Crave

Now this item should prove Crave's dedication, given that it's so foreign to us on so many fronts. Among them: surfing (no), frigid water (sorry) and physical exertion in general (sounds vaguely familiar).

But if you're into that sort of thing, you might well be interested in the "Hangair Wetsuit Drying System" (and probably from California--just a wild guess). Popgadget says this state-of-the-art technology employs "a two-speed, high-powered waterproof fan to ensure ventilation for your wetsuit or other sports apparel and is constructed out of Nylon 66 for durability." As for us, we'… Read more

I just didn't know what to say about this picture that I found on the MAKE magazine blog. It kind of left me speechless. In fact, the only thing I was able to do was come up with a title for the post. Five titles, in fact. So, here's what I'd start off with if I weren't wholly without words regarding this...brilliant idea.

5. Guard against the bogeyman with a Tiger. Rarrr.

4. Bring iLife into your nightlife. Literally.

3. Make your nightmares about Bill Gates go away forever!

2. Ever wanted to know what … Read more

Meet the Dolphin, a three-wheeled, two-seater concept car that carries driver and passenger in tandem configuration. The aerodynamic prototype (pictured left) weighs just 475 pounds, and relies on a 200cc Piaggio scooter engine. According to this article in the U.K.'s Telegraph, the Dolphin can reach speeds of more than 60mph and gets an average fuel economy of 90 miles per gallon.

While the Dolphin is still a concept, a tandem-style, three-wheeled, two-seater production vehicle is not that far off. Myers Motors is scheduled to launch its electric-powered Qui Moto (right)--a successor to the Corbin Sparrow and NmG … Read more

NOTE: From now through December, every few days a different Crave expert will be posting his or her top 10 gadget picks for the holidays. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas! Here's our ninth installment.

Emily is a news producer at CNET's San Francisco headquarters. After making a daring escape from the philosophy profession, she now spends her days scouring the Interweb for your edification. Her spirit animal is an inch-high purple orangutan, and she likes to camp in the great expanses of the West.

1. Ars Technica hooded sweatshirt. This item is … Read more

This looks kind of like the slide projector that we used in my third-grade social studies class back in...whenever I was in third grade. But it's not: it's actually a digital tool to enhance the experience of bird-watching, called the Song Sleuth Digital Bird Detector. Turn it on, and it can decipher 160,000 different bird calls in real time, thanks to audio data from Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology. It can also record sound so that you can put it on your computer later, for whatever reason.

I might be wrong about this, as bird-watching … Read more

It could be the 21st-century version of the Sunday drive: Blow up the hot-air blimp, take it for a spin, then fold it up and put it away.

Of course, that's assuming you've got $200,000 liquefying your Tiffany money clip.

The Personal Blimp from Skyacht Aircraft made its maiden voyage in late October, and although the company calls it a blimp, it's essentially a steerable hot-air balloon. It utilizes hot air in place of helium and is propelled by electric motors.

Though the cost may seem high for a leisure activity, consider that the average helium … Read more

After a long wait, we're finally starting to get in a new wave of first-generation Blu-ray players. CNET will be posting full reviews for both the Panasonic DMP-BD10 and the Philips BDP9000 shortly, but I've already taken some long looks at each in terms of picture quality, and they've got a lot to be worried about. Not because they look worse than HD DVD; in fact, the picture-quality gap is almost gone between the two formats. And not because they're bad players; both of them put out a pristine Blu-ray image that blows DVD out of … Read more

The new incarnation of the Nokia's N91 music phone is labeled on the company's U.S. Web site as "coming soon." In case you don't know, this second N91 has an 8GB hard drive for storing your tunes (double the 4GB hard drive on the first N91), and it sports a sleek black color scheme (as opposed to silver). After black was the new silver, and pink was the new black, it appears that, at least for smart phones, black is the new black. The phone also will offer an A2DP stereo Bluetooth, and Nokia … Read more

Not to brag, but Crave gets invited to lots of holiday parties. More parties than we care to attend, in fact. And while we do try to send heartfelt regrets to, say, our parents, for the most part we reserve our witty comments for this site. Which is why we're fond of the Holiday Party Excuse Generator from interactive design firm Enlighten. You select the type of party, your feelings for the host, the tone, and how believable you want your excuse to be. The Excuse Generator does the rest, producing pithy replies that start with such phrases as &… Read more