Voltron of Computers Combines Phone, Tablet, and Keyboard Into One

Always Innovating's Smart Book breaks the traditional netbook into pieces. A touchscreen VoIP phone, a tablet, and a keyboard.

As if hardware transformation on the fly weren't clever enough, the Smart Book includes a switch they say will instantly swap OSes. That's right—click bewteen Android, Chrome, Ubuntu, or their own AIOS. And underneath all this design sophistication is some decent hardware muscle—an ARM Cortex-A8 processor (speed unspecified), 512 MB of RAM, and 256 MB of built-in flash storage, along with the usual 802.11 b/g/n WiFi.

The whole scheme is a bit extravagant, and probably not a dream device for someone seeking simplicity—and the whole "dude on a couch" aesthetic doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the train out of vaporwareville. But Always Innovating is taking pre-orders for the whole system at $549.

Baby Pouch Cooks Babies Alive. Sorry, Keeps Them Alive

This low-cost sleeping-bag keeps infants warm for between four to six hours, and once it cools down it can be plugged in or submerged in water for 20 minutes to heat up again. Not while the baby's still inside, mind.

Designed for developing countries where homes are not centrally-heated and children can't afford the luxury of electric blankets, the wax-filled heating pouch has a nylon outer (which gives it that FedEx look which is so hot right now) and can be easily carried by parents. It's aimed at India for now, but if successful will be rolled out to Asia and Africa.

Can Twitter Make You Smarter?

Can using Twitter make you smarter? A new semester-long study found that college students who used Twitter for educational purposes earned GPAs a half-point higher than a non-tweeting control group.

In a group of 125 students at an anonymous medium-sized public college in the Midwest, 70 students used Twitter to access information and complete class assignments; the remaining 55 students used a more typical Internet-based course-management system and billboard. Not only did the tweeting 70 earn higher GPAs, they also reported much higher levels of engagement. The findings were reported in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.

Some early-adopting professors have advocated experimenting with Twitter in the classroom — "essentially asking students to pass notes during class," as the Chronicle of Higher Education once put it. This study may vindicate such an approach. But one professor quoted by the Chronicle expressed skepticism that Twitter alone could have led to such a remarkable boost. "I think more could be done to understand the range of ways that the Twitter design can work better in class assignments and collaborative note-taking," said Dave Parry, a UT Dallas professor who himself has experimented with Twitter in his class.

Meanwhile, to the dismay of more traditional professors, students can point to a new justification for pulling out smartphones in class.

Panasonic's 103-Inch Plasma TV Goes 3D

After falling in price to "just" $50,000 last year, Panasonic's five-year-old plasma has been updated with 3D technology. The TH-P103MT2 will sell for the equivalent of $101,900 in Japan—not including installation, naturally.

This Is What Motherboards Look Like Now

Asus calls the black cladding over its newSabertooth P67motherboard a "tactical vest", which despite the goofy name is there for good reason: the shielding ducts cool air over motherboard parts, while protecting from daughterboard heat. In theory.

That iPhone Is Burning a Hole In Your Pocket

What can we make of this credit card spending by smartphone platform data from Pageonce? That iPhone owners spend like crazy, and WinMo holdouts are probably saving up for a new phone, for starters.

The data was taken from a random sampling of 275,000 Pageonce users, and includes at least 5,000 users per platform. And it could mean a whole bunch of things! Either iPhone users spend more money on average, or they have more debt on average, or the simple averaging masks extreme expenditures at the high and low end. BlackBerry and iPhone are arguably the most commonly used enterprise phones, so that might have something to do with racking up higher monthly charges.

The study also took a look at monthly phone bill charges:

Vertical Bed Includes Sunglasses To Complete The Pretense That You're Awake

It vaguely reminds me of someone painting eyeballs onto their eyelids to feign wakefulness, but I kinda almost want a Vertical Bed. It's intended to help you catch a few extra zzZZZ's on your daily commute while looking dorky.

Basically the bed fully supports all of your body weight by attaching to subway ventilation grating. And to prove that it works, some poor guy got assigned to the task of taking 40 minute naps in the middle of New York. Since he didn't get mugged or fall over, this could be considered a successful trial.

The Vertical bed comes complete with noise-cancelling headphones, opaque sunglasses, a free standing umbrella, and fits into a suitcase. No idea when we'll be able to buy one, but I'll be wishing I already had it while waiting in line.

Sony EVIL NEX 3 Looks Freaky, But Brings Great Specs

The Sony EVIL NEX 3 camera may look a bit odd, but it's got a 14 MP Sony Exmor HD sensor, a touchscreen—along with old-school knobs—and some nice specs:

• Image Sensor: 14.2 million effective pixels.
• Metering: Multi pattern, centre-weighted and spot.
• Sensor Size: APS-C-sized CMOS (23.4×15.6mm).
• Lens: Sony E Series mount.
• Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/4000 second. Flash sync: 1/160 sec.
• Continuous Shooting: seven fps.
• Memory: Memory Stick PRO Duo, PRO-HG Duo, SD, SDHC, SDXC cards.
• Image Sizes (pixels): 4592×3056, 4592×2576, 3344×2224, 3344×1872, 2288×1520, 2288×1280.
• Movies: 1280×720, 848×480, 640×480 at 30 fps.
• Colour Space: sRGB, Adobe RGB.
• LCD Screen: 7.5cm LCD (921,600 pixels).
• File Formats: JPEG, RAW, JPEG+RAW, MPEG4.
• ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 200 to 12,800.
• Interface: USB 2.0, HDMNI, AV.
• Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
• Dimensions: 117.2×62.6×33.4mm WHDmm.
• Weight: 297 g (inc battery and card).

What is This?

Space-age jelly? A scary CGI sextoy massager? Let's all pull together now, before opinions are polarized even more.

It's actually ferrofluid (a liquid made from nanoscale ferromagnetic particles, which can turn magnetized very quickly)

Dual-Screened Kno Tablet Aimed at Students Will Cost $899

I guess as it's got two 14.1-inch touchscreens Kno feels it can get away with charging $899 for its tablet, but $599 for the 14-inch tablet with just one screen? Why, that's more expensive than the iPad!

Considering it's aimed at college students, that's a huge ask on their bank account. But Kno's CEO is reckoning on students seeing the Kno not just as a tablet (something to browse and watch movies on), but as a textbook replacement.

It runs on a Tegra 2 chip, and has 16GB of storage—with the OS said to be Linux. Students, would you live off baked beans for a year, just to be able to afford a Kno? Anyone?

This Digital Camera Prints Photos Using Holes

This is the Punch Camera by designer Matty Martin, which was featured at the Intel University Design Expo. And I want it. Instead of using ink, it actually punches images on blank paper. And that's just the beginning of it.

Not only that, but apparently you can show the photo to a webcam, and it will automatically take you to a gallery with more—normal—images associated with the paper one.

After converting the image into a half-tone, the puncturing mechanism moves dot by dot. When all dots are precisely aligned reproduce the image, the camera screen tells you it's ready. Insert the paper in the slot, punch firmly as instructed, and get this:

PLUG Hearing Aid Concept Stretches Your Earlobes for Better Sound

Occasionally I cover my ears and sing "Lalalala, I'm not listening to your concept description." Today I'm covering them and begging "No! Don't punch holes into my poor earlobes and make me use this hearing aid when I'm old! Please!"

I understand that it's a gradual process to stretch out one's earlobes and wear jewelry that looks like the PLUG hearing aid concept—it's even trendy to some—but that doesn't mean that I could imagine a lot of people actually using this hearing aid if it ever turns into a real product.

Funky Lights To Complement Your Tunes

Tired of the same old opaque single tone band on your headphones, an OLED panel might just be the thing to spruce up boring monitors

The Transparent OLED Headphones by designers Min-guk Ji & Hong-joo Kim & In-oh Yoo might be onto the coolest headphone invention yet. A headphone band is usually a piece of black or white plastic, but by using a transparent OLED panel for a headphone band, colors and patterns could be changed on a whim.

They could show off a custom design, a dynamic pattern based on whatever track is rocking at the time, and they can scroll text too. The headphones are fully wireless too with touch controls along the sides for volume and lighting effects. Lights have been used to make laptops and mice shinier and "oh wow", why not headphones too.

Your Frantic Jumping Energizes This E-Rope Battery Charger

This concept from over at Yanko Design would charge batteries using a traditional jump rope action.

The charging mechanism would be placed in the handles, with the charging itself taken care of by the spinning rope. Just a few hundred hops, or 20 minutes worth, will charge the batteries 100%. Whether you'll have the energy required to do whatever it is you were trying to use after your marathon charging session is a question best left unasked of this concept.

Cheeseburger in a Can is Both the Best and Worst Thing I've Ever Seen

This is a cheeseburger. In a can. It's a cheeseburger in a can.

I honestly can't figure out how I feel about this: is it the greatest achievement of mankind thus far, or is it an abomination of foodstuffs that deserves to be hucked back into the gaping maw of whatever food processing plant it was spewed from? I just don't know what to think anymore. Would you eat a cheeseburger in a can? Keep in mind that it'll look nowhere near as delicious as the example above when you pull it out of the can.

Canon's X Mark I Mouse Is Also a Calculator

Is it a mouseulator? A calcouse? Whatever you call this bastard child of a mouse and calculator, it's Canon's first model in its legendary X-series of calculators. Can I hear some love from the accountants, please?

The laser mouse is wireless, connecting to Windows and OS X machines via Bluetooth 2.0, and has three click-buttons plus a scroll-wheel. It's pretty much the antithesis to Apple's Magic Trackpad, but that just makes me love it more.

You're probably wondering the same thing I was, when I first saw this mouseulator. The number buttons can be locked when not in use, to avoid accidental equations by a heavy-of-weight palm. And, if you've already got a mouse that you can't bear to part with, the X Mark I mouse can also double up as a numeric keypad, with the mousing-function switched off.

Available in black and white for £40 / €49.

Charge these Super Future Boots via USB

Omni-Heat Thermal Electric Boots: These boots aren't just cool-looking—they use electric powered thermal technology. Which means you literally have the power to get warmer with the push of a button. State-of-the-art heating elements and electronics are protected from the elements and easily operated by waterproof control switch, and pressing that baby will give you heated boots from 4-6 hours. The lithium-ion polymer battery units are removable and rechargeable via USB connectivity. (Duration of heat depends on the model of boot and user-selected heat settings.)

The World's Smallest Full HD Display

The iPhone 4's Retina Display is 3.5 inches, with a resolution of 960x640 and a pixel density of 326ppi. Pretty much everyone agrees it looks great. So how incredible must ORTUS's new 4.8-inch, 1,920×1080, 458ppi display look?

ORTUS, a collaborative venture between Casio and Toppan Printing, announced the Hyper Amorphous Silicon TFT (HAST) display today in Japan. The company claims it's up to 30% brighter than other TFT displays, capable of producing 16.8 million colors and has a viewing angle of 160 degrees.

But if the Retina Display, as Apple claims, is pushing up against the threshold for the human eye, is ORTUS's added pixel density really that important? I'm reserving judgment until I can watch Dark Knight on the thing.

Can a PC Be Upgraded Forever?

This little aluminum computer has one big goal: To be the last PC you will ever need. That's what the manufacturer claims—"The Xi3 Modular's three boards will allow you to upgrade it forever." Maybe. I just like the color.

The tiny Xi3 Modular has one board with two AMD Athlon 64 processors and the RAM, while two I/O boards handle all connectivity and input/output requirements. They say that, by changing these boards you can "upgrade this computer forever" to save money and resources.

Still, it's a nice little computer which is designed to be mounted anywhere. It comes with dual display support with 1080p DVI, VGA, HDMI, LVDS and DP output, plus 6 USB and 2 SATA Ports, Xi3p and PCIe, and it's available in limited quantities for $849.

Emergency MicroSD Card-Reading Situations Are Catered For in ThinkGeek's Watch

True nerdlingers probably use the time display on their TI graphics calculators, but one level up from those people would have this microSD card-reading watch strapped on at all times. Available now for $16.