Crave

Have a ball with your PC

While so many other computer companies are trying to hide their CPUs, a handful of brave mavericks are actually trying to draw more attention to them. But that doesn't mean they're building the standard and deadly boring old gray boxes.

Directron, for example, is selling one that looks more like a rubber ball than a PC--hence its name, the "Ball PC System." Not much is offered in the way of specs, pricing or availability, but SCI FI Tech says the shiny sphere splits open, spaceship-style, to reveal a 40GB hard drive between its hemispheres.

That means … Read more

Spa treatment for CrackBerry addicts

Crave has been remiss in our self-imposed obligation to issue public service announcements on a regular basis, and for that we sincerely apologize. So today we'll try to make up for our shortcomings by addressing the dreaded "BlackBerry Thumb" affliction.

New York spa Graceful Services is joining a trend started by major U.S. hotels and is offering a "BlackBerry Finger Massage," according to My: Tech News. We don't know of anyone personally who has undergone such treatment, but we wouldn't be surprised to hear that it was frequented by a certain celebrity … Read more

Surrealists rejoice: here's a power strip for you

Are you one of those artsy-fatalist types who has a poster of Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory up on the wall? That's the "melting clock painting," also known as the backdrop of the 1938 cartoon short "Porky in Wackyland." (Yes, it's on YouTube.)

If so, we've found something perfect to further indulge your fantasies of things that appear to be melting into a puddle of surrealist goo. Called the "ElectriciTree," this stretchy power strip/extension cord is technically supposed to look like the branches of a tree to remind … Read more

Play your vinyl in style--on sale for just $10,000

Listen up, bargain-hunting audiophiles: There's been a major price reduction in a high-quality turntable from Japan's ELP. Its flagship product, the "Laser Turntable," is being marked down by more than 30 percent. How much is that, you say? Details, details. OK, the bargain-basement price is a mere $9,900 or $14,000, depending on which model you choose.

Before you close your browser, you should know that this turntable not only offers superior sound quality for records in good condition, but it also plays vinyl discs that have been badly worn down or even warped. "… Read more

Security cams for the paranoid on a budget

We're not so paranoid that we need technologies that can tell who's spying on us, honest. All we want to do is conduct constant surveillance around our perimeter at all times, so we can dispatch the guard dogs as necessary. (Until we finish filling the moat, anyway.)

The problem, however, is that we're cheap--and surveillance equipment often isn't. But something like the "Mini-Air Watch4" system might just work. For a relatively reasonable $275, Gadgetizer says the system comes with four wireless color security cameras and a video receiver that can work from 100 to … Read more

Turn a jet ski into a speedboat

The whole all-in-one concept seen so often in computer and electronics equipment is hardly confined to high-tech hardware. In fact, here's an example where "convergence" has touched transportation as well--aquatically, no less.

The "Dockitjet" combines a jet ski and speedboat into a one seagoing vehicle that looks like something right out of a 007 movie. An infltable watercraft serves as a dock that its manufacturer says can fit practically any jet-powered ski in just minutes and comfortably seat up to six people, according to Gizmag.

This sounds fine, if you're the more adventurous type. … Read more

A computer mod straight out of 24

Forget about those silly bomb-defusing alarm clocks. This is one piece of hardware that would make Jack Bauer proud (real or fake versions alike).

This case mod was designed to "look like the sort of atomic bomb that one sees in spy movies or on TV shows like 24," as described on TechEBlog. The creator is quick to add that he "tried not to base the design on any real or fictional bomb, but simply out of my imagination." That's a relief--we think.

A PC-TV for the wall

We weren't particularly fond of the keyboard computer, but we don't want to hold that against all combo devices. The "Meivo TV," for instance, is something we wouldn't kick out of the living room if someone gave it to us as a gift. The 22-inch LCD has 720p resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, wireless keyboard and mouse, and is ready for both HD and Vista, according to Tech Digest

Made by U.K. gaming notebook maker Rock, the Meivo is priced at 1,000 pounds (around $1,940)--which may be its biggest … Read more

'Wireless' game seat still has umbilical cords

If your looming IRS bill prevents you from getting a $300,000 racing simulator, something like this may tide you over until tax season ends.

The "Pyramat Wireless Sound Rocker" is an upgraded version with a 2.4GHz transmitter that plugs into the TV and sends audio signals wirelessly to your built-in sound system. Coolest-Gadgets notes, however, that the $200 Sharper Image chair isn't completely wireless because it still needs cords to power those speakers and its blue LEDs.

If you really want to save some dough, you can make a rumble seat out of a regular … Read more