John Brownlee

Asus prepares its own Android phone

According to the Digitimes, Asus is planing an Android phone of their very own, to launch in the first half of next year. This bit of news leads Gadget Lab's Charlie Sorrel to evacuate his wishful thinking bladder into a rapidly expanding pool of prose:

This nugget leads us to some speculation. Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices, supporting Wi-Fi, 3G and touch screens. Asus is planning to ship a touch screen PC early next year, and has shown a willingness to bundle Linux with its machines.

Our spidey-sense is tingling, and it tells us that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine an Android based Eee PC, a little 3G-equipped Google Computer. And if the OS is doing some cellphone-style power management, this might even be the fix for the notoriously bad battery life found in most netbooks.

An interesting idea, Charlie, but Android isn't a quick hack away from running a full netbook. An Eee Phone? Sure: Asus has whored the brand enough. But my gut says any pairing Asus does between Android and Eee will either be meaningless branding or the quick hack of a tethering system between Eee netbooks and their Eee phones.

Asus Readying Googlephone for 2009 [

John Brownlee

Collapsible accordion Electrolux soft refrigerator

The Electrolux soft refrigerator concept is both expandable, collapsible. What this all means is you can save power by refrigerating only the space you need. As a bachelor, I love it: I can now optimize my refrigeration to take into account not a stockpile of grocer plenty, but the actual contents... a half package of suspicious scented ham, a shriveled pear and a carton of half-and-half that curdlingly threatens to kill my mother when I try to drink it.

Electrolux Accordion Fridge [Cribcandy via Slippery Brick]

John Brownlee

Hack Lego Minifigs for Halloween

Just in time for Halloween, a fantastic guide to making your own LED LEGO minifigs, perfect for ghoulishly glowing eyes and bloodfilled mouths.

How to hack LEDs into Lego Minifigs [Evil Mad Scientist]

John Brownlee

Zacuto's filmmaker kit turns any DSLR into a steadicam (Update: No it doesn't)

Zacuto's filmmaker kit will turn any video capable DSLR into a self-balancing steadicam rig capable of being hoisted by even the most waifish of bleache-blond filmmakers. You simply attach the camera to the front of the rig, with a video monitor extending from an adjustable arm to the side and a system of counterweights pulling up the caboose. Looks like an excellent solution for amateur filmmakers as long as you don't try to push your Nikon D90 past a five-minute take, but there's no pricing available yet.

Filmmaker Kit [Zacuto]

Update: Okay, whatever. I don't know what I'm talking about. Commenter Skep helpfully clarifies:

Not even close to a Steadicam. This rig converts a DSLR into a counterbalanced, shoulder mounted camera rig with a large monitor, not a "Steadicam."

A Steadicam is a gimbaled, free floating rig suspended by spring loaded free swinging arms, which allow the operator to move without jostling the camera.

Rob Beschizza

11. Thou Shalt Not Use Caps Lock

If this doesn't work, the only thing left to do is nuke the caps lock key from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Note: Eleventh commandment applies only to the subset of mankind that is not John Hodgman.

Coda: Isn't it annoying when a netbook or cell phone has a difficult little keyboard, but they sacrifice a shift key or a full-size enter key in order to retain something useless like the tilde or caps lock? The swines.

CAPS LOCK TRAINER KEY [Sean Michael Ragan via Oh Gizmo!]

John Brownlee

The Unfinished Swan: beautiful monochrome exploration game

This tech demo for the upcoming Wii game The Unfinished Swan is certainly visually striking: it takes place in an invisible, monochrome world that can only be discovered by splattering its contours with blobs of ink. And it definitely deserves to get buzz. Unsurprisingly, though, it mostly seems to excite people who don't actually play many video games: those who do can't help but notice that it doesn't look like there's much actual game there. It's early days yet, of course, and I'm excited by the possibilities — imagine some sort of murder mystery set in such a world, where the first sight you see is a negative corpse splattered in white blood — but there'll need to be a lot more than what's seen in this video. Then again, who would have thought Portal — a puzzle shooter game about teleportation — would have one of gaming's greatest narratives?

Rob Beschizza

Aigo MID reviewed. Verdict: impressive potential, but doesn't Just Work yet

Aigo's P8860 is a MID, a Mobile Internet Device. MID, with low-power Atom chips and tailored operating systems, promises better handheld computers than its predecessor among marketing-driven form factors, UMPC. UMPC stood for "Use for Minutes Per Charge."

Unfortunately, Pocketables finds Aigo's pocket PC to be a complex device with no obvious customer in mind beyond expert users.

It's absolutely fantastic that the P8860 can be made into much more than it is, but most people would rather purchase a device that "just works," not one that can work really well with the right modifications.

A little smaller than an OQO or Vaio UX — and a little larger than Nokia's Internet Tablet — it hits a sweet spot at far as size is concerned, and the 4.8" passive touchscreen isn't bad at 800x480, thanks to its custom cut of Linux.

It has a single USB port, a microSD card slot, Audio in-outs and an inherent hackability that Pocketables' Jenn Lee is positively enchanted by. Especially interesting to me is the inclusion of a rear-facing 3 megapixel camera: this could be a useful tool for bloggers, or anyone else who wants to take another stab at convergence. Without 3G, though, it lacks the inherent mobility that its size demands. The keyboard, too, is poor: a typical design-led layout.

Review: Aigo P8860 MID [pocketables]

John Brownlee

The Amazing Bickford, the Razorblade Robot

The amazing Bickford — a robot whose construction out of over 2,100 disposable razors is detailed in this rather stream-of-conscious celebratory video — was lovable right up until the point that his inventor decided to install an Acme Robotics brand Hug Capacitor in his hollow, heartless chassis. Now, the coroner's office of Branson, Missouri spends most of its time trying to piece together the sinewy confetti of John Doe into a corpse that can be identified by his family. Bickford himself is still at large.

[via MAKE]

Rob Beschizza

Gold USB drive is "ultimate executive gift," says company selling them for $600

Eight gigs of "Limited Edition Solid GOLD Eloquence," the Pico-C represents the "hallmark of style and quality in USB drives."

People prize it for its beautiful design, according to the marketing literature. Why else would you pay $600 for a Sony MicroVault Tiny you can pick up at Fry's for $25 and get gold-plated for $100 more? Its "amazing qualities," of course!

Verily, it needs a Monex-style television advert, bathed in glowing golden light and shot in the style of late 1970s porn, in which a middle-aged lady murmurs statistics while gently dancing her fingertips over the product.

Super Talent Announces 18-Carat Solid Gold USB Drive [Super Talent via Crave]

Rob Beschizza

Hobart I-Cool chair helps villains rule empires, shed pounds

Hobart's I-Cool concept chair is not marketed as coming with a sinister white cat, or even a button marked "abruptly swivel 180 degrees to face Bond." Instead, it apparently helps one lose weight.

Just who do they think their market is?

Hobart I-Cool chair: Do nothing to burn your extra fat! [Born Rich]

John Brownlee

Uniqlo to turn mimes into "human vending machines" in Times Square

It is commonly observed that the only real pleasure to be eked out of the "art" of mime is by locking the albino mutes in transparent acrylic coffins, setting them up on street corners and see how long it takes for pedestrians to realize that his frantic "trapped in box" act is not merely an annoying performance, but actually that mime's own hilarious throes of asphyxiation. Uniqlo knows this. On Tuesday, November 18th, they will converge on Time Square and lock a number of mimes into "human vending machines." Supposedly, the mimes will distribute free pairs of Heat Tech Innerwear, which seems to be some high-tech thermal underwear solution, but I suspect a cannier strategy on Uniqlo's part: what could net them better publicity than the public execution of homo sapiens' cockroaches, the filthy mime? Expect cyanide tablets to drop minutes after the mimes' entombment.

Uniqlo to stage best promotion ever in Times Square [New York Mag]

Rob Beschizza

You've got mail... chainmail, to be precise

The Zombie Survival Guide warns against the false sense of security offered by the ornamental chainmail offered by online vendors. ThinkGeek begs to differ, asserting that its chainmail is "honest-to-goodness" the real deal, with riveted links hand-forged from mithril by dwarves in forbidden subterranean mines, distributed by ghouls.

New among the offerings are full-sleeved shirts and optional hand-closed links, to keep the garment from losing them if not meticulously cared-for. Important notes on wearing your chain mail include "chain mail does not stretch," "it could get tangled in your hair," and the all-important "PLEASE wear a shirt or some other garment underneath the chain mail."

Chain Mail Shirt [Think Geek]

John Brownlee

Excellent Russian Fire Extinguisher Speaker Mod

It's a fact: all the best hardware modders come from Russia. Perhaps its a genetic imprint left behind by 70 years of Stalinism forced everyone to cludge together a solution from flotsam pieces of state-branded tech, everyone in Russia seems to be a maker at heart. Some more proof to add to the growing evidence pool of Russian genius: a plucky Russian modder created a set of excellent speakers out of two rusty old fire extinguishers. He repainted them in the end, which is a bit of a shame — I prefer the rust aesthetic — but its still gorgeous work. But how do they sound?

Fire Extinguisher Speakers [Top Mods via Technabob]

Rob Beschizza

A nice bottle of USB

When California's Peltier Station Winery created a Port-like fortified wine, they hit a problem: they're not in Oporto, Portugal, or anywhere near it. So they couldn't very well call it Port.

The solution was, in the age of the ascendant geek, obvious. So welcome a nice bottle of USB to your wine cellar.

Portfolio [6 West Design via Music Radar, the Dieline]

Rob Beschizza

Europe's HP Mini to be sold under Compaq brand and have 3G

Everyone knows the downside to buying consumer electronics in Europe: you pay outrageous premiums for everything and put up with customer service right out of Are you being served? Oftentimes they do, however, get better stuff earlier. Take, for example, Britain's Compaq's Mini 700, to be sold there with an optional HSDPA modem and a 10-inch display. It's clearly a cut of HP's Mini 1000—and one they don't seem to have plans to offer stateside.

Even the price is right, this time, at least by European standards: £299, or about $500.

HP's Compaq Mini 700 thinks he's a Mini 1000, only better [Engadget]

Rob Beschizza

Thumb War game will shock your parents

If games abstract the arts of war, why not make games that intentionally inflict some symbolic degree of physical suffering? Doubtless that thought was the inspiration behind Firebox's Thumb Wars handheld game, which comes with various reaction-time tests and other challenges—all resulting in one or the other player getting zapped.

Shocking Thumbwars [Firebox via ChipChick and Giz]

Rob Beschizza

New Dell XPS ONE has 24" 1080 line display, doesn't look like cheese grater

Dell's new 24" XPS One all-in-one computer is a pleasant antidote to those ghastly new Optiplexes, with sleek, severe lines and unpretentious trim. Though the huge 1080p screen is the centerpiece, it also comes with a JBL speakers system (including subwoofer), a GeForce 9600M GT video card and a $1,700 price tag.

The occasional mistake aside, is it not fair to say that Dell is becoming something of a design house? The trend toward all-in-ones seems to be the latest catalyst. And it's not just them: see, for example, how HP's Touchsmarts went from grotesque the first time around to gorgeous in their second incarnation.

From the press release:

• The XPS One line of all-in-one PCs combines advanced entertainment features with a sleek, visually stunning and award-winning design. • The XPS One 24 integrates an array of sought-after features, including HDTV, DVR, optional Blu-ray Disc player and recorder, component stereo system, video phone, and media library. • In addition to the larger display and premium sound capabilities, the XPS One 24 features: • NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT video graphics for eye-popping visuals. • Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 quad core processor to easily handle complex multimedia activities. • Choice of Midnight Gray, or Pure White with the XPS One 24 (PRODUCT)RED version. • Dell offers two (PRODUCT)RED configurations, a version with Windows Vista Home Premium starting $1,699 and one starting at $2,299 featuring Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED and other upgrades. Each purchase of an XPS One 24 (PRODUCT) RED system contributes $50-$80 (depending on the configuration) to the Global Fund. To place that in perspective, a $50 contribution can provide nearly 4 months of life-saving treatment for an individual living with HIV in Africa. • For the rest of the year, Dell will feature daily deals, gift suggestions and shopping tips at www.dell.com/everyday. Be the first to know via tweets at http://twitter.com/DellEveryday , or check out the Everyday Deals Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dell-Everyday-Deals/56260914096.

Rob Beschizza

Tivo owners to get Netflix through the box

Netflix movie streaming is coming to TiVo by the end of the year. Testing begins immediately, with general availability in early December for those with HD- and Series3-class machines.

The world takes another step closer to the glorious entertainment future of One Box To Rule Them All.

Media Room [Netflix]

Rob Beschizza

Cakes based on video games

Asylum's collection of gamer cakes is good enough not to need garnishing with a Portal reference.

Video Game Cakes -- Tastes Like Geek [Asylum via Fidgit]

John Brownlee

Two words: rectal retractor. The horrors of the BCMA Medical Museum

Perusing BCMA's online medical museum, you can tell simply by the categories which will contain the rusted hooks, scrapers and separators that are wielded in your hospital nightmares. The anaesthesiology section is okay; you won't see anything particularly horrifying in Nutrition; Oriental Medicine is usually a safe zone unless they start pulling out thigh-lengthed needles to plunge into your spine. But then you miscalculate and click on Ophthalmology, confronted with the horrors of a speculum and a scoop. Dentistry is an exhibit entirely devoted to the ways in which manic 19th century dentists could break out tiny pieces of your skeleton, and proctology? There, even Goatse.cx fears to tread.

BCMA Medical Museum [Official Site via OhGizmo!]

John Brownlee

Finger stapped socket set allows digital bolt tightening

This is genius: a set of 21 sockets that can be strapped to the finger and wiggled into the inner most crooks of your furniture for bolt tightening with the utmost contempt for leverage or awkward positioning. They are made of plastic, unfortunately, and there's at least a few situations I can imagine involving the protruding shards of index finger bones. Still, for $20, worth a try.

Finger Grip Socket Set [Whatever Works via book of joe]

John Brownlee

Kangaroom gamer sofa saddlebag

The $30 Kangaroom gamer pocket is an attractive little saddle bag to be slung across the rump of the couch arm, organizing all array of game case, controllers and headsets. It does seem to be smidge Wii oriented, but instead of sheathing Magic Mario Wands, it would be easy enough to holster your television remotes in them instead, cramming your 360 or PS3 controllers into the roomy outer pockets.

Also excellent, of course, for covering up unsightly cigarette burns and coffee ring stains, which is what I'll mostly be using it for.

Kangaroom Gamer Pocket [Official Site via Gizmodo]