Curiosity Killed The Cat

If you see the Touch Intrigue on the road, wouldn’t you be tempted to just pass by and run hands on it? Intrigue, curiosity and our urge to touch, all culminate into this experimental “Touch Powered By Intrigue Concept.” A working prototype placed in a busy mall and sidewalk proved that people subconsciously are curious, and this often leads to physical interaction. These weed inspired protrusions harness energy from the touch via the use of piezo-ceramic cores molded within the stemsSource: Yanko Design RSS Feed

Flipside Case Cloaks Chipped Credit Cards

We actually have a tinfoil-lined ten-gallon-hat here in the Gadget Lab office into which we toss items which prey on paranoia. You know the kind of thing: radiation-eating cellphone cases and “reports” on the dangers of Wi-Fi both feature heavily. And you might think that the Flipside wallet, a radio shield for credit cards, might end up in the Hat of Shame.

But sometimes the paranoia is justified, and when it comes to RFID, paranoia of Philip K. Dickian proportions is quiteSource: Wired RSS Feed

Refugee Camp Gets First Street Named After Twitter Account

In what is likely the world's first such occurrence, a street in the Askar refugee camp in the West Bank has been named after a Twitter account. @arjanelfassed tweetstreet was named for @arjanelfassed, the Twitter account of Arjan El Fassed, who named the street through Dutch Web site Jouw Eigen Straatnam. The site sells the right to temporarily name one of 200 streets in the camp for $146, donating the proceeds to the Palestinian Child Care Society (PCCS), which sponsors after-schoolSource: Switched RSS Feed

Review: PSP Go

Click for even bigger PSP, larger hand
Announced just over four months ago, the PSP Go will hit store shelves worldwide this Thursday, October 1. By its very nature as a flash memory-based device -- and its incompatibility with already-owned UMD titles -- Sony's latest incarnation of the PlayStation Portable is leaping out of the gate with a considerable handicap. Early adopters, the devoted Sony and PSP fans, are going to find themselves wowed by the hardware, but a littleSource: PS3 Fanboy RSS Feed

Debilitatingly cute snowglobe costume

Here's a Halloween unicorn chaser for all you folks who are tired of simulated electrocutions and vomiting robots. Submitted by Flickr user jpotisch to the MAKE Flickr pool.

Make: Halloween Contest 2009

Microchip Technology Inc. and MAKE have teamed up to present to you the Make: Halloween Contest 2009! Show us your embedded microcontroller Halloween projects and you could be chosen as a winner.

| Permalink | Comments | articles in Halloween | Digg this!

Source: MAKE: Blog RSS Feed

Fantastic Fest Review: Toy Story 3D Double Feature

Disney presented a sneak preview of Pixar’s Toy Story / Toy Story 2 3D double feature at Fantastic Fest, which offered me a pleasant break from all the indie genre films on the schedule. I’m sure most, if not all, of you have already seen these animated classics, at least once. So there isn’t much to point out about these movies which hasn’t already been said. So lets just get to the important stuff… The questions you’re probably wondering: How is the 3D? Is it enough toSource: SlashFilm RSS Feed

10 Global Cities and Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions

By Zachary Shahan

A new report ranks ten leading world cities on their greenhouse gas emissions. It also examines how and why the emissions differ.

As the report says, over 50% of the world's population lives in urban areas. Leading cities of the world, global cities, are the places where greenhouse gas emissions really need to be cut. The greenest city from the study is Barcelona and the worst is Denver.

The study examined a host of factors - "geophysical factors Source: Matter Magazine RSS Feed

outrageous dead rising 2 trailer

Dead Rising had some pretty ridiculous moments, certainly, though they tended to be sandwiched between runs to the bathroom and epic chainsawing sessions filled with flying limbs. For the sequel, it looks like Capcom is taking the craziness a few steps further. We’ve already seen the Vegas-like city and the giant hamster balls of death… and now? An absolutely silly trailer from Tokyo.

That looks pretty crazy, right? Nothing like a fountain of zombie blood for the best splashSource: technabob RSS Feed

TomTom iPhone Car Kit up for £100 UK pre-order, includes navigation app

The TomTom iPhone Car Kit has just gone up for pre-order on the Apple UK store -- we presume it will go global in the hours to come. It'll cost 5 pence shy of 100 and ships in 2-3 weeks with the dock and adhesive disk in the box. Better yet, for that price you also get the 60 navigation app for the UK/Ireland. Then there's this little note:
"The Car Kit dock is compatible with all iPhone models, but the Car Kit app only works with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G"
So what about theSource: Engadget RSS Feed

Music Video Director Spotlight: Colin Hardy

British music video director Corin Hardy just signed on to direct a supernatural horror film titled Refuge for Sam Raimi (Evil Dead series, Drag Me To Hell). I thought now would be a good time to learn more about Hardy and explore some of his music video origins.

Hardy began creating 8mm animated monster movies as a teenager, inspired by “the mysterious and strangely sinister 70s children’s storybooks,” along with Ray Harryhausen’s animated monster films.

He earned aSource: SlashFilm RSS Feed

Dell opens up Experience Store in Shanghai

If you happen to be in the vicinity of Shanghai, China, you might want to check out Dell’s new flagship “Experience Store” which launched last week. According to the Direct2Dell blog site, the “new store provides a single location where our consumers can truly discover, try and buy Dell products and enjoy the fun of self expression.”

Sounds a bit like an Apple retail store eh?

The article continues:

“The Dell Experience store showcases the entire Dell consumerSource: Krunker RSS Feed

Samsung drives ‘Smart and Green’ vision at 6th Annual Mobile Solutions Forum

SEOUL, Korea (AVING) — Samsung Electronics held the sixth annual Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum at the Westin Taipei Hotel, where it highlighted major mobile device trends and shared insight into future mobile technologies.

Attended by more than 1,000 industry professionals including Samsung business partners and customers from handset, PDA and original design manufacturers, the annual event featured a “Smart and Green Mobility” theme that underscored the key milestones neededSource: Remove The Labels RSS Feed

Microsoft Unveils Secret Touchscreen Tablet

While the world eagerly awaits Apple’s fabled touchscreen tablet, Microsoft has unveiled one of its own. It’s called Courier.

The Courier, still in late-prototype stages of development, is a dual-screen device that folds like a booklet. It features dual 7-inch multitouch screens connected by a hinge. The interface is designed to detect finger gestures as well as a stylus for writing, flicking and drawing.

Microsoft introduced the gadget at Gizmodo Gallery in NewSource: Wired RSS Feed

Shh! Its an SeV Secret Sale!

Scott Jordan is having a HUGE 2009 Clearance Sale!

So stop what you’re doing right now, and go check this out – SEV’s latest and greatest stuff is on sale up to 40% off.  40%!  You can’t beat that with a stick.

Directly from Scott -

Enjoy HUGE savings on our remaining stock of Explorer Jackets (only Smalls remain) and the older version of our Men’s Travel Vests and Women’s Travel Vests. All three of the items are on Closeout for only $40 each!!! (TheSource: Gear Diary RSS Feed

Sometimes a Good Post Title Says It All, Take CNET’s for Example…

Sometimes a good title is all it takes. Take, for example, the title of a recent post over on CNET. It read-

“AT&T takes the phone out of iPhone“.

The title intrigued me. Better still, turns out the title was perfect for the piece. In it CNET’s Elinor Mills discusses the trials and tribulations of trying to make a phone call using a 1st Gen iPhone and AT&T’s service. It is, as she put it and far too many other know only too well, a hit orSource: Gear Diary RSS Feed

PSP homebrew - Ultimate VSH Menu Revised (5.50GEN supported)

Homebrew coder Total_Noob has released a revised version of Ultimate VSH Menu, an alternative plugin to replace the official VSH menu of custom firmware M33 and GEN. The excellent PSP plugin is now compatible with CFW 5.00 M33, 5.02GEN, 5.03GEN and the latest 5.50GEN.
Features:

• All functions of the official VSH Menu.
• Ability to customize the colors.
• The SELECT button can either open the Recovery(in-VSH Recovery), the VshMenu orSource: QJ.NET RSS Feed

Astronomy and skeptical auctions

Just a reminder: the Ebay auctions for Apollo commemorative memorabilia signed by me and for a private music session with George Hrab end tomorrow (Tuesday) around 21:00 GMT! The winners of the auctions can then purchase TAM London tickets, so if you still want to attend the meeting here’s a great chance, and you win nifty stuff, too.

Also, the fantabulous Pamela Gay has two Galileoscopes for auction on Ebay with the boxes autographed by some celebrities atSource: Bad Astronomy Blog RSS Feed

Music Applet Controls Tunes from the Linux System Tray [Downloads]

Linux: There are lots of music and media managers for Linux desktops, and the Music Applet controls almost all of them. It places helpful notifications, button controls, track time, and rating data in a convenient corner for your listening pleasure.

Many distributions carry Music Applet in their repositories, so installing should be a simple matter of searching out music applet in your software installer of choice. Once installed, right-click on your GNOME panel, hit “Add to Source: TechBlogger RSS Feed

What Donation Would Be Most Effective In Combatting Environmental Calamity?

By Scott Cooney

We all give to environmental non-profits for different reasons. Sometimes, with local groups, it's to fight a certain development or to protest a local company's toxic emissions. With national groups, it's usually to fight policies we don't agree with that come from governments or multinational companies. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don't. And even when we do, there are often compromises that make our hard fought victory less effective. It seems there is never aSource: Matter Magazine RSS Feed

MySpace Taps Into the Power of Twitter With Syncing

MySpace said today that it’s rolling out a new feature in beta that lets U.S. users sync status updates in their Twitter feed and profile page on the social network, symbolizing MySpace’s efforts to piggyback off of the micro-messaging service’s growing popularity. The syncing function will let people cross-post their status updates from either Twitter or MySpace. When users post their status updates to Twitter, a link posted alongside the tweet will direct people back to MySpace.Source: GigaOM RSS Feed

1977 Mercedes-Benz 450SL [Down On The Street]

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. It appears that every R107 ever built is still alive today.

That's not really true, because I find them in junkyards with depressing regularity, but Alameda still has plenty of nice examples. I thought I'd go shoot this one in the neighborhood in which I grew up.
I could probably find a dozen of these things on the island inSource: Jalopnik RSS Feed

One backwards leap for Texas

I keep wondering what kind of dumbosity people associated with the Texas Board of Education can come up with next, and I keep being surprised at the depths of teh stoopid. And this time it’s not creationism!

It’s NASA. According to Houston Chronicle blogger Eric Berger, there’s a proposal to remove Neil Armstrong’s name from social studies textbooks.

Yes, you read that correctly. The proposal was suggested by teachers and parents reviewing materials,Source: Bad Astronomy Blog RSS Feed

Frank Shamrock joins EA Sports MMA roster

It looks like Dana White's threats of a lifetime ban for fighters who choose to sign up with EA Sports MMA has left quite a few big-name fighters unfazed. EA has recently announced the addition of former UFC and Strikeforce champion Frank Shamrock to their own mixed martial arts game's roster.
Shamrock, a former five-time UFC and Strikeforce Middleweight champion, joins the ranks of Fedor Emelianenko and Randy Couture for the virtual showdown. The 5'10" adoptedSource: QJ.NET RSS Feed

Zombie Apocalypse plaguing XBLA and PSN next week

Though it may lack the ever-catchy soundtrack of another recently released, undead-centric twin stick shooter, we're still pretty pumped for Nihilistic Software's Zombie Apocalypse. Imagine our rapture when a recent news post on the developer's blog revealed that the title will be landing on XBLA and PSN next Wednesday and Thursday (respectively) for 800 ($10). If you lack imagination, we'll clue you in -- our rapture was immeasurable.
Not only does this seem like the perfect training Source: PS3 Fanboy RSS Feed

Toy Story Mania receives a ray gun controller

It's only fitting that a Wii game based on a theme park attraction would be controlled with a device based on a toy. Peripheral company Thrustmaster just announced its first Disney-licensed accessory, a Wii gun shell reminiscent of Buzz Lightyear's ray gun, coinciding with the European release of Toy Story Mania! The Ray Gun NW is expected in European stores by the end of September at a price of €14.99.
Sure, it's a bit frivolous, but maybe you can think of the gun as enhancing theSource: Houstonist RSS Feed

Why is Photo Start-up DailyBooth So Hot? [GigaOM]

When it comes to burgeoning social media sites, DailyBooth, a Y Combinator startup, has captured the attention of users and VCs alike. The startup’s web site prompts people to take photos of themselves and post them on a message board with a note. DailyBooth’s fast-growing audience, which mushroomed to 6.5 million unique visitors last month, has helped the site grab investors’ attention — and we hear from our Silicon Valley sources that many VC firms are clamoring to fund theSource: GigaOM Network RSS Feed

Everyone’s Fine Movie Trailer

Miramax has released a trailer for Everybody’s Fine, a remake of Cinema Paradiso filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 film Stanno Tutti Bene. The film stars Robert De Niro as “a widower who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children only to discover that their lives are far from picture perfect.” Written and directed by Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine), and also starring Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell.

Source: SlashFilm RSS Feed

Microsoft hiring 18 for new Natal dev team

Microsoft is looking to add 18 new faces to its payroll in an attempt to bolster development on software implementing its new body movin' technology, Project Natal. These positions run the gamut from producer to audio director, all of which will be based out of Microsoft Game Studios' campus in Redmond, Washington -- indicating that MGS is building an entire team to work on future Natal projects.
If you're a game developer with clever, original ideas about how the technology can beSource: Xbox 360 Fanboy RSS Feed

LG WIDEBOOK Notebook Series Announced

LG have announced their new series of Notebooks called WIDEBOOK. Each of the five models have a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio that is high definition and backlit by LED. Also, each of the notebooks are powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

The LG WIDEBOOK range includes the R580/R560, R480/R460 and the R380 models and they have been designed by LG to contain powerful PC functions while looking stylish and being portable at the same time.

The LG WIDEBOOK’s come Source: Gadget Venue RSS Feed

Access voice chat through Facebook with Vivox

Section: Web, Web 2.0 / Social Networking, Web Apps, Websites

Voice chat is going to be available through Facebook in the upcoming weeks provided by the company Vivox. Vivox already provides online voice services to other sites like Second Life and will now add Facebook functionality. Vivox claims it will give users the chance to have high quality voice conversations with their Facebook friends either on a one on one basis or host group conversations. People that are not on FacebookSource: Gadgetell RSS Feed

BMW to showcase its Sports Activity Coupe ‘ActiveHybrid X6′

FRANKFURT, Germany (AVING Special Report on ‘IAA 2009′) — BMW presented its Sports Activity Coupe ‘ActiveHybrid X6′ at IAA 2009 motor show in Frankfurt, which is powered by V8 twin-power turbo engine with 485 horsepower. It can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 5.6 seconds.

Original post by Grace Won

Source: TechBlogger RSS Feed

This is how Brutal Legend starts

Listen, are you sure you wanna do this? You've made it so far without Brutal Legend spoilers and you're so close to the game actually coming out ... do you really want to watch the first five minutes of the game? ... Oh, sure, we watched it. We watched it and it was spectacular.
But you shouldn't. Not you, dear reader. You're better than that.

Continue reading This is how Brutal Legend starts

This is how Brutal Legend starts originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed,Source: PS3 Fanboy RSS Feed

HP introduces budget-friendly Pavilion MS200 AIO PC

HP extends their all-in-one PC product line into the budget category with the introduction of the new HP Pavilion MS200 all-in-one. Featuring a dual core AMD processor, integrated ATI graphics, and an 18.5 inch widescreen LCD display, the MS200’s pricing starts at a reasonable $599. Other specs include a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and a remote control for both Windows Media Center and HP MediaSmart operations. The only major feature missing would be Source: Krunker RSS Feed

Microsoft Zune 4 Quickplay

Just like clockwork, Microsoft updated their Zune software to go alongside the Microsoft Zune HD release. This means that the Zune desktop software also got a fresh new update too.

Upon restarting the Zune software, you will now be greeted by an all purpose “home page” named the Quickplay page. You will see a quick rundown of a Welcome message, what’s new in the Zune Marketplace and your playback history – which… didn’t pick up on anything I’veSource: Remove The Labels RSS Feed

2009 Frankfurt Auto Show: Audi R8 Spyder

We already posted pictures of the Audi R8 Spyder. To change things up a little for its big unveiling, Audi brought a bright red one to the VW Group sneak preview event tonight. We would not have believed you had you told us a week ago, but we think we might like it in brown more than red.

The soft-top convertible will be available "in time for next Spring in Germany," according to Audi. We expect it on the U.S. market not long after. Audi isn't sayingSource: Straightline RSS Feed

Poll: What's the most you'd pay for a quad HDTV tuner with CableCARD?

Filed under: DIY, Polls, Media PCs

Let's be clear right up front, we're not asking you how much you want to pay because we already know the answer; as little as possible. We want to know, what is the most you would pay. Now before you answer, lets put this into perspective. A dual tuner TiVo HD costs $300 at retail (plus subscription), a Moxi is $800 and the old ATI single CableCARD tuners were $300 -- so unlike the Ceton tuner, you'd have to rent four CableCARDs instead ofSource: Engadget HD RSS Feed

Rogers quietly adds Voice & Data Usage tracking to its website

Well would you look at that? Rogers Wireless has become the last Canadian carrier to enter the 21st Century by allowing its subscribers to track their voice, data and SMS/MMS usage in near real-time. All one has to do is log into his or her MyRogers account at Rogers.com, click “Manage My Wireless Services” and select “Voice & Data Usage” to see exactly how bad the damage is. There does appear to be a four hour delay in the information provided, but we’re too elated Source: The Boy Genius Report RSS Feed

Sony network Blu-ray player spied at CEDIA

Why wait 'til October to get a peek at Sony's BRAVIA Internet features come to Blu-ray on the BDP-N460? Check them out right now in the following gallery, we got a good look at the future on the CEDIA show floor, though whether Sony delivering all new hardware or everyone else's strategy of upgrading existing players for Netflix, Amazon and other forms of streaming is the path to follow remains to be seen. The BDP-N460 should hit for about $250 starting next month.

Filed Source: Engadget RSS Feed

Do Health Insurance and Self-employment Mix?

In my Labor Day post, I talked about the importance of web workers advocating for ourselves, and why it is necessary. One of the topics for advocacy that is on everyone’s mind right now (at least in the U.S.) is healthcare, or more particularly health insurance. This topic is of special interest to the segment of web workers who are self-employed or work freelance.

What exactly is the current state of health insurance for the freelance worker in the United States? There are

Motorola Unveils Phone Focused on Social Networks - NYTimes.com

Moto goes social – and Android

The phone, called the Cliq, is meant for young people obsessed with social networks. Instead of the traditional menu of features, the Cliq’s home screen is an ever-changing mosaic of e-mail, Twitter tweets and status updates, superimposed over photos of the people sending those messages.

“It’s alive,” said Sanjay Jha, the co-chief executive of Motorola, who was hired a year ago from Qualcomm to revive its cellphone