It charges via USB and can power most any mainstream gadget, from handheld gaming systems to phones, as well as anything with a microUSB port. It's got LED indicator lights, just in case you were really doing well with the ladies lately and want to put a stop to that. $35. [RedFerret]

The five here considered are MRAM (using two thin layers of magnetic material), FeRAM (which creates polarization through ferroelectrics), PCRAM (using lasers, sort of like with CDs and DVDs), RRAM (a variation on PCRAM that uses electrochemical reactions instead of heat-induced changes), and Racetrack (which, frankly, I understand even less than the other four, hard as that is to believe). If you're not a sciencey type, descriptions of these technologies may sound like adults in Charlie Brown's world, but they could be the next revolution in data storage—so read up. [New Scientist]

The watch, a form of which we've previously seen as a concept, hides red LEDs inside the pattern of the bracelet, which is kind of cool in theory but dorktacular in practice. Some highlights from the bizarre product description:

[It has] blood red numerals encased in stark samurai sword steel like the final battle between all the forces of good and evil in the multiverse

Yes, The Iron Samurai has been known to increase its wearers' strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma by as much as 20 points each! Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal are said to be Iron Samurai owners, as is David Bowie and Brian Eno. In reality, this watch is perfect for Presidential dinner crashers, Facebook celebs with over 1000 fans, Youtube directors with over 2,000,000 views, anyone who can play the entirety of Neil Zaza's I'm Alright on electric guitar, iPhone 3Gs owners, or anybody who is a somebody.

Yes, it's garish as all hell, but how many products can claim to be owned by both Steven Seagal and Brian Eno? [OhGizmo]

This huge, motorized crossbow is fully automatic, meaning it automatically loads, cocks, and fires. It doesn't appear to have a huge range, but it's certainly enough to make me glad it's not widely available for sale. [Ubergizmo]

Oh wait. It's a balloon, too? A man-shaped balloon with strange thumbs who is owned by 50 Cent? Maybe this video didn't make me understand the Internet after all.

• Pen - 1
• Pencil - 4
  
• Rubber Band - 7
  
• Tape - 1
• Wooden Skew (ammo) 1+

Step 1:
Using four thin rubber bands, rubber bands, assemble two pairs of unsharpened wooden pencils. Both sets should be identical and tightly secured.

Step 2:
Crisscross the two sets of pencils. Center one of the pencils frames on top of the other towards a selected end. This end will ultimately be the front of your #2 Crossbow. While holding the pairs in place, use one or two rubber bands to fasten the frames into place.

Step 3:
Disassemble the plastic ballpoint pen. You may need a pocketknife or pliers when removing the rear pen cap. The hollowed-out pen housing will be used for your crossbow barrel. Discard all the other pen contents.

Step 4:
Position the pen housing on top of the pencils, as shown, then secure with tape. It is important that the pen housing sits on top of the rubber bands and that the barrel is not obstructed by them.

Step 5:
Slide two wide rubber bands between the tightly secured pencils ends. The pencils should lock the bands into place, but if they don't add an additional thin rubber bands on the ends. The wider will ultimately provide you with your elastic firepower.

Step 6:
Bring both ends of the rubber bands together and attach them using strong tape. As you secure the bands, try to create a small ammunition pouch with the tape. It is possible you may need several pieces of tape to fasten the bands together securely. Pull the assembly back a few times with your fingers to test.

Step 7:
Your #2 Crossbow is now complete! Slide one wooden skewer (used for cooking) or a 3/16 dowel into the pen housing. Gripping the wood arrow and the rubber bands, pull back and aim your crossbow launcher. Release and watch it fly!

Always operate your crossbow safely. Watch out for spectators and never aim the shooter at anyone. Wooden skewers usually have pointed tips, which can make them very dangerous. Styrofoam targets are ideal; but you should never place them in front of a breakable backdrop just in case you miss your target. Do not use the #2 Crossbow if any of its rubber bands show signs of wear.

Start turning implements of work into instruments of war by picking up John Austin's Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction on Amazon. Then, check out JohnAustinBooks.com for printable zombie targets you can use to test out your mini weapons.

We've seen the Surface identify and react to physical objects before (you might remember the 2008 election coverage's Obama and McCain bobbleheads), but this is the first time we've seen it recognize an object's third dimension. These Lumino blocks can be stacked, and the Surface will behave differently to two stacked blocks.

Aside from the obvious checkers implications (KING ME!), it's very simply the next step in the evolution of Surface and other touch interfaces to recognize the third dimension. It could enable all kinds of different gestures we haven't even thought of yet. Lumino itself is kind of a tech demo at the moment, but definitely a promising one. [DesignBoom and New Scientist]

Mashable is reporting on the launch event and this is what they've learned so far:

• On stage, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated that Bono suggested the meeting started VEVO.
• 85% of all music videos will go through VEVO, with the rest going on YouTube.
• VEVO will manage all ad sales
• The music video site is focusing on getting rid of duplicate videos. If you have ever browsed YouTube, you'll find that many music videos do, in fact, have duplicates.
• VEVO will not launch with HD. That will come out next year.
• Now this is awesome: VEVO includes synchronized and integrated lyrics
• The YouTube and Universal joint venture will be premiering new videos from 50 Cent, Mary J Blige, and Mariah Carey tonight. They are all exclusives.
• You won't have to watch a preroll every time you watch a VEVO video. It will serve ads based on aggregate usage.
• VEVO will come up any time you search for artists on YouTube
• VEVO's launch sponsors includes AT&T, McDonald's, Nikon, Mastercard, Dove, Colgate, Axe, and Infinit.
• Aol and CBS are joining the VEVO music network. This means that users coming through their websites will get VEVO.

Word is that the site is actually already live but bogged down by traffic. Is anyone able to access it? [Vevo via Mashable]

Somehow I suddenly feel better about the frequent typos or errors I make. [Kottke via Greg's Opinion]

Here are some of the most overpriced cables we've encountered over time. Feel free to chime in with any of your favorites that I might've missed (or with justifications for an $1800 wire purchase).

$300: Virtual Dynamics Power 3 Cables

The Virtual Dynamics Power 3 Cable is actually on the cheaper end of this collection of overpriced wires, but to me it's a product straight outta Cable Hell.

Why am I so harsh about something innocently overpriced? Because once upon a time, some guy's cat torn up one of these cables and he discovered that the $300 pile of crap contained only about $15 worth of components.

$500: Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable

When it comes to the Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable, a cool $500 gets you 1.5 meters of "high-purity copper wire" which speciallly structured to "thoroughly eliminate adverse effects from vibration." Seriously? I think I'd rather cope with my cables vibrating instead of listening to an empty echo in my wallet. [Amazon]

$1000: Wireworld's Platinum Starlight HDMI Cable

At $1000 per meter, Wireworld's Platinum Starlight HDMI cables oughta contain actual platinum conductors instead of solid silver ones. Don't worry though, you can get that "patent-pending DNA Helix conductor design" in versions up to 30 meters long.[Engadget]

$1800: Piezo Powerflux Power Cord

I don't recall hearing about the Piezo Powerflux Power Cord ever actually being for sale since it was announced long, long ago. Maybe someone realized that whether it's the "Most Sophisticated Power Cord and Connectors in the World" or not, a $1800 power cord just won't fly.

Any Monster Brand Cable

I doubt that I even need to say why Monster's cables fall into the "seriously overpriced" category. After all, this is the company who thinks that lowering a cable's prices down to $100 will make us jump for joy and race to the store when we could just as well use coat hangers instead.

This is Chromoscope, showing our sky in the Far Infrared spectrum. The web application will allow you to smoothly go across the entire spectrum, from gamma rays to radio, going through X-ray, H-alpha, visible, and microwaves. [Chromoscope]

The reader has 24 hours of continuous use (not too shabby for an LCD, even if it is monochrome), and supports MP3 and photos. It's 5 inches big, reads ePub and PDF as well as TXT, Mobi, PRC and RTF formats. Those of you who like downloading books from "non-official" sources know that they usually come in one of those formats. But the Libre comes with 100 "free" books, which are most likely public domain books you could get for free.

We'll see how it stacks up to e-ink type readers when we test it, but on paper, this seems like a pretty decent (cheap) alternative. Especially because it promises a faster page-turn refresh rate than e-ink. It comes in black and white. [Aluratek]

Aluratek, Inc., a leading creator of sophisticated yet user-friendly computer peripherals and consumer electronic devices, announces Libre – the new eBook Reader with exclusive LCD technology. Libre provides the most affordable product in the category, featuring superior battery life with up to 24 hours of continuous use, auto-off and page advance features, MP3 and photo support.

Utilizing the latest monochrome reflective light LCD display technology, the Libre eBook Reader PRO provides a crisp black and white 5-inch screen with the same appearance and readability of printed paper. There is no backlighting, so reading on the Libre is as soft on the eyes as reading a book, while also preserving battery power.

The Libre supports Adobe's Digital Edition software allowing Digital Rights Management (DRM) support for ePUB and PDF formats. This allows users to purchase new book releases from a variety of eBook content providers including eBooks.com, one of Aluratek's content partners.

With an MSRP of $179, the Libre is a cost-effective solution for anyone looking to experience the next generation of digital technology related to books. The Libre connects to any Mac or PC with an Internet connection for easy access to the newest book releases as well as timeless classics. It also comes loaded with 100 free eBooks on the included 2GB SD card.

"Unlike e-Ink displays which require multiple flashes for each page advance, I believe the reflective LCD technology the Libre offers will be a welcome change compared to other eBooks currently on the market" said John Wolikow, VP Sales and Marketing for Aluratek. "The ability to store thousands of your favorite books in the Libre is not only convenient but it's also good for the environment by saving trees."

Libre comes with a 2GB SD card, and supports SD and SDHC cards up to 32GB. The audio player feature lets users also listen to their favorite MP3s, and the picture viewer supports BMP, JPG, GIF and animated GIF. Versatile for any user, Libre offers five font size options and also supports Adobe DRM, ePUB, PDF, FB2, TXT, Mobi, PRC and RTF formats.

Other key features of the Libre include: table of contents, bookmark list and page, content search, jump to page, zoom, auto page turn, background music, multiple language formats, auto power off and a help menu.

The Libre eBook Reader PRO is available in either black or white with an MSRP of $179. For more information about the Libre eBook Reader PRO, or any of Aluratek's other innovative products, please visit www.aluratek.com.

Ring was deported from Japan twice: once in 2007 and again some time later after she slipped back into the country with her fake prints. Apparently, fingerprint altering procedures are becoming big business for shady doctors looking to make a quick buck. Japanese authorities claim that the practice is widespread in China, but if there is money to be made, I'm sure it is a problem all over the world.

In this case, prints from Ring's left hand were surgically implanted on her right—which makes me wonder why prints were not taken from both hands in the first place. Plus, the quality of the work suggests that $14,600 is a bargain basement, back alley price for surgery like this. Best to go top shelf when you're trying to do anything illegal. [BBC via The Register via PopSci]

Under a proposed deal, Google would digitize those pictures of "Manhattan buildings that were originally shot for tax purposes," and show them off in Google Maps. Seems neat, but it would be even neater if Google Maps were somehow integrated into the Phantom City iPhone app, because then there'd be even cooler iPhone-powered trips through history ahead. [NY Times]

Wired magazine's recent story about the making of Avatar contained the following passage:

Cameron is trying to show me something with a laser pointer. He queues up a scene towards the end of Avatar and freezes the frame on an image of a large crowd of Na'vi. He uses the pointer to draw attention to an ornate headdress composed of hundreds of tiny beads. The onscreen image is amazingly crisp, and the headdress appears utterly real. Each bead was designed by a digital artist, Cameron says, so it would look handmade. "Every leaf, every blade of grass in this world was created," he says, and his laser pointer streaks across the screen, alighting on so many things I can't follow its path.

When I read that, I thought to myself, that's everything that's wrong with CGI movies. I'm always torn when it comes to live action movies that rely so heavily on CGI'd surroundings and special effects: On the one hand, it's amazing what can be done with the technology, but on the other, it's depressing seeing what has been done with it, as well. CGI has become the atom bomb of movie special effects: Yes, we have the technology to "fix" everything, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we should use it.

In many ways, the argument against the overuse of CGI is like critic Douglas Wolk's complaint against autotune in modern pop music:

And now, the smallest errors are vanishing, too. The gift that modern digital technology has given pop music is the ability to fix every nagging inconsistency in a recording, note by note and beat by beat. If you hear a contemporary mainstream rock record, you're almost certainly hearing something that has been digitally nipped and tucked and buffed until it shines.

The little inconsistencies in musicians' performances aren't just glitches, though: They're exactly what we respond to as listeners — the part that feels like "style," or even like "rock." The exciting part of guitar-bass-drum-voice music is the alchemy of specific musicians playing with each other, and the way those musicians' idiosyncratic senses of timing and articulation and emphasis relate to each other. That's where the rhythmic force of rock 'n' roll comes from; that's also why a great band can replace one of its members with someone who's technically a more skillful musician, only to discover that their instrumental chemistry isn't there anymore.

Watching movies where CGI has created entire worlds like Pandora - or The Lord of The Rings' Middle Earth or anywhere in the three Star Wars prequels, for that matter - and what you're seeing may be technically impressive and the work of hundreds of artists up and down the moviemaking food chain, but none of it entirely convinces; there's a distance that we, as viewers, instinctively pick up on because what we're watching is so fake that it can't even convincingly fake verisimilitude. It doesn't matter how many how many hours or computer modeling programs have been spent to create "lifelike" scenery or surroundings, it will always lack the element of chaos, the potential for mistakes, that makes it something we can believe (and lose ourselves) in. Moviemakers today can try and distract us from that missing piece - with occasionally unintentional results; how many times do we watch something and think that it's impressive or "must have taken a lot of work," and not notice that we're being taken even further out of the story in order to do so - but there hasn't been any CGI-centric creation that has managed to replace it, yet.

More worryingly, CGI has given free rein to the worst, most-OCD elements of moviemakers' imaginations. Whereas, before, worldbuilding would have meant coming up with the strongest stories and performances in order to pull audiences in, now both of those seem to often take backseats to the spectacle of the spectacle itself (Think of this summer's Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, which didn't appear to make sense, or again, the Star Wars prequels, where Lucas as a director was clearly more in love with the technology responsible for the worlds he was building than the actors and dialogue he was populating them with). That James Cameron has created languages, flora and fauna and hundreds of elements for Avatar's Pandora that we may not even really see in the finished product is, at once, both an impressive and incredibly frustrating feat: Good for him for being so dedicated, but without a good story, it'll be the most expensive window dressing for a store that no-one wants to shop at.

As technology has become more and more adept at literally translating someone's imagination into a finished product, so, it seems, has the focus of filmmaking become using that technology: Pushing it to create new things, replace reality as closely as possible and take out all of the confusion, disarray and accidents of the real world. But in doing so, actually imagining things seems to have become diminished, both in terms of the creators - because flights of fancy soon become weighed down by translating them into something that computers can understand and model in visually "believable" terms - and in terms of the audience, who now get imaginary worlds presented to them in as close to photo-realistic terms as possible, but missing any genuine life. What we're left with, then, are movies overpowered by themselves, making everything more "perfect," more sterile and more lifeless than what we've seen before, no matter what our eyes may tell us.

Of course, I'm writing this before seeing Avatar, so maybe I'm wrong; maybe Cameron has spent enough time on the story, perhaps all the actors involved do wonderful work, and all of the work that's gone into the CGI has created everything we've been promised: an immersive, believable new world unlike everything we've ever seen before. But everytime I think of Cameron boasting to the Wired journalist about the CGI-creation of blades of grass - because, obviously, real grass isn't good enough sometimes - I worry that it'll just be more of the same old empty razzle-dazzle.