dice

You need dice? Look no further.

Pip is a dice-rolling simulator, a handy aid for any sort of game that uses dice--from Yahtzee to Trivial Pursuit to Dungeons & Dragons. Pip lets you roll traditional six-sided dice, along with rest of the holy hexad of polyhedral nerd dice: the d4, d8, d10, d12, and d20.

Pip emphasizes its elegant interface, foregoing the more complex functionality of other dice-rolling apps: you slide out a "tray" on the right side of your screen, then drag and drop your desired dice onto (or off of) a virtual black tabletop one by one. You roll by shaking your … Read more

Need a hand, or three?

To say having an extra hand in the kitchen is a benefit would be an understatement. The daily dinner preparation can, at the best of times, turn into a finely orchestrated ballet of twisting and turning (not to mention slicing and dicing) and dancing about the kitchen trying to make it all work just so. And it all starts with the prep work. Having uniformly cut vegetables not only enhances the appearance of dishes, it also helps the cooking process itself as everything cooks evenly. Even in the simple case of French fries, unevenly cut potatoes can lead to disastrous … Read more

Virtual reality game

3DWorlds offers to let users live in a fictional world where they walk around and interact with others just like the real world. With a simple design and fun options, this is an exciting getaway for nearly all users.

This program's interface is surprisingly simple, considering its wide-open play style. Control buttons are clearly labeled and users are constantly given tips via the chat screen. Even those unfamiliar with role-playing software should feel a certain comfort level after only a few minutes of toying with the program. In addition, the Help Desk is always open and offers several tutorials. … Read more

Contract work fuels rise in tech job postings

Correction, 12:11 p.m. PST: This story inadvertently gave an incorrect number for the tech job postings at Dice.com in February 2008. The actual number for that month was 94,423. The percentages that stem from that number also have been corrected.

Jobs posted on technology jobs site Dice.com rose 3.1 percent in February, its first sequential increase since late last summer, just before the economy started to really turn sour in September.

Tech job listings rose to 57,337 as of February 2, up from 55,609 in January, according to the company's monthly … Read more

E3 2008: Mirror's Edge

'Mirror's Edge' is a unique first-person game where you assume the role of Faith, a woman constantly on the run. The game offers a graphical style unlike anything seen before, where you must constantly scan your surroundings for items colored in red in order to progress seamlessly. 'Mirror's Edge' is scheduled to be available this year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

The watch is gold, but that's all we can tell

The only thing surprising about this watch is that it didn't come from Tokyoflash, the site known for such indecipherable gems as the "Jive Turkey," the "Pleasure Seeker" and the ever-popular "Pimpin' Ain't Easy" series.

But it certainly could have, for it seems equally baffling. As Tech Digest says, the "Guru" timepiece from Black Dice Industries has LEDs positioned in a "peculiar, eye-bending pattern." If you do manage to figure out how to read this $250 watch, though, you can take it diving up to 50 meters.

In … Read more

A business card that's a weapon and vegetable chopper

If you happen to run into Jonathan Hirshon, president of Horizon Communications, ask for a business card. It's made of aluminum.

For the past two days, we've been trying to figure out all the many uses for it. It's sharp enough to cut carrots. If sharpened a bit more, it could be fashioned into a Ninja star. If this were the '80s, it would have been a status symbol for drug dealers in Miami.

The word "Horizon" isn't painted on the card either. It's a stencil, so you can also use it to … Read more