Phones
Willcom Kuma Phone Puts the Mobile Phone Inside the Teddy Bear
Posted by John Mahoney at 11:45 PM on September 2, 2008
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]

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.
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? [
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
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. [
We've been following the
This isn't the first USB-powered
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
Logitech's last keyboard offering was the wireless touchpad
They may not look as mean as the
Writer, photographer, and baking expert Robyn Johnson, from
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. [
We alerted you to Nokia's plans for an unlimited, free (at first) music service way back in 

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.
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).


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. [
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. [
The Boston Globe's
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. [
The Gadget: The LaCie USB speakers designed by Neil Poulton are an encore to the
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. [