Joel Johnson

FitBit: Clip-on exercise and sleep tracker with wireless data uploads

The FitBit is a simple clip-on device with a built-in motion sensor that serves as a information-age pedometer, tracking exxercise intensity levels, sleep quality, calories burned, and distanced travelled — all beamed back wirelessly to the internet (via your Wi-Fi network, I presume) to the FitBit website. There you can compare stats with other FitBit users to see how well you're doing. The whole package will be sold for $100 this Fall.

There may be other incentives besides peer review, explains Gearlog:

The current FitBit Device has no display, but Park promises that the final product, expected this December, will feature an OLED display. The readout will include, among other things, a user-definable avatar that will shrink and grow to indication your progress. Kind of like a Tamagotchi, except you're the one you're keeping alive.

FitBit Trainer: Track Your Exercise, Health, and Even Sleep [Gearlog]

Joel Johnson

A look at iTunes' "Genius" music recommendation engine

Eliot Van Buskirk has a thorough look at the new "Genius" music recommendation feature in iTunes 8:

For now, the Genius sidebar is essentially a slicker version of what we've had for years within iTunes and other programs. But we have to hand it to Apple for at least having made the recommendations more powerful and easier to access.

Once you opt in to the service, which sends your music library and usage data to Apple anonymously according to the company, iTunes can generate a list of music in your library that sounds similar to any song in it, from which you can make a playlist. The Genius sidebar (screenshots below) performs essentially the same function, except that it draws recommendations from the iTunes music store. Those recommendations include similar songs, top albums by the artist, songs by the artist missing from your collection and iTunes Essentials collections that include the song.

While Genius is no big deal, its smooth, easily accessible nature will likely cause at least a minor uptick in music sales through the service.

ITunes' Genius Feature Is Hardly Rocket Science [Listening Post]

Joel Johnson

This Exists: Deep-dish pizza vending machine

As a fan of both disgusting microwaved pizza-inspired calorie bars and vending machines, I find nothing at all threatening in this TombStone Deep Dish Pizza unit. I can think of nothing better with which to wash it down than a giant can of Red Bull.

The End Is Near [Sheeats via Serious Eats]

Previously • Who buys gadgets from vending machines?
• The history of Japanese vending machines
• Vending machine smashes fine china
• Japanese ciggie vending machines demand ID
• Japanese Bread-in-a-Can Vending Machine

Joel Johnson

Pyro 2.1 wrist-mounted flame cannons

Evertt Bradford sends in his latest update to his Pyro wrist-mounted flame cannons. They looks badass. I have only one suggestion: test these outdoors, buddy.

I saw a similar system in use by some fake firefighters at Burning Man this year, although they used back-mounted propane canisters. Everett's wrist accelerator and ignition are quite slick, though. I don't recall how the firefighters triggered theirs.

Post up plans, Everett! I want to make these for myself. Ha-do-ken!

Joel Johnson

Reuters gets snarky about Steve Jobs' lack of death

It's already been changed on the live site, but my feed reader cached this wonderful headline from Reuters regarding the most recent Apple keynote: "Alive Jobs unveils Apple's "thinnest" iPod"

Not the funniest joke in the world, but hilarious to me that for at least a little while today that was what was out on the wires.

Jobs unveils Apple's "thinnest" iPod [Reuters]

John Brownlee

New iPod Touches feature built-in speaker, volume control, Nike Plus

And now the expected iPod Touch upgrade has been announced. It's thinner — notice a pattern? — with an iPhone 3G like contour design. The same old, same old: 3.5-inch display, accelerometer, WiFi, App Store. But now there's a volume control on the side, a built-in speaker and Genius playlist creation. Meh.

For sports fans: built-in Nike Plus. Now your iPod Touch can keep track of your gelatinous lethargy or Speed Force dimensional quavering.

Stated battery life: 36 hours for music, 6 for video. All in line with the first gen.

The new iPod Touch firmware — 2.1, natch — comes stock, and if you've already upgraded your first gen Touch to 2.0, you'll get it for free. Those who haven't broken their 2.0 hymen will have to pay $9.95 for the pleasure, though.

(As an ancillary note, the iPhone Firmware Update 2.1 comes out this Friday.)

And now the prices. The new iPod Touches comes in the same MSRPs as the old ones. The 8GB is $229, the 16GB is $299 and 32GB is $399. That brings the Touch within $30 of the iPhone 3G 8GBs subsidized price, equals the 16GBs subsidized price and logically extrapolates a mythological 32GB iPhone 3G's subsidized price.

My jaw didn't drop, but that price drop does make the iPod Touch a bit less lame of a duck in the otherwise venerable iPod lineup.

iPod Touch [Apple]

John Brownlee

iPod Nano 4G confirmed with snazzy new interface and accelerometer functions

As predicted, Apple revealed the iPod Nano 4G today, and there's not many surprises in the design here after the consistent leaks of the past weeks: rounded, curved and elongated... the old squat form of the old Nano flung into the bin after one generation.

Coming in a chromatismic panoply — Black, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and violet — the new Nanos come in 8GB and 16GB varieties, at $149 and $199 respectively.

The most interesting development is the new UI, which is decidedly more Touch-like. The Nano also now has a built-in accelerometere. Want to enter Shuffle mode? Just shake the Nano. Want to enter Coverflow? Just flip the Nano horizontally. There's new menu pop-ups: for example, on-the-go, browse album and browse artist. The new Genius mode (introduced in iTunes 8) of song recommendation is a pop-up.

Take a good look: this is the evolutionary link between old iPods and the future of uniform touchscreen iPods of 2010.

iPod Nano [Apple]

John Brownlee

Apple discontinues 160GB iPod Classic: 120GB the only model now

Steve Jobs just announced that the 160GB iPod Classic — basically the only one that can handle the totality of a serious iTunes collection — is being discontinued in Apple's manic pursuit of thinness... a pursuit reflected in the gaunt corporeality of its own CEO.

Now, the only Classic will only come in 120GB flavors, for $249. That makes the new 120GB Zune suddenly look a bit competitive again in the Classic space: Microsoft must have known something.

iPod Classic [Apple]

Rob Beschizza

Jobs introduces new iPods and iTunes 8: it knows what you like

The iPod is dead. Long live the iPod.

Steve Jobs killed a favorite, discontinuing the 160GB iPod Classic, and introduced new models at Apple's "Let's Rock" event today in San Francisco today.

The replacement model is thinner, but has a 120GB hard drive, plenty of space for movies, podcasts and high-quality songs. Most impressive, however, was a completely new iPod Nano, which returns to its older, taller "portrait" orientation, but with much better specifications. Jobs described it as the thinnest iPod ever; it will also be offered in 7 bright colors to go with the standard brushed metal.

The 8GB model will be $150, and the 16Gb model will be $200.

Apple's iPod Touch is also getting a touch-up, with a thinner profile and a shiny metallic backing. It also has an integrated speaker and physical volume control. The 8GB model is $230, the 16GB is $300, and the 32GB one is $400.

Accompanying the new hardware is a new version of Apple's iTunes software, which will include improvements to browsing and accessibility. Most interesting, however, is a new feature called "Genius," which Jobs said would help you "rediscover" the music in your library by dynamically matching tracks.

Information is sent the internet based on your listening preferences, which returns playlist suggestions on demand. Data is anonymously aggregated, and not publicly accessible.The feature would also scale to movies and television shows, Jobs said.

The iPod now has 74.3 percent marketshare, with Sandisk holding at 8.6% and Microsoft back at 2.6%. The rest take up 15.4 percent.

Looking trim, Jobs started the show by issuing the final (and long-expected) slam dunk of the music industry: iTunes is now the main distributor of music in any format, including high street retailers like Wal-Mart.

He also said that NBC would return to iTunes after a year away, and that high-def TV shows would be $3 an episode through iTunes.

iPhone gamers have goodies coming down the pike, too, with Apple's Phil Schiller taking the stage to show off new titles including Need for Speed: Undercover, Gameloft's Real Soccer 2009, Iron Man and Spore Origins.

At the beginning of the show, Jobs mocked speculation about his health, pointing to the projected phrase "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" behind him.

Read more:
• New iPod Touches feature built-in speaker, volume control, Nike Plus
• iPod Nano 4G confirmed with snazzy new interface and accelerometer functions
• Apple discontinues 160GB iPod Classic: 120GB the only model now

John Brownlee

MAKE hacks open the Esquire e-ink cover (Verdict: Hackable!)

MAKEs Phil Torrone snatched up a copy of Esquire's lamentably designed e-ink edition, and there's good news: Esquire has delivered their promise to cheaply sell hackable e-paper to hackers.

There are 2 e-ink screens with flex connections (these are pricey connections). It looks like it was made to be reprogrammed and different screens...

I think someone out there will likely reflash the PIC and make the segments go on / off at different time and perhaps put other displays on it, there's a little bit of hacking to be had but not that much really.

And here's my opinion, I know a lot media folks & tech sites are pooping on this cover - but someone needed to start somewhere, I'm glad there's an E-Ink cover in existence, it's clear it's going to be decades until it's something that very common.

I can't wait to see some of the first hacks of the Esquire cover to start rolling out.

Esquire e-ink cover hacking [MAKE]

John Brownlee

Trekstor's beer-popping USB thumb drive

Fearing radiation, bruising or an accidental scrotal puncturing, my whole life has been spent trying to carry less stuff in my pockets, so I can only admire in abstract the fusion of one bit of pocket flotsam — a bottle opener — with another: the inexplicably ubiquitous USB thumb drive. TrekStore's variety comes in a brushed aluminum housing in capacities up to 16GBs. There's a price for all budgets, from about $10 to $70.

Trekstor Bottle Opener USB Thumb [Trekstor via DVICE]

Joel Johnson

Video: Cosmovox for iPhone, accelerometer-controlled musical instrument

Product Page [Leisuresonic.com]

John Brownlee

Philips to release the Sonicare of non-penetrative vibrators

Supplementing their successful line of electric razors, televisions, Skype phones and toothbrushes, Philips next product will be directly to the pudendum: the company has announced the Warm Intimate Massager, the first ever Philips brand sex toy.

Not much is known about the device, except that it is a vibrating massager with the depressing adjective "non-penetrative" conspicuously applied. Why non-penetrative? In addition to hoping it will become "the ultimate Christmas gift for couples," a Philips rep cautiously explained...

"We were looking for products that wouldn't replace one or the other partner.

Whew. I think I speak for men everywhere when I say I'm glad Philips has got my back. It's true: a penetrative vibrator is a perfect replacement for a man, but down that orgiastic path lies genetic ruin. Frankly, we've been trying to keep that whole secret under wraps.

Regardless, what we are looking at here is a heated vibrator of some type. Philips intends to sell it for £89.99, which is an astonishing price to pay for a vibrator you can't even cram, but the stated rationale is that a luxury price will give it an air of consumerist respectability.

Either way, I think Philips is the right company for the job of demystifying and popularizing the vibrator, just as their fantastic Sonicare line popularized the higher-end electric toothbrush. In fact, I, for one, am pleased to see Philips' introducing their Sonicare technology to daring new vistas. I myself have considered introducing my Sonicare to one from time to time, but frankly, those replacement heads are pretty expensive.

Philips changes the mood with Warm Intimate Massager [Times Online]

John Brownlee

The hidden labyrinth of the iPod clickwheel

A picture's worth a thousand words. Reading through the rather rote arguments that form Mark Wilson's latest rant about how Apple needs to kill off the iPod clickwheel, I stifled a belch of bored ambivalence: he's probably right, but well... meh.

Then this diagram of the iPod Classic's labyrinthian clickwheel menu hit me square in the face. Holy cow. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure novel written by a slavering graphomaniac!

Okay, Mark. I concede. You have made me an enemy of the clickwheel.

A Sad Fact: The iPod's Clickwheel Must Die [Gizmodo]

John Brownlee

Plastic Logic's sleek, slim, touchscreen e-reader

As promised, Plastic Logic unveiled the details of its new e-reader yesterday, and it is a serious challenge to the Kindle.

The Plastic Logic device takes a very Apple-like approach to the e-reader. Eschewing two-dimensional smallness for slimness, the Plastic Logic is roughly A4 sized at 8.5 by 11 inches yet is less than 3/10ths of an inch thick.

But the major wank: the Plastic Logic is touch screen. Gone is the Kindle's hideous jumble of strangely aligned chiclet keys: all navigation on the Plastic Logic is done by gestures. Text input is handled by a virtual keyboard.

Right now, the Plastic Logic only features Micro-USB and Bluetooth, but they promise Wi-Fi functionality by the time it ships in 2009. Battery life? About a week. The Kindle's killer feature — omnipresent EVDO — wasn't mentioned,

It looks gorgeous. The dimensions are a tad large for books, but perfect for the newspapers and magazines Plastic Logic seems bent on approaching for content. In truth, though, I hope this gets snatched up by someone larger, who can handle the content distribution side: an Amazon branding would bring its huge library of ebooks and the EVDO carrier deals that make the Kindle so attractive despite its righteous pummeling with the uglystick.

Plastic Logic says, when released, it'll be "competitive" with the Kindle in price.

Plastic Logic's Reader Is Thinner, Less Ugly Than Kindle [Gadget Lab]

Joel Johnson

How Japanese laptop manufacturers measure battery life

In a little blip about Sony's decision to amend their stated laptop battery life numbers, Gizmodo's Elaine Chow explains a little bit about how those Japanese manufacturers cook up those numbers in the first place:

Notebook vendors usually base their battery numbers off of Japanese tech association Jeita's method, which measures power depletion when the laptop's completely idle and then averages that number with the laptop's life when running a movie file. Sony will be switching to a Jeita “A” standard, which uses only the movie file test's results.

Joel Johnson

Honda Insight is back with an eye on the Toyota Prius

Honda is reintroducing its Insight hybrid car, a follow up to the earlier innovative but perhaps less-than-practical two-door vehicle from 1999. Although the company isn't exactly known for being a styling pioneer — to their credit, at times, since their conservatism affords cars that age gracefully — the new Insight's body shape is a shockingly flagrant rip of Toyota's popular Prius hybrid. Perhaps Honda feels that they can swipe the Prius' looks since Toyota swiped a large portion of the hybrid market away from the Insight in the first place.

Perhaps more exciting for fans of sporty cars, Honda is also moving forward with plans to produce the lovely CR-Z, a modern take on the popular CR-X two-door sports car but with a peppy new hybrid engine inside.

The new Insight should launch in 2009 (as a 2010 model year unit, presumably) for $18k — $3k less than a starter Prius.

Product Page [Honda.com via Earth2Tech.com]

John Brownlee

HP Elitebook + Extended Battery gets 24 hours

HP is claiming that their EliteBook 6930p, under the right conditions, will run for 24 hours straight with an ultra-capacity battery. Those conditions?

Requires separately purchased Ultra Capacity Battery and customer download of the latest Intel graphics driver and HP BIOS. Notebook must be configured with optional Intel 80 GB SSD drive and HP Illumi-Lite LED Display (planned to be available October 2008) and requires Microsoft Windows XP operating system. Battery life will vary depending on the product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will decrease with time and usage.

One condition not listed: a room chilled to absolute zero. Ultra Capacity Battery may be the size of the USS Sulaco, may burn hotter than the magma chamber of a medium sized planetoid, may contain the atomic density of dark matter. In case of battery failure, please make your way in an orderly fashion to Vault 13.

HP: We’ve broken the 24-hour battery life barrier [ZDNet]

Joel Johnson

LEGO troll as Boba Fett

Behold this ridiculous confluence of nerd mainstays: a LEGO troll not-so-minifig dressed in a Boba Fett costume. It's from Mike "Count Blockula" Crowley, one of the most light-hearted LEGO builders around.

Boba Troll [Flickr.com via Brothers Brick]

John Brownlee

iBikeConsole makes listening to your iPod while bicycling even easier (equally stupid)

Soaring through the air as one does, a quick succession of equally piquant sensations form a cautionary tale of iPod-enabled bicycling: the velocipedal whoosh of coasting down hill, the dulcet hobo notes of Mr. Tom Waits; a flash of green and chrome, the sudden feeling of weightlessness accompanied by the gravitational pull of free-falling spermatoza; a headphone cable garroting; the broad asphalt bosom of mother earth; the crunchy, coppery chiclets filling your mouth as you kiss it... an incensed motorist with a dented fender pummeling your prone, wrecked frame into sweet oblivion, serenaded into sleep by his dimming, lullabye-like commentary about the sexual fidelity of your mother.

There must be a better way to listen to music while bicycling. Enter the iBikeConsole, a rather near iPod mount for the city bike steed. You simply mount your iPod between the handlebars in a shock and weather proof case and adjust the volume and tracks with little thumb controllers near the gears. Even better, it will even function as a bike computer, tracking time, speed, distance, pedestrians splashed by puddles of stagnant rain water, and so on. And for $76, it's not really all that expensive as far as bike accessories go. I like.

iBikeConsole [Official Site via UberGizmo]

Rob Beschizza

China hungers for gadgets

The AFP reports that the Chinese are sick of being last in the gadget-availability game, and go to great lengths to import high-tech items from the U.S. It's a curious situation, given that they make much of it in the first place.

Plans to introduce the [iPhone] are conspicuously more advanced in West Africa than in China, the world's largest mobile phone market, with more than 600 million cellphone users. ... In the meantime, Chinese consumers are not waiting for Jobs. The country is widely considered the world's biggest market for smuggled, "unlocked" and counterfeited iPhones. More than 500,000 first-edition iPhones made their way to China, or nearly a tenth of the phone's global shipments of 5.2 million from June 2007 through March 2008, according to estimates from In-Stat.

Some estimates indicate 40 percent of all "unlocked" iPhones are in China.

It's just like how the British import back their own spotted dick from the Moon. So ironic.

Chinese don't wait for Apple launch to get iPhone [AFP]

Rob Beschizza

Boko's wonderful woods

Mr. Matsumoto, or Boko, is to be seen at Paul Smith's in Covent Garden, London, Boko makes lovely wooden sculptures of modern technological objects. Born 1962 in a Japanese village by the sea, he studied at Shimane Polytechnic University in one of Japan's most sparesely-populated regions.

I love his work. It's as if a cargo cult never gave up, then found its own magic.

Website [Boku via Dezeen]

Joel Johnson

Deep Green, the pool-playing robot

In one of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels — I think it was Consider Phlebas — one of the vast A.I. Minds laments to its human ward that even with all its vast computing power it can only calculate the scattering of billiard balls with any accuracy for less than a few moves across the table. While that may hold true in the real world for the moment, the "Deep Green" robotic pool playing system is already dropping cellulose spheres at a "better-than-amateur level". Granted, its matrix of gantries and cameras isn't predicting the moves of every ball from games' beginning to end, but its ability to adaptively analyze a table is still impressive.

Plus who doesn't love a robot with something labelled "pneumatic break cue actuator"?

Computer.org did a nice profile of the system in January, including lots of details from Canadian scientists on the team explaining how they built Deep Green with mostly off-the-shelf parts.

Why build a pool-playing robot at all? Just a few moments listening to the nearly monotone female voiceover while the video shows a whipping, articulated white robot leering from the ceiling makes it clear: this is where GLaDOS will be born.

Toward a Competitive Pool-Playing Robot [Computer.org via BotJunkie]

Rob Beschizza

Portable Selphy prints wherever you lug it

Miniature printers are afoot today. Canon's Sekphy ES30 has a 3" LCD display for previewing pics and shoots out borderless 4x6 prints. Optional gold and silver inks allow for "added fun and creativity," but the hook is in fact a handle, encouraging you to take it to places that will destroy it, like the beach.

It's compatible with CF and SD memory cards, has BlueTooth 2.0, and will cost $150 when it hits stores in October.

Isn't the fact that it still requires A/C power a critical flaw? If it ran on batteries, we'd have a killer toy here.

Press Release [Canon]

Joel Johnson

d°light Huggable glowing pillow reviewed (Verdict: Not so huggable)

Pillows are practically perfect in their default incarnation, so adding lights — lights that sacrifice the overall comfort due to their plastic, ball-like casing — is a big stretch. Especially at $160, the price of the "d°light Huggable" by Diana Lin. But having finally returned from Burning Man broken and sick I find I'm without the ability to put practicality over desire: it's difficult not to want to nuzzle into something glowing and furry that doesn't smell like a hippie and try to ask me what my "raver name" might be.

d°light Huggable Review. I Miss My Glowworm [YankoDesign.com]

Rob Beschizza

Dell Studio Hybrid PC reviewed. Verdict: Good, except for weak graphics

The Studio Hybrid PC, Dell's surprisingly attractive answer to the Mac Mini, turns out good. Wired's Rock Broida says it looks great, comes with HDMI as standard, and handles high-def video just fine. Moreover, it doesn't use much power, meaning you can leave it on permanently without knocking a $10 chunk out of your wallet every month.

Problems include the fact that it's too basic in its $500 base config. You'll double that adding all the goodies that make it the perfect all-in-one DVR, Blu-Ray player and game console. It's also not a very good game console, either, thanks to its puny integrated video: I hope you like MAME, son. Also, it's noiser than it should be.

Review: Dell Studio Hybrid PC Goes Green To Tangle With The Mac Mini [Wired]

Rob Beschizza

Rule universe from leather throne

Nature may have the best gadgets, but the galactic imperium has the best furniture. White cat and matching miniskirt not included.

Product Page [Tom Spina via Gadget Lab, etc.]

Rob Beschizza

Cool it on the rocks—literally.

Just as the devil has the best songs, mother nature has the best gadgets. How about a non-toxic, durable and reusable device that retains cold, and can release it to your drink without diluting it or affecting its flavor? Yep, she's got it covered: "Nordic Rock," which does just that.

I can't find reference to "Nordic Rock" anywhere, but this stuff is probably some kind of calcium carbonate (used in aquariums because it won't poison anything). Pour some acid on it to find out! Mocha sells a set of 10 for £16.

Product Page [Mocha via technabob]

Rob Beschizza

Power On Self Test: Spin Your Trackball, Sir!

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

• Vacuum Cleaner – Refurbished Dyson DC15 ball vacuum (no, not like that) for $245, shipped. New models go for around $600. [Slickdeals]

• Media Player – Refurbished Creative Zen Vision: M 30GB MP3 and video player for $100 — about half off the price of a new model. [Slickdeals]

• Ethernet Switch – 8-port unmanaged Linksys Ethernet switch (no Wi-Fi) for $10 with around $7 shipping. [Bargainist]

• Netbook – Asus Eee 1000H with Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, Windows XP, 80GB hard drive and 6-cell battery for $450, shipped. About a $100 price drop from other stores. [Dealnews]

• Lamps and Lighting – Restoration Hardware is running its once-per-year sale on lighting. Not cheap for lighting, but cheap for Restoration Hardware, with up to 25% off. [Dealnews]

• Battery Pack – Today's Woot is the Black & Decker 20 Watt Power Backup Battery Pack 2-pack for $15, shipped.