Build your own art simply by dragging and dropping the various blocks into position. Remember that if you want things to look right, you have to place the rear and lower blocks first, unless you’re making some kind of surreal voxel art.

There’s a gallery for inspiration, and you can change the size of the grid for developing more intricate artwork.

Volexart.ru (Via)

Photo credit: Simon Marcus.

Big deal, you might think. Any printed magazine these days publishes its web address and readers can visit online and interact. Sure, that’s true, but what if the magazine had a unique RFID (Radio frequency identification) chip attached to it, and even its own email address and mailbox?

Last week, the quarterly magazine went on sale in various stores across Europe and the US. The RFID tag is attached to page two, and as soon as the reader touches the tag to the scanner, a request is sent to a remote server (Violet, in fact, makers of the nabaztag rabbit) that triggers various unique online content.

In the first edition, for example, appeared a video game designed by the artist Messhof, an interactive multi-user device by Digital Shadow, an interactive installation by Factoid (Pierre Nouvel, Valere Terrier) and The Tone, a 3D video by Gkastere and wallpapers by Philippe Jarrigeon.

The magazine’s editor could even interact with individual readers thanks to their unique email addresses.

Just a paper magazine? Not any more it seems.

Jesse Maiman, a 21 year old Yale University student has filed a lawsuit in the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court against US airway and he is asking for a relatively astounding one million dollars in damages? And what was he complaining about? His Xbox 360 got stolen in the airport.

Maiman claims that his Xbox 360, that contains what he says is a “specialized hard drive” was taken from his luggage when he traveled from New Haven, Connecticut, to Cincinnati, Ohio. He also claimed that he was given “an unconscionable run-around” when he tried to address the problem at the moment he found out his console was missing. In his lawsuit, Maiman is demanding $1,700 in relief for the loss of his Xbox 360 console, and a $1 million as the maximum damages allowable. With the top of the line Xbo 360 retailing for only $399, one begins to wonder what kind of “specialized hard drive” Maiman has installed in his Xbox 360. Could it be some kind of super advanced storage medium from the future? Or could the hard drive contain information that will save the world? Only Maiman knows the answer.

These Skull Candy headphones will not stop at the looks, however. The moment I tried it, I knew that I was hooked.

So what sets Skull Candy headphones apart? Aside from their funky look, these headphones deliver excellent sound. In fact, everything about the design is all about the perfect sound. Even if you’re listening to a track that is so heavy on bass, the headphones can take it.

There are a lot of different types of Skull Candy headphones available – you only need to check their web site for the style that would suit you. The Metallica headphones, from the Artist Lowrider Series, to be exact, is only one of them. This one costs $49.95 from the online shop but prices may vary depending on which store you go to.

Another plus about Skull Candy headphones is that they are all covered by a very good warranty policy. They have two types of coverage:

Aggressive Listening: Skullcandy products that fail or break due to a crazy crash on the mountain or a violent head-banging session… or any other reason that is not a product defect, we will still hook you up! Send in whatever remains of your product, and we will send you a coupon good for 50% off any product in our Online Shop.

Defective Product Replacement: Which is defined as any Skullcandy product that is still in one piece and not working properly or any product damaged in shipping.In this case you will receive a brand new replacement product at no charge.

I don’t think I have found any other product that has this kind of coverage, have you?

Flash this mouse out and you’d get people looking in awe that a gaming master is in the house, man! Just for the visual appeal and the buttons… THE BUTTONS… 6 in all. Oh man, that alone will make the standard gamer dizzy!

Sharkoon has expanded its Rush gamer line with a new, high-quality laser mouse. The Sharkoon FireGlider Gaming Mouse features an ergonomically formed body, six programmable buttons, weight tuning system and a stylish high-gloss flame design. The black thumb pad features a no-slip grip with angled slits to provide excellent stability even in the most frantic of situations.

Check one out and purchase it for US$32 right here.

First up, we have the Beingz Mood Lamp. It looks like a mushroom in a weird sort of way and has LEDs to give you your own personal light show. I doubt that the lights will be bright enough to allow you to read at night but it does look cool. But you know what the really cool thing is? The mushroom top is touch sensitive. Touch it, stroke it, or tap it and you will get various flashes of light. The fun doesn’t end there – the lamp has an internal microphone that can pick up the music that you’re listening to, giving you a separate visualizer. And if you are like me, visualizers in action can calm you down like anything!

Next on the list is the Beingz Alarm Clock. It is also touch sensitive; in fact, it only shows you the time if you touch the surface or if the alarm goes off. Oh, and this baby can tal to the lamp!This is because the clock is more than a clock it is actually an FM radio as well. So when the clock plays music, the lamp picks the signal up and does its own thing.

Pretty cool huh? The lamp goes for $37.34 while the clock goes for $36.99, both over at Amazon.

The SoundShelf designer (Polish designers Witek Stefaniak and Anielka Zdanowicz ) nailed it when they observe speakers are literally shoved in a corner and adorned with “novelty” items just to make it “blend in” with all other furnishings. This concept takes the speakers and “makes it” part of any room by making it serve a purposeful role. A hanging bookshelf or a standing DVD rack, good ideas!

Sure, the design may not be just as able to produce great sounds like traditional speaker sets, BUT as it is only a concept I’m sure if this takes off it will sound acceptable. I’ve seen speakers as small as a mouse from Pioneer, this shelf needs that type of sound technology.

It was bound to happen.

With Sony now enjoying the fact that blu-ray won the format wars and with the sales of the Playstation 3 and the PSP beginning to plateau, it was a natural progression for the company to find ways help synergize all of its products to help one another.

So it comes as no surprise that Sony has announced that it will be exploiting the large capacity of Blu-ray discs to produce hybrid content BDs that contain not only a movie but also a game version of the said movie. We all know that movies are increasingly being licensed for game versions (just don’t expect a Revolutionary Road game), and selling both on one disc is a stroke of genius in my opinion.

Although Sony said that the exact details on how the whole thing will be implemented is still being worked on, I think the company has taken a great step. With the Playstation 3’s sales plateauing, this is a great marketing strategy to entice people to buy it given that the PS3 is still the cheapest full-featured BD player in the market. There are even plans to follow the current practice today of putting a digital copy of the movie on the disc, which means that the movie can be copied to a Playstation Portable, which could also increase the sales of Sony’s handheld console.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of Spotify but if you consider yourself a techie, a geek, or whatever name you want to call it, then you probably have at least got wind of this new service.  Spotify seems to be a promising music service – it offers FREE music streaming anywhere in the UK. More than being free, Spotify is now accepting sign ups without the need for invites!  This could very well be your ticket to endless hours of music without having to spend a single penny!

So what’s the catch? (I know that you were thinking of that once you spotted the word FREE up there…)  Well, for the free service, you have to endure the occasional ad.  If you are that particular about your listening experience and you do not want to  be interrupted even for a minute or less, then you might want to sign up for the premium service, which gets rid of the ads.  The premium service will cost you €9.99 a month, which is actually not that bad.  Personally, though, I think I would not mind enduring an ad here and there and NOT spend anything.

Another thing, the official Spotify blog has announced that while they are accepting sign ups without invites, they will have to see how the service grows.  The team has stated:

However, we want to make sure that everyone who uses Spotify gets the same fast, uninterrupted experience so providing a stable service is our priority. If growth happens too fast and it starts affecting quality we may have to re-instate the invitation system, hopefully this won’t happen.

Sounds reasonable to me.  After all, it is FREE. So why not check this out?  They are accepting registrations  in the Spotify web site.

1. Magic is just stuff science hasn’t made boring yet

2. Get Real, Be Rational

3. I am not a geek

4. There goes the neighborhood

5. Shirt of Invisibility

6. Snailbot

7. 2600: A Video Game Odyssey

8. I’d Hit That T-shirt

9. I Am Away From My Computer Right Now

10. Firefox Logo T-shirt

Oh, and if you’re curious, I found all of these t-shirts using the geek t-shirts search over at Teenormous.

1. Your place or my Mom’s? #
2. If I ever got stuck time traveling you would always be my constant. #
3. baby, if this were a bar would SO [command+tab] over to you and [option+command+w] everyone else. #
4. All you need is a shell and baby, you can get access to my root #
5. hey want to rm -rf /some/frustration? #
6. I got my own big bang theory that I would like to teach you #
7. My heart gets +12 celerity whenever you come out of obfuscate… #
8. Wow I love your User Interface #

Read more pickup lines after the jump.

1. I want you… up against my Facebook wall. #
2. A search for you on launchpad.net turned up zero results because you’re perfect. #
3. we can reach each other better if you disable your firewall.#
4. Should I DM you in the morning or nudge you? #
5. If I said you had a beautiful would you let me verify your xml? #
6. Baby, I’ll make your buffer overflow. #
7. You’re the largest word in my tweet cloud. #
8. Your beauty has pwned my heart. #
9. Id like to play with your touch interface #
10. I haz multi-touch #
11. Hey… @hotdogsladies starred my tweet. You know… Merlin Mann. From You Look Nice Today. No? 43Folders.com? Fuck. #
12. I’m the droid you’re looking for. #
13. Hey baby, whats your favorite position?.. mine’s 90°/ -90° #
14. I was hoping you wouldn’t block my pop-up. #
15. I own a $20 million startup. Make that $2 million. Make that $2,000. #
16. I’d like to mixx myspace with your facebook and see what wiki get? Then fark your tweet twits. #
17. Why don’t you remove those resistors and let me discharge my capacitor into your ground loop. #
18. my seed ratio is 6.9 #
19. My user agreement is tattooed on my inner thigh. Push the button labeled ‘I agree’ and submit. #
20. I’ll you give you a laptop dance. #
21. You’re so much cuter than your avatar #
22. I don’t even need F5, you’re so fresh. #
23. Baby, you;re hotter than (CH3)2CHCH=CH(CH2) 4CONHCH2C6H3-4-(OH)-3-(OCH3) #
24. You’ve got +5 charisma and I’ve got +5 stamina, let’s assemble a horde. #
25. Would you like to be the denominator to my numerator? #
26. :10 get it on
    :20 sleep 5
    :30 goto 10 #
27. In bed, i last longer than a twitter meme. #
28. Do you mind if I qik your unboxing? #
29. If looks could kill, your face would be the Cylon attack on the 12 Colonies, except your face would kill the fleet, too. #
30. Come back to my place, I’ll mount your disk and fsck you all night long #

If you want to read more, just look the hashtag up.

Decorating your home office isn’t an easy thing to do. The first thing that you need to accomplish is to blend great aesthetic design with products that are going to allow you to maximize your productivity in the work space. The next thing to tackle is how to create the feeling that you’re in a professional work space while allowing for that space to exist within the rest of your home. And finally you need to consider the types of products that really express who you are and what you believe in whether that’s ergonomic or eco-friendly design.

Your workspace can be funky or sexy, minimalist or post-modern, neutral toned or filled with bright colors – as long as you create it in a way that is true to your heart. To create the right space, you need to be able to find these products and to set them up in a way that makes the home office all your own. Here’s a look at 25 of the best, most unique products out there which can assist you in achieving these goals of home office design.

1. Bibliochaise: Toss out those boring old bookcases and make life more convenient by putting your reading materials right inside the chair that you use to sit in while you read them. It adds a funky design flavor to a cool home office and serves to help you maximize your space while reducing the number of separate furniture items that you have to arrange.

2. Antique Modern Chair: If your home is decorated with antiques and vintage decor, it may seem inappropriate to add a modern home office to the space. So why not decorate with modern furniture that’s been designed to look like antiques? You’ll get the function that you need with a look that doesn’t seem out of place in the rest of the home.

3. Computer Armoire: People who have a small home may need to place their office in the corner of a room that serves as a multi-functional space. A great way to do this is to use a computer armoire to keep all the cabling, printer cartridges, paper, pens and the usual office clutter out of the way when not in use. Choose any design that suits the rest of a room’s decor and then tuck all your belongings in there where no one has to see them (or mess with them) but you.

4. Bobo Lazy Chair: If you’re ever going to have clients over to visit you in your home office, you’ll need somewhere for them to sit. A chair like this fits perfectly on the other side of your desk for use by clients and it’s comfortable enough that you can use it when you’re reading through documents or doing other tasks around the home office.

5. Glass Desk: This type of desk is ideal for a home office that gets a lot of natural sunlight. It adds to the design of a room that has big windows and is particularly suited to someone who has a great view from their home. The home office that seeks to be modern can do well with colored furniture and a glass desk.

6. Art Stools: Instead of hanging art on the walls of your home office, choose furniture that reflects your artistic tastes. Furniture with painted upholstery and artistic designs can be made in such a way that it still has a professional air to it. Choose wisely, though, because this kind of furniture can make a room look ugly really fast.

7. Concrete and Glass Bench: If you’re lucky enough to have a home office that allows you some patio room outdoors then you should get furniture that has a more outdoors feeling to it such as this bench made of concrete and glass. This is particularly good for someone who works in the industrial or construction fields but could be suitable to anyone who finds it pleasing to the eye.

8. Ergonomic Chair: Every good home office has an ergonomic chair to keep your body comfortable while you work. This one from Ambience Dore is the kind of chair that considers every part of your body and makes it so that you’ll never again get that ache in the shoulders from having spent too many hours on the computer. Of course, you’ll have to feel secure in yourself to sit in a chair as funky as this every day.

9. Brass Knuckle Chair: Forget ergonomic – you want a chair that no one will ever forget after they’ve seen it. Ideal for the video game reviewer who works from home, this is a truly different chair that’s distinct from anything else that others are going to have in their home office.

10. One of a Kind Desk. This creation by Tom Spina Designs is an example of a one-of-a-kind item that you could have custom built for your office (or that you could make yourself). This one has got a sci-fi theme that’s cool for some professionals but you could express yourself in any way that would suit your business.

11. Light Sculptures: Add some ambience to the home office with light sculptures that are both artistic and purposeful. Make sure that you find something that actually lights up the office, or consider getting a bigger, brighter computer monitor if you’re only going to have weak accent lighting!

12. Pencil Bench: This is an example of how every day office items can be used to create functional furniture art for the office. In this case, it’s a bunch of pink pencils that serve as a bench for seating in the office. Get creative or find a store out there that will get creative for you.

13. Vision One Computer Workstation: This is an ergonomic workstation designed specifically for computer gaming. Of course, it’s the fact that this looks cool which makes you want to buy it but it’s also nice that it’s good for your body’s health.

14. Treadmill Desk: Have you noticed that you’re getting what appears to be a beer gut and you’re not even drinking a lot of beer? It’s probably because you just sit at your computer all day long. Hop on a treadmill and get work done at the same time from the comfort of your home office by adding a treadmill desk to the home’s decor.

15. Trunk Station: This type of furniture is similar to a computer armoire but it’s not stationary. You just fold up your entire workspace and move it around the house. This means that your home office can be in the bedroom, the living room or even outside as you see fit throughout the day. Just don’t spend so much time moving it around that you fail to get your work done.

16. Design Pod: Another mobile office space that you can use around the home office is the design pod. It folds up into neat little furniture that can be stashed away anywhere in the home. Then it folds out to offer you a complete computer desk and storage of your files and important papers. This is another one that’s good for the home office that’s got to exist in different parts of the home due to limited space.

17. Vector: This looks like a cool piece of design furniture intended to hold random things around the home office. Indeed, that’s what it is. But it’s also supposed to allow you to note your successes by offering a ‘green for good work’ side and a ‘red for in trouble’ side which means that you can turn the piece around depending on how you feel about work that day.

18. Elefant Bar and Shelf: On those days when you’re not feeling so good about work, perhaps the only thing that you want is a stiff drink. You can have one accessible to you in the home office by including a mini-bar in your decorating. This one offers you a design that’s going to let you hide that booze from clients who will never guess that this shelf is holding drinks inside. And the colorful design is going to give a boost of freshness to a tired office.

19. Light-Emitting Wallpaper: If you want to include something really different in the design of your home office, consider this wallpaper that actually lights up the room. When you turn it on, the lights add ambience to the room and give a 3D effect to the wall. You can turn it off to make it look just like plain old wallpaper for those times when you’re inviting people to the home office who are a little more on the stuffy side.

20. Ball Chair: There are several variations on the ball chair, including one that hangs down from the ceiling to function like a swing, but they all offer a sense of fun style to the home office. They’re different in design from other home office furniture and can serve as the centerpiece around which you decorate the rest of the room.

21. Bike Furniture: One of the most important messages that you can be sending to others about your business is that it’s a business that cares about being green. What better way to do this than to deck out your home office with bike furniture? This stuff is designed in a way that looks classy and professional but it’s made from bike parts so it’s got that whole recycling / repurposed / functional art thing going on.

22. Moebler Bookcase: Take something really traditional about the home office, like the bookcase, and replace it with something that’s just a little bit different. It will throw off perspective in the room, creating a unique style that suggests a little bit of fun for the office. And it will make people who visit your home office think about you as a more creative person to work with.

23. Comfy Furniture: If you’ve got the luxury of working from a home office then you should make the space as comfortable as you possibly can. Forget the hardwood desks and the leather chairs; choose the bean bag chairs and flexible furniture that will make you feel right at home.

24. Copacabana Table: This table brings a curvy design to the home office and adds some color to the room. For the professional who is looking to get just a little bit funky while retaining the function of the professional space, this is a good way to get started.

25. Hand-Le Doorknob: You love working from home but sometimes you’ve just got to miss the camaraderie of working from a cubicle with a bunch of other cubicles around you. Take some of the sting out of being lonely at work by adding a doorknob to your home office door that will greet you with a handshake as you walk in. At the very least, it will be something to break the ice when clients come over even as you get more and more anti-social from always working at home alone.

Ryan is helping to develop Brainz, the top secret online information project.

The wacky German director of such video game adaptations as Postal, BloodRayne and Alone in The Dark will get the Golden Raspberry awards. The awards, better known as the Razzies, is given each year to single out the worst movies and performances of the year.

Boll will be given the “distinguished” Worst Career Achievement Award. One of the rare times that the award has been given. He now joins past Career Achievement awardees as Bruce (the rubber shark used in Jaws), Linda Blair, Irwin Allen and Ronald Reagan.

If I were the people involved with the Razzies though I would start hiding. Boll is notoriously thin skinned has gained additional notoriety by challenging a few bloggers who ridiculed him to a boxing match.

I knew it would be a matter of time when a geek would think about this! True to its form the Climbstation is the wall climber’s ultimate buddy. While it doesn’t provide the usual curves and edges they’d look for, it does provide an invigorating session of muscle training for your arms and legs.

You’re probably right to say it looks like a treadmill standing at perpendicular from the ground and attached with spokes to fit the game.

Here’s a jab about ClimbStation “Climbstation($TBA) is an indoor rock climbing simulator that designs to minimum space and maximum safety without using a harnesses or ropes and mobile design. It features include 7 different tracks available plus a unique auto-clim mode, you can select the track by click the screen and its user interface shows certain climbing statictiss, such as time, height, length of route climbed and calories burnt. ”

Quite perfect for a gym or a fitness club. A mall activity area fixture perhaps… well whatever it is, it will most likely be a long line to this ride.

If you see a pair of ClimbStations side by side they most probably are “linked” to give a multi-person effect for contests and competitions. Also, it has an ‘earthquake effect’ option. Brilliant idea. The unit comes with safety pads, a control unit and software for a single climber. Available in gray, white, black, blue, green, yellow and red colours.

This portable speaker is more expensive than the iPod it’s attached to. At US$76.16 I couldn’t imagine grabbing this low-powered (0.7-watt) speaker and look the wife straight in the eye. Boy, if I did I’d surely get a black-eye for sure! LOL.

With recession hitting everyone worldwide ONLY the fashionista may have the “balls” to pull this purchase. Yuen’To’s Music Balloon speaker has a rechargeable battery that lasts about 2 hours. One of the features I like would be that it can just be used anywhere as it dangles quite well. It only needs to attach itself to your MP3 player’s speaker plug. But considering it’s a mono speaker system, sound quality may be a little AM-ish. That’s why I was freaked out to see the price at about US$80. This will be available by mid-February though, so if it catches your eye… get one.

Kojima san’s name is one of the few recognizable names, along with Shigeru Miyamoto, Yu Suzuki, Sid Meier, Will Wright and Peter Molyneux, that have come to define the modern gaming industry. As such, his lifestyle is also fiercely scrutinized just like any other celebrity.

The guys at the Tsutaya superstore in Japan has done a great scoop for Kojima and Metal Gear Solid fans. As part of the store’s tie-in promotion with Metal Gear Solid, Tsutaya has displayed Hideo Kojima’s 15 favorite movies. These movies have a strong influence on how the Metal Gear Solid came to be and has evolved.

Just a tantalizing example, did you know that Kojima was actually inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in picking the names for both Snake and Otacon (David and Hal). Cool, innit!

Seems like there is a stand-out product in the radio industry at CES 2009. Manufacturers Blaupunkt ( a leader in automotive multi-media) and a popular internet radio website (MiRoamer) joined forces to debut the World’s first internet car radio… MiRoamer. Pretty “jazzy” look, eh, I like how it the jet black color works on any car interior. Hey, it’s from Blaupunkt so there, it must be a great design!

What we don’t know is who MiRoamer is. At least on my radar, they haven’t landed on the 5 top free internet radio providers. So I did a little digging … read on.

Here’s a brief intro to what MiRoamer is:

miRoamer is a one-stop-shop for all of your Internet Radio needs. After setting up a personal account, you can access all of your favorite Internet Radio providers, stations, and streams, as well as numerous other features. You have the ability to select from hundreds of providers, tens of thousands of free Internet Radio stations, and a vast array of premium content, creating custom playlists from those stations. miRoamer also allows you to add media that is not currently offered here, by simply providing the URL. miRoamer allows users to login and manage all of their content and settings from the same place.

Haven’t heard of MiRoamer before, but I guess I’d be checking them out. Bye for now Pandora as I take a peek at what MiRoamer is.

Hmmm… I know you have question marks all over because how can a car stream audio from the web? Costly if your provider counts it by every bit played. Still costly if you go by time increments too.

This is good news though to Washington and Chicago who seem to be enjoying WIMAX. But for the rest of us who access the internet through 3G or GSM phones… ouch. No can do!

Ah, yes, this does deserve an award in my book. I mean for the longest time I’ve been putting up with my in-ears that sometimes I’d switch to regular because it is beginning to hurt. ACOUSTIBUDS Silicone Adapters for Earphones is specifically intended to pair with the latest MP3 players in the market like Ipod / Zune / Sansa / Sony / Creative. But hey, if the plug fits you’d still be able to use it with other more generic players you may have.

Burton Technologies had bright minds for sure. I wouldn’t have ever thought of creating that, LOL. But it seems they’ve successfully felt the market’s pulse. People are going to have MP3 players, people will use earbuds, people will hurt.

Acoustibuds is a novel earpiece fitting for earphones sold with iPods, iPhones and most MP3 players. Acoustibuds revitalizes these earphones to provide unparalleled retention, comfort, enriched acoustics and sound isolation. Stays in better: Acoustibuds use closely spaced flexible fins to stay in the ear more securely. The series of tall, soft and conformable fins flex in a manner that easily fit and retain to the ear. Even with perspiration and extreme physical activity, these fins continue to hold the earphone securely in place due to their unique profile and spacing.

They’re on sale at Amazon.com for about US$12.99.

More product specifications below:

- A new accessory for your earphones that is acoustically engineered to enrich bass, middle and upper range frequencies.

- Stays in Better: Closely spaced fins keep earphones in place and prevents them from falling out, even with heavy exercise and perspiration.

- Sounds Better: Fins create a multi-barrier seal to block out noise, boost bass and volume. “Twin Cone Core” better channels sound on the inside for enriched middle and upper range frequencies.

- Feels Better: Completely flexible to better conform to your ear. Made from soft hypoallergenic silicone for improved comfort and fit.

Case in point of how things are moving is the development of the Cinemin stick, swivel and base. You’d notice from the picture above that they are well suited to be used with your iPod Touch or your iPhones. Perfect for the salesman on-the-go. It’s your instant presentation literally pulled out of your hat/box/or backpack.

Cinemin swivel (sells for $299) is a device that allows you to project to a wall or cieling (huh?). Cinemin stick is your pocket projector AND Cinemin base is where you dock your iPhone, iPod touch or your laptops.

Taking projection out of boardrooms and movie theaters and into the palm of your hand is WowWee’s Cinemin™ suite of ultra-portable multimedia micro projectors, powered by Texas Instruments’ DLP Technology for ultra clear picture quality. Utilizing the same technology commonly found in high-definition TVs, classroom projectors and large-scale cinema houses, the Cinemin projectors have been designed to work with popular mobile devices, such as the Apple® iPod and iPhone®. With WowWee’s Cinemin™ suite of projectors, a café becomes a boardroom, a camping tent becomes a theater, and Grandma’s curtains become a life-size digital picture frame.

Does it work with your game machines (Playstation 3, XBox or the Wii), natively NO… for now, until some smart guy develops a cable to convert cables going to and fro Cinemin.

Cinemin Swivel, Stick and Base will be available this Spring 2009, check out this page for more details.

Ok, if you’re a little tired of those old iPod earphones and you need something a little decent to replace it with… wait no more. Shure has developed SE115 sound-isolating earphones for just under US$100. Imagine that, for less than US$100 you get a quality set of sound plugs that keep your audio crisp, clear and smooth. Plus, you get to be good looking too! :)

It’s a kit by the way as Shure’s fit kit comes with interchangeable earphone options so you can get as much isolation (and bass-response created from a proper fit) as possible. Colors come in blue, red, black, or hot pink. The earphones are compatible with Apple iPhone and BlackBerry Curve… basically a lot of MP3 players these days.

“There’s no doubt about it – for decades, Shure has set the standard for superior audio and unparalleled design,” said Mark Karnes, Executive Director, Global Marketing, Shure. “Now, as MP3 players, smartphones, portable gaming systems, and laptops break new ground in functionality and style, our engineers have blasted even bigger sound into a smaller and more beautiful package than ever before.”

Check out the features:

• Superior Sound Quality: The Second Generation Dynamic MicroSpeaker delivers detailed, warm sound with enhanced bass.
• Color and Style: Blue, Pink, Black, and Red create a personal fashion statement for any user.
• Isolation from Background Noise: Unique Sound Isolating technology prevents outside noise from interfering with the user’s listening experience.
• Superior Comfort and Flexibility: The included Shure fit kit provides interchangeable earphone fit and cable options that deliver unmatched personal customization.

The SE115 and all Shure Sound Isolating Earphones and inline accessories can be purchased online at www.shure.com, as well as at select retail partners. Check www.shure.com for a complete list of Authorized Dealers.

Ok, us geeks need to have some clean and funny prank. If you have a friend who seem to make his cubicle his home, which means he just comes out to pee, get java or grab some lunch, the Phantom Keystroker V2 is perfect. Ummm… just make sure he’s the kind of person who’d appreciate a prank from you.

This tiny USB thumb drive thoroughly annoys your co-workers by causing their computers to malfunction. Ummm.. what (!) you may say. Well, that’s why I mentioned make sure they’d take a prank from you. Make sure they’re not doing anything important. AND don’t you plug this in your boss’ PC! You’ve been warned!

Product Features:

- Attach this evil prank device to your victim’s computer and it makes random mouse movements and types out odd garbage text and phrases.

- Switches on side choose between keyboard garbage typing, caps lock-toggle, annoying mouse movements or all three

- Adjustment dial sets the duration between annoying “events”

- Works on any OS (Caps-Lock toggle does not work on the Mac. May not work on some Linux systems depending on configuration.)

- Victim’s computer requires USB port

Sold right here for about $15.00.

Well, look here… I think this is a real cool stocking stuffer! This is a mini-cube speaker, and mini sure does land it dead spot doesn’t it. It’s almost as big as an iPod shuffle as you can see. Made by a Japanese company, Bird Electronics, this small wonder measures only 45 mm at each side.

It has a built-in iPod slot, makes compatible with most iPod models, and a 35mm mini audio plug to use with multimedia audio devices with headphone output, or your cell phone. A simple plug and play compact speaker without the need of extra wire.

You know what’s the best about this gadget… it doesn’t need batteries! Yeah, true. All it takes to work is plugging in the 35mm mini audio plug into your audio source and viola… speaker on. It doesn’t sound like a great speaker brand though but you’d hear your audio nonetheless.

Available in Red, white and Black… sad to say, it’s only available in Japan, for $33 a cube.

Available at this google-translated Japanese page… right here.

Well… there’s a place in me that says, “hey you might need this too”. This is the Vuzix Eyewear personal video viewing device. Curious how it all fits and feels like, as I haven’t really worn one and I often wonder that for those who do does it really feel like you’re also watching video on a huge plasma TV? A nagging question would be if it gives you more eyestrain in prolonged use. Like if I had a movie marathon tonight, will my eyes complain the following morning. Hmmmm…

Anyway.

This baby is “plug and play” so it will work with any video source like your portable DVDs, your video iPods, other portable video devices etc. Sound quality is good too, earbuds are detachable for easy storage and/or cleaning. Retails for about US$350. If you need uninterrupted viewing experience, this is for you. I’m guessing it may be a little weird when your moving your head… the video moves with you. If you get over that… it’s a cool experience to just shut everyone and everything around you and enjoy.

Got the following summary of features from the manufacturer website:

Supported Devices Include:
Portable DVD players
Media players
Gaming systems
Digital cameras
Camcorders
Cellular phones with video output

Features:
iWear® 3D enabled for automatic 2D/3D control; no buttons required
Can be worn with or without prescription eyeglasses
The integrated rechargeable lithium ion battery gives approximately five hours of continuous viewing
Includes mini USB charger

User Adjustable:
Removable, integrated can be upgraded or removed to allow you to plug in your own headsets
AccuTilt® viewer pivots up to 15 degrees for optimum viewing angle and clarity
Soft, comfortable, hypo-allergenic nosepiece extends up to 3/8″
Custom fit headstrap

Advanced Optics:
32-degree field of view
3/4″ eye relief and 5/16″ eyebox.
2.5″ intraocular distance (IOD).
Color corrected 10th order aspherical lens with diffractive surface

Technical Specifications:
Twin high-resolution 640×480 (920,000 pixels) LCD displays
Equivalent to a 62″ screen viewed from 9 feet
Millions of colors
Visor weighs 2.9 ounces
Integrated rechargeable lithium ion battery allows approximately five hours of continuous operation
60 Hz progressive scan update rate

Would you like to turn your HD movie collection into something you can easily bring anywhere? Well how about as easy as even playing it out of your USB key drive? My my… read on:

Western Digital has pulled something out of their hat and has aptly called what you need their “Western Digital TV/HD Media Player“. For US$129.99 you can turn your USB drive to an HD media player. Thus allowing you to quickly play HD movies on your TV. Uber cool eh? And for that price, oh my, even on impulse buy it’s still worth it.

Engadget and Gizmodo have raved about this, saying that it is such a silent product release but well worth it. Head on over to BestBuy… you can get it online.

Product Features:
- Compatible with My Passport portable hard drives and other USB storage devices; supported USB device file systems: FAT-32, NTFS, HFS+ (no journaling)
- Full HD 1080p video playback and navigation
- Dock-and-play convenience
- Provides access to 2 USB drives simultaneously
- HDMI and composite video interfaces for easy connection to a TV
- Ultracompact design for easy portability
- Includes My Passport hard drive stand, compact remote with batteries, composite A/V cable, AC adapter, media converter software and owner’s manual

Here’s a cool design for your watch, FACELESS!

Unveiled at the Tokyo Design Week ‘08 by designer Hironao Tsuboi (of 100%.com) it’s creating a lot of waves, at least for the eyes that gawked to say “I want to buy one now.” :)

Simplicity is beauty, and the Japanese knows how to make it work. The watch is designed to be a seamless bracelet of beauty. It may be a little hard to know which way it goes, but I’m sure one will figure it out once this is released for production.

I’d be interested to see this in a 007 or a space movie in the future. I think it has to make a real big exposure to have a good recall for consumers.

Will I wear this though… hmmm… not sure if I want that much attention. What I’d like to see is different LED colors, or a way to dim it a bit perhaps? Or how about building a music player into it too? Hey if you can squeeze in several LEDs I’m sure you’d be able to squeeze in a few GB for music too?

Wishful thinking I know.

Microsoft has recently partnered with Spanish language media company Univision to offer a music store just for the Zune. Univision.com has a special place for Zune owners called “Baja Zune Musica” where you can download Spanish music for your Zunes.

About 4 million songs are available for download from the site. Good news for Latin music lovers, for a certain time your favorite Latin songs will be available for 50% off. So if I were you, get going to Univision.com right now.

I think this is a good move for Microsoft. I’m not seeing any “Zune push” this past quarter so this offering will surely swing some interest on their MP3 player. Kudos for this move, and I like you chose Spanish songs too! I love the way music is made by the Espanol! :)

Name recall… excellent. Form factor… high. I like Logitech’s new Squeezebox boom. Heard it from a CNet Podcast recently and made me jump and say.. Whoooaaaa! :) This baby smokes!

It’s a compact all in one music player. Sure, who’s not compact all in one these days, you say. But something quite different would be the way it can connect to wifi even if your computer’s turned off. What? No wifi? Well plug a network cable in and it will work, keep the music flowin’ and glowin’. Easy network setup it says, even for newbies.

So stream Pandora, LifeFM, Rhapsody… any stream audio, you’re set. It’s kinda one of the few “all in one” wifi radio as the entire unit is actually that one physical body. No external speakers or any external controllers. It’s just that one unit.

All but the terrestrial radio station (the regular radio stations) maybe are happy. They’ve gotta get their juice online because that’s where technology is going! If 5 years ago this was wishful thinking, IT’S HAPPENING NOW! So get on the web ya’ll and survive.

Squeezebox Product summary
- High quality audio: bi-amplified design with high performance signal processor, class D amplifiers, and digital crossover
- “Always-on” Internet Radio, powered by SqueezeNetwork, lets you tune in to Internet Radio streams even when your computer is off
- Compact, all-in-one design
- True 802.11g networking
- Seven-day alarm with snooze, auto-sleep feature

You can catch more of the product’s features right here.

Developed by Jean-Michel Jarre, these Aerosystems speakers are aimed to high-profile audiophiles who’d like easy access to their music. I am a little unsure if these audiophiles would prefer compressed audio over their uncompressed (original) versions. I somehow understand that audiophiles aimed for more of the unadulterated audio versions, anyway.

Form factor along made me take a second serious look. I’m not an audiophile, but I’m a big fan of something flashy for my den. Available in black or silver, Aerosystems is compatible with iPod 4th generation (color display), iPod 5th generation ,iPod mini, iPod nano, Pod touch, and the iPhone 3G. Retailing for 449 euros, the Aerosystems is one unique design pouring out exceptional sound quality.

I’ve been seeing a lot of HP TouchSmart ads on hulu.com lately. Probably because of the holiday rush plus the fact that people will probably be getting bonuses and/or extra seasonal pays at the close of the year. Bestbuy and Circuit City have been coming out with many store magazines to introduce the gadgets on their shelves too. Anyway, back to the HP TouchSmart PC.

I think it’s just the right time for the desktop pcs to point their designs to successful tech campaigns. With the overwhelming response to touch gadgets like Apple’s, Samsungs and others… well, HP now beats the drum for the PC line.

I’m not too sure though about finger smudges all over my desktop PC screen. I try to make a clean screen all the time. Will too many smudges turn-off the “idea”? I hope not.

CNet.com has made a good review about this PC. It slightly compares it to the Apple iMac, but quickly says the TouchSmart is still not in the same league.

Standard specs are available here. Full specs, right here.

Kinda geared more for the multimedia crowd though.

Here’s cool idea from LaCie. LaCinema Rugged is a 500GB external hard disk (all black color finish) capable of connecting with your TV sets for immediate media playout.

This latest addition to the Lacie family is designed by industrial engineer Neil Poulton, the LaCinema Rugged goes beyond ordinary multimedia hard disks with its sophisticated all-terrain design. It features HDMI upscaling, allowing you to watch movies and television programs on your HD TV, or even enjoy your photos in full HD resolution. You’re free to take your media with you with the LaCinema Rugged; its unique varnished, scratch-protected aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber sleeve make it especially resistant to harsh elements for extra protection wherever you go. With a smart and simple user interface, as well as a convenient remote control, the LaCinema Rugged is both practical and user-friendly.

GeekBrief.TV host Cali Lewis uses the LaCinema Rugged as her multi-media hard drive. She’s a tech video host so this really works good for her. I remember I once required an external hard drive that could easily connect to TV, or even to good sub-woofers independent of a PC or a laptop connection. This makes it a good buy indeed.

This is a USB toy, what it does is every time you type away through your keyboard this toy goes around animating the mouse going round and round the endless wheel. I think this is amusing, if you’re in a workstation that requires you to “entertain folks” and keep them away from boredom. This is it.

Features:

Includes Software CD and USB cable
For Windows XP only
Suitable for ages 10+
SUPPLY: USB / 3 x AA batteries (Not included)
Power: USB,3XAAA batteries
Approx 18cm x 8.8cm x 18.8cm

Aw, too bad it’s only for Windows XP huh? Us Mac users have no fun, no fair. :)

I think this is a great motivational tool for kids learning to type. I mean plug this in a USB and run a Mavis Beacon typing tutor program and viola! Instant gratification for the improving typists.

I haven’t seen this listed yet on any online store, I’m guessing a price from within $50-$60 would be fair, don’t you think so?

MySpace users have something to celebrate today! Their beloved now launches its music arm… MySpace Music today. Check out their intro page right here.

It was reported that it was supposed to launch last week but apparently delayed due to EMI Records. The British label finally signed on and so now MyMusic Store officially distributes their titles as well.

MySpace music is geared towards being the best music store around, one of their services being the ability to stream any of the audio titles they carry for online auditioning for their customers. It is also aiming to have music catalogues, merchandise, concert tickets and more.

I haven’t checked it yet, but I think the only thing that MySpace Music will NOT have… is a link to the iPod!

Crazy crazy world we live in, eh?  If you just can’t leave the bar, well, now you can bring it everywhere you go!  Although I do understand how some would see the business model behind it, I think that idea is sooo far down south though.  Worth a try, so what the heck… if you’ve got US$1,900 go for it.

Everything will fit this luggage, from your glasses, mixers, the booze (of course), and other stuff you may need to make you the walking bartender around the block.

There were a few earlier versions from other designers, like this one or this one.  The Evolution Mobile bar takes the prize, at least for me.

You can get it online right here.