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When the $39.99 Zen Stone was first unearthed, there was some discussion as to whether it was larger or smaller than a $79 iPod shuffle. As you’ll be able to see in the gallery after the jump, it’s noticeably larger than the shuffle, and that’s without the $9.99 add-on clip. However, you should also be able to tell that it’s a non-issue. The Zen Stone rests tiny and almost weightless in the palm of my hand, and I’m far from NBA material. Until the flash memory and processor are in the earbuds and you wear the whole thing like some freaky necklace, the size/weight concern is pretty much moot.
Follow the jump for some hands-on reviewy nuggets and 12 red-hot pictures.
It may not have the look of a Dyson about it, but Archie Cameron’s vaccuum cleaner lays claim to the oldest working model in Britain today. The retired Scottish civil servant has had his Goblin Triumph electric cleaner since 1936, when his mother bought it from a traveling salesman in Glasgow.
Archie has had to replace the carrying strap after it broke (he replaced it with a suitcase strap) and the starter button has gone twice, but apart from that, the machine has given him no trouble. “The Goblin is a very simple design,” said the 78-year-old, who only replaced his black-and-white telly with a color model two years ago. “It is a motor and a fan with a cardboard tube attached. There is little to go wrong with the cleaner, so there is very little reason why it should not go on working forever. It will probably outlive me.” – Ad Dugdale
The 71-year-old vacuum cleaner that’s still going strong [Daily Mail]
LG.Philips LCD keeps teasing the world with dream display products that will not reach the mass market until sometime in the next decade.
This is their all-new, world-first A4 electronic paper, a 4,096-color flexible 14.1-inch page made using “metal foil and plastic substrates rather than glass.” They only use power when the image changes and since they are reflective like real paper, they can be seen perfectly from any angle. Even under direct sunlight.
For even better viewing, figure 1 here shows that you have to hold it up on high like a Holy Hand Grenade and wear stripped gloves. Something that might prove somehow unpractical while reading your electronic New York Times in the loo. – Jesus Diaz
LG.Philips LCD claims first flexible color A4-size e-paper [Digitimes]
These single ended hammock seats look pretty cool, but when you sit in it you can’t actually relax like you do in a hammock. The seat material is too tight, so it doesn’t envelop your body. Which leads to sitting their kind of worried about slipping off the side if you do let yourself totally chill out.
So the idea is good, but it just needs a relaxation upgrade to deliver on the promise. -Seamus Byrne
Product page [Zula]
Got a spare quarter mil for this one-of-a-kind Ambilight TV? 2,250 diamonds (weighing in at 225 carats) are on board this 42-inch screen, adding some sparkle to those moody LEDs around the border. Philips made this to mark the manufacture of their millionth Ambilight TV. Better than throwing a piss up, though dropping six figures on a party would have been some shindig.
Kudos to Philips for sending it down under at the start of its world tour. Oh yeah, it’s been doing the rounds since CES. Whoops. At year’s end it will be sold off for charity, so save your pennies until then and place a cheeky bid when it comes around. Mid six figures should do the trick!
And it is guarded 24-7, folks, so you can drop THAT idea right there.
Close up of the top diamond corner, and we’ll hopefully have an update shortly that will add in a pic of former Miss Universe Australia Erin McNaught, so stay tuned. -Seamus Byrne
UPDATE: And BINGO was its name-o! The other shot of the Ambilight has been relegated to below the drop.
Here’s a very imperfect video of this concept design from Fisher & Paykel for a new automated pop-up gas cooktop. Touch the button to pop it up, and the button then becomes the control knob. It doesn’t go flush with the cook surface, so it isn’t super sexy, but it does have a key lock so you can stop pyro kids from getting their flame on.
No standard ring mounts are attached, but separate trivets do come for the big burner so you can easily sit your wok on the heat without a fuss. While not yet ready for launch, the final version will hit the market around Christmas and is expected to come in around the $2500 to $3000 range.
Photos of up and down states are below the fold, if the blurry video doesn’t quite do it for you.
We hear about lots of crazy toilets around here, but rarely do we get to see them in the flesh in Australia. But down at the HIA Home Show 2007 we found out the Royalet super seats is available to make your bum a more hygienic place!
The seat installs onto your standard toilet, and gives you all the functions your rectum has been weeping for needs (too early on a Monday for that imagery). Washing, heating, deodorising, massaging, drying… you even set the water and seat temp. Good times await.
As much as the local wholesaler offered to let us sell you these seats through our site (seriously, they really did), we’d rather put you in touch with real toilet aficionados. Go check out everything you need to know right here. Prices from $690 for the Excellence, to $1275 for the Elite Aromatic. Mmmm, so fragrant.
A close up of the control console and even a spot of video after the jump. -Seamus Byrne
Oh, these NYU kids and their big ideas. (Disclosure: I was an NYU kid until Thursday.) Myra Einstein’s project, Ambient TV, aims to bring Web 2.0 tech to TV and would make a great add-on to TiVo or the upcoming Xbox 360 IPTV setup. While some of the ideas aren’t so new—swarm recommendations, so that Lost watchers would be directed to follow fellow viewers to Heroes, for instance—its friend setup in particular seems like a big draw and a natural fit for IPTV.
Basically, you can recommend a show to any (or all) of your friends on your list, and it’ll simply pop up in their friends channel. It also works to some extent like a Flickr pool, so you check out what your friends have been watching.
The other Flickr/YouTube-like feature is the ability to tag shows, which is potentially extremely cool and incredibly useful, more so than automated recommendations. I just wonder how long it would take for every show to be tagged “09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0.” Video demo after the jump.
Mother’s Day is officially over, so it’s safe to dive back into reading all your fave gadget tidbits. Here’s a tasty selection:
James Webb Space Telescope: HUGE! Peeping into backyards around the galaxy.
Solient solar concentrators focus sun’s death rays. For the power of good, not evil.
Plastic blood for actual humans? For military use only: not as vampire junk food.
Want free drinks for watching ads? Then you should move to Japan. But do it anyway!
Feel the noise: a woofer to rattle your pants. Watch out for the brown note.
Lock your mailbox PIN style. Keep prying eyes away from the mags wrapped in brown paper.
“Uh ohhh honey! He’s gonna get you!” “Oh, that stupid bottle opener again?” “No! It’s a shark. And it wants-” “It wants you to drink less.”
The Shark Bottle Opener is made from ABS plastic and is sure to offer endless hours of fun…for one of you at least. Use the built in magnet to stick it to the fridge—where it will look like it’s hungry for your leftovers. $13.95 in green and orange, the only two colors that matter. – Mark Wilson
Product Page [via gizmoddude]
