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Feb 4, 2011

The Moment You Wish You'd Paid for a Bigger Screen

The Sensation Urban lounger, by designer Alexander Christoff, looks ridiculously relaxing. That is, until you realize that looking at a 4-inch display from 6-feet away is basically the antithesis of comfort.



Nokia Bubbles lets you intelligently unlock your N8 in a pop

The humble unlock screen gets ever fancier, and Nokia Bubbles is one of the fanciest yet. Like a variety of aftermarket lock screens it enables you to control your media player or initiate calls before you even unlock your handset, but does so in an interesting way. You just grab the bubble for what you want and drop it on what you want to do. A simple unlock entails dragging the key onto the lock, and if you have a missed call you can grab that person's bubble and drag it to a phone to call them right back. Grab the music bubble to go straight to the music player and, well, you get the picture. Okay, so it's not quite as much fun as playing Puzzle Bobble, but it is ever so slightly more useful. 

The JVC GX-PX1 Is a Great Looking Hybrid Camera

Inside the JVC GX-PX1's gigantic barrel and thin, slim body is a promising camera and camcorder hybrid. There's a 10x optical zoom, 10-megapixel camera, 1080/60p HD video recording at up to 36Mbps, and can shoot at 60fps at 5.7-megapixels.

The 3-inch LCD swivels and the camera comes with 32GB of internal memory. No price or release date out yet, but it's supposed to release by the end of the month.



Feb 3, 2011

Capture Your Snowy Personal Disasters in Glorious 1080p with This Goggle Cam

A big part of success on the slopes is confidence, right? And what better way to feel confident than by knowing every deft downhill maneuver (or horrible, ankle-shattering spill) will be remembered in HD? Liquid Image's goggles do just that.

The Impact HD 1080p will be exciting for anyone with the least bit of coordination, providing a 136 degree field of view video at 30 fps. It'll hold an SD card of up to 32 GB, which should keep you stocked for your trip to the bottom of the mountain, whether you ski or tumble down.

A Better Soda Can


Aluminum cans are convenient! So why would we need a better soda can? Well because even though they're recyclable, they're not really reusable. This soda can is not only reusable, it's also biodegradable. Better for everybody!

It's humorously called the TIN CAN though its made from PLA (poly-lactic acid), which means some sort of corn starch that can retain some plastic properties (and also, one of the better eco-friendly materials around).

Feb 2, 2011

Paraffin Light Bulbs

Oyule Light Bulbs are filled with paraffin and use a wick instead of a filament, so basically they become what the light bulb replaced: A paraffin lamp.

To ensure they stay upright, there's a magnet placed in the base of the bulb that corresponds to one in the acrylic base. 

How to Keep Your Facebook Secure (by Enabling HTTPS)

Facebook recently announced that they're adding full HTTPS support for the site, to keep you protected from attacks like Firesheep. The feature's finally rolling out, and here's how you can turn it on. To enable it, just hit "Account" in the upper-right hand corner of any Facebook window and go to "Account Settings".

Under "Account Security", hit the change button and check the box that says "Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible". Hit save and exit that window. From now on, whenever you connect to Facebook, it will default to an SSL-encrypted connection, keeping you safe on open Wi-Fi networks from Firesheep-like attacks. If you don't have it yet, you should have it pretty soon—so check back frequently to see if it pops up.

Feb 1, 2011

USB Compatible Jackets

Columbia's Electro Amp jacket is arguably as teched out as a jacket can get really. Designed by a former Intel engineer, the jacket warms itself through the carbon-fiber threads woven into the coat. And even it recharges via USB.

According to GearJunkie, the carbon fiber threads feel like yarn, and they can keep your warm for five hours straight on it's lowest heat setting. But slick tech such as this comes at a premium, and that premium is $1200 dollars. So, how cold are you?

The Internet Is Almost Out of IP Addresses

Ifyour grandmother's Facebook account wasn't a tell-tale sign that the internet has come of age, here's another: after this week, the internet will run out of new IPv4 addresses. But don't fret, because we're moving on up to IPv6!

For those unfamiliar with what IP addresses do, they serve as the internet's navigation system in many ways. When you type in a URL/domain name to visit a site, it's attached to an IP address which handles all the dirty work of connecting you to the server the website is stored on. Just like the Wall Street Journal says, this is a lot like the moment when phone companies in the U.S. switched to 10-digit numbers.

The IPv4 addresses theoretically range between 4 and 12 digits, have a size of 32-bits and have 4.3 billion possible address combinations. I'm fairly certain all of you have dealt with IPv4 addresses, which look something like this:

68.127.78.247
(or http://68.127.78.247, when entering them into a browser)
With the change to IPv6, addresses will be 128-bits in size and up to 32 digits long, allowing for 340 trillion trillion trillion unique addresses. When it is finally implemented, it will look something like this:
2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
(or http://[2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334] in a browser)
And with a whole gang of other notation rules, configuring your router is going to be a bitch in the future. Oh, ALSO, we'll all have to get new routers! (Naturally)

But IPv6 is still in its infancy and is still a few years from being put into use on any sort of widespread level. Until then, the Internet will get by on a diet of repurposed and recycled IP addresses. But for a single day in June, Google, Facebook, Yahoo and a couple of other internet giants will switch over to IPv6-compatible servers to test out the new protocol and find out if there are any major kinks in the system.




Jan 31, 2011

Insane MMORPG Rig Lets You Farm For Gold with Six Computers at Once

You're really into MMORPGs when you spend hours repeating the same tasks over and over again to acquire gold. You're way, way too into MMORPGs when you create a custom six-computer setup to do it that much faster.

Zhek Kromtor's "Frankenstein" setup lets him play several EVE Online accounts at the same time so he can farm for gold and minerals more efficiently. Just look at those janky six-way keyboards and mice that let him control everything at once!

You see, he was temporarily banned for running multiple accounts on one computer at the same time. It's against the rules! But doing this, apparently, is not. Probably because they never thought anyone would be crazy enough to do it. But never underestimate the desire of an addict to get that sweet, sweet gold.
 
 

$825 Biometrically Secured Wallet

Look, maybe you've had your pocket picked a few times and are really paranoid about losing your wallet. But you're not Julian Assange and I doubt anyone is coming after you, so you probably don't need this biometrically secured wallet.

The Dunhill Biometroc Wallet combines a biometric finger reader with a bluetooth alarm and carbon fiber frame to ensure noone can crack into it without destroying it. If you have the Bluetooth alarm activated, the wallet will sound an alert anytime it is more than five feet from your phone.But the damn thing costs $825 and it's not even that great looking.

Klang Ultrasonic Speaker Puts the Sound Waves Where Only You Can Hear 'Em

How can you listen to music as loud as you want without headphones and without annoying people around you? Consider Klang's ultrasonic speakers, which use a 30,000hz frequency to beam an audible wave to a single point.

Designed as part of a project hosted by Bang & Olufsen, the Klang speakers use a satellite dish design and sound physics to focus the beam to one specific point. As Dvice points out, the soundwave is above the threshold of human hearing range, but ultrasonic waves split in three, producing an audible wave encapsulated by two inaudible ones. Sound is only noticeable when it hits an obstruction. And because of this, the left ear can only hear sound coming from the left speaker and the right ear can only hear sound from the right speaker, creating an intense stereo experience.

But what does this mean for you, the user? Well, if these speakers were more than a prototype, you could enjoy porn and/or Justin Bieber as loud as you want without your parents and/or roommates ever knowing. Obviously.

Jan 30, 2011

Venerable Camping Chair Now Comes with Seat Warmers

The collapsible camping chair has been a staple of camping sites and tailgating parties for as long as I can remember, but this battery-powered seat warming one from Chaheati is the first I've seen that thaws your keester.

The adjustable heater keeps your nether region toasty at approximately 100 degrees for up six hours. Crank it up to 145 degrees for about 1.8 hours of warmth for more extreme camping.

A tad pricey at $90, with extra batteries costing $35 apiece.
 
 

Vibram Five Finger Boots for Cold Weather

Those ridiculous-miraculous-awesome-awful Vibrams shoes are growing up over the bodies of their fanboys like a symbiotic organism. Their cold-weather boots—FiveFingers Cervinia—now reach half up your leg. I can't wait for them to create a full-body Dune stillsuit. The boots are $160, which is not bad for boots.



Jan 29, 2011

Turn Your iPhone 4 Transparent

When you replaced the old iPhone 3G cover with a transparent case, it revealed a fugly side. But with the iPhone 4, the inner workings and hidden guts are surprisingly good lookin'. Here's how to turn your iPhone 4 transparent.

The mod was simply done by taking the glass panels off the phone and applying paint thinner to remove the paint. That's all. What you're left with are two clear panes that reveal the innards of the phone. 

The Plug Hub Is a Pretty Way to Hide Your Ugly Cables

Hide your cables, hide your plugs! This elegant concept, the Plug Hub, can become real if enough people buy it. Think of the $24 you spend as an investment towards a lifetime of peace, serenity and organization.
 
 

T-Pain Got a Facebook 'Like' Button Tattoo

Rapper T-Pain introduced this new tattoo he got in Hawaii with a tweet: "I think this ones pretty sweet, unless facebook shuts down soon 0_o". That's what the guy who tattooed MySpace's Tom on his back said in 2002.

It kind of makes sense, this "like" button tattoo, if you consider the phenomenon of bad-tattoo-as-meme (and meme-as-bad-tattoo): Maybe T-Pain is trying to embody the viral success of his music. But it's also sort of dumb, because of the fact that he ruined his body and will be forced to spend his 70s and 80s explaining to young people what his tattoo means, after Facebook is replaced with cranial implants.
 
 

Jan 28, 2011

Overweight People Better at Smelling Food

According to a new study, overweight people have "far heightened" senses of smell for food compared with people who aren't overweight—in particular after eating a full meal. Science: Making the mean joke so you don't have to!

The Inspiration for Lady Gaga's New Perfume: Blood and Semen

We were trying to determine what Lady Gaga's forthcoming fragrance should smell like, but rumor has it she's decided. It will supposedly smell like blood and semen. Nasty, but I guess that's exactly what a bad romance smells like.
 
 

Jan 27, 2011

Airport Security Decides 3-Inch Toy Gun Is a Weapon

This itty bitty plastic rifle was recently declared a "firearm" by airport security officials at Gatwick Airport. Which I guess makes the toy soldier it had been attached to an enemy combatant?

Ken Lloyd and his wife were transporting the figurine across country lines after having purchased it at the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford Garrison. Officials removed the rifle but let the soldier pass:

Lloyd said his wife had demanded "a reality check".

"The antenna was individually scanned as suspect and as the figurine's SA80 rifle was pulled from the box, the security search officer contacted her supervisor," he said.

The security personnel gave the three-inch bit of plastic back to Mrs. Lloyd, who promptly stuffed it in an envelope and mailed it back home—but not before the airport's customer service department X-rayed the package to make sure there were no very tiny bullets along for the ride.