Squeezing Chumby parts (bought for $139) into a hollowed-out book, Gary Watts' Chumby book was made easily enough, though I'd rather insert Chumby guts into a taxidermied fox. How cool would that be? [Flickr via Make]

Google Might Build Super-Green Power Plants

Google's been investing in solar, wind and geothermal companies for a while, so it's not particularly surprising that the company is thinking about going a step further and directly financing some green power plants. This could be a move that could push other companies to delve deeper into greener energy tech, so all the more power to Google. Good God, did I just make a pun out of that? [Wired]

Apple Tablet to Be "Shockingly" Cheap

On the latest episode of Diggnation, Internet and television personality Alex Albrecht remarked that he was shocked about 'how cheap the price point" of the Apple tablet would be. No word on how exactly he got his information or just how cheap it needs to be to shock him. [Apple Insider]

Computers Don't Really Save Hospitals Any Money

Harvard did a study to see if using computers saves hospitals money or increases administrative efficiency. The answer to both questions was a resounding "no," but I don't think that should be a surprise. Using computers in an environment like that requires maintenance and training, which naturally cost both money and time. What surprised me about the study is that it didn't look at what effect the use of computers had on actual patient services. Does it make a difference there? [All Things D]

Photo by tahitianlime

TweetBookz Made My Inner Bookworm Crawl Into a Hole

Alright, I confess: I like books and I'm a bit of a dorky geek which means that nearly any new combination of geek and lit tends to appeal to me. Except when it goes oh-so-very-wrong like these TweetBookz.

The idea behind TweetBookz is that you pay about $30 to have a bunch of your tweets made into a nicely bound book. Initially I thought that this could be neat, but then I looked at my own tweets. I somehow don't think I or anyone else would want a book full of messages to creepy people or days of the week.

But maybe I'm just a bit of a lazy, boring Twitter user. [TweetBookz via Wired]

Guy Wins Beard Contest With a Hairy Bird Cage

Jason was particularly excited about this old clip of a beard contest of some sort. I was just plain terrified.

Samurai Mario Battles Bowser and a Dinosaur

I'm not entirely certain what possessed someone to make this illustration of Mario attempting to battle a dinosaur and Bowser while dressed as an ancient samurai, but I like it. [Geekologie]

Ikea Makes an iPhone App

Good news for those who want to deck out their rooms with Ikea items, but need to see the entire catalog on their iPhone before shopping: There's an app for that. [Fresh Home]

I'll Tell You About The Audi E-Tron as Soon as I Stop Drooling

Ok, I don't think I can stop drooling long enough to type, so I'll keep it brief: Wowza. This is the Audi E-Tron which was shown off as a concept at prior car show. She's still got the 3,320 lb-ft of torque we were teased about, but now she's been photographed some more and she looks oh-so-very-nice. Check out the bright-pumpkin-orange car-shaped eyecandy over at Jalopnik. [Jalopnik]

He's not giving it up because he yearns for a newfangled bit of gear though. He's trading it for an identical model and only because it's not working as well as it should anymore. The original typewriter will be auctioned off by Christie's with all the proceeds going to a charity.

What got to me about this whole thing though isn't that McCarthy is doing something charitable or that he's replacing a gadget. It's how he describes it in the authentication letter to be given to the winning bidder:

It has never been serviced or cleaned other than blowing out the dust with a service station hose. ... I have typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not published. Including all drafts and correspondence I would put this at about five million words over a period of 50 years.

Despite the lack of maintenance given to the gadget, it's easy to see that he has a genuine attachment to it, both in his words and in what he's doing. Then again, I guess we've all got some piece of old school tech that we're sentimental over, don't we? [NY Times via Obsolete]

Dubbed Phonebooks, these neat little books combine with your iPhone to create a fun experience at every page turn. And while I rail against using iPhone apps for parenting purposes, this is an extraordinarily cute and age-appropriate way for your lil' one to play around with an iPhone. [Japan Trends via Dvice]

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Floating Bookshelves: If your book lover is prone to piling books up in stacks everywhere, then maybe it's time to get him an appealing storage solution. An invisible bookshelf is an old favorite and can slip in with most decor. 'Sides, who doesn't like some spooky floating books? $14 [Amazon—or make it yourself via Cut Out + Keep]

Photo of DIY version by Cut Out And Keep

Bookology Trivia Boardgame: Let's face it, even the most modest of bookworms enjoy showing off now and then. A simple way to indulge them while spending time together is a good ol' fashioned trivia board game. Bookology Trivia just happens to be perfect for that, but heads up: It's way more fun with a larger group. $11 [Amazon]

DON'T BUY Gift Certificates: There are those times when you're hesitant to pick out an actual gift. What if he actually likes ancient history instead of sci-fi? What if she's not ready for a book with that many pages? Whatever you do when those questions kick in, please don't get your bookworm a gift certificate. While you may think that it says "Here. I remembered to get you a gift," the message that comes across is, "I couldn't be bothered, so take this fake limited-use money and buy your own crap."

Technivorm Thermo Moccamaster: Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Aside from being part of our morning routines, it's also a part of a proper cuddle with a book. While there's real science to making a good cup o' joe, the Moccamaster delivers the best results for a drip coffeemaker, without the extra work of other methods. But it'll cost ya. $265 [Roast Masters]

Berkeley Lamp II: Yes, a lamp. Seriously. It's tough to find a lamp that illuminates the room well without making your eyes feel like they're gradually being pulled out of their sockets. The Berkeley Lamp II may be expensive, but it's bright—with a ceiling-pointed "room light" and a downward facing "task light"—and energy conscious. Plus, it comes with a grounded 120V socket for plugging in your ebook reader at the end of a week of heavy page turning. $289 [Berkeley Lamp; Review]

Nook, Kindle, Cool-er, Sony, Alex, Que. The ebook reader choices out there read like a biker chick's list of ex-lovers, and it's tough to pick the best. To us, it comes to a showdown between the newly reduced-price Kindle and the Nook, but we haven't reviewed the Nook yet—nobody has—so it's a tough call. If your love for Amazon knows no bounds, pick it, but if you are curious about what the Nook's second screen can do (and at what cost), wait a few more weeks. $259 for either one [Kindle Review; Nook Preview; Amazon Kindle Page; Barnes & Noble Nook Page]

A Rare Book: You know exactly what your bookworm's all-time most beloved book is and you know that he would love a special copy of it. So where on earth do you start looking for a first edition, advanced reader, or autographed copy? If you're hesitant to hit eBay or trudge through bookshop after bookshop then places like AbeBooks and Alibris should be your first stop. They offer a selection of rated rare booksellers and some incredibly customizable searches. I'll make your search even easier if you want to get me one of my favorites: A lovely first edition of Fante's Ask the Dust is available for a mere $12K. Not shopping for me? Ah well, maybe next year. $.01 to $1,000,000

Photo by p0psicle

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite gift ideas for bookworms in comments—include pic and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

The book's called Voyage To The Heart Of Matter – The Atlas Experiment At CERN and it's written by Emma Sanders and crafted by Anton Radevsky. It'll be out at the end of November and run for about $33. I just want one because it'll satisfy both the physics dork and the bookworm inside me all at once. [Atlas via Shiny Shiny via OhGizmo!]

The new consumption model grands book purchasers (you) the right to lend a book to their friend—all digitally—but it's still being discussed as far as how many lends people can have and to how many people. Publishers want the number low, and B&N want the number high.

There's also talk of in-store try-outs when you bring your B&N eReader in, but might suggest that the device will only have Wi-Fi and not 3G, like the Kindle. [NYT]

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence, and William Kamkwamba has it in spades. At age fourteen, while many of us were sneaking out of classrooms, William was struggling to sneak into them—his family was unable to afford the $80 annual tuition. As is bound to happen to most students, he was caught. But instead of being sent to detention, he was barred from the school. In a show of the driven man he would become, he didn't allow that to hinder him and instead started spending his days in the local library. While there, he encountered a book called Using Energy:

Using Energy described how windmills could be used to generate electricity. Only two percent of Malawians have electricity, and the service is notoriously unreliable. William decided an electric windmill was something he wanted to make. Illuminating his house and the other houses in his village would mean that people could read at night after work. A windmill to pump water would mean that they could grow two crops a year rather than one, grow vegetable gardens, and not have to spend two hours a day hauling water. "A windmill meant more than just power," he wrote, "it was freedom."

This book is what changed his life. And I don't mean that as an exaggeration. It was truly what made a difference in his life. Because of that book, and the potential he saw in its ideas, William began to build:

William scoured trash bins and junkyards for materials he could use to build his windmill. With only a couple of wrenches at his disposal, and unable to afford even nuts and bolts, he collected things that most people would consider garbage-slime-clogged plastic pipes, a broken bicycle, a discarded tractor fan-and assembled them into a wind-powered dynamo. For a soldering iron, he used a stiff piece of wire heated in a fire. A bent bicycle spoke served as a size adapter for his wrenches.

Imagine that. A young boy being so motivated by ideas and the sheer need to build something life-changing that he discovered materials and uses for them which most of us wouldn't even dream of. As Mark Frauenfelder put it:

For an educated adult living in a developed nation, designing and building a wind turbine that generates electricity is something to be proud of. For a half-starved, uneducated boy living in a country plagued with drought, famine, poverty, disease, a cruelly corrupt government, crippling superstitions, and low expectations, it's another thing altogether. It's nothing short of monumental.

After completing his first windmill, William "went on to wire his house with four light bulbs and two radios, installing switches made from rubber sandals, and scratch-building a circuit breaker to keep the thatch roof of his house from catching fire." His project had the attention of village locals early on, but at this point he gained the attention of TED, Technology Entertainment Design, through whom he was introduced to individuals willing to contribute to his plans to "electrify, irrigate, and educate his village, as well as pay his tuition at the prestigious African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg."

In short: A young man struggled to educate himself, to build something his village needed, and in the end made a difference to the entire locale and gained the education he'd always wanted. Yes, it's a fluffy, feel-good story with a happy ending. What should you take from the it? Maybe that there's hope in the bleakest of situations, maybe that your teachers and parents were right about the power of education, maybe just that I'm a sappy bookworm with a soft spot for happy endings. No matter, if you wish to learn more, you can read the recently released The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, check out William's blog, or peek at this video from before he ever wrote his autobiography. [GOOD via Boing Boing]

My 18 month old niece Rysa (with the help of her mother Katharyn Wheeler) put the Tag Junior through the paces. Their collaboration:

Tag Junior 'book pal'
Let's just say that the Tag Junior looks a bit like an alien, a happy alien, but an alien nonetheless. It was actually difficult to keep the reviewer interested in the book because the Tag Junior book pal was so interesting in comparison.

By touching the pal to pictures throughout the pages, everything from animal sounds to the specific names of colors play back on the pal's speaker. The audio quality is pretty decent for such a small device, and all voices are clearly audible.

The biggest problem with the book pal is that the power button is available to the child. The second biggest problem is that the power button makes noise when it is turned on and off. Subsequently, the reviewer was far more interested in turning the button on and off than touching the Tag Junior to the page.

The third biggest problem is that the pal is set to read through a whole passage when touched to any word on a page. This feature is great in the entry-level Curious George Color Fun book where there is one word a page, but proves detrimental in more advanced books that hold up to four lines of text on each page.

Beyond the one bundled book you get with the Tag Junior, each additional book requires you to update the Tag's software via a PC/Mac and USB. This is a simple process, but it requires some preplanning. The reviewer that was so excited seeing the Curious George book was disappointed in having to wait to look at it with the book pal since it wasn't preinstalled. Luckily, once all these books are installed to the pal, the reviewer was able to switch between books at will—every book is loaded at once.

LeapFrog makes use of PC syncing in one other notable way: Once the book pal has been connected it uploads information onto LeapFrog's site to help you monitor your child's activity. The site shows the amount of time spent with the Tag, which books were read, and which skills accomplished. These tools are far beyond what any other toy/learning tool manufacturer is doing right now.

And by far the cutest function is that you can personalize the book pal so that it uses the name of the child each time it powers on (and for names not available you can set a nickname such as "little monkey").

Overall, the reviewer liked the book pal and loved the books themselves. She cried when they were taken away from her.

Formfactor Fits Perfectly In Little Hands

Online Progress Monitoring Is Excellent

The Books Themselves Are Entertaining

You Need to Sync Every Book to PC

Power Button Too Prominent/Enticing

Children Might Cry When Pal Is Taken Away

Here's a screenshot of a site where you can download the eBook version of my book. And according to the site, it really is MY book. They scrubbed out any mention of Adam in the description. Suck it Pash!

-Although I carried a dozen books with me with zero back strain or bag overflow
-Can't share a kindle with your travel partner; Unlike a regular book, you can't just hand it over without handing off your next book, too.
-If you're flying abroad, downloading books = impossible after take off unless you're lugging a laptop and want to manually sync.
-If you're waiting for your plane, you can do some great book shopping, at usually very aggressive discounts, while boarding.
-I happened to be on a beach and my hands got really really dry from all the salt and sun. Turning pages usually is as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard, but not so with the kindle.
-One handed reading, is easier on my side since I can turn pages with a click.
-Font sizes are relatively big (even at their smallest size) and so the rating of page life is drastically less effective; a page in a book could be 2 pages on the kindle. Bring your charger.
-kindle does not soak up water on a wet bathing suit.
-Kindle reading in the pool on a float is freaking scary.

As I said, I read a great deal more than I usually do on this trip and faster. How much of that was me being on vacation versus me being on the Kindle? To be honest, I haven't read very much since I've come back home. I blame the computer and internet's endless bounty of shorts, but my experience using the Kindle on vacation stands — if you're going to go on vacation a few times a year and plan on reading on the flight and during the downtime, you can probably consider the Kindle a wise thing to own. Maybe once the new ones come out, the old ones will be on sale for a song. [Photo from NYDiscovery]

Despite this Rolodex-wrecking flaw, Leopard’s update introduced plenty of other features that actually make the operating system better. Spaces now behaves like a proper virtual desktop system, and Time Machine is significantly more reliable, as well as playing nicer with Time Capsule. Mail, iChat, Airport and Automator also underwent minor refinements. Taking into consideration these enhancements as well as a number of critical security fixes, 10.5.3 is still a recommended download in spite of the Address Book goof. For those who just had to click every new radio button in 10.5.3, the same helpful reader who sent in the Gmail sync warning has posted a quick fix here.

[Brian King]

After buying NeXT, Apple had to figure out how to turn NeXT-step into a Macintosh operating system. At first, the job looked so big that Apple's programmers decided they should take the old interface in Mac OS 8 and try to graft it on top of the NeXT-step codebase..."We assigned one designer to OS X," he recalled. "His job was pretty boring: make the new stuff look like the old stuff."

But Razlaff thought it was a shame to put an ugly facade on such an elegant system, and soon, had designers creating mockups of new interface designs...to show off advanced technologies under NeXTstep's hood.

Jobs called Razlaff into a meeting before ever seeing the prototypes, immediately called them "a bunch of idiots" and complained about the old Mac interface.

One of the things he hated most were all the different mechanisms for opening windows and folders. There were at least eight different ways...

The meeting ended with Jobs and Razlaff, now a creative at Frog Design, figuring out how to fix the UI issues, and Jobs asked for the mockups to be made into prototypes. Three weeks later Jobs dropped a compliment on the man.

This is the first evidence of three-digit intelligence at Apple I've seen yet.

And this was just the start. And over the next few weeks, Jobs and Ratzlaff's team would meet once a week where the CEO would pore over mockups and code based executions, pixel by pixel, until the UI was done.

I got through a copy of Leander's book this weekend, and to my delight it was very fact, quote and anecdote dense, not only relying on many previous interviews but lots of original reporting, as well. (Like the story above.) There are people at Portfolio complaining that Jobs didn't participate in the book, but anyone who knows anything about Jobs knows that he does not typically comment on these projects. What you'll find is some crossover with previous historical treatments by other authors, but put together in a unique way. Leander's does not dote on the history or sequence because it is organized by, well, mannerisms of Steve's Brain, dissecting how the man thinks between many anecdotes like the one above.

The book is pretty good at highlighting the evidence of his genius, chalking up the control-freakiness that he has a rep for as a strategy. (As a comparison, his Pixar is relatively open with news.) But I would have liked a little more discussion here about one or two things. Like Apple TV's lack of support for DivX, while Jobs is lauded for being open to new business models even if they threaten old ones, for example. But this is a minor point — the book covers a lot of ground and does it over a nice stretch; to about the time where the iPhone launched plus the SDK and bricking debacles.

And even though it's meant for business nerds, who is to say that we all couldn't use a little bit more evil/genius? One could use this as a guide to pretending to be Jobs, at work, at home, and in bed I mean at work. I call everyone here on staff a friggin idiot every day, and it seems to be working ok. CHEN WHERE ARE MY TPS REPORTS!? And of course, there are dozens of new interesting stories in the book like the one above. [Inside Steve's Brain]

P.S. Leander adds "please buy my book." I told him I'd just photo copy the whole thing and mail it by US Postal to whoever wants a copy and send him the bill for the stamps. That might take awhile, so if you want, pick up a copy before then.

P.P.S. BoingBoing's Rob B. did this funny treatment of the book. You'll have to see it for yourself.

Starting in September the company will send every e-book purchaser a sticker to put on their laptop that has an 'old book' smell. Of course, college students are fully backwards-compatible with real books. [CafeScribe]