Today Best Buy launched "Blue Label"—a new line of electronic products developed directly from customer feedback. Shockingly, Best Buy discovered that consumers wanted laptops with "longer battery life, a thin and lightweight design, an illuminated keyboard, more optimal screen size and superior warranty support"—so they enlisted the help of HP and Toshiba to create an exclusive product that conformed to these specifications. HP delivered the Pavilion dv3510nr Notebook PC with a thickness of 3.6cm, backlit keyboard, 4 hours of battery life and a 13.3" LED-backlit WXGA display. Toshiba's Satellite E105-S1402 is also part of the lineup, which is interesting because there was no mention of Blue Label when it was first released. Both are priced at $US1199.

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Cowon's upcoming P5 will improve on their A3 and Q5W portable media players (which we've both reviewed) with the addition of a haptics touch-feedback feature. The rest is fairly similar: a 800x480 screen, FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, TV-out, stereo speakers, USB, extreme codec support and 40GB-80GB sizes. There will still be Wi-Fi, but you'll have to get it tacked on after the fact with a dongle. The Korean price is US$430ish by the end of the month. No US info yet as far as we know. Maybe we can trade them an early sneak peek at Starcraft 3 for this? [Cowon via CNET]

Among the rush of Apple patents relating to touchscreens over the last year came one on tactile feedback touchscreens, and Nokia seems to have been thinking along the same lines. Almost exactly the same lines, since Nokia's Haptikos tech is a system of fluid-cells driven by piezoelectric actuators that push up through a flexible touchscreen. And that sounds a lot like Apple's sub-surface, adjustable tactile "keys." But apparently the Nokia tech is aimed at "variable and controllable user perceived surface roughness or friction coefficient" rather than buttons. Fascinating stuff, nevertheless. [Unwiredview]

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A team of Korean and US scientists have developed a new type of display that delivers information via your biggest organ: your skin (yes, I know what you were thinking.) Their new tactile "display" is flexible enough to be rolled up around your finger like a bandaid, and may be a useful computerised Braille aid. The device uses new precisely-arranged electroactive polymers, which expand when a voltage is applied applying gentle pressure to nearby skin. This, along with the fact it doesn't need complex electronics, means that it's the kind of tech that could easily end up in haptic-feedback data gloves or a "tele-feeling transferring system," which sounds *ahem* fascinating. [Physorg]

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Every week, Giz Explains breaks down sticky, chewy tech into easy-to-swallow bits, like a mama bird eating stuff and puking it back into her babies' mouths, already digested. We've covered stuff like scary plasma TVs and the image sensors in your digital camera. But what would you like us to explain? If there's something you'd like the quick, essential CliffsNotes on, send an email to tips@gizmodo.com with "Giz Explains" line. We won't tell your friends you asked, honest. [Giz Explains]

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If a Palluxo.com source is to be believed, Apple is currently in talks with Immersion Corp. regarding haptic technology implementation for the iPhone. Immersion Corp. solutions have been implemented in Samsung handsets in the past and it now looks like Apple want in on the action. The conjecture gathers weight thanks to Clent Richardson, a former Apple executive that has just been appointed as Immersion Corporation's CEO.

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Do you really need that light on to not trip over your coffee table and break your leg? Let's find out, shall we? The Consumption Feedback Switch is a device that monitors your electricity usage. If it feels you're within your light quota when you flip on the lights, you'll see a small, harmless spark. But if you've been one of those dolphin-unsafe villains from Captain Planet, reading a few minutes too long at night, a gigantic stream of deadly electricity will mend your ways pending you not die.

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You know what would make gaming even more fun? Pain. Or at least that is what the folks at Mindwire would like you to think. Their new MindwireV5 unit helps you get into the action with sensations ranging from a "crashing car to the blast of a machine gun's multiple bullets hitting you; a sharp zap all the way through to a soft massaging feeling." Five self-adhesive pads are connected to the arms, legs and stomach which administer a range of electric shocks that create sensations that mimic in-game action.

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Also known as the 3rd Space Vest, the Force Feedback gaming vest from TMgames is filled with compressed air pouches in order for you to feel the pain when you're hooked up to your console and having your butt kicked by scary aliens. Compatible with around a dozen games, including Call of Duty, Doom 3, Quake 4 and Medal Of Honor, so if you want to feel what it's like to be knifed, shot, blown up or merely punched in the kidneys, you might think about shelling out US$169 for this. Or you could just go to the rough part of town and tell the scariest mofo you can find that you had sex with his mother last night. [TNGames Storefront via Gadget Review]

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The "Constraint City" vest is a weird project by Austrian artist Gordan Savicic that's a sadistic type of WiFi detector. It's a vest, and as you get closer to WiFi hotspots, it gets tighter and tighter, causing discomfort and pain. The idea, according to Savicic, is to create "schizo-geographic pain map" of the wireless signals around us. OK. Perhaps it'd be better used to wean people off their Internet addictions, although I suppose you could just plug in and avoid the squeeze. Or, you know, just not put on the stupid vest in the first place. [Project Page via Make]