Gizmodo: bunnies

Fully Functional Penises Grown in Lab

Rosa Golijan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:40:00 EST

In the future, the compliment to give a guy will be to say that he's hung like a rabbit. It'll imply that he has the super-high libido that comes with fully-functional, custom-engineered penises like those being successfully implanted in bunnies.

I don't know how the fluffy creatures lost their most precious parts in the first place, but scientists decided to grow entire penises from scratch and implant them into a group of rabbits. The result were fully-functional, completely responsive sex organs in all the rabbits and "when given the chance to have sex, eight [of them] were able to ejaculate, and four became fathers." Impressive conception rate considering they were working with brand new equipment.

The hope is to one day reproduce those results for humans and aid those requiring penile reconstruction. Until then though, I suppose that "replacement penis" will keep implying the involvement of batteries. [Wired]

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

Sweden's New Green Tech: Heating Homes With Bunny Corpses

Adam Frucci — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:08:05 EDT

"It sure is warm and toasty in here! Is that a wood stove?," I asked. "Why no," she replied. "I'm burning the corpses of thousands of bunnies." Then there was an awkward silence.

Why rabbits? The fuzzy critters have actually become a bit of a pest in Sweden; wild and stray pet rabbits alike have ravaged city parks in Stockholm, forcing hunters to think out the population. With all those bunny bodies piling up, it makes sense to put them to good use. So the bodies are shipped to Konvex, a company that turns animal and vegetable oils into automotive and heating oils. But even the reproductively prolific rabbits don't provide sufficient power, so Stockholm supplements their bunny-based power with other animal corpses, including cats and horses.

Holy shit. Macabre? Yes. But also strangely sensible? Yes. I don't know what to think anymore. [Scientific American via io9]

MP3-Playing Bunny Uses Most Adorable Dock Possible

Dan Nosowitz — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:40:00 EDT

This little bunny is named Miffy, apparently a fixture of Dutch children's books, and like our favorite American rodent has been made into an mp3 player. It's cute and all, but it's definitely the cartoony, grassy dock that sells it.

The player is made by MobiBLU, best known for their tiny cube player a few years back, and while we don't have a price or even capacity yet, it's somehow set to come out this month. We can definitively tell you that the Miffy player will feature interchangeable clothes in various colors, which for a gadget like this is probably just as important as, you know, actual specs. [Akihabara News]

Humping Bunny is a Daintier Way to Defile Your Computer

Elaine Chow — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:00:00 EDT

Humping dogs are great and all, but sometimes we'd prefer to have something cuter do the nasty with our USB ports. Why not go for the animal that everyone associates with overbreeding anyway? Imported from Japan (no surprise there), each satisfied-looking rabbit comes with adorably humping motions and 1GB of memory. You can get one now for $15 on Urban Outfitters' online store. [Urban Outfitters]

Pet-Proof Your AV Gear For Fun and Profit

Jason Chen — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Unless you want to spend money on replacing your AV gear or replacing your pet, you're going to have to protect one from the other. Sound & Vision Mag has seven suggestions on how to do just that. Among them are wrapping up your rat's nest of wires behind the TV, placing a ScatMat (not what it sounds like) to gently shock little animals that step near your goodies, shielding your screen and hiding your remotes. Sounds like a pretty good warmup for when you have to baby-proof your AV gear a few years down the line. Especially with that ScatMat thing. [Sound And Vision]

Teaser for Sony's Bravia Play-Doh Commercial

AddyDugdale — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:40:55 EDT

Last month, NY was overwhelmed by Play-Doh bunnies as Sony shot its new Bravia ad. Well, folks, you've got a few weeks to wait for the spot to air, but until then, here's a tiny taste of what's to come. [Sony BRAVIA - New York]

CNET Writer Gets Nabaztag, Fails to Fall In Love

gizmodocontributor — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:56:43 EDT

CNET writer Daniel Terdiman is a cruel, heartless sort of dude: he got a Nabaztag (one of those electronic bunnies that reads you the news and wiggles its ears), but completely failed to fall in love with the floppy eared technological marvel:

I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be... Spoken messages from fellow bunny owners are fun. Even watching LapinLED do "tai chi" at random times was kind of neat...But ultimately, that's all there is. This is a $150 toy. It flashes. It speaks. But it's a novelty. And despite my initial excitement, I find myself a little underwhelmed.

If you want to send him some bunny love to put him back on track, his Nabaztag is called LapinLED and you can send messages here. Just don't send any rude messages: the idea of a cute electronic bunny shouting expletives across the CNet offices is just plain wrong. – Richard Baguley