blankets

Troops on both sides of the sleeved blanket battleground are quick to defend their sides. For example, a friend of mine proudly reps Team Slanket for its utilitarian foot pocket and softer pile fabric, whereas others prefer the larger back section of the Snuggie that makes it more...blankety. Most recently, a third contender has stepped into the lounge-off hoping to pull in the last demographic unswathed by the trend: it's called the Thuggie.

Its cutesy name is the only similarity between the Thuggie and its competitors; it's basically just an extra-long fleece hoodie that extends down to the wearer's knees for optimum coverage.

There's also a kangaroo pocket in the middle for your remote control and/or snacks, but if you think the idea derived from hip-hop's iconic XXL plain white T-shirt trend, you'd be wrong; the Thuggie's genesis story is actually set on the ski slopes of Canada.

Creator Bryan Pudney and three of his friends went skiing in Whistler, B.C., back in 2009 and handmade the first version of the Thuggie as a joke to mock the bulky fashion of other snow-goers. But like a lot of things you can find on the Internet, the irony faded and it became a hit soon after.

The Thuggie store offers an assortment of colors for $75, or you can "design" your own custom Thuggie for a little more. You can't find Thuggies in stores yet, but I predict it'll hit Duane Reade and Walgreens shelves in time for the winter holidays.

Alternatively, if you're not buying into the whole Thuggie thing, Why Not Apparel Inc. also offers Thugglets for babies and Chuggies for your favorite beverage.

More Thuggie pics after the jump.… Read more

Nothing can compare to someone whispering sweet nothings in your ear...unless that person is Wilson Tang...in which case you should probably pick up the phone and quickly dial 911. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is coming to a close in New York, but there's one more runway show that we don't think got the attention it deserved: the Snuggie! The blanket with sleeves somehow rose to ridiculous popularity and became an actual phenomenon, and the company is trying to continue its revenue stream by introducing a new "urban jungle" line of robes featuring zebra and leopard prints. I managed to get my hands on a a Snuggie of my own and we each take turns trying it on before brainstorming our own ideas for Snuggie customization.

We also lament the passing of 960 Blockbuster video rental stores, all sentenced to die by the end of 2010. The company obviously suffered at the hands of free, legit streaming-video sites like Hulu and even network homepages, but CNET's own Don Reisinger reports that over 18 percent of Blockbuster's stores aren't turning a profit, so the company is practically forced to cut back on locations. We can't say that we're surprised, especially since none of us has actually stepped foot in a Blockbuster in awhile, but there's still hope for the company in the form of small rental kiosks to be placed in stores throughout the country.

The final big news item today is the debut of Google's newest RSS reader ripoff, also known as Fast Flip. As Rafe Needleman reports, the service is essentially a digital version of the old microfilm readers in that the service presents screenshots of news articles in a horizontal landscape layout. Readers can preview the first page of news stories categorized by popularity, recent views, topics, etc... but the odd part is that none of the hyperlinks actually work. Instead, clicking anywhere on the page takes you to the original article landing page. Our initial reaction is wondering about this new relationship between Google Fast Flip and the actual Web publishers. We like the ability to read a quick snippet of news and quickly scroll through several news sites at once, but the horizontal scrolling is too limiting. Listen to the show to hear more complaints without solutions.

The first instinct when confronted with a radiological explosive device may be to turn tail and run, but the new Demron-W Nuclear/Ballistic Shield affords the opportunity to stick around and save the day.

The Demron suppression blanket provides total protection against ballistics, improvised explosive devices, dirty bombs, spills, and all types of radiological and nuclear incidents, according to Miami-based manufacturer Radiation Shield Technologies (RST).

It acts as a portable shield, tailored to reduce emissions from contained high-energy sources such as Cesium-137, and neutron sources and Americium-Beryllium. It's perfect for covering undetonated radiological dispersal devices, RST says.

The material, … Read more

After seeing so many crazy speakers on the market (with equally crazy prices), we often find ourselves pining for simpler products from simpler days. So it was almost a relief to come across the "Retro Hi-Fi Bookshelf Speakers" from Exeluxe.

As indicated by their name, these loudspeakers are a throwback in the best sense of the word, handmade in the color of your choice while housing 5.25-inch drivers and a 1-inch dome tweeter. Each unit is about a foot square and 7 inches deep, according to GeekAlerts, with vinyl covers that would fit perfectly in the ever-popular … Read more

What's better than a case of "No, I will not fix your computer" t-shirts and caffeine-molecule mugs? And no, the answer is not "A 'killer coding ninja monkeys' bumper sticker." C'mon. You're past that now. You might even have furniture! Or perhaps you've answered the call of the wild and are living out of a special tech-outfitted van. Anyway, you're a geek, and geeks gotta stay warm. Winter's a-comin'. You need this--to snuggle up, to brave the blizzard, to fend off the arctic blast.

Deeply fuzzy, with its two-centimeter-thick … Read more