Boost Mobile has teamed up with graffiti artists Mint, Serf and designer Dean Bradley to produce a set of unique speakers shaped like tin cans. Inspired by the tin can walkie-talkies of childhood, these 5-inch speakers won't crank out a ton of sound, but they will be compatible with just about anything you can throw at them including: mp3 players, phones, iPods, desktop computers, DVD players, laptops, game consoles, and more. Pricing details and a release date have not been made available. -Sean Fallon [Strangeco via Complex via TechDigest]
Japanese theremin maker Mandarin Electron has embedded a pitch only theremin inside a Russian matryoshka doll dubbed "Matryomin" as a means of creating art with art. For those of you who don't know, the theremin is an old-timey electronic instrument that can be played without actually being touched. Apparently, Matryomin can be "easily manipulated" to produce sounds that seem to emanate from the doll as a singing voice. If you don't believe me, groove on the bizarre orchestra in the video above. -Sean Fallon [Mandarin Electron via Trends in Japan]
If you live in Japan and drive a stripy Nissan Micra, we are so sorry. Still, if you desperately want an NEC Nissan branded laptop to match said vehicle, you are in luck. NEC has just announced an equally grotesque laptop, finished with enough stripes to create an accomplished rock band.
Beyond the eccentric exterior and a few strategically placed Nissan tags, the ¥120 498 laptop is a run of the mill LaVie G model. The device packs a 1.8GHz Sempron processor, 512MB RAM, 15.4" widescreen display and runs Windows Vista Home Basic. Our advice on this gadget; look (for a short period as it may burn your eyes), but do not (under any circumstance) touch. And you thought life couldn't get worse; a Nissan Micra and a matching laptop—be brave; it'll be OK in the end. -Haroon Malik [Digital World Tokyo]
NEC has developed a wideband antenna prototype that's made of fabric, allowing it to be attached to or stitched into clothes. This'll allow people to increase their cell connectivity by wearing gigantic antennas on their backs. Apparently, "one of the difficulties encountered in the past when using conductive fabrics was that soldering was not possible. In the case of this new antenna, power is supplied to a small flexible print substrate by a soldered coaxial cable, so that power supply is possible through capacity coupling with the substrate." Well, I'm glad they worked all that out. Look for supremely-dorky antenna pants in the not-too-distant future. -Adam Frucci [Akihabara News]
Previously seen mainly in laptop technology, shock sensing is making its way to external drives. I-O Data's new drive (with 3.5" disk) is available in sizes up to 1TB, and its G-Sensor stops any read-write activity when the drive is jostled. The thing is, it's not bus-powered, so it's not something you'd lug around with your laptop, presumably. Maybe it's designed more for earthquakes than for manquakes. -Wilson Rothman [Akihabara News]
We all know that people are, er, a little economical with the truth on MySpace. It has the ability to make older people younger, boring folk exciting and ugly people pretty, especially when their profile photo belongs to some obscure, yet angelic, German lingerie model.
Still, what can you expect when even the founder has been a little free and easy with the truth. Tom Anderson, co-founder of Myspace, has been much quoted over the newswires as being 27 when he came up with MySpace but it’s now been revealed that he was really an ancient 32. I know, pull the Iraq war lead story because this is just so much more important.
So his MySpace profile contained a little lie – that's most MySpace users, isn’t it?
Still, considering that he’s now 37, you’d think he’d just do the honest thing and update his profile which today still shows him aged 32. -Martin Lynch
Internet radio doesn’t have to be locked onto your PC these days with handy devices like the new MusicPal digital Internet radio from Freecom.
This handy little unit will let you tune into over 5,000 digital Internet radio stations while it’s in-built Wi-FI will let you stream your PC/Mac-based MP3s to the radio, no matter what room you put it in. The display also offers handy live, ticker tape RSS feeds so that you can keep up with the latest news and sports.
There’s an Ethernet port on it if Wi-Fi doesn’t suit and you can also plug it into your hi-fi to improve playback quality.
The MusicPal wireless digital internet radio and MP3 streamer is shipping through PC World now for £100.-Martin Lynch
I hate alarm clocks on principle, except for maybe the Blowfly Alarm Clock, which happens to do something really cool at the same time as being really irritating.
Now there’s a new one for iPod owners, the imaginatively named iPod Alarm Clock. Shaped like your traditional alarm clock with bells, it’s actually an iPod dock/speaker that can be set to wake you with your fave tunes or albums at some horribly early hour of the morning.
The bells don’t actually ring because they house the speakers and it's mains charged so you don’t have to worry about batteries. The dock is suitable for use with a range of iPods and nanos.
The handiest feature though on this £40 iPod accessory is a 9-minute snooze function so that for 540 seconds you can pretend you don’t have to get up.-Martin Lynch
Back in July, I covered the US launch of the pretty cool Wii Zapper, a gun-like holder for the Wii Remote and nunchucks, and the good news is that it’s on its way over here in time for Christmas.
Nintendo has officially announced that the Wii Zapper, which will retail for around £20, will come bundled with Link's Crossbow Training - a 12-rated shooter-lite – and launch in Europe on December 7th.
The Zapper makes aiming and shooting in games a whole lot easier than with the Wiimote and it’s already compatible with a number of games, including Medal of Honour, Metroid Prime 3, Call of Duty and the new Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.
If you need something to combat the Christmas twee overdose, then check out a video of the Wii Zapper taking out the Resident Evil zombie trash after the jump.-Martin Lynch
NEC has developed a wideband antenna prototype that's made of fabric, allowing it to be attached to or stitched into clothes. This'll allow people to increase their cell connectivity by wearing gigantic antennas on their backs. Apparently, "one of the difficulties encountered in the past when using conductive fabrics was that soldering was not possible. In the case of this new antenna, power is supplied to a small flexible print substrate by a soldered coaxial cable, so that power supply is possible through capacity coupling with the substrate." Well, I'm glad they worked all that out. Look for supremely-dorky antenna pants in the not-too-distant future. -Adam Frucci [
Previously seen mainly in laptop technology, shock sensing is making its way to external drives. I-O Data's new drive (with 3.5" disk) is available in sizes up to 1TB, and its G-Sensor stops any read-write activity when the drive is jostled. The thing is, it's not bus-powered, so it's not something you'd lug around with your laptop, presumably. Maybe it's designed more for earthquakes than for manquakes. -Wilson Rothman [
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
