Crave

Sci-fi time at Demo 07: call in to Qtech's ReQall, speak your ideas and to-do lists, and the service then does smart things with them. For example, if you save a task for a particular date, ReQall will feed it to you when you call in on that future day.

It also does speech-to-text conversion, and can e-mail you your notes, or put them on a desktop widget.

Pretty cool idea. For me, it depends on the speech-to-text quality. Can't wait to try it out.

The headline on this item posted by Gizmodo says it all: the "opposite of a chick magnet." No offense to Star Wars loyalists (OK, a little), but this has got to be one of the nerdier ideas we've seen in awhile--and, trust us, that's saying a lot. Do you really want to be known as the guy/gal who has a Lightsaber MP3 player?

Then again, it would be the perfect complement to the Lightsaber phone and, for that matter, the R2-D2 projector. All this could end up costing a pretty penny, but think of all … Read more

No, the Japanese "I'm a Mac" ads do not include Hello Kitty, Pikachu, or anything with tentacles. But they're quite funny in their own right, if only because I have absolutely no idea what the actors are saying in them but can still pretty much grasp the message that they're trying to convey. It's interesting, too, to see how the Japanese ads are much more reliant on physical expressions and gags, whereas the British Mac ads that Candace blogged here a few days ago are all about the wit (not surprisingly).

Additionally, I am … Read more

Being the responsible lot that we are, Crave occasionally posts public service announcements for the benefit of our readers. So here's one for those of you who use cannabis for medicinal purposes only, of course.

The appropriately named "Volcano Vaporizer" is a device that can make your prescription up to four times more potent than the average dosage. The German-made "BMW of bongs," as Uncrate calls it, also helps purify the substance and minimize the accompanying odor. But the Volcano's $540 price tag could be prohibitive--unless you have the most liberal of health insurance.… Read more

It still smacks of urban legend to us, but some people swear that teenager-repelling sounds do exist--and work. So we wouldn't be surprised to see some desperate parents and shop owners rushing to order the "Mosquito," an ultrasonic youth deterrent from the United Kingdom, which Gizmodo says is being imported to North America. The device, distributed by a company with the irresistible name of Kids Be Gone, supposedly creates an adolescent-free zone with a range of 40 to 60 feet. We'll be right back (need to find a tape measure).

Regardless of which game console you prefer, the Wii apparently has it all over the Playstation 3 in at least one category: colors. GameDrift says it has confirmed that Nintendo will release its game box in red, black and possibly other hues at an undisclosed time, according to CrunchGear. If true, it would be a smart move (and we think an obvious one), given the success that custom shops have seen just by adding a little color to PS3s and selling them on eBay for upwards of $1,400. Why Sony itself is taking so long to figure this out, … Read more

Enough already. Why is it that some people insist on "sharing" their music with the rest of world--whether we like it or not--when today's headphones offer a far superior listening experience? We've seen everything from messenger bags to bowling bags with built-in speakers, and now we have a new backpack that will surely contribute its share of noise pollution.

Scullcandy's "Link" backpack has speakers embedded in its straps for music or--worse, as OhGizmo notes correctly--a cell phone conversation. We've got to get started building that bunker.

What does it say about society when combo consumer gadgets are made out of weapons? That's what aptly named Street Wise has done with its "Lightning Rod," a 6-inch cylinder that SlashGear says can send an 800,000-volt Valentine to an assailant. The combo part is a built-in LED flashlight, so you can make sure you're not zapping a friend or family member by mistake in the dark. Just remember, if you decide to use it for ordinary flashlight duties such as changing your oil, be sure to keep the safety lock on.

It's usually a sign that we need to visit the gym when we start noticing items about odd and over-the-top fitness equipment. And, in this case, both categories apply.

The "Kinesis Personal," according to Cool Hunting, is a "soft gymnastics" apparatus that touts a "tri-dimensional movement system" and claims to make 200 exercise positions possible. (That's about 196 more than we need.) But we're most amused by its description as "blending seamlessly into homes," as well as offices or hotel rooms. We'd love to meet their interior designers.… Read more