How will you know when the iPhone 3G is back in? Apple is making sure the word gets out only through its site and stores. iPhone availability tracking sites outside of Apple such as TopMuffin have found themselves cut off from the company's stock numbers. A prospective iPhone buyer's most reliable recourse is to give the nearest Apple store a ring or check Apple's website after 9 o'clock at night (wherever you are), for the following day's availability.

And that's how it looks right now, folks. Pay in advance and wait for AT&T to call you to pick up your phone, or keep an eye on Apple and take your chance in line.

Via Reuters

If you’re a member of the Long Now Foundation, you think about vast spans of time. That’s why the futurist think tankers put a 0 before every year to show how cool and forward-thinking they are (for example, this year is 02008). They’ve decided to build a huge mechanical clock on a piece of Nevada mountaintop property they bought, and they’re saying the symbolic time-counting monument will last 10,000 years, chosen because that’s “about how long humans have had a stable climate and technological progression.”

The picture above is a smaller 8-foot prototype of such a device, which was designed by Long Now co-founder and uber-genius Danny Hillis with help from author Neal Stephenson, whose new sci-fi novel Anathem features the clock and a quasi-religious society that tends to it over the millennia. The idea started with an essay Hillis wrote back in 01995 — click Continue for more.

It's a great little contraption, equally suited for trendy folks looking for a portable oxygen bar, mountain climbers, and people suffering from emphysema. But really, it'd probably be best suited for people in high elevations where the air is thinner. It'll give you the precious oxygen that your body needs to survive, keeping you from getting out of breath. Of course, it's not cheap, with the prices ranging from $880 to $1,150. But hey, you'll be happy to have it when you really need it.

Ubergizmo, via Crave

That's because they've released this ridiculous USB Alarm Clock Fan. Yes, it's a fan and an alarm clock combined, all powered by the magic of USB. The problem? I don't think it even functions as a clock; it just looks like one. After all, if the hands are the blades of the fan, they aren't pointing at the correct time. And I don't see any way to set an alarm. Nice try, Brando. My search continues.

Via Brando

Anyone who's seen Murderball knows how serious wheelchair athletics can be, but it's always struck me as more than a little inefficient that the athletes need to use their hands to both play ball and steer their wheelchairs. Short of giving them extra arms, is there anything that can be done about this? A group of designers thinks so, creating this Balance Sport Wheelchair that turns according to which way the person leans, sort of like a Segway. Users presumably still have to push to get their speed up, but the steering's all done by shifting weight. And to stop, just lean back.

Ricky Biddle, Eric Larson and Ben Shao conceived the design, which can be customized to its owner, since paraplegics vary greatly in their mobility. Someone with very limited movement might adjust the brake and turning response so they're activated by even slight leans, while those with more mobility would probably prefer a greater range. Looks like a great idea to us, but if there are any disabled readers out there, we'd love to know your thoughts.

IDEA 2008 Awards, via Medgadget

If you have carpal tunnel syndrome (also known as repetitive stress injury, or RSI), are you going to trust Microsoft to ease your pain? Heck no. It’s time to call for some otherworldly assistance with the Alien Mouse. Everybody’s going to wonder what flying saucer abducted you when they see this thingamajig on your desktop, consisting of eight connected elements made of soft gel and cellulose, and each arranged just-so to make that wrist stop hurting.

Designer Mizanur Rahman considered every angle in his mouse design, supporting the arm as well as the wrist, and giving the user lots of adjustability for a custom fit. He’s even put a vibrator underneath the mouse’s main element, certain to give your wrist muscles the heebie-jeebies if it doesn’t relax them first. He finishes off the design with a special finger joystick up top and ambient mood lighting glowing underneath. Sounds more like a bachelorette party than a pointing device.

Now, Njection is bringing its user-generated database of speed trap and red light camera locations to your GPS unit, letting you know just where the cops are known to hide out. For $40 per year, they'll let you download their constantly-updated data to your GPS unit (most work with it). Of course, you'd save gas and potential fines if you just drove the speed limit, but where's the fun in that?

Njection, via Gadget Lab

Sharewear is designed as a performance set. The dresses come in small boxes and are assembled on-stage before the audience and manipulated in real-time. Di Mainstone created the dresses with the V2_Lab team during her residency at the V2_ Institute in Rotterdam. Check out the galley below for more of her Sharewear.

No need to hang a Wet Paint sign on this table, because it's just an illusion. Designer John Nouanesing must have thought up this design concept while having fever dreams about painting his house. What's next? Space-saving chairs that look like half-melted ice cream bars?

If John would somehow put this magically floating, messy design into production, we'd be standing in line for one. Just make ours look like chocolate syrup.

Via Gadgettastic

Any way you slice it, they just don't make arcade games like they did in the '80s. The variety, creativity and value (25 cents!) of that golden age have never been matched. So if you were going to immortalize an arcade game by casting it in stained glass, it's only fitting that it be from that era. Props to Ground Kontrol arcade in Portland, Oregon, then for creating this Dig Dug stained-glass window. Cool stuff — I particularly like the red-rectangle coin slots, and the perspective is nearly perfect. I would have gone with Tempest myself, but either way it's a plus they didn't use the way-too-obvious Pac-Man.

Dig Dug window on Flickr, via Deputy Dog

Via God Ability

Shaped like a giant droplet of water, it's both beautiful and functional. The top of the droplet is actually a cup that you can remove and drink from, also acting as a cover for the carafe. It's a lovely design, albeit one that's going to take up lots of space. But hey, you want a conversation starter, don't you? No one starts conversations about normal, boring carafes. Get on board.

Via Yanko Design

Well, if you're like Brian Dettmer, you'll make an entire skeleton out of melted cassette tapes. Yes, this somewhat unsettling work of art is comprised of everyone's favorite outdated audio medium (well, except vinyl. And maybe 8 tracks. You know what I'm saying.). It's both awesome and kind of creepy at the same time. But hey, at least he didn't have to throw away his cassettes, right?

Flickr, via Boing Boing Gadgets

The Beating Heart Stress Relief Pillow comes in various sizes and colors and ranges from $35 to $50.

Via black market organ sellers Ahem, ThinkGeek

The way the team used this technology to power a motor is pretty genius. They made a belt of the of shape-shifting plastic and wrapped it around two wheels, one smaller than the other. Then they exposed the part of the belt wrapped around the smaller wheel to ultraviolet light and the larger to visible light, and the forces at work sent the belt spinning into motion.

Right now, the technology isn't where it needs to be to power vehicles and the like, but the elastomer shows great promise. It's proven to have four times the elastic strength of human muscle (cyborgs, ahoy!) and retained its shape without warping even after running every seven seconds for thirty hours.

Via Pink Tentacle