mad

The 'Disaster House,' for every paranoid

The work of a true paranoid, we can say with first-person certainty, is never done. The soundproof "WhisperRoom" may be good for countering the eavesdropping devices we're sure are embedded in our walls, for instance, but it's just a start. What we really need is something closer to the "DH1 Disaster House."

The brainchild of California architect Gregg Fleishman, the European birch structure is meant to be used in the post-apocalyptic environment left by disasters of natural and human-made origin alike, according to SCI FI Tech. And at 14 x 14 feet square, it'… Read more

A purple Razr for the psychedelic mom

As Motorola phones have been dedicated to cities, race cars and obscene consumerism, it's nice to see that at least one handset is being reserved for an icon a little closer to home: mom.

The Motorazr Purple V3i has been launched for Mother's Day, apparently the first Motorola phone sold exclusively through its own stores. SlashGear says it's basically a standard V3i model with a deep metallic finish, though it's nice to know that someone cares. But purple? Maybe it's aimed at moms nostalgic for the '60s.

An electrifying game of endurance--literally

If this becomes a trend, let's hope it doesn't reach the level of extreme gaming. Just after we cited an alarm clock that shocks you awake, we learned of the "Shocking Duel Novelty Game," which is described rather frighteningly as "a pain endurance test to see who can hold on longer."

It gets worse: The electric shock, according to Chip Chick, intensifies every 5 seconds. We hope, for the sake of the poor contestants, that the intensity level tops out at some point. Otherwise, people with pacemakers won't be the only ones who … Read more

News Roundup: March Madness on YouTube, Google privacy, and SkypeFind

NCAA tournament clips on YouTube. Just because Viacom has gone lawsuit-happy with YouTube, that doesn't mean CBS wants to keep its content off Google's video-hosting service. CBS will be adding highlights, press conferences and specials available "immediately" following live TV coverage. YouTube users will also be able to vote on and rank their favorite game clips.

Google adding search privacy protections. Google will be "anonymizing" search queries connected to your IP address and browser cookies about 18 to 24 months after they were created. Currently, all three pieces of information are grouped together and … Read more

March Madness: an obligatory roundup

March Madness finds a way into offices, schools, and between friends faster than most of us can imagine. Nearly everybody knows someone who is either running or a part of a betting pool. Download.com has put together a handy set of March Madness software tools to help you create your own pool or keep track of all the data that will be flowing in during the coming weeks. But what about Web services that can do the same thing? We've put together a roundup of some of the handiest services to keep track of all the money you'… Read more

Motorbike gets monster truck engine

No, we don't know why someone would want to outfit a motorcycle with a monster truck engine, but that's not important. There are even larger questions in life, such as why anyone would want to build a 31-foot motorbike. (Crave tends to ponder existential questions on the weekend.)

Regardless of the reasons, the two-wheeled "Rapom" is equipped with an 8.2-liter supercharged V8 engine, according to Spluch. Its Dr. Frankstein wannabe creator says the bike was the unholy offspring of "the unusual marriage of convenience and nativete."

The PS3 tour of Manhattan

Are the gods smiling upon New York City's gamers today? Sure, it's a little windy, but last night's rainy mist is a distant memory and the thermometers are hitting the 70-degree Fahrenheit mark. The hordes of eager fans who've lined up for a chance at obtaining the PlayStation 3 console at midnight on opening day couldn't really have asked for a nicer November morning.

Last night's 24-hours-to-go photos from the SonyStyle store in midtown are now on News.com. This morning I made a downtown excursion, hitting up the Circuit City in Union Square … Read more

Burning the midnight oil in line for the PS3

WHASSUP, CRAVERS? Here in NYC it's the lovely hour of 1:30 AM, and yours truly just returned from an expedition to the SonyStyle store on Madison Avenue in midtown, also known (for the time being) as PlayStation 3 Central. We'll be covering the mayhem in full tomorrow morning here on Crave as well as at News.com, but I'm going to leave you all with a little teaser.

Twenty-four hours to go until the PS3 launches, and what did I see? A line--the one in the picture. Yeah, this line of a dozen or so people. … Read more