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Nov 5, 2010

HydroFILL Squeezes Electricity Out of Your Tap Water

Fuel cell outfitter Horizon is now offering a personal hydrogen power plant for use with its MiniPAK and HydroSTIK products. Although it isn't cheap, the system will (cleanly!) charge all of your small devices using the same water you drink.

The HydroFILL allows users to generate their own hydrogen and recharge the company's proprietary HydroSTIK miniature hydrogen tanks themselves, rather than having to spring for new ones when expended. Those two components, combined with the HydroPAK charging dock, will allow you to use essentially water to charge a variety of devices and peripherals. No more phone wall chargers, ever!

Still, for the time being this technology won't enter your home cheaply, with the HydroFILL tank priced at $499.99 (plus an optional $649.99 solar panel if you want to go truly off the grid). But each HydroSTIK packs the juice of 1,000 AA batteries, so hardcore chargers should be able to earn that back. Plus, next time someone is over at your place and needs to charge their phone, you can say, "Oh, one sec, let me see if my personal power plant is done generating hydrogen."

Nov 4, 2010

Freecom CLS External Drives an Homage to Obsolete Storage


Freecom's CLS external hard drive series take an aesthetic page from cassettes and floppies of our already distant memory. Each 2.5" drive is minimal, durable, and can be hand-labeled for quick reference to its contents.

The German-made, Belgian-designed drives can also be docked three at a time, via a single USB connection, allowing you to consolidate space and admire the retro look. Why do things look cooler when they're vertical?

If the Zip Jams Up On These ZipBuds Earbuds, You're Screwed

There's no doubt that these ZipBuds won't be giving your Sennheisers a run for their money, but do your $200 pair of buds zip up all the way to your chin like a jacket? I don't think so.

The manufacturer behind them, Digital Audio Group, says they'll be going on sale November 9th, for a mystery price.

Bear Grylls Survival Knife Bear Grylls Survival Knife

British outdoorsman Bear Grylls had a fancy knife before, but it was really, really expensive. What if you didn't want to spend $700 to stab something? A solution presents itself. A $60 consumer-grade survival knife.

The knife has a serrated blade, a rubber grip, a stainless steel pommel (for hammering or knife-whipping someone), and an emergency whistle. The sheath has a fire starter, "land to air rescue instructions" and a diamond sharpener. There's a pocket guide on survival in case that land to air rescue doesn't work out.

It's also very useful that the Gerber Bear Grylls knife has his signature on it—this way when you stab an actual bear in a fight, it'll be like some sort of namesake-killing-synergy situation. I'm not sure what happens, exactly, but you'll probably still poop your pants.

Nov 3, 2010

The Only 9mm Bullet You Want Ripping Through Your Skull

Munitio SITi bullet headphones are machined from a solid piece of high density copper to look like bullets.
The $160 bullet headphones have 9mm neodymium drivers. Instead of using gold—like its more expensive predecesor—these are coated in Titanium, silver- or golden-colored for a perfect gangsta look.

A Revolution In Mobile Cup Holder Technology

Version 1.0: Carrying a bunch of drinks around with your hands. Version 2.0: Those shallow egg carton trays that always make you think your drinks are about to tip over. Version 3.0: This magnificent beverage buggy.

Where can I sign up to be a beta tester?

Nov 2, 2010

What Do the Neighbors Think of This Glass-Walled House?

Bilzen is a small, quiet city near the eastern border of Belgium. Its streets are lined with 17th and 18th Century buildings and modest homes. And then there's Bassam El-Okeily's glass-fronted Narrow House. Don't forget to wear your robe.

The three-story Narrow House, a collaboration between Brussels-based architect Bassam El-Okeily and Karla Menten, has a glass facade behind which there are two balconies lit with various colors. It makes the people standing there at night look pretty creepy.

But the inside's a different story; white and sparse and surprisingly huge, it's missing chunks of wall and ceiling which allow the little sunlight that makes it past the solid balconies to fill the entire space. The second floor is a living space; the third is an artist's studio.

The McRib Is Now Available at Every Single McDonald's

Like cicadas or Fleetwood Mac reunion tours, the McRib only comes around once or twice in a generation. Starting today, and for the next six weeks, every McDonald's location in the US will carry the mythical manwich. Hallelujah.

The last time we had a McRibbing of this scale was all the way back in 1994. Since then, the pork(ish) patty has broken cover only occasionally, and at limited locations. Devotees were forced to turn to makeshift solutions like the McRib Locator to track them down. No longer.

Time to put away that Double Down, friends. Go forth into the world and McRib.

The World's Largest Magnet is Being Built in India

If your microwave suddenly whizzes out your house and down the road, you'll know India's successfully built the world's largest magnet. The 50,000 tons of magnetised iron will be housed underground, making CERN's 37,500-ton magnet shrink in shame.

Why does India need such a large magnet? It's for their neutrino observatory, which must be built underground so cosmic rays and other radiation don't interfere with the 30,000 detectors located there.

This particular observatory, dubbed INO (Indian Neutrino Observatory) will see neutrinos interacting with the iron to eject charged particles, that will be recorded by the various detectors and provide insight into the astronomy world. Only two sources have been located so far by other observatories (the sun and supernova SN1987A) but the INO is hopeful it will find others—otherwise they wouldn't have coughed up a budget of $250 million for the project.

Nov 1, 2010

No Longer Shall Bloggers Sit Cross-Legged in the Field

Thanko's laptop bag/desk hybrid should be very popular with photographers and bloggers. Not only does the bag come with extendable legs, but two fans are located inside for cooling laptops down—plus a cupholder's added too, for good measure.

If there's one thing I wish Thanko had added, it's an external battery for laptops. Though I suppose if MacBook owners hurried they could grab one of HyperMac's external batteriesbefore they're legally obligated to cease selling the cables by midnight tonight.

The bag weighs 2.7kg and also has various pockets and padding to protect laptops, as well as those aluminum legs which can lengthen to two different heights. It's on sale now for the equivalent of $75.

Logitech's Solar-Powered Keyboard Means You'll Never Buy Another Battery Again

There were cries of "impossible!" over Philips' solar-powered remote last week, and I'm sure even more people will be scratching their heads over Logitech's solar keyboard too—even though it can work for 3 months in total darkness.

The K750 has integrated solar panels, and grabs whatever light it can get while indoors. A solar power app shows you the battery levels and ambient light available, so you always know the vitals of the keyboard.

While it's got that big novelty attraction, it's also wireless (compatible with the Logitech Unifying receiver), and has the company's Incurve keys that are supposedly better-shaped for fingers.

It'll go on sale later this month for $80, but can be pre-ordered now if the thought of missing out on Logitech's first solar-powered keyboard is too much to bear.

Oct 31, 2010

Angry Birds for Halloween This Year

Selling millions of copies to happy customers is one of the more important milestones for any software developer, but when you inspire a Halloween costume, well, that's the real gravy, isn't it?

How Russia Stopped One Fifth Of the World's Spam

There are official 20% fewer penis enlargement emails hitting your spam folder, thanks to the efforts of the Russian government. How'd they do it? By making an effort.

Russian authorities this week cracked down on one Igor A. Gusev, "suspected spam kingpin:"

Moscow police authorities said Mr. Gusev, 31, was a central figure in the operations of SpamIt.com, which paid spammers to promote online pharmacies, sometimes quite lewdly. SpamIt.com suddenly stopped operating on Sept. 27. With less financial incentive to send their junk mail, spammers curtailed their activity by an estimated 50 billion messages a day.

Gusev and SpamIt.com had both been operating openly in Moscow for several years until Russia decided to step up its enforcement. And sure, there are still 200 billion unwanted emails blasting off every day. But paring them down by a fifth is a more than decent start.

Oct 30, 2010

Concept Butter Package Packs A Butter Knife In The Lid

Single servings of butter are almost always a pain to use. This concept packaging would revolutionize single s
erving butter because you don't need a butter knife. The lid of the package is the butter knife.

The idea is really simple theoretically could be extended to anything that's served in single packaging.

There's a USB Stick In The Brick Wall

Across New York, there are USB drives embedded in walls, buildings and curbs. The idea is to create an anonymous, offline file-sharing network in public space. The drives are completely public and anyone can plug in to drop and download files.
It's part of an art project called "Dead Drops" by Aram Bartholl and I have to say, it's pretty awesomely creative. I mean, if I saw a USB stick stick out of a random wall, I'd be dying to know what's in there. I'd have to plug in. It'd also be interesting to see what people would anonymously share on the public drive, well, until some jackass decides to upload a virus to screw up everybody's computer.


Limited Edition HDJ-1000 Headphones Get Fine-Tuned and Painted Gold by Pioneer

Big, brash and gold—Supposedly they've also fine-tuned the audio formula, with better low-bass frequencies and even clearer playback in the midrange too.

They'll go on sale in December for a spot over $200, but if you don't like the gold there's also a rare black model to be had too.

Oct 29, 2010

Antoine Dodson's Sex Offender iPhone App Uses Augmented Reality to Find the Creeps


"Are you still hiding yo wives, hiding yo kids and hiding yo husbands?" asks Antoine Dodsonof bed intruder fame, oblivious to the fact he's using his sister's misfortune to shill this $2 sex offender augmented reality app.

It may sound like a joke, but the app is real and actually works. Well, I assume it works—I haven't downloaded it myself—but developer BeenVerified.com has used its background checker database as the basis for the augmented reality app, which displays red dots when in the proximity of known sex offenders' locations.

5 per cent of the sales are being donated to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), and the app's available for both iPhone and Android. You'd have to be pretty paranoid to download it, but I guess for some it's a valuable tool to add to their apps-toolbox if they're concerned about some neighbours.

Hands on the Nexus Two by Samsung

The Nexus Two is real. It's made by Samsung, and a friend of ours got to play with it. It's not going rock your face like the Nexus One did. But it will record it with a front-facing camera.

It's black and shiny, built with glossy plastic. Up close, though, it's "got this curve to it." While the screen, which our source thinks is the same 4-inch AMOLED affair from the Galaxy series, is flat, the front is "sort of concave" with hard edges. And the back is curved. The tapering makes it feel thinner than Galaxy S, though it might be about the same thickness. "It feels really similar to the Galaxy S in a lot ways."

At first blush, it's a little disappointing that Google possibly isn't pushing things forward in the same way they did with the Nexus One, since it seems like the Nexus Two is a refreshed Galaxy phone. On the other hand, it says a lot that the Android ecosystem is so stocked with high-powered phones, from the Evo to the Droid X, that even Google won't radically jump ahead of its partners with a new flagship. Hopefully their plan for selling it is a little better.

Oct 28, 2010

Girls' Generation Hoot MusicVideo

Oakley's 3D Glasses Arriving Just in Time For Tron Legacy

Personally, I'm hoping all this 3D business will just go away if I ignore it long enough, but if you're riding the wave, you might want a decent pair of 3D spectacles. Oakley's new Tron-branded pair should be suitably futuristic.

The Tron:Legacy Oakleys, the first in their line of passive polarized 3D shades, will have some neon Tronesque doodads on the side but will also purportedly offer greater peripheral viewing and a better 3D alignment than most glasses.

You'll have to pay $150 for that fidelity when the Oakleys are available later this year, so if you're prone to losing your glasses, as I am, investing in one of those neck lanyards might not be a bad idea.