Joel Johnson

I feel like I'm missing something about the Moleskine MSK format

Moleskine is pushing a new "MSK" format for designing your own custom pages on your computer to be printed and attached to one of their famous notebooks. But I'm confused. While I understand the utility of custom pages, especially some of the pre-formated variants that let you print out a list of Plaxo or Vcard contacts or iCal events, I don't understand how you physically attach them to your notebook. I suppose you can just fold them and slot them in, but that's not very elegant—and certainly not as swish as the idea I had first imagined, in which Moleskine sold a new notebook with a little clip or binder that made it easy to couple custom pages to blank.

It's enough to make me want to simply print out the blank pages, fold them in quarters, and sew them roughly inside two flaps of cardboard.

Joel Johnson

Blankets with arms reviewed (Verdict: Get the Slanket, if you must)

Jason Chen answers the fundamental question of work-at-home writers everywhere: Which horrible blanket/jacket hybrid—the Snuggie, Slanket, Freedom Blanket, Blankoat, or reversed houserobe—is truly the best?

Rob Beschizza

Netflix increases price of Blu-Ray rentals

Netflix just sent out an email saying that it will increase its monthly charge for unlimited Blu-Ray access from $1 to $4 a month. Pow! (If you rent more than one movie at once, the rates scale ) Text of the email below:

You are receiving this email because you added unlimited Blu-ray access to your account for $1 a month. The number of Blu-ray titles has increased significantly and will continue to do so. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs.

As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for
most plans and will now vary by plan. The charge for monthly Blu-ray
access on your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan will increase from $1
a month to $4 a month. The price of your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited)
plan is not changing and remains at $16.99 a month.

The new charge for Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your
next billing statement on or after April 27, 2009 and will be
referenced in your Membership Terms and Details.

If you wish to continue unlimited Blu-ray access for $4 a month, you
don't need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access
anytime by visiting Your Account.

If you have questions about this change or need any assistance, please
call us anytime at 1-888-923-0898.

-The Netflix Team

Why are Blu-Ray discs so expensive, again? It seems stupid for the Blu people to advertise piracy so openly.

Update: Engadget has a chart, useful to those who rent more than one movie at a time.

Joel Johnson

Working LEGO film projector (and tiny cinema to match)

It's bad techno morning out here this morning, this time in support of a tiny LEGO movie theater, complete with a fully working film projector that displays an image at a few frames a second. The builder, Ricardo M. Oliv, is a champ. [via Dan's Data]

Joel Johnson

Latest Louis Vuitton model: Buzz Aldrin

Woman's Wear Daily is reporting that design house Louis Vuitton has tapped ornery astronaut Buzz Aldrin for a photo spread to be used in an upcoming advertising campaign. This image is not it, unless LV was finally able to talk the U.N. into letting them rent the moon. (Otherwise I'm guessing this moon was bought on Canal Street.)

Joel Johnson

Brinno, a timelapse garden camera

The Brinno is a weatherproof timelapse garden video camera, capable of taking a 1,280 by 1,024 pixel image every hour for four months before its batteries need to be changed. You can also tune its interval to be anywhere from five seconds to 24 hours, giving you a wide array of uses, provided you can find places to mount it by shoving its built-in spike into something squishy.

$160, plus shipping, at Hammacher Schlemmer. It's also available at Amazon, where it sports a single two-star review that makes it sound like the company that produces it is just barely in business. [via Oh! Gizmo]

Joel Johnson

Soldiers accidentally blinding each other with lasers

David Hambling:

The problem is that the GBD-III is not intended to dazzle. The makers say call it "the most powerful military grade visible lasers available" and "used for weapon aiming or marking targets for fire support." They quote a Nominal Ocular Hazard Distance (NOHD) of 1,460 meters: in other words, the GBD-III laser can potentially cause eye injuries if used on anyone up to almost a mile away. (By contrast the CHP laser dazzler has an NOHD of 45 meters.) And it's easy to see how accidents could happen with this type of laser without thorough training.

Joel Johnson

Hotelicopter is not real, sadly

"Hotelicopter" is a remodeled prototype Soviet MiL Mi-V12, now filled with 18 cabins and suites. It will be making an innaurgral tour through North American destinations this summer, with prices to be announced soon. (Expect to pay a considerable premium over your typical live-aboard helicopter stay.)

It is certainly not a real thing, as the obviously rendered video implies, but instead a viral promotion for a stay-at-the-airport hotel company.

Joel Johnson

Music Video: Tommy Sparks - "She Got Me Dancing"

Directed by Eric Wareheim, who is taking his HorribleStyle to a brilliant new low in this video for Tommy Sparks. [via MBV]

Not at all appropriate for a Monday morning.

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

⌦ Mac Mini – Microcenter is selling the last generation Mac Mini (C2D 2GHz, 1GB RAM, GMA950) for $400, plus $28 shipping. (Or in-store pickup.) [Slickdeals]

⌦ eBook Reader – Sony is selling the PRS-700BC eBook Reader for $350, shipped, a $50 discount. [Dealhack]

⌦ MacBook – Microcenter is also selling the white MacBook (C2D 2GHz, 2GB RAM) for $1,000 with a $200 mail-in rebate. I'm not much for rebates, but that's a fair price. [Dealoco]

⌦ Monitor – The Dell S2409W 24-inch 1080p LCD monitor is on sale for $188, shipped. I have this monitor and find it to be ample for viewing pixels. (And I paid $30 more just a few weeks ago.) [Dealnews]

⌦ Keyboard & Mouse – Logitech Internet 1500 Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse combo for $20, shipped, about $30 off. [Dealnews]

⌦ iPod – Today's Woot is a 30GB iPod Video for $105, shipped.

Joel Johnson

"The speed of light sucks."

Richard Leadbetter writing for EuroGamer, on why the streaming OnLive game service is so unlikely technologically that it must be practically impossible:

1. OnLive has mastered video compression that outstrips the best that current technologies can achieve by a vast margin. In short, it has outsmarted the smartest compressionists in the world, and not only that, it's doing it in real-time.

2. OnLive's unparalleled grasp of psychophysics means that it has all but eliminated the concept of IP lag during its seven years of "stealth development", succeeding where the best minds in the business have only met with limited success.

3. OnLive has developed a range of affordable PC-compatible super-computers and hardware video encoders that are generations beyond anything on the market at the moment.

Joel Johnson

Gallery of vintage transistor radios

Got a few hours to kill? While your time in the Flickr stream of Transistor Radios, a vintage electronics collector.

Rob Beschizza

AT&T's six new phones all have keyboards

Ahead of this week's CTIA trade show, AT&T's announced its summer lineup. Everything, from the fancy Samsung Impression to the $50 budget bucket, has a full QWERTY keyboard.

• Nokia's E71, a great-looking Blackberry-style model with a 2.3" display, 3 megapixel camera, HSDPA, WiFi and bluetooth. Available unlocked since 2008, it runs Symbian and will be $150 from April or May.

• Samsung's Propel Pro, an upgrade on last years' Propel. The new model has Windows Mobile 6.1, a slider keyboard and a thumbpad navigation system. It has a 320x320 display, tri-band GSM for international roaming, and a $200 tag.

• Samsung's Impression, touted as the first U.S. phone with an amoled display. The 3.2" screen's resolution is 240x400, and it has a 3 megapixel camera, GPS and a full QWERTY slider keyboard. It'll be $250 from April 7.

• LG's Xenon, which has an ultra-wide 240x480 pixel touchscreen display and a 2 megapixel camera, WiFi and standard keyboard. It'll be $150.

• LG's Neon, a $100 model made of terribly bright colors. There's no 3G, no WiFi, just a 2MP camera, a 320x240 pixel display, and joie de vivre.

• Samsung's Magnet, a $50 budget textphone that still has a keyboard but is otherwise quite basic: it has charms, but check the camera, web browser and menu snappiness before committing.

AT&T Unveils New Integrated Devices for Texting, Email and More [AT&T]

Rob Beschizza

"Fight Club for nerds"

Wired's Dylan Tweney writes about the surprise return of old-fashioned engineering clubs, in the guise of hacker spaces.

"There are zillions of people around the world doing this," says Altman, referring to the swell of interest in do-it-yourself projects and hacking. "It's a worldwide community."

At the center of this community are hacker spaces like Noisebridge, where like-minded geeks gather to work on personal projects, learn from each other and hang out in a nerd-friendly atmosphere. Like artist collectives in the '60s and '70s, hacker spaces are springing up all over.

There are now 96 known active hacker spaces worldwide, with 29 in the United States, according to Hackerspaces.org. Another 27 U.S. spaces are in the planning or building stage.

Dylan's got some great photos up with the story, too. Why aren't you doing this in your basement?

DIY Freaks Flock to 'Hacker Spaces' Worldwide [Wired]

Rob Beschizza

A standard item for military clubs in the outer colonies

AIST, female humanoid robots "HRP-4C" scheduled to debut on the fashion show [Robot Watch]

Rob Beschizza

MacBook Mini concept

It's from a Russian tech mag. Fake as a snake, but I still want it.

The Perfect MacBook Mini: Leak, Concept, or Fake, We Love It Anyway [Gizmodo]

Rob Beschizza

Creativi•tea

Finally, an expensive, beautiful kettle to go with an expensive, beautiful teapot! Sarina Fiero's "Creativi•tea" is, however, just a design at this point.

Sarina Fiero's portfolio

Rob Beschizza

Joystick Test Cartridge

Gripping stuff.

Nes TEST CARTRIDGE Nintendo RARE CART Mario [eBay via techeblog, CG and NES Player]

Rob Beschizza

Otto, a fan

Yours for $200, the Otto is a three-speed 45 watt model with a case made of sapele. Stadler Form designed it. Peter Ha at CrunchGear describes it as "manly."

Brits will love the name of the online store that carries it, "Swizz."

[Swizz-style via CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

Netbooks for less than $350

Liliputing rounds up 19 netbooks cheap enough to actually earn their name.

Rob Beschizza

Rota-Rota USB hub

From (who else!) Brando, this absurdist USB confabulation not only provides three ports for thumbdrives, but a fully-featured card reader and analog dials. The analog dials display the temperature, unfortunately, not something interesting like the ratio of used-to-available space on the attached drives. For $15, though, what a cutie.

USB 3-in-1 Rota-Rota Combo Hub [Brando Technabob ]

Rob Beschizza

1981 Atari Ring

From Sakura Shimizu's blog: "This man's ring features a precise cast of the original Atari computer chip out of 18 karat gold. There is silver version, too."

I'll take a Zilog Z80, myself!

1981 ATARI Ring, 2008 [sakurakoshimizu]

Rob Beschizza

Sexier High Voltage Line Towers

Architect Dietmar Koering designed a happier, fitter pylon. [via Dezeen]

Rob Beschizza

The Consumerist's guide to things you shouldn't buy during the recession...

... doesn't include consumer electronics. Buy!