Here's an idea: people gesticulating wildly with their hands-free headsets already look crazy--why not capitalise on our nation's love of all things crazy and cute by putting a mobile phone inside of an, oh, i don't know, a teddy bear! So went a recent design meeting at Japanese firm Willcom apparently, who was showing their US$500 Kuma (bear) Phone concept at the recent Good Design Expo in Tokyo. Kuma takes an embedded SIM card and has assignable speed dial points on each paw, which you dial by squeezing. And of course, to accept and hang up calls, you squeeze its arse. Of course. [Trends in Japan]

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Remember the Meizu M8? It was the iPhone clone, the one that we were all excited to see...back in 2007. Now that Apple's added 3G to the mix, expanded storage and lowered the price with contract, the prospect of a (still unreleased) 8GB iClone has gotten a whole lot less enticing. But just for those who thought Meizu could never do it, here's a decent walkthrough of their interface. Please note, however, that the clip contains some suggestive images of (underage?) females that you may not want to play at work. Stay classy, Meizu! [via Electronista]

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There's been no good reason that PSP users have had to download content through a PC or PS3 when the system can connect to Wi-Fi networks just fine on its own. Now Sony has revealed that a PSP Wi-Fi store is indeed in the works and slated to arrive in a firmware update this fall (confirmed for Japan only, we believe, but surely coming to the US as well). Ironically, when Sony is finally letting the PSP run free, they'll also be offering a new reason to connect the device to a PS3.

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If you needed another reason to keep your sysadmins happy: Out of 300 IT pros polled by security company Cyber Ark, 88% said they would steal sensitive data or futz with master login passwords if they happened to be fired. Granted, this is a study publicised by a company that offers services to protect networks against internal rogue operators, but the more data like this that comes out, the nicer our brave IT managers are likely to be treated. Or, the more ridiculous security barriers will be put in place to keep the good ones from easily doing their jobs--one or the other. So perhaps we should have our own informal comment survey--IT dudes: Would you go 21st century postal on your employers if you were let go? [Ars Technica, Image: shearforce]

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Subwoofers celebrate a rich history of generic, monolithic designs. So it's straight out rude of the Elac Microsub to subvert such heritage with its Rubik's Cube styling. Low on vibration and Bluetooth equipped for wireless connection to your favourite A2DP streaming device, the Elac MicroSub is the best that dual music and puzzle cube fans will do without building a subwoofer themselves. Oh, and it's also available in black and white, you know, as a hat tip to soul-less audio equipment everywhere. [Elac via ShinyShiny]

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While space travel is safe for the most part, sometimes things go really wrong. Like last week's NASA's rocket explosion on the Wallops Island, where an ATK Launch Vehicle X-1 exploded only seconds after liftoff, with hazardous debris falling on land and sea. We are used to seeing the fireworks in the air, but what happens when that flaming debris hits the ground is much more spectacular and scary, as you can see in this video.

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I don't know if these fridges are the norm in the US, but it seems to me like Miele's latest giganormous fridge from their Master Cool line--shown here at IFA 2008--has to be the biggest fridge ever available to megalomaniac consumers and potential serial killers. They should christen it The Walk-In Fridge, because this thing is so big that you can fit a cow inside. So huge in fact that I won't be able to put it in my apartment's living room. Actually, I think can put my entire living room and bedroom inside during the summer months. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

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We've been following the news and leaks on Dell's Eee PC answer, the Inspiron 910, and now here's some more info: we've learned it'll be released on September 5th. The news is not concrete, for sure, and there's no word on pricing, but that date's soon: this friday, ultra-portable PC fans.

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This isn't the first USB-powered humidifier you've seen, but it may be the weirdest: it comes shaped and painted like a drink can. It uses ultrasound to generate "cool, moisturising steam" at the rate of 50ml per hour, which may sound attractive to you if your office environment is one of those over-air-conditioned ones. Though, nowadays in this crazy world, having a can on your desk connected to a computer and giving off bouts of "steam" is probably something you want to explain to your office mates if you don't want to cause a panic. Yours, from Brando and in several can colours for just US$24. [Brando]

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The Home Appliances halls at IFA 2008 have some of the best stuff in the fair, like this Gorenje fridge table, which seems to be a brand obsessed about doing really Star Trekish stuff for the kitchen. The table--with a central fridge that smoothly raises to give access to food and beverages, and a security system to avoid having your arm trapped in it--is not a concept but a real product made to order. The price: US$15,000 to US$20,000, depending on the material you choose. I'll keep using my picnic fridge and raising it to the table while making a hmmmmm noise with my mouth, thank you very much. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

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Logitech's last keyboard offering was the wireless touchpad diNovo for Macs, and though this new keyboard is neither wireless nor touchpad-enabled, it's got two things going for it: it's got back-lit keys for night typing, and it's just 9.4mm deep. That's skinny, though not quite Apple keyboard aluminium skinny. Due in October in the US and Europe for US$80. [Press release]

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They may not look as mean as the Draganfly, but these research UAV 'copters are one step closer to Skynet: they learn to fly complex stunts by just "watching" another aircraft do the same. Dubbed "apprenticeship learning," by the Stanford team which developed it, the system gets its flight plan by recording an expert human operator fly a vehicle. Then its onboard gyros and GPS systems and avionics communicate with a ground-based computer which looks at the human-derived data and decides how to fly the vehicle. It's all very tricky, due to the inherent instability of helicopter. Apparently UAVs like this may one day help firefighters track wildfires, or be sent to see out landmines in battlefield situations... and do other "spying" of course. Creepy. [Physorg]

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Writer, photographer, and baking expert Robyn Johnson, from Matador Nights, has put together an spectacular image collection of some of the coolest installations in the history of Burning Man, where technology, robotics, pyrotechnics, and architecture are put together to form often beautiful, sometimes repugnant, but always fascinating surreal landscapes.

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Sony's XDV-W600 is no 60-inch high-contrast plasma TV, for sure: no, it'll sell for a different reason... it's waterproof. In fact, it meets IPX 7 and IPX 6 specs, and can safely go three feet under for half an hour. Clearly designed to go in the bathroom, it looks a smidge like a bar of soap, and has a 4-inch screen, recording function to its own 2GB internal memory, and runs for 23 hours from its own batteries supplemented by AAs. Bathing TV fans may be disappointed though: it's a oneseg digital unit, so we're unlikely to see this weirdness in the US. [AVWatch and Akihabaranews]

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We alerted you to Nokia's plans for an unlimited, free (at first) music service way back in December: Now it looks like the first place to benefit from free tunes is the UK, starting next month. The Nokia 5310 will be the first handset to Come with Music, but there's no word on when Nokia will be bringing it to the US. [The Guardian via Moconews]

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Every second year, Peugeot has a design competition to create the next generation of motor vehicle. The 888 is one of the 21 finalists for this year's competition, and even though it's not as sleek and shiny as some of the other entries, it's practically a Transformer, making it the epitome of all motor vehicles that have ever been conceptualised in the back of some creative type's mind in the history of the world.

The brainchild of Norweigan designer Oskar Johansen, the 888 is a two-seater with a bit of space for luggage in the back. It's powered (at least in the designer's mind) by lithium-ion batteries located in the boot, which power four electric engines (one for each wheel). There's also solar cells on the boot for a bit of extra juice while your driving.

The best feature of this car though is the fact that when driving around the crowded streets of a city, it arches up using a hydraulic tilting system, so that the driver sits a bit higher and the wheels are closer together, increasing maneuverability. But when you hit the open road, the axles separate again, lowering the vehicle's centre of gravity and keeping the driver comfortable during long drives.

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When you're in the zone on your Xbox, you may forget a few of the necessities of life. Like eating, drinking, sleeping... Or even turning on the heater to keep your precious gaming fingers warm, saving you from crippling RSI agony as you tempt to play that little bit longer.

That's why USB powered heated gloves are the perfect gadget. You plug it into the USB port on your console or PC of choice, slip on the gloves and game away. If it's really cold, you can even cover up your fingertips with mittens. Because nothing says "hardcore gamer" like USB-powered mittens.

They take 2 USB ports to get going, and will warm your fingers by 12 degrees in 5 minutes. What's more, they're from Brando, makers of all things USB, so you know that they're good usable. If the idea of wearing USB-powered mittens while you game is appealing, they cost US$22.

[Brando via TeamTeaBag via Kotaku AU]

When you link the words "video games", "Australia" and "complete and utter failure", there are a few things that spring to mind: the lack of an R18+ rating, the refusal of classification of Fallout 3... Oh, and the failure of EA to launch Rock Band (or give any indication on the release of Rock Band 2).

Fortunately, Activision still knows that Australian gamers love to rock, and has announced the release date for their upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour game, which features a whole heap of extra instruments (like Rock Band), and music from Around the world.

The game is due to launch on November 12 in Australia according to GameSpot AU, although there's no mention of pricing for either the game or the peripherals. However, my guess is that those drums aren't going to come cheap...

If this was a "Battle of the Bands" type competition, Guitar Hero would have just won the heart of the naturally stunning Australian chick in the front row, right out from under the nose of the snobbish Rock Band band. And come November, I reckon that GH will be taking that Aussie chick (which means you, in case the metaphor isn't quite clear enough) on a stairway to heaven.

[Gamespot]

I still prefer to buy CDs over purchasing on iTunes. Aside from the whole DRM and encoding issues that I can avoid by owning the CD, I also come from a time when having a physical collection meant something, and part of me refuses to let that go. I still remember nights spend reading through every word, every lyric in a CD booklet - knowing who each member of the band wanted to thank, which musicians guested on which tracks and who produced the album. iTunes just doesn't give you that level of information.

But all of that may change in the near future, with MusicWeek reporting that Apple is planning on releasing an application in conjunction with Snow Patrol's upcoming album that lets you interact with a digital booklet for the album on the iPhone or iPod Touch. After the Snow Patrol launch, it will be rolled out over other albums in the iTunes catalogue.

So will this digital booklet tempt me away from the old-fashioned CDs of yore? Not likely. But it will make the process of buying an album online a lot more appealing to a lot more people. I'm just not one of them.

[MusicWeek via TechCrunch]

For the multitude of people out there who use IceTV as their EPG of choice, you'll be happy to know that you can now network your watching opinions through Facebook. By downloading the IceTV Facebook App, you can rate TV shows, comment, see what TV shows are popular among your friends, what shows are in your schedule to record and more.

The software's in Beta at the moment, and they've got a forum page dedicated to getting feedback on the Facebook App. But if this sounds like something you could use, let us know how it goes in comments.

[IceTV Facebook App]

Thanks to the US long weekend, the wrap will be amazingly short this morning:

Amazing Magic Mirror Changes Fabrics On the Fly
The video doesn't really capture this fully, but the potential could be huge.

Chrome: Google's Open Source Browser
Oh, another browser option. Fantastic!

SkyMarket: Windows Mobile's App Store
Funny, I asked MS specifically about this a little while ago and they said it wouldn't happen. Why would they lie to me?

Windows Mobile's been around the block a few (6.1?) times, so there are endless lists of apps for it. What the phone OS doesn't have is a universal place where users can buy and download programs. This job listing, which Long Zheng of Istartedsomething.com wrote about, reveals Skymarket, Microsoft's solution to this problem. The marketplace is set to launch with Windows Mobile 7. [Istartedsomething]

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Kara at All Things D and Phil at Google Blogoscoped predict a Google Browser soon, maybe as soon as tomorrow, that is open sourced, with an intelligent "omni" search/address bar, a multithreaded javascript engine called v8, and tabs on the top of windows. Part of their source material includes a comic which explains its design. [All Things D and Google Blogoscoped]

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The Boston Globe's Big Picture blog continues its incredible coverage of all things wonderful to look at today with a spread relating to the space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis is scheduled to launch on October 8, equipped with all manner of instruments, batteries and gyroscopes for Hubble. Pictured above is one of the massive Atlantis engines being moved to the main bay for installation. That's just one engine, though—there's plenty of space-related tech porn to be found in the rest of the spread, too.

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The Fraunhofer Institute--the guys who invented MP3 and screwed the music labels as a result, which is why we like them so much--have a booth at IFA with their latest inventions. The best one is this stunning magic mirror, an augmented reality display that gets any piece of clothing and transforms its fabric in real time. Live, the effect was absolutely amazing, indistinguishable from a real mirror. I just couldn't tell the difference. I think she's a witch. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

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The Gadget: The LaCie USB speakers designed by Neil Poulton are an encore to the original FireWire version.

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The Siemens HB 78P570 oven looks like any other oven until you notice that it has no door, which is precisely when it starts to open automatically from its bottom: The glossy black food platform slides down mechanically until it is at the same level as your kitchen top. Sounds a bit crazy, but it's extremely convenient to put your suckling pig stuffed with chicken wings, then easily paint it with BBQ honey sauce until it's done. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

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