Gadget Access

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 19th 2008 at 9:40PMIt’s one thing to be held captive in a mixed reality universe with a bickering lady-friend, but we could probably stand to hang for awhile with Flapi. The aforementioned character is YDreams’ own in-house mascot, presumably used in a variety of augmented reality testing scenarios. In the video posted after the jump, Flapi is controlled with a Logitech gamepad and comes eerily close to slapping hands with a perfect (human) stranger. Somebody should really tell the kid Earthlings aren’t that bad.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Apr 19th 2008 at 3:19AM
What’s better than having a nice leather or cloth ipod sleeve to show off to your friends? If you’re thinking one made of imitation meat — you’re dead right! Apparently, a company in Japan is under the impression that you want to wrap your music player in a grade A lookalike, undoubtedly to the thrill of your vegetarian friends and family. Of course, don’t just get one for the shock value — this thing oozes pure, sophisticated style. If you’ve got ¥6,800 (or about $66) and dignity to spare, it can be all yours.

[Via DVICE]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

So you’re driving around at night with no idea where you’re at, and your partner is having trouble reading the map? Obviously you haven’t heard of GPS navigation devices, so the next best thing is to flood the map with a light source, and what better way to do it than with the Seatbelt Light?

Just clip it onto your seat belt and turn it on when you need to read a map or follow directions. Passengers can use it without distracting the driver. Two levels of brightness from 4 LED lights (included). Uses 3 AA batteries (not included).

A set of two will retail for $14.99, although I’d say that using your car’s ceiling light ought to be good enough. Still, maybe you have a really old jalopy whose light has already expired a long while ago, making this little auto accessory a necessary purchase.

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 19th 2008 at 11:40AM
We’re serious this time, people. No more kidding around with those international ship dates, we’ve got ourselves a real live release date from Asus: May 12th. The hotly-anticipated Eee PC 900 with that relatively bountiful 8.9-inch screen is going to sell for a starting price of $549, with Linux and XP versions available at launch.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Laptops

You might have heard the news that the Microsoft Surface table has hit five select AT&T stores across the country, and are now available for you to try out for yourself. In case you haven’t had the chance to drop by any of these stores yet and seen the Microsoft Surface in action, we have here a video showing just how it can complement your AT&T experience by adding multi-touch and satellite mapping technology. The surface, it seems, could serve as a perfect tool for presentations with its touchscreen interface, and it adds a nice touch of interactivity while enabling easy, user-friendly graphics to complement the user-experience. Apple’s CoverFlow could make it much nicer, though. But that’s just my opinion.

Via [Gotta Be Mobile]

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It looks like we may have all misinterpreted PayPal’s announcement that it will block users who are using old browsers when doing online transactions at PayPal. Some reports have included Apple’s Safari browser as among those that will be blocked by PayPal.

PayPal has denied this report by saying that it has no intention of blocking current versions of any browsers that include the Safari browser from accessing it’s site. And to clarify, it will only block customers from logging into the PayPal when using obsolete browsers on outdated or unsupported operating systems, such as IE4 running on Windows 98.

Actually, the confusion may have started when reports cited that the Safari browser does not support Extended Validation SSL Certificates.

So there, the confusion is cleared and clarified. Safari users can still access PayPal’s site using their trusty browser. End of story.

Via [Mac Daily News]

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Encyclopedia Britannica, through its Britannica Webshare program, is giving web publishers free subscription to Britannica Online that includes complete volumes of encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, thesaurus and other online resources. By web publishers, Britannica is referring to anybody who regularly publishes on the Internet, including bloggers, webmasters and writers.

To qualify for the free subscription, web publishers will need to sign up, register their blogs/websites and wait for Britannica’s approval. Once approved, they can start linking to Britannica content on their sites. When readers click on the links, they will be presented with the full content of Britannica resources. However, readers will not be able to access other parts of Britannica Online, only the linked content. Full access to the online content will still require a subscription.

In addition, web publishers can also opt to embed the particular Britannica information on their blog or sites. I think this is better than providing links, as they can make their readers stay on their site longer and at the same time add information value to their blogs/sites.

So, what’s in it for Britannica? Is this a gradual shift towards becoming like Wikipedia? I would have to think so. Encylopedia Britannica may be more authoritative as an information resource than Wikipedia, but Wikipedia is freely accessible, and offers almost the same kind of information. This is a good start towards opening its information resources freely towards a larger consumer base which is what made Wikipedia such a big success.

Via [TechCrunch] Read [Britannica Webshare]

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Mimoco, maker of the popular Mimobot designer USB flash drives, has partnered with tokidoki, the brand created by pop fashion designer Simone Legno, to create the tokidoki for MIMOBOT series. This newest group of flash drives is part of Mimoco’s MMOBOT Artist Series, and comes in three different characters, each priced at $39.95: Pirate Nero, Pistaio, and Meletta.

Mimoco has released tokidoki for MIMOBOT preloaded with the second issue if its mimoZine, the first digital magazine delivered via flash drive. This pop culture magazine features interviews with Japanese pop-rock artists, videos of art events, and musical videos.

See a preview of the mimoZine after the jump.

It doesn’t look like the participants in the McAfee S.P.A.M. Experiment have received grand jury summonses in their inboxes yet, but it’s something they can look out for. According to the FBI’s press release about the email,

“At first glance, the e-mail appears authentic. It contains a court case number, federal code, name and address of a California federal court, court room number, issuing officers’ names, and the court’s seal. The spammer directs recipients to click the link provided in the e-mail in order to download and print associated information for their records. If the recipient clicks the link, a malicious code is downloaded onto their computer.
The e-mail also contains language threatening recipients with contempt of court charges if they fail to appear. Recipients are told the subpoena will remain in effect until the court grants a release. As with most spam, the content contains multiple spelling errors.”

Sure enough, if you look at the sample email on Snopes.com, there are typos such as “thas,” “offcers,” “wich,” and “oresent.” The FBI press release also says those who receive this fake subpoena should report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).  The spammer wants people to think the feds are after them, well the feds should go after the spammer instead!

Read [Snopes.com]

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I’m probably the biggest evangelizer of Dash Network’s Dash Express GPS device. The Dash Express is the first two-way Internet-connected GPS navigation system delivering traffic and destination information in wicked new ways. The Dash Express is the next generation of GPS technology and it’s available today!

Unique to the Dash Express, you rely on the Dash Driver Network to provide the latest and most accurate current traffic information available and with features like emailing your Dash Express addresses for your next generation and MyDash which allows you to Browse the Dash Network library of user-created and locally relevant searches such as “Movie Times” and “Great Steakhouses”.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $399

Posted in GPS, Gizmo of the Day