Daniel Simon, the man who waited in line for a full week for the iPhone 3G, was denied access to the store. An Apple security guard just didn't like the look of him, it seems — or the basket of apples he carried. Simon was eventually allowed in, albeit supervised by police and without the fruit of terror.

The video was uploaded by "pelmerdewitt. In the comments at CNN's Apple blog, Simon writes that Apple's apologized to him:

Ron Johnson (Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple Computer) apologized to me about the scuffle as TheWhoFarmers finally left the Apple Store with phones for us and for Barack Obama and John McCain. We agreed it was EXTREMELY bad judgment on the part of one private security guard (who wore no name tag, but had been barking orders all morning long.) And that bygones will be bygones.

Let’s all hope that whoever the guy who pushed me learned something from that experience. I’m not sure exactly I learned, but I’m sure it was something. (I’m still QUITE sleep deprived.}

Sounds like a perfect candidate for a position as a TSA screener.

Japanese company offers ringtones for dogs [CrunchGear]

At last weekend's Maker Faire, this seventeen-foot robot giraffe approached small children and ordered them to pet him in a voice of cold, montone command. "He. He. He. That tickles," he would say when his sensors are stroked in a chilly, oddly haltering tone that might be best described as the phonemic equivalent of the Syncro LET font. It was weird, yet oddly delightful... which should be taken as good news for any roboticists working on perfecting perversion routines for their AIs. Society will accept your creation. Look at Tickle Me Elmo.

The Giraffe — alternatingly called Russell or Rave Raffe — is the creation of Lindsay Lawlor and Russell Pinnington, and also makes regular appearances at Burning Man.

Electric Giraffe [Official Site via Gadget Lab]

Image: Wired

Why the wait? Well, they all work perfectly, but that's to be expected. Durability is the important criterion, especially when these simple items are made complex enough to qualify as gadgets. And that they do: the control collars have a soft handle that extends out from inside the hollow collar, acting as a kind of emergency dog brake, and the seat belt latch connects a leash to a seat belt, to restrict a dog's movement in a vehicle. They work, and work well—the latches kept our dogs safe but fairly free on a 1,500-mile trip, and the elastic collar-handles work well as a way to stop a pup savaging the postman, though they don't extend far enough to work as leashes, unless you're very short.

A year in, they're a little frayed at the edges, but the elastic on the quick control collar is still strong and the collars themselves have yet to show significant wear. One thing has failed: the little transparent plastic tag-holders. These went quickly, as they're no more durable than the plastic sheaths one might find on a file folder or the inside of a restaurant menu.

Product Page [Bamboo]

Dwarf mongooses (mongeese?) are trained to sniff out explosives in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, making disposal of the island's countless landmines far less dangerous. Lightweight and intelligent, they don't set off the bombs, and can yell "get me the hell out of here!" when strapped to the robots that drag them through dangerous, landmine-infested locales.

Mongoose and Robot Landmine Detector [New Scientist via Hacked Gadgets]

Hammacher Schlemmer suggests lining several of these $30 domes around the perimeter of your yard, to allow your pet an unrestricted view of interesting places it cannot go.

Product Page [HS] (Thanks, Heather!)

Puck, our elderly german shepherd, went missing. Some local kid reached though the gate, unlocked it and let our dogs out for his or her own amusement. After a morning spent searching, one question kept returning to me over and over again: "Why do GPS dog collars cost six hundred dollars?"

Times have changed, and Zoombak now offers a GPS-based dog locator for a much cheaper $200 — definitely worth it, as you will discover if a beloved pup ever goes off for a dangerous jaunt around the block. The flip side is that you need a subscription, costing $15 a month, with cancellation fees if you want out.

This is perhaps because it uses assisted GPS, which adds a cellular transceiver to improve performance, and because the service includes a web-based tracker you can access whenever you want, notification via SMS if the wearer leaves designated "safe" zones, and 24/7 emergency support.

From pics, it looks about the size of an MP3 player or pager; it's likely just marketing that has it as an animal tracker, and I see no reason it couldn't be used to track youngsters, cars, or anything else you might slip it into. Its battery life is OK: about 5 days on standby, with alerts sent to cellphone or email when it needs juice. A full week would have been nice, but it would then probably weigh too much for small dogs; as it is, Zoombak already recommends it for animals 15 lbs or larger.

By the way, Puck was found safe and well, having managed to travel more than three miles in just a few hours. A kindly person saw her wandering, braved a look at her tags, and gave us a call. Even now, though, I'd love to know how she got from one side of the city to the other.

Product Page [Zoomback]

Jerry the daschund enjoys playing with this automatic tennis ball launcher, which shoots off the ball every time Jerry puts it back in the hopper. (Thanks, David!)