Senseaware is going to be using these sensors in the medical transport field, who distribute organs on a regular basis, and offer it as a simple drop-in addition to the package. How this affects you is that FedEx is working on lowering the price so that not-so-essential packages can also get the same detailed tracking. [Fast Company]

Stair Dismount for the iPhone is a spiritual descendant of the Stair Dismount Porrasturvat game back in 2001/2002 where you try your hardest to launch a ragdoll as best as possible down a flight of stairs. It was brilliant.

The current iPhone version (not out yet, but supposedly will be before the end of the week) has a larger number of stairs and stair types, but seems to be a little slower in “falling” than its PC ancestor. It still has the delicious crunching sound, which means we’ll still be first in line to get this for our iPhones. [YouTube via TUAW]

It also gets a native PDF reader, previously only found in the Kindle DX. The total battery life for the international version measures at seven days with wireless on (up from four days), and two weeks with wireless off (same as before).

It looks like Amazon just improved the wireless usage, which might have come as a result from switching from using Sprint as the provider to AT&T as a provider? Probably not, seeing as previous Kindle users also get the 85 per cent battery life from a firmware upgrade delivered automatically. PDF support comes over OTA upgrade as well, but no timeframe was announced for either. [Press Release]

Kill-A-Watt’s latest version lets you see three stats at once: the current voltage, elapsed time and cumulative use (which has an unfortunate abbreviation). You also get the programmable functionality, letting you set up unique times for each day of the week and 96 on/off settings per day. It’s also a surge protector, which I’m not sure the old one had.

You’ll have to pay $US70 for this updated version, which still only supports one outlet at once, as opposed to the $US10-$20 that you can get the original for. [ThinkGeek]

The whole shower is like a glass go-go cage designed to make you feel like you’re washing yourself for other peoples’ enjoyment, but in a classy, design-centric sort of way. It’s definitely smaller than a traditional shower/tub combo, but all that glass is going to be rough to clean.

[Trendir via Dvice]

Henry Markram, the Blue Brain guy, says in an email to IBM’s CTO, that the project is not even close to an ant’s brain and that the kind of simulations pulled off by IBM are trivial. He also calls the whole thing “stupid”, and “extremely harmful to the field”. [IEEE via Popsci]

The drives are available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities for $US30, $US40 and $US60, respectively. The head comes off and you plug the body into any USB port. The downside is that the bodies are decently sized, so if you have two USB ports adjacent to each other, you won’t be able to use the other one.

Here’s a lone Storm Trooper before he suffers a fate unimaginable for all but Storm Troopers. Decapitation.

With his head gone, his body is free to be plugged into any USB port.

Here’s the view from behind.

Boba Fett and Vader are still in mint condition.

The set includes Yoda, but we only have the evil characters.

All three with their heads off.

Vader, engaged.

What would it look like if they switched helmets? This.

[Tyme Machines]

What you will get is a kind of “service offering with premium content and services” that you can’t get in the free edition, but what that is is unclear. But it’s unlikely that Sony will charge for the services they give away now, such as the ability to play for free online. [Gamespot via Engadget]

Dyson Air Multiplier: Normal fans are fine for normal people who are home a few hours a day, but a full-time house-dweller needs a full-time fan. This is how you can justify $379 on a fan that’s a gift. Because it’s not just a fan, it’s a statement: A statement that says your loved one may be too cheap to use air conditioning, but not too cheap to afford a Dyson. [Review; Dyson]

Sonos ZonePlayer S5: Anyone who values his time at home knows he needs music in every room. Every room. And The Sonos S5 is the first really self-contained unit that the music-streaming company has put out. It’s easy enough to rig together your own setup of laptops, wireless streamers and speakers, but if you want to do it cleanly and do it elegantly, and if the recipient doesn’t know anything about technology, Sonos is the way to go. Just be prepared to spend $US400. [Hands on; Sonos]

Aquapeudics Shower: Total fantasy, but fantasy in the way that you can actually save up $US4300 and purchase one for your own home. Yeah, it’s a gift for yourself. Bathing is still important for people that don’t go outdoors, and the Aquapeudics combines a multi-headed shower with a hot tub with an acupuncture massage with a foot massage with an alien probing station. [Shower; Aquapeudics]

Honeywell Touchscreen Thermostat: Just because someone’s adverse to going outside doesn’t mean they like walking up and down stairs in order to adjust the temperature. Get one of these, including the touchscreen remote, so they can carry the controls with them at all times. It even helps make sure the temperature is correct where they are instead of where the thermostat is. Is this person this adverse to moving around that you can justify $US400 on this? Yes, yes they are. [Review]

Roomba 400 Professional Series: There are no janitors for your home to clean up after your mess. A Roomba is the next best thing. If you can find it on sale you can get it for all of $US100 (or less!), but it is the ugly red model. Who cares, you’re not the one looking at it. [iRobot]

Nikon Action 7×35 Binoculars: Just because your gift recipient is inside doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to see what’s happening outside. In fact, he’s probably very interested in keeping track of what his neighbours are up to. The Nikon Action 7×35 was named best budget binoculars by Consumer Search, and it’s only $US60. [Amazon]

Toto Washlet: There’s an obvious upside to being able to use a personal bathroom all day. But the downsides are that your friend goes through toilet paper incredibly fast, and gets stuck with whatever comfort level they have on their best toilet. The Toto Washlet solves both problems. Depending on the model, it’ll run you somewhere between $US500 and $US1000.

But everyone in Japan uses a Toto for a reason, because washing the bum before wiping cuts down on toilet paper usage by 80 per cent (ballpark figure). And constantly heated seats is something nobody can turn down, even in summer. [Toto]

Anything On This List: You know what agoraphobe means, right? They don’t like going outside, so don’t make them leave their house with any of the outdoors gifts on that list. [This list]

Only a concept now, but this charger — that’s also an iPhone stand — is easy enough that some Chinese company could quickly put out a solution in a few months.

[Petit Invention via Into Mobile]