Joel Johnson

"I Love My Electric Appliance!" Vintage Advertisements

Core77 has discovered this captivating Flickr pool, "I Love My Electric Appliance!" a collection of vintage advertisements showing women enraptured by their cutting-edge household gadgets.

I Love My Electric Appliance [Flickr.com via Core77]

Previously • Our Flickr Pools Still Bubbling; Welcome Intern Mk. II [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Sony's Real Life Holographic Water Monster in Tokyo Bay

To promote an upcoming monster movie, Sony Pictures installed a holographic rig in Tokyo Bay that projects the monster onto a haze of water. What you're seeing in the video wasn't added after the fact—that's actually what it looks like in real life.

[via Core77 via Tokyo Times]

Joel Johnson

Hand-Blown Incandescent Sculpture Bulbs from Dylan Kehde Roelofs

Dezeen is showing off the work of Dylan Kehde Roelofs, an artist that makes these superlative hand-blown glass light bulbs as "a reaction against the soulless glow of low-energy bulbs."

Prices range from around $200 to $1,300 and the "first filament replacement is free," although the sculptor suspects you'll get many thousands of hours out of a standard filament.

Artist's Page [IncandescentSculpture.com via Dezeen]

Joel Johnson

PUMA "Glow Rider" Glow-in-the-Dark Bicycle

A new bike from PUMA—yes, the shoe folk, but they do bikes now, too—glows in the dark. The "Glow Rider" appears to use glow-in-the-dark paint as opposed to some sort of EL rig-up and includes headlights and taillights, as well.

I wonder how brightly it glows. Any extra visibility would be welcome for a city bike.

I'M POSTING ANYTHING THAT GLOWS [KayneUniversity.com/blog]

Joel Johnson

Unit Dunn Visits Robot Village, New York's Robot Store

We sent Intern Brian Dunn over to Robot Village, New York's only store dedicated entirely to robots. He returned mostly unscathed.

Robot Village has been operating out of New York's Upper West Side since 2004. It's a one-of-a-kind store—its opening prompted the Yellow Pages to add a new "Robots" category. The store is either the beginnings of mankind's harmonious future with our mechanical brethren or a site of future agony during the inevitable robot revolution.

Robot Village carries a wide selection of robot-related goods, everything from novelty items like "Robot Vision" kaleidoscopes to high-tech toys like Pleo and i-SOBOT. It also has resources for building your own robots, including kid-friendly kits such as the RobotiKits line and more advanced ones such as Vexplorer and the LEGO Mindstorms NXT.

And if you really want to get your hands dirty, they carry microcontrollers, motors, sensors, and other parts to build your own robot with. In addition to their wares, they offer classes on robot building for both children and adults.

They have a demonstration table, with a variety of robots laid out for the customers' personal enjoyment.

Note the stack of R2s.

The workshop is a bit cluttered, but everyone knows that's a sign of quality. Organization hampers inventiveness.

I finished my visit with a lively robot battle against Rob, the technician in residence. These little bots go very fast and smash into each other.

For more photos of the place, you can check out my entire Flickr set.

Joel Johnson

Asus Takes Aim at iMac with New Eee Desktops

Asustek (you know them as "Asus," makers of the Eee sub-notebook) have announced the next products in the Eee family. It seems selling capable, good quality computers for low prices is an exciting and profitable business model.

• The E-DT, a desktop PC that will sell for between $200 and $300. (Snore.)

• The E-Monitor, an all-in-one computer with an integrated 19- to 21-inch LCD panel, a la the iMac or XPS One. Oh, and it'll include a TV tuner, too. All for $500.

• The E-TV, a 42-inch LCD TV with a built in PC that Asus estimates will cost no more than $200 over a similar LCD TV.

The E-Monitor in particular sounds great. Why buy a monitor for $250 when you can get a whole computer for twice as much? (Okay, that's probably not the most convincing way to phrase it.)

Asustek announces Eee family product lines [Digitimes.com]

Joel Johnson

LEGO Predator Head Bust

"Mister Zumbi" has created this wonderful Predator bust out of LEGO, suitable for placing in your alien study or music room. Dig that crazy base!

Gallery [Brickshelf.com via Bros. Brick]

Joel Johnson

Nuviphone: Garmin Announces First Credible iPhone Competitor

Last night, Garmin announced the "Nuviphone," a touchscreen smartphone with all the built-in GPS features you might expect from the company. Built around a 3.-5inch touchscreen with no dedicated buttons (at least on the front), the Nuviphone should be able to do pretty much everything the iPhone can do, like full-screen web browsing, email, and SMS over Wi-Fi or 3G (HSDPA). The GPS functions include points-of-interest information, photo and video automatic geotagging, and live traffic updates.

The only thing holding the Nuviphone back at the moment is a carrier, but considering their choice of 3G radio, AT&T is the likely choice when the phone launches later this year.

It looks like a hell of a device. As long as they put the same spit shine on the interface that Apple did, they could have a real contender on their hands.

Garmin hits iPhone directly with Nuviphone [Electronista.com]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Food Processor – KitchenAid Food Processor for $114, shipped, with additional $30 mail-in rebate. [Slickdeals]

• Tablet PC – Lenovo ThinkPad X60 12-inch Tablet PC for $851, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Xbox Games – Sevveral older (but decent) Xbox 360 games for under $20, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Bluetooth Headset – Today's Woot! is the Soyo Freestyler 500 Bluetooth Headset and Bluetooth USB for $18, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we have this very odd rotating toothbrush that takes two hands to use. I think I'll stick to my regular one.  Ever wonder how transatlantic telephone cables are repaired when they break? In 1930 a Popular Science reporter got to ride along and found out that it's really quite a pain in the ass. This 1934 Modern Mechanix roundup of gadgets for the home includes a combination toaster/skillet/heater along with a really dangerous idea for using it in the bathroom. Here is a very early attempt at an automobile heater for your feet. I'd much prefer to just live in this nifty RV that serves as home and office. Lastly we looked at cool restaurants that are in the shape of dogs, flowerpots, zeppelins and more.

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Videogame – Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Gold Edition for PC for $20 at Amazon. [Slickdeals]

• Laptop Desk – Meritline.com desk deals: Laptop desk for $23, desk / chair set for $35. Shipping is $14. [Dealnews]

• Tiny Point-and-Shoot – Today's Woot! Polaroid Ultra-Compact 8MP Digital Camera for $90, shipped.

Xeni Jardin

Report: some recent iPods won't work with iTunes video rentals

Wired News reports that some relatively late-model iPod owners are discovering that their devices don't work with Apple's newly-launched iTunes video rentals -- even though those iPod models have a video playback feature.

As of Tuesday, the issue had been raised multiple times in Apple's support forums. So far the company's only response has been to confirm that movie rentals work only with the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic and the third-generation iPod nano. Earlier iPods, including fifth-generation iPods sold before the September 2007 release of the sixth-generation iPod classic, are incompatible with rented videos.

CC-licensed image ganked from the photostream of Dan Taylor.

Joel Johnson

Tip: Check for Recalls on Broken Gear

Here's a smart reminder from Wisebread: If your gadget is broken, check for a recall before recycling it.

At any rate, he was right. I Googled the maker (Toshiba) and the model number (SD-3980SU2), and immediately came up with an information page about a recall. One 5-minute phone call later, and I am expecting a new, 2008 model of the DVD player to arrive within a couple of weeks. I will have to package up the old DVD player and mail it in, but a new DVD player is worth a trip to the post office any day in my book.

It Broke? Check for a Recall [Wisebread.com via Lifehacker]

Joel Johnson

1927 "Baby Bugatti" Recreation as Pedal Car

A French firm is selling unlicensed recreations of the 1927 Baby Bugatti. Their version is billed as a pedal car, unlike the battery-powered original, yet they say "battery-powered electric engine and wiring still have to be obtained by the prospective buyer." Perhaps there is a simple way to attach a motor to the drive train.

Or a not simple way! If you can swing €6,350 for a fancy go-kart, you can probably afford to hire a mechanic to rig the whole thing together.

Catalog Page [Singulier.com via Luxury Launches via Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Six Ugliest Space LEGO Sets

Dan Rutter gets in on the LEGO fun with this collection of god-awful designs that plagued the LEGO Space catalog in the last couple of decades. For as good as many LEGO models have been, there were the occasional turds.

Ol' 1593, here, I think suffered from New Elements Syndrome. It's like a bunch of new pieces came off the assembly line and the designers just started slapping them on like mad.

The Six Ugliest Space Lego Sets [Dan's Data]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we look at this wacky idea for a police plane that launches off of an automobile to pursue fleeing criminals.  Did you know that Francis Bacon started "The New Atlantis", the first science magazine, in 1620? Supposedly he predicted the coming of the submarine, ships without sails, sky scrapers, telephones and smellovision among other things. Want to provide entertainment for the kids, but still do your laundry? Build this combination clothes dryer and "Whirl Swing" in your back yard. This 1930 Popular Science collection of new gadgets is full of cool stuff, but by far the best are the fake ears for deaf people. We also take a look at a man who makes sculptures out of bottle caps and crymotherapy, a technique for fighting cancer that involves making the patient really, really cold.

Joel Johnson

ZFlyer R/C Astronaut Mini-Helicopter

Since little helicopters remain one of my favorite things, I feel duty bound to mention this "ZFlyer R/C Astronaut" model, despite the fact it appears to be the least engaging iteration of the idea thus far. Instead of actual control by remote, a small sensor in the bottom recognizes when the flyer is about to touch the ground, spinning the rotors back up to gain altitude. The manufacturers suggest using it like a tiny, electric hacky sack.

Or at least I think there's a sensor in the bottom. It could just be the nature of the downward thrust of the rotors which cause it to gain height when there is something for the wash to push against. That would mean it would have to be perfectly balanced between weight, rotor speed, and battery strength, and knowing how cheaply these things are made I find it more likely that there's just a little sensor.

The ZFlyer is available in the UK for £25, but is currently out of stock.

Catalog Page [ThumbsUpUK.com via Geek Alerts] (Thanks, Ali P.!)

Joel Johnson

Drop Stop Tea Strainer

The "Drop Stop" tea strainer allows you to steep loose leaf or bagged tea in the cup, then place the contraption on a table without making a mess. Not bad for $16.

I bet if the online retailer selling this used a better font on their site they could charge twice as much.

Catalog Page [UncommonGoods.com via Cool Hunting]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Windows Virtualization – VMWare Fusion for Mac OS X is $32 at Buy.com. $30 of that is a mail-in rebate, which sucks, but it's $18 off the $80 from the beginning. Fusion is like Parallels, but some say it's better. [Dealhack]

• Surround Speakers – Sony SA-FT1H 5.1-Channel Flat Panel Speaker System for $100, shipped. No receiver, but comes with stands, even. [Dealnews]

• Portable Speakers – Today's Woot! is the Philips Portable Speaker System - 2 Pack for $20, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Stylophone Reborn

The Stylophone, a '60s-era electric musical instrument with a metal keyboard activated by stylus, has been reissued, this time with a line-out and two new sounds. Stylophones make sound from an oscillator wired to a resistor—the stylus completes the circuit. They've been used with some frequency in pop music over the years, according to L'Wikipeaudeax.

The Stylophone appears on a few commercial recordings, most notably David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Slip Away" and the commercial rave single "Stylophonia" by Two Little Boys in 1991. Kraftwerk used the Stylophone on the track "Pocket Calculator" from their album Computer World. The British duo Erasure also employed it on the single "Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me" (from the album Cowboy in 1997) as well as on their 2000 album "Loveboat". In a lesser-known instance, the Stylophone is used for the bulk of Orbital's single, "Style". Marilyn Manson made use of it for "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3". They Might Be Giants played the Stylophone in several of their songs, including a number on their 2007 album, The Else. Jon Spencer has used the Stylophone extensively on recordings with his band Blues Explosion, and has famously had problems bringing the device — described as "the world's most annoying musical instrument" — through airport security.

Product Page [Firebox.com via Coolest-Gadgets]

Update: Firebox says they expect to have this in the US by the end of next month "if not sooner."

Joel Johnson

Manga Sub-Sub-Genre Ahoy!: Headphone Musume

These adorable musume pin-ups show Japanese waifs wearing top-shelf headphones from around the world. I don't know why and I don't care. I like it a lot. Then again, I'm a sucker for a girl with huge headphones.

Yes, I could have punned "cans." I'm keeping it classy for you. (I really do think girls with headphones on are super-cute, though.)

Gallery Page [ww2.117.ne.jp/~ota-beam] (Thanks, xmas!)

Previously • Manga Sub-Genre Ahoy!: Mecha Musume [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Video: If Apple Sold Sheets of Paper...

The corners just slay me.

If Apple Sold Sheets Of Paper... [Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

This weekend on Modern Mechanix we looked at a giant fire breathing tank envisioned by Hugo Gernsback, the man the Science Fiction Hugo awards are named after. Hugo was cool, but he could hardly compare to this studly fellow modeling a salt-water powered radio. Long before the taser, a Cuban inventor created the stun glove. We looked at a teardrop shaped car, an early paper shredder and a very odd airplane modification used to keep citrus groves from icing. We learned about Hollywood special effects from the 30's, a ballot counting machine, a mysterious death ray that was "suppressed" by the government as well as the oddities of time zones.  Also we learned how to visualize the impact of car accidents by comparing them falls of various heights.

Today we feature an odd piece about the Remarkable Roach,  a plan to blast spherical habitats in the lunar surface and a rather freaky looking face mask meant for arctic warriors. In 1924 buildings that were illuminated by flood lights at night were enough of a novelty that Popular Mechanics did a whole feature about them.  Lastly, be sure to check out this page of "New Ingenuities" from a 1936 issue of Science and Mechanics.

Joel Johnson

50 Years of LEGO: Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon Time-Lapse Video

My thanks to Matt Goodell for cutting me a great deal on this set. It was even better than new, since he even sorted out all the pieces for me. Thanks also to Judson "Cicada" Cowan for letting me use the track "Earth's Assault on the Enemy A.I.," one of my favorite tracks of 2007. Finally, thanks to Brian Lam and Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo who had the idea first but were kind enough to give me permission to run my version before theirs to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Thanks, everyone!

I captured one frame out of every 150. It's a great set; much more fun to put together than the giant Star Destroyer. Far fewer repetitive sections. Now the ultimate question: keep it on my shelf to scare potential dates, sell it, or press its parts into service to build more ships of my own design?

(Don't miss: My snazzy sweatpants with the hole in the knee, then my realization that I have a hole in the knee after, like, a day of filming.)

Joel Johnson

50 Years of LEGO: Nine Sets I Have Known and Loved

While there have been thousands of LEGO sets released in the last 50 years, a few were objects of tangible lust for me, prompting much begging and crying when the gift giving season would approach. While I didn't get all of these sets, these were the ones that I would spend hours looking at in catalogs, dreaming of the creations I would make with their pieces. And because of my own personal biases, they tend toward Space and Castle sets.

• Galaxy Explorer (497) – 1979

While I had gotten a handful of the newly released Space sets before (including the great Rocket Launcher (462) set with its useful hinge, sloped fins, and saucer pieces that found their way into most of my spaceship models), the Galaxy Explorer was the first set of which I remember being painfully desirous. I was one-years-old when it was released, which serves as a reminder of how infrequently LEGO updated their sets back in the early days, as I can't have gotten mine before I was four or five at the earliest.

What a great set, though, with its rocket engines, tons of sloping bricks and beams, transparent bricks (!), and those amazing cratered and painted pads which have now seem to have gone away in modern sets. Oh, and the attitude adjuster elements, so common on early, astrophysics-aware space models, but which I haven't seen in years. (They also make a decent loudspeaker for internment camp models.)

• Castle (375) – 1978

I never actually had the yellow castle with its knights astride horses made of bricks. My cousin Greg did, though, and when his family would fly back from Germany we would take its bricks, roughly reassemble the castle without instructions, and blow it up with firecrackers. Then we'd stick those swords in the center console lock of my uncle's Porsche 928 to give them real battle damage, filling the lock with little flakes of LEGO plastic. As far as I know the lock continued to work.

By the time I was old enough to get my first Castle LEGO sets, this original castle was already off the shelves.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

ANSI Art Show at 20 GOTO 10 Gallery

Geek Entertainment TV travelled to the 20 GOTO 10 gallery in San Francisco to look at the latest show, "ANSI," which highlights some of the great art that was created for the BBS scene of the '80s and '90s. (And probably some up into the '00s.) While some of the art is shown off in light boxes, they also built custom 25 line scrollers to display the art just as it had been seen by modem users back in the heady days of Zmodem.

It also made me aware of SixteenColors.net, a site that is attempting to curate every last bit of ANSI art from the era. There's some wonderful work there. It makes me want to display it on my own walls. Maybe I'll pull that LCD picture frame out that I rarely turn on and put it to good use.

Joel Johnson

Snickers Charged Infused with Caffeine and Taurine

The new "Snickers Charged" candy bar includes 60 milligrams of caffeine, taurine, and B vitamins, about the same as a cup of coffee. (Well, minus the taurine, of course.) Candyblog got a sample and said it had a bitter aftertaste, but should be a fairly good deal as far as cheap blasts of caffeine go, depending on what your local snack shack charges for coffee.

I will probably end up grabbing a couple of these. Frozen Snickers bars are one of my favorite indulgences.

Snickers Charged [Candyblog via Serious Eats]

Previously • BBtv: Blip Festival, Sweet Spot Candy Expo, More Chip Tunes Artists [BBG]
• Sweet Spot: Where I Get to Go Eat Free Candy [BBG]
• Stōk: Coffee Shots in Creamer Tubs [BBG]
• Powder-Filled Gel "Pac" Mints Mistaken for Drugs by Narcos [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Evergreen's Ghoulish Decoupage Graveyard Keyboard and Mouse

Japanese peripherals company Evergreen has been releasing a line of dimestore-quality fantasy graveyard-themed computer accessories lately, including this keyboard, mouse, and mousepad set. For the Horde!

I wouldn't call them "goth," though. Not enough bat wings and tiny chalices to be filled with tears next to little parchment Post-It notes onto which poems can be written in blood.

Goth is Back, Goth is Good, Goth is the Way! Mouse, Mousepad and Goth Keyboard. [Akihabara News]

Joel Johnson

Entex Adventure System Luggable Game Console on eBay

The Entex Adventure Vision System was a table-top game system from 1982 that was ahead of its time, with a 150 by 40 pixel LED display, 733 kHz Intel 8048 processor, and swappable game cartridges. According to Wikipedia, the AVS used "a single vertical line of 40 red LEDs combined with a spinning mirror inside the casing" to produce its display. As you might suspect, the moving parts took a toll on the battery life, although it could also be hooked up to an A/C adapter.

A new-in-box Adventure System has found its way to eBay with all four games for the somewhat ridiculous price of $5,500. If you can't swing a few thousand for an ancient game system, the MESS emulator supports the Adventure Vision on for OSX and Windows.

Entex Adventure Vision System. Complete. Near Perfect. [eBay via Joystiq via Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

Capsule Fire Extinguisher Concept by Woo Seok Park

As far as futuristic design concepts go "Capsule," a fire safety device by Woo Seok Park, certainly looks the part. And I adore the idea of the little heat-sensitive balls that can be thrown or rolled into the area of a fire where they will explode in a burst of fire-extinguishing powder. But I have to question the merit of a tank of oxygen being anywhere near a fire at all, no matter how nice it might be to breathe a lungful or two of fresh air when trying to escape a fire.

Keep thinking about those extinguisher balls, Park, but leave the explodo gas outside.

Roll to Put a Fire Out [Yanko Design]

Joel Johnson

ScrapeRite Plastic Razor Blades

ScrapeRite makes three varieties of plastic razor blades that fit in standard cutting and scraping tools, but are designed to bring up paint and other finishes without scratching the surface underneath. The yellow blades are the most rigid, the blue fairly flexible, and the orange a sort of general purpose hardness. A pack of 25 go for around $9, but can be had for free at your county's "Keep our robots clean shorn" blade exchange dispensary.

Plastic Razor Blades [Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

The LEGO Brick Turns 50

LEGO turns 50 today by the company's own reckoning, as it's the anniversary of the patent approval for the famous little pegged bricks. They sent out some celebratory information, including this timeline of major advances in LEGO technology over the years.

I'm proud to share my birth year with the minifig. We're both turning thirty this year.

A PDF version (which actually lets you read the text) is linked below.

LEGO Timeline [pdf] [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Coffee Stuff – Lots of Bodum coffee (and tea) making gear on sale at Amazon. [Dealhack]

• .Mac – 60-day trial of .Mac services for free. [Dealhack]

• Personal Planetarium – Celestron SkyScout, which you point at the stars to have it report their names, is on sale for $240. [Dealhack]

• LED Light – 10-LED laptop notebook light for $7, shipped. USB powered. Seems like it could be a decent reading light or useful for some DIY project. [Dealnews] Fixed link.

• Vacuum – Today's Woot! is a refurbished Dyson DC07 Cyclone Upright Vacuum Cleaner for $225.

Joel Johnson

Screen Sifter Sunday

For no particular reason, a collection of four videos I have found interesting or amusing. The first, an adventure with Half-Life's Gordon Freeman...'s brother, inspired by a particularly heinous bit of fanfic and animated in Garry's Mod. Next, a demo reel from John Whitney, an pioneering animator who created these video displays with a modified M-5 antiaircraft gun director. Then, a clip (one of ten available on YouTube) of Japanese anti-American propaganda from 1945, in which Americans are portrayed as wobbly-kneed whiners while the Japanese paratroopers are anthropomorphic proto-furries. Finally, in a tenuous connection to gadgetdom, the popular HD documentary series Planet Earth is given a soundtrack comprised almost entirely of the word "fuck."

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we have an psychic automaton from 1924 that reads your thoughts through the "radioplasm". The same page also has a prediction for personal radios that sound a lot like cell phones. Looking for a BBQ or trash burner that doesn't ruin the rustic look of your backyard? Check out this concrete tree stump cooker. In 1950 someone decided to cross a balloon with a kite, and came up with a Kytoon. We also have an article titled "Scientific Hoaxes that Have Fooled the World" as well as a machine that makes ice cream instantly. Lastly we have very odd, unbalanced looking concept car that looks like it was made by welding together the fronts of two other cars.

Joel Johnson

Video: Clip from "Ikarie XB 1," Czechoslovakian Space Noir (1963)

Here's a clip from "Ikarie XB 1," a Soviet-era sci-fi flick from Czechoslovakia in 1963, in which cosmonauts explore a derelict space station. I'm watching it now. It's gorgeous. I want a copy of this—and I can have one, it seems, from XploitedCinema.com. ($30, but it's in PAL.) I would also like my apartment to look like these sets. I'l get to work on that.

From the Youtube description:

The film is generally apolitical, except for this remarkable scene, in which the explorers enter a derelict 20th Century space craft, littered with evidence of capitalist immorality. The visuals are striking. Corpses of tuxedo-clad, gambling westerners, their bodies preserved by open vacuum. The crew killed by their own chemical hand-weapons as they fought over dwindling oxygen. The ship laden with nuclear weapons -- still active after centuries.

Exploring derelict space ship in rare Soviet-style SF film [Youtube] (Thanks, Brownlee!)

Joel Johnson

"Brugo" Mug Cools Coffee One Sip at a Time

The "Brugo" mug has a trick top that lets you tip in a small amount of coffee to cool, letting you leave the rest of your coffee as hot for as long as possible. It sounds like a lot of trouble, but that's never stopped coffee nerds.

No price or availability information yet.

I first read the "Lock" setting on the lid as "Luck" and imagined a second compartment that would release a factory-selected random flavor into your mouth.

Product Page [MyFav-Things.com via Crib Candy via Coolest-Gadgets]

Joel Johnson

History of Computing Devices

Image: Kerry Redshaw

Neatorama has a fun overview of the early history of computing, discussing famous computing devices like the Antikythera Mechanism and Babbage's Difference Engine, as well as ones I'd heard of but never actually seen, like Leibniz' Stepped Reckoner.

Leibniz’s design used a special type of gear called the Stepped Drum or Leibniz wheel, a cylinder with nine bar-shaped teeth along its length. He named his machine the Staffelwalze or the Stepped Reckoner.

The machine was a marked improvement from Pascal’s design and could add, subtract, multiply, divide, and even evaluate square roots by a series of additions.

The Wonderful World of Early Computing [Neatorama]

Joel Johnson

A Nice Little Q&A with Zero Punctuation's Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw

Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is the bent brain behind "Zero Punctuation," the hilariously cutting weekly videogame review program that has been the first legitimate breakout hit from the gaming community in recent memory. If you haven't seen "Zero Punctuation," well, it's best watched and not explained. (The latest episode is below.) You might want to turn down your speakers if the boss isn't a fan of wonderfully vivid vulgarity.

BBG: What's the typical creative process you follow when making these videos? Are you taking notes as you play the game or do you wait until the very end?

Yahtzee: I usually take a few days to play through the game and I'll usually finish it, or get as far as I can before I feel I can formulate an opinion. After that I'll devote a day to writing the script. I don't take notes, but I'll usually latch onto maybe 4 or 5 points and get a paragraph or two out of each. I generally compare the text to older reviews then to make sure I've written enough. Then comes making the images, which usually takes me 2 or 3 days. I used to record the speech first, but I found that I'd sometimes want to make changes to the script while making the images, especially if I wanted to reword a phrase that I found too hard to visualise. Once the images are done, recording the narration and stringing it all together in Windows Movie Maker is the easy part.

BBG: What was the inspiration behind using the animation instead of, say, your yapping head?

Yahtzee: The inspiration for the animation was me not possessing a video camera or any similar means of recording and wondering if I could make a video out of still images and narration.

BBG: How'd you end up with The Escapist? Have you been surprised by your success?

Yahtzee: I put my first two videos on Youtube and of the many offers of work that would come my way over the next few months, The Escapist were the first. They're good people and I am treated well with a big sack of money at the start of every month. The success has been pretty surprising, and I'm also doing my best to exploit it as best I can; I've gotten two free trips abroad so far and been making decent headway on my main ambition to be a professional game designer.

BBG: What's your favorite gag so far? Have you felt like you've slipped any in that people have missed?

Yahtzee: I think my favourite one is still the illustration of the developers of Heavenly Sword, 'Ninja Theory', as a ninja teaching another ninja with a blackboard and pointer. I don't know why, it just stays with me. And yes, I'm pretty sure a lot of them get missed, most people tell me they usually watch the videos over and over again to catch all the stuff they didn't see properly. One of my favourite techniques is to flash up more text than can reasonably by read in the time given. It's like a subliminal challenge or something.
 
BBG: Do you think it's easier to pull off all the vulgarity by not being on camera?
 
Yahtzee: I certainly don't feel as self-conscious as I would do if I were on camera. I have terrible presenting discipline. I never look in the right way while I'm recording, I usually stare at the ceiling and rock back and forth in my chair. If you listen very hard you can sometimes hear my chair squeaking while I talk. It probably needs some screws tightening.

BBG: What's your most beloved game?
 
Yahtzee: I have a well-documented love of Silent Hill 2 for its excellent atmosphere and storytelling, but as for games that balance good gameplay and story I'd say Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and probably Portal, too. I like games that mesh gameplay and story well, not too much one way or the other.

BBG: So what's next for you?

Yahtzee: I am working on a couple of things. I'm part of an indie game dev team here in Brisbane and we've got a couple of projects going, including a rather nice corporate contract I'm not supposed to talk about but which could be the big break we need. I'm also lending assistance to a professional studio here which I probably also shouldn't be  talking about. As for personal projects, not much at present. There's a couple of ideas I have on the go, it's just a matter of seeing which one holds my attention for longest.

Joel Johnson

"P-Per" Concept e-Paper Cellphone

Where do you go in minimalist design beyond the iPhone? For now it seems that flat slabs are the computer object design for the immediate future.

But what if the whole slab was a screen? That's a question answered by the "P-Per," a concept from the Chocolate Design Agency showing a phone that is wrapped in an e-Paper display, allowing it to pull off some pretty nifty transparency tricks with its camera. (There's nothing that would stop the iPhone or any other camera phone from doing this to a limited extent right now except for camera refresh rates and the depth of focus.)

P-Per Design Concept is Sweet, Shames My iPhone [Swongled via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Gaming Headset – SteelSeries 4H headset with microphone for $19, shipped. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon Sale – The Friday Sale is here, including the Leatherman New Wave multitool for $50, shipped and the HP iPaq 310 GPS unit for $200 shipped (iffy reviews on the GPS, though). [Amazon]

• Keyboard – Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard for $14, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Sporting Goods – Cabela's Winter Clearance sale includes items up to 70% off. [Dealnews]

• Breathalyzer – Personal Alcohol Detector for $22, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Desktop PC – Today's Woot! is a refurbished HP Pavilion Elite m9040n Desktop Computer for $705, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Lazyweb: Bitmap to Vector?

Since it appears I'll be living with my current laptop for a while longer, I'm going to go ahead and get it laser etched. I've wanted this woodcut on the front for a while now, but I haven't been able to find any programs which can properly turn those cuts into vectors. A friend gave me an old Adobe program that worked well, except the vectors came out with lots of solid white areas, too, instead of being the sort of monotone vectors that a laser inscribing machine can actually understand.

Any ideas?

Joel Johnson

Can Ethernet Cabling Become Art?

Image: ChrisDag

Yup.

(More pictures at the link below.)

When data center cabling becomes art [Royal.Pingdom.com]

Joel Johnson

Quotable: Levy on the Macbook Air

The opening paragraph from Newsweek's Steven Levy's Macbook Air review:

Early in my writing career, I had an assignment to follow around a mohel--the guy who does ritual circumcisions in the Jewish tradition. My subject learned the trade by watching his dad, a renowned figure in the field. One day, father told son he was ready to handle the tools himself. Why now, the son wanted to know. "Most students ask me how much to take off," the senior explained. "You asked me how much to leave on."

Apple faced a similar question when designing the MacBook Air, the subnotebook computer that goes on sale next week.

The Skinny on the MacBook Air [Newsweek.com]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

What 1960 event employed 160,000 workers, 1,080,000 pencils, 260,000 pocket pencil sharpeners, 2,850,000 scratch pads and several giant UNIVAC computers? Find out today on Modern Mechanix. If you have any airplane drop tanks lying around, they make a really nifty backyard space ship. Worried about your job since you lost your arm in that milling machine incident? Try a Carnes Artificial Arm and just hope that you don't get replaced by a glass robot. Also today, learn what you get when you combine fine dining with a viewmaster and learn about the giant solar space condom.

Joel Johnson

Canon Rebel XSi: Great New Entry Level DSLR

My photography is intermittent at best. Sometimes I love my Canon Digital Rebel XT, while other times I'd rather just leave it at home and take crappy snapshots with my phone. I wait so long between sessions that I forget half of the theory I learned, meaning I've got to figure it all out again when I next pick it up. I bought a flash which I used religiously for a while, then stripped the whole rig down to just a 50mm fixed focus lens and tried to learn how to shoot without using any flash at all.

I think I know a bit more about photography than the average person and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what my XT can do. That's why I don't talk up every new DSLR or camera that comes out here on BBG, because they so rarely do anything that the majority of amateur shooters will find useful. The low end is fine for almost everyone. Most people with DSLRs don't even swap out the kit lens.

Which is why I think the new Canon Rebel XSi (EOS 450D in the rest of the world) is pretty noteworthy, especially for a sub-$1,000 camera. Many of the features have been seen on other high-end cameras, like the "Live View" that shows what's coming through the lens on the 3-inch LCD (as well as through the viewfinder via the prism). But I think I'm most happy about the new kit lens, an 18-55mm lens with Canon's electronic Image Stabilization, a feature absent from most lower-end Canon lenses.

Press Release [DPReview.com]

Joel Johnson

Canadian Security Intelligence Service Museum Open Only to Spies

Jon C. writes:

Yesterday I heard this on CBC that CSIS runs it's own museum that is only open to CSIS employees.  Better still, they have a souvenir shop that, again is only open to spies, but you list the item you want and stuff cash in an envelope, making what I assume is a dead-drop at the gift shop, in order to buy things.  It sounds kind of fun for the spies, but I'd really like a Cold War radio-pen-decoder-syringe too.

But since that is a lot of work, the CSIS agency has put a virtual museum online with a few of the awesome spy artifacts, such as this toy truck that concealed a microdot reader and a one time pad. (The image is just of the flip-up engine that held the reader.)

Want to buy CSIS souvenirs? You'll need security clearance [The Globe & Mail]

Joel Johnson

This Is Not My Beautiful Cup

The "I Am Not a Paper Cup..." is a double-walled porcelain mug with a silicone lid, giving you the feel of those disposable paper coffee cups without all the waste. It's not on sale until February, but should cost about $20.

It reminds me of Graham Hill's "We Are Happy to Serve You" mug.

Product Page [DCIGift.com via Josh Spear]

Joel Johnson

What Sets for the 10th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars?

It's been nine years since the first LEGO Star Wars models were released and LEGO has asked the readers of The Brothers Brick which sets they'd like to see as 10th anniversary models for 2009. You can leave your suggestions in their comments.

What set would you want for the 10th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars? [Brothers-Brick.com]

Joel Johnson

Yamaha's Giant Fish Tank Trailers

Image: Gizmag.com

Yamaha Australia has built two 15-meter long fish tank trailers called the "SupaTanks" to be wheeled around to dealerships and boat shows. Each SupaTank will include 20 live fish. Can fish get car sickness?

The SupaTank is quite unique because it demonstrates all the underwater action when a fish is caught. The Yamaha SupaTank show is designed to both educate families on how to safely and successfully learn to fish along with displaying the fascinating underwater feeding behaviours of fish. In full view of wide-eyed spectators, the fish can be seen stalking and attacking the lures cast by participants from the elevated ‘half-tinny’ casting platform complete with Yamaha four stroke outboard motor.

Yamaha builds a giant fishtank on wheels [Gizmag]

Joel Johnson

My Wildly Inaccurate Look at Movie Distribution in 2007

iTunes movie rentals, unlimited Netflix downloads, Blu-ray finally pulling ahead—all this stuff has been making me think about the ways we'll get movies in the near future and what format may become the true heir of DVD. Especially the Netflix downloads. I've been really taking advantage of those.

It's not my aim to declare a winner or anything silly like that. There are wildly different price points and distribution permissions. But in the interest of better understanding the market as it is today, I've been talking to some companies as well as pulling some numbers out of press releases and news stories, trying to get some general state of the movie and television distribution market.

Here's how I worked up the numbers and let me warn you: many of these numbers are totally made up. I tried to come up with the numbers conservatively, but some companies do not make their numbers public, while others may have published figures that I just ended up missing. By all means, if you've got more solid numbers or criticisms of my formulae to add, please do so.

• Apple

These were fairly easy. Jobs said at Macworld that they've sold 7 million movies and 125 million TV shows since they started selling in iTunes over two years ago. I'm going to presume an increasing number of video-capable iPods and more content on iTunes as well as a natural curve up for a new service would put, say, half of those numbers in 2007. I'm trying to just focus on movies, so we'll say 3.5 million.

• Netflix

Netflix confirmed to me that they had 5 million digital download views in June when they threw the doors to the service open to all customers. Six weeks later they had 10 million views. After that they wouldn't share any more data. So let's call it five million a month for the rest of the year, for a total of 30 million views.

(Interestingly, Netflix really wanted to underline that they make no distinction between the mailed discs and the streaming content now. "The service is Netflix.  DVDs by mail and streaming are features of the Netflix service.")

• Microsoft Xbox

You can download HD movies and television on Xbox Live Marketplace, but Microsoft declined to share sales numbers with me.

• Comcast Video on Demand

According to this press release rewrite, Comcast's VOC had "1 billion hours of on-demand content watched this year alone, with 250 million views each month and 100 views each second." This included "205 million free movies; 376 million kids shows; 449 million music videos and programs; and 62 million sports and fitness programs." So, say, 3 billion views a year, but let's focus primarily on the movies, so 205 million.

• Blu-Ray

Software sales were reported by the Blu-ray Disc Association as 5.6 million units.

• HD DVD

I couldn't get HD DVD unit sales back in time, but the Blu-ray camps says their discs sold 2:1 with HD DVD last year, so let's take half of the Blu-ray numbers and call HD DVD 2.8 million units.

• DVD

Variety reported DVD sales at $16 billion, with rentals at $7.5 billion. Obviously DVD sales continue to be the dominant vector for movies in the home. Those numbers are solid, but I'm now going to extrapolate some unit sales out of those which will not be. Let's say $16 a disc for sales, $5 a disc for rentals. That gives us...1 billion DVD sales or so and 1.5 billion rentals.

Conclusions

I told you I wasn't going to make any! Fine.

Obviously, DVD is still the clear champion. And while it's not fair to compare the streaming services to disc or iTunes downloads, I'm surprised at how many Comcast customers are watching video on demand. That's sort of crazy.

Blu-ray sales should pick up now that HD DVD is on the way out, but it still looks like digital distribution services (even leaving out Comcast) are going to grow right alongside high definition disc sales. HD optical discs will probably do fine as a niche product this generation, augmenting DVD as the catalogs are updated over the next decade, but (and here comes some crazy-yet-obvious guessing) this generation is probably it for optical discs. After the transition to Blu-ray was handled so poorly for customers, I sort of doubt anyone is going to want to make another transition to a higher fidelity disc, even in ten years. And obviously people are fine watching content that is even lower quality than DVD if they can get it quickly and easily.

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Video Streamer – HD Slingbox SOLO for $145, shipped. [Dealhack]

• Laptop – Dell XPS M1330 Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66GHz 13" Laptop for $900, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Videogame – Amazon is taking pre-orders for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for $40. I think that'll be the MSRP of the game, but still, it's coming. PS3 only. [Dealnews]

• iPod Dock – Today's Woot! is the JBL Radial Speaker Dock for iPod for $125, shipped.

Xeni Jardin

Africa: small-scale generator powered by sugar and yeast (video)

The rotor moves slowly most of the times but does pick up at certain intervals. This process continues for many hours. Since the rotor is quite heavy (and hence more inertia) a small geared DC motor can be connected to the rotor to generate power for cell phones, $100 laptops, and other things in Africa. People can leave this thing to charge their phones/$100 laptops overnight.

Basically we have two chambers on either end of the rotating (pivoted) rod. The arrangement of the chambers is such that on either side of the rod, one chamber sits on top of the other (this is important). At the beginning of this operation, I fill the bottom chamber on each side with a yeast sugar solution. Each bottom chamber is always locked under pressure by special valves. Due to pressure the solution starts moving from a bottom chamber into its respective top chamber. Note that by moving upwards, the fluid’s center of gravity shifts, resulting in a mass imbalance which causes the wobbling.

Joel Johnson

Still Time to Enter the Greener Gadgets Design Competition

Allan writes:

Core77 has launched the Greener Gadgets Design Competition to coincide with the upcoming Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City on February 1st. One of the unique elements of this competition is that finalists will be judged live, on stage at the end close of the competition by a panel and audience. (Well, their WORK will be judged!) Prize money is US$2500 for First Place and $1000 each for Second and Third place. All winners and notables will be published on Core77.com and Inhabitat.com.

It's often that designers talk about green and designing things in more sustainable ways, but here is a chance for professional designers, design students, and design enthusiasts to actually throw their hats into the ring and produce meaningful concepts that address these issues.

Greener Gadgets Competition [Core77]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we look at man-made lightning used for scientific research as well as a cool ferry that drives along the bottom while keeping the passengers above high and dry. In 1962 self-service gas pumps were novel enough to write about in a magazine. Solving a problem we all have, here is a handy clasp to convert your pants into knickers. Scientists had to enter this germ-free laboratory by diving through a pool of germicidal solution.  We also learned how to make a refrigerator that uses a gas flame to keep food cold.

Joel Johnson

Freeplay Companion Crank- and Solar-Powered Radio, Charger

Freeplay Energy is set to sell the "Freeplay Companion," an AM/FM radio with the typical Freeplay crank for powering the device, as well as an integrated solar panel, flashlight, and phone charger. The best thing is the price: around $30.

Press Release [PRNewsWire.com via Coolest-Gadgets]

Previously • Solio Magnesium Solar Charger Announced [BBG]
• Eton FR1000 Crank Radio with Walkie-Talkie [BBG]

Update: I had the wrong product image up. I've fixed it!

Joel Johnson

Rare "Marvel Comics (#1)" October '39 Issue Up for Sale

This is far off the beaten gadget path, but when ComicConnect's Ben Smith (who sold me my treasured "Wally Wood's 22 Panels that Always Work" paste-up) contacted me about a noteworthy upcoming auction, I figured there's a healthy enough overlap between gadget nerddom and comic fandom that you guys would find this interesting.

"First editions" are somewhat unknown in the world of comic books. Why reprint when there's a new issue out in a month? But one of the most notable books, the very first "Marvel Comics," was printed twice—a limited October, 1939 run of 80,000 copies, and a November run of 800,000 copies.

Steve Fishler, owner of the comics broker ComicConnect, got his hands on an October print in surprisingly good condition. And he wants you to buy it.

Fishler learned the story of the two printings after meeting Art Goodman back in '82 in the Marvel Comics offices. Art's brother Martin had been publisher of Timely, a small pulp novel imprint. After seeing the success of DC's Superman and Batman books, Timely took a stab at comics despite no prior history in the medium, hiring pulp cover artist Frank R. Paul to paint his first and only Marvel Comics cover.

"They expected the first issues to sit on the newsstands for weeks," said Fishler of the comic, which included the first appearances of Marvel stalwarts "The Human Torch," "Submariner," and "The Angel." "Two weeks later they went back to press."

"Pedigree" copies of "Marvel Comics"—technically not "#1," although "Marvel Mystery Comics #2" came soon after—have mostly been November issues, valued by the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide between $21,250 for an issue in "Good" condition, up to $420,000 for an issue in "Near Mint." Overstreet notes the two separate printings but hasn't ever made a distinction in price, beyond noting that "some copies do not have the November imprint and could have a higher value." Fishler has estimated his copy as a "7.0" on the scale, putting it in the "Fine to Very Fine" range—somewhere in the $100,000 range in value, although Fishler is hesitant to guess what his copy will go for in his upcoming auction.

"November Marvel #1s have been going for below the listed price," he noted. It's possible that the appearance of a good-quality October issue will actually drive the price of November issues down.

We'll know in a couple of weeks. ComicConnect's auction starts on February 24th.

Auction Page [ComicConnect.com]

Joel Johnson

The Other Monstrous "Clover," a $20k Coffee Brewing Vacuum Siphon

The Times profiles the "Clover," a $20,000 coffee brewing device that uses siphons and vacuum and the powered dreams of Colombian urchins to produce an apparently stupendous cup of Joseph.

Designed by three Stanford graduates, it lets the user program every feature of the brewing process, including temperature, water dose and extraction time. (It even has an Ethernet connection that can feed a complete record of its configurations to a Web database.) Not only is each cup brewed to order, but the way each cup is brewed can be tailored to a particular bean — light or dark roast, acidic or sweet, and so on.

The Clover works something like an inverted French press: coffee grounds go into a brew chamber, hot water shoots in and a powerful piston slowly lifts and plunges a filter, forcing the coffee out through a nozzle in the front. The final step, when a cake of spent grounds rises majestically to the top, is so titillating to coffee fanatics that one of them posted a clip of it on YouTube. [Of course the Times doesn't actually link to the Youtube vid and I can't find it. - Ed.]

...

A siphon pot has two stacked glass globes, and works a little like a macchinetta, that stove-top gadget wrongly called an espresso maker by generations of graduate students. As water vapor forces water into the upper globe the coffee grounds are stirred by hand with a bamboo paddle. (In Japan, siphon coffee masters carve their own paddles to fit the shape of their palms.)

The goal is to create a deep whirlpool in no more than four turns without touching the glass. Posture is important. So is timing: siphon coffee has a brewing cycle of 45 to 90 seconds.

At Last, a $20,000 Cup of Coffee [NYTimes.com via Core77] (What a shit headline, too. Sheesh.)

Update: Serious Eats points out that the company has a map showing all the locations of the machines in the US. [CloverEquipment.com]

Update 2: As many of you pointed out in the comments, I am a dumb. The picture above is a crazy Japanese thing mentioned in the article, but not the Clover. There are two distinct machines!

Joel Johnson

N-Tune In-Guitar Tuner

Guitar tuners are a dime a dozen, including ones with little motors that physically turn the pegs to Gibson's fully automatic "Robot guitars." Separate tuners are difficult to find when you're on stage, however, and the Robot guitar, while interesting, makes you play on an entirely new guitar. (And pay over two large for the privilege.)

I think the new "N-Tune" tuner is a nice compromise. It's basically just a simple digital tuner as found for $15 on the shelves of any guitar shop, but designed to slip under your existing guitar's volume knob. Pull the knob out and the N-Tune activates, cutting off output so you don't sound like a twerp while tuning back in. The tone to which the N-Tune thinks you're trying to tune lights up, while a green LED activates when you're on pitch.

The N-Tune is going to be $100 when it's out this month. Some installation will be required, of course, but nothing too onerous. They're sending me one to test, so I'll be digging into my Mexican Telecaster to do my own install. My thrash metal cover of "Froggy Went a'Courtin'" will sound better than ever.

Product Page [N-Tune]

Joel Johnson

Communication Tech as Chakras

On Dosenation, Erik "Techgnosis" Davis gives a short review of Steven Vedro's Digital Dharma: A User's Guide to Expanding Consciousness in the Infosphere.

It is, if I may say, a deeply techgnostic text, almost a workbook of IT mysticism. Using a perspective loosely inspired from Ken Wilber’s integral thought, Vedro looks at a variety of electronic media technologies as expressions and reflections of the evolution of consciousness (which I tend to think is really a mutation). With not a small amount of audacity—especially for a telecommunications consultant—Vedro maps seven different communication regimes (telephony, peer-to-peer networks, pervasive computing, etc.) onto the classic system of the Hindu chakras. The muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, associated with security and earthly reality, gets linked to radio telegraphy, which not only needs a good ground connection but which formed the infrastructural basis of the electronic universe in the late nineteenth century. Later in the book, Vedro also connects the visionary third eye with digital compression, the array of algorithmic processes that drive the vast multiplication of concocted worlds that now make up the multi-perspectival matrix of digital reality.

Digital Dharma [Dosenation.com]

Joel Johnson

Camelbak Better Bottle

Camelbak, best known for their hydration backpacks with the "Bite-n-Sip" valve, have released a line of water bottles that incorporate the same valve, the better to prevent spills. I've got a generic Nalgene-type bottle I use for water all day, but when it's near empty the heavy cap often will pull it over, so I'm amenable to better cap solutions. On the other hand, I hate having to suck a trickle of water out of a bottle, preferring instead to gulp a torrent of tap water in quantity sufficient to feel the chill in my belly. The choices of first-world living are so harrowing!

Available in a few bland colors for $10 to $14, the Camelbak "Better Bottle" also has a clip on the lid for a carabiner, should you ever actually go outdoors.

Camelbak Better Bottle [Gear Patrol]

Previously • "Life Saver" Water Filtration Bottle [BBG]
• Gadget Bottle: Water Bottle with Nest for Your Stuff [BBG]
• Binibottle: Teen Invents Easy-Fill Water Bottle [BBG]
• Solar Bottle Uses Sun to Purify Water [BBG]
• Eight Reusable Water Bottles Compared [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Thesis Audio's Stone Turntables

Thesis Audio is an Italian audio equipment maker that crafts these hand-made turntables with stone platters—or as Audio Junkies describe them, "non-resonating stone plinths with..separate non-resonating stone subchassis...via a semi-rigid three-point suspension system."

I don't see a price, but if you're a vinyl dork with a problem this bad, I'm sure you're comfortable with a third mortgage.

Product Page [Hi-Fi-Center.it via Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Solar-Powered Nintendo-Emulating MP4 Player (Go China!)

This knock-of "MP4 Player" not only plays music and video, it can emulate the NES and Game Boy Color. But even better, it can be recharged with built-in solar panels. That's right: you can play Faxanadu until the sun explodes.

It comes with 2GB of memory built in, which is plenty for NES and GB ROMs, although perhaps not music and movies, and can be expanded up to another 2GB with an SD card. Oh, and it's got a USB out to which other gadgets can be connected—not for data, but to be recharged from the solar panel.

It's $123.32 from China Vision, plus shipping. And despite very need for yet another device that can play emulated NES or GBA GBC games, I'm having a hard time talking myself out of buying one. If it played SNES games I'd probably take the plunge.

Catalog Page [ChinaVision.com via Albotas]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Monitor – Dell UltraSharp 3007WFPHC 30" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $1,050, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Sound Card(?!) – Today's Woot! is the Razer Barracuda AC-1 Gaming Sound Card for $75, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Navigate Walt Disney World with a Nintendo DS

A member of the WDW Magic forums discovered a pilot program being tested at Walt Disney World which will allow visitors to use their Nintendo DS as an interactive guide the park. The software offers an interactive map of the Magic Kingdom, with guides to various "park offerings" including rides and dining locations, meet-and-greet locations for characters, and a wishlist checklist that allows you to mark off attractions after they've been visited. It also appears that the map will give "you are here" information, presumably by figuring out the Wi-Fi access point to which your DS is connected.

Even more nifty: special themed games are unlocked when you're standing in line for an attraction. This is so cool I can hardly stand it. I'm not even that enamored with Disney World, but this makes me want to take another trip once this is implemented. Someone I was talking to mentioned how great it'd be if they integrated FastPass notifications into this, so your DS could alert you when it's time to walk to the front of the line.

Disney looking at using Nintendo DS systems as an interactive guide map? [Forums.WDWMagic.com via Shacknews] (Thanks, Daveman!)

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we have an article called "Science Takes the Measure of Man" which shows all of the nifty futuristic looking methods scientists in 1961 used to measure people along with their range of motion. Don't have a gas line to your house? That's ok, you can make your own table top gas plant. This 1936 round up of "Mechanical Novelties" from Science and Mechanics is full of great stuff, including the origin of those annoying hot air hand dryers. Also be sure to check out this demonstration of multiplexing using an electric organ, and this car that has everything, but strangely makes me want a hot dog.

Joel Johnson

Oakley Medusa Head Thinger

Oakley exhibits some of the worst product design in the entire Plastic Crap Industry, but I think they may have finally gone so far over the top that they've fallen back to something appealing. The "Medusa" is a $500 full face mask with leather dreadlocks. It can be accessorized with a $250 set of snap-on goggles.

Oh, wait a second. I think the black plastic mask is just their mannequin head and the Medusa itself is just some sort of hat, not a Gigereqsue Aztec war helmet. I think it's safe to go back to hating Oakley again.

Catalog page [Oakley.com via Uncrate]

Joel Johnson

"Rebore-Zit" Bit for Enlarging Wire-Filled Holes

The "Rebore-Zit" is a very specialized piece of equipment, designed for enlarging holes through which wires are drawn without losing the wire itself. (No big deal on a stud as shown, but a royal pain if it happens inside a wall. You pull the wire through the wall, attach it to an eyelet on the end of the bit that doesn't rotate, then jam the whole thing back into the wall until you've gotten the size you wanted. Good for precision work, but if it were just drywall, I'd probably just pull the wire through and rough out a sloppy hole.

I'm sure there are almost none of you guys out there that actually need this bit, but I find these kind of specialized tools fascinating.

Enlarge Holes Without Removing The Wire [Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Macworld's Best of the Rest

Despite the furor around announcements from the Apple mothership, every Macworld is also a launch vehicle for hundreds of companies to introduce new products. Last week, Logan Kugler walked the show floor at Macworld 2008 for Boing Boing Gadgets and found ten products that may have overshadowed by the thin (but still opaque) Macbook Air.

• Lapdome Collapsible Laptop Hut [Product Page | $30 | Availability: Now]

Outside? Trying to work on your laptop and the sun giving you too much love? Until screen technology develops to the point where you can boost your screen's brightness to match the sun (or OLPC-type reflective screens become more common), check out the LapDome Collapsible, a lightweight tent for your laptop that folds down flat and stores in your laptop bag. Pro tip: Cook s'mores on your heat sink.

• Futiro Solo [Product Page | $79 | Availability: Now]

The Solo from Futiro is the best example of the quintessential portable VoIP USB handset I've seen to date. It's both intuitive and elegant and feels good in your hand. Don't know about sound quality, but from what I saw it integrates flawlessly with Skype and iChat.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Keyboard Cuff Links

These cuff links, fashioned from the keys from an old keyboard, would make a perfect little present for the geeky love in your life. (Provided he or she has shirts with French cuffs. And if they don't, buy one of those, too.)

They're only $9 on Etsy, but the crafter doesn't seem to let you select the keys you want to use, which would be absolutely essential to me. I'd suggest pinging the crafter "BeaG" and seeing if they can do a custom job for you. Despite being based in Belgium, BeaG should have just enough time to turn something around by Valentine's Day.

BeaG's Shop Page [Etsy.com via Geeksugar]

Joel Johnson

Mark Stafford's Amazing Steampunk Lego Naboo Fighter

There's a contest going on in the LEGO fan community, with the aim to remix Star Wars in steampunk style. Don't ask me why I haven't been posting them all up here. I don't have an answer!

But I hope this design by Mark Stafford makes up for it. The more I look at his reimagined Naboo fighter, the more I'm amazed. The bone-like front lip made from Bionicle pieces. The chromed pipes coming out of the side of the turbines. The amazing puffs of steam coming out of the front boiler, made from ice cream elements. And in a stroke of genius, he's replaced the R2 unit with a monkey.

Mark Stafford, please build me a LEGO steampunk Star Wars woman so that I may marry her and make dozens of meaty minifig babies.

Royal Naboo AirForce 1 - Fighter Aircraft with Astro the Navigation Monkey [Brickshelf via The Brothers Brick]

Joel Johnson

BBtv: Blip Festival, Sweet Spot Candy Expo, More Chip Tunes Artists

It's a me three-for today on BBtv, with a short vlog showing some highlights from this year's Blip Festival, some video of my trip to the place where they fed me candy, and—for those who really want to get to know some of the guys that make the music—a sit-down discussion with some of the luminaries of the chiptunes scene. The first two are in the clip above, while the longer discussion is below.

To address the question that's been on everyone's lips over the last couple of days: yes, I have a fantastic collection of scarves. And you guys haven't even seen the pink one, yet.

The sound on the second one is rough—the Blip Fest was going on through the walls behind us—and it's not edited down to typical web length just because I wanted to leave it all up for the fans.

Joel Johnson

"Readius" Fold-Up e-Paper Reader is Now a Phone, Too

Polymer Vision has been showing off this fold-out e-paper device for ages and it looks like it's finally going to hit production. Surprisingly, though, it'll share its chassis with a phone, reports Reuters.

Users will be able to set up their email accounts, news sources, podcasts, audio books and blog feeds at home on their computer, and the data is then pushed to the device whenever it is updated.

McGoldrick said the company opted to use this approach -- which rules out quickly browsing the Web on the go -- because it was simpler in a mobile environment.

No price or availability information yet, but I think it's reasonable to expect you'll have to lay out several bills for this one. Also, while this is the image from Polymer Vision included with the story, it looks exactly like all the mock-ups of the Readius I've seen in the past, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the shipping version look a little different.

Dutch firm launches phone with fold-away screen [Reuters.com]

Joel Johnson

Quotable: Beschizza on $20 iPod Touch Levy

"We need a new word for things that people assume are necessary because of Sarbanes-Oxley: Oxshit."

$20 iPod Touch Upgrade Not Playing Well With Fans [Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Cast-Iron Skillets – Set of three cast-iron skillets from JC Penny for $15; free shipping for orders of $25 or more. [Slickdeals]

• iPod Touch – Decent discounts on iPod Touches that will be mitigated somewhat by paying the $20 upgrade fee for the newer software. 16GB for $360 at Amazon or B&H, though. [Dealhack]

• Dell XPS One – Dell's all-in-one widescren computer is on sale for a slight $100 drop for $1,249, shipped. This machine reviewed pretty well. [Dealnews]

• MP3 Player – Today's Woot! is a Sandisk Sansa 512MB Player two-pack for $25, shipped. Doesn't look like you can upgrade the memory, though.

Joel Johnson

Spyderco Byrdrench is Literal Multitool

The "Byrdrench" is a crazy multitool from Spyderco with slip joint pliers, a crescent wrench, and a screwdriver built into one side, with a full-sized, detachable pocket knife built into another, And it even has a place inside the tool to hold extra bits for the screwdriver, which seems like a better system than the way Leatherman does it. (I never wear the extra pouch full of bits unless I think I'm going to be away from civilization for a while.)

Street prices start around $55.

Product Page [Spyderco via Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Flickr x Library of Congress Photo Collections

The Library of Congress is putting up images from its collection of millions on Flickr. Each one of the over three thousand online right now have no copyright restrictions. You could decorate a lovely blog with images like these, like this shot of women workers installing "fixtures and assemblies" into the fuselage of the B-17F bomber. If you squint your eyes it looks like giantesses building on a space station.

Photo Page [Flickr]

Joel Johnson

Pocket Scale Masquerades as iPhone

This "CP3-500" pocket scale has a removable faceplate that has been painted to look like an iPhone. Flip the case over to uses it as a tray to cradle that which will be measured.

The CP3-500 works up to 500 grams, but only in 0.1 gram increments, making it unsuitable for connoisseurs of the finer white powders. It's $53.

Catalog Page [OKPocketScale.com via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Interview with AT&T's "Filter the Internet" Exec

Thomas Mennecke's interview with AT&T's Jim Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs (yikes!), A.K.A. "The guy who brought up the 'filtering the internet' mess at CES," is too full of enlightening peeks the mind of AT&T for me to simple pluck a single, authoritative quote. So here's a couple, sans context. In short, the AT&T position seems to be We want to filter the internet to please the content cartels, but we don't want to have any legal culpability for doing so.

“We’re not taking on a legal enforcement role,” Jim Cicconi, told Slyck.com. “We’ve been clear. We don’t feel we have a legal responsibility. We’re not doing that in a legal sense. We do recognize it’s a real problem. There are property rights involved with copyrighted content. Simply saying there’s no legal responsibility doesn’t mean we have no responsibility. We also have responsibility to our customers. [A lot] of pirated material is used to transfer viruses, malware, and things of that nature.”

There are a lot of people defending copyrighted sharing, but how many would say it’s legal and right? Cooler heads need to come together and discuss whether the internet is a zone where there are no morals or standards of content.”

“Defending the internet doesn’t mean defending all conduct that occurs on the internet. Do we want the internet to be a civil place…or the wild west where you need to protect yourself. We have a lot of bad content [on the network]. Should we find ways to find and stop it? It’s an identical question to other illegal content.”

AT&T, P2P Filtering, and the Consumer [Slyck.com]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we looked at a super dog that follows orders given over a radio set to do things like turn off a faucet or fire a gun. Have a problem with kids hitching a ride on your car? Electrocute them. Don't have electricity but want neat clothes? Try this gas powered iron. I'm not sure why roller blades with tank treads never caught on. We also look at a weird ad for an electron microscope and a lengthy article that details the process for creating a conductor's wand.

The weekend's round-up after the jump.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Sagaform "Pasta & Parmesan" Kitchen Tool

The "Pasta & Parmesan" tool from Swedish housewares design firm Sagaform combines one not-that-necessary kitchen tool, the pasta serving measurement guide, and one nearly essential one, the grater. It also has an open edge of one side for cutting larger hunks of cheese, which seems like a good idea unless it makes the grating surface too unstable to use without an annoying spring. Oh, and you can flip it over to use as a teethed ladle for pulling the pasta out of the water.

Not a bad multi-tasker all around, but it's exactly the sort of "one sheet of stamped metal" design that should cost five bucks but will probably end up being more like thirty since it's Scandinavian. Wait for the IKEA clone—but if you can't, the Sagaform model should be in store as soon as next month.

Pasta & Parmesan all-in-one tool [Core77.com]

Xeni Jardin

Still life with Apple knockoffs: Thailand

Anonymous says,

Envy the Thai. While we're stuck with only four iPods in the West (Nano, Classic, Touch, and Shuffle) in the black markets of Bangkok they've got dozens of 'iPods' in every shape, size, and color. I took some photos in mid-December while I was traveling there.

Joel Johnson

Mini Cloaca: Desktop-Sized Poop Machine

Regine from WMMNA (I love their newish form logo/search box) went to Wim Delvoye's latest installation of his Cloaca series where he was showing off his newest model, "Mini Cloaca." Delvoye's machines take food, grind it up, add it to a slurry of digestive juices, and make—more or less—shit. While previous models were almost industrial-sized, the Mini consumes about as much food as a breakfast meal.

I would love to have a Mini Cloaca on my desk, invite people in for meetings, and then activate the machine after they find something I find distasteful. Then I would open the trap door.

Wim Delvoye: Cloaca 2000-2007 [We-Make-Money-Not-Art.com]

Previously: "Cloaca" Art Installation Produces Own Criticism [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Gallery of Homemade Bombs, Spy Gear, and Police Technology

Wired's Dave Bullock shot two amazing galleries at the Homeland Security Stakeholders SI Conference*: Homemade bombs and spy and police gear. Almost every picture (with ample captions) is a winner, but I love this Remington R1, a wireless camera designed to be thrown into a room where it will right itself, making it possible to quickly scope out any perps, tangoes, or hopheads that might be lurking around the corner. It's actually been out for a couple of years, but it still seems like futuristic videogame gear to me, not something that can be bought by anyone for $2,500.

[via Danger Room]

* Aren't all citizens stakeholders in homeland security?

Joel Johnson

Dell Ships Padded CD Envelope in Giant Box

I've often gotten boxes from Amazon and other online vendors that were packed as wastefully as these CDs from Dell, as shown on the Technologist for Hire blog. I understand that DVDs can be fragile, but they're not that fragile, and while it frustrates me to have to break down a box for recycling it irks me even more to have to throw out the packing material they often use to pad it out.

This guy got it worst than most, receiving 100 boxes from Dell with driver discs he didn't even request for his fleet of corporate PCs.

Dell has responded to him saying they intend to review their packaging protocol within a few months. Who is the next egregious waster of packing that should be called out?

Dell and the environment: green is out, brown is in [Nexdot.net via Consumerist]

Joel Johnson

Etch-A-Sketch Wired Displays on TV

I share Oh Gizmo's skepticism about this "Etch-A-Sketch Wired," which emulates the function of the traditional toy on your television screen right down to the "shake to clear." It is a little sad to see something as simple as an Etch-A-Sketch go digital, especially when no additional functionality seems to have been added. (But then again, what would you want?)

It's only $13, though, so no big whoop, I guess, especially since I always sort of hated Etch-A-Sketches anyway, being just as impatient as a toddler as I am as an adult. It just always seemed like a gimmicky way to produce drawings with less fidelity and more finickiness than with a pencil. I guess it does seem like if you're going to make a modern version you should either add something new, like a print-out function, or just do it in Flash and make it collaborative.

Catalog Page [LighterSide.com via Ubergizmo via Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

Talking About AT&T's Internet Filtering on AT&T's The Hugh Thompson Show

Yesterday, I was invited to talk about gadgets onThe Hugh Thompson Show, a television-style talk show sponsored exclusively by AT&T for distribution on the online AT&T Tech Channel. I eventually did talk about gadgets, but in light of AT&T's shocking and baffling announcement of their plans to filter the internet, I thought that a much more interesting and important topic.

So that's what I talked about.

As you can see from the video, the crew ended up scrubbing the interview about half-way through. Figuring that might happen, I asked my steely-nerved friend Richard Blakeley to tape the first take. I wanted to make sure that we had a record of the event, primarily to ensure that AT&T would have no reason to try to bury the interview entirely—the same reason I am running this clip now, while discussion about what to do with my segment in post-production is surely underway.

After the crew got their wits about them—they were not very happy with me, understandably—we went on to shoot a second take, which to Hugh's credit also included not only talk of gadgets, but of network neutrality and AT&T's collusion with the NSA. I look forward to seeing that segment air on the The Hugh Thompson Show.

The crew was upset with me not only because I was making their job more difficult, but because they feared that my stunt would cost them their jobs. Everyone looked at the staff member who booked me on the show with sad eyes, assuring me that he would certainly be fired. After their initial panic at an interview gone off the rails the crew acted professionally and efficiently to continue shooting the show. If AT&T ends up letting a single person go from that crew, shame on them. What I chose to do has nothing to do with the crew or Mr. Thompson himself, who despite being visibly perturbed handled the whole mess like troupers.

The staff circled me just off-stage after the first shoot. "You realize Hugh doesn't actually work for AT&T, right? He can't speak for AT&T." I told them I understood, but reminded them the entire production is underwritten and broadcast exclusively by AT&T.

That's the point—I wasn't being a twerp just for the sake of being one. This is a critically important issue, one that deserves as much attention as can be drawn to it, especially in a venue where AT&T and its customers are sure to listen. And as the reaction of the crowd to my questions showed, no one wants AT&T rifling around in their communications. The only way to stop them from doing so is to speak up whenever we have the chance.

Joel Johnson

Fourteener Helps You Learn Knots

The "Fourteener Knotting Tool" is a simple little piece of hardware designed as an aid to learn knot tying, offering 14 different simulated pieces of hardware. It even comes with a nylon strap that can be used to secure the Fourteener to something—your leg, for instance—to give it proper resistance.

Sure, you could learn all these knots without a special tool, but I think it's a pretty neat little gewgaw for fifteen bucks. And the inventor, Darryl Lusk, also throws in a length of cord and a booklet of knots to get you started.

Product Page [14erKnottingTool.com via Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Hard Drives – Staples has a 200GB ATA drive for $30 with free shipping or a 500GB USB 2.0 external drive for $90. [Slickdeals]

• microSD Memory – Modest deals on microSD cards from Meritline, including free shipping. 1GB for $8, for instance. Your phone might use this format. [Dealhack]

• Videogame – Bioshock for the Xbox 360 for $40, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Point-and-shoot Camera – Today's Woot! is a Samsung 10.1MP Digital Camera for $125, shipped.

Joel Johnson

I'm Glad My Pops Bought an iMac

My pop's a pretty sharp dude, but computers aren't his forte. Right generation, perhaps, but computers didn't interest him as much as guitars and electronics. (He's one of those guys who can repair a tube-based amp without schematics, but only figured out that you could minimize an application window without losing all the data last year.)

I finally cajoled him into getting an iMac, primarily because I was tired of trying to troubleshoot his problems over the phone. I figured a Mac would be less prone to strange cruft and crashes in the first place and easier to use overall once he got over the initial operating system shock. And so far so good, although I think he's just as impressed by the iMac's looks as he is its performance.

But two things have made his transition even easier and while they may be common knowledge to some, I thought they bore mention. First, Leopard's Screen Sharing has become super handy for me. When he can't figure out how to do something—manage one of his multiple AIM personalities in iChat, for instance, as I slowly wean him off AOL.com—I can just click his name in iChat, take over his screen, and show him what to do, all the while chatting with him via VOIP. It's so much easier than trying to have him read off what the text and options are in whatever window may be on the screen at the time. And while screen sharing isn't new at all with applications like VNC (and Microsoft's robust Remote Desktop that's built into most versions of Windows), not having to explain to him how to set up those applications in the first place has been very nice.

The thing that surprised me more, though, was Apple's One to One training program. For $100 a year, he can waltz into his local Apple store (with an appointment) and get personalized training from an Apple dork. (Up to once a week, I believe, although I think it depends on the schedule of the Apple techs.) That's insanely inexpensive (presuming they're good teachers). For the first time that I can remember, he's looking at his computer as something he might be able to learn instead of something he wrestles with.

This may all sound like a big fuzzy Mac commercial, but who cares? I'm excited that he'll be able to do all the things that we internerds take for granted, like managing photos, making music, and all the other iLife stuff that for years he thought was out of his reach.

Joel Johnson

Compex Sports Trainer: Electroshock Your Muscles to Buffness

CNET's Michael Kanellos tries out the Compex Sport Trainer, essentially an electroshock machine that shocks your muscles into tensing all at once, Bruce Lee-style. It looks brutal. I want one.

But man, does it hurt. I did a set of seven 7-second intervals on the "resistance" setting and seven 4-second intervals on the "explosive strength" setting. That's 1 minute, 17 seconds of exercise. I was panting and sweating. And when the electricity was going through my muscles, it felt like my legs were in a vise.

Electrocute yourself for a better you [Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Video: Toyota Celica Supra XX Commercial (1978)

This Japanese commercial works for me on many levels. First, as I was born in '78, I'm about to turn 30, and the handsome white-haired gentleman in the video (clearly Golgo 13's boss) gives me hope that I may remain dapper after I turn into an old man next month. Second, I love the Celica Supra and its far-forward mirrors. (Later, when Toyota split the line, they ended up producing one of my favorite Japanese supercars in the twin-turbo Supra.)

Lastly, I love that shooting the commercial in the unfinished tile bathroom deep in a basement makes it look like they're in the futuristic guest spa of the Ethereal Plane Mariott.

Here's what I can't figure out, though: What gets thrown in the seat at the end? Is it the woman's hose or the spy's tie?

[via TV in Japan]

Joel Johnson

Painter's Pyramids Let You Paint Both Sides at Once

These "Painter's Pyramids" are designed to let you paint, stain, or seal one side of a piece of wood while the other dries. The plastic used is supposed to resist paints and varnishes, while the rounded tip isn't supposed to gouge into the wood. I'm a little dubious, but Toolmonger's Stuart Deutsch said he found "much truth in [the] claim" that they work as well as the company says.

I know I do hate finishing wood, which is why all my wood projects end up with streaks and globs born of my impatience. A pack of ten runs $7ish.

Painter’s Pyramid [Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we looked at a 1935 article about computers, although they refer to them as electronic brains. Do you have something really big that needs welding? Well, this woman has the perfect torch for you. Check out this crazy looking "rocket" car. Notice the quotes? It's a little too late to write a letter to the editor but a propeller in a tube is not a rocket. We also have an article full of home experiments you can make with iron, a camera that makes eight movies on one piece of film and Amelia Earhart's Motor Scooter. Yes, that's right, Amelia Earhart's Motor Scooter.

Joel Johnson

Metasonix "Fucking Fucker" G-1000 Tube Amp

My musical ability is such that I make even the finest sonic gear sound like a fox caught in a solids compactor at the local treatment plant, but if I could make sweet musics, gear from Metasonix would be my number one choice. I've never even heard any of their gear being played, but I can tell by the ad copy alone that it makes sounds both baleful and brown.

For they say about their latest all-tube guitar amp, the "Fucking Fucker":

There is nothing like the G-1000. Not even vaguely. It is arcane and radical. It is 100% vacuum tubes, from input to output. It contains 100% new-old-stock (NOS) tubes. Types never seen in guitar amps.

The G-1000 consists of two totally independent amplifiers, with very different preamp sections. One channel is called the HAPPY channel. The other is called the ANGRY channel.

For damn good reason. One sucks your face, the other gnaws your foreskin off.

Product Page [Metasonix.com] (Thanks, Westfall!)

Joel Johnson

Skin Graft Designs Holster Bags

Although I'm not nearly thin or tattooed enough to wear these holster bags from Skin Graft in their suggested manner—shirtless, sexy, and smoldering—they would make great little gadget bags for those who can pull off the whole not-quite-gothy/not-quite-geeky look that so many of you young internerds seem to be doing these days. (Let's call it "shellbent-for-leather.") They're small enough they might be able to be worn under a jacket without issue, although I don't see any practical way to wear them under a shirt. And you wouldn't want to anyway, unless all your gear is sweat resistant.

Prices are around $80 for canvas models, but go upwards of $200 for the ornate leather and brass versions.

Catalog Page [TheLadyBirdCabaret.com via Ectomo]

Joel Johnson

Portal Theme on 8080 Computer with C64 Sound and Assembler Source

A Portal fan has hacked together this "Still Alive" rig controlled by an Intel 8080 running at 2MHz, with a sound chip from a Commodore 64. Then he released the source code in Assembler. You win the fan prize, sir.

8080 Computer playing Portal Still Alive [YouTube via via RPS]

Previously:

• Jonathan Coulton on Writing Portal's End Theme [BBG]
• Rule 34: Portal Edition [BBG]
• Portal Weighted Companion Cube Papercraft [BBG]
• Portal Papercraft [BBG]
• Portal in LEGO [BBG]
• Portal Writer Erik Wolpaw Interviewed [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Blowing Out the Dust: Morning Edition

• Literally – Netflix removes limit on how many movies can be streamed over the web from their site for most users. I had forgotten this was an option. [News.Wired.com (AP)]

• Of Course Not – Did CES live up to its Green Agenda? CES offset roughly 15% of their carbon. [Earth2Tech]

• s/uck/atregex/g – This isn't gadgety, but I love it anyway: a list of "Regex Legends." [Blog.StevenLevithan.com]

Joel Johnson

CES by Pen

Rob Beschizza has developed a new metric by which to judge companies who display at CES: judge the quality of their free giveaway pens.

Trust Peripherals is a European Logitech-like peripheral giant that's only just come to the U.S., and is aiming to swarm the U.S. with its vast selection of premium-grade computer gear. Its pen is minimalist, white, almost pure. It's as if Trust wants you to project your hopes and dreams onto it, as embodied by a nickel's worth of pressed acrylic. The line: excellent. The cap's swivel action: insouciant. One to watch.

The Best Free Pens of CES 2008 [Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Xmas Trees – Several artificial Christmas trees are on sale as low as $5 at Sears, but you'll want to do in-store pick-up. [Slickdeals]

• Various Stuffs – The Amazon Friday Sale is back. Check out this DeLonghi Ceramic Heater for $30, shipped.

• Gaming Video Card – MSI GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI Express Video Card for $224, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Ugly Watch – Today's Woot! is the Swatch Paparazzi Watch with MSN Direct service for $25, shipped.

Joel Johnson

TechForward and NEW: Gadget Buyback and Recycling

The AP profiles two new gadget buy-back and recycling companies, neither of which seem like good deals for those willing to resell working gear on eBay. One is really a rip:

For a fee paid when you buy a device — $9 for an iPod, for instance — you get the right to sell it to [buyback company] TechForward at a predetermined price that depends on how long you keep it. If you sell an iPod after a year, for example, you would get $40; after another year, $20.

Next!

The ecoNEW program — which amounts to a vast expansion of the trade-in programs some retailers run, mainly as promotions — won't charge upfront like TechForward.

It will provide store credit for old electronics in some categories, like computers, MP3 players and smart phones — with the dollar amount depending on the market for the particular equipment when it's traded in.

Some items, like printers and non-LCD monitors, won't qualify for credit, but users will be able to send them back to NEW for free for recycling. Other items, like cell phones, aren't eligible for credit or recycling.

Companies Launch Gadget Buyback Services [AP.Google.com]

Joel Johnson

iPhone/Touch Icons for Boing Boing Sites

I whipped up some easy icons for all three Boing Boing sites just in case anyone wants to save a page to the menu screen of their iPhone or iPod Touch. (You have to be on the latest firmware to do this.)

Joel Johnson

Lovely Vibrator Design Leaves One Full of Delight

While it's not cheap at $165, the "Delight" vibrator is swoopy bit of plastic and silicone that looks downright—dare I say?—sensuous. It's one of several new sex toys being promoted by Babeland for 2008. (Although I recognized at least a couple from years past, which is why I pointed out this one and not the whole list.)

What impresses me most is the combination of (hopefully) good ergonomics and style. I don't have a vagina of my own, but if I did, I'd be consistently frustrated by the compromise in most vibrators, which seem to be either cutesy but impractical or well-designed but utilitarian.

Catalog Page [Store.Babeland.com via Boinkology]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we looked at plans to build a Poor Man's Telescope, the first I've ever seen without an enclosure. If snake bites are hampering your fishing expedition, consider stovepipe leggings. Milk bottles may seem antiquated to us now, but it was a big improvement over the old method of using a bucket and ladle. We also looked at a man who whittles amazing chains of wood, a very odd plane that supposedly has flapping wings, and took a tour of the National Archives.

Joel Johnson

Africa Has Computers; What They Need is Software

Dr. Joel Selanikio has a great overview on the BBC about why writing software for cell phones is far more important that writing software for PCs when it comes to making useful applications for the developing world.

The question we should be asking ourselves, then, is not "how can we buy, and support, and supply electricity for, a laptop for every schoolteacher" (much less every schoolchild), but rather "what mobile software can we write that would really add value for a schoolteacher (or student, or health worker, or businessperson) and that could run on the computer they already have in their pocket?"

...

Unfortunately, as of this morning a Google search for "educational software for Windows" got 41,300 results, while a search for "educational software for cell phones" got exactly 9 hits.

...

After all, who is more likely to come up with innovative software based on the centrality of the cell phone, a programmer in Silicon Valley surrounded by beautiful desktops and laptops, or a programmer in Nairobi who lives in a world in which almost all contact with the network is via cellphone?

The invisible computer revolution [BBC]

Previously: EpiSurveyor: Saving Lives with Open Source (our interview with Dr. Selanikio) [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Video: African Generator Powered by Sugar and Yeast

AfriGadget has more on Dr. Cedrick Ngalande's simple generator that is powered by a reaction of sugar and yeast that causes a see-saw motion from which electricity can be harvested. It looks slow in the video (and it is), but the motion moves back and forth for "many hours," which should be enough to generate power for cell phones and low-power PCs.

My first thought was obvious: Dr. Ngalande has developed a way to harvest power from the production of beer.

Dr. Ngalande’s Sugar and Yeast Power Generator [AfriGadget]

Joel Johnson

MODEM: Cold War Power Plant Transformed into Berlin Art and Music Venue

One of things I didn't get to do when I was last in Berlin was visit Ari Benjamin Meyers' "Modem," a new music and art space he's building from an abandoned 23,000 square meter power and heating plant which once provided all the heat for East Berlin. A pity, too, because not only is it a huge industrial space (which I love), it's full of crazy Cold War-era knobs and dials stenciled with inscrutable German labels. (At least to monolingual me.)

On the plus side, it gives me yet another reason to go back to Berlin!

The space isn't open yet from what I can tell, but it's going to be an amazing venue when it's completed. And for now you can look at the pretty pictures and imagine what it will be like to see shows inside.

Press Release, Project Site, and more images [Modem-Berlin]

Joel Johnson

Honda Motorcycle Modded Into Jet Fighter

F15 Jet Fighter Honda Motorcycle - The funniest videos clips are here

This Honda Goldwing has been modified to look and sound like a jet fighter yet is still street legal. The interview with the man who made it makes my skin crawl, trumpeting the indomitable spirit of the invention as a tribute to civic duty or some horseshit, but it's a pretty fantastic piece of garage engineering, so I should just shut my fat yap and enjoy it.

(Thanks, Dennis!)

Joel Johnson

Video: "Smash Lab" on Discovery

Discovery sent me this commercial for "Smash Lab," a new show in the Mythbusters vein. It looks okay, although I have to make a confession: I find Mythbusters sort of boring. I'm not sure why, either. On paper it's totally up my alley.

I think it's because the hosts are sort of dreary. Or maybe they're fine, but I've become spoiled by Top Gear's presenters.

Oh, which reminds me: How do I audition to be a host of the American version of Top Gear? I know it'll probably be a pale imitation of the U.K. original—which given the Anglocentric nature of Clarkson & Co., would make it nearly transparent—but I still harbor a little steamboat of hope that it could be a show worth watching.

Anyway, here's your one free commercial, Discovery!

Joel Johnson

Lead Paint Scare Good Business for Wooden Toy Makers

Nate M. writes:

Some good friends of mine run a wooden toy store in Austin, TX. They've had a fabulous year thanks to the Chinese toy debacle. Seems that parents were keen to get ahold of non-painted, non-toxic, non-chinese toys this year. Handmade wooden toys fit the bill.

Company Page [RootinRidge.com]

Previously: Do Kids Still Play with Wooden Toys? [BBG]

Joel Johnson

AT&T's Retarded Plan to Filter the Internet

Tim Wu's fantastic piece on Slate, describing the inanity that is AT&T's plans to try and filter all its internet traffic for copyrighted works. Wu lays out the various reasons why this is a bad idea, but I really like how he focuses primarily on why this would be bad business. AT&T is much more likely to respond to financial pressure than ethical if history is any guide.

AT&T's new strategy reverses that position and exposes it to so much potential liability that adopting it would arguably violate AT&T's fiduciary duty to its shareholders. Today, in its daily Internet operations, AT&T is shielded by a federal law that provides a powerful immunity to copyright infringement. The Bells know the law well: They wrote and pushed it through Congress in 1998, collectively spending six years and millions of dollars in lobbying fees to make sure there would be no liability for "Transitory Digital Network Communications"—content AT&T carries over the Internet. And that's why the recording industry sued Napster and Grokster, not AT&T or Verizon, when the great music wars began in the early 2000s.

Here's the kicker: To maintain that immunity, AT&T must transmit data "without selection of the material by the service provider" and "without modification of its content." Once AT&T gets in the business of picking and choosing what content travels over its network, while the law is not entirely clear, it runs a serious risk of losing its all-important immunity. An Internet provider voluntarily giving up copyright immunity is like an astronaut on the moon taking off his space suit. As the world's largest gatekeeper, AT&T would immediately become the world's largest target for copyright infringement lawsuits.

Has AT&T Lost Its Mind? [Slate]

Previously: Fair use for the 21st century: if it adds value, it's fair; if it substitutes, it's not [Boing Boing]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• MP3 Player – Reconditioned Sandisk Sansa M250 2GB mp3 player with voice recording for $25, shipped. [Slickdeals]

• Knife & Multitool – Gerber Evo Jr. Serrated Knife + Clutch Multitool for $21 on Amazon. [Dealnews]

• Roomba – Today's Woot! is a Roomba Scheduler for $165, shipped. I just sent my two broken Roombas in to be recycled, yet I'm still considering buying this one. Arrgh.

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we looked at a gas mask hood for babies, a new out door BBQ, and a giant metal shield for Detroit riot cops. In 1930, as today, the U.S patent office was a disgrace. Have an old wooden beer keg? Make it into a radio for your game room. Also, check out this German learning egg.

Joel Johnson

Siemens Touch Sensitive Stovetops

The latest inductive cooktops from Siemens have—as the brand name "touchSlider" might imply—a touch-sensitive slider below each burner that light up when you select the heat level your desire. Completely unnecessary are totally nifty.

Siemens touchSlider induction and electric ceramic cooktops [Appliancist]

Joel Johnson

Do Kids Still Play with Wooden Toys?

These hand-carved wooden toys are lovely, although probably not on sale in the U.S. (They're made by an Italian group called "To Be Us.") But they made me wonder if any of you guys have bought these sort of nostalgic pieces for your kids, like wooden cars or blocks, and whether or not your kids actually play with them. I can't help but read descriptions that mention the Lebanese cedar and mahogany wheels and think these sorts of toys are made for the parents, not the kids.

But I don't have kids at hand to observe. Do kids actually like these sort of toys still? To the exclusion of more detailed, accurate representations? What are your kids' favorite toys anyway?

TO BE US A MATTER OF TOYS [Notcot]

Joel Johnson

Eton FR1000 Crank Radio with Walkie-Talkie

While the likelihood of be ever living in a place where I would be completely off the grid is pretty unlikely, I still adore hand-cranked whatevers, even after owning a few and giving myself cramps trying to keep them charged. This new radio from Eton not only has an AM/FM/NOAA Weather receiver inside, but also a two-way GMRS/FRS walkie-talkie and a built-in phone charger. It's also got a flashlight on one end and a carry handle around the back. It's the all-in-one survival tool you'll be too dead to use!

Oh, it's got a name: the FR1000. Eton says to expect it in February for around $150.

Product Page [EtonCorp.com via Red Ferret via Electric Pig]

Joel Johnson

Badass Basement with Drop Down Slot Racing Track

Joe Kelly, Jr., a car collecting nut, has an awesome display room in his basement, complete with a slot car track that lowers from the ceiling.

ikea hacks make joe's fabulous car room a reality [Ikea Hacker]

Joel Johnson

The Macbook Air is Not a Sub-Notebook

Having had a few hours to digest the announcement of Apple's latest product, the Macbook Air, an extremely thin, relatively lightweight notebook computer incorporating some of the same design concepts as the iPhone, I've come to realize what is fundamentally irksome about it.

It's not the lack of a user-accessible battery. While the lack of battery that can be swapped for another to extend away-from-socket use time is regrettable to some, for most the five hour "web browsing via Wi-Fi" time should be plenty. And though laptops tend to chew through batteries at an alarming rate—the one in the very Macbook Pro on which I am typing has less than an hour of usable life from "full charge," despite being less than a year old—I could live with paying $129 every couple of years to have Apple install a replacement. We can have wafer thin gadgets or user replaceable batteries, but not both, and I trust the consumer electronics industry will continue to produce an heterogeneous selection of slightly less waifish devices with rumble seats.

It's not the lack of a FireWire, although that may be a diminution of the Macbook Air's usefulness to those—like myself—who use tape-based camcorders. Anyone dedicating any appreciable time to video editing should want a computer with a faster processor, more memory, and a hard disk with both greater rotational speed and capacity.

It's not the price. $1,800 is a fair price for a well-engineered slab of fashion and science. The Asus Eee, to which it has most commonly been compared, often almost fairly, is perhaps only half the machine of the Macbook Air in capability, albeit at less than one-fourth the cost. But it is impossible to mistake the Eee for anything other than the latest achievement of an efficient manufacturing culture, a marvelous but still-plastic toy, while the Air is a scythe paused mid-stroke. Thin as enamel under a cold gasp.

It's not the perfidious, lumpen shape which allows Apple to claim "World's Thinnest" title while stuffing the computer's midsection with components, a roundness forgivable in a pocket-bound iPhone but not the Macbook Air. It looks over-leavened, like a thinner laptop left too long in the oven. Yet I could, being a man capable of finding the truth and beauty in any model provided she is thin, learn to love it.*

The Macbook Air has one intractable flaw.

It's too big.

More precisely, too wide. As I said just this week, a sub-notebook's defining feature is its keyboard. At first glance, the Macbook Air would seem to have met this criterion. It has a full-sized keyboard which I'm sure meets the same level of quality of previous wonderful Apple laptop keyboards.

Why did Apple choose to extend the dimensions of the machine beyond those of the keyboard? (The Macbook Air is exactly the same depth and width as the vanilla Macbook.) They have guessed that Mac users in search of a lightweight laptop were not willing to give up any more screen size. That a thirteen-inch widescreen is the minimum comfortable display for a laptop that will be used for five hours at a time. That a smaller screen would make the Macbook Air less capable as a surrogate for a larger Macbook. Maybe they're right.

But it's not the sub-notebook Mac I have wanted for years. I would say it isn't a sub-notebook at all, but simply a thin laptop. A super-sub-notebook. A laptop that is no more portable than its thicker predecessors, but less capable.

It'll probably be a big success. I'll wait.

* I joke, of course. I like my women in a variety of form factors.

Joel Johnson

Macbook Air is Real

Image: Slashgear's Liveblog

Well, that was a fun Macworld, and the ultra-thing Macbook Air appears to actually exist. Thanks to everyone who chatted with us in #bbg. I hope you enjoyed the updates about my dogs affinity for celery, if Steve Jobs' sweater was cashmere or simply a giant black tattoo covering his naked flesh, and Lovemoose's mid-show announcement that his wife just told him he was having a baby. We have decided (for him) that it should be named Steve. Especially if it's a girl.

First Macbook Air thought: No Firewire is a bummer, if understandable. It means if I move to an Air for my mobile laptop I'm going to have to ditch my Canon HV20 camcorder for something that copies over USB, like a Sanyo Xacti.

Joel Johnson

HawkEye Field Sobriety Test Checks for Pupil Dilation

The "HawkEye" is designed to be used by police to test for dilation of the pupil, magnifying the eyes of the perp and recording them for use in court. The Standard Field Sobriety Test requires an officer to estimate pupil size, but the HawkEye overlays a pupil scale chart over the recorded eyes for handy reference.

My pupils don't dilate when I'm drunk, you might think. And you're right. The HawkEye isn't testing for alcohol, but for hallucinogens, many of which cause the eyes to go black with the festering blood of consumed children. Including, according to the site, marijuana.

(The drug war is a travesty, but still, you know, don't drive high. Seriously. It can wait.)

If you're high right now, though, here's a Make Your Own Joke assignment: The inventor's name is "Dick Studdard."

Product Page [Acunetx.com via MedGadget via Jalopnik]

Joel Johnson

Must Read Piece on e-Waste and Phone Recycling

I almost missed this piece from the Times Magazine about cellphone recycling. I'm glad I didn't. It makes me very glad to see that someone is out there reclaiming all those metals.

The Belgian company Umicore is in the business of reclaiming those materials. It extracts 17 metals from our unwanted televisions, computers and cellphones and from more ominous-sounding industrial byproducts like drosses and anode slimes. Umicore harvests silver from spent photo-developing solutions collected at American big-box stores and sells it to Italian jewelers. The company describes its work as "aboveground mining."

...

The metals exit the smelter’s base as a glowing sludge. It streams into another caldron the height of a house. From there, it moves into tanks of acid. The acid is electrocuted. As electricity flows through the mixture, copper accumulates on the tank’s end plate. I watched a giant claw move across the ceiling, rip out the plate and, with a violent whack, cleave off a gleaming layer of 99.9 percent pure copper, with the unmistakable sheen of a new penny. It was thrilling to see something so clean and recognizable emerge from such an alien process.

The Afterlife of Cellphones [NYTimes.com] (Thanks, Fan!)

Image: Richard Barnes for the Times

Joel Johnson

Festa Del Cupertino

I'm an Apple fan but I don't get all uppity about it.

I think Apple is one of—if not the—best consumer electronics companies out there. I'm an especially big fan of OS X, to which I am a recent convert, having been lured by the 12-inch Powerbook and a BSDish operating system that was better than I at making a GUI appear on the screen.*

The iPods I liked fine. Especially the lack of unnecessary features. That whole "less is more" thing worked out really well until they became the dominant game in town, making MP3 player purchases a choice between a greater feature set or a greater accessories ecosystem, but then Apple came out with the iPhone and I sort of stopped caring. Because the iPhone is one of my favorite gadgets ever. I'm not too proud to say so. I bought one the second day they were out. (I tried to resist!) And even now, I still get a kick out of using it. It still feels like the future.

So sure, enormous fan. But I don't like getting all caught up in the rumors and such here on Gadgets, because it just seems like so much wasted effort and worry. I hope they come out with a sub-notebook today just like most people, but posting up every little scrap of rumor isn't going to make my wishes come true.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you guys know where I stand. A few folks asked me why I don't cover Apple more, but never without saying they're fine with the level of Apple they get here, so I don't expect that to change much. But today's an Apple holiday, so let's enjoy it. If Sony or Microsoft or, I dunno, Samsung or someone would start running their press like Apple and doing big splashy events with often innovative products, I'd enjoy those events, too.

Oh! I was thinking since there's no point whatsoever in liveblogging Macworld—I'm not there, for one; the web will be dripping in it, for two—I was wondering if anybody wanted to jump into an IRC server while it's going on and yak it up. Someone run a channel? Or could we just jump on EFNET or something and start one? I've never used a non-private IRC network so I don't know how those work.

* Seriously, have you ever tried getting X running on FreeBSD? I know it can be done, but sheesh.

Update: We're having a little chat in #bbg on Freenode.

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Mobile Phone – Unlocked Motorola MOTOFONE F3 GSM cell phone for $36, shipped. Nothing fancy, just a phone. [Dealnews]

• Point-and-Shoot Cameras – Various digital cameras on sale now, including the Canon PowerShot SD1000 ELPH for $165. [Dealnews]

• Tiny Motherboard + CPU – Intel Socket 479 Mini ITX Motherboard + Intel 1.33GHz CPU for $66, shipped. Stuff it in things! No not that! [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is already gone. It was two PowerSquid power strips for $13.

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

This weekend on Modern Mechanix we looked at a one man movie theater, a back seat radio tuner and a belt driven flash bulb magazine. We learned what effect TV had on the 1952 election and that Alka-Seltzer used to be marketed as a cure for colds. For all of you pipe organ fans, here is a home model that's no bigger than a grand piano. Do you know the definition of fascist? You would if you had a 1938 Websters dictionary. Judging a beauty contest but want to get your measurements right? Check out this shadowgraph. Helmet tester looks like a a pretty crappy job. We also look at the eternal battle between men and rats. Lastly, pig sculptures made out of lard. There is something very wrong about that.

Joel Johnson

Team Fortress 2 in LEGO

Considering how relatively limited the selection for minifigs are, Brendan Mauro did a great job emulating the characters from Valve's Team Fortress 2.

I'm still playing Team Fortress 2 myself. Wish they'd come out with a few more maps, but I still adore it.

Brendan Mauro's photostream [Flickr via The Brothers Brick]

Previously: Portal in LEGO [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Digital Buddhist Jukebox Plays Tibetan Chants

While searching for the source of the phrase "The things you own end up owning you," mistakenly thinking it was a riff on Buddhist wisdom but discovering it's actually a line from Fight Club, a movie that suggests we all wear leather pants, I discovered this "Digital Buddhist Jukebox in Tibetan" that plays five different Tibetan chants from its built-in lotus speaker or over headphones. It's $4, shipped, from DealExtreme.

Teresa had actually pointed these out before the last time we mentioned DealExtreme, but I didn't pay attention. Sorry!

Catalog Page [Dealextreme.com]

Previously: Hard-drives as Buddhist prayer-wheels [Boing Boing]
Buddhist iPods -- HOAX! [Boing Boing]
DealExtreme.com: Cheap Crap with Free Shipping [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Rock Band Smoke and Light Show Accessory Coming in June?

A Destructoid reader spotted this listing for an "Interactive Light and Smoke Stage Show" accessory kit for the videogame Rock Band. Presuming it's legit and not a hoax, the kit will be available in June for a hundred bucks.

This would only be cool—and I use "cool" liberally—if it were officially supported, with synchronization with the music in the game. That said, I've yet to pull out my Rock Band kit since our Fünde Razor charity event. I really liked the game, but just haven't been in the mood to rock solo since I've tasted the joy of full band play.

Live the dream with PDP's Rock Band 'Interactive Light and Smoke Stage Show' [Destructoid]

Joel Johnson

CookTek Portable Induction Cookers for Woks

Most of us are familiar with induction cooktops, which transfer heat directly to the pan but remain cool to human touch. CookTek has a line of portable induction cooking systems with LED temperature displays which are sort of neat on their own, but I think it's especially interesting that they make specialized models specifically for use with woks.

Models start at $500 and go upwards of $2,000, depending on wattage.

CookTek induction cooktop - portable induction cooktops [Appliancist.com]

Joel Johnson

iPod Dock Heralds Pig-Shaped Future

Last year I spotted a pig-shaped humidifier and declared that I hoped the future would hold more pig-shaped gadgets. Oh Gizmo has spotted this "Piggy iPod Dock" from Amethyst at this year's CES, with special sensors on the ears that control volume and track control.

I'm in love.

Let the era of porcine gadgets begin!

[CES 2008] Amethyst Piggy iPod Dock [Oh Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

Peter Bennett's Ball Bearing Sequencer

Rob Beschizza of Gadget Lab has discovered this lovely sequencer from Peter Bennett that uses steel bearings to trigger beats on each of the four tracks. It's far from the most practical sequencer ever designed, but looks like it would be a joy to play with.

Bennett's project page [Sarc.qub.ac.uk via Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Partsearch and Partstore.com: Giant Parts Catalog for DIY Repair

The Times profiles Partsearch, a company that acts as an inventory broker between manufacturers and repair technicians.

The items most frequently broken or lost, he said, include laptop batteries, projection television lamps, refrigerator water filters and dryer timer knobs (so you’re not alone).

Mr. Laumeister said his company is in the midst of a seasonal surge, as consumers break, lose or wear out their holiday gift gadgets. Also helping sales recently, he said, are environmentally aware customers looking to keep their older electronics items out of the dump. A precarious economy, of course, helps. “When the economy slows down, people fix their old stuff,” he said.

When Gadget Parts Break or Get Lost [NYTimes.com]

Joel Johnson

MisuraEmme Wall Unit with Hidden HDTV

I don't know about you, but I think this wall unit from Italian firm MisuraEmme is quite attractive, it's only failing that it's the sort of furniture that tends to dominate a room to the exclusion of any ratty furniture or knick-knacks you may own. But the integrated television unit is an especially nice way to hide a flat-panel when it's not in use.

I didn't bother looking at the price as I'm sure it's painfully out of reach for most—or at least me—but I really like it in theory. The only real issue I could see with trying to make something similar on your own is that most flat panel TVs have a lip on the bezel that would prevent the display from getting right up on the glass, which would be critical for making sure you get the most light through the front.

What do you guys think about wall units in general? I've actually always been a fan, even down to the wood paneled versions of old. Then again I stay in a sort of raggedy hotel in the Florida Keys just because some of the rooms have room controls in a sloped wooden panel between the beds, so I may have a bit of a problem.

Product Page [MisuraEmme.it via Trendir via Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Belt Buckle Knives

Dug North writes:

I got one of these little beauties for Christmas and it is now the single coolest thing I own.

The knife is cleverly held in a custom belt buckle chassis with a magnet. The knife can be your hand and open in moments -- even without practice. There is video on the site of the creator using the knife.  He HAS practiced and it is unbelievable. Butterfly knives, switchblades, and all other knives can't even compete.

They even do custom engraving. I went for nice scroll engraved pattern and the belt buckle looks great with a pair of jeans.

The knives start around $70 unadorned and go up to around $110 with extra fanciness. Even if you don't want one, seeing the repeating animated GIF of a man whipping a lens-flared knife out of his crotch is worth one captivating visit to their site.

Product Page [Belt-Buckle-Knife.com]

Joel Johnson

Fake East African iPod Comes in Real Box

Matthew Christie's brother picked him up a hot new iPod Classic in Tanzania, which just so happened to be a Chinese knock-off. It surely has a worse interface than a proper iPod, but you can't argue with the features: SD-slot, built-in speaker, and a camera!

But my favorite thing—and why this is notable—is that the model came in a beat-up but seemingly legit iPod U2 box, which means someone is out there collecting up boxes into which faux iPods are sold. Clever.

Matthew's Gallery [Picasweb.Google.com]

Joel Johnson

Oreck Contest Winner: BPratt's Self-Mutilating Dinosaur

There were lots of great entries in the "Suckiest Gadget Experience" contest, but none quite made us laugh like BPratt's story of the wooden apotemnophilic dinosaur who ruined Christmas morning.

The Winning Story [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Why Sub-Notebooks are the Only Portable Computers that Matter

For years, the consumer electronics industry has been trying to convince the public to buy portable computers of diverse form. There were recent attempts like the OQO and Flipstart, predecessors to the UMPC market that launched to a fizzle last year. A couple years before that, dedicated Portable Media Players without any real computing abilities at all were sold on the strength of their dedicated screens and relatively capacious hard drives. Don't forget the Pepper Pad, a Linux-based device that was not only awkwardly huge (although light), but split its keyboard onto either half of its chassis.

All of these devices haven't seen any real traction, because they've sacrificed the one thing that should be sacrosanct on a computer: the keyboard.

A mobile computer is an input device. If it's pocket-sized, then we can accept a crippled input device like the iPhone's touch screen or the thumb boards of Blackberries. (How people live with a web-capable smartphone without a QWERTY input is beyond me, but bless them.)

If it's not pocket-sized—really, honestly able to slip into the front pocket of tight jeans—then it needs a real keyboard on which real typing can be done. And by "real" I mean "you could type several hundred words at a go without feeling like you've tried to perform a hysterectomy on a gerbil."

That's why sub-notebooks are the hot new thing for the mass market—and have been the hot new thing for many gadget nerds for ages, throttled mostly by the fact that sub-notebooks were expensive to import from Japan. Asus's Eee is their most successful product ever (presumably by units sold, not revenue, but who knows). All the Apple soothsayers are saying we'll expect a sub-notebook Macbook tomorrow at Macworld, which I think means that those analysts, no matter how accurate their sources, probably just want a sub-notebook from Apple, too.

Of course, I could be wrong. The Panasonic W4 [pictured] (and many of the Japan-only "Let's Note" models) is pretty much the perfect compromise machine, only 2.8 pounds with an optical drive, fantastic keyboard, and tough magnesium alloy case, but I don't think it became the sort of breakout hit that the Eee has become. (Based on my scientific survey based on leaving my apartment once or twice a year.) So maybe the public isn't clamoring for a sub-notebook yet, but once they realize the benefits of a machine that is truly capable enough to replace their larger, bulkier laptops, I think "light and thin" (and perhaps even "cheap") will be the new standards for portable computing devices.

I realize I've just worked it out that consumers will want lighter, cheaper, and thinner laptops. I hope you realize that's the sort of analysis only a genius could cook up. But what I'm just trying to say that wider adoption of these smaller notebooks with real keyboards may finally kill off all the strange UMPCs and other cockamamie tiny computer ideas that keep wasting our time.* And then we could get on to more interesting things, like coming up with touchscreen interfaces that would actually allow typing at speeds on par with a proper keyboard.

* Yes, I know, you love your Nokia Internet Tablet or your UMPC or whatever. That's cool, really. But go to any coffee shop and you'll see dozens of people on laptops—people who would be willing to replace those laptops with sub-notebooks, I suspect—and nary a keyboard-less device. And unless you're one of those power nerds who keep twenty different devices with you at all times, I think most people would trade their little tablets for a proper sub-notebook if it were as light and as rugged.

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Point-and-Shoot Camera – Kodak 6.2MP Digital Camera & 1GB SD $75 Shipped at Newegg [Dealhack]

• LCD Monitor – 24-inch Soyo monitor, 1,920 by 1,200 resolution for $300 in stores at Office Max. [Dealnews]

• UMPC – Today's Woot! is a Sony VAIO UX390N Premium Micro PC for $1,305 shipped.

Joel Johnson

What Do Cell Phone Reception Bars Mean?

Excellent—and I'm going to presume accurate because it has the Stink of Science™—answer from an Ask Metafilter reader about what those five bars actually indicate on your phone.

The technical term is "EC/I0" (pronounced "ee-see-over-eye-naught") and it refers to the amount of the signal which is usable. In CDMA you can have strong signal (4 bars) and lousy EC/I0 and not be able to carry a call, and you can have low signal (zero bars) and excellent EC/I0 and carry a call fine. But they can't display EC/I0 because it fluctuates wildly (it could go from zero to four bars and back to zero again in just a few seconds) and would terrify users, so they display the signal strength, which at least has the virtue of being stable, though it doesn't really mean much.

What do cell phone reception bars mean? [Ask.Metafilter.com]

Joel Johnson

Calculating Total Cost of Ownership on Vodaphone

Mad Charles Stross took a stab at buying a cell phone in the UK, armed with a spreadsheet and a hankering to sodomize his calm, and discovered the total cost of ownership doesn't vary wildly when you start all of Vodaphone's plans out in neat boxes:

The first obvious conclusion I reached is that if you look at the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a phone, including both the phone cost and the monthly tariff cost multiplied by the term of the contract, there's surprisingly little elasticity in the bottom line until you get into the eye-wateringly high usage tariffs. The TCO for a sample phone on 18 month contract varied by only £102 between the Talk 75 and Talk 500 tariffs (75 included minutes and 100 included texts per month, versus 500 minutes and 1000 texts per month). The same pattern held on 12 month contracts, with a £60 spread. Which is, frankly, ridiculous, because you get so few minutes and texts on Talk 75 that the actual cost per minute is nine times higher, and the cost per text is eight time higher than on Talk 500.

...

Cost for a Nokia E90 with Vodafone, 12 month contract, Anytime 500: £187.23. Cost per month: £34.04. Cost of phone plus twelve months: £595.71.

Cost for a Nokia E90 with Vodafone, 18 month contract, Anytime 500: £127.66. Cost per month: £29.79. Cost of phone plus eighteen months: £663.88.

Marketing Musings [Antipope.org]

Joel Johnson

T-Mobile Hotspot@Home Six Month Review (Verdict: Works a Treat)

Back in July, T-Mobile began offering its Hotspot@Home feature that allows unlimited minutes of cell phone use over a Wi-Fi network, with seamless transfers from a Wi-Fi call to the T-Mobile cellular network. I had always wanted to go without a land line, so I jumped head first into a new contract. Six months later, I've got no regrets.

Hotspot@Home is a service plan add-on, similar to unlimited text messaging, so I had to start a regular plan instead of using a pre-paid account. I opted for the cheaper "myFavs" 300 minute plan. In addition to the plan's 300 regular minutes, I got unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited calls to the 5 "myFavs" (who I can change once a month), and unlimited calls to anyone while I'm on my home (or any open/T-Mobile) Wi-Fi network. Calls even have unlimited minutes outside of a Wi-Fi network, as long as the call begins on a Wi-Fi network.

I really enjoy not thinking about cell phone minutes. In order to use all 300, I would need to talk between 7am and 9pm somewhere outside of my apartment, not near a hotspot. It would have to be a number I don't call much, as otherwise they might be one of "myFavs." In terms of a landline alternative, this plan works great. I never think about the minutes left on my plan. Last month, I used 29.

Occasional problems with the Wi-Fi compatible Nokia 6086 phone (you must use a special phone that works with Hotspot@Home) have been minimal. It connects just fine to every home wireless router I've encountered, so I don't recommend T-Mobile's "optimized" router. It doesn't like it when I try to connect to a network with a weak signal and I'll occasionally have to restart the phone when I've been switching networks a lot. The battery is sapped significantly faster on Wi-Fi signal, reducing my standby time from 4-5 days to 1-2 days. But I'm at home then, so plugging it in is no bother. And all these problems are outweighed by calls clearer than on a standard cordless phone anchored to a land line.

My favorite part about the Hotspot@Home feature is that it quells my irrational fear of blowing my minutes on tech support. I'd recommend it to anyone with a similar fear or simply interested in phone service sans the land line.

Hotspot@Home requires a $39.99/month or greater monthly service plan and runs an additional $19.99 a month on top of that.

– Brian Copeland

T-Mobile's Crappy Flash Site [TheOnlyPhoneYouNeed.com]

Joel Johnson

Hello Kitty Honda Motorcycle

After that last post, I don't want to think that I'm unwilling to wallow in needless consumption, middle phallus upturned to a sternly disapproving Mother Nature. When this world is nothing but dust I will ride across the glowing landscape on this Hello Kitty sportbike.

(I love that there is a Roman rune for "male" on the side, just in case you might mistake the owner for a female.)

Hello Kitty Motorcycle Honda NSR [KittyHell.com]

Joel Johnson

Do Gadget Blogs Hurt the Environment?

Piers Fawkes called this week's Consumer Electronics Show "an orgy of poison." I chose not to attend because it seemed to be a waste of my resources and extraneous to doing my job: sifting out interesting products from the manifold junk.

But beyond of the wasteful redundency of CES, does my job—this site—do more harm than good? By showcasing items that can be purchased, do I give you tacit approval to purchase them? Am I creating buyer's lust where there was none before? Should it be my responsibility to worry about your spending habits? Does the person who prints the catalog take responsibility for all of the products inside?

In the ideal, every gadget would be completely benign to the environment and economy of the planet, remain functional for generations as artifact not bauble, and serve to enhance our culture and interaction with the rest of the species.

Of those goals, the materials impact is the one most readily addressed and most critical to our current environmental crisis. We can stand to have multiple iterations of poorly designed gadgets if each one can be reabsorbed into the closed system of the worldwide production chain. And it's why I am most interested, at least intellectually but also politically and perhaps emotionally, in materials science and cradle-to-grave recycling programs.

I buy plenty of crap I don't need. My horse is not so high. Yet I am making an honest effort to remove extraneous items from my life. (Not just gadgets, although those tend to be the bulk-forming insolubles of my collection.) I hope to encourage you guys to do the same, while at the same time showing you lots of things you can purchase. It's mixed up.

My hope is that edited correctly, a gadget blog can serve two positive functions for readers: to give you a voyeuristic overview—window shopping—of the state of the art in such a way that you don't feel the need to actually buy anything; to discourage you from buying almost everything highlighted in the first place. I'm reminded of what Allan Chochinov said about the value of impractical design concepts, how they were useful in seeding ideas to the design community without the restrictions that come with real-space production. I try to do something similar, although almost everything I write about is actually in production, its impact already real.

Until rapid prototyping print-your-objects-at-home devices are commonplace, turning gadget blogs into literal catalogs (wait until those "Read" hyperlinks turn into "Print This"!), I guess that's about as much justification as I can muster. I'm just not sure what to do to make the companies who produce these items realize how important it is for them to make this industry healthy so that they have the time to continue to perfect their designs.

Excuse my rambling, but I continue to wrestle with all this but rarely put it down in writing—which is dumb, because you guys always help me clarify and course-correct my thinking. Maybe we should do a whole series next week on "owning objects"?

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix
we looked at a predecessor to the ubiquitous clock radio: the href="http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/11/use-phonograph-as-an-alarm-clock/">phonograph
alarm clock. No electricity needed, it's powered by a crank.
Looking for a better way to feed your hens? Build them a giant href="http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/11/merry-go-round-house-for-japanese-hens/">merry-go-round,
or you could try decorate them with this photo href="http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/11/print-any-photo-on-paper-cloth-leather-or-wood/">transfer
kit. We learned how href="http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/11/filming-a-movie-war/">war
movies were made in the 30's and that staying at home is href="http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/11/no-place-like-home-to-get-hurt/">very
dangerous. Also check out this rather uncomfortable looking bike
with "natural
airlines" and an article with a very href="http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/11/you-dont-have-to-be-good-to-have-fun/">poorly
chosen photo and headline.

Joel Johnson

Belkin Conserve Surge Protector with Magnetic Remote

While I share NOTCOT's worry about the lack of wireless security—and will add my own quibble about someone's inability to reach down and flip a physical switch—the Belkin Conserve surge protector with its wireless switch is a cute concept. Six of the ports on the power strip are turned off when you flick the remote switch, while two stay on for things like alarm clocks or routers. And because the switch has a magnet in the back it can be hung up nearly anywhere, making it as convenient as possible.

There are six separate channels the Conserve can be flipped to to prevent interference, but that won't do much to stop accidental or malicious disconnects of your power by someone with another unit.

BELKIN CONSERVE SURGE PROTECTOR [Notcot]

Joel Johnson

Sony BMG Selling DRM-Free MP3s on Amazon

That didn't take long. Sony BMG has announced they will be selling their catalog in DRM-free MP3 on the Amazon Music Store, making Amazon the first retailer to have all four major labels on board.

Amazon to sell Sony BMG songs free of copy curbs [Reuters]

Previously: Sony BMG Sort of Drops DRM [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Videogames – For some reason Wal-Mart is letting you pre-order a bunch of games for Wii, 360, and PS3 for well under the MSRP, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl for $20. [Slickdeals]

• Flash Memory Cards – Newegg has tons of SD, MicroSD, SDHC, microSDHC, and Compact Flash cards on sale. [Slickdeals]

• Cake, Lies – If you have an Nvidia videocard in your PC or laptop you can get a demo of Portal. [SteamPowered.com]

• Computer – Refurbished HP Pavilion AMD 2.8GHz 5600+ Desktop Computer for $485. [Woot!]

Joel Johnson

RoomWizard Scheduler for Meeting Rooms

The "RoomWizard" from office supply company Steelcase is designed to make booking conference rooms easy, as well as alert passersby that a meeting is in progress. You can schedule an upcoming meeting right from the RoomWizard's touchscreen or have the unit sync up with your Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook server.

The functionality seems useful, but prices appear to be over $2,000 a pop, which is a daunting amount of money for a little networked touchscreen. I suppose that's what happens when you position something as high-tech office furniture and not a consumer good.

Product Page [PolyVision.com via Macromatic via OHGizmo]

Joel Johnson

Video: 3 Designers + 4 Days + Lots of Sweat = Omaha Beach Recreation

This awesome promo clip for the upcoming "Bloody Omaha" special on the BBC (narrated by Top Gear's Richard Hammond) shows how three designers used small cameras, hand-held greenscreens, and an armada's worth of technical know-how to recreate the Allied storming of Omaha Beach.

(Thanks, Matt!)

Joel Johnson

ATAX Survival Tool

Toolmonger has discovered the "ATAX," which they suggest would be the perfect gift for the last man on Earth:

You can either use it as a knife or lash it to a stick and use it like an axe. The high-carbon steel main blade measures 4-1/2″ with the tool’s overall length coming in at 5-1/2″.
With the various metrics laser-etched on the blade, you can tell time (like with a sundial), measure angles, and judge distances. With some slingshot tubing, you can turn the ATAX into an arrow launcher for hunting game. The micarta handle conceals a small storage area for various survival items like matches and twine and MacGyver brand paper clips.

What Do You Get The Last Guy On Earth For His Birthday? [Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

Nintendo Wii Mii-Shaped Chocolates for Valentine's Day

Paul Pape is offering these Mii-shaped chocolate treats for Valentine's Day, shipped in a Nintendo Wii-shaped box. The figures aren't based on your own Mii avatars, but that's fine. I'm sure they'd cost more than $15 if they did.

Catalog Page [PaulPapeDesigns.com via Boinkology via YumSugar]

Joel Johnson

Phone Company Shuts Down FBI Wire Taps Due to Unpaid Bills

From the Washington Post/AP:

Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time. ... In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due to Unpaid Bills [WashintonPost.com via Crime Scene KC]

Joel Johnson

Nostalgia Break: Wing Commander Blueprint Scans

I was looking through some old paperwork and found my original Wing Commander blueprint for the Hornet fighter (as well as a copy of "Space Piston Magazine" from Space Quest IV). I started to scan them in before realizing, Hey, I bet the internet is more on the ball than I am.

Lo, and behold: a full set of fairly high-resolution scans of all four blueprints, including my all-time favorite, the Scimitar Medium-Class Fighter.

I used to love the Wing Commander series. I built an entire cockpit for myself out of a refrigerator box, wired up a few non-functional switches and placed the whole thing over my computer so I could play in darkness. I even taped a faux heads-up display to the clear face mask of my Photon helmet (a Laser Tag knock-off) and tore out the padding on the side to wire in headphones.

Get Them While They're Blue [WCNews.com]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we looked at a very odd paddle wheel plane and an belt-driven transport system that makes the city of the future look like a Disney ride. Do you remember when LA Gear stormed the market with their light up shoes? Turns out they were only 60 years late to the party. Around the same time the women of Los Angeles risked life and limb in the new sport of mini-car racing. In 1952  Western Union premiered the Telecar, which allowed them to deliver telegrams via a car mounted fax machine. Lastly we learned about all of the intricate mechanisms necessary put on a stunning planetarium light show in the 1946 article "Machines that 'Destroy' the Earth.

Joel Johnson

Jawbone's Craft CES Trade-In Program

This was one of the most clever promotions I heard of at CES: The people that make the Jawbone Bluetooth headset, one of the more readily lusted-after Bluetooth units, were giving away free ones for anyone who would trade in their old Bluetooth headset. Jawbone then recycled all the old ones.

It wouldn't have worked if the Jawbone wasn't a premium product in the minds of show-goers. The company got to write off several thousand dollars of inventory as promotional expense while at the same time forcing a bunch of presumably-more-influential-than-average tech nerds to sport their product.

Jawbone's Gallery of the trade-in [Flickr]

Joel Johnson

TankChair More Powerful, Luxurious

Here's the updated version of the TankChair, a mobile relaxation assault vehicle, with a lower center of gravity and more torque. While my first insipid instinct is to mock anyone who might actually need one of these due to my constant baseline fantasy that everyone in the world is fat, the impetus behind the TankChair is really sweet: a man built it for his outdoors-loving wife, whose legs were disabled in an accident.

You can buy a TankChair for $15,600.

Product Page [Tankchair.com via Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Krown's Video-Based Sign Language Pocket Dictionary

A New Scientist contributor spotted a new pocket translator from Krown at CES that displays video clips of a person demonstrating how to use sign language for any of the 4,500 words stored inside. Seems like a great tool for both the deaf and those learning to sign.

It's not on Krown's page yet, but New Scientist says it'll be around $180 when it launches later this year.

CES highlights [New Scientist]

Joel Johnson

Corn-Based Laptop Housing Can Biodegrade

Ah ha! I'd heard about Fujitu's "corn-based laptop" at CES, but I'd also heard that they had to combine the polylactic acid resin (PLA, or "the corn part") with petroleum-based polymers to create the outer shell of the laptop. But Inhabitat answered something that some of the PR folk I had talked to via email did not: the petroleum polymers can be removed from the PLA housing for recycling, making it reasonable to suggest that this could offer a step forward for electronics recycling.

Now if they could figure out a way to make the greenboards green. Why doesn't corn do a better job as a transistor?

FUJITSU UNVEILS LAPTOP MADE FROM CORN [Inhabitat]

Joel Johnson

Fred Vogelstein Profiles the iPhone

Fred Vogelstein's piece in Wired about the story behind the iPhone is distracting me from my RSS sifting this morning, but he's dug up some really interesting nuggets about the development and impact of the device (even if those details remain unconfirmed by Apple or AT&T).

For instance!

• "Engineers, frazzled from all-night coding sessions, quit, only to rejoin days later after catching up on their sleep." There ought to be a name for that, like "Take this nap and shove it."

• "Meanwhile, about 40 percent of iPhone buyers are new to AT&T's rolls, and the iPhone has tripled the carrier's volume of data traffic in cities like New York and San Francisco." I enjoy any anecdote that highlights the literal limitations of networks, making it easier to think of them as something with finite resources, not nebulous services without limit.

• "Now, in the pursuit of an Apple-like contract, every manufacturer is racing to create a phone that consumers will love, instead of one that the carriers approve of."

• "Even the iPhone's hardware and software teams were kept apart: Hardware engineers worked on circuitry that was loaded with fake software, while software engineers worked off circuit boards sitting in wooden boxes."

The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry [Wired]

Joel Johnson

Pulp Pitchers from Waste Paper

Dutch designer Jo Meesters has made this collection of vases and water pitchers made from cast-off waste paper mixed with epoxy and polyurethane. That might affect the ability for these to be recycled again, but I'm actually less interested in them for their environmental impact and more for their rough-edge look.

They aren't on sale, but apparently he just molded the materials around existing vessels, so you could probably cook up something similar yourself.

Pulp by Jo Meesters [Dezeen]

Update: Jo writes to let us know they are on sale on his site, as long as you live in the Netherlands. Also: Picture by Ingmar Timmer!

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Laptop: HP Tx1000z Notebook Tablet with 12.1-inch touch screen for $804, plus shipping. ($400 off.) [Slickdeals] Similar Thinkpad X60 for $882, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Media Streamer: Slingbox Pro & Sling Media HD Connect Kit for $195, shipped. (About $30 off.) [Dealhack]

• Ice Cream: Buy one, get one free on Baskin Robbins sundaes with a coupon. [Bargainist]

• Monitor: Dell e248WFP 24-inch LCD monitor (1,920 by 1,200 resolution) for $375, shipped. [Dealnews]

• Fitness Gear: Today's Woot! is the Reebok Precision Trainer XT Heart Rate Monitor with Chest Strap for $25, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Blowing Out the Dust: Afternoon Edition

• Big Time! – The Neuros OSD gets a big ol' thumbs up from the New York Times. [NYTimes] (Thanks, George!)

• The C is for "Content" – CNET going through some management shake-ups. [SeekingAlpha.com]

• Whuuut? – NetNewWire (my RSS reader of choice) and FeedDemon are going free, ad-supported. NNW is awesome. One of my last hold outs in the "dedicated desktop app" space. [Newsgator]

Joel Johnson

AT&T to Filter Internet Traffic; Comcast Investigated by FCC for Filtering Internet Traffic

From Bits blog at the New York Times:

Mr. Cicconi said that AT&T has been talking to technology companies, and members of the MPAA and RIAA, for the last six months about implementing digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level.

“We are very interested in a technology based solution and we think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” he said. “We recognize we are not there yet but there are a lot of promising technologies. But we are having an open discussion with a number of content companies, including NBC Universal*, to try to explore various technologies that are out there.”

From the AP, describing the FCC's investigations into Comcast's packet shaping/filter/blocking of P2P traffic:

The Federal Communications Commission will investigate complaints that Comcast Corp. actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday.

A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars asked the agency in November to stop Comcast from discriminating against certain types of data. Two groups also asked the FCC to fine the nation's No. 2 Internet provider $195,000 for every affected subscriber.

* Why does AT&T care what NBC Universal has to say about the way the AT&T network is used? Answer: They don't. But it lets AT&T play traffic cop instead of robber baron.

Joel Johnson

No Console for Old Men

Todd Levin, chronicling every videogame console he has known, on the Atari 2600:

The joystick’s distinct shape provided me with hours of sophisticated entertainment, especially as I blindly turned the corner of sexual awareness. When Beth Rubenstein came over to “play Atari” in our renovated basement, our gaming would always quickly deteriorate into marathon sessions of hard, closed-mouth kissing—because tongue kissing was disgusting—followed by hilarious hijinks such as me chasing Beth around the weight bench with the joystick tucked between my legs, like Jane Gumb trapped in the world of Tron.

I’m not sure who would have been more disappointed to discover that last fact: my parents, who tried their best not to raise a pervert; or my brother and sister, who had no idea they were playing Activision’s Pitfall with my surrogate boner.

A Very Weird and Blocky Future [TheMorningNews.org via Kottke]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we have 1947 article heralding the miracle of RF (radio frequency) heating, or to us, microwaves. These miraculous inventions include a microwave oven that's "smaller than a refrigerator" as well as a handy dandy Speedy Weeny hot dog vending machine. In 1929 paper milk cartons were a brand new invention, though one they hadn't quite gotten right since you had to cut off a metal cap to actually get at the milk. We also look at the 1939 debut of the recently retired Columbia cyclotron, a sci-fi looking Nazi robot leg, and a giant harmonica played by 7 children. Lastly, creative, anthropomorphic taxidermy was the latest fad in 1933.

Joel Johnson

F'Real Gas Station Milkshake Machine

Serious Eats' Erin Zimmer risked gullet and gut to sample a "F'Real Shake," some sort of gas station make-your-own milk shake machine.

Something like a DIY malt shop from the future, it lets you pick from a mini-freezer of ice cream cups (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or a limited-edition egg nog) and thickness settings (extra, regular or less thick). After dropping my vanilla into the sleek blue machine and choosing extra-thick, the cup levitated to a shake-making heaven. Some bzzt noises later, and it dropped back down to our mortal world.

Creamy and chalky-white, it wasn't much more sophisticated than McDonald's vanilla soft-serve, but very satisfying with all that buttercream and host of scary chemicals. Cellulose gum, maltodextrin, carrageenan and dextrose.

Route 29 Roadtrip Highlight: F'Real Shakes [SeriousEats.com]

Joel Johnson

Random Thought on Wiimote and Remote Sex

Why hasn't someone combined the 3d positional Wiimote controller from the Nintendo Wii and a—excuse me for being crass but I believe this is now the parlance—fucking machine? You've got three axis control plus rotational sensitivity. Seems possible. Once you had a one-to-one mapping of the Wiimote and the machine, you should be able to broadcast the positional data over the net without much problem. You might even be able to wire vibration feedback from the machine to be sent to the Wiimote.

Joel Johnson

Remote Controlled Mothman

Although this R/C ornithopter may be called the "BladeRunner iFly Vamp," Cryptomundo's Loren Coleman noticed it has a striking resemblance to the infamous Point Pleasant Mothman.

[Posthuman Blues via Cryptomundo]

Joel Johnson

Arantix Bicycle with Carbon Fiber Lattice Frame

The "Arantix" mountain bike from Delta 7 Sports uses an open lattice tube design made from carbon fiber and kevlar. They call the technique "IsoTruss."

From the press release:

Each Arantix Mountain Bike frame takes approximately 300 hours to build, as Delta 7 Sports workers weave single carbon fiber strands to create the open lattice IsoTruss structure of each frame tube. Each bundle of carbon fiber strands are wrapped with Kevlar and then baked at 255 degrees Fahrenheit for four hours. The ends of the baked tubes are then machined before being joined with molded carbon fiber lugs to make a complete frame.

Delta 7 Sports plans on shipping just 200 Arantix bikes in 2008 with a price of $12,000 fully kitted out or $7,000 for the frame alone.

Product Page [Delta7Sports.com via Oh Gizmo via Popular Science]

Joel Johnson

SR-71 Blackbird by Lego Monster

Any day I can make even oblique references to the SR-71 Blackbird is a good day, but this model from "Lego Monster" makes today a full-throttle holiday. It's even got the dual cockpit.

Model Set [Flickr via The Brothers Brick]

Joel Johnson

Krups BeerTender Bringing Nasty Draught Heineken to U.S. Kitchens

Heineken and Krups have announced that they'll be bringing the "BeerTender," an at home keg system, for sale in North America. It will first be sold via Williams-Sonoma in March for $400, but in a strange turn it will be more widely available for $300 on April 1st from other retailers. (At least according to the Unofficial BeerTender USA Fan Site.)

My problem with the BeerTender is two-fold: first, Heineken sucks. There are other beer varieties available in Europe (including Affligem, which isn't bad), but I sort of doubt the U.S. will get the same variety. Secondly, because the BeerTender uses proprietary "DraughtKegs" that are internally pressurized, you can't fill up kegs yourself with homebrew or craft beer. It's unlikely that small craft brewers will offer their beers in a compatible form.

I'm all for draft beer at home. In fact, I'm planning on building a kegerator this year. But it pains me to think of how much good American craft beer could be purchased for $300. Even poured from bottles instead of a sleek countertop unit, it'd be better than a cold mug of tasteless Heineken.

P.S. The United States has the richest, most exciting beer culture in the world. (Belgium is grandfathered in for previous accomplishments.) Discuss!

P.P.S. I once had a multi-course dinner at the Amsterdam Heineken brewery (now a museum) in which a different small batch beer brewed by their brewmaster was served with each course. Some knockout beers. I know the average beer drinking buys crap beer, but when I know a brewery can do better it makes me hate their mainstream lagers all the more.

Heineken, Krups to Sell BeerTender in US [Physorg.com]

Joel Johnson

Knock-Off Consoles Take Real Game Cartridges

Rob Beschizza has spotted a curious thing at CES: several knock-off game consoles that accept actual game cartridges. That may seem logical at first glance, but considering that knock-off consoles have typically been bundled with hundreds of pirated games built-in, it's a bit peculiar to see these sorts of decks appear that seem aimed at legitimate game collectors. (Not that I have a problem with it! Someone needs to keep making old consoles even in this age of emulation.)

Even better? The systems take both 8-bit and 16-bit cartridges. One even mixes Genesis and NES!

CES 2008: Retro Console Clones Take Actual Cartridges [Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Greener Gadgets Conference Feb 1st in New York

I'll be attending the Greener Gadgets conference on February 1st here in New York. There are a ton of interesting speakers, including Natalie Jeremijenko (whom I've never actually seen speak); Ryan Block from Engadget; folks from Nokia, HP, and Sony talking their environmental programs; all sorts of good stuff. It looks like a conference big enough to bring in some smart thinkers but small (and short) enough to enjoy.

Student pricing is $75 for the day; Corporate pricing is $250. Jill from Greener Gadgets set up a discount code for Boing Boing readers: Boingboing20Discount will get your 20% off. If you come out, send me a ping! We'll establish our own little BBG bloc at the McGraw-Hill Conference Center.

Conference Page [GreenerGadgets.com]

Joel Johnson

Voltaic Generator Solar Briefcase Can Charge a Laptop

Voltaic Systems, makers of the only solar bags worth buying, have announced the "Generator," an attache case with a panel that can produce up to 14.7 watts—enough to recharge a laptop over the course of a day. (That's the first thing anyone ever asks me when they see my Voltaic backpack. It's always a little bit of a disappointment to explain how large the panels would need to be.)

Like other Voltaic bags, the Generator has a built-in battery pack that is constantly topped off during the day from which laptops or other gadgets can be charged, even at night. And like the others, the Generator's fabrics are made from recycled PET soda bottles.

The Generator is a whopping $600, though. I can testify that Voltaic does a good job with their products and I'm sure this model is no different, but that's a heap of cash. I would actually consider it if it were a backpack, despite the fact that it would be huge. I'm planning on doing a lot of travelling next year and I'm going to try to carry a single, carry-on sized bag. I may have to see if I can buy a similar panel and battery pack and rig it up to something like this Victorinox bag.

Product Page [VoltaicSystems.com]

Joel Johnson

Blackbird Rider Acoustic Carbon Fiber Guitar

The Rider Acoustic from Blackbird Guitars uses carbon fiber instead of wood to create a lightweight guitar that they claim sounds as good as a traditional, full-sized acoustic. It's certainly striking. (And in a good way, unlike so many out-there guitar designs.)

A DTAR Wavelength under-saddle pickup is a $140 option should you want to take the Blackbird electric. The guitar itself is $1,600 with a four-to-eight week waiting period.

Like the sleek black aircraft with which the Blackbird shares its name, the guitar's pilot will tend to leak fuel (preferably a rye) until they have achieved altitude.

Product Page [BlackbirdGuitar.com] (Thanks, Jon Ruiz!)

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Canon ZR850 Mini DV Camcorder $210 Shipped at OneCall [Dealhack]

• WiFi Apple iPod Touch: 8GB $275 & 16GB $365 Shipped at B&H. Not a crazy deal, but it's rare to see iPod Touch discounts at all. [Dealhack]

• ASUS Eee PC 2G Surf Intel Celeron M 900MHz for $300, shipped. Basically the normal price but with free shipping. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Kodak EasyShare 5100 All in One Printer for $65, shipped.

Xeni Jardin

Deep-fried cellphones

Which brand of mobile device tastes best when battered and deep-fried? A bacon-encased Treo, or a cookie-dough-wrapped iPhone? We set up a cellphone fricassee at Machine Project gallery in Los Angeles, during their annual Fry-B-Que social. Turn your gullet on vibrate, and sharpen your bluetooth. It's time to taste test some telecommunications. Link to BBtv post with video.

Joel Johnson

Flat-Pack "Eco" Speakers Made from 100% Recycled Materials

Yes, these "Eco Speakers" have cabinets made from cardboard. But the manufacturer also claims they are made from "100% recycled materials," which should include the drivers and housings as well, which is laudable. And they're only $15—if you can find them. They appear to be sold out from the manufacturer's store.

If you look at Gearlog's pictures from CES, it looks like they are actually sold in stores as flat-pack. Maybe that will only amuse me, but I think that's pretty great.

Product/Catalog Page [Fashionation.com via Gearlog]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Today on Modern Mechanix we learn that there is "almost conclusive" proof that cows give more milk when listening to the radio and that in 1934 scientists exploring the theory of continental drift felt the need to invent an ancient continent called South Atlantis to fit between South America and Africa. Apparently in 1948 the only method television broadcasters had to record their programs was to point a movie camera at the screen. We looked at a Canadian jet engine made of wood and an assortment of household gadgets including a fork sharpener. Yes, a fork sharpener for when your forks get dull. Also we learn that dogs are very smart, cats, not so much.

Joel Johnson

Super Soaker Inventor Develops Mega-Efficient Solar Energy Engine

Lonnie Johnson, a nuclear engineer who just happened to have invented the Super Soaker water gun, is talking up a new invention he's calling the JTEC, for "Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Conversion system." He's claiming up to a 60% energy generation efficiency in converting heat—specifically solar heat concentrated from parabolic mirrors—into electricity in a completely closed, solid-state system. If it works as well as claimed I'll finally be happy to be named "Johnson."

From Popular Mechanics' write-up:

Here’s how it works: One MEA [membrane-electrode assemblies] stack is coupled to a high- temperature heat source (such as solar heat concentrated by mirrors), and the other to a low-temperature heat sink (ambient air). The low-temperature stack acts as the compressor stage while the high-temperature stack functions as the power stage. Once the cycle is started by the electrical jolt, the resulting pressure differential produces voltage across each of the MEA stacks. The higher voltage at the high-temperature stack forces the low-temperature stack to pump hydrogen from low pressure to high pressure, maintaining the pressure differential. Meanwhile hydrogen passing through the high-temperature stack generates power.

...

Johnson envisions a first-generation system capable of handling temperatures up to 600 degrees. (Currently, solar concentration using parabolic mirrors tops 800 degrees centigrade.) Based on the theoretical Carnot thermodynamic cycle, at 600 degrees efficiency rates approach 60 percent, twice those of today’s solar Stirling engines.

Super Soaker Inventor Aims to Cut Solar Costs in Half [PopularMechanics.com]

Joel Johnson

Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1: 60FPS Camera; 1200FPS in Low-Res Mode

That Casio camera we talked about last August—the one capable of shooting 60 frames per second—has been officially announced as the Casio Exilim EX-F1. If you drop the resolution from 1,920 by 1,080 pixels down to 336 by 96 pixels, in can do 1,200 frames per second. It's going to be a hell of a toy. I can't wait to see the videos people make with these.

Expect to see the EX-F1 in March for $1,000.

Press Release [DPReview]

Joel Johnson

Video: Custom Guitar Hero Turntable Controller

Aaron Skillman made this custom Guitar Hero controller in the shape of a turntable. You scratch the 45 to strum while using your other hand to play the frets. It's like the Beatmania "Metal Edition" that never existed.

GUITAR HERO PORTABLE TURNTABLE CONTROLLER [HustlerOfCulture.com via Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

UDI Dive Computer Can Send Underwater Text Messages

The "UDI" from UTC-Digital is a dive computer that includes remote S.O.S. transmission and SMS-like messaging ability. You can't actually input unique messages when you're underwater, but can instead choose from 14 pre-configured text messages, such as "I need help. Slow down." or "I chummed your weight belt."

The UDI units can communicate with each other or a base station on a boat from up to 500 yards away, which is pretty fantastic range for a radio system to work underwater. If a diver presses the "homing" button on his unit, the UDI can steer him back toward the boat.

All in all it's a neat system, which is probably why each unit costs around $1,500 a pop.

Product Page [UTC-Digital via DVice]

Joel Johnson

Belkin Podcast Studio for iPod with XLR Input

Although more details would be nice, this Belkin Podcast Studio sounds quite promising, using a hard disk-based iPod for storage for recordings made from either its built-in microphone or its XLR or quarter-inch inputs. Even crazier, it's only going to be $100 when it goes on sale this June. This could be a heck of a nice device, even if it isn't solid state. (Or rather, the iPod is not.)

Belkin Podcast Studio, iPods Get XLR [Gizmodo via Technabob]

Joel Johnson

How The Diamond Age Influenced the Amazon Kindle

From a write-up about a "sci-fi"-themed panel at CES which featured author Neal Stephenson:

According to Dave Howe (the panel moderator from SciFi), Stephenson inspired Kindle in his book The Diamond Age. No royalties though, Stephenson jokes. Apparently, pages from The Diamond Age are being used in the Kindle’s instruction materials.

[CES 2008] Panel: Science Fiction’s Influence On Technology [OhGizmo]

Update: Jim Treacher reminds us that there are humans acting remotely in the Kindle using the Now Now program. Awesome.

Joel Johnson

"Supersonic" Zeppelin-Shaped Theremin by Björn Schülke

Björn Schülke will be showing his kinetic and interactive sculptures at the Bitforms Gallery in New York from January 18th to February 23rd, showing off five new sculptures influenced by musical instruments.

Supersonic emits soft, low frequency sounds from a contoured and zeppelin-shaped fiberglass shell that is mounted to the gallery wall. Its clinically white, streamline form houses a theremin which detects and responds to the proximity of a viewer, emitting a range of bass frequency notes. Appearing to hold sophisticated powers of celestial communication or locomotion, the sculpture simply rests in a static observant position.

His previous work, linked below, is even more striking visually, including bristling Sputnikesque robots and flying drones with televisions for faces. And they're all in white so you know it's art. Actually, let me throw a couple of more images of his past work below. It's really great.

Artist + Gallery Page [Bitforms.com] (Thanks, Zuul!)

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Cooking Mama: Cook Off for Wii for $30, shipped. [Dealnews]

• KitchenAid KSB5 Ultra Power 5-Speed Blender for $40, shipped. [Dealnews]

• 14-LED Aluminum Flashlight for $5 shipped. [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a two-pack La Crosse Atomic Travel Alarm Clock of $13, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Video: Making a Vacuum Tube By Hand

Here's a fascinating video of a man who hand-makes all the parts of these triode vacuum tubes set to a becalming piano soundtrack. Wonderful stuff!

FABRICATION D'UNE LAMPE TRIODE [Dailymotion.Alice.it]

Joel Johnson

Scooter from Old Appliances Complete, Dubbed "Quicksilver"

Remember that neato scooter built from old appliances? "Nemomatic" has it completed and has put up a whole series of pictures and details on Instructables. And unlike my picture before, these are in color!

"Quicksilver" Retro-Future Scooter from appliances and scrap metal [Instructables] (Thanks, Dan!)

Joel Johnson

Smoking Mittens

I know, I know. Don't smoke. But as the fact that these "Suck UK Smoking Mittens" are out of stock testifies, I'm clearly not the only person out there still trying to find ways to hold a cigarette while not letting my fingers turn to meat shards.

They're £15. You can make us go outside, but you can't make us enjoy it!

Catalog Page [CocktailEquipment.com via Shiny Shiny via Gearfuse via Complex]

Joel Johnson

Zeno: Electric Zit Zapping

Celia writes:

As my coworker reading the magazine we saw the ad in (Cosmo Girl, to be exact) said, "It looks like an MP3 player, but it's for treating zits."

It's a heat-based anti-acne treatment, which as scares me a little, but not as much as the fact that it comes in many trendy colors, and includes a wall charger.

So yeah, I don't know. I do know that the entry level Zeno costs $150 (more if you want fancy colored cases) and replacement tips are sold in lots of 60 for $25. Anybody used one?

Product Page [MyZeno.com]

Joel Johnson

Contest: The Suckiest Gadget Experience Wins an Oreck XL Vacuum

Another contest from Intern Copeland! This time you can win a rather nice Oreck vacuum cleaner by dint of your story telling skills alone.

We are looking for your worst, never-again, broke-your-spirit, storming-the-corporate-offices—flat out suckiest—gadget experience. (Not necessarily the worst gadget, but your worst experience.) You could write a novella or a sentence, but you'll have to leave it in the comments, and you'll have to use a registered account so we can contact you if you win.

How do you win? Joel and I will pick our favorite story in the thread. Easy! (And if you liked someone else's story, feel free to influence us with comments pointing out which story you liked.)

To start it off, here's mine. It's not dramatic (and I'm not in the contest) but you get the idea:

"I loosely subscribe to the Unix principle: do one thing well. Take, for example, my shower clock. It tells me what time it is while I'm in the shower. Awesome.

But nothing bothers me more than when something of mine doesn't work at all.

I hate to sound like a pen snob, but last summer I wanted a new pen in my life. I looked to the Bic Wide Body Ballpoint Pen. I was taking a risk, because I usually prefer fountain pens, but Bics are usually so reliable. Plus this one had a steel body, so I was sold. The pen lasted two days.

I tried drawing circles to get the ink flowing. No go. The let down anticipation made me so mad at that pen that I froze it in a Ziploc bag filled with water for a year. I'm still upset. Presumably, so is the pen."

The contest is open to US citizens residents only and will last until Friday. Sorry, international brethren!

Joel Johnson

Video: Russian Tank with Fire-Fighting Water Turbines

From the description on the YouTube page: "The Hungarians replaced the turret from an old Russian tank with 2 turbines from a Mig 21. Water is injected in the exhaust, they throttle up and distinguish the fire."

(Thanks, Muh'lich!)

Joel Johnson

C2 Climate Control Desk Gadget from Herman Miller

The "C2 Climate Control" system is an interesting little bit of equipment from the Herman Miller "Be" collection. They're very adamant that it's not a space heater. And indeed it can not only heat up an area, but also cool it using "thermal electric technology." It also uses less than 1.5 amps of AC current, which they claim is less than 10% of the power a normal space heater eats up.

How? By only affecting "the 12- to 18-inch space between the device and the user." Or to put it another way: this thing's only 10 inches tall.

I didn't see a price, but considering it's from Herman Miller I can't imagine it'll be cheap. I like the concept quite a bit, though, at least for people who spend hours at a desk like myself. I hate using a space heater to warm up my frigid apartment (cheap landlord!) and don't like running my A/C if I don't have to. Blasting my face with a little heat or cool might be just enough to stay comfortable.

Product Page [TheBeCollection.com via Gearlog]

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

Hucksters have been enticing bald men with odd potions and machines since the beginning of time. Today on Modern Mechanix we look at a rather elaborate vacuum treatment. We also have a nifty idea for sectional snap together buses, an early hands free telephone holder and portable neon sign that you wouldn't want to try carrying in the rain. If you've ever played with the Chinese input modules on your computer you've realized just how hard it is to type in a language with a few thousand characters, even when the computer is constantly helping you out. This rather impressive Chinese typewriter attempted to provide this functionality in mechanical form with over 7,000 characters spread over 36 cylindrical type rollers.  Also, we examine the US Army's electronic proving ground in a 1960 article titled "The Army's Electronic Magic Shop".

Yesterday we looked at a plans for a gyroscope stabilized, propeller driven monorail from 1934 (Remember, the future ALWAYS has monorails), a levitating bowl, and an enormous 200 story rooftop airport for NYC. Also, if you like hanging out of cars at high speed, there might be a career for you refueling mail planes.

Joel Johnson

Folding Electric RoboScooter Prototype

The "RoboScooter" isn't really robotic at all, but ignoring the nomenclature it's still got verve. Designed at MIT's Media Lab in partnership with SYM/Sanyang Motors, the prototype electric scooter is made from just 150 discrete parts, making maintenance and upkeep simple. It's supposed to be charged by hanging it on a special rack, but if it ever made it to production I'd gladly trade the charging rack for a retractable power cord.

Something like this would be so wonderful for New York—large enough to make inter-borough travel convenient, but still small enough to be stashed in a closet as opposed to the street.

Project Page [Cities.Media.MIT.edu via Oh Gizmo via Born Rich]

Previously: Yamaha's Folding Electric "Bobby" Scooter [BBG]
Di Blasi R7E Folding Motorbike [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Tripple Espresso Lamp by Francois Legault

While too twee to be appropriate for a home, this "Tripple Espresso" lamp from Francois Legault would be charming in a coffee shop or programmer's hovel.

It's $375.

Tripple Espresso Lamp [Freshome.com]

Joel Johnson

Clive Thompson on the Death of Audiophilia

Before I blockquote an enticement paragraph to Clive Thompson's piss-on-the-grave rant about the death of audiophiles, I want to make one point: the "compression" spoken of by audio producers is different than the "compression" used to make digital audio file sizes smaller. The former compresses the loud and quiet parts of a song into one generally uniform volume, removing dynamic range; the latter may affect audio quality, but does not have to. I think those of us who understand the difference between these two types of compression need to bang the drum a little bit about this issue to those who don't quite grok it. There's no reason a well-produced album can't sound great on MP3 (or FLAC or Ogg or AAC etc.) if the files are encoded properly. (This distinction was the primary reason I didn't like the Rolling Stone piece that prompted Clive's screed.)

Now, Clive!

I think what annoys me about audiophiles -- and perhaps what has begun to annoy me, ever so slightly, about the handwringing over "the loudness wars" -- is that they posit a way-too-fussy, sanctimonious attitude towards how one ought to listen to pop music. Because when it comes to pop music, are ultra-high-precision sound systems really so necessary, or even desirable? After all, pop music originally came to life in the 50s and 60s on horrifically tinny AM radios. Indeed, the playback devices were so crude that producers had to mix the stuff specifically to take account for the jurassic properties of the godawful speakers. (One of main reasons Phil Spector invented the "Wall of Sound" was that it gave a relatively fat sound when played on jukebox-primitive sound systems.)

In fact, I've come to believe that crappy technology -- lousy studios, horrible playback devices -- is a boon to pop music. Because when you strip out the superhigh and superlow frequencies that send audiophiles -- planted with geometric triangulation betwixt their $325,000 Acapella speakers (pictured above!) -- into such supposedly quivering raptures, you're forced to reckon with a music simpler question, which is: Is the song any good? A really terrific pop song can survive almost any acoustic mangling and still be delightful. A mediocre one can't. A mediocre song needs a doubleplusgood sound-system to bring out its half-baked appeal; a truly excellent tune is catchy even when played on a kazoo. For years, I have listened to all of my music either via a) a pair of $25 Harmon Kardon speakers attached to my computer, or b) an MP3 player of dubious provenance, outfitted with earbuds that I buy, well, at whatever electronics store I happen to be nearest when the old ones break down, and with whatever spare change I have in my pockets -- and I do not think my soul is any the worse for wear.

Why audiophiles are dying out [CollisionDetection.com]

Joel Johnson

Sony BMG Sort of Drops DRM

In a ridiculously customer-phobic move typical of the company, Sony BMG has announced they'll start selling DRM-free MP3s of their artists' music—but only if you go to a retail store and buy a special gift card.

From Reuters:

Sony BMG, home to artists including Beyonce, Britney Spears and Celine Dion, said on Monday it will launch a gift card service on January 15 called Platinum MusicPass that will feature digital albums from its artists in the MP3 format. The format does not use DRM protection.

Fans will be able to buy the digital album cards in stores and download full-length albums from a MusicPass Web site after they type in an identifying number. The cards will be available at U.S. retail outlets such as Best Buy and Target.

Sony BMG to drop copy protection for downloads [Reuters via Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Guinness Book of Videogame Records Coming in February

The Guinness World Records folks are putting out a "Gamer's Edition" in Febuary. Who will now become the canonical high score keeper of record, Guinness or Twin Galaxies?

Preview Page [Gamers.GuinessWorldRecords.com via Oh Gizmo via Joystiq]

Joel Johnson

Starry Night Bed Lacking Only a Toilet

While every hair on my pasty body bristles at the thought of spending upwards of $50k on a bed, I have to admit that if you ignore the way this "Starry Night" bed from Leggett and Platt looks, its functionality sounds really appealing. For one, it's a full-blown media center, with a DVR, surround sound, and a 1080p LCD projector that shines out of the headboard. Speakers rise up out of the footboards.

But it's the bed functions that really get me, with mattresses that monitor your restlessness and provide you monthly reports, a "snoring sensor" that will raise your mattress by seven degrees to open up your windpipe, and built-in heaters and Peltier coolers that can keep your mattress anywhere from 68 to 117 degrees.

When I retire I want to spend my remaining years convalescing on just such a bed, preferably with one of those air tables they use for burn victims that suspend them an inch or so over the surface, the better to prevent bedsores and to give my team of nurses easy access.

Press Release [Biz.Yahoo.com]
Product Page [StarryNightBed.com]

Joel Johnson

Solio Magnesium Solar Charger Announced

Solio has added a new "Magnesium" model to its lineup of solar chargers, pretty much the same dimensions as the original Solio but with a female USB out, a far greater output of 8 watts from the larger internal rechargeable battery (compared to the 2.5 of the original), and a magnesium alloy shell. I've never used a Solio, but it works on the same principle as the Voltaic Solar Backpacks: Instead of trying to charge your devices directly off the panels, the panels instead recharge a battery, which you can then use when you need the power, whether you're in the sun or not. Ignoring the fact that it requires the manufacture of another battery which negates the overall "greenness" somewhat, it's a very handy system.

The Solio Magnesium will be available in February for around $200, twice the cost of the original model. (The picture above shows a Magnesium model on the left and a regular Solio on the right, but I'm sure the Magnesium will basically be identical in looks and function. They just didn't have an image of the Magnesium in bloom, so I used what I had.)

Company Page (It's not on there yet) [Solio.com]

Joel Johnson

Sonic Impact BM101: Panel Turns Bed Into Speakers

Audio company Sonic Impact is talking up the "BM101 speaker panel," designed to slip between your mattress and box spring, using the latter as a subwoofer-like resonator and sending up sound through the former. The two-by-four-foot panel will be anywhere from $200 to $400 when it goes on sale this spring, reports Eliot Van Buskirk.

I've always liked the idea of pillows with speakers in them, although I don't quite know why any of this stuff would be be any better than just having speakers around your bed. You could certainly mess with someone's mind if they didn't know this sort of technology existed, however, whispering murderous poltergeist messages to them as they drifted to sleep.

In-Bed Speakers: Why Had No One Thought of This Before? [Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

Sennheiser MX W1 Earbuds with Kleer Wireless are Quite Ugly

Sennheiser is to release the first commercially available wireless earbuds that aren't connected to each other by a cord. (Depending on how easily you lose devices, that may or may not be a good thing.) The "MX W1" are about the size of common Bluetooth headsets and use wireless technology from Kleer, the first wireless audio standards that seems to provide a decent audio signal while maintaining an acceptable battery life.

The MX W1s will be available in May for around $600, which is monstrously overpriced. Worse, they look very awkward, both visually and in the way they attach to the ear. I'm glad to see these Kleer-based headphones finally hitting the shelves, but I think I'll wait for a couple years for the sting in the wallet to mellow. Plus I want the Kleer transmitters to be built into my audio devices so I don't have to attach a dongle.

Sennheiser Launches Wireless Earphones [PCMag]

Joel Johnson

Alienware's Curved LCD Monitor Prototype

Alienware, the far-too-expensive boutique gaming computer company that was acquired by Dell, is showing off this surprisingly attractive (and potentially even useful) curved LCD DLP monitor at CES. It's over three feet wide and has a resolution of 2,880 by 900 pixels, which could be better, but as a prototype of a product it's pretty nice. I wonder, though, how a curved monitor would work for those who work on graphics or print? Big and flat is probably better. But for gamers it could be very immersive.

Or maybe I just think it's neat because it looks like it should sit on the deck of a starship.

Alienware Curved Monitor Looks Like It's From Another Planet [Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Why I'm Not at CES

The Consumer Electronics Show is a pageant of products barely distinguishable from one another, let alone the models released the year before. It is my pleasure to report to you that I am not attending this year.

I'll miss seeing my pals in the industry in Las Vegas, one of my favorite cities to visit (and favorite cities to leave). I'll miss talking to vendors and PR folk over limp shrimp cocktails and aggressively thumpy music to which no one will dance. And I'll miss that hope that by wandering through row after row of identical vendor stalls I'll find a product interesting enough to write about that miraculously hasn't been covered by the literally hundreds of other bloggers on the floor.

Instead I'll sit here in my comfortable office, sipping good coffee, listening to the sounds of my snoring dog while picking out the highlights from the press releases, all of which were sent out over the weekend while other bloggers were rushing around trying to figure out how to make snapshots of HDTVs interesting.

I'm being a bastard, of course, and I really will miss a bit of the frantic experience of trying to cover such a massive show with a relatively small team. It's a challenge I've rarely been able to execute, but I enjoy the attempt. But I do think that CES is generally a distraction for everyone in the industry, and like the Electronic Entertainment Expo before should be scrapped or overhauled. It's a waste of money and energy that would be better directed towards a company's bottom line and the media's sanity.

Ultimately, I had to ask myself if you guys would be missing out on anything if I didn't travel to CES this year and cover it from the ground. I don't think you are.

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

The latest from Modern Mechanix! We look at an *interesting* way to carry a flash, and you thought your dad looked dorky toting his camera around? In 1936 there were almost 4,000,000 radios in automobiles, all after market. But look out America because coming in 1937 you'll be able to get a factory installed model. Would you feel safe taking off from this rickety floating "runway"? Did you think those coin-op drug store, blood pressure machines were a recent invention? Here's one from the 1930's. We also learned about a scientist who transplanted duck's legs onto and *into* chicken embryos. If you act quick, you can learn real Chinese magic in the comfort of your own home.

Joel Johnson

Deals: Electric Kettle on Amazon for $12

I spent last week in Berlin with Ectomo's John Brownlee, which was as expected a total disaster. Watching him mince around his apartment in a fez, fending off his constant nagging to do each other's hair, and breathing in cloud after cloud of noxious pipe smoke did little to engender the Christmas spirit. Brownlee is a one man Chernobyl, except his plumes promote cancer of the goodwill toward mankind.

Worse, he was fueled by non-stop cups of tea and surprisingly tasty instant coffee*, mixed up with a notion-to-sipping time of under a minute thanks to his handy electric kettle. I'd been thinking about getting one myself ever since we last talked about them, but seeing one in action, even in the leprous prehensile operculum of a human gastropod, was a testament to their usefulness.

So I'm buying one, despite my attempt to actually rid myself of extraneous kitchen gadgets. As luck would have it, there's a perfectly decent, 4.5-out-of-5-stars-rated one on sale at Amazon today for $12. And since it's a Friday Sale and will likely go back up tomorrow, I thought I'd pass the savings on to you.

Catalog Page [Amazon]

* Sorry, Tonx! If it's any consolation, I bought a new order of green beans for home roasting yesterday.

Joel Johnson

Modern Mechanix Round-Up

I've asked Charlie from Modern Mechanix to put together this round-up of the latest and greatest from one of the web's best retro tech blogs. He's kindly obliged! Expect to see this daily, or nearly. (It's much easier than just linking all his stuff every day!)

Today at Modern Mechanix we looked at RCA's 5-screen television of the future, and learned that in 1936 glass manufacturers used clown suited midgetsto test vinyl coated automotive safety glass. Long before the History Channel got the bug, Mechanix Illustrated had regular segments where they declared everything a "Modern Marvel". In an 1939 articlewe see that engineers were able to make an amazing, quasi fiber optic light pipe that could almost fit in a person's mouth. What kind of child buys a record full of locomotive sound effects? The demonically possessed, apparently. Nowadays everyone is trying to cram web browsers into the family refrigerator, a trend that seems to originate with this 1937 fridge with a built-in radio. Lastly we looked at device for making a jury-rigged tandem out of two bicycles. I'm not exactly sure how the riders handled curbs, but they had to have an easier time then the pair on this micro-tandem we posted yesterday.

Joel Johnson

Our Flickr Pools Still Bubbling; Welcome Intern Mk. II

Our second intern, Brian Dunn*, has been tasked with getting our Flickr pools hot and healthy. He'll be checking in each week with highlights, including the newest addition which we're calling simply "Boing Boing Gadgets," a sort of catch-all we hope you'll throw stuff into that might work as good "stock photography" for posts here on Boing Boing Gadgets. (Of course, they might be photography, but you get the idea. We do ask that everything that goes in be Creative Commons Attribution licensed for simplicity's sake and that, of course, you have the right to grant that license in the first place.) Okay, enough from me: Wecome, Dunn! –Joel

Now that we have "In the Year 2000" and "Electro Selecto", we're taking our Flickr groups a step further with one specifically dedicated to the site. In the "Boing Boing Gadgets" group, you can post any images you think might be useful for the blog. We're looking for pictures to fill out any posts that lack visual content.

Both "In the Year 2000" and "Electro Selecto" are filling out nicely, but we're insatiable. Keep posting anything you can find. "Electro Selecto" currently features a smorgasbord of old advertisements posted by spike55151 and hytam2. Isaac Asimov shows up with his massive mutton chops to pimp Radio Shack. Ray Charles and Melissa Manchester duke it out over recording tape: Memorex or Scotch? Sony just wants people to be a little nicer to their speakers. Included as well is this creepy instruction manual for The Imagination Machine, where the man's stare calls into question who is imagining what. And of course, Joel reminds us that Atari programming requires more bondage than one would expect.

Avi_Abrams wins the "In the Year 2000" gold star with 34 images, including one of some badass Soviet hydroplane, a rather phallic rocket ship, and a pyramid city. scrubbles posted a series of images from Sentinel by Syd Mead, all of which are quite gorgeous. There's the perplexing Unipod Gyroscopically Balanced Personal Vehicle, learning capsules, and 3D TV (complete with pod chairs). whoever, whomever reaches even further back to 1910's vision of 2000. Gaze in wonder at curiosities like hand-delivered phonograph cylinders, creepy learning caps, and lots and lots of anachronistic airplanes. Also, in the future, radiation doesn't kill everybody.

Tiny cars are apparently all the rage in the future. This man laughs it up in his Funmobile, while this dour man plots mayhem between a set of giant wheels. Future technology meets dated gender roles: the men use their video phones for work and the women use them for shopping.

That's all a great haul, but there must be more out there. So seek it out and join the fun! This man would approve.

Add your meat flavor to our Flickr pools, humans! In the Year 2000 (Retro-future imagery); Electro Selectro (Old advertisements and catalogs); Boing Boing Gadgets (Otherwise interesting imagery!)

* Yes, two Brians! Hence, "Copeland" and "Dunn." They will later form an '80s folk duo.

Joel Johnson

Fan-Made Indiana Jones Flying Wing LEGO; Swastikas on Toys

That didn't take long! Now that Indiana Jones-themed LEGO are in the stores, fan builders are already putting together scenes not included in the first set, like this "Flying Wing" made by "Legohaulic." The blocks around the plane's wheels are a nice touch. (Is there a name for those blocks besides "blocks"? It seems like there should be. "Chocks"?)

Relatedly, while I totally understand why LEGO wouldn't put Nazi livery on sets marketed to kids, it still seems a bit strange that it's okay for kids to see a movie with swastikas in it, but not play with toys that have swastikas. (This isn't an official set, of course, but the same thing applies to the official ones.) I really don't feel strongly about it one way or the other, but I still find it a curious incongruence. Will they take them out of the LEGO Indiana Jones videogame?

Flying Wing [Flickr.com via The Bros. Brick]

Previously: Indiana Jones LEGO Sets Now for Sale [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS Watch Small Enough to Be Worn All Day

Congratulations to Garmin: Their new Forerunner 405 GPS watch, designed for runners, is the first one small and unobtrusive enough to be worn all day, unlike previous models. (The new 405 is on the right, while earlier models are left and center, for not-to-scale contrast.)

I look forward to the day when GPS is just another tiny chip on the board. (What's holding that back? Antennas?)

The Forerunner 405 should cost around $300. That's a lot of scratch for an ugly watch, but the Forerunner line has always gotten solid reviews from runners, who like the ability to track their routes, speed, mileage, heart rate, and more.

Even cooler, the 405's bezel responds to touch, which should make it much easier to switch to different displays or change settings without slowing down.

Forerunner 405 [Navigadget]

Joel Johnson

Belkin Mouse Works Submerged in Chili

Belkin's Washable Mouse was tested by Gearlog, who did more than just get it a bit scuzzy. Instead, they submerged it in a day's worth of food—while still using it. The gauntlet: oatmeal, chili, pudding, and Cheetos. Because the scroll wheel is touch sensitive and the sensor on the bottom is optical, the entire unit is sealed.

These should be the product images on the box.

Hands-, Oatmeal-, Chili-, Pudding-, Red Bull-, and Cheetos-On with The Belkin Washable Mouse [Gearlog]

Joel Johnson

Washington Post vs RIAA Radio Debate Postmortem

Crave.CNET.com has a blow-by-blow summary of an on-air debate between the Washington Post's Marc Fisher and Cary Sherman, a representative of the RIAA. The takeaway seems to be that Fisher wheedled out too much from the brief filed by the RIAA (as noted by Techdirt's Mike Masnick) but that the RIAA still won't promise that ripping CDs is a legal right.

From the Crave.CNET.com story:

"They go on to equivocate and say, 'Well, usually it won't raise concerns if you go ahead and transfer legally obtained music to your computer,'" Fisher said during the debate, "but they won't go all the way and say that it's a legal right."

Here was an opportunity for Sherman to declare once and for all that copying CDs for personal use is lawful. He stopped short of that, saying that copyright law is too complex to make such sweeping statements. He did state that there is one full-proof way of discovering the RIAA's policy on personal use: check the record.

"Not a single (legal) case has ever been brought (by the RIAA against someone for copying music for personal use)," Sherman said. "Not a single claim has ever been made."

RIAA shreds Washington Post story in debate [Crave.CNET.com]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• Philips Sonicare Essence 5300 for $45, E5500 for $54 on Amazon. [Slickdeals]

• IHOP All-you-can-eat pancakes for $5. (It'd a slow deals day.) [Dealnews]

• Today's Woot! is a Honeywell Ceramic Heater with Remote for $31, shipped.

Joel Johnson

Indiana Jones LEGO Sets Now for Sale

The first Indiana Jones-themed LEGO sets are now available for sale. Above, the "Race for the Stolen Treasure" set (#7622). They're not actually all that spectacular, but I might pick up one cheap set just for an Indy minifig. They remind me quite a bit of the old Egyptian-themed sets from the '90s.

Indiana Jones sets [Shop.LEGO.com]

Joel Johnson

Gov't Handing Out Coupons for Digital TV Convertor Box

Tony writes:

In case you haven't posted it yet, those nerds like me that still use rabbit ears and free television programming (black & white for that matter), the feds are offering a $40 coupon for those who want a converter box for their non-digital televisions. I believe the retail price of these things will run $50 and higher.

Coupon Program [DTV2009.gov]

Joel Johnson

Guitar Wizard: Like Guitar Hero with a Real Instrument

Although the initial press email was slim on details, the "Guitar Wizard" game to be shown off next week at CES aims to be a Guitar Hero that actually teaches you how to play guitar. (Sort of like a Rock Band for drums!) The software will ship with a Washburn electric guitar with a MIDI pickup and will sell for around $180 on the back half of next year. It could be a hell of a tool if they execute properly.

Apparently the company's software is already on the market in the Mattel "I Can Play Guitar" product, which appears to be more toy than musical instrument to me. They also have a "Piano Wizard" line that does something similar.

Joel Johnson

Belkin RockStar Headphone Hub

Belkin's new "RockStar" is a simple star-shaped minijack hub to which multiple headphones can be connected, allowing one music player to send music to up to five pairs of headphones. An additional port is a dedicated input, while the other five ports can be toggled from input to output. That seems unnecessary to me—far easier to just switch the one dedicated input cable to the next player in the rotation.

While I can count the number of times I've wanted to get a group of people to gather around and listen to music on headphones on no hands, I still think it's a clever idea. I think there's a reason the hands in the stock photo are attached to children. Plus, it's only twenty bucks.

Belkin RockStar [iLounge]

Joel Johnson

Love Mattress Prototype by Mehdi Mojtabvi

Although I shudder to think what sort of crusty bits my dog would find a way to insinuate into the slats, I think this "Love Mattress" concept by Mehdi Mojtabvi may have something to it. The middle section of the mattress is broken into slats, making it possible to wrap your arms around someone without cutting off your circulation, or sleep on your belly while sticking your feet straight down. The trick would be to make the slats tight enough that they would hold together when you weren't trying to use them, while still loose enough that they wouldn't squeeze too tightly when in use.

If someone does bring it to market, they probably shouldn't call it the "Love Mattress," despite that there may be a few lonely sleepers who may do just that.

Project Page [Red-Dot.sg via Freshome via InventorSpot]

Joel Johnson

JVC Makes Wooden Earbuds

JVC Victor has made some new earbuds that are encased in real birch wood, which likely adds nothing at all to the aural quality, but does trigger my contractually obligated need to fawn over them. They'll be $130ish when they're released in Japan in February.

Note I did not put these in the "Green" category. If they'd been wrapped in needless bamboo I might have been able to sort of sneak them in, but nope.

JVC to launch wooden ear buds [SlipperyBrick.com]

Joel Johnson

Archos TV+ DVR Media Streaming Set-Top Thinger is Sadly Not HD

I've wanted an AppleTV for a while now, not because I particularly like their interface, but just because it seemed like a slick little piece of hardware. Now Archos is showing off the "Archos TV+" and it looks like a winner, although perhaps not as powerful as the AppleTV could be, as video playback seems to be restricted to "DVD resolution" instead of 720p, the standard at which the AppleTV can output. That makes the Archos TV+ a standard definition device, not an HD device, which is a big thumb in an otherwise delicious pie.

Still, it's inexpensive at $250 for an 80GB model and $350 for a 250GB model, comes with a variety of outputs including HDMI, slurps up data over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, and even includes a slick little square remote with a thumbpad and QWERTY keyboard. (Handy for surfing the web via Opera, which is included.)

It really looks like a fine device. Why didn't they make it HD capable? I would have paid another $50 for a video processor that could handle higher resolution.

Product Page [Archos via Technabob via Ubergizmo]

Joel Johnson

Powramid: Conical Power Strip

Coming to a store near you after the Consumer Electronic Show 2008*, the tongue-tying "Powramid" is a nice little conical power strip that leaves all six plugs accessible even if filled with oversized wall warts. It won't be as pretty when it's filled with plugs, but I like it. Especially the little LED on the top.

I've given up trying to hide all my wires, zip-tying my power strips down under my desk and all that. I am embracing wires instead, confident that we'll eventually figure out how to remove them from our lives in the next decade or three.

Product Page [KreativePower.com (Nothing says "creativity" like using a "K" instead of a "C!") via Coolest-Gadgets via Oh Gizmo]

* Don't say "fuckfest." Don't say "fuckfest."

Joel Johnson

Dell Crystal LCD Monitor

This is Dell's new fancy monitor, the "Dell Crystal LCD." I applaud Dell's willingness to put this one to market. Its design certainly makes a statement.

Here's why you shouldn't buy it: It's only a 22-inch monitor with a 1,680 by 1,050 resolution. At this point I wouldn't buy a monitor smaller than 24 inches with a 1080p or great resolution. (The typical monitor resolution at that size is 1,920 by 1,200 pixels.) And if I weren't going to buy a big widescreen monitor it would be because I was going to buy two monitors to use in a dual screen configuration, which the wide glass bezel of the Crystal LCD precludes.

Oh, and it's $1,200—$900 more than other 22-inch models from Dell.

Still, I really like it as a concept and I hope to see more risk-taking and similar design choices from Dell, if only to see that sort of design filter down into their cheaper hardware.

[via Gizmodo and Engadget]

Joel Johnson

LL-142: Classic LEGO Space Tribute Ship by Peter Reid

Peter Reid's "LL-142" spaceship model works on two levels, both as an ornately finished model with nary a smooth surface to be found* (almost too much so) and as a tribute to the old LEGO Space themes, completely with blue-and-grey color scheme. The cockpit is an "X-Pod," which were actually sold as carrying cases for small sets of LEGO but also had a simple 2x2 stud array at the top that made it possible to incorporate them into designs. They're somewhat highly sought after these days.

Peter's LL-142 Photostream [Flickr via Bros. Brick]

* This is known in the LEGO modelling community as "greebling."