Joel Johnson

Operation Hulk, a Green Twist on an Old Game

This is simply a branded version of the classic "Operation" game, but I think the art showing the Hulk, Spider-Man, and Iron Man is really adorable.

It'll be out in June along with hundreds of other licensed products to coincide with the movie. It would be great if instead of the trademark bzzzt, touching the sides of Hulk's wounds would instead prompt a roar.

The Hulk Challenge [Toyology via Geek Alerts via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Xacti CG9: Sanyo's Latest Low-End Camcorder

Sanyo has announced new Xacti CG9 camcorders in Japan which will almost certainly be released in North America relatively soon. They look slightly more bulky than the previous models, have switched from CCD to CMOS sensors for the camcorder, which Sanyo swears won't affect the video performance. Unless you just really want the new colors, including the pleasingly Robotech red-and-white model, you could probably do just fine with the previous versions, which should be dropping to an even more affordable price.

Xacti CG9: The Ultimate User Friendly Xacti by Sanyo [AkihabaraNews.com]

Joel Johnson

Periodic Rings

These "Periodic Rings" from Itsnoname are cute, but available only in silver, gold, and platinum versions. What, no meitnerium version? Like a company selling $6,500 platinum rings doesn't have enough money for their own personal heavy ion smashing facility.

Product Page [Itsno.name via Uncrate]

Charles Shopsin

Modern Mechanix Round-UP

Today on Modern Mechanix we look at this idea for an unmanned tank that operates by executing preprogrammed instructions off of a stack of records, a novel way of launching gliders by turning your car into a rapid winch, an amphibious monorail system, Canada's first production car from 1899, an illustrated page of wanted inventions and researcher that seems to get off on waking people up using foghorns. We also have this 1943 piece about aerial combat called "The Feel of Death in the Air" and a pretty in-depth article about industrial model makers titled "Little Giants of Industry."

Joel Johnson

Aptera Hybrid Making Cameo in the Star Trek Movie?

Spy shots from the set of the upcoming Star Trek movie show two items of note: the Starfleet-issue miniskirts are back (and about time!) and the three-wheel Aptera Hybrid might be making a cameo in the movie. An Aptera can be seen parked in the shade, perhaps prepping for a lazy background drive-by of the courtyard. I think it's a perfect fit, really. Part of what makes me adore the Aptera's styling is its call back to the clean lines of the late '50s and early '60s, which should work just dandy in a movie that appears to be acknowledging at least a little of the '60s style that influenced the original.

Why do these shots from the filming of "Corporate Headquarters" look suspiciously like the Starfleet Academy? [AintItCool.com]

Previously • Aptera Three-Wheeled Electric Car May Reach Production [BBG]
• PopMech Gets First Drive of the Aptera Electric Car [BBG]
• Aptera's Steve Fambro Interviewed About Three-Wheeled Egg Car [BBG]

Joel Johnson

Cyborg Moths Will Soon Watch You Pee

While some defense researchers work on creating tiny, insect-sized spy drones, others are working on turning insects into fluttering cyborgs. Georgia Tech professor Robert Michelson has modified a Manduca moth to carry and power on-board electronics, reports Flight Global:

In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage.

Images taken by x-ray of insects with these changes and others found that tissue growth around the inserted probes was good. One DARPA goal is to show that during locomotion the heat and mechanical power generated by the thorax could be harnessed to power the MEMS.

The goal is to create insects that can be remotely controlled to serve as remote sensing devices, giving the paranoid schizophrenic in us all one more excuse to start gibbering about "Project: Beelzebub."

Cyborg insects 'born' in DARPA project [FlightGlobal.com via Danger Room]

Image: UW-Madison

Joel Johnson

How the Local News Cooks Up Those Crazy Technology Stories

Farhad Manjoo continues to excerpt his upcoming book, "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society," and like all well-executed enticements I keep finding interesting bits. Here, Manjoo explains how a woman used a think-of-the-children story to shill for electronics companies on local news:

Late in the holiday shopping season of 2005, Robin Raskin began to worry about a hidden danger posed by the world's most popular gadget: Pornography was popping up on the iPod. Raskin, a pert middle-aged woman with short brown hair and a deep, authoritative voice, considered herself an expert on how kids use technology (she'd once written a magazine column called "Internet Mom"). She approached local TV news broadcasts across the country with her iPod worries. They bit.

...

But something here was amiss. In addition to panning the iPod, Raskin used her time on TV to push "safer" holiday tech gifts, including products made by Panasonic, Namco and Techno Source. These weren't unbiased reviews. The local stations that featured Raskin were fully aware that the three companies had hired her to pimp their products during news appearances.

How local TV embraced fake news [Machinist.Salon.com]

Joel Johnson

Geeks.com MP4 Player Reviewed (Verdict: Barely Functional)

CrunchGear reviews the a generic 2GB media player from Geeks.com which is styled suspiciously like a certain Apple phone. Sadly it appears that the player, which costs just $70, is a bit of a turd, barely able to be connected to a PC (and not at all to a Mac).

Sure, it does everything as advertised. But the theft of the iPhone UI — for no good reason — coupled with the shoddy manufacturing, the various failed attempts and “value-added” applications, and a general unsuitability to any task makes me want to puke. Call me a stickler for shit actually working, but I couldn’t even set the date, let alone play the built-in game, Explode Pigboat.

I always scratch my head at poor quality Chinese knock-offs, because it should be within their ability to make clones with a reasonable simulacrum of a quality user interface. It's like cloning a car piece for piece but then replacing the steering wheel with a wrench clamped to the column. Just go the extra mile, guys!

Perhaps it's because the primary market for these sorts of electronics are places where the original products are too expensive, so offering a perfect copy is unnecessary.

Review: Geeks.com 2GB MP4 player [Crunchgear]

Joel Johnson

Morning Tech Deals Highlights

• iPod Dock – Logitech Audiostation speaker system for iPod for $30, after a $50 mail-in rebate. Very well-regarded piece of equipment, so even at $80 that's not an awful deal. [Dealhack]

• Hard Drive – Maxtor 500GB 7200RPM HDD for $87, shipped. [Dealnews]

• iPod Dock – Today's Woot! is the JBL Radial High-Performance Loudspeaker Dock for iPod for $105, shipped.