Dancing

A couple of months ago we talked about the X-mini capsule speaker, a tiny accordion-like gadget that produced sound volume you won't have expected from its diminutive form. Now here's another product that could rival it: the Dancing Cube portable mini-speaker, distributed by Singapore-based Alpha Wireless Systems.

You might have guessed from the photo that the design of this model isn't quite as interesting as the X-mini's. Although it also has that accordion-style pull-out so that there's more space for sound to resonate, it's nowhere near as cute as the capsule speakers. In fact, … Read more

A San Francisco nightclub installed on Monday what it's promoting as the city's first vertical garden. Several plant-filled boxes turned on their sides and bolted outside near the entrance are the first step in the Zen Compound's plans to cover the facade of the building in greenery.

"The hope is to have a living building," said Mike Zuckerman, director of sustainability at the 40,000 square foot complex. He spotted a butterfly hovering near native licorice ferns on Tuesday.

Green rooftops are in vogue in cities around the country. Hanging, wall-mounted gardens, on the other … Read more

DanceJam is a well-thought-through Web site about dance and dancing, surrounded by what looks to be a solid business plan. I tried out the still-closed beta and then got a run-through of the site and the business by the exec team, CEO Geoffrey Arone and CTO Anthony Young (co-founders of Flock), and Chief Strategy Officer MC Hammer (blog). That added a bit of novelty to the meeting.

The first pass on DanceJam is this: It's a site where people can upload videos of themselves dancing and see other dance videos as well. The site will host contests in various … Read more

Nobody was expecting billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban to be a runaway surprise on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, but he naturally managed to raise a few eyebrows on his Tuesday night dancing debut. For one, the opening credits featured the Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet guru shouting "I am a lean, mean dancing machine!" And paired with scantily-clad Australian dancer Kym Johnson, the 49-year-old entrepreneur wiggled his hips, snapped his fingers, lip-synched, and (naturally) let his tongue hang out.

Cuban did indeed "churn the butter" as he'd promised his blog readers. He … Read more

Have you set your DVR yet? I sure have. On Tuesday night we'll see the ballroom dancing debut of Dallas Mavericks owner and tech entrepreneur extraordinaire Mark Cuban as he leaps onto the stage of the corny ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, which pairs celebrities of various calibers with professional dance partners and then pits the couples against one another.

Cuban, always the subtle one, is encouraging his blog readers to dial in and vote for him and his curvy blond dance partner, Kym. "I'm up against all the pretty boys, athletes and entertainers tonight,&… Read more

On Monday night, just about everybody involved in online video in New York headed to a remotely located loft space in the post-industrial West Chelsea neighborhood for the Gotham edition of the NewTeeVee Pier Screenings, hosted by Valley blogebrity Om Malik of GigaOm and the rest of his blogger crew. Well, they weren't actually on a pier, but the event space had a great view of the Hudson, so we'll let that count. Spotted were folks from Mogulus, Vimeo, GroundReport, and a handful of well-known broadcast brands, as well as sponsors Metacafe, Next New Networks, and Blip.tv.… Read more

It's the Sony Rolly, the product that nobody understands WTF it is! Of all the rumors, the one I like best (and sounds somewhat plausible), is that it's another Aibo-esque Sony robotic-pet product. This time, however, it looks like a little beer keg and possibly uses cameras and mirrors enclosed under its little animated hinged flaps to look around and interact with you. Sony's not offering up many clues here, but I think the theories on what this thing is are probably more interesting than the reality.

Anybody else want to take a guess? Music player? … Read more

Gazillionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban might hate YouTube, have a feud with Donald Trump, and think that the Internet is dead and boring, but clearly Dancing with the Stars falls into his favor.

According to the Associated Press, the Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet founder will be on this fall's season of the reality show that pairs celebrities with professional dancers and then pits the couples against each other. This rumor had been floating for a while, but now--barring a sudden change of heart on Cuban's or the network's part--it looks like it's all but confirmed.

Cuban'… Read more

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of the battles here and vote on eight more first round battles here.

Complex as they are, most robots solve dilemmas in a basic way: they fight each other. Then Michael Bay films it, charges $10 a ticket, and everyone enjoys the marvelous robots-kicking-the-crap-out-of-each-other show.

But there are plenty of robots that have no appetite for destruction. What about these robots, ones that have to rely on personality, artifical wits, social skills, and dance moves in order to survive?

Even if they banded together, these robots couldn't fight their … Read more