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DVICE ARCHIVE FOR May 2007
Image by Matt Krueger Warning: this first part is going to sound like an advertisement. I love Google. I trust Google with an inordinate amount of information. It hosts a blog for me, my primary e-mail account, my calendar, and...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
You may be wondering how Google took all those millions of photos to get street-level views for its online Google Maps. The 360-degree shots were captured by Immersive Media, an innovative company that's been capturing views like this since...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Can a website be repackaged as a "desirable physical object" in a non-x-rated way? QiGO certainly thinks so. The company hated the fact that there's so much paid content on the Internet, and yet no way for anyone to...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Do you suck at pool? Yeah, me too. I always wished I was one of those guys that could walk into a pool hall and clear the table in one go, but alas, I cannot. Therefore, my fellow pool guppy,...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
As anyone who has them can tell you, having allergies sucks. A lot. Being outside can just be pure torture, and you need to escape to a controlled climate to get some relief. Ford wants to provide allergy sufferers...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Alex Rodriguez, take note: The latest anti-paparazzi invention making the rounds is a reflective spray dubbed Blur, which purports to neutralize camera sensors with reflective nanoparticles. Once sprayed on a subject's face, photos of that person will be rendered as...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Saving energy is all the rage these days. If you want to hop on the bandwagon (and honestly, who doesn't?), then you need to start examining your own energy consumption habits to see where you can cut them down....
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Pulling out a card table for extra seating is so last century. Designer Jakob Gebert has a much better take on the quickly assembled table, called the Tischmich. The trapezoidish legs fit into recessed grooves under the tabletop for...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
OK, kids, it's time to stop trying to innovate the computer mouse. Logitech did a decent job with its Revolution model, but now everybody's doing it — throwing in features that are borderline useless, like LCD screens or dual...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
I don't get audiophiles. I mean, how empty does your life have to be for you to become obsessed with the tiniest differences in sound quality, to the point where you're willing to spend your kid's college fund on...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Palm has just unveiled what they hope will be the next big thing, and it's called the Foleo. It's a small, laptop-esque device that syncs up with your Treo automatically. That means you can open it up and edit...
POSTED Thursday, May 31, 2007
Did your school notes never make any sense? Did you look back at them, shrug and say, "Well, I guess the Revolutionary War wasn't that important"? What if your incomprehensible scribbling matched up with what the professor was actually...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
No teenager wants to be on the business end of StreetEagle GPS Tracker, but beware — this technology is here and it's becoming more mainstream. Once the StreetEagle tracker is installed in your vehicle, it can easily be set...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
If you ever wanted to be the mad scientist with a lab full of bubbling flasks, liquid filled tubes and brimming beakers, this Hydrodynamic Building Set might just be the next best thing. More fun than even the fanciest...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Stealing wireless from your neighbors is great and all, but sometimes the connection just isn't fast enough for all the torrents you're downloading. What you need is a Slurpr. This bad boy has six wireless antennas, allowing you to...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
A few years ago at CES, Bill Gates demoed a future technology that would allow users to sit down in a restaurant, hotel, or airline lounge and use an interactive table surface to get work done. It was a...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Google Maps has just added a pretty sweet new feature that allows you to actually see the streets that you're getting directions on, and not just satellite images from above. No, now on select city streets you can have...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sailing gives you an unmatched sense of freedom, flying across the water in the summer sun. It sounds great, doesn't it? Too bad you need a huge boat and a way to get it to water if you want...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
iTunes just got an upgrade, getting things prepped for the DRM-free AAC sales as well as adding some new features. Dubbed iTunes Plus, the new version will allow you to either download DRM-encased files for the standard $0.99 or,...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Having a portable speaker for your music player is fun, as it lets you share your tunes with people without needing to pass headphones around. The problem is, small speakers produce small sound. And by small I mean terrible. Tinny,...
POSTED Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Here's a charming blend of old and ancient tech, a CD player that looks like it took a few cues from an ancient Victrola from a century ago. Designer Yong Jieyu took the innards of a disassembled CD player...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
It should come as no surprise that Mitch Altman, inventor of the TV-B-Gone, has come up with a new device that provides entertainment of a totally different kind. Having given legions of TV haters the ability to turn off...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Don Dunklee manages a Rite-Aid by day. By night, he's a DIY maverick who built his own solar-powered scooter that gets him too and from work without the hassle of gasoline. When he rides it, the solar panels are...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
It's tough to go anywhere inside these days where you aren't within the watchful gaze of a video camera, capturing your every move. And that's just the obvious ones — how can you know if your boss has put...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
LG, clearly a company with its fingers on the pulse of consumers everywhere, has filed a patent for a washing machine with a built-in dock for either an iPod or a Zune. Yes, a washing machine with an iPod...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
For just $17, the Universal AC Travel Adapter will make sure your gadgets never run out of juice no matter where in the world they are. A quick twist of the base and it sprouts prongs for the electrical...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Being a more environmentally conscious person isn't just about the big things like buying a hybrid car or installing a solar panel on your roof. Sure, those things are great, but they're also expensive. You can curb your energy...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
This seriously ugly phone concept is unique not only in that it looks like it was designed by a blind second grader, but also because of the unique health-centric technology crammed inside. Most notably it has a chemical "nose"...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Do you enjoy television? Do you enjoy drinking? Do you decorate your apartment like a model home of the future from the 1960s? If you answered yes to all of those questions, then do I have a product for...
POSTED Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Taking the kids out for a walk no longer has to be a boring affair. This TrioBike is a bike with a two-seater stroller attached to the front, allowing you to get your bicycle-based exercise while taking the kids...
POSTED Monday, May 28, 2007
Barbecuing is an activity steeped in testosterone, getting manly men all riled up with the holy trifecta of meat, fire, and gear. Add beer to the mix and you've got a recipe for the perfect summer afternoon. But what if...
POSTED Monday, May 28, 2007
It's important to look professional, put together, and grown-up, especially when you're actually an underdeveloped manchild underneath your flimsy facade. If you want to get anywhere in this world, you need to keep your impulses hidden so the world...
POSTED Monday, May 28, 2007
Now this — this is a sexy laptop. A mere 0.7 inches thick, it's nearly as thin as a Motorola RAZR phone yet still manages to pack in an impressive set of features. Inside the 2.25-pound body are all...
POSTED Monday, May 28, 2007
Fear not, this is just the dancing speaker called Wassup. Cute is an understatement: The oval-shaped robot with floppy legs and ears looks like a dancing rabbit from the future. Wassup is activated by sound from your iPod or other...
POSTED Monday, May 28, 2007
Back in the day, to get past the notorious velvet rope at the front door of the legendary Studio 54, you had to be either a trendy celebrity or someone with an astonishing wow factor to add to the scene...
POSTED Sunday, May 27, 2007
On Thursday, Dell announced that it will begin selling two of its low-end PCs at Wal-Mart beginning June 10. Some greeted this development as an important one because Dell doesn't traditionally sell its computers through retail outlets, and this...
POSTED Sunday, May 27, 2007
OK, no more sitting like a pretzel when you have this "ultimate" work station called the Chief FGL220. It's a monitor mount that has a tray for your laptop on a secondary arm, turning your workspace into dual-monitor workstation....
POSTED Saturday, May 26, 2007
The brave men and women in Nokia's research department apparently watch the Discovery Channel on a little too often, since I can't think of much other inspiration for this lightning-detecting phone they've conceived. Since lightning bolts generate powerful radio waves...
POSTED Saturday, May 26, 2007
Prototypes and concept gear were all the rage this week. From sleek-looking winners like this revolutionary hearing aid to eyebrow-raising dorkfests like Toyota's one-man i-unit, we zoomed in on the horizons of technology. Gotta love the suitcase bike and...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
When Microsoft asks for innovative design, coolness like this flying saucer-looking Windows home server comes out of the woodwork. This one is a prototype commissioned by Microsoft, and as you can see by the inset in the picture above,...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
If you like to do handy dandy fix-it jobs around the house, this Multi Meter Multi Tool is about the closest thing you can get to a magic wand. No, It's not going to cook you breakfast, but it...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Sure, remotes like the Logitech Harmony 1000 are extremely useful, but how fun are they? Yeah, not much. To fulfill that channel-surfing mirth you may want to give this Sharp Shootin' remote a try. It has one button that...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Going on a trip often presents a dilemma for the road warrior. Do I need to lug my 6-pound laptop, or can I get by with my BlackBerry? While wireless handheld devices have become ever more powerful, they still...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Everywhere you go there's bound to be some light breeze or gust that can be used for more than flying a kite or lighting up a novelty device. The design firm of Waugh Thistleton thinks so, too, and has...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Ever since the discovery of dinosaur bones, humans have had one simple desire: to watch dinosaur recreations in 3-D. It seems like such a basic request, but over time, the task has proved to be complex and frustrating. After...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Very little is known about the fate of the folding bike pictured above, other than unverified reports that its name will be "Joice" and it will retail for $400. Based on a video making the rounds on YouTube, it...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
What do you get when you cross the Segway with one of those wheelchair scooters? My guess is you'd end up with something like the i-unit, the latest concept vehicle to emerge from the labs at Toyota. This one-person...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Nearly every major video-game release in North America receives a rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, or ESRB, a self-regulatory part of the $10 billion-a-year video game industry. Founded in the early 1990s following a series of Congressional...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
Some would be quick to label a product like the Disc Pod completely pointless, but not me. I see the future for it. This device loads up with a spindle of blank CDs or DVDs and with a push of...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
Last night Sony showed off its DAV-IS 10 system. This 5.1-channel home theater in a box has five tiny speakers, each the size of a golf ball. The 50-watt speakers (each) and the normal-size subwoofer (200 watts) put out...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
Sony knocked our socks off earlier this year with its ultra-thin OLED TVs, and now the company takes that tech a step further with a flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display that could end up in thinner, lighter or...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
The DLO TransDock Deluxe makes it easier to use your iPod in your car by giving you controls right at your fingertips. Strap its remote onto the steering wheel, and it communicates with your iPod in its little holster....
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
Is your current iPod dock not showing off your treasured music player at the level it deserves? The Audio Pro Porto speaker is a proper pedestal for your iPod, standing tall (well, kinda tall — about a foot) instead...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
Outdoor lighting can often be difficult to blend into the greenery, and even harder to power, what with stringing cables or dealing with batteries. Designers Emi Fujita and Shane Kohatsu turned both problems into benefits by modeling their Corona...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
If you've had your cell phone more than, oh, 10 minutes and you're anything like me, then you probably marvel at the abuse you've subjected it to. If that's the case, then have I got the phone for you. The...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
For most of us, any wine we have around is sitting on a little rack in the kitchen, and the red wine gets poured at whatever the room temperature happens to be, while the white might get a few...
POSTED Thursday, May 24, 2007
Time to get serious for a moment. As anyone not living in a box is aware, depression and other brain-chemistry illnesses are a growing problem around the world, and all the standard treatments get mixed results. Now the FDA...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
What would happen if two massive time-wasters morphed together to form the ultimate time-waster? British videogamers are about to find out now that British Telecom (BT) has teamed up with Sony to turn the PlayStation Portable into a voice-over-internet...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
This automatic pet feeder has a voice recorder so your pooch or kitty can hear your soothing voice while scarfing down food that we hope isn't poisonous. Under the lid are three separate compartments for food. The bowl itself can...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monster Cable takes advantage of the diminutive size of the Apple iPod shuffle, building a pair of 1.6-ounce headphones around Apple's pint-sized music player. These iFreePlay headphones do away with wires altogether, letting you plug that shuffle right into...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Remember those sliding puzzles that served as cheap party favors? Sometimes you'd find them nestled at the bottom of a cereal box. Here's a computer desk based on that idea, where its storage compartments are conveniently located and have...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Gotta hand it to the folks at fan manufacturer Fanimation: It must have taken some extreme restraint to not call this single-blade ceiling fan "The Blade" or "The Cutter" or some other name equally evoking of slicing weapons. Instead...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Instead of rubbing your hands together or using a USB-powered doohickey, those of you with really cold hands can keep on typing with this heated keyboard from ToolTopia. The AC-powered V8 WK001 allows the user to decide between a...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Will the next advancement in computer-mouse technology involve personal health? Designer Kwok Lau thinks so, conceiving a mouse with sensors and a heart-rate monitor for anyone who wants to check their pulse while they're working. 'Cause, y'know, sitting in...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
DirecTV is now shipping its Sat-Go system, the first portable satellite-TV system. The combined LCD screen and satellite receiver is housed in a geeky briefcase and weighs a hard-to-schlep 27 pounds. But the setup is simple and requires no...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
While the digital world has penetrated almost every part of our lives, the smallest room in the house — with its plumbing valves and pipes — has always remained remarkably analog in operation. Now a German company wants to...
POSTED Wednesday, May 23, 2007
PDA pioneer Palm is still chugging along with upgrades and new products. PDA-style keyboards are nothing new and revolutionary, but Palm is attempting to reinvent the wheel with its latest Bluetooth keyboard, and I think they may have successfully...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
If world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking can go zero-G, so can you. Now, if you have $3500, you can be weightless without even taking a space flight. What do you get for your thousands of dollars? You get the ride...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Flying in one of those disease-ridden tin cans known as an airplane has just gotten healthier with this Plane Clean Air Filter. Simply stick its adhesive gasket to that ventilation nozzle above your seat, and its makers say the...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The Time Projecting Laser Pointer has me thinking about all those times some idiot at the movies has used his laser pointer to "entertain" the audience while waiting for the film to start. But with this gadget, that same idiot...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Pop quiz: What can a group of crazy college geeks do with $700? Answer: Invent a device that may just one day revolutionize the computer interface. That's what a team of students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute accomplished with their...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Getting a video record of your scuba dives is easier than ever now that Sanyo's come out with its VPC-E1 waterproof camcorder. Before the E1, you would need some kind of watertight casing for your cam if you were...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
If this jacket doesn't make its wearer want to stop smoking, we'd be hard-pressed to find something that would. Fiona Carswell's interactive art project is a white jacket with a "container" that smokers can breathe into instead of exhaling...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The guys who came up with the world's best toaster printer have bested themselves with this interactive, motion-sensitive, LED-lit coffee table. When nobody's around, it looks like an attractive but ordinary coffee table. But during an active evening in...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
GoPass Technology has suddenly become the worst enemy of car-borrowing teenagers across the world. First they were being tracked by their jackets, then their shoes and now even in the car — with audio! The AVL-900 tracker has two...
POSTED Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Via Big Huge Labs...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
I think we can all agree that nothing, and I mean nothing, can trigger romance like a replica of an old-school Atari game controller. So leave it to the visionaries at British design firm Mixko to adapt Atari's classic joystick...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
Mio's new DigiWalker C520 GPS brings you maps and entertainment on its widescreen display. It gives you a choice between a full- and split-screen map views, and the text-to-speech ability speaks clear voice prompts, calling out street names such...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
This is one wild-looking screwdriver. While not quite as kooky as that Dr. Who sonic screwdriver, this one is built like an octopus, bringing seven different blades to bear right when you need them, and the eighth tendril is...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
Ruined your hearing with too much loud music? Take a peek into the future with Wirear, a fashion-conscious hearing-aid concept by Australian student designer Sun Kyung Sunwoo. She noticed a number of problems with current hearing aids, and attempts...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
What do you get when you combine a smell-o-phone with a paper airplane? OK, so no one in their right mind would combine those two things — well, except maybe the designers at Nokia who came up with the...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
In They Live, one of the greatest movies of our time, Rowdy Roddy Piper takes a couple of potshots at a flying spy drone designed to keep tabs on the unsuspecting populace. Fiction is soon to turn to reality...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
Cell-phone radiation has long been suspected of being a health risk, though it's never been proven. Nonetheless, for anyone terrified that keeping a mobile phone in your pocket might make you sterile, a Swiss clothing maker has created some...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
Long ago, banks figured out that if they keep making it easier for us to access our money, the more likely we are to spend, spend, spend. The Mobil Speedpass has brought us to the point where you don't even...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
Yesterday Amazon announced it would open a digital music store sometime later in the year. This was a move that analysts had been expecting, but the exciting aspect of the company's announcement was that the songs sold from Amazon's...
POSTED Sunday, May 20, 2007
Undeniably one of the coolest robots we've ever seen, Buildup Co.'s new automaton has such a mundane task that I think it's rather dangerous. After all, if you were this 'bot, loaded with tons of amazing technology — including...
POSTED Saturday, May 19, 2007
You know those scenes in movies like Ocean's Twelve, where burglars are blocked by a bunch of lasers shooting out all over the place, threatening to alert the guards if they're disturbed? They always struck me as totally fake,...
POSTED Saturday, May 19, 2007
We caught some fun and games in the world of cell phones this week, including two of the most bizarre phone accessories we've ever seen: Sony Ericsson's "aroma sheets," which make your phone smell like an issue of Vogue,...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
Any product that prevents temper tantrums is okay by me, and the Chargepod certainly qualifies for that category. We've all been there, cursing all things electronic as we try to untangle the jumble of cords charging our ever-expanding collection...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
I don't know about you, but when I'm walking through a driving rainstorm, trying to keep my umbrella from unfurling in the wind, one thing is always missing: Internet connectivity. Brainy types at Japan's Keio University have addressed that...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
If killing plants were illegal, I guarantee I would be on death row right about now. Good thing I don't own any pets. For those lazy and careless types, Dr. Frog notifies you when the plants need watering. The doc...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
We've gotten so accustomed to that ripping sound that Velcro makes, it might take us a while to get used to Leonard Duffy's invention, an improved fastener that not only eliminates that annoying noise when unfastened, it can hold...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
When we saw this prototype monitor from Dell, it was love at first sight. The company rolled out this high-resolution display at a strategy conference, illustrating how a standard called Display Port will change the way monitors are designed....
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
Herrington has a pair of headphones from Jensen that free music lovers from being tethered to their portable music player, because the SportPhones are the MP3 player. These super-light (just 2.2 ounces) headphones connect to a computer via USB,...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
Designer Arthur Wu apparently believes there are retro freaks out there who wish their toast could be more like a cassette tape. That's the only way to explain Wu's Toasty Single Serving Toaster, which ejects a single golden-brown slice...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
As if the passage of time isn't disturbing enough, here comes the latest from the bizarre mind of designer Chris Dimino: The Shining cuckoo clock. No worries about sleeping through that alarm now — hang this baby on your bedroom...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
You know that possibly arousing little tingle you get when your phone goes off in vibrate mode? With the m:ssage handset, it gets taken to a whole new level. Now instead of a cheesy text message, or even a...
POSTED Friday, May 18, 2007
Remember last summer when laptop batteries were exploding left and right causing the airline industry to place a ban on powering your precious laptop when in the air? While the fault was with poorly manufactured lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Philips AJ300D is a compact iPod dock and alarm clock that packs quite a bit of punch for being such a small, compact device. It comes in a bit more traditional package, unlike some of the docks recently...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
The TrekStor MovieStation is a 500-GB hard disk that can play back movies right into your television set without even using a computer. As much as we love home theater PCs, sometimes all we need is a hard drive....
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Magnets are the new wave for surgery and shark deflection, but what's happening in the everyday world of refrigerator magnets? Well, you could light up your kitchen with Vegas-style refrigerator lights, or you could do something far more practical, like...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Put this EleeNo WebTime Elite watch on your wrist, and no one will ever be able to tell what time it is. Except you, of course, because you know the secret: All you need to do is determine where...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Everyone who's ever owned a cell phone has found some aspect about it to complain about. It could be the call quality, button sensitivity or just the design. But I've never heard anyone say, "My phone doesn't smell fresh...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
A video display no thicker than a human hair is the latest breakthrough from LG.Philips. The 4-inch prototype has resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, can reproduce 16.77 million colors, and is just 150 μm thick. The underlying technology...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Private investigators and identity thieves will be interested in new software from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, which promises to reassemble shredded documents. Well, not the documents themselves, but once the shreds are all scanned in (I wonder who...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Looking like something from the 1800s, the Wovel wheeler is remarkable for removing snow, promising to clear the white stuff it at a fraction of the effort it would take with a regular shovel. That would come in real...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Fujitsu claims that this is the world's smallest and lightest laptop, and I, for one, am not going to argue with them. Featuring a wee 5.6-inch screen, it's more like a giant PDA than a laptop. The screen swivels...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
Sure, you could do something boring like plug your gadgets into the wall to get them charged, but that's what everyone does. Don't you want to stand out and be different? Of course you do. That's why I suggest...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Why buy speakers that look conventional and will fit in nicely with your décor when you can buy some insane, over-stylized speakers that'll stick out like a sore thumb? That's what Sony's asking with their crazy Rin speakers. The...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
This $25 MP3 alarm clock from Thanko looks old school, but it's able to play modern-day MP3 audio files. It's loaded with 30 different noises that will presumably wake you up in the morning. Hey, it beats that honk...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Amazon.com announced today that it'll be opening an online music store later this year that will sell only unprotected MP3 files. With EMI and 12,000 other smaller labels on board, this will set them up to take on the...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The era of the key seems, inevitably, to be heading toward its end. The proliferation of remote openers and starters is spawning legions of drivers who smugly zip around with their keys safely in their pockets. And now the...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Hold the phone, Motorola has some new toys. With much pomp and ceremony, Motorola’s chairman Ed Zander yesterday announced the company's new entries into the cell-phone market. Here's what you can expect to see in the coming months: First...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
I freaked out the first time Abe Lincoln broke down in the Hall of Presidents, and it took the better part of the day before the attraction was reopened. If good ol' Abe had been able to tell his...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
RFID tags aren't just for Big Brother anymore! If you have a hankering to track objects and/or people, this new Brother printer allows you to make the wireless radio tags for whatever nefarious uses you can dream up. For...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
SharkDefense is a company that spent years trying to develop shark repellents out of materials like decayed shark tissue. Its goal is to keep sharks away from fisheries (without scaring the fish), but it turns out all that biological...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Need to get across the office fast? I mean really fast. Faster than you could go while running. Well, you don't need wheels to do that. Just grab some Carpet Skates, slap them on over your shoes, and zip across...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
This All Weather Station from Honeywell not only keeps track of every aspect of the weather where you are, it receives weather warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that lets you know when serious weather is approaching....
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
If you bought an Apple MacBook this month, as I did, then you probably won't be happy to hear that as of this morning, Apple upgraded its entire MacBook line. The two white MacBooks and one black MacBook on...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Is the scrollwheel a dying accessory? What was once a brilliant innovation in computer mice looks to have replacements creeping up behind it, at least if you consider the new influx of mice to be innovative. Take the Traveler...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Flavored water is stupid. It's either water or it's some sort of sugary juice-like beverage. If what you're drinking tastes like fruit, it ain't water. But that doesn't stop people from buying it up and thinking it's somehow healthier than...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
We suspect designer Mike Serafin had a little iPhone on the brain when he came up with the SLIQ, a concept phone whose most prominent feature is a touchscreen. Well, actually, its most prominent feature is being damn sexy,...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
You're a unique and beautiful snowflake — don't let anyone tell you otherwise. That's why you shouldn't be running around with the same accessories on as every other Dick and Jane. No, you need something as unique (and as...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Any self-respecting geek born since the late '70s spent a lot of quality time with a Texas Instruments graphing calculator in high school (and maybe college as well). Personally, I had a TI-83. Being able to create programs taught me...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
E-paper displays are already thin. Now they're getting flexible, thanks to a breakthrough announced by LG.Philips. (Have you heard the one about the Dutchman and the Korean? Never mind.) The first color "e-paper" display measures 14.1 inches wide and...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
So, you have a lot of expensive paintings. You even have a gadget that'll tell you whether they're good or not. You probably have all sorts of alarms and surveillance as well, to make sure that nobody can get...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Sure, this James Bond phone might not be officially licensed or sanctioned by the owners of the Bond trademark, but we can totally see it in the hands of 007 himself. It looks sort of like an old Zach-Morris-style...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Take a look at that tablet PC on the upper left, and imagine it folding up into that palm-sized package you see on the right. That's the idea of designer Daniel Alexander, whose concept for a foldable tablet PC...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
I'm all for self-defense, but why do all the gadgets available for protecting oneself have to be so ugly? Sure, these things aren't exactly hot fashion accessories, but how about putting in a little bit of effort here, guys?...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
A new skyscraper in Dubai, playground for the super-duper rich, will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Yep, it'll create all of its own energy itself, staying completely off the grid. Dubbed the Burj al-Taqa ("Energy Tower"), it uses a variety...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
Wi-Fi in a photo frame? I know, at first it strikes you as about as useful as that USB eye mask, but this techno-combo is actually pretty cool. Obviously, the eStarling 2.0 frame is digital, made to display JPEG...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
Q has probably been handing these spy devices out for years, but for the rest of us having a hidden recorder embedded in a pen makes all of us wannabe 007s. While it looks like a normal everyday writing...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
Summertime is imminent, and you know what that means: water balloon wars. If you want to dominate the competition and soak people from afar, you can't really go wrong with the Water Mortar. It takes what was once a friendly...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
The folks at Tokyo's University of Science may be watching too much '70s television. One of their latest projects is the Muscle Suit, which isn't quite a suit really — more like a pair of borgified hockey shoulder pads....
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
Look, I know you love your cell phone. You can make calls from everywhere, it's a fun little toy, and you can even check your email on it. But it's not people. No, it has no feelings and is...
POSTED Monday, May 14, 2007
Helio, the alternative, lesser-known cell-phone service provider run by wacky Earthlink founder Sky Dayton introduced the Ocean this week. It's the world's first "dual-slider" phone, which basically means that the base slides vertically for the cell-phone keyboard, and horizontally...
POSTED Sunday, May 13, 2007
Those bright folks at Purdue University are at it again. The game-changing technology in the works this time: a new engine for vehicles that's drastically more efficient than current designs. The key innovation is creating intake and exhaust valves...
POSTED Saturday, May 12, 2007
And here we are again, browsing the Home Entertainment Show in New York City for more wild-looking — and wildlly expensive — A/V gear. We weren't disappointed, and after the link you'll find a nice batch of component-riffic eye...
POSTED Saturday, May 12, 2007
Is this an alien monster from outer space or just a bunch of round speakers? At $26,000, they're not cheap, but then space travel has always been costly. These speakers, named DMT-100, balance on a stand that incorporates a...
POSTED Saturday, May 12, 2007
Just when you think Apple has run out of creative ways to control an iPod, they wow you with a patent that you totally couldn't have thought up on your own. This one is especially unique and cool, although...
POSTED Saturday, May 12, 2007
Sure, you could use your new computer to listen to all the great Internet radio stations out there. Or you could download music from your favorite online store, be it iTunes or eMusic. Then again, you could cling to...
POSTED Saturday, May 12, 2007
Screens, screens, everywhere! If humanity's ultimate goal is to have a screen parked in front of your face anytime and anywhere, it sure got a lot closer to achieving it this week. Some were welcome: iriver's Clix 2 and...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Primedia's 2007 Home Entertainment Show kicked off today, and there was high-end home theater equipment aplenty to check out. Which we did, digital cameras at the ready. Enjoy the sexy phots, marvel at the electronic opulence, and be grateful...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
You've upgraded to a kick-ass flat-panel HDTV and even gotten it up on the wall — well done. Now you want good sound, but the last thing you want to do is clutter up your room with bulky speakers...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Fans are OK for cooling off whatever's directly in front of the fan, but they aren't that great at sharing the love. Plenty of arguments have broken out between roommates on hot, sweaty afternoons when they want to have the...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Here's a home control product that's not quite as futuristic as it appears to be. This Domia X10 10-inch touchscreen isn't a touchscreen at all, but a picture frame just like the ones that hold old-fashioned paper photos. However,...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Scientists have developed a synthetic, "plastic" blood substitute that could be used in emergency situations when real blood isn't available. Lightweight and able to be stored at warm temperatures, the fake blood would be much easier to transport than the...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
One thing the Xbox 360 is missing that the other two next-gen consoles have going on is motion-sensing controllers. The Wii is based around it, and the PlayStation 3 has it sort of tacked on as an afterthought, but...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
I have too many memory cards lying around and no single way to easily access them all, when I want, where I want. Brando, makers of all sorts of USB devices, has a new 55-in-1 card reader that not...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Scarecrows are for cornfields, but what if you want to keep birds away from your swimming pool? Robotic lobsters just aren't going to do it as well as a disembodied alligator head with glowing eyes. But glowing-eyed gators are...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Remember back in the late '90s, when a new generation of Internet Service Providers promised free access in exchange for watching pop-up ads? Sure, that never caught on, but Japan's Apex Corp. has come up with a new take on...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
Spam is one of the most annoying aspects of email. No, actually, it's more than annoying. It's frustrating. Frustrating bordering on infuriating. Sometimes, you just want to take that anger out on spam physically. Unfortunately, you generally don't get that...
POSTED Friday, May 11, 2007
When XM and Sirius satellite radio launched less than a decade ago, they were instant archrivals. Coke and Pepsi had nothing on these two. Yankees and Mets are better buddies. These sworn enemies were fighting tooth and nail for...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
The New York Times today has a piece on Trek's new automatic Lime bicycles. No, "automatic" here doesn't mean the bikes use fuel or battery power to get you up a hill, but they do shift between three gears...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
Many of us SCI FI gadgeteers are so distracted by Apple's iPod products that we hardly notice when a slim and nubile iriver multimedia player such as this second-gen Clix sashays by. Just look at this 2-GB bauble, all...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
While the nicotine in cigarettes might be what keeps people hooked, it isn't what's dangerous about being a smoker. No, it's the tarry smoke that the nicotine rides in on that causes cancer, emphysema, and all sorts of other...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
So, as you're probably aware, there's a Simpsons movie coming this summer. This is a tough one for me. As someone who grew up on The Simpsons and has at least half his brain full of Simpsons quotes and...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
How much did you spend on your last pair of speakers? $500, maybe? $5,000 if you're really serious about home theater, I suppose. And hey, don't crazy audiophiles spend tens of thousands of dollars on speakers? That's just nuts....
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
What is the perfect summer food? Watermelon? Perhaps. Fruit salad? Nah. Hot dogs? Now you're talking. Hot dogs elicit memories of hanging out at barbecues or at the ballpark, enjoying a nice nitrate tube smothered in yellow mustard. Mmm, yellow...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
There are those who like to jump up out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off, doing push-ups, grabbing their coffee and never getting back under the covers until it's time to turn in that night. And...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
Suspect your daughter is taking too long showers? The iSave will give you the evidence you need — this LED indicator attaches to your sink or showerhead and shows you just how much water you're using. It doesn't really...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
Are you completely lacking in dignity? Perhaps you hate yourself a little bit? Looking for a way to attract negative attention? Feel like punishing your significant other with horrible shame when you're out in public together? Well, I have...
POSTED Thursday, May 10, 2007
This VsTank 1/24 scale model of an early version of Germany's Tiger I Tank from WWII is highly realistic and detailed, down to its rubber tracks and growling engine noises. But this $130 radio-controlled model goes way beyond just...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Last year I had a grease fire. I couldn't stand the heat so I got out of the kitchen, pronto. Fires can double in size every thirty seconds so you can imagine my panic. The First Alert Tundra fire extinguisher...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Sometimes, despite what your mom told you growing up, it's what's on the outside that counts. At least that's the case with this Foam Radio. On the inside it's just a boring old AM/FM radio, which isn't enough to...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Why deal with the pain and humiliation that goes along with squeezing dish soap out of a bottle every time you do the dishes? You're better than that. You shouldn't have to put in that kind of effort; technology is...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Proving that even monolithic companies can occasionally have a sense of humor, Microsoft spoofed the iPhone but good the other day, announcing its own foray into the mobile phone market, the oFone. Featuring three "wings" that pivot around a...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Thirty years of Star Wars can only mean one thing — thirty years of Star Wars marketing. The latest piece of crap commemorative merchandise to get Lucas's approval is the Darth Vader phone. While you are waiting for that...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
If you want to listen to music in the shower on something a little more powerful than that $9.99 AM/FM shower radio you picked up in the checkout aisle of Bed, Bath and Beyond, you'll need to get a but...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Pioneer just unveiled its eighth-generation plasma HDTVs, and they look to be beauties. Featuring an unbelievable 20,000:1 contrast ratio, they sport black levels 80% deeper than previous models. There will be a whole slew of models featuring the new...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
If you're a jogger and want to keep track of your pulse rate, you now have an option other than a bulky pulse-monitoring watch. Say hello to the Pulse Ring. It's an absolutely tiny pulse monitor, fitting over your...
POSTED Wednesday, May 9, 2007
The European organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has been building the Large Hadron Collider for many years, but it's finally taking shape and prepping to operate at full power in 2008. The New Yorker has a great feature and...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
We all have days when we'd love to have mom whip us up an icy glass of chocolate milk, even if we're too "mature" to admit it. But just because Mom isn't nearby (thank God!), that doesn't mean you can't...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Why should cell phones get all the fun? Just because everyone has them and they're making landlines obsolete doesn't mean people stuck in the past shouldn't enjoy the fun and excitement of ringtone customization. The Magic Ringtone is designed to...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Ready to have your mind blown? Let's see if we can work our way through this. A scientist at the University of Rochester has figured out a way to create an electromagnetic "wormhole" that bends light and makes it appear...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
You are aware that in the future everyone will be watching TV on their wrists, aren't you? Apparently the future begins here, because this 12-mm-thick Epoq Video Wristwatch can play MPEG-4 and WMA video on its 1.5 inch 128...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
For most people, the prospect of replacing your computer mouse with a bulky apparatus that's almost a cubic foot in volume wouldn't be something to get excited about. That's because most people haven't heard of the Novint Falcon, a...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
This sexy concept design is called the Mactab, and, predictably enough, it's a Mac Tablet. Featuring a super-thin design with a stand and an equally-thin wireless keyboard, it looks like a tablet we might actually want to use. That...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Smartphone not enough for you? Laptop too bulky? Has Samsung got the gadget for you: The Q1 Ultra is the company's second-generation Ultra-Mobile PC — those pint-size Windows machines that look like big portable media players. The Q1 Ultra...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Lots of cars now have ways to get your iPod hooked up to send tunes right to the car stereo, but just because your setup has a cable running out of it or you have an FM transmitter doesn't...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
This "anti-violence" shock gun is a bit of a misnomer. It actually doles out quite a bit of violence, just not enough to kill you. It's got a 30,000-volt electric pulse that can rend even the most imposing attackers...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
HP is joining up with LG and Samsung on the neutral ground of dual-format players. While many companies still seem to think that consumers are dumb enough to pick sides at this point in the asinine format war, the...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
How big does a laptop have to be before it's just a computer that can fold up? After all, if it's too heavy and bulky to carry around and, well, use on your lap, then it's just a desktop...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
The first affordable Desktop Factory 3D printer is just about to ship, paving the way for even more sophisticated manufacturing in the future. This first home 3D printer will cost between $5,000 and $7,000 and will be roughly the...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
When shooting your own video, nothing looks better than HD, but nothing matches the convenience of recording to disc (just pop out and play). Giving you the best of both home-video worlds (pretty much) is Canon's HR10 cam, which...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
Thanks to "the man" forcing us to work all hours of the day and night to complete projects, our Circadian rhythms have become so out of whack we are literally falling asleep at our desks. Power naps can help...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
Are you kind of a terrible person? Do you derive great pleasure from scaring the pants off your friends, family members, and coworkers? Well, as much as I hate to support such insensitive behavior, I've got something for you. The...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
The most annoying part of setting up a home theatre is, well, setting it up. Plugging components together, getting them to play nicely, and all that jazz is just a big roadblock between you and the vegetative state you...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
You think the house is clean? Ha. The Halo UVX ultraviolet vacuum has something to say about that. Not only does it have a long (31-foot) cord and suck up dirt, but it also uses UVX ultraviolet radiation to kill...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
A few days ago, some users of Digg.com began posting a code that can help hackers break the copy protection built into HD DVDs. The code's discovery wasn't particularly newsworthy: Wired had posted the code back in February. But...
POSTED Sunday, May 6, 2007
Has IBM hacked mother nature? The company has harnessed the secret that enables snowflakes, seashells and tooth enamel to generate themselves, using the process to make computer chips that work 35% faster and use 15% less energy than the...
POSTED Saturday, May 5, 2007
Sick of the same old dining atmosphere? Craving something a little more unique? Well, it doesn't get much more unique than the world's first underwater restaurant. Ithaa, located at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa, sits 15 feet below...
POSTED Saturday, May 5, 2007
Thanks to technology, being a superhero isn't quite as impossible as it once was. Put that radioactive spider away — we've got a list of 10 techs that can get your superpower mojo working. The costume's still up to...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
Fancy yourself some sort of DJ? Well, you don't need to have a couple of decks and a huge PA system to mix your beats together anymore. Now you can spin on the go, from anywhere you please, with the...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
By day the A4-Tech PK-333MB is a mild-mannered webcam, doing the things most webcams can do such as beam live video worldwide using the usual complement of features such as automatic white balance, motion tracking, digital zoom and still image...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
Some scientists at Berkeley are working on a new surveillance camera that automatically blocks out peoples faces, creating more privacy-friendly devices. The "respectful camera" can block workers in a building by reading their badges, therefore making surveillance possible while...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
The worst fear of any gadget lover is to suddenly wake up to find their prized possession has become an outdated piece of junk. Even worse is waking up and discovering you don't have anything to eat for breakfast....
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's… you? Admit it — you've fantasized about soaring...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
This tower, being bathed in rays of glorious light from all sides, might look like some sort of religious icon, but it's not. No, it's actually a new power plant in Spain that harnesses the power of the sun via...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
These thumb drives aren't your standard portable storage devices. Sure, they could carry around a few albums and videos for you, but they're designed for a higher purpose. That's because they're "virus vaccines," loaded up with anti-virus and anti-spyware...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
Creative's Zen MP3 players haven't proved to be iPod killers, but the line has amassed a healthy following as the most visible Apple alternative. Today, Creative announced its iPod shuffle competitor, the Zen Stone — only eight months after the...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
Hey, CrackBerry addicts. I've got something hot for you. Yeah, I know you can't resist, so just check it out, will you? It's the new BlackBerry 8300 Curve. It combines the mass-market appeal of the BlackBerry Pearl with the...
POSTED Friday, May 4, 2007
Youth violence. Does our violent culture cause it? Violent movies? Violent TV shows? Violent news? Violent video games? Of this group, only the latter offers an active, rather than passive, cause and effect. Gamers physically hold an object and...
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
No time to mow your lawn? The LawnBott takes mowing reservations and cuts the grass when you want. This Bott will keep on cutting for up to 4 hours before returning to its docking station for refreshments and recharging....
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
RCA's new EZ201 Small Wonder is an update to the Small Wonder that I reviewed last year. Featuring a flip-out display, loading dock, and expandable SD memory, it's certainly an improvement over the original, while still retaining the simplicity...
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
Camping is great, except for the whole not-having-a-place-to-bathe-other-than-a-frigid-stream thing. That part, well, it kind of sucks. I, for one, need a warm shower to get going in the morning, and the lack thereof makes camping less fun for me....
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
Beer power. Yes, beer power. Interested? Let me explain. Foster's brewery in Australia is installing an experimental technology that will generate electricity from brewing waste. Essentially, it's a gigantic fuel cell that contains bacteria that consume water-soluble elements from...
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
I get some wacky looks when I'm cruising on the 3G Stepper. A cross between a bike and an elliptical machine, the 3G Stepper is propelled forward when you push down on the (two) steps while standing. The 3G...
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
Alltel Wireless scored a win today, being the first carrier in the US to offer Samsung's "Wafer," the 8.4-mm thick SCH-r510. The super-thin phone features XM radio, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and music playing capabilities. Pretty slick, if you ask...
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
Looking a lot like a workstation from the starship Enterprise, the P