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The Monacca Bag by Takumi Shimamura is absolutely gorgeous—it’s made from hand-sewn cedar and leather, with a canvas inside. It’s big enough to hold a 17-inch laptop and will help to repel moths when stored inside a closet (they don’t say that specifically, but it stands to reason, right?) It’s only about $240 shipped (to…
Olympus has announced the mju Digital 500 camera in the UK, a £280 five-megapixel camera that they claim is ‘undeniably stylish’ but doesn’t look terribly interesting to me. That is, of course, unless it is extremely small—small makes everything sexier, especially squirrels. Touting features like ‘incorporates a smooth retracting lens barrier’ isn’t exactly a promising…
Ted Tschopp sent us this user review of the Motorola Razr V3, which he bought as a placeholder until Cingular gets the Treo 650. I think I’m about to follow suit—I was almost sold on switching to Sprint for the Treo 650, but all the weirdo memory problems are pushing me in the wait-and-see camp,…
Apparently the same company that made the Gundam Gun Guitar that I saw in Akihabara also makes this ‘Heat Hawk’ version in the shape of an axe used by Gundam Zaku. My buddy Scott Rowan writes: They are/were manufactured by a company called Banpresto (http://www.banpresto.co.jp/) and released in 2002. The guitars have an internal amp…
James Clar, a New York-based artist whose works primarily involve brilliant (conceptually and literally) arrays of LEDs, has re-launched his web site in both an HTML and Flash version (and the Flash version, for what it’s worth, isn’t a total eye/browser rape, so don’t be afraid to check it out). It must be getting a…
We’ve all wondered, “Is there a way for me to lose 10 pounds just by eating dirt?” And while the answer is an unqualified ‘yes,’ you’ll want to invest the $2,300 or so to purchase this outdoor 20.1-inch LCD television, designed to be used in even rainy conditions—the surprising thing about feasting on your backyard…
There’s a short but interesting interview in Business Week with Samsung’s Chung Kook Hyun, who is in charge of the company’s design center. Samsung has been sending its industrial designers to ‘exchange programs’ in other industries, like fashion or furniture, so that when they return they can approach the design on consumer electronics with a…
Quiet PCs are tiny miracles, but boy do they spoil you. My Powerbook, for instance, is ostensibly a ‘quiet’ machine, designed to run with mostly passive cooling, but it actually kicks on its fan a lot. If it were a normal laptop, you probably wouldn’t notice, but having it work as designed sometimes just makes…
I’ve been keeping an eye on the Sony Cybershot DSC-T3. I liked its predecessor DSC-T1 quite a bit, but reports of mediocre image quality kept me away from purchase. I4U’s review of an imported T3 shows that the colors, at least, have appear to be a bit richer, but I don’t have the eye to…
The VIOlight is a $50 toothbrush holder with a built-in anti-microbial UV light bulb designed to sanitize your utensils dentata in between uses. The cup plugs into the wall and the bulbs are rated for 2000 hours of use but will sanitize a brush in just 10 minutes. I actually keep my toothbrush in the…
It’s great to be back in New York. Every time I leave, I come back to a city that is a little bit more my home than before. Since I’ve got a lot of catching up to do today (not nearly as much if Brendan Koerner hadn’t kept things in check last week, though!) expect…
Monday November 22nd, 2004 Gizmodo in Tokyo: Akihabara Zero Is the Treo 650 a Weakling? Nokia Neo The Wrath of Ballmer DVD Cardz Solar Powered iPod Backup The Gadgetry of Thanksgiving, Part the First Nintendo DS Launches in Not Japan Mystery JBL Podclock Robosapien Creator Tilden Interviewed https://gizmodo.com/gizmodo-in-tokyo-akihabara-zero-26101 Tuesday November 23rd, 2004 Gateway Still Exists,…
Gizmodo aims to be a classy, family-friendly operation, so we’ll keep the double entendres and bawdy puns to a minimum when discussing the VibraExciter. This cellphone add-on provides a 30-second jolt of pleasure to the nether regions whenever someone rings or texts. The communication between phone and VibraExciter is done via RF, which means there’s…
Mixed feelings on this European news tidbit, about how soccer hooligans are using cellphones in lieu of knives and crowbars. On the one hand, it’s great to see outmoded gadgets put to some use, apart from cluttering up closets and landfills. On the other, I’ll bet that getting pegged in the forehead by a Nokia…
I always asked for a ping-pong table each Christmas, but my dad had a pretty good counter-argument: “You’re an only child. Who’s going to play with you?” Sad, but true. Which is why I always got socks and Hardy Boys books instead of my coveted table-tennis setup. Thankfully, today’s only children needn’t suffer as I…
I agree with X-Gadget’s Vincent Nguyen that Best Buy’s not the most reliable of retailers. I won’t bore you with my tale of woe from last Xmas, except to say that the pickup window was staffed by a lady more blunted than Woody Harrelson at a hemp rally. Seriously, she must’ve brought me the wrong…
And it seems like just yesterday the Nokias and Kyoceras of the world were crowing about breaking the 1-megapixel barrier. Now comes word that South Korea’s LG is developing the world’s first 6-megapixel camphone, using a Canon module. Shouldn’t be long before photojournalists can ply their trade with nothing more than cellphones. LG, Canon to…
Yes, it’s a Mr. T robot. No, it’s not for sale—it’s from somebody’s animation degree project. Hannibal is after the jump. (Thanks, Spoon!)
Last night we crashed our way into the au/Marc Newson Talby launch party in true Gawker style (or, you know, lack thereof). The sweaty, multi-room event consisted mainly of set pieces emphasizing the new Marc Newson G-Star line of fussy-wear. Like parties in New York, Tokyo parties get incrementally more enjoyable as champagne is knocked…
Without a doubt, this is the summation of all human artistic endeavor. It’s even advertised as an accessory for a giant, guitar playing Gundam mecha. It would have bankrupted me to drop the 80,000 yen on it, so I walked out of the Yamaha store before I could wise up. But if anyone would like…