me To Open My Mouth"; "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)"; "Tempted"; "Annie Get Your Gun"; "No Place Like Home"—a new tradition to be passed on through the generations.

$10

Fresh Whole Rabbit

Rabbit meat is one of nature's secret power sources, made entirely from rabbits. These whole carcasses from Cloverdale keep for weeks at room temperature, suffer no documented cases Tularemia (rabbit fever), and can even be cooked.

(Don't neglect to view the "Customers Who Bought Items Like This Also Bought" selections.)

$39

Joel Johnson

Roland SH-101 Synthesizer Cake

This fantastic cake is a tribute to the Roland SH-101 synthesizer, with Kit-Kat black keys, Rollo knobs, and sliders made from Andes mints. Adorable.

at long last! [Livejournal.com/synth_widows via Music Thing]

Joel Johnson

IceDozer Plus Scraper

The "IceDozer Plus" purports to be more than just a flimsy ice scraper, capable of removing tenacious ice with a minimum of effort. Its main gimmick are "carbide style Tenderizers™" on one side of the scraper, which when smashed down into the ice, crack the ice without scratching your windows. The loosened ice scrapes apart more easily using the traditional blade on the other side. There's even a mini "Pocket Dozer" that slides out from the IceDozer Plus that can be used for mirrors or any other oddly-shaped bits of glass.

I haven't scraped ice off a car window in over half a decade, but I used to loathe it. Dropping a $20 on IceDozer Plus—if it works—still intrigues me. I mean, it's yellow. Everybody knows yellow things are tough.

My worst ice scraping experience? I had this old Ford minivan that my mom gave me, the ones that looked vaguely like shuttlecraft. Aerostar, I think. It had ridges along the top, presumably to better sluice rain off the back while driving.

We had a big ice storm one year. A sheet of ice, probably four inches thick, had built up on the top of the van. Enough that I was worried about it coming off when I was driving down the highway to work. It could have killed someone.

I hammered the top of the ice with my fists for a few minutes, when it finally cracked in two. It was then I realized I was parked on a slope. The ridges on the top of the van, now ice-filled, guided the sheet off the roof and down the windshield, shearing off the entire wiper assembly.

From then on, every time it rained, I had to pull over. Preferably under an overpass watching the rain as semis blew past. I loved that van.

Product Page [InnovationFactory.com via Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Lo, a Pale Green: Pantone Matryoshka Dolls, Cabbage Vases

These subtle little Matryoshka nesting dolls are based on the Pantone color scheme, each one embossed with the corresponding catalog number. Designed by Yar Rassadin, they appear to be just a one-off project, not a for-sale product.

These cabbage vases, however, hand made in South Africa, are for sale at Anthropolgie. The two slender vases are $200, while the set of four are sold for $250.

They'd all look quite fetching together on a shelf, dolls fading into cabbage. Until someone gets out the flesh-colored spray paint, at least.

Pantone Matroyshka [Rassadin.com via Josh Spear]
Cabbge Vases [Apartment Therapy]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• 70% off all Leap Frog books that are $4 or more. [Bargainist]

• Refurbished Macbook (Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz) for $800, shipped. [Dealnews]

• M-Audio MobilePre Portable USB Audio Interface for $106, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Simple personal sewing kit for $7, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Woot-off!

Joel Johnson

Blowing Out the Dust: Afternoon Edition

• Sock It Koizumi – Chris Kohler's fantastic sit-down with Super Mario Galaxy director Yoshiaki Koizumi. [Game|Life]

• God Bless Us, Every One – "Recalls Are A Headache For Toy Drive Organizers." Check if your toys are safe at HealthyToys.org. [Consumerist]

• Bounty Punters – Neuros and DVRUpgrade offer a bounty for making the OSD and TiVo interoperate. [DVRUpgrade]

• Pod People – Earth2Tech has a short piece with Aptera founder Steve Fambro about his electric car company, including plans to produce a car that doesn't look like a space suppository. [Earth2Tech]

• 10. Coated in Your Own Filth – "9 Alternative Ways To Search Amazon" [Consumerist]

Joel Johnson

Clever Cigarette Pack Lid

I don't quite understand how it works from just looking at the picture, but according to Trends in Japan, this special-edition cigarette pack in Japan "opens and closes automatically when you push from the bottom." Looks like it's all mechanical to me, not electrical. Still, I love new ways to continue to die.

Lark Artist Pack series: Japanese cigarette branding [Kilian-Nakamura.com]

Joel Johnson

Glucoboy: Blood Sugar Testing via Game Boy

The Glucoboy is a blood glucose meter built into Game Boy Advance cartridge. The more a child tests his blood sugar, the more points he earns, unlocking mini-games.

Perhaps it will be incentive enough if it's the only cartridge they own, but obviously nothing is stopping the kids from popping in another game instead of sticking themselves with a pin. Still, can't hurt, right?

The Glucoboy is available down under for $260 down under dollars.

Product Page [Glucoboy.com via Oh Gizmo via Joystiq via Next-Gen.biz via Game|Life via Hippocratech.org]

Joel Johnson

It's Tractor Fight Thursday!

My cable modem is on the fritz, so I'm watching this video in a coffee shop with the sound turned off. That makes it much easier to imagine this set to a variety of musical soundtracks. At the moment, these men are riding these tractors Into the Danger Zone.

[via Jalopnik]

Joel Johnson

Knitted Light Fixture

Apartment Therapy spotted this lovely light fixture in the Michelle Varian boutique in Manhattan. It's knitted! (And apparently mega-starched.)

Look!: More Knit Lighting at Michelle Varian [ApartmentTherapy.com]

Joel Johnson

Quotable: Om on Open AT&T

Om Malik, responding to an all-sugar, no-coke story about AT&T's new network "openness" in USA Today:

I think the bigger issue here is that we really need to get companies to define what they mean by OPEN. Open handsets, open networks, open applications, open operating systems — some combination of those, or all of them? Otherwise, I might have to start translating OPEN into "We're Scared of Google."

Joel Johnson

That Which Was Borked is Unborked

Sorry about that. We had some tech bloops this morning that delayed the posting of some stories and added a login prompt once they did go live. Should be groovy gravy now, but I apologize for the hassle.

Joel Johnson

Gilt Safes Lined with Exotic Wood

Perhaps the ultimate accessory for the gilded wealthy: the ostentatiously obvious gold-plated safe. Traum manufacturers a variety of custom-built safes with modern designs, constructred from high-end materials including exotic woods. Perhaps the company would be better named "Taunt," every safe topped with a golden fist with a middle finger upturned to thieves.

If you can consider purchasing one, you aren't concerned with the price.

Company Page [TraumSafe.com via Cool Hunting]

Joel Johnson

Did Seiko Ever Make the Second, Much Cooler Final Fantasy Watch?

In 2001, before we all realized that the animated Final Fantasy movie was going to be garbage, Seiko announced two watch designs based on the one worn by the movie's heroine, Dr. Aki. Rather, they announced one watch, but showed a picture with a second view that looked quite a bit like a second design.

The face of the watch looks relatively pedestrian for a "futurey" watch these days, but at the time it was shockingly fresh, especially when imagined to be part of a hefty metal cuff with thick buttons. The watch that Seiko ended up releasing, including a limited run here in the U.S., looked basically the same as the design on the left.

If you look at the released watch, you can see that it has a pretty standard plastic band along the back. (Someone is selling one on eBay for $750, a $550 premium over its original cost here in the States. Their auction has lots of pictures, including one that shows the back.)

Anyone know if the second cuff was actually released in Japan? Or was it simply a mock-up which Seiko decided was too much trouble or too expensive to produce? I've asked Seiko about it, but I doubt answering questions about a seven-year-old limited-edition watch is going to be a top priority for them.

Joel Johnson

Adesso AKP-170 Mouse with Built-In Numeric Keypad

We're all suckers for something. I've weaned myself off of expensive things, for the most part. (I did just spend a few hundred bucks on LEGO, but at least it was a good deal. Or so I tell myself.) But a few lusts linger.

Numeric keypads, though. Boy. Maybe it's from years spent playing first-person shooters that required all nine keys and the halo of operators before we collectively realized that WASD gave even more options*. Or perhaps the time I scored the office record at the temporary agency on the ten-key test. Whatever it is, I find them irresistible, despite that I have a perfectly functional one on the very keyboard from which I am now inputing.

I'll resist this AKP-170 mouse from Adesso, which hides a ten-key with oh-so-luxurious backspace key, pined after by data entry professionals everywhere. Not without shedding a single metallic tear, mind you. Because not only is this thing available for sale, but it can be purchased by the case.

Product Page [Adesso via CrunchGear]

* Thanks, Tribes! VAV!

Joel Johnson

Sony Apple Remote Concept by Jason Roebuck

Typically, product concepts that include brand names are improbable junk. How often have you seen a concept imagined to be from Apple or Sony that has real appeal? Rarely!

This one, though. This one does alright. Designer Jason Roebuck conflated two tenants of the common coffee table into one: television remotes and a bowl of fruit.

Sure, it's not practical. Controlling your television with a Wii-like wave of a wand might be a chore. And the need for a remote for each member of the family seems wasteful. But as far as designs that exist only as rendered concepts go, it's has a pull that few manage: I want to know what those remotes would feel like in my hand.

Apple Remote But Not By Apple [Yanko Design]

Joel Johnson

Dangerous Knock-Offs

Consumer Reports mulls counterfeit merchandise, now moved beyond the occasional knock-off purse or iPod into things that could actually harm you. And not because they're filled with lead or anything—because they may cause your car to go careening out of control.

Fakes include truly unsafe merchandise. Investigators have seized brake pads made of kitty litter, sawdust, and dried grass; power strips, extension cords, and smoke alarms with phony Underwriters Laboratories (UL) marks; medical test kits that give faulty readings; toothpaste made with a chemical found in antifreeze; and cell-phone batteries that could explode. Online drugstores claiming to operate from Canada but actually based in other countries have peddled "Lipitor" and "Celebrex" pills stored under uncontrolled conditions and containing the wrong active ingredients.

That's just for starters. Among the counterfeit merchandise is some you would suspect: handbags, clothes, watches, and amusingly renamed colognes such as Essey Miyami instead of Issey Miyake. But there are also surprising fakes: golf balls, oil filters, and baby formula, for example. With some, the low price is a giveaway (a $2,000 Prada purse for $35?). Others are priced close to retail to fool you.

Real or fake? [ConsumerReports.org via Consumerist]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Lots of cheap toys at Amazon. Free shipping on orders over $25. Feel the consumption. [Slickdeals]

• Transformers Beatmix Bumblebee Dancing Speaker for $12, also at Amazon. [Slickdeals]

• Gen Sound GT-USB USB Turnable for $80, after $30 rebate. Not a super deal; just thought it was kind of nifty. [Dealnews]

• Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 705, $60 shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot!: a Micro Remote Control Helicopter for $15, shipped. Best toy ever and a fair price. Seriously. Buy one right now.

Joel Johnson

Zap-A-Bug Racquet Electrifies Bugminton

Combining two of our favorite pastimes—misappropriation of athletic equipment and electrocution—the "Zap-A-Bug" electric racquet sends an indeterminate amount of voltage through a mesh screen, the better to both knock flying pests out of a the sky and cook them before they hit the ground. With a child-safety switch and a rubberized non-stick handle, the Zap-A-Bug racquet is both fun and safe. And it's only $25, shipped, giving it a cost-per-hours-of-fun factor orders of magnitude beyond most tennis equipment.

As This Old House's "Hardware Aisle" aptly notes: "Advantage: Humans."

Product Page [Firestore.com via Harwdare Aisle]

Joel Johnson

CES Restricting Photography of Gadgets Out for All to See

Gadget Lab's Rob Beschizza has spotted an especially onerous proviso in the FAQ page for this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the dreadful orgy of electronics held each January in Las Vegas: show goers, of which there are literally tens of thousands, will not be allowed to photograph products shown in booths without the express permission of the exhibitors.

From the FAQ:

Under no circumstance will anyone be permitted to take pictures of an exhibitor's product without the permission of the exhibitor. Many products on display at CES are unique, innovative, one-of-a-kind or prototype items. Exhibitors have the right to report to security any instance of inappropriate photographing of company products or displays.

Bullshit.

CES exists for two primary reasons: showing new products to retail buyers who are looking to plan inventory purchases to fill up stores cleaned out by holiday shopping and to promote the latest new products to consumers via the coverage provided by enthusiast and mainstream media. Anyone who has covered CES in the past has had a forceful sales drone literally throw themselves between cameras and their products, chiding for attempting to show their products to the world outside of their carefully orchestrated marketing. This against our primary role as media and the show's raison d'etre: to show new products to potential customers.

The show is held primarily in the Las Vegas Convention Center, a facility managed and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), a self-described "quasi-governmental agency," established by state law and funded by a county room tax. Having been constructed in 1959 from public tax money and expanded several times, including once in 1972 by funds generated through the sale of bonds by Clark County, the convention center is "publicly owned and operated," according to the man I spoke to this morning at the LCVCA's Research Department.

Because room taxes provide the majority of the funding, the "Convention Center and Cashman Center are not intended to be self-supporting but to generate convention, tourism, and business activity within Clark County," according to the LVCCA's 2006 SEC disclosure report.

I am still waiting for a response from the LVCVA (it's still fairly early out there), but CES is not the only trade show to ban or restrict photography on the floor. The International Council of Shopping Centers, for instance, bans photography entirely.

The point remains. CES is a trade show designed to promote new products to not only the thousands of attendees, but millions of consumer electronics enthusiasts. If exhibitors want to protect their products from being photographed, they should rent a private hotel or conference room. This is exactly how most large companies already protect their prototypes and "secret" products from leaks.

Update: A spokesperson for the LVCVA called me this morning and said that, while not comfortable giving a final proclamation, that the Convention Center is a public facility, but can be rented for private events. When I asked him if the fact that the Convention Center is a public-owned space might affect the rights of show-goers to take pictures, he said "That's a good question!" and referred us to the LVCVA's legal counsel.

In addition, Gizmodo's Adrian Covert was kind enough to pass on this interaction he had this morning with CES's press office that suggests the unofficial CES policy runs counter to the one stated in their FAQ.

From the the CE.org email to Adrian:

Thanks for your inquiry. I don't believe you need special credentials to shoot digital or video cameras on the show floor. We used to require all press to have security stickers that we gave out in the press room on all their equipment but we stopped doing that last year or the year before. Having a press/blogger badge helps, but I don't think it's required. In other words, general attendees can shoot floor footage as well as press.

Joel Johnson

Zigview S2 Digital Viewfinder Extends Your DSLR's Utility

The Zigview S2 Digital Viewfinder clips onto the optical viewfinder of your DSLR, adding a swiveling live 2.5-inch LCD display that can not only be extended on a cable as a remote, but can also automatically trigger the camera when it detects motion. That makes it possible to mount your camera in odd places or to snap photos of wildlife that might otherwise be sketched out by the presence of a human.

It's only £230, too, which seems fairly reasonable for the amount of flexibility it would add to your rig. The S2 works on a variety of DSLRs from various brands, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, and Fuji. (But not, for some reason, on the entry-level Canon Rebel series, which is what I own.)

While you're waiting behind a blind to capture your latest snapshot, you could occupy your time by trying to identify bird songs with this Birdsong Scanning Wand, which plays one of 206 bird song sound files when scanned over the corresponding picture the included booklet. It's $100.

Z2 Catalog Page [Speedgraphic.co.uk via Red Ferret]

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

Joel Johnson

Wonder Sauna Hot Pants

Sometimes I wonder: When did American consumer culture reach the point of no return? (Most commonly I wonder this while nibbling a single chip from a family-sized bag of Doritos, tossing the remainder into an incinerator, since I only fill my bodily temple with the most unsullied "chosen" chips.)

I now have an answer: sometime in the '70s, when the Wonder Sauna Hot Pants were first offered to the public.

(Thanks, Burgletime!)

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• LEGO Furniture Sale: 80% off remaining items at the LEGO store. [Dealnews]

• Sanyo Xacti HD700 HD Camcorder for $300 at Amazon. [Dealnews]

• Sony Bravia 46" 1080p Widescreen LCD HDTV + home theater system for $2,000, in-store pick-up at Sears only. [Dealnews]

• Sennheiser RS100 Wireless Headphones for $56, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Altec Lansing M604 Powered Audio System for Zune for $45, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Metal-Detecting R/C Car

Who knows how effective this tiny metal-detecting R/C car might really be, but it certainly makes holding the sensor just above the ground very simple, even as it limits the amount of places you might be able to use it. But even if you were just running it through the grass at a local park picking up loose change and used needles it would be more fun than a traditional metal-detecting wand.

It's £50 and includes real "gold coin replicas."

I have a feeling my father's slight preoccupation with South Florida treasure hunting may result in something similar as he enters his later years, bombing down the beaches in a metal-detecting wheelchair.

Catalog Page [DrinkStuff.com via 7Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

Alchemy Traps E400 Electronic Portable Drums

What I know about drumming I've learned from a few weeks of Rock Band, so I leave it to actual drummers to test Alchemy Traps Drums' claim that their "Traps E400" set of electronic drums really are the "first portable electronic kit to feel like a regular drum kit." The nearly full-sized heads are certainly closer to real than the small plastic pads I recall from music videos in the '80s, but since the feel is only half the battle—they've got to sound good, too—I have no idea if these are a decent replacement for a real kit or just a £450 gimmick.

Any clue, drummers?

Catalog Page [DV247.com via Red Ferret]

Joel Johnson

I Stand By My Five Star Rating of Kane & Lynch and Intend to Play It Soon

The strange Gamespot/CNET/Jeff Gerstmann/Kane & Lynch/Eidos saga, which I haven't really gotten into here at all, has now included me in a peripheral way. (In short, CNET execs. fired Jeff Gerstmann, former editor of Gamespot, for the "tone" of his review of the game Kane & Lynch, presumably because of pressure from the publisher Eidos who pulled future advertising from Gamespot because of the low review Gerstmann had given the game. Basically all the negative things you hear about payola in videogame reviews seem to be true at Gamespot—or would have been soon, if the internet hadn't gotten up in arms about Gerstmann's firing.)

Anyway! I took a preview tour of Kane & Lynch at E3 earlier this year. I was actually impressed with the game at the time, despite myself. The characters looked possibly interesting—two despicable anti-heroes against a bunch of other hard-boiled criminals—they were referencing modern classics like Heat and Ronin, and the team responsible for development made a small game that never got much attention but that I rather enjoyed: Freedom Fighters. My preview was positive.

Now it turns out that on the German version of the Kane & Lynch site, a pull-quote from my preview has been put up next to a five-star rating. I just want to make it clear: Yes, I did give Kane & Lynch, a game I have yet to play, five stars in my "pre-review," or "review" for short. However, it must be noted that my scale goes far past five, up into the bushels, and stars rarely rate in my metric, ranking far below "plum tomatoes" and infinitely below the craved-after "waxy turnip."

If Eidos is not happy with my five-star rating, they know where to send a check. (Could you also include a copy of the game? Thanks.)

Did We Give Kane & Lynch 5 Stars? [Kotaku]

Joel Johnson

Drinkable Art

This gallery exposition by Hannes Broecker is comprised of nine frames, each filled with a colored cocktail that can be dispensed from the bottom. Gallery goers were encouraged to grab a glass and imbibe, drinking down the art.

In the process becoming art themselves!*

Hannes Broecker - Drink Away The Art [TheCoolHunter.com via Serious Eats]

* After I found this book of "The Art of Men's Magazines" down in the basement that turned out to be pretty much just porn, I've been really into art.

Joel Johnson

Play This Free Game Now: Passage

Where most games tell a story, Passage is just a sentence. But what a pregnant, forlorn sentence.

From start to finish, the game can be completed in five minutes. But there's no rush.

Game Page [HCSoftware.Sourceforge.net]

Joel Johnson

"God-Cleaner" Foot Bath Draws Out Toxins, Money

The "God-Cleaner" is a foot bath that, like the humble carpenter from Bethlehama, washes your feet with a sluice of ionized water. And like the Lizard of Judah, the God-Cleaner can liven any party by turning water into wine—as long as you define "wine" as a dubious puddle of foot jelly turning rusty from the body's drawn out "toxins." (Or, as Trends in Japan speculates, the oxidation of the water ionization element. My guess: a tiny clay idol secreted in the chassis, lending the unit fel power.)

Like the scale-covered messiah, hatched from an egg slipped from a fire-breathing virgin's chitinous vagina through the roof of a hay barn, he who trod upon Tokyo's Pharisees and overturned money-lending tables as big as bridges, the God-Cleaner is available only in Japan.

God-Cleaner for cleaning feet, not Gods [Killian-Nakamura.com]

Joel Johnson

Astone "Sit N Joy" Feels Few Emotions Humans Can Comprehend

Born in an effusion of murky company names like a carapaceod monster spraying from a foreign pleural womb, the Astone "Sit N Joy" inflatable massage chair—distributed by Axpertz, "Your Online Shopping Experts!!!"—is a ribbed chaise longue, each hump rattled meekly by four battery-powered vibrators. But that's not all! The Sit N Joy also includes built-in stereo speakers, the better to enjoy the sounds piped from the water-proof MP3 player cubby while sipping a drink stashed in the cup holder.

Seriously, relax. Let the warm air waft over your damp legs, as the Sit N Joy surrounds you in its squeaky embrace, its four separate air bladders keeping you perched safely above the water, not sinking slowly to the bottom of the pool in a venomous fog, its ovipositor rootering against the ridged sides of your trachea.

Catalog Page [Axpertz.com via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Deal: 7-Inch Video Screen for iPod (or Whatever) for $60

This "Sonic Impact Video 55 iPod Player" isn't as slick as it could be. The iPod doesn't actually dock inside the unit, but appears to attach via composite cables. But the price is right—just $60 for a 7-inch LCD with speakers, powered by its own internal battery. It used to cost $300, but at its discounted price it might be a decent option for a kid's video player. (Esp. if the kid has their own iPod or portable game system that does video out.)

Make sure you use code VID55 to get the final $20 off.

Catalog Page [Geeks.com via CrunchGear]

Joel Johnson

German-Made Precision Wrapping Paper Slitter

I'm not much for single-purpose tools, especially ones that can be obviated by a pair of sharp scissors held firmly half-open, but this "Precision Wrapping Paper Slitter" would be the perfect present to buy for a grandmother before Christmas, enticing her to wrap more presents than usual to maximize its full potential. It's $9 at X-Treme Geek, plus shipping.

Catalog Page [X-Treme Geek via Coolest-Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

Symbiotic Camera Cadges Power from Fluorescent Light

While the nature of the mounting mitigates any real ability to perform as "spy camera," the ring that slips around a fluorescent light bulb to harness the magnetic field generated by the light's normal operation is powerful enough to power both the camera and the Wi-Fi chip inside. The VGA-resolution camera, made by NEC, can snap images every 10 seconds, beaming them back to a PC.

If the ring doesn't cause any additional power to be drawn in the operation of the lamps—and using my rudimentary grasp of light bulbs I don't see how it would—then it's a very clever way to harness cast off electricity, even if it's only 120 milliwatts.

NEC spy camera draws its power from fluorescent light tubes [DigitalWorldTokyo.com]

Joel Johnson

Schroeder Hand Drill

What you see is what you get with this Schroeder hand drill: a simple, manual quarter-inch drill with an easily-maintained exposed metal drive. One of Cool Tools readers is a bit ga-ga over his:

used Fiskars hand drills for years but their inner gears are made of plastic and will strip out if you apply too much torque. They also can't be opened up for repair either, so once that happens it goes straight to the landfill, which is really disheartening. With the Schroeder, the solid, single gear is right there in the open. You have to hold it in your hands to appreciate it. Like the engineering in a 1970's Beemer or a piece of Shaker furniture, it's logical and simple, direct and pure.

Oh, you can pick up the Schroeder for $20-30.

Schroeder Hand Drill [Cool Tools]

Joel Johnson

Timberland HT2 Watch Has Too Much Time on its Hands

These HT2 watches from Timberland, festooned with dials and knobs, are the stylistic equivalent of a pachinko machine, bouncing the attention of the eye from post to bauble and back again, rewarding each glance with bankrupt distraction. Sometimes "overwrought" can be its own reward. Not this time.

If wearing the flattened, leathery carcass of a clockwork insect is your idea of a good time, prices start around $300.

timberland ht2 watch: everything but the kitchen sink [Technabob via Acquire]

Joel Johnson

Video: The Witcher Teaches Us How to Chat Up a Dryad

I had high hopes for The Witcher, a Polish videogame based on a series of fantasy novels. It was obviously a labor of love for its producers, who could be found lurking outside the press room at E3, too poor to afford a proper booth. And some PC role-playing game fans have found it to be quite a game, I've heard.

But there's no way to watch this small, vaguely NSFW clip from the game, where the eponymous hero seduces a mystical forest sprite by lauding the health benefits of casual sex, culminating in the award of a collect-'em-all pin-up card emblazoned with a seductive painting of his conquest, without weeping a little bit for the still-nascent sexual maturity of not just game players, but many game designers.

On the other hand: green boobs.

Joel Johnson

Future Verizon Phones Will Speak GSM and CDMA Both

Verizon keeps making head-scratchingly positive announcements. First last week's announcement of a network open to devices from third-parties. Today the adoption of "LTE," or "Long Term Evolution," a set of standards that will both pave the way towards simple IP packetizing (to get made-up-words technical) and, more importantly to most customers, allow phones that work on Verizon's CDMA network to also work on the GSM networks used by AT&T, T-Mobile, and most carriers in Europe and Africa. That will mean greater out-of-network roaming options, as well as the ability to transfer a phone's service permanently from one carrier to another. (In theory, at least.)

Verizon’s Real Move to Openness [Bits.Blogs.NYTimes.com via Gadget Lab]

Previously: Damning Video: Verizon Reps Misquote Rates 93% of the Time [BBG]
Leaked Verizon "Can You Hear Me Now?" Style Book is Hilarious [BBG]

Joel Johnson

MAKE's Open Source Hardware Gift Guide v2

Our friends at MAKE have announced their second "Open Source Hardware Gift Guide," full of lots of gift ideas for both the budding and fully-blossomed hardware hacker. I especially like this LED Mini Menorah, available for $10.

Open source hardware gift guide [Makezine.com]

Joel Johnson

Vintage Two-Piece Made from Cork (1939)

Finally, Boing Boing Gadgets' first cheesecake.

From Modern Mechanix:

BATHING suits made of cork have become the latest fad on the beaches of Italy. Designed in the most modern styles, the cork suits are not only attractive in appearance, but they also give buoyancy to the swimmer.

Bathing Suits Made Of Cork (Nov, 1939) [Modern Mechanix]

Joel Johnson

Updated LifeStraw Filters Water with Little Iodine Aftertaste

The original LifeStraw saw no shortage of merited coverage for long after its introduction. A simple device that can inexpensively filter a whole year's worth of water with little chance of failure? What's not to love?

Apparently, the taste of iodine—an unfortunate side-effect of the filtration process. Now a new version almost completely mitigates the iodine aftertaste, making it even more likely that people will use the LifeStraw to clean up their drinking water.

Lifestraw mark II - push to expand distribution of upgraded lifesaving invention [Gizmag]

Joel Johnson

Power House: Nifty Sustainable Living Project Kit for Kids

"Power House" is an intriguing project kit for children twelve and up, designed to teach about the benefits of intelligent and environmentally-friendly housing choices. The $130 kit includes not only everything necessary to build the frame of a simple house, but a motor and electric train that can be powered by solar cells or windmill, with measurements taken by thermometer. (I don't think you measure the efficiency of the train by thermometer, mind you. It's just the only benchmarking instrument that appears to be included.)

There are real seeds inside to teach kids about the addition of live plants to a clever home. One of the projects is to build a water desalination unit. Really, there are too many cool-sounding projects to list. My kid brother's gift is now purchased!

Catalog Page [DiscoverThis.com (or Amazon) via MoCo Loco] (Thanks, Jeff!)

Joel Johnson

Siemens Vacuum Dynamically Adjusts its Suck

While the suction power of the Siemens Z 4.0 vacuum cleaner can be adjusted for different surfaces like most normal vacuums, an "automatic" mode selects just the right amount of suction based on the amount of pressure being generated by the cleaning wand. Not profound enough to warrant tossing your old unit on the midden, but a welcome addition to future vacuums.

Siemens automatic vacuum cleaner self adjusts to the floor surface [Appliancist.com]

Joel Johnson

Two Moments of Irritation This Weekend

Saturday, when at a friend's apartment for a Rock Band party, the yellow pad on the drums peripheral stopped working just an hour into playing (and perhaps 10 hours into the total life of the unit). No one was drumming with any special vociferousness. We opened it up to discover that one of the two thin wires that connect to the cheap foil sensor at the bottom of the pad had broken free of its solder. I recommended we attempt to fix it, then wisely absconded when repairs started to take a turn towards the inevitable request for a hammer.

Last night, when adding new movies to my Blockbuster.com Total Access queue—I prefer Netflix's library, but there is a Blockbuster literally a few hundred feet from my apartment, which makes the "turn in your mailed video and get a free rental" service a real bargain—I was prompted to add my selections to the news feed of my Facebook account. Every time—despite clicking the checkbox to decline the offer. Worse, when I looked at my Facebook account later, it appeared that the selections appeared in Facebook anyway as part of their ridiculous "Beacon" auto-opt-in integration. It's the first time I've been grateful that Blockbuster.com doesn't offer porn.

Joel Johnson

Powder-Filled Gel "Pac" Mints Mistaken for Drugs by Narcos

The new "Ice Breakers Pacs" candy from Hershey have freaked out narcotics officers in Philadelphia because of their resemblance to bags of powered drugs. The candy, which is a gritty sugar sealed inside a gel bag that dissolves in your mouth, looks an awful lot like a little baggie of cocaine or heroin.

I had them at Sweet Spot. They were interesting technically, but not exactly appealing. We joked about their similarity to little baggies of drugs when we first saw them—drugs I've only seen in government-mandated anti-drug curriculum, officers—but the show attendants from Hershey didn't find our allusion very humorous.

Clearly, the street dealers' next move should be to make mint-infused drugs. That'll really confuse the cops.

Sugary Candy Looks Too Much Like Street Drugs, Cops Say [MyFoxPhilly.com via Crime Scene KC]

Joel Johnson

Video: Chinese Nintendo Wii Knock-Off Commercial

It's easy to think of Chinese knock-offs in cheap shrink wrap stacked high in open-air stalls, but being sold via moderately well-produced infomercial? That's how these guys are hawking the "Vii," a motion-controlled Nintendo Wii knock-off that goes so far as to steal the danced double-Is in the animated logo.

If anyone happens on a Vii in New York, let me know. I wouldn't mind buying one, but I'm not going to special order one from China.

Vii Commercial [DannyChoo.com via Japan Probe via Kotaku]

Joel Johnson

Presso Mechanical Espresso Maker Nearly Worth Buying

The "Presso" is an elegant, entirely mechanical espresso machine, made from cast aluminum, with a smartly designed piston that draws water through the same same piston through which it presses the coffee from the cylinder. According to coffee geek Jim Schulman, it's almost capable of making pretty decent espresso, especially if you mod the way the seal works like he did. Sadly, even post-mod, it doesn't appear to make coffee as easily as steam-powered units—it's just too difficult to get the temperature of the machine up to proper temperatures.

If Shulman's adventures with the Presso don't dissuade you, the coffee machines can be found online for around $100.

The $109.16 Goshshot Machine [Users.Ameritech.net via Coffeed.com] (Thanks, Anthony and Tonx!)

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• 12-pack Staples Mini Gel Stick Pens for $2, shipped. [Slickdeals]

• Pioneer Xbox 360 5.1-Channel Home Theater System for $100, shipped. (Will work just fine with things that aren't an Xbox, too. It's just a branding deal.) [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a SanDisk Sansa e260 4GB Media Player, refurbished, for $55.

Joel Johnson

Amazon LEGO Sales

Two quick blips today from Amazon: The LEGO Death Star set, once $300, is now $200. It's a huge set, but not my favorite of the large sets. (I prefer either the Star Destroyer or the Millennium Falcon, as would any right thinker.)

More interesting is the "Buy two, get one free" sale on select LEGO sets, including lots of Mindstorms sensors and the like.