Mordor Is Real, and It's In Sicily

It's been nearly 350 years since Mt. Etna blew its top in a major way. Until yesterday, when Europe's largest active volcano spewed hot lava for two hours—within shouting distance of these people's houses. Location, location, location.

Fortunately the eruption didn't cause any injuries or damage, which means that the residents of this volcanic village were treated to an amazing fire show.

A Menu with Healthy Options May Make You Choose Unhealthier Meals

A recent study suggests that simply seeing healthy choices on a menu satisfies our desire to be healthy, causing us to be more likely to choose more indulgent foods when we actually place our order.

Daniel A. Marano at Psychology Today, explains:

Context is just as telling when it comes to that all-important piece of real estate known as the restaurant menu. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that the mere presence of healthy offerings on a menu or on display in a restaurant or even in a vending machine can often be enough to vicariously satisfy our long-term health and nutrition goals-and trick our brains into allowing us to make more indulgent food selections, ones we would not otherwise make.

It's unlikely that restaurants will ever remove their unhealthy (but probably delicious) menu selections. Next time you're checking out your options and find yourself leaning towards the fried hamburger, keep in mind that the menu might be inadvertently messing with your head.

Real Magic Mouse for Windows

Microsoft's Touch Mouse for Windows 7 is a lot like Apple's Magic Mouse: The top is a capacitive, multitouch sensor. The difference? The Touch Mouse was actually designed to be used by humans.

It's the best touch experience on Windows yet. No surprise, 'cause Microsoft's designed the Touch Mouse's drivers and software, which is what really ties everything together. The ergonomics are quite solid too—unlike the Magic Mouse, which is passable, but not great. As you can guess, the hatches dotted all over the mouse mark the touch area.

The list of gestures is quite familiar:

• One finger scrolls in any direction inside of a window
• Swiping your thumb up and down acts like the back and forward buttons common on Windows mice
• Two fingers to the left or right activates Aero Snap, pinning the selected window to the side; two fingers up or down minimizes or opens minimized windows
• Three fingers—wait for it—activates a Mac OS X Expose-like view, showing all of your windows in a neat grid.

It's a little pricey at $80 when it comes out in June, but for a taste of what touch should be like in Windows, it could be worth it.

 

 

The Return of the Boxxy

iPhone Game Boy Case

Due to copyright concerns, Incipio will never sell this Game Boy case for the iPhone—but that didn't stop them from showing it off.

 

 

What Was This Person Thinking?

This is a mask that keeps a fresh patch of soil pressed to your face in order to force you to smell grass while listening to your own breath through the attached headphones. What are artists thinking lately?

The piece is called "The Open" and was created by Mattia Casalegno who describes the work as something which "plays with the Deleuzian notion of "ritornell" (refrain), and about the quality of sound to define a territory."

 

 

Assemble Your Very Own Human with This Life-Sized Model Kit

Artist Wayne Chisnall created a pre-assembly model kit of himself. The 12 body parts, er, pieces are all attached to a plastic frame and when put together, is just as big as his real-life self. Like having a life-sized action figure!

This is totally how I imagine how human droids will be made in the near future. Only not lime green.

 

 

Take a Bath in a Waterfall

The Aquamass Parure bathtub is clever! Designer Elvis Pompilio used crystalline pearls backlight by LEDs to make it look like the tub is constantly overflowing with water. Like taking a bath in a waterfall. Or in Avatar-world too, I guess.

 

 

Extravagant iPhone Case Artwork Comes with a Price to Match

Word out of CES is that Intel execs revealed their true feelings about Windows 7 on tablets. Apparently, they lobbied for Microsoft to make a more tablet-friendly OS. Microsoft said no.

 According to Cnet, here's what Tom Kilroy, Senior Vice President of Marketing, had to say:

"Hey, we tried to get [Microsoft] to do a tablet OS (operating system) for a long time. Us, and others like Dell," said Tom Kilroy, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group, speaking to CNET at an Intel function last night.

Looks like we're not the only ones who think full-blown Win 7 on a tablet is a bad idea.

 

 

Grate That Bar of Soap Like It's a Block of Cheap Cheddar

The designer may cite ecological reasons for eschewing the liquid soap for a bar of soap, but me? I just love the sheer brilliance of this concept. Grated soap! I demand all public toilets fit them immediately. 

 

 

Oh hey, your delightfully tacky Louis Vuitton Belt Buckle is ringing

Rarely do ostentatiously tacky and expensive rich people things look gaudy and do something useful at the same time. That's still the case here, as this curious Louis Vuitton belt buckle continues the trend. It's also a cellphone, you see!

 

 

Retro-Looking Analarm Wristwatch Awakens Wearer with Vibration

Hate the buzzer alarm clock, as I do? Radio station alarm mode not up to the task? Maybe vibration will get you out of bed. Since vibrating beds are expensive and a bit tacky, check out this Analarm wristwatch instead.

It's certainly not cheap at $450, but for those of us looking for a trendy, reto way to get up in the morning (and without waking others, perhaps), this could do the trick.

 

 

This Is What Happens When Polaroid Lets Lady Gaga Design Something

Lady Gaga stood up on stage and proclaimed "This is the camera of the future." This futurecam also happens to be a set of shades with a outward-facing 1.4-inch OLED display under each eye. Funky.

The whole world can see itself from your perspective, as images stream from the camera mounted in the bridge of the glasses. Or you can throw in an SD card and play something else. Like photos of your dog. Or your kids. Or a video of a vacation—anything that's in your mind's eye can be literally on your eyes for the world to see.

The spec-obsessed Gaga (remember those rad cigarette shades from Telephone?)says she came up with the concept for the glasses on her Fameball tour. She had a pair of glasses made with iPod screens as lenses; then, using her juice as Polaroid's creative director, she brought the idea to the instacam company and Polarez GL20s were born.

You can share the fabulous photos and videos you take with these glasses with a disguised removable USB in the earpiece, or send pictures straight to a printer via Bluetooth. They'll be available around springtime this year, though pricing information is not available yet.

An iPhone Case That Opens Beer Bottles Too

The iBottle iPhone case combines two of the modern man's most used tools—his phone and a bottle opener—in one. This way, you'll always know where your phone is when you drink.

It's 20 bucks for the 3G/3GS version. The iPhone 4 version is available for pre-order (for the same price) and coming this month.

 

 

Wooden Cuckoo Clock Disguises the Reason You're So Cool

I love this wooden fan from Dutch designer Luc Van Hoeckel, who used the original Black Forest design of cuckoo clocks to create a self-propelling fan. Once the weight-toggles are dropped, the fan starts churning. Beautiful.

 

 

It's a Chair, It's Made From Wood and It's Flexible

Wooden furniture is easy on the eyes, but not always the most comfortable thing to sit on for extended periods. This "Spring Wood" design aims to change that, by cutting wooden chairs in such a way that they become flexible.

 

 

The Nike+ SportWatch GPS Has TomTom and an Attitude

It's a new year, which means new resolutions to get in shape. Let technology help you! Don't fight it! The Nike+ SportWatch, powered by TomTOM GPS, will bug you when you forget to run and encourage you when you do.

It's like your own personal trainer...on your wrist! The SportWatch GPS will bug you with run reminders when you haven't logged a run in five days, you'll get "attaboys" for achieving run records, and you can plug the watch directly into your computer to interface with nikeplus.com.

 

 

Never Worry About Expired Food Again

Developed by British professor Andrew Mills, this bag stores food and reacts to changes in the food chemicals or the oxygen levels inside the bag. When the those changes reach a certain point, the bag changes color. And if you have yet to open the food in question, it will also change color if its seal has been broken.

The UK government says its citizens waste over 400,000 tons of food a year, nearly 40,000 tons of which was never opened. They estimate this bag could help reduce waste by 8.3 tons in the UK.

 

 

Verizon's First LTE Wi-Fi Hotspots

Until now, all of Verizon's 4G has been packed inside dongles. Samsung and Novatel's LTE hotspots will let you spread the 4G around with Wi-Fi. Slightly thicker than the old MiFi.

No price or date—or battery life spec—for Samsung's 4G Hotspot or Novatel's MiFi 4510L yet, unfortunately. Just that they'll support up to 5 devices.

 

 

Man Survives Without Using Soap For 18 Months—Could You?

What would happen if you went a year and a half without washing with soap and shampoo? Would your girlfriend ditch you? Friends loathe having to invite you 'round? Or, like Richard Nikoley and Sean Bonner, would life just...go on?

Nikoley's gone without either for 18 months now, and Bonner, inspired by Nikoley, just a year. Both claim life is much easier now, with Nikoley seeing some pleasant bonuses:

"What I've found over these 18 months is that I never even thought of the money I was saving. Hell, a decent sized bottle of shampoo and body wash would last me months anyway. Oh, and then there's the travel size versions. No, what has made this experience oh so satisfying is that I don't have to worry about any of that anymore — ever. Don't have to buy it. Don't have to carry it. Don't ever run out of it. Don't have to get it tossed in the dumpster by TSA goons."

Bonner, writing on Boing Boing, can't see himself ever going back to buying bottles of chemicals:

"The future? I will definitely be sticking with this. I'm still annoyed it took me 35 years to learn what I clearly already knew as a baby kicking and screaming when my parents tried to wash my hair. At least that's what I want to assume I knew back then. I know now, but I'd still rather not think about how much I spent on soap and shampoo and related products over the years when they were likely causing all the problems I was trying to protect against."

Supposedly one in 230 million people around the world are allergic to water, and cannot bathe without their skin being brought out in rashes, so suffer far worse than Nikoley and Bonner would if forced into a shower with a bar of soap. But would you go 18 months without using cleansing products on your skin or hair?