Crave

(Credit: Screenshot by Matt Hickey)

For most people, Sir-Mix-A-Lot is synonymous with his hit "Baby Got Back." But for his real fans, or fans of early hip-hop in general, the greatest song Mix ever did was "My Posse's On Broadway," an homage to my home neighborhood in Seattle. It's a detailed step-by-step trek with Mix and his posse as they hit up local landmarks like Dick's Burgers and generally have a good time.

It's a great, fun song, and Google Maps user Adam Cohn has done fans a favor by making a map of Seattle that details every stop along the way. This is one of the most fun things I've seen in Google Maps in a long time.

An image of the map is above, but for a more interactive version you can check out Cohn's map for yourself. To make it more fun, below is the video for the single so you can follow along while you follow along. Try not to get the song stuck in your head.

(Credit: Likecool)

This isn't the first Batmobile we've spotted, but that doesn't make it any less cool. This Batmobile retrofitted from a 1973 Lincoln Continental may have cost Leif Garvin from Sweden more than $1 million and 20,000 working hours over a span of 3.5 years to build. But the envious stares he gets are priceless.

Inside, it's all rather mundane technology, from a DVD player and voice recognition to height adjustment and car reverse cameras. The liquid fuel cell inlet, we're sure, is just a front for jet fuel. One wonders if it makes pancakes, too?

(Source: Crave Asia via Likecool)

This week we were all over the place on Crave. We had some DIY hacks to create your own Street View experience (again, we're not sure why you'd want to, but hey, go for it). We talked about a hybrid cellular/satellite phone that's on its way to AT&T.

(Credit: Fujifilm)

We also got a first look at Windows 7's new compatibility badge. Yes, it features the Windows Flag. Verizon officialized the HTC Imagio, its first device running Windows Mobile 6.5. Having played with WinMo 6.5 all day Friday I can say: it's a much needed improvement.

And direct from the future is a new Fujifilm point-n-shoot with full 3D image and video capability and a Power Loader exoskeleton, right out of Aliens. I want them both.

Then there's this brain thing I'm still seeing in my dreams. Make it stop.

Hey, Dad! Look what Samuel Seide made for his son. How about it? I'm not even asking for an Imperial Walker bed, just a father-daughter mini-arcade-machine building session to sacrifice some games, a DVD player, and random electronics.

There's something awesome about this mini-arcade machine and I want to build one so badly that I even ignored the fact that this video was filmed in a bathroom.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

There's a new video out for the Seattle-based Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band song "Albatross, Albatross, Albatross." I know, Crave isn't a music blog, but I figured you guys who are really into gear would appreciate the behind-the-scenes video--not because this stuff is normally interesting, but this particular video features some really awesome gear.

You'll immediately notice a duo of Red One cameras being used. For those not in the know, Red's flagship camera shoots ultra-high-def video that rivals film in most ways. You can't buy a TV to play back its video in its full size yet. But that's not the really cool part.

The real fun comes in around the 49-second mark, when you get a shot of the AerialPan remote control camera mount. The custom-made helicopter does something new: it makes HD cameras fly. If you're a film geek, you're already drooling. I can't imagine there was any boring downtime on this shoot.

This post was updated at 2:45 p.m. PDT to clarify the type of camera mounted on the helicopter.

(Credit: Johan Van den Brande)

I use Twitter. A lot. Twitterfon is likely the most-used app on my iPhone. I have a Twitter widget in my MacBook's dashboard. And Twitter itself is one of my browser's home tabs. I make sure I've got a Twitter client of some sort on all of my devices.

Now, thankfully, I can tweet from my Commodore 64 using the adorable app called Breadbox 64 (yes, guys can say "adorable"). Of course, your Commodore needs an Internet connection, but as developer Johan Van den Brande points out, it's all very doable. In a post on his site, the Belgian engineer gives a step-by-step and even offers the app for free download.

Not only does Breadbox 64 allow you to tweet, it also lets you access your friend feed, as well as individual friends' timelines. And, of course, Van den Brande also has details on the hardware, like the MMC plug-in ethernet adapter, as well as various screenshots. It looks pretty awesome.

Sadly, I don't really have a Commodore at home. But if someone can get Twitter running on a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, I'd be a very happy guy.

The Cool-er e-book reader comes in eight colors.

(Credit: Interead)

In the U.S., the Amazon Kindle remains the most popular and best known e-reader on the market. But not everyone's ready to pay $360 for the device, and the Kindle doesn't appeal to international readers, because its wireless capabilities don't work overseas. And that's where upstart digital readers like Interead's Cool-er come in.

The product's name was inspired by the concept of a "cool e-reader" and it's the first consumer electronics product from Interead, which has offices in the U.K. and New York and also has a companion online e-book store to support the device. The Cool-er's claim to fame is that it's lighter, less expensive ($250), more colorful (it comes in eight colors), and more "open" than the Kindle, accepting a wider variety of file formats, much like Sony's e-readers do.

On many levels, including screen size and readability, the Cool-er matches the Kindle 2, and even beats it in terms of memory expansion, as there's an SD slot. We appreciated that the battery is removable and replaceable (Interead will send you a replacement battery for $5).

Read the full review to find out how good a deal the Cool-er really is.

The Cool-er e-book reader comes in eight colors.

(Credit: Interead)

When I talked to Interead's CEO and founder Neil Jones a few months ago, he told me his upstart U.K. company was getting ready to launch a new lightweight e-book reader that he was hoping would get some attention in the marketplace for sharply undercutting the price of the Kindle 2. He was going to call the thing the Cool-er, and it would cost $250 and tie into Interead's fledgling e-book store.

Jones was planning a very controlled launch for the product, with a target date set for just before Memorial Day here in the the U.S. and additional promotion in the U.K.

Well, things didn't go off exactly as planned, with some bloggers in the U.K. apparently breaking an embargo. But it didn't exactly help that the company already had its Web site up promoting the new product (a PR rep said certain journalists were questioning whether the company was real or not, so they had to put up the site).

In any case, the new Cool-er digital reader, which comes in eight colors, is now rapidly making its way through the blogosphere, so Jones is getting what he wants, albeit in a rather uncontrolled way (which sometimes is the way to go for launches). It will "officially" be available May 29, but Interead is taking preorders.

Here are its specs:

• Dimensions: 7.2 inches by 4.6 inches by .43 inches (HWD)
• Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Screen size: 6 inches
• DPI: 170 pixels per inch
• Levels of greyscale: 8
• Type: E Ink Vizplex
• Touch screen: No
• Manufacturer: PVI
• Operating system: Linux
• Storage: 1GB
• Memory: 128MB (internal)
• Processor: Samsung S3C2440 ARM 400MHz
• Battery: Li-Polymer battery (1000 mAh)
• Battery Life (single charge): 8,000 pages
• Memory Expansion: SD (up to 4GB)
• Wireless: No
• Formats: JPEG, PDF, EPUB, TXT, MP3 (2.5mm headphone jack with a 3.5mm converter included for standard headphones)
• Languages: 8
• Bookstore (titles): more than 750,000

The Cool-er is compatible with Macs and Windows PCs. While we're not sure Interead's new e-book reader will make a huge dent in Kindle 2 sales here in the U.S., it is designed to be more open with its formats and should compete nicely with Sony's Readers, especially in Europe.

We should get a review sample shortly and will let you know our full thoughts after we put the Cool-er--and the CoolerBooks e-book store--through their paces. As always, feel free to comment and let us know whether you think this e-book is a contender--or a pretender.

You may feel cooler, but your partner may not appreciate having that tube on his lap.

(Credit: CoolCop)

As weird as this CoolCop contraption appears, those of us who live with the humidity of a tropical climate can probably identify. Essentially a flex hose similar to what's found on vacuum cleaners, the $49.95 CoolCop attachment makes it easy to redirect your car's air conditioning into your shirt to keep you cool and dry. The idea is that policemen wear many layers of clothing, including a bulletproof vest, so they still sweat in an air-conditioned car.

The dashboard attachment hooks into into the air conditioning vent and serves mainly American police car models. Those so inclined in other countries could try to mod one from an old vacuum cleaner.

(Source: Crave Asia via bookofjoe)