Gadgets Base

Okay, so being the winner of our “Pink Palm Centro Misery Giveaway” means you’ve been a big loser at love, at least once during Valentine’s Day, but now you’re getting the messaging phone extraordinaire and you can send hate messages to the one who wronged you. Only kidding….

The winner will be receiving the Pink Centro, valued at $399.99 (or $99 with a 2-year Sprint contract).

And the winning/losing story:
M & I had been dating for 7 years. Valentines Day was a huge day for us, as we had been set up on a blind date on V-day 2000. A mutual friend set us up & we hit it off immediately. We got close quickly, but were both happy with keeping our separate living arrangements as we were both professionals with busy work schedules. We had always talked of getting married at some point and having kids. We had similar ideas & ideals about marriage & families. Back to V-day. M always put a huge effort into making our V-day celebration special. I never knew from year to year what he would plan. One year, he whisked me away to NYC in a limo to an intimate dinner & then to a show that I had wanted to see. On the way, he took me to my favorite SoHo boutique to buy a new dress & beautiful shoes.

Don’t be too jealous, see the misery come in after the jump…

Meet the Micropod SE from Scandyna, a Danish speaker company (the country, not the pastry).  Scandyna has been at making speakers for 40 years and does so with a certain flair.  These kind of makes me want to crawl inside one of these and make some honey.

The full feature list is copied below but highlights include: a Kevlar bass/midrange unit, a soft dome tweeter and an
extra durable finish.  Hot.  At $199 a pair, performance and style don’t come cheap. 

The maker has some much larger versions that look quite Dr. Seuss-ish, which in my book, is what every designer should aspire too.

Product page: [podspeakers]

Colours White, Black, Silver, Blue, Yellow, Red.
Shape 2 way closed box, abs cabinet.
Applications Stereo arrangement, AV, 5.1, multimedia.
Frequency Minus 3db at 65hz and 20khz.
Sensitivity 86db spl (1w @ 1m) 4 ohm.
Sound Compatible with amplifiers from 10w - 100w output.
Drive units One 70mm (3”22) long throw bass/midrange feat. Kevlar piston and 19mm (3/4”) dia free-mounted
high frequency.
Weight 0.95 kg (2.3lbs) without spikes and packing.
Dimensions Width: 125mm.
Height: 160mm (195mm with spikes).
Depth: 114mm.

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Posted Feb 29th 2008 4:48PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Gaming It looks like Wii users wanting to expand their Guitar Hero arsenal (or replace an axe after they got a little too into things) won’t have to wait much longer, as Red Octane is now set to let loose a separate wireless Les Paul controller for the system. It doesn’t exactly come cheap, however, with the company listing the controller at $70 on its own website, although Toys R Us is now taking pre-orders for $60 (Best Buy and others don’t seem to be offering it just yet). What’s more, while Red Octane only goes so far as say “ETA: March 2008,” Toys R Us is giving a ship date of March 4th, so it looks like this one should be landing in your capable hands in no time.

Read - Red Octane
Read - Toys R Us

[Thanks, Nic]

This looks like something we might see in a movie about futuristic space travel (like the film Sunshine), but is actually a real present-day subterranean farm underneath a bank building in Tokyo. The project, with the cool sci-fi sounding name “Pasona O2,” covers an area of 1,000 square meters (about 10,764 square feet). Created as a facility for teaching urban kids about agriculture, the farm grows rice as well as tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables. If I worked above ground in that building, I’d be tempted to take my lunch breaks below ground - to get fresh air.

Take a look at some of the other beautiful photos at pruned. Also via Japundit, by way of Tokyo Mango.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that this USB Hub with Clock and Mood Light look like the mac mini?

The design of the USB Hub with clock and mood light is a blend of functionality and simplicity. It is a multi-function USB hub featuring an integrated 7-color mood light. The 7 soft colors will start to illuminate by taking turns the moment the device is powered. It also doubles up as a desk-based alarm clock, waking you up from your afternoon nap and reminding you that there are just three more agonizing minutes to 5 before you can take off from the office. The time display is backlit as well for your convenience.

The USB Hub with Clock and Mood Light retails for $16 from Brando.

The Bike Cuffs that you see here are no ordinary cuffs or lock that helps being a theft deterrent - they’re harder to crack than a complicated Sudoku puzzle.

The heavy-duty cuffs attach around the fork and disc rotor so would-be thieves can’t make off with your bike unless they’re armed with some kind of Fort Knox-busting wonder weapon. This nifty arrangement means you won’t have to faff around taking off your wheel for full lockdown. You don’t even need to use the keys to secure your bike, just click the cuffs using the integrated buttons. Of course no locking system is completely impenetrable but Bike Cuffs are highly-rated by crime prevention bods. Police-approved security assessors, Sold Secure, have awarded Bike Cuffs their highly coveted Silver Rating (Gold’s for humungous locks only), a judgment that should reduce your insurance costs.

Perfect for those who use the bicycle as their primary means of transport. The Bike Cuffs will go a long way in providing you with peace of mind for £79.95. I just hope frustrated thieves won’t end up slashing your bike tires though.

Sprint has joined AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in offering unlimited cell phone calling plans. Sprint’s first unlimited plan is $99 and includes *everything*, not just calls, but data and PTT (Push to Talk) if you have one of those phones. Sprint is certainly pushing its competitors harder, and they must if they are to stem the financial bleeding they’ve been experiencing.

Ah, competition. It may be a cliche, but it really is amazing for consumers, although these price breaks and the possible ensuing price war may sink 1 or more of these cell providers before this is all over. But then again, it’s never over.

Posted Feb 29th 2008 8:05AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Robots
Artist France Cadet has created what was clearly meant to be a thought-provoking treatise on animal rights, the changing relationships of humans and animals, our ethical concerns on hunting, and an ever-morphing perception of what it means to be human… but it also comes off as looking really, really cool. Using the better half of the Aibo-wannabe I-Cybie robo-dog, Cadet reprograms the half-bots — called “Hunting Trophies” — to detect movement and react angrily when a viewer approaches. There are 11 different species in the collection, including a robot impala, lion, zebra, and warthog. Guess what? Despite those lofty philosophical goals, each one is more adorable than the next. Want.

[Via PROTEIN OS]

Posted Feb 29th 2008 9:33AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: cellphonesWe remember when there was actually a glimmer of hope that the quarreling between these two may end — man, was that a long time ago. Anyways, the International Trade Commission has reportedly upheld a judge’s ruling made back in December which affirmed that Nokia did not violate Qualcomm patents. As expected, the latter firm expressed its utmost disappointment in the decision, and is already considering yet another appeal process. Then again, we may actually be a little sad if it didn’t.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Posted Feb 29th 2008 9:11AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Robots
Not that we’re experts on the matter or anything, but if barrister and engineer Chris Elliot knows a thing or two about legal issues, a kind of “military Turing test” could be the key to legally deploying autonomous systems in battle. As it stands, “weapons intrinsically incapable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets are illegal” — at least according to Mr. Elliot — but by testing an intelligent war machine’s ability to hone in on legitimate targets and brush off friendlies, all that could change. Of course, actually administering the test still remains a mystery, but considering that remotely controlled armed bots are currently being used in Iraq, we reckon someone’s already figuring out a solution to said dilemma.