Microsoft commissioned special-edition cans of the Lemon-Lime Talking Rain sparkling water for their employees, complete with Vista logo and an intranet link for them to find out more information about Vista. Guess Microsoft needs to hype up the energy internally as well, since they're adding these to the stock of other free sodas employees drink.
Apple should do the same for their upcoming Leopard launch. But instead of Lemon-Lime, they should pick a more obvious flavor—grape. – Jason Chen
The company Armor Holdings is developing a liquid-type of body armor to either replace or enhance the current tough fiber and polymer armor that's in use today. The liquid can be smeared on a person, or a person's clothing, and stiffens when hit by an object.
In their current tests, they found this liquid armor is best used when painted onto current Kevlar armor in thin layers. The company wants to make the new liquid armor available for police departments, the military, and prison guards. It can protect guards from a shivving, something their current vests and armor can't.
This new armor type is cheaper than traditional fiber armor to manufacture, so we're dreaming of one day coating all underwear in this stuff—making groin hits a thing of the past. – Jason Chen
Panasonic will border your new plasma with one of eight frame designs, to transform your livingroom into an art gallery (with a lay-z-boy). With names like Classic Gold Leaf, and Bombay Mahogany, you should know its not going to be cheap: about £200 to £250, depending on if it's made of hardwood, softwood, or metal. And right now, you can only get two models framed: the TH-EBP42F9, at 42-inches, and the TH-EBP50F9 at 50-inches. (Both £1500 and £2000 respectively.)
Panasonic will also let you download art from their HD Image Gallery (for pay!), to show off your plasma's contrast ratio. (What, football not good enough anymore?)– Brian Lam
The Sony NW-E005 Walkman has the slick black Sony design that people seem to love, bundled with a price that's very un-Sony like. The 2GB version is £80 while the 1GB is £50 and 512MB is £40. Not cheap for a flash-based MP3 player, but not expensive either.
The simple OLED display gives you the bare minimum of information, while the FM radio lets you listen to something other than your 2GB worth of tunes once in a while. The 28 hours of playback is hefty, and the MP3, ATRAC3 and unprotected WMA/AAC playback is pretty standard. The only downside is the Sony SonicStage software you'll have to use to handle your tunes. Their new version improves things, but it's still no iTunes in terms of usability. – Jason Chen
If you're looking for some high-end quality for your A2DP Bluetooth-enabled music phone, the Plantronics 590E headset seems to be just the ticket. The headset is rated at 12 hours of talk time and 10 hours of listening time, dedicated call buttons and Audio Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) to control your music from the headset.
You'll probably feel like a tool wearing this in the car—not to mention that it may be illegal and unsafe to cover up both your ears while driving—but the headset is useful at home or in the office.
We wouldn't show these if they weren't decent, and this one is fairly decent, but still obviously fake. According to the iPhone rumors, the device may be available in August after its supposed announcement at WWDC. Only one week left until we know the truth! – Jason Chen
The iRiver E10 (middle) has lots of functionality, from supporting MP3, WMA, ASF and OGG files to video playback to acting as a remote control. The only problem comes from getting your songs onto the device itself using the iRiver Plus 2 software. It stinks. Compared to iTunes or Windows Media Player, it's unresponsive and lacking in features. The good news is you can drag songs onto the player without the software, so OS X and Linux are also supported along with Windows XP. The bad news is transferring music this way makes the E10 not able to sort the songs by Album or Artist. Bummer.
The controls are intuitive, with the four arrow buttons in front, hold and volume buttons on the side. The Flash Lite 2.0 interface means you can download new themes for the UI from their website or create your own. The Flash UI also means there are flash games you can play, again, downloaded from their site.
All in all, the player has good battery life at 28 hours, has a neat universal TV remote capability and does 15FPS video playback at 128x128 resolution. FM radio and microphone for voice recording round out the package. – Jason Chen
The Aiptek HyperPen 1200U is a USB device that's designed to be plugged into your hulking desktop machine, giving you the ability to input text with a special, wireless pen. (Yes, just like a Wacom , but cooler. Honest.) The writing surface can detect up to 512 levels of pressure and has a 3,048 LPI resolution, so that should be enough to accurately capture your digital pen strokes. Should you want, you can ever set up the HyperPen to function as a replacement for your trusty mouse.
The tablet measures 12 x 9-inches and has 24 keys "for quick and easy access," nine of which are customizable. It's compatible with both Windows and Mac. You can find the HyperPen 1200U online for around £50. – Nicholas Deleon
Remember those claw machines that would constantly rob you of 50p's? My grandmother's arthritis ridden hands have a tighter grip than these damn machines. Well, here is a miniature version that can be filled with candy for your desk or cubicle. This device is the perfect kind of diet plan. You would never be able to get the candy to eat and then punch some walls in frustration after many attempts reap zero benefits—healthy eating and exercise! It will be available soon for £20. – Travis Hudson
Sagem has a stereo Bluetooth headset on the loose that allows you to toggle between listening to music and taking that important phone call. The over-the-ear style of the headset may seem a bit excessive for just listening to crystal clear cellphone conversations, but once hooked up to a digital music player, you'll begin to appreciate the it all the more thoroughly. It's rated to last for seven hours while fully on and 150 hours while on standby. The headset should run you around £50. – Nicholas Deleon
This rearview mirror can do damn near everything. It has a Bluetooth receiver, digital audio player—with playback from SD memory or USB devices&mdashFM tuner, phone controls and an auxiliary port. It plays back music through your in-car stereo and is powered by a 12VDC cigarette lighter, so there will be some unfortunate cable management issues.
The Shining Elite VM-5602 just received FCC approval so it should be hitting the market stateside, soon. Don't worry, it can still reflect whatever is behind your vehicle, but that is the least important feature, right? – Travis Hudson
Xploder will be releasing an add-on that will give PS2 owners a little high-def love.
Available for both PAL and NTSC PS2 consoles, the Xploder HDTV Player allows you to:
•Select a HD 720p or 1080i setting to give a clearer, crisper picture quality for all PS2 games.
•Play games in Enhanced Definition (ED) TV 480p mode; a higher resolution for improved image quality.
•Choose from a variety of superior VGA options.
Driven by proprietary Xploder software, you simply put the disc in the PS2 console and use the simple on-screen interface to select the optimum configuration for your system (HD, ED or VGA modes) from the options menu. The details are automatically saved to your memory card, so there's no need to reconfigure the settings every time you use your console.
The HDTV Player also includes RGB component cables. This is a pretty interesting device and could be useful for those who want somewhat HD gaming and movies and don't want to take out a second mortgage to buy new stuff. No word on release date or price. Image courtesy of Crowdedbrain– Travis Hudson
Lexon is a European design company who has invented a new way to tell time, according to their e-mail. This watch—rather than having silly hands or digital numbers—uses simple blocks to designate the time. So in this pictured watch it is 12:59. Just count the blocks and you will get it.
Design-wise, this watch looks pretty nice. Even if the method of time display is a little doofy, it is still an interesting accessory and a good conversation piece. The E8 watch is available with a grey, orange or green display for £75. – Travis Hudson
Dutch giant Philips is poised to release nine speaker sets for this autumn, with the 100-watt SPA9300 (pictured here) headlining the show. While only a 2.1-channel system, the SPA9300 does boast an 8-inch subwoofer that's capable of reproducing frequencies as low as 35Hz. It also includes a 3.3-mm input to connect your MP3 player.
One rung down the ladder from the SPA9300 is the SPA7300, a 60-watt system that's pretty much identical to the SPA9300 in every other aspect. Moving towards the low-end of the lineup is the SPA3200 and SPA2200. These two are decidedly low-end, coming in at 10-watts and 4-watts, respectively. They do, however, include "Bass Boost" technology, which hopefully isn't just another hollow marketing term. (The rest of the speakers are similar enough to not want to have this post drown in a sea of wattage ratings and response numbers; all of that can be found on Philips' Web site for the truly hardcore.)
The top of the line SPA9300 will set you back around £80 when it's released this September; most of the rest will also see a September release. Hopefully, Philips isn't playing favorites with the different markets. – Nicholas Deleon
In a conference call today, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin has a hell of a quote that is getting me all excited in my underroos.
We are close to signing deals to offer the best video programming for kids as part of our OEM offering in the second half of the year
Whaaaa? Sirius video! He may have said that it is only going to be kids programming, but that is just the baby step. I just wonder if the small antenna used for satellite radio will still be able to handle streaming video. Everyone knows that Dora the Explorer is a streaming whore. We'll keep you posted as more details arrive, but Sirius has been running their mouth about providing video for quite some time now so who knows how SIRIUS they are about it. Oho, a pun. LOL! – Travis Hudson
For those Aibo fanboys still weeping over the discontinuance of the object of their techno-affection, in prances Korean company Dasastech with Genibo, the robot dog that comes when you call and never shits on the floor.
We saw a video of this robot puppy a few months back that was accompanied with little other information, but now we find out this robo-pooch picks up where Aibo left off with similar capabilities. For instance, it can sense when you pat him on the back or head because of those touch sensors located there, and understands a hundred of your commands, too.
Train Genibo to walk over to you and recite phone numbers or your schedule, or you can train him to tell you to go to hell if you want to. Or just enlist your kids to do those things for you for free. No pricing or in availability information was revealed yet. – Charlie White
We're sure none of the offspring of our brilliant Gizmodo reading audience would be fooled by The Zaky, an ergonomic pillow that simulates the weight, touch and feel of the hands of a caring parent. But this is such a cute picture nonetheless, we couldn't resist showing it to you. Aww.
We know what you're thinking. No, hair won't grow on the palms of these hands, but they don't look particularly stain-resistant, either. Whatever you're going to use them for, they're £20 a pair. – Charlie White
Useful baby gadgets are pretty rare around these parts, but the Lullabub Cot Rocker is easily the best baby gadget on the market. This gadget consists of four modules that are placed underneath the legs of a cot or crib. It will then gently rock the crib automatically in a choice of four rhythms to help the baby go to sleep. It even includes a night light, automatic timer and a remote control.
The Lullabub can simulate the motion of a mother's womb, mother's heartbeat, drive in a car or boat on water. It is currently sold out, but another wave is set for an august release. Pick it up for around £120 and get some sleep. – Travis Hudson
These Ear Drops Earphones from Elecom are sure to delight that young lady in somebody else's life; they're spangled with crystals and fully decorated with that certain esthetic that's so appropriate for that pound-shop Cleopatra who lives next door. And no, we're not going to use the word "bling."
Cheapness aside, we're all for putting yet another decoration on the female form of which we are all so fond. Why didn't anyone think of this before (or maybe they did): instead of earrings, tricked-out earbuds? Nice idea. Pricing wasn't announced, but they'll soon be available on geekstuff4u.com. – Charlie White
Good ol' TechEBlog has been on a "Top X" binge as of late, but this one dealing with five wild and crazy ways to use you MacBook [Pro] is actually, you know, interesting. It's no secret that the Apple's MacBook line of notebooks tends to run a little on the warm side, so some brave soul took it upon himself to cook a hearty meal on top of a MacBook. Some of the other wacky uses have been noted by us here in the past as well, including the ever popular MacSaber mod. If you're in the mood to read some truly funny stuff (...), don't be a stranger. – Nicholas Deleon
Getting fed up with all those wires hanging off your iPod shuffle or nano? Now you can hold that player in a perfectly-sized compartment stitched into the iSoundCap. The hat also has a sleeve that stores all the wires leading to and from that iPod, leaving only your earbuds dangling down to your ears in just the right position.
Looks like the iSoundCap places your iPod in just the right spot, even if you get really sweaty. But if you soak through your hat on a day like those we've had this summer with temperatures well into the 90s, that iPod might get short-circuited. Versions for shuffle or nano are available now for $29.95, with 10% off if you enter the coupon code listed on the company's website. – Charlie White
Info trickles out about the capabilities of Media Center Edition on Windows Vista, and Matt Goyer, Microsoft's blogger for the company's eHome division, offered both good news and bad news in his post from last Friday, July 28.
The bad news is that you won't be able to buy a CableCard reader off-the-shelf and upgrade an existing PC. So ATI's Open Cable Uni-directional Receiver (OCUR, pictured here) will only be available installed inside new CableLabs-certified machines containing it. The good news is Windows Vista will support up to four HDTV tuners, including two OCUR cards. In a question-and-answer format, Goyer says:
Q: Will I be able to buy a cablecard reader off the shelf, a video card off the shelf and be able to playback [OCUR] content?
A: No.
Q: Why don't you offer support for more than 2 HDTV cards?
A: It would sound like it's due to the added development and test complexity. To be clear we do support up to four tuners. For instance, one configuration in the US could be two OCUR devices with two ATSC tuners.
Sounds like Windows Vista upgraders who want to view HD cable TV on their PCs might fuel a lively black market for ATI's CableCard-reading OCUR product. Or, maybe some will just acquiesce, breaking down and buying a new PC equipped with the cards. – Charlie White
Meu Deus, um novo iPod dock! Very little concrete information is known about this iPod dock from Mirage other than that it uses "omnipolar technology" to "break the sound barrier." Hot dog! Assuming this means that it uses some marketing speak to improve the sound eminating from the iPod, it's probably not too different from the myriad iPod speaker docks out there.
Additional, this dock features a screen where the iPod with video's images are projected. It's unknown whether or not the images are actually projected, but that's what the picture seems to indicate. That, or whether or not flaming, dancing people are included with the dock. That's still up in the air as well.
The dock isn't even on Mirage's Web site yet to give you an idea of just how shiny and new it is. Hopefully, more details will emerge in the near future. – Nicholas Deleon
Now here's a perfect application of solar technology: Sun Bricks, patio pavers that soak up the sun during the day and light your path at night. Each brick is self-contained, and if it sits in the bright sunlight all day it'll stay lit for eight hours that night.
Each Sun Brick is equipped with two amber LEDs, and are sized the same as standard bricks, so you can swap out a few of your old bricks for some of these. They're $59.95 a pair. – Charlie White
The Classé CDP-202 is touted as the first CD player with touchscreen controls as well as a video preview located on the front panel. It plays pretty much any type of audio disc you feed it, though it does downsample multi-channel DVD-Audio (and DVD-Video for that matter) into two-channel stereo. It's designed with all sorts of alien technology in order to obtain the best possible sound from audio discs; the left and right channel circuits are operated independently to further the perception of super-duper high quality audio.
The CDP-202 is listed as a reference component, so odds are it does sound fairly decent. It's actually been available in North America for a few months now, but somehow it slipped under the radar. Its MSRP here is $6,500 and it'll make its Japanese debut later this month. – Nicholas Deleon
NVIDIA has decided to plunk down a big honking graphics system for professionals only, showing the rest of the world that it's not just playing games any more. The company's latest leap into the graphics stratosphere is Quadro Plex, a dedicated visual computing system that combines up to eight NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics processing units (GPUs) into one, giving its users more graphics power than they can shake a stick at.
The graphics units are available on a single configuration such as you see on the left above, or can be combined together in rack-mounted clusters and harnessed together for graphics Nirvana. All can be used for driving photorealistic graphics for scientists, oil explorers, flight simulators and other secret and scary purposes we won't get into here. Filmmakers will like using it to drive the highest-resolution 4K digital film displays. Pricing will start at $17,500, and the product is set to ship in September.
This is graphics territory formerly only occupied by the likes of SGI. And yes, we're assuming that it can indeed play Doom. – Charlie White
Get a rise out of the neighbors with these fake pot plants, made out of realistic-looking silk by pro-pot activist Joseph White. They even have buds on them. White's New Image Plants offers a variety of sizes from 2 feet to 6 feet, and you can order them as hemp plants without buds, or as marijuana plants with luxuriant and realistic-looking buds that have been dusted with polyurethane to simulate that gooey, sticky, flower top look.
This six-foot marijuana plant, marked down to $190.57 from $224.20, includes five buds and sits in a basket container. The three-foot marijuana plant is $114.07. Or you can just grow your own for free. – Charlie White
Nokia announced the upcoming availability of a pink version of its 7360 (the pink one on the left, sirs) at a fashion event in Amsterdam this week. The cellphone is thought to be identical to previous incarnations of the 7360, which we first noticed last fall. The pink 7360 is expected to hit stores this October and is part of what Nokia calls the L'Amour ("Love") series, which also includes the 7370 and 7380. – Nicholas Deleon
JVC rolled out its XA-F52 digital audio player, a 512MB trinket that plays MP3s and WMA files, and has a built-in mono microphone for voice recording. It can also directly record from analog devices with its audio line input. Apparently aimed at the iPod shuffle, its necklace-like form factor has headphones attached to a lanyard.
Barely over 3 inches tall, the tiny flash memory-based player lets you delete songs from its list, and has a Favorite Key function that plays favorite songs repeatedly with a simple button push. Pricing information wasn't released, but it'll be available in early September. – Charlie White
Lf you simply can't do without your TV for even a few minutes but have money to burn, you might want to take a look at the Lux ARIIS-AR26SSA Outdoor TV, a fortified outdoor entertainment center complete with a WiFi receiver that extends your Windows Media Center out by the pool or deck. This is one serious TV, where its makers started out with a Sharp 26-inch LCD, and put it into virtually bulletproof enclosure with glare- and reflection-free glass up front as well as a stainless steel housing to protect its WiFi receiver and marine-grade speakers. It almost looks like you could grill burgers with it.
The included waterproof universal remote controls the computerized goodness inside, and it can also control any other devices you have around the pool and spa. Watching TV and media on your PC while you're lounging around the pool or patio better be pretty important to you, though, because you'll have to shell out $6,800 for the privilege. Even at this high price you'll still need a Windows Media Center PC to feed this contraption from inside the house. It's your money. – Charlie White
Our Zune tipsters tell us that the Microsoft Zune is going to be launched the week before Thanksgiving this November. Whether that means Tuesday the 14th, Friday the 17th, or heck, maybe even Wednesday or Thursday, we have no idea. The point is Microsoft wants to start their buzz around that week, so it will be hard to get the following week. What's that week? Just the biggest "shopping hype" day of the year, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Whatever is hot that day is going to be hot for the rest of the Christmas season. And when local news stations across the country are reporting that the Zune is sold out everywhere, that's free press for Microsoft.
Other than their Xbox 360-like marketing of the Zune, our tipster says the hard drive could be a 60GB or 30GB, or possibly resulting in two models of Zunes (like the 5G iPod 30GB and 60GB). The 60GB version isn't confirmed, but the 30GB is definitely in. There's also going to be lots of first and third party accessories for it at launch, and some different color Zune models to chose from. It has a much larger screen than the iPod (as seen in the pictures) thanks to having only one wheel and two buttons on the "bottom" of the face.
Oh, and Cesar Menendez, the Microsoft blogger in charge of the Zune site has a Myspace page. There's absolutely nothing there, as he's deleted all his friends except for Tom, the Asian loving Myspacester. But Cesar is single, 27, in Seattle, and does not want kids. Ladies, what a catch! – Jason Chen
I have some kind of bendy, super flexible spectacles because unlike their unfortunate predecessors these ones don’t shatter when I plonk my big fat ass on them.
Which is why these particular frames are just not going to work for me. Still, not everyone crushes their glasses with their ass and these might appeal. Meet the wood frames from wood sculptor and designer Scott Urban. Specsavers, this ain’t. The choice of wood itself is a treat: Coco Bola, Bloodwood, Padauk, Goncalo Alves, Snakewood and Purpleheart. This guy will build a pair of frames just for you – check his blurb:
“Custom frames from Urban Spectacles of Wood begin with precise measurements of the head and face to ensure the resulting pair will be a perfect fit. Then, an original design based upon individual ideas and preferences is collaborated upon. After deciding how the frames should be shaped, the next step is choosing materials. The numerous exotic hardwoods offer stunning beauty and exceptional durability in their grain structures, which sometimes makes for a difficult selection. With design and material considerations aside, the solid block of wood begins to take its shape as it is meticulously hand carved to the desired form. The wooden frames are completely crafted by my hands until their design and fit are tailored to meet your needs. Custom lenses of any kind are then shaped and inserted into the specs. For a protective and enhancing finish, a final coat of natural wood oil is applied and buffed away. What was once a piece of wood is now ready to be worn and enjoyed.”
If it wasn’t for my Specs-Destroying Ass, I’d be there, man. Via Coolhunting
Screw the Underground, take a sub to work. That’s right, there’s a new way of getting to work so cool that it warrants selling your large five-bedroomed house in the sticks to buy a vastly overpriced one-bed shoebox near the Thames.
OK, the company building these has the dubious moniker of U-Boat Worx, but they are based in Holland and (sadly) there are no torpedo chutes. The C-Quester submersible comes in one and two-person models. The company says they are easy to get into and it can be launched and operated in almost all waters, irrespective of the depth. You can travel underwater at depths of up to 50 metres. All you need now is £65,000. Dive, Dive, Dive!!! Via Stuff
For those of you still sobbing into your Cornflakes at yesterday’s news that E3 was about to get the axe, then stock up on those Kleenex ‘cos it’s been confirmed. There’s no detail on what’s going to replace it but there is lots of flowery language and gobbledygook.
The upshot is this: the world’s biggest games/scantily clad female fest is being given the Inner Space treatment and shrunk to a ‘more intimate’ size. Here’s the official statement from Entertainment Software Association (ESA) president, Doug Lowenstein:
“The world of interactive entertainment has changed since E3 Expo was created 12 years ago. At that time we were focused on establishing the industry and securing orders for the holiday season. Over the years, it has become clear that we need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry audiences.”
The notable absence of the word ‘gamers’ from that statement is ominous indeed. In fact, everyone but the humble gaming addict is invited to the new huddle. So, the developers, publishers and retailers are going to get together and then invite the media to an intimate event. Wow. E3 transmogrifies into a press launch. How fucking sad is that?
Released the same day as the LG Chocolate phone, SanDisk's 2GB microSD cards let you fit twice as many Cure albums compared to the old 1GB cards.
Unfortunately for most of the country, these 2GB cards are going to be sold exclusively at Verizon Wireless stores for the next 60 days. That means you're not going to be able to hop online and grab one from NewEgg or Amazon.
Although we would have preferred the artist stay with the original analog version of Dali's melting clock, this digital version is cool too. The clock face looks like it's melting off the table, but enough of its weight is over the table that it doesn't fall off and clock your dog. Sorry.
It's made by Ross McBride, who is looking for a producer to make and sell this clock.
Here's a keyboard that promises to set a "New Standard for User-Friendliness" by getting rid of QWERTY, and replacing it with this thing called "Alphabetical Order." Seriously, if you're going to make it sound like you're reinventing the way we type, you have to be more clever than putting things in the order they came in.– Brian Lam
When the old dogs at PC Magazine call something "perfect", it actually means something. They've been reviewing PCs since the Eisenhower administration, so for a HTPC to get a 4.5 out of 5 on their scale it has to be good.
The WinBook Jiv Mini will run you £650, but comes loaded with a bunch of features in a little package. There's the outputs: DVI, component, S-Video, and composite. The connectivity: IR, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/g, and Ethernet. Everything sounds good so far, except for the 100GB laptop-sized hard drive that they had to use to keep the overall size down.
All in all, it's powerful enough to play back video and act as a home theatre just fine, but chokes when you load up even old games like Doom 3. The main draw is the Jiv's size and shape. It's great for the living room, but if you need more power, go for a larger HTPC. – Jason Chen
The Segway Centaur is the newer, younger brother of the Segway that just about nobody—unless you're Steve Wozniak or a Chicago beat cop—is riding. This four-wheeled Segway looks more stable than the previous one, even when it's up on its hind wheels. The Centaur features a seat, handlebars, and the same type of engineering that went into the commercially unpopular Segway.
We have to say, it looks like it goes pretty fast and could be fun to ride. No chance at all seeing this on city sidewalks (maybe bike lanes?) though. Just a concept for now, so we probably won't be seeing this for a few years at least. – Jason Chen
Gizmodo Japan is live, with Moko Imada helming our far East sister site with the help of a small staff, and hundreds of Gundam reporters. Sure, it's in Japanese, so it's a little hard to read for us foreign dogs. But a little bit of Google Translate magic, and you've got an easy way to keep up with Akihabara happenings. As a bonus, they'll be updating during our midnight hours, because of the time zone differences. So, Gizmodo loyalists can click all day at big poppa Gizmodo.com, and check out Gizmodo Japan all night long. Visit them via links on the top of our home page (Japan link coming as soon as the web monkey makes it.) Drop in and say hi. And of course, we've all our sister sites in Europe you can visit, too. Gizmodo: International Gadget Site of Mystery.– Brian Lam
Is the HTC phone with the codename Excalibur this phone? Smartphone thoughts thinks it is, and says it's only a few millimeters thicker than the Samsung i320 and 2 millimeters shorter. The keyboard on the front makes this a Motorola Q/Samsung i320 contender, and the Quad-band and WiFi connectivity makes GSM users (Cingular, T-Mobile) jump for joy.
Another interesting feature is the touch-strip control on the right that they chose to go with instead of a jog-dial—if this is indeed the Excalibur, and not the phone-in-the-stone. They were actually two different swords, a fact I was reminded of while playing Tomb Raider over the weekend. – Jason Chen
The chaps at the British Egg Information Service (what the?) got tired of telling people how to properly cook an egg that they made a new self-timing egg that tells informs the "chef" when it's done.
The egg has heat-sensitive ink that displays only when the correct temperature is reached, meaning when your egg is done. The eggs come in hard-boiled, medium, or soft varieties, meaning you have to buy the kind you want or else the ink is useless—it's not a three-in-one egg.
They should really put this into other foods, like steak. Maybe they could display "WELL DONE" or "MEDIUM RARE" in big black letters when the meat reaches the right temperature. – Jason Chen
What happens when a Microsoft employee demos the speech recognition in Windows Vista before it's ready? Check it out for yourselves. It's not a pretty sight.
Our buddies at Jalopnik pointed us to the flakey Windows Vista voice recognition demo shown at a recent event. We tried to record it off of CNBC but our computers melted over the weekend, luckily not in the Dell way.– Jason Chen
Update: Reader Guillermo tells us that the engineer who's "responsible" for the bug that caused the demo meltdown posted an update on his site.
Yes, that's August's issue of Wired Magazine, where Stephen Colbert is on the cover, MURDERING an iPod video with a hack saw. If you can get past the painful imagery up front, and open the book, you'll find tips and tricks for getting more mileage out of your gadgetry. Bits like how to watch youtube clips on your iPod, catch your mobile calls on an airplane, boost your wifi signal, take better phonecam pics, and how to turn your Prius into a generator. By the way, Gawker-ites Mike Spinnelli of Jalopnik, Gina Trapani from Lifehacker, and I helped make this issue. What, you think we've got nothing better to do with our time than hold your hands? There, there, you're still special. – Brian Lam
James Glickenhaus, Hollywood Somebody, is so rich, he didn't just buy one of the first Ferrari Enzos. He had Ferrari build a whole new car for him based off of it. His main reason for tweaking the million dollar car was that he thought it was fugly compared to the Italian classics in his garage. Jalop-shop and Giz discovered, from photos found at Supercars.net, that one of his main alterations was to gut the spartan interior and load it up with what looks like a touchscreen and an iPod Nano. The car is to be unveiled in August 2006 at the Concorso Italiano, where we'll key-carve "Giz Hearts Jalopnik" in its rear quarter. Before and after pictures post-jump. A gold star to anyone who can identify the screen's maker.– Brian Lam
Good ol' TechEBlog has been on a "Top X" 
Info trickles out about the capabilities of Media Center Edition on Windows Vista, and Matt Goyer, Microsoft's blogger for the company's eHome division, offered both good news and bad news in his post from last Friday, July 28. 
Meu Deus, um novo iPod dock! Very little concrete information is known about this iPod dock from Mirage other than that it uses "omnipolar technology" to "break the sound barrier." Hot dog! Assuming this means that it uses some marketing speak to improve the sound eminating from the iPod, it's probably not too different from the myriad iPod speaker docks out there. 
Nokia announced the upcoming availability of a pink version of its 7360 (the pink one on the left, sirs) at a fashion event in Amsterdam this week. The cellphone is thought to be identical to previous incarnations of the 7360, which we first 
JVC rolled out its XA-F52 digital audio player, a 512MB trinket that plays MP3s and WMA files, and has a built-in mono microphone for voice recording. It can also directly record from analog devices with its audio line input. Apparently aimed at the iPod shuffle, its necklace-like form factor has headphones attached to a lanyard.
Lf you simply can't do without your TV for even a few minutes but have money to burn, you might want to take a look at the Lux ARIIS-AR26SSA Outdoor TV, a fortified outdoor entertainment center complete with a WiFi receiver that extends your Windows Media Center out by the pool or deck. This is one serious TV, where its makers started out with a Sharp 26-inch LCD, and put it into virtually bulletproof enclosure with glare- and reflection-free glass up front as well as a stainless steel housing to protect its WiFi receiver and marine-grade speakers. It almost looks like you could grill burgers with it.
Our 
