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.

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.

Don't miss the video. Kanellos' screams of pain are delicious. (Also, he's pretty ripped for a tech writer. Good job!)

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

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]

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]

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.

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!)

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]

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]

• 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]

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]

• 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.

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.

So I pay up front so you can promise to fleece me later?

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.

That's better. I could see people hauling a station wagon full of junk up to the local electronics store and seeing what they can get for the old junk, then leaving the rest of the stuff there to be recycled. Better than tossing it on the midden—and loads better than paying up front for a future buyback. I still can't get my head around why anyone would pay to lock themselves into TechForward's system. It just seems like such a gamble.

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

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.)

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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!)

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!

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.

Rootin' Ridge will also do personalized orders if you want, say, a train carved into the letters of your kid's name. And they sell online. The train above is $32.

Company Page [RootinRidge.com]

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

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.

Wu goes on to posit that AT&T might be mistaking itself for a media company. It's certainly the first question I've asked of AT&T: which do you think has a longer, brighter future? Big media companies or users of the internet?

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]

• 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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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.

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]

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 writer, Jon Mooallem, then goes on to talk about the challenges in e-waste, other companies working to recycle phones and monitors, etc. Just a great piece of reporting and wr