How on earth are you going to install that gun rack in your track if you don't have properly buffed guns on your arms? That's right, it's all about fitness tech. Now, Jason has to take a run around the block to catch a cab.
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EPISODE 153
Sandisk Sansa Clip+ mp3 player looks pretty, plays awesome
Ultra-thin Sony VAIO X laptop weighs just 1.5 lb
Webcycle doles out internet speeds as fast as you’re pedaling (thanks, Morely!)
What would James Bond use? The Japanese pistol camera
What the hell!?
Really Snowing Picture Frame Makes It Winter Anytime
Pink Watch
Barbie’s gadgets
PRETTY (Bugatti Edition!)
Tea kettle of the future from Bugatti
Swarovski crystals and Italian leather for your Bugatti Diva
Why Didn’t I Think Of That?
Buttcam makes jeans shopping easy
Two months worth of Twilight talk has resulted in this homage that we lovingly refer to as "goth-lite." Take a walk on the dark side with the Gadgettes and special guest Natali Del Conte.
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EPISODE 146 |
Skull phone shows just how wild and crazy you are
Report: U.S. military developing robots that eat human flesh
Gory intercom system a savagely funny concept
iKey's AK-39 wearable keyboard is about as weapon-like as it sounds
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
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These days, it always seems to come back around to food, and analyzing each other's food issues is pretty enlightening. Here are some tools to appease the inner food critic.
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EPISODE 141 |
Flint woman invents Corner Cap to keep boxes of food from spilling
World’s smallest microwave also has world’s worst name
Aero Blue Robot prepares to dish out unemployment to Japanese waiters
Chocolate scented calculator is torture for dieters
Hot Dogs to Go (thanks, engnr_chik!)
... Read more
Dan Ackerman joins us on today's show to talk about his not-critically-acclaimed album "Tales Out of Night School" and the technology world in general. Be sure to check out his podcast Digital City on iTunes. Also, he give his opinion on digital-music distribution and makes fun of our game of marry/boff/kill with Ms. Natali Del Conte.
On today's show, we talk about the release of the new "Watchmen" movie. The first reviews are mixed. Justin is still holding out hope that the film will be watchable. In other movie and television news, Showtime, a sister company of CNET, is releasing Emmy screeners on iPods. Amazon finally gets the sense to pull a video game featuring rape simulation. The cast of "Seinfeld" rejoins on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Hopefully, Michael Richard won't drop any bombs on the show. Justin is disappointed that a sheriff in Cook County is finally starting to crack down on prostitution on Craigslist. And Matel releases a Barbie doll in China with a tattoo.
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(Credit:
Akihabara News)
It's pink, it plays MP3s, and it's got a "Barbie" signature. Is there really anything else left to say?
It's unclear whether the Korean-made "INNO B2" is licensed by Mattel, but we would be surprised if it was. The toymaker already has its "Barbie Girls" MP3 player, which is tied into its whole Webkinz-like online strategy.
Whatever the case, this player has an OLED screen, 2GB of built-in storage, a radio tuner, and a USB port, according to Akihabara News. It could also be easily mistaken for a makeup compact because it has a mirror for quick touch-ups. But for those who aren't quite ready to accept a virtual Barbie, there's always the lip-syncing "Chat Divas Barbie Doll."
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The Barbie Girls MP3 player doubles as a dress-up doll.
(Credit: Mattel)NEW YORK--Who's running things over at Mattel?
The Barbie Girls MP3 player that doubles as a paper doll with plastic clothes is now out.
First, I don't think parents should pay $59.99 for an MP3 player with 512MB of storage, even if you can dress it up. For that price I'd recommend spending a little more and getting their child the "big kid" iPod Nano or Shuffle you know they really want. To be fair, the device can hold a microSD card of up to 2GB.
But that's not my real problem with this tech toy.
Plugging the MP3 player into a computer grants the owner entry into new places in the BarbieGirls.com virtual world that non-buyers of the device won't have access to. It also gives you access to "exclusive" virtual purses and pets.
Seriously?
While I understand Mattel's desire to offer some sort of reward for buying the device, the concept of creating a virtual velvet rope seems destructive to the Barbie image the company has been struggling to improve.
"It's the next-generation fashion doll. We've always evolved with how girls play. It's all about music, being online and fashion," Lauren Dougherty, director of PR/Communications for Mattel Brands, told CNET News.com from the floor of DigitalLife 2007.
If Mattel is serious about reinventing Barbie's image and keeping up with the Webkinz of the world, maybe it should think about the overall picture.
As this writer was once a little girl who drooled over the outfits created for Barbie by some of the coolest fashion designers, I'm not anti-Barbie in the least. I just wish she was a little more Brenda Starr and a little less Paris Hilton. This is 2007, right?
Of course, this is the same company that in 1992 thought it was a good idea to make "Math class is tough" one of the lines for its Teen Talk Barbie.
We all know how well that went over.
(Credit:
Instructables)
If you're anti-Barbie and also against the death penalty, you'll have mixed feelings about a middle-schooler's Barbie Doll Electric Chair Science Project. At least we can all agree on the importance of science in the classroom. While I'm trying to keep all things Barbie away from my 2-year-old daughter, I certainly think she ought to leave middle school understanding the fundamentals of electricity. And if we have to send Barbie to the chair for that to happen, so be it. The step-by-step guide on Instructables expertly shows how to construct an electric chair for your Barbie and includes thoughtful touches such as shaving Barbie's head before strapping her into the chair.
(Via Gizmodo)
I'm hardly a Barbie girl, but there really is a Barbie world now--at least virtually.
Mattel, the company behind the iconic pencil-thin doll, says BarbieGirls.com is the first global virtual world designed specifically for girls, who can create their own flawless avatars by picking "from 2.64 quadrillion character combinations of fashions and accessories, as well as stylish faces, expressions and hairstyles."
In conjunction with the virtual world, the toy maker plans in July to start selling $60 plastic MP3 players called "Barbie Girls"--you've probably already guessed what song is in my head--designed to look like the avatar dolls. The devices, about 4.5 inches tall, and equipped with 512MB of memory and an expandable miniSD slot for up to a 2GB memory card, are designed to hook into the virtual community.
For better or worse, the players' hair is plastic. So while girls can accessorize (and presumably undress) the music-playing dolls, they sadly can't brush their hair.
(Credit:
Techie Diva)
The only thing surprising about this product is that it didn't come out sooner. After all, even though Barbie is well into middle age (she turned 48 in March), she remains one of the most popular toys in the world.
So it's fitting that Mattel bring this enduring icon into the digital age the "Barbie Girl MP3" player for another generation of tween consumers that marketers covet so much. Not only will the $60 doll-slash-player hold at least 512MB worth of Hilary Duff's greatest hits, but Techie Diva says it also continues to the Barbie dress-up tradition with a set of accessories for another $10. Can a Ken GPS device be far off?
(Credit:
Mattel)
I haven't checked in with Barbie since I was about 10, but apparently a lot has happened since then. Barbie's sartorial choices notwithstanding (satin halter tops?), the fact is, she's getting kind of geeky.
At the American International Toy Fair going on this week in New York, Mattel introduced a Barbie that connects to an MP3 player and can sing the songs that are playing AND answer the phone. OK, the Chat Divas Barbie Doll doesn't actually sing, she lip syncs and dances to the music. But when the phone rings, you can hold the receiver up to her ear and she'll "answer" the phone.
As one fellow Craver noted, the gadget-toting angle is a cute idea, but there are plenty of songs that should never come out of Barbie's mouth. For instance, I think hearing my favorite childhood toy belting out any Pussycat Dolls song might scar me permanently.
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