Steven Leckart

Coming up: BBG explores heat

Check back tomorrow to see what we've been, uh, cooking up...

Lisa Katayama

Review: A week with the Plantronics Voyager Pro

Last Thursday, Plantronics introduced their newest bluetooth headset, the Voyager Pro. It has signal processing software that enhances incoming audio and dual mics with a stainless steel screen, acoustic gore vents, and tiny electronic filters that cancel out wind noise. Buttons for muting and adjusting volume are on the headset, too, so you don't have to fumble with your phone while talking. It's gotten great reviews so far, including a CNet editor's choice award. I, too, spent a week with the Voyager Pro--making phone calls on it while working at my desk, running in the park, and watching my friends surf at the beach in Pacifica.

The best thing about it compared to the dinky bluetooth headset I was using before is that the batteries lasted all week--I never turned it off, and probably got a good 3-4 hours of talk time on it. The design is simple, neither elegant nor tacky. The Voyager Pro swivels at two points--the over-the-ear piece can be rotated to fit the right or left ear, and the mic piece is adjustable too, which is nice. The sound quality is as good as everyone else says it is--crystal clear in most environments, except at the super-windy beach, where I had to duck into the car to finish my call.

I never really did like the over-the-ear earpieces, though, because it takes a couple extra seconds to put on and it also makes things like sunglasses and hair bands fit slightly awkwardly. Personally, I prefer Plantronics' Discovery 925 because it's prettier and I can just stick it on my ear when I need it--but I could see how a dude in a suit who is on serious phone calls all day with clients and bosses would prefer the more professional-looking and engineered-for-better-sound-quality Voyager Pro.

Costs $100.

Product page [Plantronics]

Steven Leckart

Pure Digital makes cute pocket cams, but which should you buy?

Pure Digital kicked off a revolution with a cheap, dead-simple-to-use pocket camcorder. I bought the Ultra when it launched. The pop-up USB was inspired, and it was fun to capture videos of my pug blinking.

Yet with every newer, flashier iteration, Pure's product line has continued to stray from what made its first offering such a success. I reviewed both the Mino and the MinoHD for Wired, and grew increasingly skeptical. First they traded low prices for Apple-like design lines and a smaller footprint. Then, by the time they added HD resolution, the Flip couldn't top the picture quality of pocket cams sold by competitors for $50 less.

Nobody hits it out of the park on their first or second at bat, especially in consumer electronics. Pure did, miraculously. But the company's latest offering isn't a homerun (last baseball pun, swear). It feels like an identity crisis. The UltraHD adds 720P, 8GB of storage and an HDMI port to the Ultra, but now they're back to pushing big and clunky?

It's hard to force lightning to strike twice. But with four Flips to choose from, it's even harder to explain to your grandmother which camera to buy or why. And I'm not certain even Pure could tell her.

[image via Flickr]

Rob Beschizza

I am not an elephant! I am a light fixture! I am a lamp!

Daan van den Berg scanned Ikea's LAMPAN lamp, infected the form with a digital "elephantiasis" virus, then ran out the result on a 3D printer. [Next Nature]

Rob Beschizza

Cupertino's tablet netbook: just a concept?

Illustrated by MacFormat's Adam Benton, this mockup strikes me as convincingly conservative -- but only if you accept the proposition that Apple would make it at all. I've been imagining something similar, but even smaller.

The Apple Netbook [Mac Format]
Rumor - Media Pad Could be Apple's Newest Device Hit [Cult of Mac]

Rob Beschizza

Guard your pod!

Photo: Jim Barton

they're welcome 2it [Kennington Fox's Flickr via Cult of Mac]

Xeni Jardin

BB Video review: Tricaster, and the Future of Live Video Online

(Download MP4, or watch on YouTube.) In today's episode of Boing Boing Video, we review the Tricaster, a compact device that facilitates high-quality live internet video broadcast production for a lot less dough than the equivalent amount of traditional TV production gear.

A number of web video productions are now using the Tricaster, including Leo Laporte's TWIT.tv, and Mahalo's newly launched Kevin Pollak chat show. I visited the Kevin Pollak set this week to view the device in action with BBV editor Wes Varghese and Richard Metzger. Metzger has also been experimenting with live-to-hard-drive production (= tape his interview show using the Tricaster, then it's ready to go as a produced piece without a lot of editing.).

What interested me most about the device was the possibility of changing the economics of live video online. The Tricaster costs about $10K, and just renting a satellite truck full of switching gear and engineers for conventional live production costs a hell of a lot more - like, start adding zeroes.

So, the possibilities I see are much like the possibilities we began to see for web video 10 years ago, when digital video cameras suddenly became a lot more affordable, and video editing software became cheaper, more widely distributed, and a lot easier to use. Bottom line: more live video, in more of it the hands of people who wouldn't be producing live video otherwise.

Newtek, the company that makes the Tricaster, loaned Boing Boing Video a review unit and we're going to be doing some experiments soon.

Below, and after the jump, some screengrabs from backstage video I shot on the Kodak zi6. The featured guest on this installment of the Kevin Pollak show was Jon Hamm of Mad Men. Diggnation/Totally Rad Show/Project Lore star Alex Albrecht was also in the house, as was George Ruiz of ICM, who shot some nicer photos here. Kevin Pollak show crew notes: Alex Miller was running the TriCaster. Kenny Chen was the floor director, Josh Negrin is sitting next to Alex at the Mac Pro and Jason McIntyre is sitting at the 2 iMacs.

READ THE REST

Rob Beschizza

New MediaSmart box cuts price (and corners)

Monolithic in design and simple in principle, HP's latest MediaSmart home server, the LX195, runs Windows HS and has a single 640GB hard drive, gigabit ethernet, a 1.GHz Atom CPU and just 1GB of RAM. Though the specs are unimpressive, it's only $390 and has 4 USB ports--consider it intermediary between high-end local backup and low-end NAS.

HP launches a lower price Windows Home Server, the MediaSmart LX195 [CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

Energizer-branded Wiimote charger up for pre-order

This Energizer-branded inductive WiiMore charger lets you juice up the sticks without removing their sheaths. It's $50.

Wii Energizer 2x Induction Charge Station [Amazon]

Rob Beschizza

$10 Wii Soap

Nintendo Wiimote Wii remote replica soap [Digitalsoaps@etsy via Gizmodo via Gadget Venue]

Rob Beschizza

Luxeed U5 LED keyboard adds Mac and Linux support

Luxeed's updated its programmable multicolor LED keyboard. Its new incarnation, the U5, works now on Macs and Linux as well as Windows, and reduces the prominence of ghosting effects.

Product Page [Luxeed via technabob]

Rob Beschizza

Rumors and Horrors! Minipalm, Apple CPU, Kindle price hike

• Palm is rumored to have a mini-Pre in development for release later this year. [TechCrunch]

• Apple is to start designing its own chips, just for iPhones and iPods. [WSJ]

• Amazon is to charge 15 cents per megabyte, rounded up to the next whole megabyte, when you transfer documents wirelessly to your Kindle. [Amazon]

• Verizon says Cablevision's 101Mbps option is a "trick" which will fail if more than a handful of customers in any given neighborhood try to get it. [DSL Reports]

• Prophecy of the day: Google Android will cause the netbook market to splinter. [MIT Technology Review]

Lisa Katayama

Review: A weekend with the Flip UltraHD

I spent the weekend with Pure Digital's new Flip UltraHD. It looks and feels a lot like the first-gen Flip Ultra, except it's high-def (720 pixels), has an HDMI output (really), and 16:9 widescreen. At 4.25" x 2.19" x 1.17", it's slightly bigger than the first-gen Flip Ultra and a lot bigger than the sleek MinoHD. The footprint isn't the only aspect that's bigger: instead of a 1.5" screen, the UltraHD has a vivid 2-incher. It also boasts 8 gigs of memory -- double that of the MinoHD and 4x the first-gen Ultra. It runs on two AA batteries (unlike the Mino) and costs $200 (not bad, but pricier than pocket cams from competitors like Kodak).

It was a lovely Northern California weekend, and I took these two video clips to test it in different conditions. The first (above) is of Steven after he got bonked in the head by his own surfboard, and the second (below) is of a fire pit at my friend's BBQ. I took side-by-side clips using my old Sanyo Xacti. The Flip dominated at canceling out wind noise at the beach. But when the sun set and we were sitting around a fire pit, the Flip didn't do so hot. The non-HD, 6-megapixel Xacti actually did a better job capturing the flames.

I did find, though, that I was much more inclined to pull the Flip out of my bag than the Xacti -- mainly because it's still one of the simplest, most user-friendly pocketcams out there. With little practice, I was able to navigate the controls without even looking. Since I knew I could go home and plug it into my laptop and TV without dealing with a cable or dock, I found myself reaching for it first by Sunday.

Joel Johnson

Photo: To the shores of Tatooine

Rob Beschizza

Jawbone Prime, in Lime

The new Jawbone Prime has improved audio, "military-grade" noise-canceling, and comes in black, brown, silver, green, yellow, red, and purple.

Product Page [Jawbone]

Joel Johnson

Radio Smack

Associated Press:

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - A Radio Shack employee faces disorderly conduct and battery charges for punching a customer. Police said the customer was trying to return an item Sunday, but the employee wouldn't let him. The customer then asked to talk to a manager.

That's when the 52-year-old male employee began punching the man.

Lisa Katayama

Spanish art installation features recycled shopping bags

You don't need to spend a lot of money to make cool illuminating installation art. The Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain recently featured these cloud-like lamps made of 80 recycled shopping bags.

Luzinterruptus [via NotCot]

Steven Leckart

Sometimes art + advertising = YES

Peter Lloyd made this 22" x 33" poster for Ampex in the late 1970s. You can buy a framed one for $3,000. Seems ridiculous, but Lloyd is a legend. Check out his take on the Bionic Woman [NSFW].

Joel Johnson

Video: "The pizza box of the 21st century"

It's nice that when I order a delivery pizza I'll no longer have to ask for extra sanctimony.

Rob Beschizza

PeeWee, the child-resistant laptop

PeeWee PC is splash-resistant and has a swiveling touchscreen display: ingredients that make it perfect, all other things assumed present, for the wee ones. From the blurb:

PeeWee PC loads each Pivot Tablet Laptop with 10 age appropriate software and game titles for Pre-K, Early Elementary, or Upper Elementary students. PeeWee also includes its proprietary security suite on each laptop, giving parents full control of how and when their children use the laptop. The PeeWee security software allows parents to limit how much time their children spend browsing the internet (on a daily or weekly basis), block inappropriate sites with any version of any web browser, take screen shots, view browsing history, and even control the laptop remotely.

It's otherwise a regulation netbook, and $600.

Product Page [PeeWee PC]

Rob Beschizza

PXP looks like a PSP, emulates the classics

At $90, it's simply too expensive, but this PSP knockoff runs ROMS from lots of classic systems: NES, SNES, Gameboy 'n' Color, and the Megadrive/Genesis. As Gizmodo commenter Zaxxon Q Blaque points out, it appears to be a Dingoo in PSP clothing. [Chinagrabber via Technabob and Giz]

Rob Beschizza

Overclock your netbook's video chip

The why of it may escape you, but GMABooster will squeeze a few more frames per second out of the 2004-vintage games that consent to run on Intel's dismal 945 chipset. [via Lilliputing]

Joel Johnson

LEGO iMac G4 with working LCD

The purchase of a 7-inch photoframe vaguely reminiscent of the iMac G4 led Bjarne Tveskov to create a LEGO iMac with a real screen. We are amused. [via ★]

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

⌦ What HDMI Costs – 3-pack of 6-foot HDMI cables for $8, shipped. You can spray paint them gold if it makes you feel better. [Slickdeals]

⌦ Battery Charger – The La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower battery charger, the very same battery charger I use in my home, which, according to my expert assessment, does appear to charge batteries, is now selling for $40 at Amazon—the normal price, but they now toss in 4 AA and 4 AAA rechargeables. [Amazon]

⌦ Camera Bag – Crumpler 4 Million Dollar Home camera bag for $30 at REI. Shipping is extra, or pick-up in store. About $10-20 off. [Dealhack]

⌦ Sony Rolly – Sony has slashed the price of its weird but undeniably charming Rolly MP3 robot thing to $150 from $400, making it only $100 overpriced. [Dealnews]

⌦ Monitor – Dell S2309W 23-inch 1080p LCD monitor for $160, shipped. Five years ago I paid $800 for two 20-inch 4:3 monitors from Dell and considered myself the Duke of Bargains. [Dealnews]

Joel Johnson

KeepCup, which is basically a plastic cup

The idea behind the KeepCup is so simple that it at first seems pointless: it's a reusable to-go cup, designed specifically for coffee. But the novelty is its height: small enough to fit under the nozzle of a barista's espresso machine, while larger, taller to-go cups have to be filled by coffee poured from the paper cups in which it was made, defeating the whole point.

I mean, whatever, right? It's just a short plastic cup. But if you use it every day, perhaps eventually the energy expenditure in producing the KeepCup will be less than that used to produce the paper disposables.

One cute tip: Coffee variants are embossed on a silicone band around the outside of the cup, making it possible for you to highlight your preference with a permanent marker.

Would you like to buy one? Okay, well, you can't. Not yet. But you can sign up on their site to get information when the first production run is complete; the first wave should hit in June. And it might help if you're in Australia. That's where the company is based. [via Graham Readfearn/Courier Mail]

Joel Johnson

Boing Boing Video review: Top Chair? Herman Miller Embody and the Steelcase Leap

Two chairs enter...two chairs leave. In fact, I'm sitting my fat ass on one of the two chairs we reviewed right now: the Herman Miller Embody, a fine chair that only wobbles a little after running it into a wall. But I'm only sitting on it because I had to take the other chair, the Steelcase Leap, downstairs to do some more shooting for this video.

So which chair should you buy? Honestly, they're both so much better than a typical office chair it's difficult to pick, but if I were paying real money and not just begging review samples off of the manufacturers, I'd be hard pressed to pay nearly twice as much for the Embody, even if it is fantastically weird in looks. (Especially in the showcase cream-and-orange livery.)

Also, for the record, yes, this is the very best Clarkson impression I can do. And yes, it disturbed me that it isn't that different from how I normally talk in these things.

Would you like to download this as a "file"? Okay. [mp4]

Update: Herman Miller sends word that they've dropped the price of the Embody: "Effective immediately, the fully featured chair, in Balance textile, has a retail MAP of $1399, while the standard Rhythm textile option will be priced at $1199."

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Right, please pardon the potential puerility and let's just savor the innocence of that screenshot above for one moment because, for better or worse, that's probably never going to happen in the history of videogames again. It's one of the new options in the latest patch to Noby Noby Boy, as seen in a guide to the huge range of new musical selections and comes -- it's worth pointing out -- one screen after being able to switch on the prelude to Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.

Elsewhere on Offworld we took a look at a huge range of good things on their way: creatively killing zombies in Dead Rising 2, the slick sterility of turn-based sock-em fighting in Toribash, the newly updated planar-platforming of Infinite Ammo's Paper Moon, prosecutorial courtroom drama on the DS with Miles Edgeworth, and rolling up katamari in HD with the PS3 remake of the PS2 original in Katamari Forever.

We also watched the wonderfully 8-bit RPG inspired music video from the now defunct Black Comets, and listened to more hacked-up hardware shoegaze from Tree Wave, saw an indie developer quit his mainstream dev job via a playable Super Mario game, saw the star of Braid coming to Super Meat Boy, and, finally, listened to a remake of Nine Inch Nails' The Perfect Drug done by way of Dr. Mario, which even Trent Reznor himself has said made his life complete.

Rob Beschizza

Rap Chop

Steve Porter's remix is curiously mesmerising.

Rob Beschizza

Best Buy allegedly sells brick in a box ... again

It's quite impossible to know who's scamming whom (wouldn't that brick weight a lot more than 7 pounds? Wouldn't it obviously slide around in the box?) but given Best Buy's defensive response to the latest "brick in a box" claim, it's hard to trust it. From The Consumerist:

When I got home I opened the box and found a paving stone packed with bubble wrap, instead of the Macbook Pro. I returned to the store and the manager, "Keith", was not too willing to help me out. ... So right now, I paid $2164.89 for a very nice red brick.

So you claim, shopper! Best Buy looks guilty, however, because of that manager's claim that Apple sealed the box at the factory. This is a terrible excuse, because shrink-wrap machines are cheap and found in abundance in the inventory rooms of consumer electronics stores. Also--haha--Apple doesn't shrink-wrap laptop boxes.

Folks, the rule for Best Buy is that you open it up before you leave. This is because Best Buy doesn't have secure inventory management and won't take responsibility if its staffers screw you.

Rob Beschizza

How to make your own Moleskine Cahier notebooks

It's easy, and all you need is an old cereal box and a paper cutter. Proper rounded corners require a steady hand or a special punch.

Step 1: Cut cardboard box down to desired size. I made mine 10"x7" (for a 5"x7" journal).

Step 2: Cut journal paper down to size as well. You might want to deduct 1/8" to make sure the paper folds nicely into the inside of the journal.

Step 3: Round corners with hole punch.

And you're already half-way done. Steps 4-7: Cereal Box Journal [The Long Thread via Make]

Rob Beschizza

Cogs

Bill Durovchic's hand-cranked machine is a wonder of indulgence: it performs no function other than to increase entropy in the universe. It's $310, and he has many more strange devices just like it.

Bill's gallery [Rocketman via Dugnorth]

Rob Beschizza

Tsarist Russia's wooden clockwork

This beautiful watch was made by Bronnikovs of the pre-revolutionary era, according to English Russia, but not many survive. Examples now allegedly fetch about $20,000.

English Russia via Red Ferret.

Rob Beschizza

Man writes 100,000 words of novel on smartphone

Fantasy author Peter Brett tapped out a 100,000 word novel on one of those industrial-grade HP iPAQs -- bigger than a standard smartphone, but a thumb-board all the same!

In late 2005, HP came out with the iPAQ smartphone 6515 with Windows Mobile which did the same thing as the Palm Pilot, but had a full keyboard so you didn't have to write with the stylus--you could just type. I thought it was the greatest thing ever and bought it right away. As I got faster and faster typing with my thumbs, I wound up just writing prose on it. After doing that for a while, and realizing I could do it from anywhere, I made a commitment to myself to write on the train everyday.

He would walk through busy streets, cranking out prose. Eventually, his text files got too long for the old HP to cope with, and he upgraded to the iPaq 900.

"One of the main reasons I never bought the iPhone," he told Laptop Mag, "was that I tried writing with virtual buttons, and it just couldn't keep up with me."

Novelist Pens First Book on Smart Phone; Succeeds In Making Us Look Like Slackers [Laptop Mag via CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

Creative Suite pillow collection

They're hand-made and $15 each at mysuitestuff.com--or $80 for the "premium package," so to speak.

Product Page [My Suite Stuff via SwissMiss]

Rob Beschizza

UMID M1 reviewed: "A pocket microblogging rocket," says Chippy

UMID's M1 miniature mobile computer is good, but not great. This is the word from UMPCportal's Chippy, who praises its utility (especially for hardcore mobile writer-blogger-texter types) and the fact that it's tiny and comes with lots of accessories. But he marks it down for the "creaky plastic" build quality.

Other good points include 5 hours of battery life, a 3G radio option, and a good thumb-board; cons include the lack of a headphone jack, only one shift key, and the fact that its touchscreen is the only way to control the pointer.

We're impressed with the technology in the UMID Mbook, the processing power, the battery life, the screen and the fast SSD. We're not impressed with the fiddly micro-SD slot, headphone and USB ports.

I actually don't mind UMID's use of mini-USB host ports instead of full-size ones: it makes perfect sense for portable gear. An adapter is provided, but you can buy the cables you need at monoprice for a couple of bucks each.

Full review [UMPCPortal]

Rob Beschizza

Behold! GameGrip, the world's most absurd iPhone accessory

[Trinity via Lisa's Tokyomango and Oh Gizmo!]

Joel Johnson

Visualizing the power grid

NPR has built an interactive graphic detailing the United States' power grid. [via Flowing Data]

Joel Johnson

JetLev, a jetpack you might someday actually use

Expect to see the JetLev water-propelled jetpack at seaside resorts near you. It's actually sort of brilliant—flight time should be much greater than silver-and-peroxide models, and crashes (probably) won't kill you. (Thanks, JP!)

Anti Monkey Butt Powder has three ingredients: talc, calamine powder and "fragrance" (a bit like a flower-scented candle). Runners put it between their cheeks and around all their personal bits and pieces to prevent chafing and soak up sweat.

My experience: Very smooth, soft, powdery, smells good, feels great, no rashes or chafing. Also, it makes a hilarious mess if you're not careful. Like eating a jelly donut, you can't go hog wild, especially if you wear black or dark colors.

How to use: Remove shorts completely. Dump small amount of powder in palm. Rub around vigorously but, you know, gently. Replace shorts slowly. Wash hands.

Warning: Resist the temptation to powder yourself when not exercising. Start indulging in this all the time, and you might as well wear a diaper.

In case you're not sold on the merits of this AMBP. Their ads feature a chimp:

Alan Graham

Questions for Ford's CEO?

I'm a Ford Fiesta Agent for the social media experiment called the Fiesta Movement. Basically Ford brought over a hundred 2009 Fiesta prototypes from Germany and gave them out to be driven like mad for the next 6 months, along the way creating buzz and a boat load of user generated content in the manner of photos, videos, blog entries and Tweets (the Fiesta goes on sale here next summer).

As a marketing strategy it is pretty smart, and with any luck might be just the shot in the arm that Ford needs to get its balance sheet back in the black. Joel and I are gonna take my Fiesta out for some track testing, but in the meantime I've managed to score an interview with Ford's CEO Alan Mulally over on TreeHugger. However, while the questions over in our community tend to trend "green," I wanted to give boing boing readers a shot at asking some questions outside that box. So, if you have a question you'd like to ask Mr. Mulally, pop on over to the TH forums and post it, no account required. If your question is selected the answer will be posted here on boing boing gadgets.

I'd like to see some clever questions or comments regarding technical issues, gearhead issues, or just pure geek stuff you want to see in upcoming cars that will get you buying American again. I gotta tell you...this thing is LOADED with tech...so whatever you may want, could already be in here. If you want to ask me something about the car just leave a comment here.

Joel Johnson

"Tin Can" turns modern iPhone into something like a modem

"Tin Can" is an iPhone app that converts simple text messages to audio signals, blasting them to other iPhones within range like a squawky analog modem. It's one dollar, but probably should be free, since you sort of need people to already own it if you want to use it. And since it's actually less convenient than just using SMS. [App Store via Oh Gizmo!]

There is nothing remotely gadget-y or technologically-advanced about this five piece band from Portland, OR.

But their name is The Joggers, and I thoroughly enjoy running to them.

[image via ClipartHeaven via Chubby Artist]

Joel Johnson

Quote: Why we need GeoCities

Phil Gyford:

GeoCities is an awful, ugly, decrepit mess. And this is why it will be sorely missed. It's not only a fine example of the amateur web vernacular but much of it is an increasingly rare example of a period web vernacular. GeoCities sites show what normal, non-designer, people will create if given the tools available around the turn of the millennium.

Joel Johnson

Earthmate compact fluorescent bulbs come with their own mailer

"Earthmate" compact fluorescent light bulbs come with their own postage-paid mailer so you can send back burnt-out bulbs to manufacturer Waste Management. (A company which has really been getting into the Green game lately, I've noticed, with sites like ThinkGreen.com and big ads in magazines talking about the wildlife that lives next to their landfills.)

There's a price, of course: Four bulbs cost $34. As Treehugger points out, Home Depot will sell you 14 bulbs for $40—and let you recycle in-store.

Nike's new Lunarglide running shoes are awesome. They're lightweight and super flexible, and Steven and I felt a definite extra bounce in our step when we ran with these shoes vs our dinky old kicks. The women's model has extra foam under the heel and stretchy material at the toes because we tend to have wider forefeet. It has a slot under the in-sole for a Nike Plus sensor. Neither of us had any foot pains throughout our week of testing running gear.

Price: $100
Release date: July 2009

Press release [Nike]

Running is for criminals. I've always detested it. It's not that I can't take exercise or sweating (I love biking, hiking). I loathe the constant exertion of jogging, the pounding of the feet, and the nagging suspicion I'm always doing it wrong. In college, I split my time between the beach and treadmills, and preferred the latter, even though running inside hurts my soul. In retrospect, I assumed forcing a machine to do the pacing was the appeal. Lazy dude, unforgiving machine. Turns out I was wrong. It wasn't until I strapped on the GoWear Fit -- an arm/wristband system that tabulates distance (in steps) and calories burned over time -- that it all clicked. It's not the treadmill's pacing I was after. It's the feedback. The data. All that time I was running blind. No wonder I hated it. After the jump, hear how I learned to stop worrying and sort of, actually, kind of, almost love the run.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Robert Shuttleworth's NOBOTS

Ayuko Horikawa writes:

I saw some wonderful, interesting robot like sculptures in a shop in Toronto. They seem to be made out of junk and tarnished metal. Anyway I thought that they were lovely and thought your readers might be interested in seeing them. The artist is Robert Shuttleworth and he works under the name SHUTTLEWERKS and his things are called NOBOTS. I bought one and on the card is a blog with lots of little people. Really nice!

Joel Johnson

Earth Angel, a hand-cranked vibrator

British retailer LoveHoney is selling the "Earth Angel", a battery-free wind-up vibrator. Four minutes of cranking will bring you 30 minutes of vibrating.

It's a gasp-inducing £65, though, which is a lot of batteries. [via Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Pumgo pedal-pump-powered scooter

If you're smart like me, you realize that running is for people without the desire to try to eke as much pleasure from as little energy expenditure as possible. (Watch this space for my eyetwitch-activated Skittles launcher, as soon as I can convince someone to build it for me.) Sure, Steven and Lisa are going to get all healthy and feel good, but I'll be sitting right here beating the system.

If I were forced to run—and I'd have to be—I'd try to negotiate the use of the Pumgo scooter, which sticks a stair-climber toward the back of a conventional three-wheeled push scooter, making it possible to add leg energy without resorting to awkward kicks. Think of it like a bicycle for people who don't like their legs to go in circles.

It's $300 from Pumgo, who also sell a precarious looking skateboard on springs.

Joel Johnson

So It Begins: Swedish factory fined for violent robot uprising

From The Local (dot se):

The incident took place in June 2007 at a factory in Bålsta, north of Stockholm, when the industrial worker was trying to carry out maintenance on a defective machine generally used to lift heavy rocks. Thinking he had cut off the power supply, the man approached the robot with no sense of trepidation.

But the robot suddenly came to life and grabbed a tight hold of the victim's head. The man succeeded in defending himself but not before suffering serious injuries.

Joel Johnson

Photo: Citroën Karin (1980)

The Citroën Karin was never more than a non-drivable model, but what a wonderful wedge it was. The center-mounted steering pod is especially appealing, with its amphitheater HUD surrounded by giant Walkmen-like buttons.

Joel Johnson

Avid's new logo

I agree with Brand New that it's a clever twist (oh ho) of the play button icon, but perhaps it's too clever? I could see that little glyph getting lost when among other buttons or, you know, anything. Maybe that's why it's purple.

A great way to start running and getting back in shape is to hit the dirt path behind your house. You don't need to spend tons of money paying gym fees or to risk getting hit by traffic out on the streets! Unlike treadmills or the road, trails are unpredictable--you'll have to run on dirt and rock while avoiding cracks and puddles--but it's a great way to spend quality time with nature, something technology probably won't ever help us do more of. Outdoor shoe companies have been adding cool tech like moisture-wicking mesh, steel laces, and amphibious rubber soles to make strides smoother on rough patches. Here are a few faves:

Vasque Aether Tech ($125)

I wore these on a very torturous super-hilly, super-rocky run with Steven in Glen Park Canyon last week. Boa (a single steel shoe lace with a tiny rotatable reel that tighten when turned and snaps loose when pulled) meant an even, tight fit all around and never having to bend down to tie a loose lace.

READ THE REST

Rob Beschizza

AMD3 shuttled into latest XPC

Shuttle's XPC SA76G2 likes AMD3 processors and can be fitted with up to 8GB of RAM and has a single 16x PCI-e slot. Though not the most powerful shoebox going--the 250W power supply will limit graphics card options, even if they'll fit--everything's integrated, making it a good choice for people who want a small HD-capable box with real grunt.

Which reminds me: we need to check out what Shuttle's going to have coming on the Nvidia Ion front.

A Truly High-Definition Visual Experience for All [Shuttle]

Could running barefoot be better for your feet? Are high-end running shoes just phooey? The Daily Mail thinks so: "Despite all their marketing suggestions to the contrary, no manufacturer has ever invented a shoe that is any help at all in injury prevention."

Interviews with Olympic physical therapists and Harvard anthropology professors suggest that's the case:

"A lot of foot and knee injuries currently plaguing us are caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems... Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet and had a much lower incidence of knee injuries."

..."When it comes to sensing the softest caress or tiniest grain of sand, your toes are as finely wired as your lips and fingertips. It's these nerve endings that tell your foot how to react to the changing ground beneath, not a strip of rubber.

To help prove this point, Dr Steven Robbins and Dr Edward Waked of McGill University, Montreal, performed a series of lengthy tests on gymnasts. They found that the thicker the landing mat, the harder the gymnasts landed. Instinctively, the gymnasts were searching for stability. When they sensed a soft surface underfoot, they slapped down hard to ensure balance. Runners do the same thing. When you run in cushioned shoes, your feet are pushing through the soles in search of a hard, stable platform."

..."'Putting your feet in shoes is similar to putting them in a plaster cast,' says Dr [Gerard] Hartmann. 'If I put your leg in plaster, we'll find 40 to 60 per cent atrophy of the musculature within six weeks. Something similar happens to your feet when they're encased in shoes.'

When shoes are doing the work, tendons stiffen and muscles shrivel. Work them out and they'll arc up. 'I've worked with the best Kenyan runners,' says Hartmann, 'and they all have marvellous elasticity in their feet. That comes from never running in shoes until you're 17.'"

[image via Dvice]

Joel Johnson

Ion-powered Acer Aspire Revo reviewed (Verdict: Atom CPU still slow)

Engadget has finally posted their review of the Acer Aspire Revo, one of the first computers out there that uses the Nvidia Ion platform, the chipset that weds an Intel Atom processor with a decent GPU. Interestingly, it seems the GPU can do any heavy lifting you'd need for video playback up to 1080p, but you have to make sure you are using software that runs decoding through the GPU—if it just uses the CPU, it will puke. That would explain why Hulu and YouTube looked crappy for them, I'm sure. I don't think there's a version of Flash that uses GPU decoding yet.

Gaming is still pretty bad, but at least it's somewhat possible now.

In all, it looks like a nice platform for a box to throw under the TV. (And there are OS X drivers for the 9400M, so it may be possible to turn these Ion machines into Hackintoshes with full performance.) But until all the video decoding software supports the GPU, it won't be living up to its full potential.

I love sports, but I've always had a love-hate relationship with running just for running's sake. Toss me a ball, and I'll chase it all day--but if you asked me two weeks ago how long it would take me to run 5 miles, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. But now, with the help of a simple gadget, I'm on my way to training for a marathon.

What irked me about the idea of running was that I had nothing to measure my progress against. "It feels good" and "it improves heart health" were too amorphous and unquantifiable for me. I needed something that would keep count the way we keep score in basketball or volleyball, the I know I just climbed a 5-10d at the climbing gym or rocked a double black diamond skiing.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Unofficial LEGO candles

These LEGOesque candles from A+R are cute, but at $48 a pop, they're a good candidate for DIY. (Thanks, Thomas!)

Joel Johnson

Berserker Cycle's off-road recumbent trike

Berserker Cycle Design's Lucas Whipple writes:

I work for BCD and I'm pretty proud of our product. It's an off-road tricycle, the first of it's kind to offer a recumbent with real off-road capability. It was designed by our CEO Adam Stephens after a nasty meeting between his carbon fiber Kestrel and a 12-food drop left him with some back injuries. It's the product of over 3 years of design iteration and prototyping. Handbuilt in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Brian X. Chen writes for Gadget Lab:

CNN news producer Peter Wilkinson and Latitude Group CEO Alex Hoye stood out among 35,000 runners at Sunday's London Marathon -- in the digital world, at least, where they tweeted their progress with their cellphones...

"My biggest fear was it would be boring -- mile 1: running; mile 2: still running," Hoye said. "But I gave it a try and people were talking about it on mile 9, retweeting it, and I said fuck it. And the great thing is, every mile you have to get your milestone of what you're going to tweet. You have to think of something mildly amusing every mile."

I'm going to tweet my next run with Lisa. Maybe it will make the time fly by?

Joel Johnson

Dell Studio One 19 Desktop all-in-one PC

Dell has a new all-in-one PC, the Studio One 19 Desktop, which looks rather fetching in its all-white version. (The stand is a bit on the swoopy-doopy side, but I still like it.)

Prices vary, as is the Dell way, but I'd consider the $800 model the basic entry point as it adds a multi-touch screen. Even the $1,000 model won't be much of a gaming rig with a laptop-class Nvidia GeForce 9400, as well as a laptop-class 1,366 by 768 pixel monitor across the line.

Joel Johnson

Tamiflu available online, if you're willing to pay a shoulder and a haunch

If you're the type who wants to keep Tamiflu on hand just in case someday a hard swinez gonna fall, Drug Delivery (dot ca) has supplies.

I know this is gadgety at all, but I keep seeing people ask online where they can get the stuff. DrugDelivery.ca is pretty reputable, but they're still going to gouge: $450 for 30 capsules, which is about how much an adult would need for one course.

For what it's worth, I think you'd be just as well off buying some nice hand soap.

Running, jogging, sprinting, trotting. We all do it sometimes -- whether it's for cardio exercise or to catch the bus -- but there's a lot more to it than just moving your feet really fast. Today on BBG, we bring you: how Steven learned to drink more beer with a calorie-counting device called the GoWear Fit; how I learned to train for marathons with Nike Plus; cool products like shoes for trail running and powders to prevent sore butts and private bits; and a jangly band called The Joggers. Enjoy!

Joel Johnson

Photo: Stylish Robot

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

⌦ Monitor – Samsung T260HD 26-inch LCD panel with 1,920 by 1,200 pixel resolution and lots of inputs, including a built-in ATSC tuner, for $330, shipped. [Slickdeals]

⌦ Sound Bar – Boston Acoustics TVee Model Two sound bar with wireless subwoofer for $200, shipped, about half-price. [Dealoco]

⌦ Jack and Stands – Sears is selling a 3-ton floor jack with two stands and a creeper for $95. It's over $50 to ship, but you can pick up in-store. [Dealnews]

⌦ Babylon 5 – The completely Babylon 5 on DVD for $105, shipped. [Amazon]

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Recently on Offworld we saw Keita 'Katamari' Takahashi's Noby Noby Boy finally prepped for its first major update, with details of hair, bird, and marimba-based enhancements, and a new mode officially called, uh, 'Fart Boy.'

We also saw the first video of Flashbang's GDC Experimental Gameplay session entry Shadow Physics, in which one hand controls a light source in a 3D space casting shadows on a back wall, while the other controls a shadow figure playing a 2D platformer inside that shadow.

Elsewhere we saw lilt line, a new iPhone game described as a "retro rhythm racing beat 'em up action game with a dubstep flavour," listened to new chiptune/game music streaming radio feed 8bit FM, saw Daft Punk come to LittleBigPlanet, and got a sneak peek at the latest games from auteur and fantastically prolific Swedish indie dev Cactus.

Finally we saw King of Kong documentary star Steve Wiebe set a new world record, coveted retro-clash Monster Hunter T-shirts and custom Bubble Bobble vinyl toys, assembled Castle Crashers papercraft, and, best of all, downloaded the new free Lite version of iPhone favorite game Drop7 -- and, with a new gameplay mode, it's an essential download for owners of the full game, too.

Rob Beschizza

Free Peek upgrades in NY

GeekyPeek writes:

For any of you in NYC, we are upgrading Peeks in Midtown at the Gallway Hooker. If you have an older version of the Peek software on your device, we are upgrading customers to the Pronto version.

And if you don't yet own a Peek, feel free to run to Target and buy one of the older Peeks and we will still upgrade you to Pronto.

Peeks with the upgraded software normally retail $30 higher, so it's a good deal even with a bit of travel.

Peek Upgrade Party [GeekyPeek]

Rob Beschizza

Shocking reports: Netbook hackintoshes suck

Tired of G4 iBook performance wedded to all the quality that $250 buys? Brian X. Chen reports that after 6 months with a Hackintosh netbook (The MSI Wind, in his case) he's had enough.

I grew to despise the Wind's dinky trackpad: Whoever designed it had in mind an infant's hands; navigating became so tiresome that I started carrying around an external mouse to make it tolerable ...

Seeing as this netbook was hacked to run OS X, of course it didn't work perfectly. I accepted that, and with some tweaks I got most software utilities working properly. But while I was traveling in Europe, my netbook's Wi-Fi suddenly stopped working. The Airport utility simply wouldn't light up.

Chen's issues are characteristic of running hacked OSX on junk hardware: it's just as unreliable as running Windows on junk hardware! I could never get USB working right on my own hackintosh experiment, for example, even with USBfix.

At TUAW, Steven Sande has a similar report on his hackintosh Mini 9, but his problem is obviously with netbooks generally rather than netbooks running OSX: he devotes a lot of time to complaining about the keyboard, small SSD and 600-line display.

Six Months With a Hackintosh Netbook: It Ain't Pretty [Wired]

Rob Beschizza

Audio users lament underpowered left-side USB ports on MacBooks

Create Digital Music points out that the left-side USB ports on the newer MacBooks are bad--music gear companies like M-Audio recommend that people use their stuff only with the right-side ports.

Something's going on with the one or two left-hand USB ports on all MacBook Pros. I've heard some issues with hard disks, and now some problems with audio. (Controllers are evidently just fine.) The solution: use the right-hand USB port for audio instead.

The consensus is that it's because most USB ports now supply extra electron juice above and beyond what's expected, and that rather a lot of modern gear expects to get power that might not be on offer.

But why would Apple mix and match in a single machine? Perhaps there are problems associated with over-current, and they want to make sure every machine has to-spec USB ports that everything will work with--just so long as it doesn't want more than 500mA.

Mac USB audio woes ... [Create Digital Music]

The MacBook. All USB Ports Are Not Equal [Wired: Gadget Lab]

Rob Beschizza

Power On Self Test: Brass Eye

Steven Leckart

Bruce Sterling to edit Cool Tools

I'm thrilled (and honored) to announce that I'll be handing over the editorial reigns at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools blog to none other than writer, thinker, futurist, ranter Bruce Sterling!!!

I couldn't be more eager to read Cool Tools.

[image via Edge]

Steven Leckart

Coming up: how tech boosted Lisa's marathon dreams

Can gadgets (and a healthy dose of orange) help kick-start Lisa's plan to run a marathon?

Steven Leckart

Old-timey, homemade iPhone dock

My pal Matt paid $25 for an old, weathered Magnavox speaker he found in an antique shop in Oakland, CA.

Using two scraps of walnut, he carved out a slot for the horn, a dock for his iPhone and a channel to carry sound between the two. Lo-fi, but pretty effective.

Side note: Magnavox invented the loudspeaker in 1915 in Napa, CA. The company eventually moved to San Francisco, then Oakland, which means someone in the Bay Area probably has a garage filled with these horns. I'm on a hunt. Write me if you have any leads:

steven AT boingboing DOT net

Lisa Katayama

Coming up: how to drink more beer

Is dressing like Ali G helping Steven burn enough calories to drink more beer? Find out tomorrow...

Joel Johnson

Vault makes attractive garage gear

I spent a couple of hours yesterday listening to The Bugle and cleaning my garage. It's the first time in my adult life that I've cleaned out a garage, and the first time I ever cleaned my own. The pleasure it gave me was yet another of the countless signs that I am getting old. I have been considering going outside to look at it all day long, and in fact when I finish with this post I am going to do just that. (I need to get some advice on some rust in the 2002 anyway, so I'll snap some pictures.)

I've got garage and workplace lust now, which fortunately for me (a renter) can be sated with a $10 pack of those hang-up hooks and a slab of perforated board. But if I owned my house I would be be seriously tempted by the cabinetry available from Vault. They make some beautiful garage gear. (This professional series even comes in a yellow enamel, which is more my speed.)

Prices are not listed, because they want to get you on the phone with a "Garage Expert" who can provide consolation after you hear how much it will cost.

Joel Johnson

Unofficial Palm Preview (I'm working the puns out of my system now)

A person claiming to be a customer support person at Sprint has posted a lot of little trivia about the Palm Pre that at least sounds credible, although there's nothing in particular that will blow your mind. Still, taken as a whole, it gives a general feel for what using the Pre will be like.

No tethering, claims the source, which does not jibe with previous reports.

Joel Johnson

PSE TAC-15, Tactical Assault Crossbow

Avatar Tonic writes:

TAC-15 'Tactical Assault Crossbow', the sort of crossbow designed for when aliens invade from another dimension. It actually replaces the upper receiver from an AR-15 so you can swap between assault rifle and crossbow with a little tinkering. The payoff is at the end when they sell you that it comes with a picatinny rail system. For, you know, when you need a grenade launcher on your crossbow.

Available next month for $1,300.

Joel Johnson

Star Wars chess set replaces imagination with silver and gold

For over five hundred dollars, I really wish this Star Wars chess set were less ugly. Or maybe it's not even ugly that bothers me, but the lack of imagination. I know that pawns are all supposed to look the same, but there's an entire universe of odd aliens out there and they've got to use the same hunched pilot figure eight times?

Joel Johnson

Periscope Lighted Folio for Kindle 2

Periscope manages to take the clean lines of the Amazon Kindle 2 and wrap it in more leatherette straps and pockets than that time we accidentally started sending the S&M catalogs to the Accounts Payable department. But hey, at least there's a light.

It's $50.

Joel Johnson

Black Diode Fast-Path Brane-Power Amulet and other Beta wave-blocking devices

Rick Crammond writes:

Beautiful black diode Beta Blocker Amulet designed to dissipate offending Beta brain waves which allows the psychic-intuitive Alpha, Theta, and Delta waves to predominate. Explore alternate realities and parallel worlds.

Developed by EJ Gold, these unique works of art and science contain an actual working crystal diode radio circuit that has been specially tuned to resonate with the individual who uses one. All units come pre-tuned and ready to go. No batteries required. Inductive tapes and training available.

Only $250, plus shipping.

There are also these Pocket Blocker Beta Blocker models with stylish carrying cases for half the price.

But really, why dabble with entry level? Go right for the $1,850 Beacon AutoMapper:

BEACON AUTOMAPPER TWIN WAVEFORM PUP Recovery System uses twin dual-reciprocal frequency-phase-shift waveform processors with a common antenna-ground which stream into a wave-reduction combinant modified by the body through high-resonance jewelry-grade copper wrapped crystal double probes which include the body in the circuit, making it a waveform-modifier and attunement to the exact "key" waveform of the next-nearest "hottest" Parallel Universe Persona.

Joel Johnson

Brando "Spy Ear" is a tiny cell phone that always picks up

Calling this little box the "Tiny SIM Card Spy Ear" is confusing literalism the way only crapvendor Brando can do it. Here's what it does: It's basically a cellphone in a box with a microphone, letting you call in to its phone number and listen to whatever it can hear.

It works on GSM only and charges over USB, so I'm presuming that means it has a built-in battery, as well. At $65 it's not exactly cheap for all that it actually does, but spy craft is not a poor man's game. (Unless it is.)

Joel Johnson

Music Video: Moray McLaren "We Got Time" with in-camera praxinoscope animation

Praxinoscopes are slightly updated versions of zoetropes, which use mirrors to display the frames of animation instead of slits in the spinning cylinder, dating back to 1877. In the 1950s a company called "Red Raven" released records that displayed a little over a second of animation.

David Wilson used this technique to create the video for Moray McLaren's "We Got Time", an okay song (sounds a bit like Travis) with a captivating video that produces all its effects in-camera. The music video is above, but you might just as well like the howto, behind-the-scenes video from David Wilson that is embedded below. [via Mefi]

Joel Johnson

Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab (1950)

From ORAU's collection of Atomic Toys:

This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced, but it was only only available from 1951 to 1952. Its relatively high price for the time ($50.00) and its sophistication were the explanation Gilbert gave for the set's short lifespan. Today, it is so highly prized by collectors that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price.

Joel Johnson

Video: TNG edit 21

Another entry in the delightful series of Next Generation fan edits. Worf's right: It really is all about leading with the smell.

Rob Beschizza

G.E. invents Blu-Ray killer

General Electric has invented a storage format that can hold 461,373,440 kilobytes of data, the equivalent of almost 330,000 high-density (HD) floppy diskettes.

The storage advance, which G.E. is announcing on Monday, is just a laboratory success at this stage. The new technology must be made to work in products that can be mass-produced at affordable prices.

But optical storage experts and industry analysts who were told of the development said it held the promise of being a big step forward in digital storage with a wide range of potential uses in commercial, scientific and consumer markets.

So, in 5 years, we could all be buying 440GB optical disks. Yay!

It's a nice thought, but when I can already buy a 500GB external hard drive for $50 and my internet connection can download a DVD in a couple of hours, why the breathless hype? This sort of thing is doomed to niche archival use.

Source [NYT]

Rob Beschizza

T-Mobile to charge fee when you upgrade phones

Contract fun: if you want to buy a cellphone from T-Mobile and you're already a customer, you now have to pay it an $18 fee first. Most other carriers already do likewise: basically, you have to call and beg and they'll waive it, or buy unlocked handsets elsewhere [Consumerist]

Rob Beschizza

Trekker iPhone case mod boldly glues

Projuct 365/89 [Andy Clement's Flickr via iPhone Savior and Make]

Rob Beschizza

Mashamaro the Rabbit, an MP3 player

Mashamaro the MP3 Rabbit floats, asleep, over the meadows she blackens. Fields of psychic energy erupt like solar flares from her bloated head, which is available in pearl white, sky blue and soft pink. Meat creatures that wander too close simply pop: Mashamaro's hum is her world's vibration, the essence of its fear.

Product Page [Sorikom via Oh Gizmo]

Rob Beschizza

That's $3,000 of Zen, right there.

This was once an Acer Aspire One, an inexpensive netbook.

It is now a "Fully Zen Decorated" Acer Aspire One, available on eBay for $3,000 or more.

History: 0 bids.

Via Born Rich.

Rob Beschizza

Flip ultra HD unboxed

Gax online has the new Flip Ultra HD with HDMI, which just hit stores for $200. He took it out of the box.

Flip Ultra Hd Unboxing [Gaxonline via Engadget via via Wired: Gadget Lab]

Rob Beschizza

Telos 5000: The amplifier that costs more than a house

The only thing to note about Goldmund's Telos 5000 amplifier is that it costs $189,600.

Product Page [Goldmund via Dvice]

Rob Beschizza

Fujitsu UMPC has angles to kill for. And with.

Netbooks? What netbooks?

If the idea of an ultramobile PC seems somewhat vague these days, perhaps the good looks and badass specs of Fujitsu's latest explain it all. With a 2GHz Atom CPU, it's the fastest pocket PC yet, but is even smaller than Sony's Vaio P or the Everun Note. It has a 5.6" 800-line touchscreen display, wifi and bluetooth; SSD options; a gig of RAM; and weighs just 1.3 pounds. The downside? It'll be about $1,500, and still doesn't have WWAN options.

If it comes west, it'll be in the U800 series. In Japan, it's the FMV Loox FMVLUC50NDX90YN-440Xb.

Fujitsu FMVLUC50N UMPC now with 2Ghz Atom [Jkkmobile]

Rob Beschizza

Motherboard mirror

You're So Vain: Nonesiste's Motherboard Mirror [3rings via The Awesomer]

Rob Beschizza

Network card of the future never stops networking

Behold the fruits of the Somniloquy project, whose intent is the create augmented network interfaces that allow computers to keep talkin' after they've gone to sleep.

The team built a small USB-connected hardware and software plug-in system that allows a PC to remain in sleep mode while continuing to maintain network presence and run well-defined application functions. It supports instant messaging applications, VoIP, large background web downloads, peer-to-peer file sharing networks such as BitTorrent, and remote access. The computer scientists say their system is easily extensible to support other applications.

All it needs now is a cocktail umbrella.

'Sleep talking' PCs save energy and money [Physorg]

Rob Beschizza

Seiko drum machine watch of the 1980s

Spiegel's history of digital watches has some delights in store: this model, from Seiko, has a built in drum machine.

Historic Digital Watches (Machtrans) [Spiegel via Ffffound]

Rob Beschizza

Review: A day with Seagate's Replica

Seagate's objective in designing its Replica backup kit was to make a replica of Time Machine, but for Windows PCs. It works exactly as promised, and in similar fashion to Apple's no-brainer backup system.

From the blurb:

Unlike most backup utilities, the new Seagate® Replica™ backup appliance is a complete PC backup system, which automatically and continuously stores up-to-date copies of everything on a PC, including installed applications, operating system, e-mail, pictures, music, movies, Internet bookmarks and settings. Available in two configurations, the Seagate Replica solution delivers seamless backup for either a single PC or multiple PCs in a household. 

Plugged in, its setup process was numbingly simple: agree to the TOS and you're about done. It then records a complete backup of your system and begins keeping track of changes you make. By cleverly journaling and organizing each sequential backup, the archive is unlikely to get substantially larger than the system it's attached to. As a result, you can dip into your machine's history, recover files, and restore the system in the event of disaster. It comes with a special boot CD to help in the event of the latter.

The drive itself is a pretty 2.5" model designed to stand upright on a dock, itself included with the premium edition. The supplied USB cable has an extra plug, useful should your computer not supply enough current through a single port.

After a few hours of use, I forgot it was there, which is the entire point. A "multi-PC" edition of the Replica kit, including the dock, will be offered for $200. A single-PC version will be $130.

Product Page [Seagate]

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Recently on Offworld, One More Go columnist Margaret Robertson explained why she couldn't stop returning to Psygnosis' original future racer Wipeout, particularly the version for the best games console we never bought, and Tom Armitage gave us Something For The Weekend, explaining why retro racer remake OutRun Online Arcade is "polished, joyous, arcade fun, and the perfect game to get you in the mood for a spring weekend in the sun."

Elsewhere we watched vegetation valiantly stave off an undead attack in the first gameplay footage of PopCap's upcoming defense game Plants Vs. Zombies, watched a River City Ransom-inspired flier for an upcoming chiptune showcase created on a NES (with rom included), and saw the soul of a PS3 DualShock controller.

Finally we saw the first hints of fluid dynamics in the latest teased images of Q-games' upcoming PS3 downloadable PixelJunk game, saw Noby Noby BOY's dream of new music about to come true, watched the unbelievable MegaMan inspired pixel wizardry of Myk Dawg's unofficial video for Kanye West's Robocop (with a cameo appearance by Boxxy Adriana Lima) (above), and, finally, saw Saturday Night Live mashed up with Legend of Zelda as Link lets us know that he's on a boat.

Rob Beschizza

Power On Self Test: That better be a damn good Pepsi

Photo: Heather Beschizza, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Crystal City, VA., near Washington, D.C.

Rob Beschizza

Intel launches mystery "Fsdfsda" product

The front page at Techmeme currently has an awesome Intel ad on it. This could be the perfect conversational marketing opportunity for Mark's "Untitled" series of posts.

Rob Beschizza

Loltus

It really cracks me up.

UPDATE: A friend of the owner got in touch to say what happened:

Was hitting some twisties north of Phoenix in the mountains and came around a tight lefthander at about 90 and lost the back end. Pitched back and forth and slammed into a guard rail sideways(@ about 75) spun and hit the guard rail again. Too fast too soon on cold tires. No injurys other then neck problems really.

Also, they'd like the plate back from the wrecking yard. So give it back, y'hear.

Steven Leckart

Hot Chair On Chair Action: SFW (Kinda)

"Check out what happens when Mr. Overstuffed decides to give a "full interview" to a hot colonial number named Tawny!"

I thought "chair porn" was obscenely-priced fare from Herman Miller. I was wrong. It's also photos of suggestively-positioned furniture.* FurniturePorn's design is wonderfully atrocious, as are the quality and clarify of the photos. My biggest gripe: not nearly enough content and zero video (hint hint).

The captions tell you all you have to know...

"It's a beautiful day... for hot gay teen lawn chair slut humpin'!"

"Baby did a bad, bad thing."

"I think deep down you want to be punished."

Yes, it is. Yes, he/she did. And, yes, he/she sure does!

*Yes, I realize Mark posted this 9 years ago. It's worth revisiting.

Update: NSFW

(thanks Inverse Square!)

Rob Beschizza

OQO: Model 2+ production "unlikely"

Rumors that OQO canceled pre-orders for its Model 2+ ultramobile PC are untrue, according to the company. Instead, online vendor Build Your UMPC did so after OQO could not commit to a shipping date.

"While we haven't canceled the orders, it is unlikely that we will be able to produce additional model 2+ units," said OQO senior vice president Bob Rosin. "So it did not seem worth trying to police that story, as it is accurate in a long-term sense."

A highlight at January's Consumer Electronics Show in January, the updated model was planned for summer release. Upgrades included an ultra-bright OLED display, Intel's popular Atom CPU, and up to 2GB of memory -- and a cheaper price tag. At $1,000 and up, however, the pocket-size portable faces a weak market dominated by ultra-cheap netbooks.

The original OQO was announced in 2000, but did not appear until 2004. It was followed by the award-winning Model 02, introduced by Bill Gates at the 2007 CES in Las Vegas.

Rosin indicated that support services were presently unavailable, but would resume: "It is saddening that we are not able to provide repair and support services however there will be a solution to that available soon."

Lisa Katayama

Tantra chair, for people who love sex

If you love sex but can't find the perfect furniture to do it on, get the Tantra Chair. The web site has a very graphic, NSFW guide on different positions you can try on it. It's $1199, but the things you'll experience on it are priceless.

Product page

Lisa Katayama

Review: How much $ should you spend on a massage chair?

You work long hours. You're getting old. Your shoulders are stiff, your back is sore from sitting all day or walking all day or exercising at the gym, or maybe just from sleeping. What you really need is a massage--like, ten times a day, at home where nobody can hear you snore or fart. So what do you do? Well, if you have the money, it's worth investing in a home massage chair--they range from a couple hundred bucks to several thousand--but the question is, how much should you spend? And is a $7000 chair really that much better than a $1000 one?

To find out, I tested out three massage chairs--Human Touch's iJoy 2580 Robotic Massage Chair ($999.99), Panasonic's RealPro Ultra EP30007KX ($5,999.95), and Inada's Sogno DreamWave Plus ($6,499). I'm the type of person who will sit go to a department store just to sit in massage chairs all day, or spend an hour and $80 getting a petite but extremely strong woman to push the kinks out of my back. My body is important to me, and I am willing to spend money and time to keep it intact.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Video: 1,000 frames per second

This demo reel of the I-Movix SprintCam v3 is neat enough here, but you should really check it out in HD.

Joel Johnson

Video: These are the sort of mistakes I make when brewing beer at the BBGS

Thanks again to Justin, who gives the impression that I know what I'm doing in these videos.

Tonight's meeting will orient mostly around planning upcoming projects: on deck are a bio-diesel-powered go-kart (although electric is also on the table), an evening of building your own theremins, and a lesson on distilling spirits.

It will also orient around drinking beer. I may also break out that new smoker and smoke some dank meats, yo.

Joel Johnson

Tracking contraband cell phones in prison

Nathan Hodge has a short piece on Defense Tech talking about cell phones in prisons, and the technology that's used to jam or detect them.

Joel Johnson

Building a remote control Nerf tank to terrorize your girlfriend

Travis Schmidt built an R/C Nerf tank that has a camera on board for remote viewing—and even onboard speakers for "psychological warfare". He's got an Instructable up to show you how he did it—and a video showing how much his girlfriend is willing to put up with.

Joel Johnson

Xmas in April: Trim-It-Quick tree lights

Run the extension cord with its outlets up the trunk of your tree, then connect each of Harlan's "Trim-It-Quick" light strands to the outlet for easy Christmas tree trimming that won't get tangled up. That's their big pitch anyway. I guess since each of the cords are fairly short, there's not as many chances for snags.

I'll let you figure it out, with kits starting at $60 (and going up to $190), while trimming my holiday tree the traditional way: by spitting rum nog at a dry pine while making it smolder with a green laser. (The laser represents the angel Gabriel's lightsaber.)

Lisa Katayama

Gallery: chair designs from the future

Sofas, park benches, and loungers are pretty standard-looking these days, but what will we be sitting on in the future? From meditation pods modeled after anime to a slightly phallic motorized rocking chair, here are eight designs that hint at the possibilities.

1. Novague, a design studio in Prague, imagines a sleek white motorized chair that uses the rocking motion to generate electricity that powers an adjacent LED reading lamp hanging above the head.

2. Jeff Lawber created this concept using Rhino v4. He imagines it as a hybrid between a bean bag and a park bench; I would like to have one in my living room so I could teach my dogs to jump through hoops.

3. These beautiful, assymerical flower petals by Alex Cozma are designed for big open spaces, like parks and museums. Pretty.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Video: Computer Chronicles on diagnostic software (1992)

Bill Dewald writes: "Thanks to the nostalgia trip induced by the Dork Yearbook, I've been enjoying this program. I think you might, too." Computer Chronicles has been made possible in part by the Software Publishers Association, provider of educational materials to help manage software. "Don't copy that floppy!"

From the Archive.org page:

Remember IRQ settings, INITs, TSRs and "out of memory" messages? The early days of personal computers were confusing for most users and so a whole new category of software grew up around solving those problems - diagnostic software. This show looks at several examples including WinSleuth, Quarterdeck's Manifest, QEMM, Mac EKG 2.0, Snooper, QA Plus, and Norton Utilities. Originally broadcast in 1992.

Rob Beschizza

I want a car that looks like Husqvarna's new lawnmower

But not so much from the front. [Husqvarna]

Steven Leckart

Gallery: Mini Chairs Carved from Champagne Cork

Since Design Within Reach launched its now-annual Champagne Chair contest a few years ago, they've received thousands of handcrafted corks. It's not exactly rocket science, but rendering anything in miniature is a skill worth celebrating (though getting a tattoo of any cork chairs would be kinda nutty). This year's winning entries, including Jesse Menayan's club chair (left), are currently wrapping up a U.S. tour. Can't make it out? No worries: The folks at DWR sent us some of their favorite teency seats from this year as well as contest's past, after the jump...

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Rob Beschizza

Lime green Nintendo DS lite bundle readied for sale in US

Finally.

New Lime Green DS Lite Gaming Bundle From Nintendo [GeekSugar]

Rob Beschizza

Orange Vegas is new British cellphone, not obscure Nevadan protestant sect

Big U.K. carrier Orange is to sell a tiny touchscreen dumbphone. With a 1.3MP camera, MP3 player and a no-contract $70 price tag, it could be the perfect upgrade for those who like minimalist stuff like cheap Nokias and the Moto F3, but who also enjoy the fruits of modern technology.

Wired's Charlemagne Sorrel writes at Wired:

This got us thinking. Once you have a touch screen, is it easier and cheaper to add features? After all, once you have the internal in place, its just software, right? You can churn out all manner of handsets at different prices and differentiate them with functions. A smartphone no longer needs to be made with a keyboard, just a better OS inside.

He too finds it odd that such a basic machine is being called "The Vegas."

Orange Vegas on Pay As You Go [via Wired]

Rob Beschizza

OQO reseller cancels Model 2+ pre-orders

OQO's handheld computers are the best anyone's ever made, making history of Sony's similar Vaio UX and still outperforming most of this year's rival "mobile internet devices." Though one of the highlights of this year's CES, however, the latest 2+ model now seems doomed: pre-orders have been canceled.

Twittered UMPC Portal's Chippy: "All OQO 2+ pre-orders will be canceled. Looks like receivership to me. Waiting for official OQO feedback still." This follows earlier reports that it was seeking a buyer.

This is a terrible shame. The OQO Model 02 was widely renowned as the world's first pocket computer that could actually get a gentleman laid, and it will be sad to see it go.

Rob Beschizza

Zebrawood iPhone 3G case

At $85, it's not exactly a recession special, but Substrata's zebrawood iPhone 3G case is among the prettiest. Here's the pitch:

It is designed to add a natural aesthetic to your iPhone 3G, while protecting it from scratches when it is in your pocket, purse or bag. The contours are shaped and sanded to compliment the curves of the iPhone and the interior is sized to hold it snugly. This one of a kind case would make a wonderful gift for the iPhone user.

Wood iPhone Case - Custom handmade box for iPhone 3G [Etsy via 7Gadgets via Oh Gizmo]

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Recently Offworld has gone crafty with new guest blogger Tiff Chow digging up LucasArts inspired amigurumi for both Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max, which also led us to home-stitched LittleBigPlanet Sack-people based on Space Channel 5 and 60s cereal mascot Fruit Brute (!), and Anna the Red debuts her most adorable bento yet making The Behemoth's Castle Crashers fully edible.

We've also gone arty with Hellen Jo and Calvin Wong's faux-NES-manuals for their recent Giant Robot art show game, Ben Ross's delightful Yeti Knight adventure game tumblr, and an LA exhibition opening Saturday with 40 designers and illustrators showing Street Fighter inspired art.

We also listened to (and downloaded sheet music for) the entirety of World of Goo's original soundtrack for solo piano and a chiptune sampler EP for an Ubuntu Linux release party.

And we saw an attempt to bring CRT imperfections back into razor sharp Atari 2600 emulation, heard about the playful destruction coming to the newly announced Lego Rock Band, saw PopCap favorite Peggle officially integrated into World of Warcraft, and finally, played Effing Hail, a new indie browser game that makes a game of cleanly illustrated textbook infographics (pictured).

Rob Beschizza

Changing icon from green blob to sunflower results in AppStore approval

When Alkali Media's "CrudeBox" was submitted to Apple for inclusion in the AppStore, it got rejected. The selection of rude sounds it makes -- click an icon to make it fart, sneeze, belch, "wet fart," ans so on -- was "offensive."

So they just resubmitted it with a different name and bright, colorful graphics, and it was approved.

... we received word that once again Crudebox was too obscene and offensive for the iTunes App Store. After moving past the inevitable feeling of frustration towards Apple, we decided to poke some fun at Apple's app approval team. What if we were to submit the same sounds as before, except this time around we make the app look extra flamboyant and change the name to the ironically appropriate, Prudebox?

Eight days later we would received an e-mail from Apple stating that our recently submitted application, Prudebox, has passed the approval process and is now ready for sale.

This is perhaps why Apple has to black-box its Appstore process: because it would be simply be heaped with ridicule if people saw the specifics of each approval.

Crudebox Renamed PrudeBox, Goes All the Way on the Third Try [Alkali via CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

Turntable to MP3, no computer required

Denon's DP-200USB turntable converts, encodes and saves MP3 files directly to hard disks or thumbdrives inserted into it: no computer necessary. Be sure to read the sole review, however, from an S. Trudgen of California, who writes, "My first impressions of this turnable have been mostly favorable....the "autosplitter" function breaks up your music into tracks [but there are] things that are really annoying/dumb."

Denon DP-200USB Fully Automatic Turntable with MP3 Encoder [Amazon via Cool Hunting]

Rob Beschizza

Retro filters add old CRT look to classic games

A few days ago, Joel linked to NFGForum's articles on why oldschool games don't look the same on LCD displays -- it's because old CRT sets' light guns created inadvertent anti-aliasing effects, scanlines created an illusion of greater detail, images could be arbitrarily scaled, and so on.

So how do you get it back, given that modern pixels are sharp, square, and contiguous? Fancy filters, of course! Ian Bogost reviews a version of Atari 2600 emulator Stella modified to render the display like an old TV:

In Enduro, the color bleed effect is evident again. Here you see not only how much more realistic the car sprite would have appeared on a television, but also how the multiple colored lines on the horizon would have blended with one another, creating a more credible sunset.

Despite being mighty impressive, the results in a live game are far more remarkable. Edward and his colleagues have done a fantastic job.

They are currently working with the maintainer of the free, open-source Stella emulator to patch their changes into the main build, where the effects will be available as a configurable option.

There are many techniques used to give a new (old) look to old sprites.

The debate over how to view these old games -- with the presentation technology emulated vs. "As the creator intended" -- serves as backdrop to vigorous discussions, over the technical minutiae of pixel rescaling.

Rob Beschizza

"The most cynical apology I have ever seen"

Apple's refusal to discuss how and why it approves applications for the iPhone works with us geeks, because there's no stake beyond our own curiosity and the business interests of developers. But in refusing to discuss how and why it approved Baby Shaker, it's come up against an organization that just isn't going to take that sort of nonsense. From Information Week:

Apple's refusal to disclose how the application found its way onto the App Store was one of several complaints the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation had with the company's apology, which the group called "stale."

"Who is this apology directed to?" said Patrick Donohue, founder of the foundation. "It's directed at the media to kill the story. This is the most cynical apology I have ever seen."

Donohue founded the SJBF after his three year-old daughter was shaken by a nurse as an infant and left brain-damaged: one can well imagine that Apple's isn't the first apology he's ever heard.

SJBF insists that Apple offer an accounting of the circumstances that led to it approving the $1 program, in which the user shakes a crying baby until it is dead. Apple has denied approval to racy novels, TV show South Park and many other candidate applications on grounds of potential offensiveness.

Apple Apology For Baby Shaker Criticized [InformationWeek]

Steven Leckart

Review: A Day with the Strida Folding Bike [Verdict: Wear a Cup]

After eying the Strida for a good two years, I finally had the chance to ride and manhandle one this week, when I demo'd the folding bike at Pop-Up Magazine. The short of it: The Strida excels at being one of the quickest, easiest folders I've broken down and put back together -- but it is also one of the most testicle-threatening little bikes I've ridden.

Details after the jump, but for now enjoy this Strida commercial from Japan (awesome, despite the fact I have no idea what they're saying).

READ THE REST

Lisa Katayama

Review: An evening with Black Diamond's Orbit lantern

I live in a quiet, hilly neighborhood in San Francisco near two parks with great running trails and killer views of the bay. Neither park has street lights, though, so it's a good idea to head out with a flashlight. Black Diamond Equipment makes a compact, 1-watt LED lantern called the Orbit. It emits this smooth, circular ambient light about six feet in diameter that makes everything from pavement cracks to poop smears surprisingly visible even when it's pitch dark out. It also stands upright, which is great if you're just hanging out in one spot, and the light is consistent and smooth, unlike the flickery yellow of most flashlights and candles. The Orbit is actually designed for outdoorsy stuff like camping and backpacking, so it has little hooks that attach to tents and trees and is super lightweight (3oz). I like that you can adjust the brightness with the on/off button and pull the base of the lantern out to extend it from 4 to 5.5 inches in length. It runs on four AAAs or an optional rechargeable battery.

At $30, it's one of the neatest-looking, practical flashlight alternatives out there.

Product page [Black Diamond Equipment]

Rob Beschizza

George Will: Steve Jobs is an infantile poser

The excellent conservative writer George Will has an amusing, if very old-mannish rant up about denim, which to him is an emblem of America's disordered national psyche. There's a great bit in the middle, echoing a line from a Daniel Akst piece from the WSJ:

Long ago, when James Dean and Marlon Brando wore it, denim was, Akst says, "a symbol of youthful defiance." Today, Silicon Valley billionaires are rebels without causes beyond poses, wearing jeans when introducing new products. Akst's summa contra denim is grand as far as it goes, but it only scratches the surface of this blight on Americans' surfaces. Denim is the infantile uniform of a nation in which entertainment frequently features childlike adults...

There's a good response from Bleat.

Yes, it's really Akst's thought with the dial up to 11. But there is no picture of Akst in a bow tie that you just know is being worn with a matching elastic belt.

Rob Beschizza

Vaja case for Vaio P

Vaja, maker of stunning cases for MacBooks and Sony Vaios, added the Vaio P to its offerings. I'm tempted, but it's $120! On the other hand, I did pay $700 for a netbook. After the jump, the latest hardcover edition.

Product Page [Vaja via jkk via giz]

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Rob Beschizza

Electronic Mogwai

It features "motion and singing," and you can feed it after midnight. $23 from ThinkGeek.

Singing Gizmo Gremlins Plush [ThinkGeek]

Rob Beschizza

The cutting edge of East German electronics, circa 1990

Karlheinz Jardner visited the east immediately after the wall came down. [Spiegel.de]

Rob Beschizza

Windows 7 Starter Edition: The Final Insult

Cult of Mac's Pete Mortensen is the latest to explain why "Windows 7 Starter Edition" is going to make cheap PCs suck.

I never feel like Apple is needlessly squeezing pennies out of me by charging more for the features that make it worthwhile to upgrade. ... Starter is intended to make people want to buy the nicer versions of Windows 7. I think it's net effect is more likely to be that people seriously consider alternatives.

On the contrary, Windows 7 Starter Edition reveals why the alternatives can't beat Microsoft: because consumers just don't care. This disinterest is so profound that Microsoft can not only design an intentionally bad product, but market it as such. It knows that most people will pay extra to stay rather than switch, regardless of whether the proposed alternative is better or cheaper.

Windows 7 Starter: A Comically Bad Idea [Cult of Mac]

Rob Beschizza

Amazon deletes reviews that expose other reviews as paid-for

If you claim, in a review at Amazon, that its third-party sellers attempted to bribe you to get a good write-up, what will happen? Amazon will delete your review, of course! [Consumerist]

Rob Beschizza

Review: an hour with Griffin's TuneFlex AUX

Griffin's TuneFlex solves a problem: the iPod Touch and iPhone's lack of physical controls, which matter when attention is best given to the road ahead. A base unit plugs into the ciggie lighter and the stereo's auxiliary input, while a remote control (play/pause, FF and rewind) attaches to the steering wheel.

It works well enough, with two minor drawbacks. First, it's big and cumbersome enough that you might want to not bother with the steering attachment, and just leave it knocking about in the console. Second, the base station caused en error to popup on our first-gen iPhone, which complained that it wasn't compatible. It worked perfectly, however, after the warning was dismissed. Apart from that, it's perfect.

It's also compatible with normal iPods, should you just want a fancy recharching mount or remote.

At $80, though, it seems expensive given what little it does, even if it does it very well.

Product Page [Griffin]

Joel Johnson

Star Wars cupcakes look a little chewy

Megpie made these awesome Star Wars cupcakes.

Rob Beschizza

Art Deco keyboard

Jeffrey Stephenson, maker of extraordinary wooden PC enclosures, writes in that Datamancer's turned 20th century.

My friend Richard Nagy (aka Datamancer) is famous for his Steampunk creations. Well, I think the Steampunk fad may have run its ourse. He has come over to the dark side and created an Art Deco keyboard.

And what a beauty it is!

Datamancer Deco Keyboard [Datamancer]

Joel Johnson

Trivia: We spill a lot of gas on our lawnmowers

In a review of the Lehr Eco Trimmer, a weed whacker that uses (sadly proprietary) propane canisters for fuel instead of gasoline, comes this disheartening bit of trivia:

Most impressive to me is the fact (vetted by the EPA), that American homeowners spill 17 million gallons of gasoline annually in their uncoordinated attempts to fuel lawn and garden equipment.

Steven Leckart

To Do This Summer: Build a Tiny House

In this recession, companies aren't the only ones who should be downsizing. Trading in a McMansion for less spacious accommodations may not be your decision, but if it has to happen, you might as well make sure your new abode is humble -- and cool. But even if you're just looking for a shabby-chic tool or writing shed, you can dream bigger, er, more interesting...

Basic resources, plans, and workshops after the jump...

[image via Tiny House Blog]

READ THE REST

Rob Beschizza

Apple approves of British nannies

Taking tight control over what gets on the iPhone and iPod Touch doesn't come without consequences. After all, everything approved is there because of a decision that someone at Apple made.

Bear this in mind next time you head to the App Store, where you can't swear, can't compete with Apple, and can't sell racy novels, but where you can shake a baby to death for fun! [CNET]

Rob Beschizza

Review: A day with Peek Pronto

Improvements abound in Peek's latest email-only handheld, the Pronto. It has push email, can check up to 5 accounts, and is now compatible with Microsoft Exchange. It can now view PDF files and Word documents, has an improved search function, and can send and receive unlimited text messages through Peek's SMS gateway.

Best of all, its cheaper: the no-contract handset is only $80, and the $20 monthly subscription falls to $16.67 if you buy four months of service. The original Peek is now an impulse-buy $50.

Otherwise like the original -- a slim machine that does not make or receive phone calls -- it has a straightforward user interface, a superb QWERTY keyboard, and accessible controls.

Given the basic hardware, only so much is possible performance-wise. Speed improvements are touted, but deleting emails is still frustratingly slow, and it only downloads then in small batches. It's best not to leave it off for any length of time if you get lots of email.

The monthly subscription is the cheapest way to get decent unlimited email in your pocket. Peek sold lifetime subscriptions with the original, at Costco, and savvy shoppers will be waiting for a similar deal.

Though the focus on simple email is what makes it special, the client could do with more features. Without folders or IMAP, you can't organize email well enough to use it for information management or planning.

Though some might rankle at being stuck with just one application, it's fun to discover what's possible with email and text messages alone: Twitter and Wordpress both let you post with it, while Ent will serve maps, local searches and movie times on demand. Fans maintain a list of useful text-based services at the Peek forums.

The Pronto refines what was already a good device and makes it cheaper, but still lacks the oomph and feature set that would make it a complete (rather than merely budget-friendly) alternative to a smartphone's email services. For people who want on-the-go email but don't want contracts with expensive data plans, though, it's a complete no-brainer.

Peek Pronto Mobile Messaging Device (Grey) [Amazon]

Joel Johnson

PBS streaming Nova online

PBS is now streaming several of its fantastic programs online for free, including that science program you always mean to watch, Nova.

Terrorists and others who live beyond the United Flotilla: Can you see these programs?

Joel Johnson

Video: Freak tries to swallow the iPod Shuffle

Jesus Diaz convinces sword-swallower Heather Holiday to try to down the iPod Shuffle.

Lisa Katayama

Socked glowing crystals create surprisingly un-blingy ceiling lamps

This is the most indulgent yet elegantly beautiful room lighting design I've seen in a while--it's a series of hanging mesh sacks of varying lengths with Swarovski crystals in them. The creators are actually longtime chandelier designers Diller Scofidio + Renfro--they presented this at a Miami design show last winter. [via Yanko Design]

Joel Johnson

Yes we can sell you Chinese-made flash drives with Obama holograms

Behold! the Obama Drive from Active Media, a 2GB USB flash drive that has a custom Obama hologram on the front and publicly available documents pre-loaded:

The Obama drive comes preloaded with over 30MB of bonus material including Barrack Obama's Inaugural Address and his landmark "Race Speech" in MP3 format - a total of nearly one hour of audio, text of several other significant speeches in PDF format, and an official White House Obama photo. The bonus material occupies less than 2% of the drive's capacity, and can be deleted by the customer if not wanted.

Joel Johnson

App Store success: It helps if Apple likes you

Enjoymentland has published their sales data for the first month of Locovore, their produce awareness application for the iPhone. It looks like if you can score a modest sales success (#64 in "Top 100 Paid Apps" for that month) and get featured on the front page of the App Store, you can pull in about $12k net. A healthy amount, but only if it keeps up.

As you can see, even the best press wasn't as effective as being blessed by the Apple Marketing team. Not sure what that means in terms of how to best market apps... basically, it leaves all of us at the unbeatable first law of marketing and promotion: build something interesting.

Joel Johnson

Honda Civic travels one light second in ten years

Matthew Farley writes: "I thought you might appreciate . This car took about 10 years to cover the same distance light in a vacuum does in one second. Just in case I missed it, I had also worked out one light second in air."

Joel Johnson

Cute puffball speakers that you can't buy until I learn to read Chinese

Kristin sent us a link to these puffy speakers which will probably be available from a crapvendor at some point in the future, but for now exist on what appears to be a Chinese-language blog. I'm posting them here just because I think they make that Shuffle look like a pretty little flower.

Update: Or a Shuffle infected by Cordyceps dipterigena.

Joel Johnson

Sketch a futuristic LG phone design, win money

Jeff Bliss is temping at Autodesk and has been tasked with getting people to link this phone design contest from LG and CrowdSpring. (Autodesk is a sponsor.) It's hard out there for a temp, so we'll help him out.

From the Contest Page:

Predict what's next. What do you think mobile phones should look like in 2, 5, or 10 years? We are asking for your help. We're NOT looking for a long list of specs or phone ideas that already exist. We're looking for a cool new concept or "big idea" supported by usage scenario illustrations. Understand how your idea will be judged, and increase your chances of winning. Keep in mind, the LG logo must be included somewhere. Use the logo files provided (one is for light background and one is for dark).

Joel Johnson

The Guitar Hanger in fact does

Music Radar found a clever thing: the "Guitar Hanger", which lets you hang up your axe in the closet. (You could also put a guitar in it.)

According to the manufacturer's site, it's only available from a few retailers at the moment. But it's a new product, so give them time and I wouldn't be surprised to see them online. The price? No clue.

Joel Johnson

Go Green: Use Last Year's Model

Here's an Earth Day action I can get behind: Last Year's Model, which encourages you to buy good gear—and then just use it. It reflects my own preferred method of consumption, which is to spend a little extra to get something that is exactly what I want, then try to use it for as long as possible. (I often fail, but I'm better than I used to be.)

I've got an HDTV that I bought two years ago that should hold me for years. My Canon Rebel XT DSLR, just back from a cleaning, still has more functionality than I ever use. My Kindle 1 still supports words. My iPhone 3G is doing great until they come out with a new one in June which I will instantly buy. (Moderation!)

There's a panic that I feel when something I own doesn't quite perform as I'd like it to, which sets off an escalating and enjoyable process of shopping and comparison, fueling daydreams of how wonderful my life will be with my New Thing. I've been trying to replace "Purchase" with "Projects", though, so that I've always got a few things that are in a state of repair.

My turn signals stopped working in my old BMW yesterday while I was driving back from the hardware store. (I was shopping for a reel mower, which I ended up buying from Amazon after comparing prices in-store with my phone, although I'd needed to go out there anyway for more charcoal and fertilizer.) I caught my brain spinning up, spitting a litany of excuses why I should go buy a new car: I need at least one reliable vehicle; it's a good time to buy a car, with interest rates very low; the Nissan 370Z exercises the corpus cavernosum.

But I'd bought Ruby in part because I knew she'd break down and I wanted to learn car repair. So I pulled into the garage, ran upstairs to spend 30 minutes reading the BMW 2002 FAQ forum, priced turn signal replacement parts on eBay, and went back to pop open the hood. I took out the #6 fuse, wiped it on my pants, and put it back in. The turn signals work just fine now, and I just saved myself $35,000.

Steven Leckart

Make Your Home Glow Like a Virgin-Atlantic Flight

Designer Mark Pohlkamp's LIT Urban Underglow is a long LED tube that changes color via remote. 16 colors and four preset "light shows" can be yours for $200... Or you could save $44 and book a seat on Virgin from NY to London. Tough call in this economy.

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Recently on Offworld, the biggest story was, of course, the site's new Concept Album feature, which kicked off with full-resolution concept art of EA's excellent DS puzzle/platformer Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure featuring worlds, enemies, and bosses that never made it into the game, including, best of all, Evil Benjamin Franklin.

We also saw the first images of the latest game in Q-games PS3 downloadable art game series PixelJunk, and an early look at two very non-traditional games coming to Xbox Live Arcade from Final Fantasy creators Square Enix, including cubist arena-shooter Project: Cube and apparently google-maps enhanced shooter 0 day Attack on Earth.

Elsewhere we saw what it will mean to have Fallout 3's ending essentially undone with its latest DLC pack, saw Stephen Fry return for more work on LittleBigPlanet, and saw the world of Rock Band officially collide with the world of Lego, and were relieved to hear that Sony Japan's excellent looking Tetris-meets-trash-compacting game Gomibako was headed to the U.S.

Finally we saw Left 4 Dead T-shirts only Francis could hate, coveted the first NES in a purse, and, curiously, played classic Sierra adventure games in our web browsers where each area is given a unique URL and features newly added passive multiplayer aspects.

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

⌦ Monitors – Two Dell monitors are on sale, a 23-inch for $176, and a 22-inch one for $148. Both are 1080p. [Slickdeals]

⌦ Tiny TV – Haier 7-inch portable LCD TV with digital TV tuner for $106, shipped. Seems like it might be a nice little unit for an R/V or something. I'm kind of half-looking at it for a car PC project that I'm going to dig into soon, but I think I need to stick with a touchscreen. [Dealhack]

⌦ Empire of the Sun – The free iTunes Single of the Week is "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun, whose hilariously over-the-top cover is above, having more to do with carnival airbrush artists' fever dreams than J.G. Ballard. If you thought we were done reliving the '80s...we aren't. (You can blame me. I like the song on the first pass.)

⌦ Digital-to-Analog TV Converter – If you've got your NTIA coupon, Meritline is selling and shipping this Airlink 1010 converter box for free. [Dealnews]

⌦ AAA Batteries – Yes, rechargeables would be better, but if you need 100 AAA Rayovacs for some reason, you can buy them for $15, shipped. [Dealnews]

Joel Johnson

Music Video: Oiled up bikini girls using power tools

It's okay, it's not sexist—it's a documentary.

Joel Johnson

Photo: Pimobile

Congratulations to Reddit user Alexem, whose 2001 Volkswagen Jetta just rolled over in the most elegant way.

Rob Beschizza

Apple prematurely announces billionth AppStore download...

...but only, of course, if you set your computer's clock forward! (Click for the full-size graphic). Camillo Miller writes in:

Wanna see what Apple will do at the 1Billionth download mark? Set your Mac's clock to friday 24th and head to www.apple.com

Now here's a great piece of blogsanity: the source has watermarked its screenshots of this, as if it were some sort of exclusive not available to anyone with a web browser and a clock. Great find, though!

Update: Commenter GabrielM wonders why we've got it classified as a "fuck up." It's not because of the existence of the page itself, but because Apple's set the "billionth app" threshold as a client-side date rather than a server-side number--meaning that it's very easy to trick! (The actual counter is, as commenter Youngbrendan points out below, probably reasonably accurate)

Source [Mac Magazine via Apple Lounge]

Joel Johnson

On the Aptera 2e production model

Chuck Squatriglia for Autopia:

We won't see a production model for another couple of months. It will be a little more square when viewed from the front, a concession made to increase interior room and allow the windows to roll down. That's a smart move, because the car we drove could be called "cozy" and the windows don't open.

The engineers have reworked the battery pack, which is located in a sealed compartment under the seats, to move it forward and shift the center of gravity toward the front. Wilbur says the production car carries 70 percent of its weight on the front wheels, which "is excellent for traction and handling." They also brought the front wheels eight inches closer to the body and raised the ride height a bit.

Despite the tweaks, the car became more aerodynamic, and Wilbur says the production car will have a drag coefficient of 0.15. That will make the 2e the most aerodynamic production car in history, topping even the General Motors EV1.

Steven Leckart

Dell Hell: The Sequel

This guy Anthony's having a heck of a time with Dell tech and customer support regarding his recently-purchased Studio 15 Laptop. The whole, sad tale is worth reading, but here's the gist:

Although the problem was characteristic of a hardware issue, the tech support representative attacked it from the perspective of a software issue. He remotely accessed the machine and reinstalled keyboard drivers without any resolution. He then attempted to flash the computer's BIOS remotely. After a delay in the attempted flash, he shut down the computer before the process had completed. Following this, the computer would not power up again. He instructed me to remove the bottom panel of the machine and swap the memory to no avail. The computer would not power up... I have spent nearly 14 hours on the phone with Dell. I have no way of retrieving the data off of the hard drive from the computer that tech support destroyed. When I speak to representatives I am left with a feeling that my issue is unimportant.

[via Consumerist]

Rob Beschizza

I do believe BitTorrent is available for Windows also, Mr. Goldman

Already clobbered once for his too-cosy association with Apple, CNBC tech journalist Jim Goldman is now issuing surrealist commentary about the differences between Macs and PCs. Did you know, for example, that you get Photoshop for free when you buy a Mac? [Gizmodo]

Joel Johnson

Dell Vostro (aka Darth Mini 9) available for $200; makes a fine hackintosh

Above you'll see my Runcore 64GB SSD drive sitting in front of my Dell Mini 9. The Runcore cost me $220—just $30 less than I paid for my Mini 9.

Now Dell is selling its business black version of the Mini 9, the Vostro A90, for just $200. Slap in a bigger SSD (the Runcore tends to benchmark the fastest, but I only went with 64GB because the 32GB were in deep backorder) and 2GB of RAM, and you've got yourself a fine little Hackintosh for around $500. And you can do it for far less if you go with a more modest SSD.

One bonus to the Runcore, though, of any size: Along with snappy performance, the Runcores come with a micro-USB port, making it possible to plug it in to your Mac, boot from any install disk (even the crippled ones that come with your Mac), and install OS X directly onto the SSD. Put it in the Mini 9, boot from a Linux sysloader on a USB flash drive, and run the DellEFI driver installer once you're in OS X. Easy peasy. It took me about three hours to do it—two of which were spent mucking around trying to get OS X to boot with the flash drive because I tried to get fancy with newer versions and didn't use the one suggested in the instructions.

Joel Johnson

Offworld gets an exclusive peek at Henry Hatsworth concept art

Brandon has scored a major coup: Electronic Arts has presented Offworld with access to the concept art for Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure, one of the most interesting games to come out this year, both in play and in art direction. Brandon's put together a galley showing the environments, characters, and enemies. It's an awesome peek into the creative act that happens before pixel is ever put to sprite.

We hope this will just be the first of many "Concept Albums" on Offworld.

Steven Leckart

Artoo is more than a droid, he's a cheap laptop for kids

I remember seeing the Darth Vader and Storm Trooper "Learning Laptops" from Oregon Scientific when they debuted a couple years ago. What I did not know: 1) they also created an R2-D2; 2) he has the cheapest price tag of the lot.

Droids get no respect.

Lisa Katayama

Stereographic images of Tokyo

These photographs of Tokyo taken by heiwa4126 are amazing. He used an ultra-wide fisheye lens to create 360°x180° panoramas using stereographic projection--a technique used in geometry to map a sphere onto a plane.

heiwa4126's Flickr set [via Pink Tentacle]

Rob Beschizza

Review: Just shy of 5 hours with Lenovo's IdeaPad S10

Lenovo's S10 is an excellent netbook that adds a useful extra to the usual mix: an ExpressCard expansion slot. Otherwise built around the standard loadout of 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU, a gig of RAM, 10.2" 600-line display and Windows XP, it comes with a 3- or 6-cell battery and is $350 at Amazon. There's also a 4-in-1 card reader and a 160 GB hard drive. It is 9.8" long, 7.2" deep, and weights 2.6 lbs with the 3-cell.

Particularly good is the keyboard, despite the right-shift key being to the right of the up arrow, and the quality of its squared-off construction. It's attractive, if a little large compared to some competitors, and comes in unusual but conservative colors like indigo and burgundy. As reviews, it was bloatware-free and worked as well as anything we've tested in the category. It reportedly runs OSX well, making it a good choice for people who can't wait for Apple's expected netbook.

Though recent netbooks have better specs, it's easy to recommend the S10. With prices hitting the floor and the S10's quality in every respect that matters (except for that damned shift key), it's a good choice that embodies and upgrades an old agage: you'll never get fired for buying Lenovo.

Xeni Jardin

BB Video: IFTF, Sun, and Boing Boing Launch Digital Open Youth Innovation Expo

Download MP4 for this episode. RSS feed for new episodes here, YouTube channel here, subscribe on iTunes here. Get Twitter updates every time there's a new ep by following @boingboingvideo, and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video.

Boing Boing Video is teaming up with Institute for the Future and Sun Microsystems to launch The Digital Open, a global expo for youth innovation.

Above, a video we produced with IFTF and teen 'web talent Charis Tobias, to invite young people around the world to join in.

Here's a snip from the launch announcement:

"What can you make with technology that will change the world, invent the future--or even just make life a little easier or more fun?"

Institute for the Future, in partnership with Sun Microsystems and Boing Boing, invite youth worldwide, age 17 and under, to join us as we explore the frontiers of free and open innovation. Running from April 15 until August 15, 2009, the Digital Open: An Innovation Expo for Global Youth will accept text, photos, and videos documenting projects at DigitalOpen.org from young people around the world, all licensed under one from a list of free and open software licenses.

Youth can submit projects in a variety of areas, ranging from the environment, media, and community, to the more traditional open source domains of software and hardware. Additionally, the Digital Open will provide resources and links to help them learn more about free and open technology movements, from figures like Richard Stallman to organizations like Creative Commons.

(...) Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future emphasized the participatory nature of the project. "The Digital Open is more than just a competition," she says. "It's about recognizing and encouraging kids to follow their passions while giving them community experiences that further encourage or challenge their best thinking."

Winners receive a tech prize package including a PeeCee mini laptop running the OpenSolaris operating system, a video camera, a solar-powered flashlight, and other goodies.

The Digital Open.

Joel Johnson

Pleo extinct

Ugobe, the makers of the $350 robotic dinosaur "Pleo", have filed for Chapter 7.

Joel Johnson

technical, a word

Danger Room's Nathan Hodge, while talking about a Mexican drug cartel's improvised .50-caliber machine gun to be bolted to a pick-up, uses this new-to-me terminology: "technical"—an improvised fighting vehicle of the kind favored by Somali warlords and developing-world armies."

Previously ⌦ gadget, a word

Xeni Jardin

Yoga "Eco Mat" Review: PrAna Revolution (Attention-Conservation Verdict: I Dig.)

I have practiced yoga on and off since I was a teenager, but in recent years, more off than on. Recently, when friends, colleagues, and family all seemed to be pointing out with greater frequency that I seemed particularly stressed (read: a total pain in the ass to be around), I made a commitment to switch that back to "on." It's been pretty great. I'm happier. The more I practice, the more centered I feel, physically, mentally, emotionally. And, the less of a total pain in the ass I am.

Yoga isn't about the accessories, and I loathe the idea that you have to have just the right gear, just the right teacher, just the right whatever to practice. You don't. But a good mat can really help. So when I got back into the groove of regular practice, I checked out a bunch of different mats -- from the ultra-thick black ones, to the "towel" kind folks like to use with "hot yoga," to the thin cheap synthetic ones. I have a stack of 8 of them sitting in the corner in this room, as I type this review.

But I've found my favorite now -- the just-released Revolution "eco" mat by PrAna.

It's sticky enough to help grip your fingers, palms, soles, and toes when you're doing balance poses -- and, truly, every pose involves some element of balance. It's 30" wide, much wider than standard mats. A better fit for taller yoga students like myself. It's lightweight enough that I can carry it comfortably on my back in the cool little carrying sack they sell. It's thick enough that I don't feel the need to add extra cushioning during practice on poses that can be hard on the bones. It's made of all-natural materials, so I'm not investing in future landfill cruft. The sticky part took a little getting used to in poses where I tend to drag the tops of my feet accross the mat in transition from one asana to the other, but now that I've been with it for a few weeks -- I don't know, it's like sleeping in a nice new bed, or moving into an awesome new home. It's familiar now, and just feels like an extension of my body.

I recently met PrAna creative David Kennedy, a friendly surfer who pops a mean Adho Mukha Svanasana. We practiced together (it was one of the most enjoyable BB review demos I can recall). I asked him to talk with us about some of the engineering considerations that went into the mat's design.

His reply follows, after the jump.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Hibernation Mode: Calculating the energy needs of post-human uploads

Anders Sandberg tries to calculate the amount of energy it would take to sustain an uploaded human consciousness

How efficient could a postbiological civilization be? The current IBM roadrunner does 376 million calculations per watts. If we take my mid-range estimates of computing needs, 10^22 to 10^25 FLOPS, then a single emulation would need 10^13 to 10^16 watts. The total insolation of Earth is about 10^17 watts, so this won't do - there would be space for just a few minds on the entire planet. But current research on zettaflops computing suggest we can do much better. A DARPA exascale study suggests we can do 10^12 flops per watt, which means "just" a dozen Hoover dams per mind. Quantum dot cellular automata could give 10^19 flops per watt, putting the energy needs at 200-2000 watts.

That is between 2 and 20 times the current wattage of a current human. However, we bio-humans get our energy through the inefficient method of having plants collect sunshine (at about 3%) efficiency, then we either harvest them and eat a small part of them (expending a lot of agricultural energy) or have animals eat them (at a few percent efficiency) and finally we eat the result, again with a few percent efficiency. A brain emulation of this type would just need a few square meters of solar panels (plus night-time energy storage). In terms of area and energy required, these postbiological humans would have far smaller material requirements than we do. They could also run slower to save energy.

Photo: sporkwrapper

Joel Johnson

Sharp Mebius NJ70 netbook replaces touchpad with touchscreen

While its guts are the same old netbook standard, Sharp's new Mebius NJ70A (named after an ancient Shinto calculus demon) puts a slick little 4-inch LCD touchscreen in place of the typically chintzy touchpad. Amusingly, the little touchscreen, which can accept both touch and pen input, has a resolution of 854 by 480 pixels—nearly the same as the screens of most netbooks.

If I sound dismissive, it's only because I'm sure the price will be prohibitive. Nonetheless, good on Sharp for doing something potentially useful to spruce up an otherwise drab netbook scene.

Joel Johnson

Boogie Woogie rolling salt and pepper shakers

The "Boogie Woogie" salt and pepper shakers, designed by Hauke Murken (cousin to influential draper Haute Merkin) and Sven Hansen, have large wheels at the bottom, making it possible to roll your seasonings across the table. They'll be sold by Scandinavian design haus Menu in May for a yet-to-be-announced price.

Clearly, their next product needs to be shot glasses. [via Oh Gizmo!]

Joel Johnson

iHouse SmartFaucet perhaps a little too much so

Shopping for fixtures would tend to suggest finding a tasteful item—let's say a faucet—that will provide trouble-free service for years to come. Or you could buy the "SmartFaucet" from Brazilian manufacturer iHouse, which users a facial recognition system to provide customized settings for each person it recognizes, outputting their preferred temperature of water while displaying email, calendar, and outside temperature on its touchscreen display. Red and blue LEDs inside give a visual indicator of how hot or cold the sluice may be.

There is a tiny part of me that actually finds this sort of nifty, but as someone who considers the bathroom a bit of a sanctuary—nevermind that I may or may not have written this post on the can—I question whether email alerts provide a compelling improvement over my current dual-analog water controls. [via Born Rich]

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

⌦ Free Ice Cream – Free ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry's when you go in between noon and 8PM. Gay marriage == free ice cream! [Slickdeals]

⌦ Media Tablet – The Archos 5 160GB internet media tablet for $280, shipped. Think of it as a netbook without a keyboard. (And likely better equipped to decode video.) [Dealoco]

⌦ Running GPS Watch – Amazon has cut the price of the Garmin Forerunner 50 sports watch with heart rate monitor and wireless "ANT stick" to $50, shipped, down from around $100. I believe there's a newer model on its way. [Amazon]

⌦ Mac Mini – Micro Center is selling the last-gen 1.83GHz Mac Mini with 1GB of RAM and an 80GB HDD for $400, in-store only. Not a bad little media machine, but the new models have much better video hardware. [Dealnews]

⌦ Point-and-Shoot – Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS 10MP 3x optical zoom digital camera with mini tripod for $200, shipped, about $30 off. [Dealnews]

⌦ Point-and-Shoot – Refurb FuijiFilm FinePix A850 8.1MP 3x optical zoom camera for $47, shipped, from Newegg. Unless you really need that Canon, this is the nearly disposable camera to get today. [Dealnews]

⌦ Gaming Headset – The Rosewill RH-001 circumaural (padded) stereo headset with boom mic is $5, shipped, at Newegg. How bad could it be? [Dealnews]

⌦ Depeche Mode – Amazon MP3 is selling that new Depeche Mode album "Sounds of the Universe" for $4. I bought it but I a huge dweeb for DM. [Sounds Of The Universe]

Rob Beschizza

Review: a day with slotRadio

Sansa's slotRadio is a miniature music player that comes with 1,000 songs pre-installed on a MicroSD card. Larger than the iPod Shuffle but smaller than the Nano, it has a 1.5" OLED display, an FM radio tuner, and only the most basic playback controls.

It has no internal memory of its own, and comes with a handful of accessories: a silicone protection sheath, a caddy to hold MicroSD cards, an AC-USB power adapter, and a free set of earbuds.

SlotRadio's a well-made machine with a simple, no-nonsense interface. Jumping between playlists is easy and the controls are responsive. Sound quality is on par, but nothing fancy. Unfortunately, it can't fast-forward or rewind within tracks, or even return to the previous song or the beginning of the current one: the songs are free, but the deal is that you have to listen to them in playlist order, like a selection of radio stations stuck on groundhog day. Your only options are to head to the next track or pause the current one: you can't even browse a track listing.

The FM radio is particularly good, however, with a simple bookmarking trick and perfect reception.

It's feels quite bulky, perhaps because of the belt clip and the large display, which doesn't do much except run canned animations and show song info. Loading your own music onto it isn't as convenient as normal players, either: you can only use MP3 or WMA files, and they're stuffed by the player into a single playlist called "My Channel."

The big caveat is that the free songs are in a custom format, can't be seen by your computer, and will play only in slotRadios. They're even placed on a hidden partition (!) on the MicroSD card, though this does avoid them getting wiped when you format the scant remaining space. SanDisk sells a selection of genre-specific MicroSD cards for $40 each.

With 1,000 free (albeit MOR) songs for just $100, the slotRadio's a splendid gift for someone who doesn't already have an MP3 player or isn't a regular computer user. That said, the limitations make it a poor choice if you already have a digital music collection, compared to Sansa's Clip or Fuze, or even a refurbished iPod Nano, all of which cost less than $100.

slotRadio [SanDisk]

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Recently on Offworld we saw our first guest post by maker, writer, and 'shoddy Cammy' Tom Armitage of infovore.org, who takes a look at a recent post by BioShock 2 designer Steve Gaynor on 'architecting the unreal.'

Elsewhere we saw that a new Fallout game is due for release next year (though not a sequel or an expansion), this time from some of the original series creators at Obsidian, and saw that indie favorites Introversion have a near-complete Nintendo DS version of their global thermonuclear wargame Defcon (above) that they're hoping to release by the end of the year.

We also saw a huge slew of new Uniqlo games T-shirts now revealed, new third party hacks, tools and mods for 2D Boy's World of Goo, Donkey Kong playable on the open-source 8x8 LED handheld Meggy Jr. RGB, and retro computers coming together to sing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Finally, we downloaded levels for Hand Circus's iPhone platformer Rolando and saw a new colonial theme for its upcoming sequel, watched the first footage of ngmoco's 3D spherical tower defense game, cleared off our calendar for an LA-based Poketo show featuring Her Space Holiday and Tokyo illustrator PCP, and watched newly uploaded and gorgeously shot video of Blip Fest 2007 featuring the 8-bit happy hardcore of Virt and Polytron musician 6955 doing a blissed-out shoegaze deconstruction of Fez's theme song.

Steven Leckart

Pocket Science: Standing on the Shoulders of Lesser-Known Giants

This patent for a pocket protector was issued to Himan C.1 Dexter on February 24, 1903, which predates Hurley Smith's famous and more celebrated "pocket shield" by a good 40 years.

Ownd?

Not exactly. Despite its appearance, Himan's invention wasn't exactly the full sheath pioneered by iconic nerd doodad creator Smith, which is probably why Dexter's got zero Goog juice. In fact, it was only an "Improvement in Pocket-Protectors." Turns out there are a handful of patents that attempted to further the functional design of shirt pockets. Some date back to the 1880s. And who knows what was being created before the rise of patents. This complicates how you'd go about identifying the one and only "pocket protector."

When we think of the "pocket-protector," Smith gets the bulk of the credit. Articles in Wikipedia, geek historian Benjamin Nugent's American Nerd and even IEEE's "History of the Pocket Protector" all neglect to mention or even footnote Dexter or any of the other pocket-science developers from the 19th century. It's like discussing the history of the automobile, and giving Henry Ford all the credit, no?2

Granted some pocket-protector aficionados do recognize those early contributions, but that's not evident online. So today, I'd like to salute Dexter, D.J. Scott (1887), W.V.S. Bastian (1890), Joseph W. Parmley (1892), Joseph D. Heffner (1899), and all the other tailors, seamstresses, and engineers who dared to push pocket function forward.

1Uneducated guess: the "C" stands for "Could-be-worse-at-least-my-surname's-not-Poindexter.-But-yeah,-you're-right.-Himan-is-kind-of-a-bummer."

2On the other hand, the most effective marketers always get the most credit. From the NYT (bold is my own):

Had Dexter found a way to freely distribute mass quantities of his early pocket protector, perhaps we'd be calling the device the "Dexter."

Joel Johnson

The Bertone Mantide, what Kaneda would drive

Giant 3D model carving, Corvette ZR1 engines, and whiny guitar rock—what's not to like in this video? Besides this god damn singer, I mean?

It's a mockup of the gorgeous Bertone Mantide coupe that looks like the future in all the best ways. Sorry, Jalopnik, I'm stealing that picture, too.

It's one of the prettiest sport car designs I've ever seen, even if it is just a silly show car.

Joel Johnson

LEGO PHOTO BOX lego photo box lego photo box

Photo & MOC: Larry Lars via Bros-Brick

Joel Johnson

Video: Brain -> Twitter Interface

From the UW Madison press release:

The interface consists, essentially, of a keyboard displayed on a computer screen. "The way this works is that all the letters come up, and each one of them flashes individually," says Williams. "And what your brain does is, if you're looking at the 'R' on the screen and all the other letters are flashing, nothing happens. But when the 'R' flashes, your brain says, 'Hey, wait a minute. Something's different about what I was just paying attention to.' And you see a momentary change in brain activity."

Wilson, who used the interface to post the Twitter update, likens it to texting on a cell phone. "You have to press a button four times to get the character you want," he says of texting. "So this is kind of a slow process at first."

However, as with texting, users improve as they practice using the interface. "I've seen people do up to eight characters per minute," says Wilson.

I believe this is the tweet in question.

Joel Johnson

i-wood, the only phone more precious than the iPhone

Jesse Willmon writes:

This is a site me and my wife made for a fake iphone made of wood that we use to counteract people's non-socially-acceptable uses of a real iPhone.

Joel Johnson

Ad: Honeywell's Electronic Mail

Joel Johnson

A couple of cook-outs with the Charbroil American Gourmet Smoker

Having a yard has been sweet surprise, like picking mushy cornbread out of my molars with my tongue. I mean, I've always liked gardening. I even like to mow the lawn. But I spent the last six years in Brooklyn, with planter boxes on concrete and gardens with more brick and glass than rocks in the soil; Saturdays the smell of grills interleaved with the winds of hot trash.

Sometimes I'd walk out into the park and pluck hookers right off the tree.

Okay, not really. Grilling and such in New York is quite a lot of fun. But I spent Saturday and the better part of Sunday at my house here in Eugene, poking around in Movable Type with Rob while tending to a pork loin that I was smoking in my new Charbroil American Gourmet Smoker, sipping a ridiculously wonderful lambic, watching Porter run around in the yard sniffing ferns, and being rejuvenated by one of the first legendarily awesome Oregon rainless spring days.

It's the first time in my adult life that I've had a yard, and I've lucked out with this one, with its blackberry bushes, bamboo stands, and flower-happy landscaping. It even had a garden pre-cut in the yard with a sprinkler outlet underneath, although I'll be damned if I can figure out how to actually turn the sprinkler on.

I'm just renting this place—I only plan on being in Eugene for a couple of years, and I don't think I could afford to buy it, besides—but even after just a few weeks I think I may be spoiled already. There's just something incredibly civilized about it all, lounging in your couple hundred square feet of nature, enjoying the grounds.

(For the record, I have no idea why the yard has a sprinkler system—in Oregon of all places—and I don't plan on running it anyway. If I wasted all that water on the yard, what would I use to wash my car in the hot tub every day?)

In Brooklyn I used an indoor stovetop smoker for years, which wasn't perfect for actual barbecue, but can produce surprisingly great meat, provided you can get the meat inside. They don't even stink up the house as much as you'd think. Within a couple of hours after using the stovetop smoker, the smell would usually have dissipated, although we didn't have carpets. I'd often smoke some pork ribs for a couple of hours on the stove, then rub them outside to grill for a few minutes and slap on some sauce. (Unlike some, I think tomato-based barbecue sauces taste best when slightly caramelized by the heat of a grill, although one should avoid any actual burning if possible.)

I lost the stovetop smoker in the break-up, though, along with the beer brewing gear*, so I needed a new grill. So on a lark we went to Jerry's, a honkin' home improvement store out by the airport, staffed by some really nice people and a few confused starlings.

What I saw there was a shock. Three aisles of "barbecue grills", most of which were gas-powered, and many of which cost over a thousand dollars. As Justin said at the last Baker Boulevard Geographic Society meeting, "Grills like that are a lifestyle choice."

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Casual Profanity's "Fluid Structure" from plastic tubing like a thrumming cephalopodic circulatory system

Heavens to Betsy, Casual Profanity's liquid sculpture is captivating. And oh my goodness, I bet you could weave this into someone's hair. (The excellent video and music work helps, too.) [via Waxy]

Update: The music is Ratatat's "Imperials" from LP3 -- Steven

Rob Beschizza

Review: A month with Belkin's Mini Surge

Five inches long, two inches deep and an inch and a half wide, Belkin's Mini Surge is a useful and versatile portable power strip. It's just a smidgin too big and heavy for the manbag, however, making it better in the hotel room than the coffee shop.

Readers asked us to check it out after we gave Monster Cable's Outlets To Go a positive writeup: it's actually a very different kettle of electrons. Whereas Monster's item is a sturdy, tiny but otherwise standard power strip, Belkin's box contains a surge protector and adds two USB power ports. It has three grounded outlets, and can swivel around the prongs to fit in tight spaces, locking at each 90 degree interval.

Sturdy and relatively easy on the eye, the Belkin Mini is $20-ish.

Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger [Belkin]

Update: Monster's Outlets to Go now has a USB port.

Lisa Katayama

Dog plays Casio keyboard, sings along to his own performance

Porter 9-Volt is a San Francisco-based dog that sings and plays a Casio keyboard. He wrote this song, performed exclusively for YouTube, on the fly. [via Neatorama]

Joel Johnson

Terrifying robot image of the day: Boston Dynamics' SquishBot

Boston Dynamics [via]:

SquishBot is a program to develop a new class of soft, shape-changing robot. The goal is to design systems that can transform themselves from hard to soft and from soft to hard, upon command. Another goal is to create systems that change their critical dimensions by large amounts, as much as 10x. Such robots will be like soft animals that can squeeze themselves through small openings and into tight places.

Joel Johnson

First impressions of the Robotis Bioloid robot kit

Johnny Chung Lee bought one of those Bioloid robot kits I'd seen at Toy Fair for the last couple of years and put it through its paces.

When I first got it, I was a little intimidated by the number of pieces in the box. Being an educational robot, I was hoping it was going to be a quick and simple setup. While the instructions are fairly easy to follow, it did take me about 5 hours from opening the box to a completed robot. Assembly requires handing many similar looking parts and lots of tiny screws. However, it is very satisfying to see the robot slowly take form as you assemble the components.

Lisa Katayama

Mannequin lamps will hang out with you in your living room

I love these new mannequin-lamps by product designer Daniel Loves Objects!--they're made of gold-plated cast metal, come in two sizes, and are bendable and adjustable so you can have them sit in various positions in your living room. You can't buy them yet, but the Singaporean designer hopes they'll hit consumer space soon. [via Cool Hunting]

Rob Beschizza

Review: A day with the Papershow interactive paper kit

Canson's Papershow works like this: there's a pad of paper printed with a subtle patten; a ball-point pen with a tiny scanner near the tip that handles tracking, and a USB dongle that plugs into your computer. The pen talks to the dongle via Bluetooth, and software on the computer makes as perfect copy of whatever you write or draw.

It's pitched at anyone who might want to save (or project) their scribbles, and it's remarkably well-implemented. Papershow produces accurate results without adding much of a usability burden atop the classic brainstorming setup of pen and paper.

There are useful extra features, too. For example, the special paper has an icon panel, with line width options and an eraser, and palette swatches. Though it obviously can't change how the ball-point pen works, it "just works" on-screen.

There are some drawbacks. It's $200 and the pen is quite bulky. The dongle and bundled software work only under Windows. The special paper is pricey ($20 for a pad of 200 sheets, or $13 for a 48 sheet pad) and proprietary. Given the distinctive tracking grid, corporate logos and icon bar, the "hard copy" is really just an input device.

If you have a setting in mind, such as aa school classroom or creative brainstorming group, Papershow's almost a no-brainer. Digital artists might also like it, too, though the lack of color choices and painting tools will be a limitation.

That said, it lacks the generic utility that a graphics tablet brings -- or any other reason for everyday consumers to drop $200 for it.

Product Page [Papershow]

Joel Johnson

Warmer, warmer: e-paper with sub-second refresh

Unlike other color e-paper examples, Bridgestone's prototype color e-paper can refresh its screen in just 0.8 seconds, making it fast enough to use with touchpen input.

Joel Johnson

WristShot turns your hand into a cyborg camera mount

The WristShot is a $200 brace for photographers that also describes the outcome it seeks to prevent. Like most of my camera equipment, I want it because it makes me look like I know what I'm doing. There's also something to said for having your camera attached to your hand, even when it's at your side. [via Red Ferret]

Joel Johnson

Those Were The Days: Living in a converted missile silo

Jim Merithew shoots and reports from a Topeka bunker that's been converted into an appealing 18,000-square-foot home. [Wired via The Awl]

Joel Johnson

Cast iron pan use #871,247: Making pizza

Ruhlman:

When I make pizza for the family, one of the pies goes on a stone but the other goes on a regular baking sheet. And guess what--it's just as good! Want to try a fun method? Bake it on an inverted cast iron pan! That works great, too!

Update: Our own Bynk has done this and made a handy video! (Well, sort of. He's got a cast-iron Lodge sheet that is much more like a regular pan. But the same principle applies.)

Joel Johnson

Colgate Wisp disposable toothbrush

Behold the new Colgate Wisp, a disposable toothbrush for on the go hygiene. They're pretty much like the travel toothbrushes available in truck stops for ages, with the toothpaste inside the handle, but in a more attractive packaging complete with case. They're $8.50 plus shipping for a pack of 16 at Drugstore.com.

It's not like toothbrushes aren't travel-sized to begin with, but I could see myself using these if I'd forgotten my brush at home. They're better than the truck stop brushes in one way: the paste inside has more fluid, making water unnecessary (unless you wanted to rinse); worse in another: they're single use.

Make these biodegradable, Colgate, and we'll talk.

Rob Beschizza

Review: A day with the YUBZ Talk retro handset

Yubz Talk is an old-fashioned phone handset, available in a variety of colors, that plugs into the 1.5mm jacks found on cordless phones and some cellphones -- adapters are available for the iPhone and other models. On it is a button for answering calls, and a volume slider -- its purpose and manner of operation is otherwise obvious.

Audio quality is good and it feels well-constructed. Is it worth $40? You already know if you want it, so that's for you to decide.

That said, it'd be great fun to pull one of these out of your inside coat pocket when the cellphone rings, then carry out a loud and agitated public conversation with it. Bonus points if you get angry with the caller and start looking around for a corresponding phone cradle to slam it back onto.

Product Page [YUBZ]

Steven Leckart

Pedal-Powered Hacksaw

"The possibilities are endless!"

Joel Johnson

A selection of pedal-powered things, including a couple of airships

Treehugger lists 17 examples of pedal power and propulsion, including the lovely "White Dwarf" airship pictured above.

Joel Johnson

Everything is Cancer: "Green" tungsten bullets may be carcinogenic

David Hambling at Danger Room:

Over 90 million rounds of the "green" training ammunition has been used in the United States, since its introduction. It relies on a blend of tungsten and nylon, or tungsten and tin. That gives the bullets the same density and firing properties as the original, but without using lead. Tungsten was considered non-toxic. And, besides, it was believed that it was "non-mobile", unlikely to dissolve and travel, so it wouldn't get into the groundwater.
But new research by University of Arizona Research Professor of Pediatrics Mark Witten points to a different conclusion: that tungsten may elevate the risk for cancer.

Joel Johnson

Why pixel art looked better on old televisions

NFG of the NFGForum has an interesting series of posts about aspect ratios and scanlines in pixel art from the 8- and 16-bit days, how they were shown on old CRTs, and how that affects display on modern digital displays. Not a ton of new info for veterans of the emulated game scene, but still a pleasant overview all the same.

A couple of years ago I got into a fiery argument on a forum with someone who thought he knew the 'right way' to display a video game, and all other ways were simply wrong 'cause the designers wouldn't want it that way.. He went through great lengths to add screen curvature, scanlines and even reflections of overhead lights to try and replicate the appearance of gaming on a CRT monitor.

He was obviously deranged.

Joel Johnson

Steven Johnson on eBooks

Steven Berlin Johnson in the Wall Street Journal on eBooks and eReaders, which is large part another paean to the Kindle:

On another occasion, I managed to buy and download a book on a New York City subway train, during a brief two-stop stretch on an elevated platform. Amazon's early data suggest that Kindle users buy significantly more books than they did before owning the device, and it's not hard to understand why: The bookstore is now following you around wherever you go. A friend mentions a book in passing, and instead of jotting down a reminder to pick it up next time you're at Barnes & Noble, you take out the Kindle and -- voilà! -- you own it.

While I can't disagree that the wireless downloads are part of the Kindle's special magic, there's one thing that I noticed whilst sitting outside with my Kindle and pulling my fiction pud with a little Conan this weekend: The best thing about the Kindle is that it isn't a computer. It has the convenience of wireless internet, but the calm of a proper book. Sure, it has a web browser and a dictionary, but I so rarely use them because of the shoddy interface and slow refresh of the screen that I don't conceptualize the device in my head as a computer, but just a fancy book.

That's actually going to go away here soon enough, with fast, color epaper wedded to better touchscreen interfaces. I'll then have to train myself to do something herculean like turn off the wireless. But in the meantime, I enjoy having a pleasant reading device that doesn't whoop and bloop every five seconds with email and IM alerts.

Joel Johnson

Hawking rushed to hospital

Reuters reports that Stephen Hawking has been rushed to the hospital. [via The Awl]

Joel Johnson

Retro robot cameo rings by Olivia Clare designs

Toffer writes: "My wife has a jewelry line (Olivia Clare Designs) in a few boutique shops in the Portland, OR area and has recently started selling her stuff on etsy. I have seen you guys post entries about interesting techy etsy items and thought you might want to take a look at her latest creation."

I like her non-robot stuff, too, which has a lovely organic art nouveau look. (Excepting the pin-up button rings, which I also like!)

Joel Johnson

South African Makita billboard is drilled pointillism

[I Believe in Advertising via Trendbeheer via PSFK via Toolcrib via Core77]

Joel Johnson

On the eighth day...

That's designer Ross Lovegrove, contemplating whether or not a white senatorial robe is appropriate attire in which to fuck a sink. (It's interesting that padded walls now come in 'marble'.) [via Core77]

Joel Johnson

Macintosh SEx

Weaselsnake:

Fun fact: in the old days of Macs, when the faster 68020 processor came on the market, it was put in the new Mac II. When the the 68030 processor was later introduced, Apple dictated that an "X" be added to the end of the model number. So the Mac II became the 68030 Mac IIx. Well, that naming scheme worked fine until Apple decided to upgrade the SE to a 68030. I guess Apple didn't want to try and explain the Macintosh SEx.

Joel Johnson

This is the type of fruitless anonymous comment I will now be binning

"Yay I just thought "I wish I could spend my moning watching ads" and boing boing has delivered! Now if only I could find a blog which is all ads all the time. ...seriously boing boing, why are we posting ads? Are they a 'wonderful thing'? Hell, you don't even have any editorial copy to go along with the ads in this post. Weak." – Anonymous

First of all: Ha ha. Get bent.

Second of all: I'm all about letting the idiots have their say in the comments, but from here on out if you want to being snide or criticize, you're going to have to register. I don't see why I have to put up with drive-by douchesniping on my site when someone doesn't even care enough to put their name on their comment.

Joel Johnson

Style frames from The Road

"Style Frames" are sort of like very rough concept art for movies, meant to evoke a feeling instead of being used a direct reference for set building and the like. Or at least that's what I've inferred from Hugh Marchant's set of images he created for the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which he's graciously post on Flickr.

The Road was filmed near Pittsburgh, home of our own Beschizza, who informed me that there is an abandoned turnpike around there that would be perfect for a post-apoc-themed reader meet-up in the future. I'll bring the meathooks, you bring your own human flesh.

Joel Johnson

Morning tech deals highlights

⌦ iMac – 20-inch 2.4GHz iMac for $970, shipped from Newegg. Probably want a little more RAM in there (it just has a gig), but would be a fine mother-in-law machine. [Dealhack]

⌦ Nintendo DS Game – Master of Illusion, a DS game that teaches card tricks (and comes with its own deck of cards), is just $6, shipped, from Buy.com. The reviews were middling on Metacritic, but user ratings were 8/10. [Dealoco]

⌦ Filtered Water – PUR two-stage water dispenser for $20, shipped. (Normally $40.) [Bargainist]

⌦ Pen Camcorder – A strange little camcorder inside a pen for corporate espionage or infiltrating your local poetry club. $43, shipped. [Dealnews]

⌦ LEGO Corkscrew – Amazon is selling the LEGO Corkscrew and Bottle Opener set for $6.50, about half off. If you pad your order over $25 (or have Prime) shipping is free. [Amazon]

Joel Johnson

iPod good enough for government work

Benjamin Sutherland reports for Newsweek about an increasingly common sight in the hands of our soldiers:

Using a commercial product for such a crucial military role is a break from the past. Compared with devices built to military specifications, iPods are cheap. Apple, after all, has already done the research and manufacturing without taxpayer money. The iPod Touch retails for under $230, whereas a device made specifically for the military can cost far more. (The iPhone offers more functionality than the iPod Touch, but at $600 or $700 each, is much more expensive.) Typically sheathed in protective casing, iPods have proved rugged enough for military life. And according to an Army official in Baghdad, the devices have yet to be successfully hacked. (The Pentagon won't say how many Apple devices are deployed, and Apple Computer declined to be interviewed for this article.)

Photo: d-fens

Joel Johnson

The Sensoring Manifesto

Grant Meacham has written The Sensoring Manifesto, a pithy proclamation about the fact that gadgets are just an intermediate state for something that will eventually exist inside of us:

By acquiring information as sensory input instead of a disruptive gadget, the natural senses are strengthened. The capacity of the brain can be increased, new senses added, and old senses enhanced. It has already been found that additional streams of information can be parallel processed by the brain, the user only aware of the information, not the delivery system. Not only is this possible, but it is happening right now. We are silently entering the age of sensoring, where our interaction and perception of the world will be defined by hacked and augmented senses. We are at the start of this transition, and we can choose how we will let it effect and shape our lives, but only if we are aware. Recently, technology has been advancing faster than culture, resulting in the adoption of objects without consideration of social ramifications. If the implications of sensoring are not addressed and discussed now, we will be unprepared for the future. The progression of technology is not going to slow down, and we will be expected to monitor increasing amounts and sources of information. Sensoring, augmenting and synthesizing new senses to process this data, will be the most effective way of staying connected without becoming detached from your environment.

Joel Johnson

Festo's bionic flying penguins

"Bionic solutions for efficient automation." That's the motto from Festo, who have crafted some robot penguins designs that work both underwater and in the air. For some reason the company's promotional video is not embeddable.

Rob Beschizza

Rumor: Foxconn making Apple netbooks

The Inquirer has found the perfect source to which rumors about hypothetical Apple products can be attributed: "Chinese whispers."

Rob Beschizza

Legway, the steampunk Segway

Instructables' bdring made a beautiful, tiring-looking Steampunk Segway:

A self balancing, human powered, steampunk styled, Segway. All you need is a brave self balancing human. This is the ultimate green vehicle for all you eco conscious steampunkers. Is that an oxymoron? I made this out of mostly found materials. This was my first steampunk styled build. Any good suggestions on making it look better will be incorporated as long as the materials are cheap and easy to find. I have been calling it the Legway in reference to the propulsion method. Yes, I know about those Lego self balancers of the same name.

Update: Oops! Cory spotted it over the weekend.

Via Make.

Rob Beschizza

The tiny camera used by ATM card cloning thieves

The Consumerist's article on what card skimmers look like describes the two gadgets that thieves use. First, there's an inconspicuous card reader attached to the real one, and second, a discrete camera to record your pin number:

How much does that high-tech assembly cost? You can grab it on Amazon for less than the cost of a video game!

Portable Mini Stick Hidden Camera with Built-in DVR & Audio [Amazon]

Brandon Boyer

Recently on Offworld

Recently on Offworld, with a few weeks of Nintendo's excellent DS rhythm game Rhythm Heaven under belt, Lisa Katayama told us what the game has to teach us about otaku culture, while MIT professor Henry Jenkins talks with two former students about what The Legend of Zelda can teach us about morality & philosophy.

We also took a quick look into the latest game in the Nintendo's WarioWare franchise that will put all its chaotic potential directly into the hands of the players by letting them design and trade their own micro-games online, and learned more about finely tuning a zombie-onslaught in Left 4 Dead's forthcoming Survival Mode DLC.

Elsewhere, we saw that the world's finest games festival -- Nottingham, UK's yearly GameCity fest -- will be returning in October and will now be free for all, watched the original Metroid composer play his music live, saw the best Mario writing utensil never made, and read the wryly funniest Craigslist ad we've seen in some time, as one enterprising poster offers "Tetris lessons at affordable rates."

Finally, we saw that the fantastic retro art exhibit Famicase -- which imagines 8-bit Nintendo games never made -- would be returning to Japan in May (above, the pick of Famicase 2008), watched one man discover just how disorienting the holodeck-future will be inside EON Reality's immersive 3D room, and, in a sentence no one ever imagined anyone would be typing, saw one man's attempt to bring Matthew Barney's arthouse cinema series Cremaster to the world of LittleBigPlanet.

Rob Beschizza

Hydrokinetic Adjustable Wrench

"While the Hydrokinetic Adjustable Wrench won't let you start up your TARDIS, it will let you fiddle with twenty three different sizes of bolts and nuts"

Product Page [ThinkGeek]

Rob Beschizza

Spam Art: SLT Lightbulb of Gaoxinjian Industrial Park

In the mailbox this morning, we are greeted by SLT lightbulb of Shenzhen, China, which would like us to know that it makes MD BULBs, SMD SPOTLIGHTs, SMD TUBE, Hipower downlights(dimmable), hipower spotlights(dimmable), hipower PAR lights(dimmable) etc.

If only Canadian pharmacists would supply lavish illustrations of their products, hand-painted in the style of a 1970s children's book about what life will be like in the year 2000: "Following picture for your reference."

Rob Beschizza

Power On Self-Test: Objects

Objects [Christian Weber via Today and Tomorrow via Ffffound]

Rob Beschizza

The new Apple ads

via 9to5 Mac

Rob Beschizza

T-Mobile: "You are qualified for Gold Rewards!" does not mean you are qualified for Gold Rewards

The balance on my T-Mobile pre-paid SIM mysteriously vanished a couple of weeks ago, despite the account having "Gold Rewards," wherein minutes supposedly don't expire for a year.

Here's part of the transcript of a chat with a T-Mobile support staffer, who patiently explained that qualifying for Gold Rewards does not actually mean that T-Mobile has granted them:

T-Mobile: I understand you want to know why your prepaid balance suddenly disappeared.

Rob Beschizza: That's right ... I'd topped it up only a few months ago

T-Mobile: Please hold on for a minute or two while I check this one for you. Would that be okay?

Rob Beschizza: And it should have lasted a year

T-Mobile: As I have checked your account, I found out that you are not yet in Gold reward status.

Rob Beschizza: I am looking at my account right now and it says "You are qualified for Gold Rewards!"

T-Mobile: Your Gold reward status will take effect on your next refill.

Rob Beschizza: So I have lost the $40 remaining balance?

T-Mobile: Yes, that is correct Rob.

T-Mobile: I apologize for the inconvenience.

I imagined that it was my own fault: the word-dance around "qualification" and "status" is just the sort of small print trick that's easy to miss. However, the agent's claim actually contradicts T-Mobile's own FAQ, which says you gain the status and the perks as soon you qualify. Emphasis mine:

Gold Rewards is a status that is reached once a T-Mobile To Go customer has applied more than $100 worth of refills (in any combination of $10, $25 or $50 refills) to his or her account or has purchased and applied a $100 refill to the account. Once a customer reaches Gold Rewards status, he or she automatically receives 15% more minutes for free and any unused minutes won't expire for a full year!

If you ... have already reached Gold Reward status, all unused minutes won't expire for one year from the date you last applied airtime to your account.

Gold Rewards rates take effect as soon as you spend over $100 on refills. ... NOTE: The 15% bonus minutes are included as part of the 1,000 minutes you received when you qualified for Gold Rewards.

In yet another T-Mobile FAQ, it's made clear that you receive Gold Rewards status as soon as you qualify for it:

You'll reach Gold Rewards status once you've applied more than $100 worth of refills (in any combination of $10, $25, $50, or $100 refills) to your T-Mobile To Go account. Once you reach Gold Rewards status ... any unused minutes won't expire for a full year!

Remember, T-Mobile said I didn't have this status, even though I've paid my dues.

Given how poor the carriers' customer service generally is, I'm fine with getting tricked by fine-print wrangling over the difference between "qualification" and "status." But T-Mobile's rationale for cancelling the minutes I paid for contradicts all but one of the FAQs I could find. T-Mobile explicitly promises that when you spend $100, you "reach Gold rewards status" and that "any unused minutes won't expire for a full year."

Is it really that difficult to have a no-BS rate schedule and to stick to it?

Update: So after writing this, I decided to call. T-Mobile gave me the same run-around regarding "qualified for Gold Rewards" not being the same as "Gold Rewards status." However, the operator offered a $20 credit when I pointed out that last FAQ entry. I took the offer, so that I can put it to bed. Commenters Stumo and Michiel are likely right that the best way to have gotten the full amount back would have been to put the dispute in writing -- another next step could have been to email the corporate brass directly.

Photo: Karl Baron

Joel Johnson

GandhiCam makes it difficult for cops to erase your videos from your BlackBerry

"GandhiCam" is an application for post-8700-series BlackBerry devices that automatically emails your (or an address you set) the images, audio, or video as it is taken, with the aim to make it easy to get the data off the device before it is confiscated or destroyed.

I'm not entirely sure where the data goes between the device and your email, or if it tries to upload directly through a plain ol' SMTP gateway.

There are other live broadcast from phones like Qik, obviously, as well as phone-to-Flickr or email gateways, but there's something to be said for a no-click solution.

Joel Johnson

"This is your second notice that your factory warranty is about to expire"

Reddit user Nevesis has sleuthed a lot of information about the National Auto Warranty Services, Inc aka US Fidelis, Inc, the company that has illegally robocalled millions of customers.

These are the only telemarketer calls I have ever gotten on my cellphone.

Steven Leckart

A Beginner's Field Guide To Pole-Watching

An estimated 160 million utility poles in the U.S. shore up with the millions of miles of crisscrossing cables that power our homes, phones and more. They're hard to miss, yet until recently, I'll admit I was mostly a utility pole dilettante. How often do most people really deconstruct the random wires, boxes, transformers, and industrial bric-a-brac hanging off them? Maybe you do. But if not, here's an introductory guide to pole ogling* after the jump...

[image via flickr]

*I did not mean that to sound vaguely sexual, but now that we're talking, yeah yeah, ha HA.

READ THE REST

Lisa Katayama

Sex with the cable guy: does it really happen?

Jordan, a gorgeously cute, freckled blonde, was looking to have her phone line installed so off we go to do what we do best, satisfy the customer. After looking at the disastrous mess of cable and wires at her place it was obvious to me, we didn't have the right equipment to do the job. Jordan, however, had a different job on her mind and I definitely had the right tool to take care of that. Watch me plug my cable into Jordan, and box and jackhammer that tight socket at T1 speeds.

Sex with the cable guy--it's a fantasy that has become a regular sexual obsession in our society, especially among bored housewives and other stay-at-homes. There's just something about blue collar man in uniform coming over in the middle of the day when the kids are at school and the husband is at work to satisfy all your entertainment needs--TV, Internet, daytime sex with a stranger. There are pornos with titles like Cable Guy Sex and Blue Collar Butthole (yes, the latter is gay porn) and Time Warner even produced a promotional calendar last year that featured 12 hot hunky cable guys with bulging muscles doing things like, cooking a delicious meal for you in their hard hat.

"It's the 21st century version of our grandmothers' sex with the milk man and our mothers' sex with the plumber fantasies," says Carol Queen, who runs the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. She also points out that, with the increase in the number of female cable people, there could be a secret lesbian angle to the fantasy, too. Keep reading for more cable guy porn scenarios and to read about my ongoing quest to find out whether sex with the cable guy actually happens.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Tonight @ Baker Boulevard Geographic Society: How To homebrew beer

Above, Patrick and Don of the Baker Boulevard Geographic Society generate a wall of noise from found objects connected to contact mics, a portable record player, and a signal generator. (Video shot and edited by Justin.)

Not pictured: Me drinking way more than anyone else and then basically passing out right after everyone left.

We'll be meeting again this evening at 8PM, where I will attempt to brew my first batch of homebrew in about two years, whereby others may learn from my mistakes.

Previously • Tomorrow Night in Eugene: The inaugural assembly of the Baker Boulevard Geographic Society (Includes a map.)

Lisa Katayama

Submarine cable maps: 1901 v. 2009

This is what the world's submarine cable system looked like in 1901, according to the Eastern Telegraph Company.

This is what it looks like now. [Image via Telegeography]

Steven Leckart

How To: Amp up a Home Recording Studio w/Cabling

With the advent of laptops and cheap software like Logic and ProTools, building a decent "home" recording studio isn't as out of reach as it used to be. But there's more to it than buying crisper mics, better pedals or amplifiers that go up to 11. I recently dropped by a small recording space in Portland, OR -- the unofficial band capital of the West Coast -- for the lowdown on how to get the best, albeit relatively-subjective, bang for the buck by ditching generic audio cables. Hint: buying the most expensive patch cable available isn't the solution -- more after the jump.

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Gallery: An illustrated history of the transoceanic cable

Coaxial Cable, 8-Tube (exploded view), 1946

A fanned-out section of an 8-tube coaxial cable. One pair of these tubes was capable of transmitting 600 simultaneous phone conversations or one television program in one direction.

Lloyd Espenschied and Herman A. Affel, [ca. 1949]

Inventors of coaxial cable, Lloyd Espenschied (left) and Herman A. Affel, examine sections of coaxial cable. In 1936, AT&T put in service the first coaxial cable for television use in New York City.

Golden Gate Straits – Submarine Cable, 1909

Splicing the submarine cable that stretched across the Golden Gate Straits, San Francisco, California.

READ THE REST

Lisa Katayama

Can new underwater cables finally connect Africa?

Did you know that only 5% of people living in Africa have Internet access? Two big reasons: accessibility and affordability. Right now, the entire eastern coast of Africa only has satellite Internet, which means it's way too pricey and slow for most people. Last week, the BBC reported that three separate efforts are underway to lay submarine cables. The front runner in this effort is Seacom, a private company that has already dug 13,700km of cables into the sea beds from Egypt to South Africa to France. It's planning a big launch in July, and the big impetus is the World Cup, slated to take place in South Africa in 2010--Seacom will likely be the main deliverer of soccer goodness from Capetown to the rest of the globe.

But what does this really mean? When the Sat3 cable system was laid down under the sea on the western coast of the continent in 2001, the vast majority of the population were still disconnected because it was way too expensive. "The gatekeepers to the cable were government-run, monopoly telecom providers," says Ashwin Mathew, a phD student who studies infrastructure and submarine cables at Berkeley's School of Information. "It's not just about introducing cable; who owns and has access to it will be a determining factor to how useful it is." Other factors include structures of investments and negotiating access to the cables for countries that aren't on the coast.

Also note that the 5% who do have Internet access aren't exactly tab-surfing or scanning RSS feeds like we are. Connections are patchy, electric outages are frequent, and shoddy transportation often bars people from getting to the nearest Internet cafe. "Internet users really use the hell out of the existing low bandwidth connections," says Jenna Burrell, who is Mathew's professor and researches connectivity in Africa. She adds: "Cafe owners in Ghana who were paying ISPs were really pinched between the high cost of the network connection and the limited amount of money their customer base was able to pay for the service."

Aside from Seacom, the East African Marine Cable System (Eassy) and The East African Marine System (Teams) are also working on submarine cable systems in the region. Neither of these are private projects, though, which could mean they might meet the same fate as the west coast's Sat3.

Still, locals are excited about it. "Costs for telephony and internet could drop to a fifth of what they are now," Kui Kinyanjui, a reporter at Kenya's Business Daily, tells me over email. "East Africa is one of the last frontiers in the world that has not yet linked up to the global fiber optic network."

Steven Leckart

Tip For Aspiring Cable Vandals: Read The Newspaper

A $250,00 reward was posted for info leading to the capture of whoever clipped at least 500 strands of underground fiber-optic south of San Francisco last week.

From SF Chronicle (bold is my own):

Public safety crews that rely on 911 calls, hospitals trying to access medical records and people who wanted to make a landline or cell phone call, use an ATM or make a purchase with a credit card found services down...

Considering their importance to public safety and the economy, fiber-optic cables are not highly secured. The manholes are on public streets, and their covers generally are not that difficult to remove... The typical manhole cover, a 250- to 350-pound disc of cast iron, can be removed with the use of a J-hook, a steel pole with a hook at one end, or any similar tool.

Am I the only one who finds it odd when "news" of a crime serves as a helpful tip to less clever, would-be copycats? It's like writing a blog post and linking to this and then this.

[image via flickr]

Lisa Katayama

Hide ugly cables with beads

Ugly cables making your living room look bad? Maybe these orange-and-white beads suit your tastes better.

[Nathalie Costes via NotCot]

Joel Johnson

"woooot" index

Woot, inspired by Rob's hard investigative look into the economy of lols, has done the deep googling necessary to track the elusive wooooot (and w00000000t).

Rob Beschizza

I know this is old news, but don't buy the Logitech VX Nano if you like middle clicking

"Never buy anything without researching it," I smugly tell people. "Even the most well-respected brand can't be trusted to produce consistently great products." So what did I do today? I trusted a well-respected brand and it gave me the middle finger.

When my trusty Logitech MX500, an excellent wired mouse, died this morning, I grabbed the $70 VX Nano, forgetting something important they don't tell you on the box: it doesn't middle click.

Clicking the scroll-wheel merely changes the sensitivity of the scroll-wheel itself -- a physical mechanism, meaning there's no option to reassign it in the Logitech Control Panel. If you want to middle click, you have to reassign another button, such as the uncomfortably-placed rubber nodule under the scroll-wheel.

Why replace a standard and essential feature with a pointless trick? Logitech's mice used to be great: that MX500 lasted half a decade! Now its own support staff don't even know basic details of how their products are constructed.

Update: I took the advice of commenter maoinhibitor below to try the MX518, Logitech's own updated version of the one that died. Once again, I suffered research fail: there's no drivers for the Mac! It isn't detected by the Logitech Control Center, meaning that the buttons can't be assigned, nor the tracking speed changed. There's a $20 third-party app called USB Overdrive that fixes this, but I'm thinking "No."

Update 2: Of the third-party mouse driver apps, Steermouse is the only one that detects all the buttons on the MX518 under Leopard 10.5.2 and above. The others don't seem able to override the defaults for buttons 7 and 8.

Joel Johnson

Hear me, O Monoprice

Joel Johnson

Reader Comment: "One AT&T operator once tried to convert me to Jesus"

The Secret Life of Plants' comment in a thread about iPhone exclusivity made me giggle:

T-Mobile is not perfect but they are nice, and you can talk to people who have actually power. One AT&T operator once tried to convert me to Jesus and then wouldn't let me pay my bill because I had forgotten my password. I was only trying to *give* them money but they said that it was a security risk if I didn't remember my password. This was after the warrantless wiretapping thing. I told her that I didn't give a shit if Saddam Hussein wanted to pay my bill and she hung up on me. I have been happy with T-Mobile ever since.

Joel Johnson

12 Gauge shot glasses

A twenty will get you the honor of four "12 Gauge Shot Glasses" just begging to have a small blasting cap wired into the bottom for remote detonation. Shipping is from the U.K., so expect it to sting like rock salt. (Thanks, Jo!)

Joel Johnson

Kogan Agora netbook reviewed, sort of

Inkslinger writes:

This is the first review I have seen of the Kogan Agora: the Australian-owned netbook, which is among the first in the world to be boxed with Ubuntu's Linux-based gOS Operating System. The reviewer gives it a huge rave, and also mentions how easy it is to modify. There are 18 photos here of the device - of the case but also under the cover.

Still: New netbook!

Relatedly, I got my Dell Mini 9 turned into a hackintosh last night. The 64GB Runcore SSD I put inside cost nearly as much as the netbook itself. Quick verdict: Nice to have something so small, works very well, but kind of makes me pine for a refurb MacBook Air (even though it'd still be twice the price).

Brandon Boyer

Today on Offworld

Most excitingly today on Offworld, area/code's iPhone puzzler Drop7 -- still one of the platform's absolute best, and one of the very few that (four months later) I'm still playing on a daily basis -- got a social update with worldwide leaderboard and Facebook Connect support that finally legitimizes its 'sequence' mode, and saw the release of a short EP of its fantastic Steve Reich-ian soundtrack. If you haven't played the game yet, do so as soon as possible.

Elsewhere we found a fantastic "brief history" of chiptunes (that actually is considerably more exhaustive than they give themselves credit for) in an academic journal, saw vinyl toy/comic star Whaleboy get a trademark for games, and watched the best machinima of the week with Seakitten Collective's LittleBigRevenge.

We also played Cosmic Nitro, the latest iPhone game from Galcon creator that's best summed up as "survival mode Missile Command x insanity", downloaded a number of songs from the soundtrack of our highly anticipated Stalin Vs. Martians, scratched our heads over the curiously un-tetramino shapes of Diego Silvério's Tetris furniture, and saw the former real-life Mario Kart prankster do Pac Man in real life.

Steven Leckart

A Spray Bottle Worthy of Spiderman

Swiss engineering at its best, available via Lee Valley.

Lisa Katayama

Review: The five second stadium stopwatch

Most of us have a somewhat decent internal clock that helps us guesstimate when it's time to wake up or time to feed the dogs, but how well can we count exactly five seconds without looking at the clock?

Bandai Gadget is a sub-brand of the great toymaker Bandai that exclusively makes toys that satiate random human urges. They've also invented fun things like the gun alarm clock, the electronic bubble wrap toy, and the digital poking box, but I think their best product to date is the Five Second Stadium Stopwatch.

The game is really simple: press the button once, the counter resets to 0:00 and the voice says: Ready? Press it again and the screen goes blank. Once you've counted five seconds in your head, hit the button again and the counter will display how many seconds have actually passed. And depending on how close you are, he'll say encouraging things like: You can do it! or yell at you: What the hell are you doing? (Nani yattenno yo!)

I have spent countless give-or-take-five-seconds with this thing, and have gotten as close to 4.99 and 5.01. But as this video taken just a few hours ago proves, exacting time is apparently not something I have gotten better at over time. It's a strange thing. Watching the video, I find myself thinking: D'oh! That's way past five seconds! or, Now! or, Yikes too early! But when I was actually doing it, I was honestly giving it my best shot.

Since this is conveniently pocket-sized and super addictive without being hard to comprehend, I've brought it with me everywhere--to conferences, parties, volleyball games--and people have invariably gotten addicted to it. I even had one stolen from me at ETech.

Anyone in the US can buy it on Gizmine.com for $20, but be warned: it is highly addictive and a total waste of time. But then again, who doesn't have five seconds to spare for useless entertainment?

Joel Johnson

Haminal: Plush tinned meat

The "Haminal" is a cute, cubish plushie that comes in its own meat tin. $12, plus shipping. [via Serious Eats]

Joel Johnson

Video: Dell's design VP Ed Boyd shows off their prettiest laptops

Dell's VP of Consumer Design, Ed Boyd, discusses the theory of Dell's latest design, including the Adamo laptop. He uses words like "unbridled" with a straight face.

Here's a design tip for Dell: Stop taking money from Intel and Microsoft so you can get those horrible little badges off the inside of your laptops. [via Core77]

Steven Leckart

Review: Culinary Art with the Magic Five

Google Translate:

"This is easier if they had simply been painted many times, such as mayonnaise and various sources. Clean look!"

The Magic Five is a crafty, Japanese spread bottle with five parallel holes. If you squeeze just right, you can decorate a plate, food or person (huzzah!) with pretty much any reasonably-thick, chunk-free condiment of your choosing.

After discovering the bottle at an okonomiyaki counter in Kyoto during my first trip to Japan last November, I was hooked -- then mega-disappointed I couldn't find one at Tokyu Hands. Finally, I managed to import one. Find out how after the jump...

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

I know this Aulis harvester will never actually exist, but it's green and curvy

Once again I'm breaking my own "don't post things that don't exist" rule, but this "Aulis" logging harvester by Niko Kugler and George Heitzmann gets a pass because it is 1) fancy-pants construction equipment, and 2) awful close to being a Constructicon.

Expect to see this never for infinite dollars, etc. [via Yanko]

Joel Johnson

Dual touchscreen laptop concept suddenly attractive when you add World of Warcraft

On the Intel/Asus-sponsed WePC.com, Destructoid's Niero Gonzalez had the same thought about dual touchscreen laptops that many of us have, but has made it oh-so-much-more compelling with a mockup of playing World of Warcraft on such a machine.

I'm writing pieces on WePC, too, for money. (Here's my latest, asking about gaming on netbooks.) I've been asking if we can get any special access to Asus's engineers so we can actually see if these sort of mockups may actually be produced. God knows Asus isn't afraid of releasing a zillion models with only slight differences in specifications.

In fact, it is their upcoming touchscreen netbook that is the first netbook to actually intrigue me in a while, since it brings something new to the table. I know several people have added touchscreens to netbooks with aftermarket kits, but I'd rather see them from the factory. (Aftermarket kits can be "cloudy", although this Dell Mini 9 with a touchscreen, for example, doesn't look too bad.)

It's impossible to link to stuff or talk about these companies on these conversational hub sites without it having the stink of the shill, which is why I don't tend to link to the stuff we do on these sites even though they really like us to do so. In this case, I actually just discovered Niero's post when it had a hundred-some-odd comments and thought, What has that crafty bastard done now? Couple that with my unfortunate recent inkling to play WoW again, and it's enough to make me think that I could live without a proper keyboard if it were this were my little dedicated gaming machine. (I wonder how WoW would run on an Open Pandora?)

Joel Johnson

Speak N Spellbinder is a Rock Band guitar circuit bendy axe

Well this is a thing: AJ Gannon has combined a Speak n' Spell with a Rock Band controller, making for one very wicked-sounding alphabet screamer. [via Music Radar]

Joel Johnson

Tweetlite flashes Twitter messages in Morse code

"Tweetlite" is a Arduino-powered plexiglass cube that displays a person's Twitter stream in LED flashes of Morse code. That would probably drive me nuts (although its creator Bruce Drummond does make a good point about its usefulness as a Morse code learning aid), but I've always been a sucker for ambient lights communicating status, even if in practice it can be a bit tedious.

Rob Beschizza

Texas Instruments develops smaller power bricks

Power bricks are the unmentioned overhead that makes laptop lugging a pain. This goes double for netbooks, which sometimes come with generic monster doorstops nearly equal in weight to the machine itself. Texas Instruments is developing a standard that halves the size while retaining the sturdy housing and safety features required by laptop manufacturers.

TI Halves Laptop AC Adapter Size with New IC [Tech On via CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

The watch with no face

Hironao Tsuboi's LED watch conceals its digits in the spaces between links, giving it the appearance of a plain metal strap when not activated.

Product Page [100per via Geekologie]

Joel Johnson

Local man buys MacBook Prototype on Craigslist

Jacob Van Order bought a MacBook Pro off a guy on Craigslist and ended up getting a prototype model that only runs Mac OS X Tiger, since the wireless card and some other bits are non-standard and were never supported on Leopard.

He's put up a Flickr gallery, but to honest it's basically just a MacBook Pro with some stickers on the bottom that say "Hey Apple Employee, don't sell this prototype on Craigslist, okay?"

Rob Beschizza

Go to the Panasonic Online Design Museum right now

There are many amazing items up at Panasonic's Online Design Museum. Gizmodo likes this curiously modern-looking bracelet:

It's definitely the stand-out, but I like this record player even more:

Design Museum [Panasonic via Gizmodo]

Rob Beschizza

Cassette To Digital, the aptly-named USB tape deck

This gorgeous wooden machine, from Japan's Novac, converts cassette tapes to MP3, WAV or WMA and pipes them up to your computer via USB. It's Windows-only, according to the specs, and will be $80 when it comes out later this month. In Japan.

Product Page [Novac via CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

Vostro A90 is Mini 9's evil twin

Dell's Vostro A90 looks familiar because it is a Mini 9 clad in black.

Rob Beschizza

Report: Amazon flipping the DRM kill-switch on customers' Kindles

Amazon can, at its pleasure, suspend your account: for example, if you return too many books or other purchases. This also means that your Kindle can no longer get virtual books and subscriptions you already paid for. From The Consumerist:

Your Kindle still works, and the books you already bought for it will work, but you can't download those books ever again (better have made a backup on your PC!), you can't receive your magazine, blog, or newspaper subscriptions on it anymore, you can't email documents to Amazon to have them converted and sent to your Kindle, and you can't buy any new books for the device. That $360 device only works so long as Amazon decides it will work.

What better example of how DRM makes "piracy" mainstream? If it's the only way to stop companies deleting the things we buy, otherwise law-abiding people will be happy to get their hands dirty.

Amazon Can Ban You From Your Kindle Account Whenever It Likes. [Consumerist]

Rob Beschizza

Acrylic Cowboy comes to town

Forget sleek aluminum monoliths from Lian-Li or Antec: this is where minimalism is about more than just looking pretty. The Acrylic Cowboy, previously a hard to find oddity, is now available in the U.S. for $76. It holds ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards, power supplies, and peripherals.

It is all the rage in Japan, we are assured.

Acrylic Cowboy [Geekstuff4U]

Rob Beschizza

Power On Self Test: Catamari

From Little-scale, Sebastian Tomczak's excellent blog about electronic music, arduino projects and like subjects.

Brandon Boyer

Today on Offworld

Today on Offworld, Ragdoll Metaphysics columnist Jim Rossignol takes a deeper look at the recently much-hyped promises of "cloud gaming" services like OnLive and Gaikai -- who suggest that the days of buying powerful home processing hardware are numbered if our games were processed on the cloud and delivered via video streaming -- and a look at what questions and concerns remain when the fantastic claims seem more reasonable in a few years time.

We also took a technical look into the five year development of Maxis' Spore via an exhaustive set of "liner notes" written by technology lead Chris Hecker (seen left, his very first created Spore creature) as well as art director Ocean Quigley's own blog, and played Don't Save The Princess, today's best indie PC game.

Elsewhere we saw Bill O'Reilly discover the new world of Nintendo via a 1988 broadcast, imagined how Bioshock should have ended, saw a fantastic new LUA hack for Super Mario Bros 3 where all control of the game is given to painted-on rainbow stripes, and ordered a set of ruggish Pac-Man half-sized knuckle dusters.

Finally, we played a game where Daft Punk seek their samples stolen by rival electro-duo Justice, pre-ordered adorable official Bubble Bobble shirts and ordered more wearables via the new Edge magazine shop, and, best of all, watched the latest video from pop duo Boy in Static created entirely with TextEdit and ancient .gif clipart -- and then played a game based on the same.

Joel Johnson

Gator Guard is a scareduck

For seventy bucks, you can put a Gator Guard in your pond that is designed to keep aquatic birds away, even in states where alligators are not common, as birds are instinctually fearful of plastic heads. [via Toolmonger]

Joel Johnson

CycleKarting, hand-built vintage race cars

CycleKarting is the art of driving your little hand-built vintage go-kart around a dirt track. Total build cost can't be more than $1,750, which sounds just perfect. [via Jalopnik]

Joel Johnson

FamilyMap: Track your family using the same technology the government is using to track them

Ryan Singel:

AT&T is now offering FamilyMap, a $10 a month which lets you see where your spouse or children are in real-time using their phones as beacons (assuming you have a family plan). Unlike when the feds use such technology, AT&T says it will send a text to each tracked phone as the feature goes on, and a reminder every month.

Steven Leckart

Stealthy Ninja Jacket is Magical*

*Only renders actual ninjas invisible.**

[designed by Brian Wood, via LikeCool]

**That was more or less Joel's joke.

Lisa Katayama

The White Stripes reimagine two classic "toy" cameras into collector's items

Not all cheap crappy cameras are treated as junk. The Lomographic Society, a Vienna-based experimental photography organization, teamed up with The White Stripes to create two modern-day versions of vintage cameras, the Holga and the Diana. The Holga, as some of you may know, is a cheap (around $15) medium-format camera made in China best known for its imperfections--photos shot with it are often blurry and distorted. Similarly, the Diana--first produced in Hong Kong in the early 60s--is known for its low quality and light leaks, and was most frequently acquired as a cheap prize at carnivals. Some photo enthusiasts love them, though, for the cinematic, imperfect results that come out of normal pics snapped with these guys.

Both cameras come with cool accessories like peppermint film mask filters and fisheye lenses, and are named after the Detroit Duo--"Jack" Holga and "Meg" Diana. Only 3,000 each were produced, but it looks like you can buy them here.

The White Stripes & Lomography [via MoCo Loco]

Joel Johnson

Music Video: "In Harmony", Pomplamoose + EHX Voice Box

Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte have done another promo video for the EHX Voice Box, superimposing Nataly's singing over a live shot of the box while someone fiddles with the knobs.

Consider it an ad for the Voice Box, but one with a nice song along with it. (I spent a couple hours after Jack and Nataly's first Voice Box video and really enjoyed their work.)

Rob Beschizza

Gizmodo mounted on maple blocks, sounds great

John Mahoney's article about a meeting with famed audiophile Michael Fremer is wonderfully written. In fact, it's the most effective pro-audiophile piece I've seen in years. He went in skeptical and emerged a believer, even after hearing the telltale hiss of dead technology.

That it's a well-crafted piece is what makes it so sad to read: his hypothesis is that even if normal people can't appreciate what makes ultra-expensive gear special, audiophiles can. This is a myth, and to honor it like this is to sell it.

His tests, of course, were entirely subjective. Mahoney's conclusions emerge with an unremarkable discovery--that a 256kbs MP3 played on an iPod doesn't sound as good as a well-kept vinyl record on high-end gear. It moves on in steps, however, toward serious discussion of the differences between varieties of thousand-dollar power cable and Flatland-like descriptions of the amazing aural world of the audiophile.

I've met Fremer, just once. He's a a nice chap who sincerely believes in the technology, unlike some of the people who sell it. But Mahoney's journey from skepticism to poesy shouldn't surprise you, because it's how music store salesmen have been "turning" skeptics since the beginning of time: establish a difference between shit and sugar, and then say "But if you pay more, you get more sugar. Are you sure you can't hear it?"

The hard part in making sense of this is in challenging what we understand to be reasonable. When you think you hear a difference but haven't done the work to rule out bad mastering or other variables, how can you be sure? And when you don't even notice the hiss anymore, how do you trust your own frail senses with so much money?

There's only one way to rationalize it all: golden ears. Mahoney is not afraid to couch that epiphany in the requisite vaguely scientific terminology:

Audiophiles are basically synesthesiacs. They "see" music in three-dimensional visual space. You close your eyes in Fremer's chair, and you can perceive a detailed 3D matrix of sound, with each element occupying its own special space in the air. It's crazy and I've never experienced anything like it.

But John, was it danceable?

The problem isn't that expensive gear doesn't sound better than rubbish. The problem is the claim that you can go from "98.6 to 99.1 percent by swapping out a $2,600 AC power cable for a $4,000 one."

There is not a law of diminishing returns here: there is merely the law of whether you can hear it or not. Tests under controlled conditions would justify these claims, but no-one ever agrees to do them.

Such recalcitrance is fine, but it's an admission that audiophiles have supernatural powers.

And that is why it's O.K. to shoot them.

Why We Need Audiophiles [Gizmodo]

Rob Beschizza

Amazing miniature cabinet plays classic games

[pocket_lucho]'s miniature arcade games are just about perfect: sized just big enough to be playable, but small enough to be truly amazing.

Source [Elotrolado via Make]

Rob Beschizza

Rubik's Cube Card Reader

USB 270° x 270° Cubic Card Reader [Brando via Awesomer]

Steven Leckart

Time Travel Cheatsheat

TopatoCo created is selling a t-shirt and poster featuring a handy guide of stuff to know and do should you ever get stranded back in time. For instance:

Aluminum used to be more valuable than gold. Depending on when you are, it still is. Extract it from rocks by dissolving them into molten cyrolite and running current through it. You'll find cyrolite in Greenland, latitude 61.2, longitude -48.16. Look for glassy white crystals.

[via SuperForest]

Update: The graphic was made by Ryan North of "Dinosaur Comics," which I also love. (thanks @Skwid!)

Rob Beschizza

USB necktie

Via Oh Gizmo.

Xeni Jardin

BB Video: The Flaming Bacon Lance of Death, from Theo Gray's book "Mad Science"

MP4 Download here. Or, watch this video on YouTube here.

YouTube channel here, subscribe on iTunes here. Twitter updates @boingboingvideo, and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video.

Yesterday, I blogged about the release of Popular Science columnist Theo Gray's new book, MAD SCIENCE.

In today's episode of Boing Boing Video, a collaboration with PopSci, we debut the world-premiere of the first video documenting an experiment like the ones you'll find in this book -- in which Theo cuts steel with bacon. It's a FLAMING BACON LANCE OF DEATH.

Yes, that's right, using nothing but bacon -- okay, prosciutto -- and an air hose, Mr. Gray constructs a high performance thermic lance that seriously cuts sheet metal.

In this video, you'll also see a purely VEGAN THERMIC LANCE built from one cucumber and several dozen thin vegetable-oil coated breadsticks. (Tip: the performance is all about the oil). This hotrod burns fast and furious, but does not last long enough to initiate a cut in steel sheet. The flame front travels towards the back of the cucumber and endangers the operator when it reaches the rubber connector.

Gray also created a CUCUMBER-BEEFSTICK LANCE. A high-performance thermic lance constructed from seven beefsticks and a cucumber. Later versions used Pup-Peroni brand dog treats, which are exactly like beef sticks only cheaper.

In some ways this device out-performed the Bacon Lance, and it's much easier to build.

But it's not made of bacon.

Theo tells Boing Boing,

"Cucumber is an *excellent* base for these things because it's air-tight, moist (to resist fire), easy to core, and has a rubbery skin that makes an air tight seal. About the only thing wrong with cucumbers is that they are not made of bacon. (I have a thing called a "fruit coring tool" which is like a very small round cookie cutter on a stick. You drill it down the middle of the cucumber until it comes out the other end, then stuff the cucumber with the chosen fuel.)"

These devices were created by Theodore Gray. Videography in this BB Video episode by Nick Mann (shot on the 5D Mk II). Photos by Mike Walker.

Previously: Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home, But Probably Shouldn't (Book)

Special thanks to Boing Boing Video's hosting partner Episodic.

Steven Leckart

Star Trek Dance Parties: You're Prob Not Invited

Years ago, women like this were supposed to make fun of people like you for loving Star Trek. Now they're making a living promoting it -- and not just at Comic-Con, but at "hipster" dance parties in L.A. The geek chic pendulum has officially swung as far as it can.

[More photos via Cobrasnake & LA Weekly]

Update: Here's the t-shirt they were giving away there, from the failed eBay auction. It's a riff on this Beatles t-shirt by a Japanese designer whose name I've forgotten. Too bad it says Cobrasnake on it. – Joel

Update 2:

The poster is by Jesse Phillips, but I can't find it for sale anywhere. I sent him an email to ask if Paramount is selling any, though. – Joel

Rob Beschizza

Pac-Man Bandages

Fred Flare makes these cute Pac Man band-aids for $9 a box.

Rob Beschizza

Memoria thumbdrive

The Memoria: a palace of thought in the canons of western rhetoric, or a cheap, swarovski-studded thumbdrive? You decide!

SOLID ALLIANCE USB MEMORIA [Geekstuff4u]

Rob Beschizza

Who gives a damn about AT&T's entitlement to iPhone exclusivity?

Do cellular carriers have fanboys? The very thought makes my skin crawl. As AT&T's brass appeals to Apple to extend its iPhone exclusivity period past 2010, however, there appears to be debate over the matter. Lonnie Lazar at Cult of Mac lays out the somewhat obvious arguments against it:

As the Apple spokeswoman in the WSJ article was quoted, "We have a great relationship with AT&T." But how about the consumer? ... Even if technical issues cannot be overcome that prevent iPhones, as they are currently manufactured, from working with Sprint and Verizon's CDMA-based services -- and surely they could be overcome in this day and age -- having a choice between AT&T and T-Mobile is better than having a choice between AT&T and not using an iPhone at all.

If nothing else, if there were a Sprint or Verizon iPhone that operated on Evdo rev. A., the name "iPhone 3G" would be a technical joke rather than an actual one.

Why Apple Should Not Extend AT&T's Exclusive iPhone Service Deal [Cult of Mac]

Rob Beschizza

Power company plans first orbital solar power satellite

Pacific Gas and Electric is reportedly seeking permission to test a solar power satellite, which would send energy generated in orbit to a radio receiver station in Fresno County, California.

the solar energy available in space is eight-to-ten times greater than on earth. There's no atmospheric or cloud interference, no loss of sun at night, and no seasons. That means space solar can be a baseload resource, not an intermittent source of power.

In addition, real estate in space is still free (if hard to reach). Solaren needs to acquire land only for an energy receiving station. It can locate the station near existing transmission lines, greatly reducing delays that face some renewable power projects sited far from existing facilities.

While the concept of space solar power makes sense, making it all work at an affordable cost is a major challenge, which Solaren says it can solve.

Unfortunately, despite the 200 megawatt output. the frequency used means that it's completely safe. Thinking meat that strays into the beam won't feel a thing.

Space Solar Power: The Next Frontier? [Next100 via jwz]

Rob Beschizza

Pornstation Portable

A Tampa mom claims that after buying a "new" PSP at Wal-Mart, her 6 year-old kid found tons of porn on it. From the local Fox affiliate's story:

"I showed it to my mom, and I ran back to my room...she said I'm not in trouble," says Eliso.

Tamatha says she found a memory card inside the P.S.P. containing hundreds of pornographic pictures. She says it's not hers and it was in the P.S.P. before she opened the box. Tamatha called the store wanting to speak with a manager about the problem.

It's kind of funny how some commenters on the internet are writing, "This is impossible, unless there was a memory card inside it."

Child finds porn on PSP [Fox via The Consumerist]

Brandon Boyer

Today on Offworld

Today on Offworld, we played Scarygirl, the just-released new platformer game based on illustrator and designer toy maker Nathan J's exquisitely designed world and characters, which, pleasantly enough, turned out to be one of the richest web-game experiences in recent memory.

We also learned that Through the Looking Glass -- the first and only game ever first-party Apple developed and published for the Mac -- had been brought to the iPhone as AliceX by its original developer, Steve Capps (who would go on to help develop the first version of the Finder).

Elsewhere we saw Sony taking on a new strategy of selling digital-download-only PSP games at retail by providing little more than a box and a download code, read how game developers and porn stars are alike, saw the 13 oddest developments in the history of the Game Boy, and found out that the new PC release of Xbox Live Arcade favorite Braid comes with a full level editor.

We also learned more about the "feverish bad crazy" at the heart of EVE Online, took a longer look at iPhone space combat game Galaxy on Fire, listened to our favorite loopy lonely computer song, wondered if a game based on the attack in Fallujah was "too soon," started reading a new blog dedicated to the art of the pixel, and, wonderfully, found an 8-bit heart meter T-shirt that only refills when it's close to its mate.

Steven Leckart

Russian Steampunk Case Mod

The Russian-born Wall-E case mod was solid. But this steampunkish tube, wood and pipe job posted to English Russia is just plain nutty. When did intensely-over-the-top case-modding become the thing to do in Russia?

Joel Johnson

Photos: IBM machine, City Hall (1961)

Photo: The Library of Virgina

Photo: Library of Virginia

Lisa Katayama

Japanese cell phones designed by artist Yayoi Kusama

One of my favorite artists in the world is Yayoi Kusama, an octogenarian Japanese lady with an obsessive, clearly genius mind who has checked herself into a mental hospital after a trauma-filled childhood and a career that entailed spending the fifties in New York City with Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and Donald Judd. She just draws dots everywhere, on the ceiling, on the table, on herself--and now, on some creatively packaged Au by KDDI cell phone handsets which were announced last week. [Reuters via TokyoMango]

Joel Johnson

Photo: Array of UFO Shapes

[NCAS.org]

Joel Johnson

Medigenic keyboard for hospitals

The Medigenic infection-control computer keyboards have several neat tricks to prevent them from picking up any viral or bacterial baddies: they whole thing is sealed and can withstand hospital-grade disinfectants; there's a one-key switch that will disable the rest of the keys without forcing you to unplug it, making it possible to give it a quick wipe-down; it even has backlighting under each key.

But my favorite feature of the $140 Medigenic? The faux 3D keyboard silk-screened onto the surface.

You can pick up an equally crevice-less mouse for $80. [via Oh Gizmo!]

Joel Johnson

Video: Rapid Prototyping by Karl Frankowski

The fourth in a series of videos from Karl Frankowski, explaining the processes behind rapid prototyping for industrial designers. [via Core77]

Joel Johnson

Best Buy's "community" forum flags "Buy.com" as offensive

"Buy.com" Is Apparently A Curse Word On Best Buy's Forums [Consumerist]

Joel Johnson

Dharma Initiative ads from National Geographic

Hot Meteor has created these "vintage" ads from National Geographic for LOST's Dhama Initiative. [via Kottke]

Lisa Katayama

Woman publishes book full of text messages sent to her dead husband's cell phone

65-year old Toshiko Fukuda of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, lost her husband to asbestos on April 17th last year. Her husband, Motoo, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2006, probably from the steel pipe factory he worked at. He got worker's comp, but the disease ultimately destroyed his lungs and left him with hallucinations for the remainder of his life. Shocked, the widowed Fukuda started sending text messages to her dead husband every time she thought of something she wanted to say to him. Things like: "I couldn't live if I didn't think you were still beside me. I can't live [without you]. I'm crying every day" and "I want to call you 'Otosan' to my heart's content. Why do you have to be inside such a small urn?" Every time she sent a message, the phone by his home shrine vibrated (she made sure it was always charged).

Now she's publishing a book with the loosely translated title Job Transfer to Heaven Without Family-I Wanted to Be With You Longer, a compilation of all her text messages from the past year that she hopes will educate the public about the dangers of asbestos. [via Yomiuri via Asia Daily News]

Joel Johnson

eBay: Rare "Electronic Train" LEGO set (1968)

You've only got about three hours left to make a bid, but if you've got $1,450 or so you can get a new-in-box LEGO Set #118, the "Electronic Train" from 1968. From the eBay description:

is a train set that includes a locomotive, 'coal car' (which houses the batteries) and a couple pieces of track to display the set. But here's why the set is so special: it is one of the first uses of electronics in Lego toys! There is an electronic 'brick' included in the set (see all pictures), a special whistle that gives off a certain pitch, and a microphone (white block). Once you put three 1.5V 'C' batteries (not included) in the 'coal car' the train is ready to move! One blow on the whistle and the train starts forward AUTOMATICALLY! It will continue to run until you blow the whistle again-then it will stop AUTOMATICALLY! On the third blow it will again resume going forward AUTOMATICALLY!

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Pointless speculation about the next iPhone's camera

If this report from DigiTimes is true, the next iPhone will use one of these 3-megapixel CameraChip sensors from OmniVision, capable of (but not necessarily guaranteed to use) autofocus and zoom.

My guess has been and remains to be that the next iPhone will be the "iPhone Video" and will be Apple's attempt at fighting the Flip camcorders.

Joel Johnson

Pinch Media's Greg Yardley responds to our comments about iPhone stats tracking

I really enjoyed the response Greg Yardly, Co-Founder of iPhone stats tracking package developer Pinch Media, gave in response to my link to a story about what sort of data Pinch Media collects from iPhone users for its clients. (Reproduced in part here, but you should really read the whole thing):

I didn't consent to any of the tracking Boing Boing does - there's no terms of service or privacy policy that pops up on first entry. Even if there *was*, by the time I got here, it'd be too late. If we went by the first commenter's standards, Boing Boing's running eleven different pieces of spyware.

Every single person who installs an iPhone application consents to data collection in advance - it's right there in the default EULA Apple's provided so developers don't have to hire lawyers before publishing something. So unlike Boing Boing, the developer actually has gotten your consent beforehand.

...

Analytics provide a useful function - they help keep costs low by allowing developers and content providers to optimize. Boing Boing's use of eleven different trackers - while a little on the high side - are no different from a developer's use of Pinch Media. Without them, Boing Boing would make a lot less money and have a lot less resources devoted to spreading hypocritical, misleading FUD.

...

Oh, and for the commenter that suggested a lawsuit could produce detailed information on a user's movements - you can't subpoena what we don't store, so the best you're going to get is nearest city. Try the carriers, they're much more likely to share.

Greg Yardley
Co-Founder, Pinch Media

And as far as Boing Boing's tracking and analytics goes, I can't really argue against his general point. It's useful for me as a writer and small businessman to have some basic stats (tracking pageviews to understand what sort of articles readers find compelling, for instance), and I think most people understand that a baseline of metrics is par for the course on commercial sites, but I hate the amount of tracking the comes out of the ad networks, too, and it only seems to be getting worse. There's rarely more perfidious Javascript than that coded by an ad network programmer.

But there's one difference between web-based tracking and the sort of analytics that Pinch Media gathers on the iPhone: it's pretty simple to figure out what stats tracking occurs between a web site and a browser on a computer, as Yardley shows; it's much more difficult to discern—or even be aware of—tracking that occurs in a closed system like the iPhone. And it's not FUD to point it out so users can make their own decision.