Crave

What do you use to track your to-do lists? We give you some of our and our listener's favorites.

(Credit: Very Cool Software Company)

If you're a fan of retro music instruments, I've got some good news.

The Very Cool Software Company, a U.K.-based Mac OS developer, recently announced its first iPhone application: Dubreq iStylophone.

Dubreq Stylophone is an electronic musical instrument, originally invented by Brian Jarvis in 1968 and manufactured in the U.K. by Dubreq.

The Dubreq Stylophone, also known as "the original pocket electronic organ," was sold by the millions in the early '70s and used by artists including David Bowie, Brett Domino, Erasure, Hexstatic, Krafwerk, Marilyn Manson, Orbital, Pulp, The Raconteurs, and They Might Be Giants.

Now the VDSC is bringing the Stylophone into the 21st century. You'll be able to replicate the instrument's sound as well as other features by using the phone's touch screen. The app costs $5.95 and will be available for download on December 1.

NeatDesk

(Credit: CNET)

It's not enough to tame just your receipts; the company formerly known as NeatReceipts is now simply The Neat Company, and goes after your entire desk with its cleverly designed NeatDesk scanner/software combination.

Unlike its compact, mobile NeatReceipts scanner, the new NeatDesk is a top-loading sheet-feed model designed to stay put on your desk. A feeder insert allows you to stash 3 different sized media--8 inches, 3.5 inches, or 2.5 inches wide--in slots for storage until you're ready to process them. Well, as long as you don't have too many; each slot can handle about 10 sheets.

At that point, you press either Scan or PDF to bring them into the bundled NeatWorks software for organizing and processing. Remove the feeder insert and NeatDesk becomes a traditional top-loading scanner with a 50-page document feeder. It can handle duplex scanning as well.

NeatReceipts

(Credit: The Neat Company)

Neat has says it has updated NeatWorks for faster operation, streamlined the user interface, and added PDF import and data archiving. You can also get a Microsoft Office-specific version of the product--NeatScan to Office--which adds a toolbar to your applications that bypasses NeatWorks for things like business cards (straight to Outlook) and receipts (straight to Excel) and so on. The company has also redesigned its Windows-compatible NeatReceipts mobile scanner to look like the Mac version released this summer.

I think NeatDesk is a bit pricey at $499; NeatReceipts is $199. Both should be available now.

Welcome to the virtual room where you learn how to stay better organized.

(Credit: NannysCircle)

Had a few kids and it's hard to get them (let alone yourself) organized? Well, NannysCircle can help you with that, or so it claims.

The service basically gives each individual of your family a virtual room that's full of tools for daily living. NannysCircle then allows you to set up weekly routines and tasks and mark them off when the child completes them. Nanny Points are award for each completed task. A child can then use these points to get virtual decorations for their room, as well as to buy stuff at the Nannys stores.

On the other hand, you can also exercise discipline for uncompleted tasks or misbehavior in the form of strikes that appear on a child's virtual wall. This easy system of reinforcement and consequences is designed to motivate children to manage their lives and have fun doing it.

Personally, I think this could be a helpful service for kids who don't play virtual-life games such as The Sims. From real life's perspective, though, like anything online, it might take too much of the kid's time and keep him/her from taking care of his/her real room. Also, what are you gonna do when the kid's excuse is that the wireless router is acting up?

After a 15-day free trial, NannysCircle's service costs $9.95 per month for unlimited use for up to three family members (one parent and two children). The cost increases to $12.95 or 14.95 per month for four children and six children, respectively.

Iranian research rocket in February 2008.

(Credit: MSNBC.com)

According to a report at RIA Novosti, the head of the Iran Aerospace Organization said Wednesday that Iran plans to send its first astronaut to the moon within the next 10 years.

Space Agency chief Reza Taghipoor was quoted as saying that Iran is currently looking into the possibility of sending a human into outer space and that this is one of the country's priorities in the next decade. The exact date of the flight would be determined by the end of the year.

Earlier this year Iran said it wanted to put a satellite in orbit within a year. Last Sunday, it announced that it did just that. It successfully orbited the country's first domestically built satellite that will be used to aid natural disaster management programs and improve telecommunications. On Monday, Iran said it plans to send several satellites into orbit by 2010.

"Is there any reason not to buy an iPod?" It's such a common question for us, and the answer is usually, "Yes and no, but mostly yes." There are heaps of other players out there that don't cut the condiment, but more and more are starting to compete.

(Credit: Crave UK)

An illuminous contender for your digital music dollars this month is TrekStor's daftly named i.Beat move S, from the company that brought you the pseudo-racist i.Beat Blaxx.

This is a flash-based MP3 and video player with support for MP3, WMA (including DRMed stuff), and WAV only, though it wouldn't actually play our CD-quality WAV files. Little AVI videos can be converted using some bundled software. It's also got a radio and comes in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB capacities, but isn't expandable.

We've got one in to look at and we're not exactly blown away. The 38mm screen is about as attractive as Kelly Osbourne bathing in rotting organs, and the interface conjures similarly grotesque emotions.

(Credit: MUJI U.S.A.)

(Credit: MUJI U.S.A.)

The Chronotebook is Muji's update to the tired paper notebook planner. Where memopads and datebooks have cluttered lines and graphics, the Chronotebook only has a clock in the middle of the page: one for AM, one for PM. Users are free to organize their day around these clocks in way that's similar to a brainstorm. The Chronotebooks will sell in the new store for $4.95, but the first 500 people to step into the Times Square location will get one for $0.00.

NEW YORK--Solar company Konarka wants to bring plastics to life with the sun.

Konarka has developed technology to create rolls of plastic that can convert light to electricity--a design that will result in solar power being embedded in everything from flashing Coke bottles to wireless sensors, the company claims.

Earlier this month, Konarka said that it has demonstrated the use of inkjet printing to manufacture its solar cells. And at a recent investor conference here, chairman and founder Howard Berke described Konarka's longer-term plans to embed small solar plastic cells in hundreds of products.

In the second half of this year, Berke said, Konarka will make its first shipments to customers and will announce the location of a factory.

Konarka's roll-to-roll manufacturing creates solar cells on plastic.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)

Initially the company intends to make portable solar chargers for gadgets as well as self-powered sensors, lights, and smart cards. Farther down the road, it plans to make solar windows and power-generating cloth.

In four years, Berke said, the company intends to have products for the building-integrated photovoltaics (PV) market with "bifacial cells," for placement on windows, that can convert electricity from both sides.

It is also working on a project, sponsored by the Department of Defense, to make fibers that can be woven into clothing, he said.

"You'll be able to wear, carry, integrate PV," said Berke. "Wherever plastics occur, you'll have PV."

But some solar industry watchers have become skeptical about whether this technology will ever live up to its promise. Konarka, founded in 2001, has raised several rounds of capital and taken government grants but still doesn't have a commercial product.

Plastic solar cells have the advantage of being flexible, unlike traditional silicon, but they're not nearly as efficient as rooftop panels.

Konarka's cells, which are made with a roll-to-roll manufacturing process, convert about 5 percent of the light that hits them into electricity, whereas typically solar panels with silicon cells are 16 percent to 20 percent efficient.

But its organic photovoltaic cells can convert low light, can be tuned for specific wavelengths, and can work even when the light hits at a low angle, Berke said.

"We see this as next-generation thin-film PV technology and not competing with silicon," he said.

(Credit: BlueLounge)

As I type this post, I can hardly see my desk because of the mess of cables. My headphone wires are strewn between my speakers and keyboard, a couple of USB cables are on my left connected to the computer, and more often than not, I'm charging some mobile phone or handheld using the power strip behind my monitor.

Those who find such an arrangement an eyesore (like the colleague who sits beside me) will like the SpaceStation from BlueLounge. This desk organizer for laptop users cleverly hides cables and has an integrated four-port USB hub. Its raised feet make it hover slightly above the table, so the ends of your cables can peek out from the front or sides when you need to use them. Another convenience is a paper/card holder on the right side, good when extracting information from cellulose-based documents.

The SpaceStation, which comes in either black or white, isn't cheap at $79.95. But ultimately, you can't really put a price on neatness, can you? For me, I'll stick with my mess. It gives people the impression I'm working hard--even when I'm really only browsing for gadgets like this one.

(Source: Crave Asia)