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Aimed at winter sports enthusiasts, the Lifebag is a nifty refillable backpack. Weighing in at less than three pounds, its 150-liter capacity tank fills with gas in just three seconds when inflated manually, protecting the head and upper body of the wearer. But this Swiss invention could be so much more than just a life-saver,…
Mark Spoonauer scoops the Asus Eee PC review, leading off with the observation that you can get a comparable budget laptop for the same $399 price for the high-end Eee model. The key to it earning 4/5 stars and a place in Spoony’s heart is its low-overhead, simple UI Linux OS: “It’s ten times simpler…
What’s up with these weird smoking accessories lately? First we see the immoral cigarette extinguishing devices (NSFW), and now here’s this crazy Pig Lighter that works when you push his goofy little hat back. Suddenly, flames come billowing out his nostrils like he’s some kind of angry fire-breathing dragon. And then the clincher: When you…
The folks at Crave UK recently got a chance to tour Nokia’s R&D facility in Finland; and while they may have seen a robot dog, the real prize here was updated information on the S60 Touch UI. We already knew that the software, accused of being an iPhone clone by some, had a couple of…
It was on this day back in 2001 that Microsoft’s Windows XP was birthed, shiny and (very) blue, onto the desktops of consumers everywhere. It’s still most people’s favorite Windows OS (not me, I really like Vista), combining the stability of Windows 2000/NT with the eye candy of a consumer-focused OS like Windows 98 (note…
It’s quarterly earnings time, so get ready for a bunch of big numbers in foreign denominations. Sony’s net quarterly income rocketed to ¥73.7 billion ($645 million) on revenues of ¥2.08 trillion ($18.2 billion), over 40 times higher than last year’s same quarter net income of ¥1.7 billion ($14.9 million). Sony’s game division is bad news…
HTC’s just posted a software ROM update for the Sprint Mogul that improves Bluetooth, fixes the Alarm (it didn’t go off when your phone was charging!), and fixes some Sprint Music Store stuff. It’s not a huge update, so if you don’t have any huge problems with your Mogul you can get away with not…
Penryn production starts today at Intel’s schmancy new $3 billion Arizona plant that’s the first to mass produce 45 nm chips. They’ll hit the market in just over two weeks, Nov. 12. [Reuters] https://gizmodo.com/next-gen-penryn-cpu-benchmarks-show-intel-still-toastin-253459
I hit the Steelcase offices in NYC to get on the new Walkstation. At first, it looks like a bulky treadmill with a basic desk strapped on top, and I had some doubts about how comfortable it would be to work while working out. When I tested it out, though, I was pretty impressed with…
This week at Uncrate: We fail mightily in our attempt to declare a favorite between the Nissan GT-R and the Honda S2000 CR, while shaking up some stellar dirty martinis in the Alessi Cocktail Shaker. We also add some prehistoric bling to our look with the Dinosaur Bone Dog Tag, find a funky place to…
Samsung is cranking out the ideas with OLED displays lately, and now adds the world’s first bendable OLED screen to its stable of coolness. This 4.3-inch screen’s rocking 480×272 pixels, and Samsung claims it’s capable of a contrast ratio of 1000:1. Demonstrated at the FPD International 2007 Forum going on now in Yokohama, Japan, this…
There was a chill in the air this morning, and it made us start thinking about heating up the place. But who wants one of those metal space heaters that can burn the house down if it tips over when there’s a designer space heater like this Plus Minus Zero model that’s on its way…
Some of the coolest stuff in Akihabara wasn’t the newest or flashiest, but the oldest. Take this market we discovered up a set of back stairs near the train station. It’s full of clear boxes that sellers can rent out. They then price their goods, stick them in, and wait for the buyers to come.…
This Papercraft skull has a tab on the back that you can pull and make it talk, scaring the children, and maybe even your pets. Download the PDF, and you can make one for yourself, just in time for the big day. After the jump, we have a very special hat you can wear for…
While he may have been a dab hand with a Cuban cigar, it seems that Bill Clinton is not so well-versed in the art of gadgetry. According to some mobile marketing firm, the former president and keen humidor aficionado has just sent his first text message to Hillary on the occasion of her 60th birthday.…
Apple’s latest patent filing is for a tactile touchscreen. It’s not a new idea, but while companies LG and Alpine use vibration technology to make you feel like you are touching something distinct, the Apple patent suggests that you actually will touch something physical. One idea is for Braille-like bumps to emerge from the screen.…
There’s not a whole lot of explanation attached to this video clip, but this is either white sand, powder or flour (or maybe it’s a zillion dollars’ worth of coke) showing the shape of sound. The sound waves make the tiny particles organize themselves into symmetrical patterns. We found ourselves mesmerized by the various shapes…
This is where Walt Mossberg goes to eat when he visits Japan.
Friendless inhabitants of cubicles the world over will be happy with this three-tiered alarm system that guards your work space. Should an intruder penetrate that little gray area you call your office, alarm #1 alerts you to the fact by flashing lights and making a hideous noise, at the same time arming the second and…
For people whose paranoia leads them to believe that there are boogeymen actually living inside ATMs, this invention from Innovative Card Technologies and eMue Technologies lets them input their PIN—and presumably encrypt it—before they approach the machine. Cool as it is, I have a problem: I only remember my PINs from muscle memory, so this…