Crave

The Tamagotchi has barely gotten into its teens and it's already got next-generation competition.

Japan's Frepar Network is developing some kind of futuristic 3D persona "capable of replying when you talk to it and interact with you when you try to touch it or even blow on it," according to Akihabara News.

All that sounds well and good, but will it get you a date? We didn't think so.

We've been concerned about misplacing some media players because of their petite frames, but never video cameras. And certainly not high-definition ones. But at a barely more than 1.5 by 3 inches and "smaller than a bar of soap," the "MicroHDTV" from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute could easily slip out of our pocket and into the lost-and-found category.

Engadget says the camcorder is purportedly small enough to fit in "a racing-car cockpit, helmet or any other tiny space you'd like to broadcast HDTV from." That's a euro in the photo … Read more

Maybe this will be a reassurance to the Anthrax guitarist who totally flubbed up his own song on Guitar Hero.

(Via Kotaku.)

Hey, Boston! So those Mooninites cost you $785,000? I know where you can get it back: Curt Schilling's paycheck! Anyway, continuing with the entire blogosphere's running theme of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and the ridiculousness of how it shut down the city of Boston, we here at Crave have chosen to spend a post showcasing a gadget tribute to the Adult Swim cartoon. So, esteemed readers, here's what we recommend for gadget freaks who also happen to be ATHF junkies.

--Lite Brite. Let's start off with the obvious. Plenty of blogs have been comparing … Read more

Best watch your step. New strides in radar and gait-analysis software could soon alert authorities to someone packing a bomb from up to 50 yards away, Virginia-based SET told MIT Technology Review.

SET's CounterBomber system detects suicide bombers from a safe (OK, safer) distance by directing a low-power radar beam at the approaching subject. Ideally, the device would be augmented "with video-analysis software that spots bombers by discerning subtle differences in gait that occur when people carry heavy objects."

And the bashful need not worry: This new radar-image technology is supposedly able to reveal concealed objects without &… Read more

Maybe it's our midlife crisis taking over again, but we have a serious crush on Amadana, the Japanese company that created the bamboo-clad DVD player and other gorgeous products that reflect its zen-like design philosophy. If Amadana had a retail outlet, we imagine it would look like a cross between an Apple store and a Buddhist monastery. (We just wish the company would change its logo, which looks way to much like Amana's.)

Amadana's all-in-one audio system is a perfect example of the company's devotion to clean lines. Krunker.com says its 7-inch-sided cube has touch-sensitive … Read more

Loath as we are to post anything involving the evil Hello Kitty, we are compelled to issue an alert anytime it sets paw close to home--as in the desktop. So we are depressed to report that it's has been conjured in the form of a pink wireless mouse, which Chip Chick says is available for $25 at Best Buy. (We've heard of "CatDog, but a cat mouse?) It's almost creepier that the image doesn't have eyes, making it seem all the more like Big Brother.

We were let loose today in the hills outside of Los Angeles behind the wheel of Mazda's new CX-9 midsize crossover SUV. The CX-9, which is the biggest vehicle ever to come out of Mazda's Hiroshima plant, follows Mazda's CX-7 into the crowded crossover market, and is designed to appeal to that growing segment of customers in need of seven seats (how did we ever manage with just five?). Unlike many other seven-seaters we've seen, the CX-9's third row of seats will be standard on all models, and will not be removable.

If the CX-9 … Read more

Most mobile phones are not BlackBerrys. Or Treos. If you have a "dumb" phone, you can go a long way toward making it a better e-mail appliance by "flipping" it at Teleflip.com (starting in March). The free service uses SMS to make any phone into a nice e-mail-reading machine.

Sending e-mails to phones via SMS is not a new idea. Teleflip's pitch is its ease of setup: go to the site, enter your phone number, e-mail address, and password, and from then on you'll be able to see your e-mails on your phone. … Read more