Crave

(Credit: Yanko Design)

Place this one in the "interesting idea, bad execution" category.

Label With Green is a concept design by Shao Wei Huang, Chia-Yi Cho, Yu Pei Kuo, and Chung Kai Chiang that I spotted on Yanko. The idea is that you'd get a package of solar stickers, each of which powers a separate gadget component such as the display, speaker, keypad, camera, or solar battery.

Adding more stickers manually is supposed to make you more aware of how much power your device is taking up and presumably train you to adjust your behavior accordingly--whatever that might mean.

It's a cool idea in theory, but it's impractical. As fellow post fellow blogger Jaymi Heimbuch of Treehugger notes: "This idea has its heart in the right place, but unfortunately completely ignores human nature." That's entirely correct.

It's good these designers want to help the world become a greener place, but there are probably better ways to do it, especially since gadgets already in use would probably need to be re-engineered to get their power from the stickers. That, of course, could lead to more upgrades, which could lead to more e-waste, and so on and so on.

(Credit: Yanko Design)

Plug 'em into an iPod or your computer

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

A couple of days ago I blogged about possibly (hopefully) the world's most expensive speaker, Transmission Audio's Ultimate ($1,000,000 each), so I guess it makes sense to write up a dirt cheap speaker, Kikkerland's Woodchuck iPod/computer speakers.

Thing is, Kikkerland's Web site doesn't list the Woodchuck, but I see it's on Amazon going for $13.99 a pair. So I guess I can't complain too much, but the sound is so weak, bassless, trebleless, and dynamically compressed the Woodchuck is without doubt the lamest sounding speaker I've ever heard. Kinda sounds like the speaker in my Panasonic answering machine.

Not on my head.

(Credit: Think Geek)

The headline on this Dvice post about Think Geek's Wi-Fi-detecting hat says the cap will make you "king of the geeks." And maybe it will. But you can have that title, my liege; I'd rather get dates.

Not to say your crown isn't cool, technically it is. I mean, it has a fully functional Wi-Fi detector built in. So while you may never know if you've found decent coverage (unless you're staring into a mirror), at least all the girls around you will know. But since they won't be talking to you, it doesn't really matter.

OK, maybe I'm being a little hard on this thing, but again, I'm not cracking down on the hat, just on those who'd wear it around. It's really just a $14.99 way to advertise, "Look at me, I'm a geek! Ha! Look, geek here!" But if you're the type who'd wear this, I'm fairly sure the Utilikilt and BlackBerry holster would give it away anyway.

A couple of weeks ago I got to attend a press screening of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" a week before the general American release. There was only one trailer before the film, and that was for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which launches August 6.

I have been to many press screenings, but I've never heard professional movie critics--my colleagues--heckle a trailer before. The movie looks amazingly bad in every way. That's why I'm not surprised Paramount is taking the viral route to try to gain public interest in what will no doubt turn into a multimillion dollar crapfest.

This is one such video. Sadly, it highlights one of the most loathsome inventions of the film, the so-called "accelerator suits" that the Joes don and that apparently give them all superpowers so they can fight Cobra while running in slow motion. Or something. Those who've seen the trailer know what I mean.

The idea behind this viral video is decent, I suppose, but I'm really hoping it was put together by interns from the catering department. If the not-so-special effects in the finished film look anything like this, I'm tempted to break out a VHS camcorder and my old action figures and remake it myself. I think my version would make more sense and be truer to what G.I. Joe was all about.

I can't wait to see the actual thing. That review is going to be fun to write. Also, I wish we had a category for "bad ideas."

Badassery.

(Credit: TechEBlog)

I had a fairly good shop program in high school (what's up, Tumwater T-Birds!). Instead of making rickety chairs for our mothers to injure themselves on, or fire-prone wooden ashtrays, our class concentrated on technology. That's where I got to play with my first industrial laser, built my first robotic arm, and designed my first circuit board. It was pretty great.

But not as great as the work of this kid, who, as a side project, built a six-round, bolt-action, high-powered coil gun. For those who don't play video games, a coil gun is an electronic weapon that uses a series of magnetic coils to accelerate a magnetic projectile--like a bullet--to a fast, destructive speed.

We're not sure what school this kid goes to, but that's not important. What we'd like to know is: which teacher signed off on the project that was likely titled "Making a magnetic silent death device"?

You can see a video of the thing in action at TechEBlog.

(Credit: Disney)

Disney and Asus have teamed up to do something others have been doing wrong for a long time: they've developed an affordable and functional portable kids' PC, according to USA Today. It comes in the form of a Netbook with an Intel Atom processor; a small, 8.9-inch screen; parental control options; and desktops with customizable themes that revolve around the likes of Cars, Toy Story, WALL-E, and Hannah Montana.

The Netpal Netbooks will have an unknown clock speed (our guess would be 1.6GHz-2GHz) and will have a 16GB SSD or 160GB HD based on parental preference. They'll come preloaded with Windows XP. But they'll have another IO layer over XP so the kids can't break too much. We'd guess a locked-down Windows theme of some sort.

This means the computers can run actual commercial software, as well as access the Internet via Wi-Fi. Consumers can get one decked out in Mickey Mouse's "Magic Blue" or Ariel's flowery "Princess Pink" for $350 at Amazon or Toys R Us. I'd wager, given that Asus' Eee PCs based on the Atom are decent platforms for OS X "HackBooks," that the Princess Pink will be a popular choice for girl hackers.

There are girl hackers, right? Really hot ones, like in Transformers?

It's big enough to sound great, and cheap enough it's a no-brainer solution for lame sounding TVs.

(Credit: Zvox)

I get letters about this all the time.

They usually go something like this: "I'm no audiophile, but can you explain why all of the new, slim, pretty, thin HDTV's sound so bad? I bought a 46-inch Samsung LN46A850 for its great picture, but when I got it home, the sound was tinny. So I bought a sound bar but it had its own issues and I don't want to use multiple remotes. Any ideas?"

The problem is mostly caused by just how skinny these TVs are: There's no room for decent speakers. More than that, I'm sorry to say that sound quality isn't a priority for TV manufacturers, and they know that most buyers accept "good enough" sound. So there's no real demand from consumers to get better sound from TVs. And I guess the manufacturers assume anyone who really cares will spring for a better sound system.

My advice: Check out Zvox speakers; I've reviewed many over the years for CNET. The best bang for the buck model is the 315. It sounds great for $199, and since you can hook it up to the TV's audio outputs, you won't need to use a separate remote (that's also true for some other manufacturers' soundbars).

Consider the 315 only if your TV has a headphone jack--or if its audio output jacks can be set to "variable." Then you'll be able to control the 315's volume with your TV's remote (the 315 doesn't have its own remote).

To learn more about the 315 check out my CNET review.

Evil incarnate.

(Credit: Digital Innovations)

Parents, I've found a device that you will love and your children will hate. Just don't tell them you heard it from me, I have my geek cred to look out for. It's an evil video game timer called the GameDr.

It attaches to the power plug on your kid's console via a combination lock. Then you can program the amount of time left until it kills the power, losing your child's progress, and making him or her resent you. It will give them 10- then 1-minute warnings, so that's something.

Sure, they'll get their homework done, but is the rage they'll feel toward you for all time really worth it? We don't think so. But for $30, you're free to disagree.

(Source: OhGizmo via Gizmodo)

Yeah, we're not sure what the title of our show means today, but it's what happens when you let the chat room run the show. We think they want us to take off our clothes. Anyway, we're back to our old antics today: Bittr, Wii, Wolverine, iPhone, and pedometers.

As you can see, Slate.com already stole our idea for a skit mocking Twitter. We were going to shoot a video about a one-character status update. Some times, "F" is the only character that describes exactly how we're feeling at the moment.

On today's show, we talk a bit about how Nintendo is almost literally printing money with its Wii console. Apparently, it costs Nintendo 45 percent less to make a Wii than when it first came out. Nintendo is also trying to make more bank by releasing a pedometer, a device that measures foot steps--not an alarm for child predators. Also, we've got some info on a new iPhone app called Bad Decision Blocker that blocks your ability to make drunk phone calls. Seriously, though, if you need an iPhone app to stop you from making drunk calls, you need to 1) stop drinking 2) leave your phone at home, and 3) go see a therapist about your lingering girlfriend issues.

Finally, we get to our favorite "It came from Fox News!" segment. This time around, a Fox News commentator was fired for reviewing a pirated copy of the new "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie. Yeah, smart one. Fortunately, Jeff stopped selling DVDs of "Two and a Half Men" a few months ago. And a reminder, please call in with your most death-defying story to win your copy of "To the End of the Death: Our Epic Journey to the North Pole and the Legend of Peary and Henson" by our guest, Tom Avery. Yeah, long, long title.