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Solid Alliance Confound Their Critics With Naked USB Key
Posted by Seamus Byrne at 11:48 PM on July 3, 2007
Solid Alliance, so beloved by fans of japanese kitsch, has gone in another direction with its latest USB key. Totally stripped down - I mean totally - the Hadaka's only flourish is a little pink light that zings up when plugged into your computer's USB.
Weighing just 4 grams, the Hadaka is Vista Ready Boost-compatible, and comes in 1GB and 2GB sizes.
Product Page [Solid Alliance via Akihabara News]
Here's the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, which is now almost finished. Although the bubbles in this gigantic Water Cube look like they are made of jelly fishes, they really use "two layers of a high-performance plastic film called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene or ETFE." Mmmmmm'kay. So really, what do the jelly fish do?
With an MP3 player built into the buckle, Kristian Paljasma's light-up Electro Belt is a neat concept. You charge and sync it via USB , and there are four interchangeable buckle plates with different designs which light up. But to any enterprising individual who decides to put Kristian's idea into production, can we suggest something?
That you either offer a customizing service or include a plain buckle in the package - that way, I'll be able to wander around with "Addy Gives Good Giz" emblazoned just below my navel.
First it was the 
You've got to love a mayor whose vision for municipal art looks something like this. A 60-feet statue of Gigantor is to have pride of place in the town of Kobe, Japan. The 135-million-yen structure (around $1.1 million) will weigh 70 tons and is going up for two reasons.
The sculpture of the iron behemoth, who first appeared in 1958, will both mark the birthplace of creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who died in an apartment fire in 2004 and celebrate the regeneration of Kobe, 12 years after an earthquake laid waste to the town. So, Robo-tourists, what are you waiting for? Make Kobe's mayor a very happy man.
Italian design lab Nonesiste has come up with this beautiful lamp. A collaboration with physicist Stefano Besseghini, the V/a.g.r.a lamp (did you see what they did there?) goes up when it is turned on. Romolo Stanco, the lamp's designer, describes it as a "living lamp." I could just turn it on and off all day long... Video after the jump.
Elecom has come out with two ingenious four-way USB hubs that look like they would be more at home in a tool box than on your desk.
Available in four colors - black, blue, gray and white - the U2H-FC024S is a drum design for you to roll the cable up on - so no more office spaghetti. Its brother, the U2H-FC034S has four suction pads so that you can attach it to wherever for more stabillity. Weighing 80 grams, they are available in Japan for a smigeon under $30.
The AIRcable Host XR packs a receiver advertised at 10 times more powerful than the average Bluetooth dongle, with nearly 30 kilometres of range.
The range sounds a little nuts - and requires an external antenna. With such an involved setup, the unit likely won't do much for you unless you're an industrial firm with a lot of machinery. But think what you could do with 30 kilometres of Bluetooth. Strap on your Skype headset and go for a drive, or jog with your Bluetooth earphones alone. It's way too much for the average user, but for a creative gadget head with US$129 to spare, well, we'll let you dream up the possibilities. [
The best thing that I can remember making with K'NEX was a ferris wheel, and I followed a set of directions. However, a couple of engineering-crazed kids from Olin College have devised a gigantic K'NEX Binary calculator that can add or subtract numbers as high as 15 (That's way more impressive than it sounds).
Toy company 
It would seem that 100-inch or larger LCD sets are best left to the big boys, and Sony is, at least for now, not included in that particular club. "I think it is unnecessary for many companies to make a 100-inch TV," explains Sony Corp President Ryoji Chubachi.
Helio originally wanted to 
If you or someone you love has been affected by the 
We've heard the iPhone news nonstop for days. We've known it uses slow EDGE for months, and have always suspected that the typing might not feel right. But at the end of the day, a LOT of people are going to pick up this phone, either way. So are they suckers, or the tech elite? Hit the jump to find out the reviewer consensus on Apple's magical iPhone.
The INADA ROBO chair is the every-man's dream. It has all of the features that your typical massage chair includes like a 3D rolling mechanism, leg massager and 170Ëš reclining ability. But it has one more trick up its armrest that sets it apart, voice activation.
So when you're too lazy to reach around for the remote, you can just yell at the chair to start rubbing your back. Just like you said to your ex-wife before she left you and took the kids. Although you'll probably have to take out a loan to afford the $6,000 price tag, especially with all the alimony you're probably paying.
The only question left whether it is always listening or is there a button on the remote to make it listen? Because if it's the later of the two then that's a big wah, wah...wahhhh.
Although Apple's iPhone may be feature-packed and great to use, it, like every other product, has limitations. And that's why we're putting it through our Ten Things You Should Know buyer's guide series so new buyers and people who don't live and breathe the iPhone (your parents, your co-workers, or your wife) can be just as well informed as you. Here are the Ten Things You Should Know Before You Buy an iPhone.
Playstation 3 owners: Fiddle with that programmable monster remote no longer. Nyko is here to save you the hassle with the Blu-Wave IR remote control, a simple USB/remote solution that will let you control DVD playback in a more traditional way rather than with the Sixaxis, Sony's official Playstation 3 controller. The buttons on the remote mimic the same functionality the Sixaxis provides, and communicates via infrared to the USB adapter which plugs into any port and doesn't require additional setup. The best part of it all? The Blu-Wave is only US$20.
As a DualShock veteran of DVD playback on the Playstation 2, controlling the menus with a Sixaxis isn't a big deal for me. However, this remote is perfect for people who have made attempts at Bluetooth workarounds to try to get the Playstation 3 to recognise a programmable remote and find it too much trouble. Just plug the adapter into any USB port on the Playstation 3, put two AAA batteries in the remote, and keep within 25 feet.
In Sweden, when they confiscate illicit booze on the border, they don't drink it or pour it down the drain. No, they turn that hooch into fuel for their vehicles. Between this and the bikini team, Sweden is looking like a pretty sweet place to live.
The authorities over there confiscated 185,000 gallons of alcohol at the border last year, and they put it all into a big tank, converted it to usable fuel, and gave it to the vehicles in their public transportation fleet. It's programs like this that get Sweden's percentage of energy usage from renewable sources up to a laudable 25%. That's seriously impressive. Nice work, Sweden.
At a time when most portable 2.5-in. USB drives are maxing out in the 160GB to 200GB range, Fujitsu decided to set its own amazing 300GB platter to the task. Today it unveiled a 300GB bus-powered external drive that should be in stores by September. It's got a 16-point omnidirectional shock mounting plus an integrated USB 2.0 cable for easy access. The software suite includes Apricorn Inc.'s EZ Gig II for Windows backup-ware, Second Copy 2000 for file management and Cryptainer for encryption. Total cost of ownership? US$229.
Looks like the rest of this year's Palm products will be forced to stick to Garnet OS and Windows Mobile, because Palm OS II won't be available until 2008. Despite its May announcement promising Palms running the new OS late this year, a comment by CEO Ed Colligan officially pushed the release date into next year. Palm's new OS II is not seen as a replacement for Windows Mobile, rather a more consumer-centric OS, while Windows Mobile is to carry on for the more business-minded Palm users.
Palm has kept OS II largely under wraps, but the company's early plans for the upgrade include faster application switching, better power management and improved multitasking, such as being able to handle voice and data calls simultaneously.
Man, it's like all of these accessories makers have been just waiting for iPhone to launch. First we had the 
The iCarta Toilet Paper iPod dock works with the iPhone. The world can relax.
This slick watch might look like a computer rendering or a concept design, but it's an actual product that's available for purchase now. It's called the Nike Triax Vapor 300, and it's a sports watch with a 300-lap chronograph and five-segment interval timer, which would be totally useless for a laptop jockey such as myself. But hey, it's got a neat screen!
The screen is a super-thin LCD in an aluminum case that curves around your wrist. The screen is protected by a high-quality mineral glass lens that'll keep it from cracking or scratching when you're rock climbing, skydiving, or watching a movie in your underwear. Yep, it's the perfect watch for your (in)active lifestyle. It's available now in a bunch of colors for $US129.
This is the secret weapon that the British Navy is hoping will help it in its wars on drugs and terror. As yet unnamed, the slinky little craft has been spotted buzzing around the waters of Poole, where the service's Special Boat Service - the equivalent to the Navy Seals - is based.
With speeds of around 60 knots, this razor-sharp and super-silent craft leaves barely any wake and is thought to be undetectable by radar. This is due, in part, to its angled design and radar-absorbent coating.
Designed and built by VT Halmatic, the defence company's website is keeping schtum on the boat, thought to be a replacement for two of the SBS's current tubs, the VSV (Very Slim Vessel) and its interceptor craft.
"Nobody knows too much," an anonymous source has been quoted as saying, "because there has been a lot of secrecy about them, but they are British built and have been spotted in Poole going very quickly." So, Shhhhhhh - you ain't seen it, roight?
If you've been lusting after that Nikon Coolpix P5000 - but you have a hankering to take it deep underwater - now you can satisfy your jones with this Fantasea FP-5000 underwater housing. Sure, at $US245, it costs almost as much as the camera, but you can still control every feature and nuance of Nikon's highly capable shooter, and keep it dry and protected at the same time.
Do you want to combine the cool, devil-may-care image of the cigarette smoker with the intellectual airs of a bookworm? Do you also want to avoid that pesky cancer that seems to catch up with smokers? Well, the Tankbook seems right up your alley: it's an entire classic novel crammed into a pack of smokes. Sure, the text has got to be really tiny to fit a full-sized novel into a package that size, and $US14 is a lot to pay for a gimmick, but think about your image! Ladies love dudes who buy weird things on the internet! • [
You probably know by now that the iPhone only lasts about 300-400 charges — and that's most likely full charges, not topping it off from 80% to 100% at night — before you have to send it into Apple for a replacement. Apple's just thrown up a page saying it's going to be $US79 with $US6.95 shipping, which is $85.95 per phone when you send yours in.
Sending it in also wipes out all your saved data, so you'll have to resync it (but it also wipes out your text messages and email, which you may not be able to resync). Hopefully nobody will have to deal with this for another year or two.
We won't rest until we've showed you every clock in existence, and here's the next one, a World Clock from Poodwaddle that make you feel both guilty and worried at the same time.
Click over to it, and when you press the Now button, it begins counting up, showing you the world population, prison growth, abortions, US divorces and other calamities and mayhem. Just feel lucky you're sitting there, not dead, and hopefully minimally diseased.
Belkin just announced its lineup of iPhone accessories. There are three cases we gave you