schools

As many a deafened parent of pre-teen kids will tell you, Disney's High School Musical is a force to be reckoned with. It has gone well beyond its TV-movie origins to become an international phenemenon, with live shows, DVDs, CDs and maddeningly repetitive pop tunes that are driving innumerable moms and dads to the brink of insanity.

All of which makes it a perfect storm, of course, for a major merchandizing blitz. Never one to shy away from a marketing challenge, Amazon is offering a "High School Musical Wii Bundle With Microphone" next month. But Gizmodo notes … Read more

There have been several stories in the news this week about airplanes and spacecraft. I'm an Air Force veteran myself, and I've been an Aviation Week subscriber for over 20 years, but you don't have to be in the industry to keep up with the latest in aerospace technology. Even CNET covers this kind of thing today, and some of the stories I've seen this week have gotten me thinking about buying a private jet.

I think Esther Dyson deserves a lot of credit for bridging the computer and aerospace industries. In 2005, Esther inaugurated her … Read more

A lot of innovation in scanning technology has been in the 3D department, but Germany's Zeutschel has stuck to the basics with ink on paper. And at least in one regard, it's paid off.

If the "Omniscan 12000 BookCopy" isn't the top of the line where copying machines are concerned, it's got to be close, scanning at a rate of a page per second. Unlike traditional face-down copiers, this one works with an overhead camera so you don't have to worry about the paper's position on the glass. And if you do … Read more

Which business model is likely to be the most successful: MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, or Second Life?

According to a war game played out at London's Business School last week, MySpace wins. But, in a conclusion that was validated by this week's Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube for copyright infringement, the participants concluded that both MySpace and YouTube are vulnerable to legal attacks and government regulations that target illegal activities and objectionable content, such as child pedophilia and pornography.

Copyright lawsuits will be a "major distraction at best or they could undermine" the businesses, says Leonard Fuld, president of Boston-based Fuld & Co., which ran the war game. "Sexy and cool as MySpace and YouTube seem, they are prone to attacks."

Meanwhile, the team of students representing MySpace successfully convinced the panel of experts who judged the war game that MySpace has the most viable business strategy among the social network sites. "MySpace won the game by a fairly good margin. They had a much better argument: that content is king," Fuld says. "MySpace won the strategy event...whether it will win the war" is unclear. … Read more

The only question we have about this item is why it's carried on sites with names like Stupidiotic and Fashionfunky--both of which imply something pejorative or embarrassing.

We, by contrast, freely admit that we love the idea of these "Laser Scissors," which Gearfuse says ensures a straight cut every time. The scissors project a laser from Point A to Point B, obviating the need for rulers and faint pencil lines.

Lest there be any doubt about the value of such an invention, just ask any parent who has volunteered to help out in their kids' preschool … Read more

We at Crave would never advocate speeding or any other illegal activity on the road, but we do think it's only fair that motorists get a fighting chance against overzealous, quota-driven traffic cops (this is America, dammit). Besides, this windshield speed projector can actually help you keep your eyes on the road, making it easier to dial a cell phone phone or watch a DVD while behind the wheel.

GlobalTop Technology's "GPS HUD Speed Meter" projects your miles per hour on the windshield so your eyes don't need to drop down to the dashboard for … Read more

Our feelings about student gear with external speakers should be fairly clear by now, so one can image how we reacted upon learning of a binder that comes with stereo satellites, as seen on Electronista. We're thankful, at least, that it can take headphones as well, so the rest of us won't necessarily be subjected to our kids' blaring tunes.

We can't really blame school supplies companies for keeping up with the times, but we can't help but feel somewhat betrayed by the one that makes this binder--Mead--because it used to make classroom products that were … Read more

One of the best-selling gadgets this holiday season is, in many ways, something a lot closer to the Iron Age than the Digital Age.

Black & Decker's battery-powered adjustable wrench was a quick sellout at Home Depot's 2,127 stores, according to Advertising Age. The item became so popular that it even saw a bit of price gouging on eBay, running up to $58 on some auctions from the $18 price listed on Lowe's online stores, which also ran out of the product. Not exactly PS3 prices, but not bad for a wrench either.

The product's … Read more

The once-seemingly-vast gulf between the sociable jock and the computer geek (think Revenge of the Nerds) seems to be shrinking faster by the day. Last night at the New York Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup (wow, that's a mouthful), I met a few of the guys responsible for Takkle.com. In short, it's a social networking and media site geared toward those involved in high school sports: players, coaches, and fans. Takkle's been getting a fair amount of positive buzz since its Monday launch, thanks in particular to a partnership with Sports Illustrated's "… Read more