Here's a cautionary tale featuring an about-to-be destroyed Sony PlayStation 2. A proud owner of a new PS3 decided to allow partygoers to destroy his outgoing PS2, and the guy who won the honors in a drawing decided to pee all over the obsolete gaming console.

Bad idea. The PS2 was still plugged in, and because urine is an excellent conductor of electricity, the guy was instantly knocked unconscious and nearly electrocuted. He was lucky enough to be treated and released at a local hospital. That's got to hurt. Okay, so now we have this straight: it's not a PEE S2. – Charlie White

AU: We're calling a big, fat BS on this one. Between Mythbusters busting the railroad pissing shock myth, and how on earth someone would supposedly still have it plugged in -- are they pissing on your entertainment centre? -SB

Microsoft announced the winners of its 2007 Next-Gen PC Design Competition, and this year's champs gave new meaning to that old cliché, "outside the box." These PCs won't be available anytime soon, but their industrial designers pick up some serious recognition along with a substantial wad of cash for their efforts. This year's competition had entries from 35 countries, and the 349 submissions were judged on their innovation, user experience, aesthetics, technology integration and ecology.

Taking home a cool $25,000 for the Chairman's Award is John Leung from Melbourne, Australia with his design you see here, called "MADE in China." The acronym MADE stands for Massively Administered Digital Entities, incorporating a design that has all of its applications and data stored on remote servers. It looks like an Asian dining platter, and its chopstick-like input device, called a CHOPstylus, allows for input on the PC's touchscreen. Take a look at the gallery for the other winners. – Charlie White

Fujitsu's twist-happy UMPC got an official spec makeover today. The FMV-U8240 (which will be the company's first and smallest Tablet/UMPC) will come with a 1,024 x 600 5.6-inch display and weigh a mere 1.2 pounds. Wi-Fi will be built-in and you'll get from 512MB to 1GB of memory (along with a 20GB HDD). For power there will be an 800MHz Intel A110 CPU. Price-wise, you're looking at around $1,200 for the WinXP version and $1,300 for the Vista Business version. Lower the price and give it an SSD option and we'd be happy. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release

Want to know what the Japanese government has been doing with 12 million dollars for the past two years? Developing Silver Technology, that is, robots for lonely old people. The intuitive baby harp seal, which I encountered at the RoboBusiness 2007 conference in Boston, is equipped with internal motion sensors and responds to petting, scratching, and holding. It also emits exceedingly cute seal-like chirps and sheds its "fur"—you know, like seals do. Come on, what's $3500 for a bundle of robotic animal joy? Unfortunately, the seal is only available in Japan, so if you were thinking about buying one for Grandma just so you wouldn't have to visit her anymore, the jig's up. – Jack Ventura

Fans of the special edition Halo 3 Zune can head over to EBGames or Gamestop (they're the same thing) and pre-order one for the release on June 15. If pre-ordering this is anything like pre-ordering anything else at EB,... Read More »

Crazy uncle Thanko's back from looney town again, this time bringing you a gadget that's halfway sane and quite useful to boot. On the surface, this alarm clock may seem like a standard retro-styled alarm clock, but if you look deeper you'll realize it's actually an MP3 alarm clock.

The bells on top do absolutely nothing, but when the alarm sounds at the pre-set time, the clock will play back whatever MP3s you've shoved in it. You'll no doubt find great ironic morning sounds to wake up to. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Thanko via Plastic Bamboo]

If you are planning to go on vacation this July and you like huge robots (of the anime variety), get a ticket to Japan, visit the Fuji entertainment park and get drunk with sake!

OK, so that last part is my plan anyway, but you can't miss this 59-feet full 1:1 scale Gundam at the Gundam Crisis attraction at Fujikyu Highland. If I am right at deciphering the power-ring-translated japanese, you will be part of the "Gundam power rise team" in charge of collecting the "Gundam data" and power it up. Whatever that means, it sounds like fun. – Jesus Diaz

Gundam Crisis Attraction (in Japanese) [Fujikyu via Impress Robot Watch]

This Evergreen USB adaptor is for people who like to play with slots - of the flash memory kind. It's a USB memory stick with a slot for memory cards, so it's more like an adaptor, really. They have all sorts of models, ones which accept anything from Compact Flash, Secure Digital, micro SD, MMC and Memory Stick.

The Compact Flash model goes up to 8 GB, measures 78 x 10 x 23mm. The SD/MMC model can do 2GB, measures 46 x 10 x 20mm. The Memory Stick PRO/duo model also goes up to 2GB and measures 55 x 10 x 18mm. All of them weigh 15 grams, apart from the micro SD, (also available in green) which comes in at a titchy 7 grams, and measures 46 x 10 x 20. Cost is around 499 yen, which is $4.15. – Ad Dugdale

P.S. I so wanted to headline this "Cartman's USB Stick is a Dirty Slot, but Mummy said no.

Card leader 4 kind of evergreen and 499 yen [PC Watch through Google Translate]

Mobile ESPN was killed off, some might say before its time. The new and improved ESPN Mobile is officially alive with the Verizon Wireless V Cast service for $15 per month. Off the bat (ha, get it?) the service... Read More »

I had the pleasure of meeting BEAR today, a Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot designed by Vecna Robotics. Although BEAR is intended to aid in building excavation and long-distance transport, his main purpose is to replace the guy who was last to call "Not it!" when it came to fetching the dead bodies in the trenches during live combat. And how about that gun-mounted remote control?

BEAR means well, but one look at his Hello Kitty Angel of Death face and foreboding forklift arms would most likely scare a fading soldier to death, or a dead soldier to life. It's a toss up. And what happens when this $100,000 roving psychopath gets his cat/badger/raccoon head macheted off? Now I really feel bad the soldier who calls "Not it!" last. – Jack Ventura

Well, not quite a carpet, but of all the interactive floor screens I've seen, this makes the rest look like dinky toys. It's a plaything too, which is great. All about delivering a "social audiovisual immersive experience" for nightclub goers, and an amazing new toy for VJs to work with. If you're going to be in Tokyo (surprise, surprise), go check this action out.

Visualux [via Josh Spear]

As if drinking regular water isn't enough for kids these days, Pur is introducing Pur Flavor Options, which is a fruit cartridge you can stick into their Pur water filter systems. The upshot? Now you can flip a switch and get filtered fruit-flavored water from your tap, which has the taste of water you used to rinse actual fruit in but none of the health benefits of water. Yum! – Jason Chen

Product Page [Pur via Strange New Products via Sci Fi Tech]

You're not looking at simply a pair of speakers stuck into a dress and handbag, or the newest iPod accessory. Oh no, you're peering at Yuga, "a set of wearable coping mechanisms designed for urban rhytms [sic]." The purse purpotedly "helps managing feelings of frustration" while the dress/belt speaker supposedly "deals with attention."

Taking readings from the environment, such as movement and noise, they generate "brief compositions" so that you can "reclaim spontaneous attention and/or interact with the surroundings." Yeah, I'm pretty sure walking down the sidewalk with speakers blaring will provoke some attention. What would you pump through these for your fellow pedestrians to endure? – Matt Buchanan

Concept Page [via CrunchGear]

Although there've been lots of eBooks the past year, none of them have had this HP concept that was demoed at the HP Mobility Summit. Instead of pressing a button to turn the page (which you can presumably still do) there are touch strips on the top, bottom, and sides of the ebook that you can slide to virtually turn the page.

We're not entirely sure how the act of swiping makes reading more enjoyable on an ebook, but hey, whatever makes people adopt technology faster. On a similar note, who's reserved the last Harry Potter book? Doesn't he show his wand in this one or something? – Jason Chen

HP to present 'ebook reader' featuring intuitive interface [AVING]

It's the flavour of 2007 in the electronics scene, but how long is it going to take for people to realise piano black is more nuisance than desirable feature?

It looks awesome in pictures, but go to anywhere stocking these puppies and take a look at the floor stock. See that dust? See those grubby prints? You'll be cleaning that shit constantly if you want the unit to look its best when friends come round.

I forgive Yamaha for adding this finish to their range. They have the birthright. But the rest of you folks doing this, take a hard look at yourselves — and your kit — and realise this is really about catalogue shots and not based on what is going to work in people's homes.

I'm not alone, am I? My prediction is this trend will sadly last until Christmas '08, but the 2009 refresh cycle will see something different coming along. Matte finish anyone? Back to brushed steel? -Seamus Byrne

The strange company b2 has announced their newest speaker line, the Wassup. Normally naming a speaker "Wassup" would be strange enough, but these guys have put in the extra effort and made their speaker shaped like a rabbit Pokemon. Buneary, is what we'd say it was.

There's no doubt these speakers are going to sound fantastic when they're released this July for $25, so we're preordering a whole bunch right now. Stay tuned for our 10 page review of this as well, since we know you're totally excited too. – Jason Chen

Product Page [b2 via Gearlog]

Not quite the ghetto fabulous Wii cooler we saw before, this Brando Crystal Wii cooler acts both as a stand for your console and a fan to cool it off. Best of all there's loads of Blue LED light streaming up around the base into your Wii.

You say tacky, but the case-modder inside of you says uber cool. Too bad that guy's never coming out again thanks to the fact that you have a wife and you're over the age of 20. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Brando]

Clocking in at a solid $599, Panasonic's DMP-BD10A is their second venture into Blu-ray territory. The newest model has 7.1 surround, Dolby True HD and dts-HD, EZ-Sync Panasonic integration with other Panasonic components, and upconverts regular DVDs to 1080p via HDMI.

We're not sure shelling out $599 for a standalone player is wise seeing as you can get a PS3 for the same price, but there's got to be more features on Panasonic's DMP-BD10A than a PlayStation. Right? Right? At least this comes with five free movies. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Panasonic via Crunchgear]

Big news from Moto and small updates from Apple are highlights of the midnight to dawn shift. Here's the links:

Guide to all the overnight Motorola coverage.
New phones galore from US announcement event.

Sony gets in bed with Italian craftsmen.
Sadly, just for a few showpieces... cross fingers for this kind of style in future releases?

Flexible screen tablet cum mobile phone.
Now that's a concept I want to see go commercial!

F-35 helmet display system with wide field binocular vision.
Awesomely freakish-looking high-tech. More tech should look this futuristic.

Apple gives some small bumps to MacBook line.
No Santa Rosa, just some bumps and price drops.

If you travel at least a little bit for work, you'll be interested in this RollerTop tray for your carry-on bag. It's a stand that hooks to the top of the handle on your roller bag, which folds out to give you a "stable" platform to put your laptop on. This way you can be checking email or surfing the net even when you're waiting in line to board.

Of course, you could do that with a smartphone, but what smartphone has a 13-inch screen? Best of all, when your bag tips over and your laptop gets smashed to bits, you'll still have a nice platform to put your elbows on while you're sobbing. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Roller Tops]

Some genius doctors at the Mayo clinic built a "vertical desk," essentially a treadmill with a computer attached, and found out that if you walked all day while working instead of sat you would lose weight.

Who's paying these people? Seriously, are you surprised that obese people lost weight when forced to walk 8 hours a day, 5 days a week rather than sit down? I mean, I'd probably get sweet biceps if you attached a laptop to some weights, but it doesn't mean I'd want to subject myself to that kind of exertion all day every day. Go cure cancer or something, you idiots. –Adam Frucci

Making work even more of a slog takes weight off [Reuters]

That's Ed Zander, Motorola CEO drop testing a new Moto made with stronger materials. What else is he dropping?

Two things: First, I'm very glad to see Motorola reemphasizing their UI and OS development.

It's nice to see their ultra hyped "Media Monster" device, the z8, get interesting updates like the cable box programming feature and movies on chips (BTW, doomed to fail, like PSP movies on Memory Sticks). But remember, we've already seen this device at 3GSM in Barcelona. This isn't news; this is spin. As far as new phones go, the new ROKR Z6 is a subvariant of the Z8. If anything, the RAZR2, previously unheard of, deserved the hype gathered around today's event. But even then. Let's face it, even with updated hardware and software, the RAZR2 is going to be perceived as merely another RAZR design evolution. I truly believe it has significant updates to help keep it competitive in today's marketplace. See all the posts we did today on it.

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Rather than leaving those old consoles sitting in a closet for ages, why not recycle the oldie and get a chair out of the whole deal? The Reee chair is a chair by the Pli design company and it is constructed out of 100 percent recycled game console casings. All of those old Playstations and Xboxes now have a new home, and just to think if the chair is a gaming chair. It is like the circle of life! The Reee chair is available for $200 and is a hell of a lot better than other ways of trashing old consoles. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via MAKE]

This one goes out to all of my old school, Pitfall-playing, Space Invader-destroying homies out there. This Atari candle holder is the work of artist Mixko and is not currently for sale, but if you own an Atari joystick you could probably create your own mold Mythbusters-style and begin manufacturing them yourself. –Travis Hudson

Atari joystick candle-holder [Boing Boing]

Motorola's mystery announcement is well in the clear by now. Those of you who speculated that it would be BLAZR, TAZR, LAZR, GAZR, CLVR, LOSR, KRPR, and (my favorite) POOPR were trumped by the infinitely more imaginative "RAZR 2". Naming qualms and reminiscent styling aside, there are good reasons to believe this RAZR is entirely different than the one somebody's granddad got free with a two-year contract. It's a full ground-up redesign, with wow features like 3G networking, touch-sensitive screens, and Linux-Java support drawn right into the blueprint. Follow the jump for our complete and oh-so-ultimate guide to the RAZR 2 launch.

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You're used to seeing the Dell laptops around the Dealzmodo neighbourhood, but today we have some Sony Vaio refurbished notebook up for grabs. Here they are in convenient bullet-list form, courtesy of Dealhack. • Vaio VGN-SZ440 for $2146 -... Read More »

Laser tag is sweet. R/C helicopters are sweet. When you combine the two only good things can happen. That's why I'm pretty amped about the news that a Chinese toy maker has armed its new R/C chopper with an IR transmitter and sensor, allowing for two to have laser dogfights in midair. If one gets hit, its power gets cut, sending it crashing to the ground. Cold blooded!

These things don't have U.S. distribution yet, which is a crime. Let's make it happen, toy industry! Me wantee! –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via I4U]

We saw the Motorola Z8 before, with its banana-ish sliding body, but Motorola seems to have added some new software features since 3GSM.

For the specs, it runs Symbian OS, HSDPA, 2.2-inch screen, 30fps video, 4GB microSD card, and movies thanks to Universal, Sony and Warner. There's also streaming video from Sky or CNN over its 3G, complete with a mini DVR-like system that you can watch shows anytime. It's Moto's multimedia-centric phone, which changes its form depending on what function is in use. Better yet, there's YouTube, MySpace and Flickr uploading.

It does more than that.

Read More »

Nowadays, the complicated TI graphing calculators are higher up on the school supply list than pink erasers. TI has realized this and have introduced the TI-Navigator. These are graphing calculators with the ability for teachers to wirelessly view the work their students do on the graphing calculator, and the teachers can even analyze and correct wrong answers in real time. This is a great step in helping out struggling math students because teachers can see mistakes made in real time.

I can't wait to see what the teacher thinks when I spell out BOOBS on my calculator. –Travis Hudson

Calculators tell teachers which pupils need help [News.com]

I'm pretty excited about the new RAZR2, and why shouldn't I be? It just launched today. One of the positive aspects that Ed Zander stressed during the unveiling is that the RAZR2 will be out in two versions (EDGE... Read More »

How To Make An Amazing Glowing Ice Bulb - video powered by Metacafe

It's not entirely practical, having a lightbulb made of ice, but it sure is cool and will entertain the kids for hours on end. All it essentially is is an LED embedded inside a sphere of ice connected through some wires to a battery. You make it by placing the contraption inside water, which is placed inside a balloon, which is placed inside your freezer. A fun project for the coming summer months. – Jason Chen

Ice Bulb [Instructables via Geekologie]

Samsung's new 22-inch SyncMaster was made for videoconferencing. Aside from its built-in 2-megapixel webcam, the 22-inch LCD also comes with onboard speakers and a mic. Resolution-wise, the 225UW hits 1,680 x 1,050 which Samsung pairs with a 700:1 contrast ratio and 5ms response time. You also get a 2-port USB hub and both DVI and analog connections. No word on pricing yet, though we figure it'll easily top a grand (if not more). – Louis Ramirez

Samsung

Cat owners know that 99.9 percent of felines love to walk all over keyboards, and these two products show that cat who really wears the pants in the house. The Kitty Keyboard Cover is a "simple and elegant" solution to the cat- walking problem. It is a clear acrylic cover that sits above the keyboard and allows the cat to walk all over and sleep on without disturbing your typing.

The other options is a little more intuitive and ingenious. Pawsense is a software utility that can actually detect cat typing. This has to be the work of some of the smartest software engineers in the world because I have no idea how one can distinguish cat typing. Pawsense supposedly does so with the help of complex algorithms that detects speed, motion and force on the keyboard. Upon detection of cat typing Pawsense will disable any inputs from the keyboard and begin playing an annoying sound to rid the cat of the area. Windows only. Thanks, Karson and Barry! –Travis Hudson

Pawsense
Kitty Keyboard Kover

Watch first Xbox 360 Elite commercial [DigitapSpy via Kotaku]

The Motorola RAZR 2 is slimmer and sexier than before, so what better way to show you its pulchritude than a gallery spread of cool shots? Feast your eyes, cellphone mavens and even those of you who can't stand the sight of the things. Even you may like this one. Feast 'em good. – Charlie White

Want more? Join us on our video tour!

As much as I love my Moto Q, I can't stand that its battery barely makes it through a day. Seriously, this phone cannot last 24 hours (even with very light use). So we checked out the goods on the new Moto Q9 and guess what? It's using the same battery as the old Q. Does this mean you'll have to carry around a spare battery or charger? No. The folks at Motorola claim the Q9 will last for roughly 2 days with typical use and around 4 days with hardly any use. Here's how they did it.

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The next time you boot up your Xbox 360 to watch an HD DVD movie, the machine will ask whether you want to update your HD DVD playback software or not. You'll want to answer yes, since, you know, improvements are great.

The complete list is after the jump, but the important bits are 1080p over HDMI, improved networking and improved title compatibility. There were a handful of titles that had problems being played back on the 360's HD DVD drive, which should hopefully be fixed now.

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On the same day it announced the 50th conviction stemming from its massive piracy sweep, Operation Fastlink--of a member of the Apocalypse Crew (best known for dropping albums pre-street date)—the Department of Justice proposed new legislation—dubbed the Intellectual Property... Read More »

Old rockers never die. Unless you played for Thin Lizzy. Or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Or bought an original ROKR, the music phone that defined how music phones should never ever be done. If you bought one of those, you probably were dead already or wanted to get shot after a few minutes with it.

Motorola wants to change this (again)