Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Gadgets
Howl Tissue Pillow, for When You Need to Wipe Up Hot, Sticky… Snot in Bed
11:40PM Matt Buchanan | The Howl Tissue Pillow is kind of ingenious, even though it’s the kind of thing you would only use in bad situations. Like when you have a cold and are stuck in bed and need a never-ending supply of tissues to mop up the mucus and junk pouring out of your head. Or if you’re curled in ball, wrapped around your pillow and weeping. (If you’re one of those people that cry and stuff). Or you got something sticky all over yourself that you don’t want getting on your sheets. Like, uh, more snot. [Design-3000 via Random Good Stuff] More »
Phones
Turn Your BlackBerry Curve or Pearl Into a Shiny Storm In One Easy Step
11:20PM John Mahoney | That is, once you’ve put on the blinders necessary to peer only into the screen to enjoy this $US7 theme add-on, which ditched the Pearl/Curve’s rough quasi-future typography (thank God that has been changed) and icon set in favour of the Storm’s slick new UI. The icons even look like they’re being touch-clicked when you select them. Good to pass the time until the Storm drops sometime later next month. [BBThemes via Crackberry] More »
Entertainment
Warner Bros. to Offer DivX Downloads
11:00PM John Mahoney | Already the format of choice for, ahem, somewhat clandestine distribution of digital video files, DivX has now officially partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute video in the format. Sony beat WB to the punch by about 9 months, and we’ll have to wait even longer for Warner to come around to HD DivX, which won’t be ready until September of next year. SD downloads are expected to become available this month. Full details follow. More »
Computers
Asus Recalls Worm-Infested Eee PCs From Japan
10:50PM Matt Buchanan | Asus has not so surprisingly decided to recall the Eee Box B202 mini PCs infested with the W32/Usbalex worm in Japan. The virus-y boxes are confined to the land of Gojira, since it was only on Eee PCs tailored for the Japanese market. The numbers in play are pretty sad, actually: Asus built a wimpy 4,500 boxes for Japan and only sold 300, so the damage is limited to a few unlucky saps, who will never buy Asus again. [Inquirer] More »
Computers
Last Minute MacBook Rumours: Entire Glass Trackpad Is a Button, Pro Has TWO Graphics Cards, and More
10:36PM Matt Buchanan | John Gruber, who foretold the Oct. 14 event many moons ago, has just dropped what appears to be the motherload of what’ll be announced. Besides confirming the spy shot, he confirms what I thought when I saw there wasn’t a separate mouse button—the entire trackpad (which is glass, as was rumoured) is a button, kind of like the BlackBerry Storm’s screen. You just push it down, it clicks. More »
Toys
Elmo Live Video Review (Verdict: Buy If You Love Your Children)
9:00PM Benny Goldman | Yesterday marked the arrival of Elmo Live, the rapping, dancing and storytelling animatronic doll that’ll be burning up retail this holiday season, Great Depression or not. We got one of the little guys, and thoroughly evaluated his MC skills, jokes and hugging ability. He’s a fun little dude, at least for a short while. Watch this video review before you “decide” to succumb to the will of your kids and invest whatever cash you still have in Elmo Live. More »
Screens
4.3 Inch WVGA Monitor Can Run on USB Juice Alone
8:56PM John Herrman | Connecting monitors to computers via USB isn’t really that exciting anymore, but this little dreamboat from Century Japan does something much more than that: it runs on bus power. In other words, this thing is powered just like your trusty flash drives, mice and soda can-shaped USB humidifiers. A tiny, portable, fully functional secondary monitor would be extremely useful for mobile power users, and of interest to just about anyone with a spare USB port. Possibly an issue: I’m not sure that “extremely useful” quite translates to “worth $US200.” [OhGizmo via Slashgear] More »
Computers
Microsoft Responds to New MacBooks, Just Says ‘Apple Tax’ Eight Times
8:14PM John Herrman | In an email of talking points circulated by Microsoft spokespeople, the company addresses the various rumours about today’s new MacBooks, preemptively claiming that they will be overpriced, underspec’d and locked down. They offer charts comparing the feature lists of similarly priced Windows and Mac notebooks and make numerous accusations of an “Apple Tax.” The email is interesting: nothing they say is incorrect, but none of it is new. Most importantly, all of it misses the point completely. More »
Phones
Pantech Matrix Dual Sliding Phone Has More Buttons Than Sense
7:30PM John Herrman | Formed from the same genetic ooze as Pantech’s Slide Duo smartphone and rebranded Helio Ocean handset, the Matrix is a mildly frustrating device: spec’d with the best, but dressed in the worst. An HSDPA-enabled handset with GPS, a full QWERTY keyboard in addition to a dialpad, and two cameras should have the software to leverage the hardware, but AT&T and Pantech have chosen to stick with an in-house OS rather than opt for Windows Mobile as they did with the Duo QWERTY smartphone. Still, it doesn’t look like a bad feature phone for people who message more than they talk, and it’s available today at AT&T stores. [Crave] More »
Science
