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]

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.

I made an internet television.

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

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]

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]

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.

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]

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.)

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.

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]

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.

Also, Farhad, I got that egg-poaching toaster thing a couple of years back, too. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I bet you're going to discover washing all that crap out all the time is going to get pretty old. I'll admit, though, the McMuffin clones aren't half bad. Especially sausage.

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

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]

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]

• 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.

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]

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.

Toolmonger wasn't able to confirm if they're actually available yet in Home Depot, so if you spot one bop over there and let the 'mongers know. It should cost around $10 or so.

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

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]

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]

• 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.

• 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]

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?

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]

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]

"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]

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.

I remain ga-ga over the quality of pictures taken by those with no training. Keep these in mind the next time you try to convince yourself you need that $2,000 DSLR.

Faces from Lesotho [ChezPim.com]

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]

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!)

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]

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]

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]

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.

I'm pretty sure nothing I hear today is going to make me giggle more than that last phrase.

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!)

• 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.

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.

There is even a squeeze switch inside to control which pattern is displayed. (It doesn't actually appear to work as a television proper.) It's an awful lot like Chumby albeit with a more rubbery, textured surface instaed of plush. However you slice it, it's appealing, although unlik