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Crave giveaway: A gaggle of back-to-school gifts

Congrats to James A. of Mtn. Home, Idaho, for winning last week's giveaway, a Braven 625s Bluetooth speaker, speakerphone, and device charger.

All around us, it's back-to-school time, and this week's giveaway is here to help you and yours get back in the scholastic swing. First things first, there's that waking-up-early thing. Our prize package includes an Edifier Tick Tock Dock Bluetooth alarm clock and iPhone/iPod docking system that looks like an old-style waker-upper, but delivers sound through the two speakers masquerading as retro bells.

Next up, a 16-inch portable LED monitor from AOC powered solely by USB. The device works with PCs or Macs and includes a built-in smart stand for landscape and portrait display. … Read more

Ego's flashy iPhone case has a built-in thumbdrive

I'm actually kind of surprised we haven't seen an iPhone case like this already, but Ego is calling its Hybrid Series USB Case for the iPhone 4/4S a "world's first."

Yes, this one features a slide-in USB drive that's available in six color options and 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB storage capacities. The case itself also comes in different colors, and Ego says that when you add up all the possible color combination, the total comes out to 42. However, your color options for the USB stick vary by capacity.

The 4GB stick comes … Read more

Photographer exposes MMORPG gamers in the meatspace

Photographer Robbie Cooper explores the modern convergence of personal and social identities in a portrait series that pairs gamers with their virtual avatars.

Cooper traveled around the world for three years, visiting places like Korea, China, France, and Germany to capture the online and in-person lives of MMO participants.

His photo project evolved into a photo book called "Alter Ego" that further scrutinizes the role of absorbed fantasy in the gaming metaverse through interviews, biographies, and essays.

The book also paints a range of identities behind the avatars. It's not just a bunch of oily adolescents mashing keyboards in a basement; Cooper's subjects range from a gold farmer in China, a paraplegic in Texas, and even an octogenarian who all teach a valuable lesson to never judge a gamer by his or her avatar.

Plenty more pictures of gamers and their avatars after the page break.… Read more

Research: Facebook makes your head bigger

How do you feel about yourself? A little indifferent? A touch fed up with the creases on either side of your mouth? Drinking a little more than usual because the boy at the next work station got a raise and you didn't?

Please lie down here and let me make you feel better. Please pull out your iPhone. Now log on to Facebook.

There, feeling better already, huh?

This new method of curing the insecure was brought to me by the wise researchers at Cornell University. Jeffrey Hancock, associate professor of communication, and Amy Gonzales (Ph.D., 2010) decided … Read more

Sub du jour goes all-electric

This sub could make even Philippe Cousteau, with so many water toys at his disposal, a little jealous.

The Ego "compact semi-submarine" from Raonhaje--showcased at the Miami Boat Show last week--functions as both a motor boat and as a sub that seats two just below the water's surface.

Instead of using a rudder and outboard motor, both the Ego LE (luxury edition) and the Ego SE (standard edition) are run by electric podded propulsion with a battery-powered BLDC (Brushless DC electric motor).

The completely battery-powered sub uses a Trojan T-890 battery pack--a golf-cart battery--that allows the … Read more

Iomega to add USB 3.0 to eGo portable drives

Iomega announced Tuesday that its plans to equip all of its eGo portable hard drives in 500GB and 1TB capacities with the new USB 3.0 interface by early October. Iomega is a little late to the USB 3.0 game as Western Digital, Seagate, and many other storage vendors released their USB 3.0-based external hard drive a long time ago.

According to Iomega, to make up for this, the new USB 3.0 portable drive will share the same software bundle that comes with its existing USB 2.0 drives. And most importantly, according to the company, its … Read more