Doll

Lewis Hamilton wins 2009 Singtel Singapore Grand Prix

The 2009 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix has come and gone over this past weekend, and what an exciting race it turned out to be. Noted F1 driver Lewis Hamilton (the 2008 F1 champion and boyfriend to super hottie Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls fame) in his McLaren-Mercedes went from pole to checkered flag to win the race, followed by Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso finishing at the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively. To be fair, close rival Sebastian Vettel committed a white line penalty out of the pit which helped Hamilton secure the victory, but all things considered … Read more

Dated database program

Collectibles Organizer Deluxe is a database program that allows users to keep track of the contents of collections of any sort. Although the program works fine, there are likely more sophisticated options to accomplish this task.

The program's interface looks very dated; it's reminiscent of Windows 95. Not surprisingly, it's not particularly intuitive, and in general its layout feels somewhat cluttered and clunky. To its credit, the program does open with a brief explanation of its features, allowing users to get started without too much trouble. Collectibles Organizer Deluxe offers five different database templates for users to … Read more

Webware 100 winner: Stardoll

Site: Stardoll.com Category: Social &Publishing

Stardoll is a Web-based version of dress-up dolls. Users have a wide variety of real-life celebrities and pop culture icons to choose from. Each doll can be dressed up in various pieces of clothing and shared with others.

Stardoll users get their own profiles to house their doll collections and become friends with others who enjoy similar dolls. They can also maintain a blog and photo gallery. It's a mishmash of social networking and an arts-and-crafts fair.

The service is free, however users can create their own doll avatar known as a … Read more

Q&A: The Ultimate Gamer--keeping a cool head

This post was updated at 11:30 p.m. PDT with a corrected photo credit. The photo of Alyson, aka Nin9ty Nin9, was taken by Stephen Couratier.

On Tuesday, after eight weekly episodes, video game enthusiasts--and others--saw a winner crowned in the Sci-Fi Channel's reality TV show, "World Cyber Games Ultimate Gamer."

Pitting 12 hard-core gamers--whom the public knew only by their first names and their "gamertags"--against each other in what could be called the video game version of "Big Brother," the show highlighted the difficulties of top-level gaming, as well as … Read more

Steve Jobs doll for sale, Conficker sold separately

Whether you use it as a sleeping aid or a pincushion is up to you, but the unofficial Steve Jobs doll is officially for sale at Podbrix.

He's pretty cute though, right? Just as you'd expect, the 17-inch tall doll bears a striking resemblance to everyone's favorite Applet, with the classic black turtleneck, a pair of wire glasses, and even a set of hand-stitched shoelaces. No bottle of Smart Water, though, probably because of that whole royalties thing. You, not your children (the glasses are a choking hazard), can pick up your own Plush Jobs here for … Read more

The 404 143: Where it's talking to you

Per usual, we push the envelope in the preshow today and it starts to leak into the beginning of today's episode, but we quickly (maybe not so quickly) seal it up and get into our story rundown. We criticize our sue-happy country and its propensity for stupid T-shirts, speak to the potential power of iPhone gaming, introduce a new S&M Barbie doll (therapy not included), and snap our way through this year's Emmy nominees. EPISODE 143 Download today's podcast

Singing theremin doll is a little creepy

The theremin may well be our favorite musical instrument here at Crave. We know that's certainly the case with Tim Moynihan, anyway. So in honor of him and his robot musicians, today we offer this rather bizarre variation called the "Matryomin," named after the Russian Matryoska dolls by Japanese "master thereminist" Masami Takeuchi. Gizmowatch says the instrument made by Mandarin Electron--which is basically a theremin stuffed inside one of the dolls--yields "both electric and eclectic sounds" and lends the impression that the wooden toy is "singing to the touch of the player.&… Read more

Desktop origami in your browser: Paper Critters

For DIY nuts out there, the Web is a source of plentiful project ideas and guides. It's also the home of a handful of paper craft projects, the kind you can print out and put together with a little bit of glue and ingenuity. A new, and really neat one got sent our way this weekend. It's called Paper Critters, and it's a Web-based creation tool for making your own desk art in the form of a boxlike creature. You can edit all five sides of it using a simple drag-and-drop editor with a variety of stamps and drawing tools. There's also a custom stamp that lets you use an image from your hard drive.

When finished putting everything together, there are several ways to share you work, including a printout feature that comes complete with step-by-step instructions. There's an e-mail tool and a permalink to send to others on your usual e-mail client, or via IM. My favorite is the embed code, which lets you drop it into a blog or Web site.

Once a critter has been shared, it goes into a group collective called "The Colony." From there, anyone can give it a look and add it to their favorites list. There's also a section for user comments. The real killer application is being able to edit other peoples' work and customize it. While this won't be reflected on their original, if you see something someone else has made, you can print it out yourself, or make alterations.

I've embedded an example of a 3-D Paper Critter. I've also been told by creator JR Fabito that a Facebook Application could be on the way. If you're into these kinds of projects, there are countless blogs dedicated to chronicling Web-syndicated paper crafts. Two of my favorites are Paper Forest and PaperKraft.net--both offer some serious eye candy and links to other projects.

Disclosure: Paper Critters creator JR Fabito is an ex-CNET employee and one of the designers of Webware.com.

… Read more

Webcam dolls look like they're for kids

As much as we liked the "Happy Kid" and "Bubble Head" Webcams, this one has gone too far. The oddly named "GeekPark" USB Webcam (a play on South Park?) is basically the Cabbage Patch equivalent of computer peripherals. The pint-sized dolls have adjustable heads, legs and arms, as well as a camera lense embedded in their torsos.

Perhaps the strangest thing of all is their individual names--"Ms. B," "Mr. G," et al--which are remind us of "Mr. Pink" and "Mr. Brown" from Reservoir Dogs. Which … Read more