by Ryan Block, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 9:16PMThe latest edu-gimmick to hit small-town America: Liberty, Missouri’s handing out a hundred and change media players — Zunes, to be specific — to local high school and middle school students for listening to lesson-supporting podcasts in the hopes of saving them “lost class time.” Surely this will raise test scores, right? Or at least improve the Zune’s cachet? Who knows — even the district superintendent said, “Is it the next great thing? I don’t know. Maybe. (Read the full post about ‘Local public school students get assigned Zunes’…)
We first featured the lotus Sanitizing System about 2 years ago. Since then, maker Tersano, has rolled out a few more products to complement and fill out the line. First up is a baby bottle attachment cleaner. Simple to use - put the kid’s bottles, pacifiers and small toys in and have them cleaned up by the power of ozonated water. Next up is the battery powered lotus wet mop (pictured). Using 4 AA batteries (use rechargeables, plz) that last a year, the lotus wetmop with the lotus Sanitizer System cleans up your floors nicely without streaks, harsh chemicals or residue. Within 15 minutes, the ozonated water reverts to regular water and you’re left with just clean floors. (Read the full post about ‘lotus Sanitizer Accessories’…)
Good old Darth Vader never fails to impose himself, and this time the Sith Lord comes in the form of a USB hub. Of course, his chest controls are no longer fancy LED lights that blink randomly, but instead reveal themselves to be a quartet of USB 2.0 ports (presumably - who deals with 1.1 these days anyways). Good thing the €43 you pay for this doesn’t result in just a deadpan USB 2.0 bust, but Darth Vader’s head will automatically come to life the moment he is hooked up to a computer. His eyes will glow red, while his famous breathing sound comes into play as he moves his head around. We’re fortunate in a way that his hands are not there to Force Choke us whenever we start killing time at work by checking out our Facebook account instead of crunching numbers. (Read the full post about ‘Darth Vader USB Hub’…)
Yet another leak surrounding the upcoming Treo 800w for Sprint. This time thankfully its not some more blurry camera phone style images, but instead something much more useful, what appears to be the official training documents from Sprint. And yes, they reveal a few goodies. Aside from the nice images of the phone itself, detailing where everything will be located, such as the large speakerphone on the back, and the Wi-Fi on/off button that is located on the top, there is also the microUSB connector centered on the bottom of the handset. The Treo 800w will also feature a 320 x 320 touchscreen LCD, will be powered by a 333Mhz processor and is running Windows Mobile 6.1. (Read the full post about ‘Leaked training documents for Sprint’s Treo 800w’…)
Garmin does not only come up with navigation solutions for those who have a bad sense of direction on the road (and maybe even in life), as they cater to pet owners as well with the latest DC 30 GPS dog tracking collar that is meant to be used with the Astro GPS Dog Tracking System. This new collar offers a toughness that is superior to its predecessor, and you get differently position antennas for optimal tracking. According to Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales, “The new DC 30 collar is designed to stand up to the torturous abuse of hunting dogs. Whether it’s hounds crashing through thick and swampy woods, or bird dogs bounding through dense CRP fields, the DC 30 is made to take the beating that working dogs dish out daily. (Read the full post about ‘Garmin Astro GPS Dog Tracking System’…)
There is always some latest and greatest scam to help you lose weight, and some do work, they just rid you of every important nutrient your body needs. However, others you spend money on and they vibrate your fat and that’s where it ends. Over the years I swear there have been hundreds of these things under all different names and with all different looks. All claiming to just “melt” the fat right off of you. I’m sorry, I have never seen fat melt off, but I would most definitely pay to see it. Sadly, I don’t think vibrating your stomach is going to do the trick. (Read the full post about ‘Vibro Shape belt vibrates your fat off’…)
by Ryan Block, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 2:09PM Well what do you know, ZDNet’s German bureau has apparently released a functioning overlocking tool (ZDNet Clock) for Mac Pros and Xserves. Vater Steve doesn’t look kindly upon such things, but with a little luck (and a lot of cooling) you might be able to eke out a few hundred extra MHz from your aluminum clad box without tipping off any Geniuses the next time you bring it in for repair. (Read the full post about ‘Been itching to overclock your Mac Pro? No problem.’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 4:53PM Well, what do you know? That Guitar Hero axe that was spotted a few months back on How I Met Your Mother was actually a sneak peek of the six string that comes bundled with the new Activision title. The unwavering rockers over at FW Labs were able to secure a copy of the game in Chile before most everyone else on the planet, and rather than enjoying their fortune without telling a soul, they decided to snap a host of photos and even upload a few videos of the experience. (Read the full post about ‘Guitar Hero: Aerosmith gets unboxed, rag-covered mic stand not found’…)
With the absurd increase in gasoline prices almost every week, more and more people will be forced to use buses and other modes of public transportation. Now, here is a very interesting futuristic concept – the Slimbus. Intended for short distance travel in very crowded urban areas like Tokyo and Nagoya in Japan, Slimbus is only 1.2 meters wide and divided into different compartments. It can easily maneuver and doesn’t take up much space, unlike the regular big buses available now. It’s also quite flexible, and similar to a trains because you can add or remove compartments depending on the situation. The bummer - all passengers must stand to save space. Then again who needs a seat for a short trip, right? (Read the full post about ‘Slimbus: The future of public transportation’…)
Princeton University has become the latest to announce that they have plans to begin offering Kindle editions of their textbooks. Joining other universities such as Yale, Oxford, and UC Berkeley the Princeton textbooks will be available beginning in the fall semester. While there was not any mention of the pricing for the Kindle edition books, the nice part here is that students will have a much easier time carrying around a Kindle loaded with textbooks as compared to a backpack filled with textbooks. In addition the built-in functionality of the Kindle should only aid in studying. The Kindle has support to highlight portions of the text, make notes for future reference and even search to find the text you are looking for. (Read the full post about ‘Princeton will soon offer Kindle edition textbooks’…)
