ZweiPhone takes the embarassment out of the trendy iPhone.
(Credit: ZweiPhone)You know what I hate? When you bring out your iPhone to make a phone call or text somebody and the person you're with goes, "Ohhhhh look at THIS guy; Jimmy Fallon over here think he's cutting edge with his iPhone." I feel your pain, brothers and sisters, but our friends at ZweiPhone have a simple solution that'll fix our problem: a collection of stickers bearing an image of an obsolete phone designed to mask your embarrassingly commonplace iPhone.
ZweiPhone's motto is "Downgrade Today"--each sticker they sell is a convincing reproduction of some of the most hideous phones in history, including the Ericsson T28 and the ubiquitous Nokia 5190 brick phone.
They remind me of these stickers meant to keep your car safe by tricking thieves into thinking your auto is a pile. The ZweiPhone does the same thing, safely wrapping your "blank and impersonal iPhone" with a bulkier, older-looking clunker instead.
You can get a set of 14 ZweiPhone stickers for a dollar apiece, and they even offer posters featuring your favorite retro phones for $28. One sticker will do the trick for your personal phone, but feel free to give the other 13 to random strangers on the street who look just a little too timid to be using such a fancy gadget.
The sticker that appears on Blu-ray discs.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Sure, I and the rest of CNET's home-theater editors think the PlayStation 3 is the only Blu-ray player really worth buying today. But no matter how we feel, it's easy to spot why other machines have an uphill battle trying to unseat the PS3 from its Blu-ray throne: Sony's sticking it to the competition, literally.
Take a closer look at all those stickers on the front of all those Blu-ray discs in your local Best Buy and you'll see what I mean. There's the Blu-ray disc headline and then the fine print message, "For use only with Blu-ray disc players, Blu-ray disc computer drives and PLAYSTATION 3 game consoles." Glance quickly at the sticker and all you see is Blu-ray Disc and PlayStation 3.
I asked Sony PlayStation reps about it the other day and, while they didn't have any comment, they just smiled knowingly and said, "Yeah, we like that."
We're not sure how long the sticker deal is in effect but it seems that as long as it is, the PS3 is going to have a not-so-subliminal marketing edge over other Blu-ray players. How long do you think it will take for some other player to top the PS3 in terms of Blu-ray player sales? I think we're looking at a couple of years, even if the price for standalone players dips under $200 or less. After all, the PS3 will come down in price, too.
The HP Photosmart C8180 isn't cheap, so we wouldn't recommend you throwing down $400 for this multifunction unless you're an amateur photographer who needs a top-notch printer and won't mind waiting more than a minute for each photo.
We just finished testing the C8180 (full review), and we were impressed by its built-in LightScribe drive. LightScribe is a direct disc-labeling system that uses lasers to burn an image directly onto the disc. The LightScribe system is meant to eliminate the smudges and peeling that inevitably happens with sticker labels, and the fact that Hewlett-Packard decided to include this proprietary method in the c8180 speaks to the popularity of the media. Feel free to insert your opinion: do you use LightScribe yourself or do you prefer the old sticker way?
Unfortunately, the c8180 isn't without its faults. First, there's no auto-document feeder, so forget about scanning and copying stacks of paper. Second, the printer is so slow that we recommend you pick up a hobby to occupy your time while you want for the tray to spit out your photo. We ran our standard speed tests and the c8180 couldn't even print one photo per minute! The standard rate came out to about .66 photos per minute; like we said, slow. Good thing the prints themselves look great because HP would have to be crazy to think that anyone would wait more than a minute per photo if it were anything less than flawless.
(Credit:
eBoy)
In case you're one of those several million with the soon-to-be-outdated iPhone, German design gurus eBoy (not to be confused with eBay) have some slick new pixel art goodness for you to stick on the back of your phone. Fifteen euros (about $24) nets you one of three limited-edition stick-ons featuring pixel art cities printed on 3M Controltac vinyl film.
Just don't forget to write down your serial and IEMI number--unless you feel like digging it out of the settings menu or the product box you tossed out back in January.
(Credit:
Valve Corp.)
Already got the weighted companion cube fuzzy dice in your Astrovan and the cardboard helmet to match? There's hope for you dear portal fan. Here's yet another Aperture Laboratories-themed creation to show off your geek fetish to the world. This time it's numbered parking permits for both Aperture Laboratories and Black Mesa, the fictional experimental science organizations found in Valve's Portal and Half-Life games. The Black Mesa one's been around a little longer, but the Aperture Labs reared its wonderful head last month. Both run for $10 and come with bonus Half-Life themed bumper stickers.
(Credit:
Strapya)
It doesn't happen often, but even the diabolical Hello Kitty can commit the occasional blunder in its quest to conquer the world. Case in point: While seeking to control every facet of our lives, from finances to driving, its latest ploy seems to be protecting privacy with a screen shade for handheld LCDs.
But there's one thing the evil feline didn't take into account with the "Hello Kitty Mail Peeping Block and Display Protect Sticker" spotted on Shiny Shiny. It's supposed to block prying eyes from spying something sensitive or potentially embarrassing, but what could be more humiliating than a Hello Kitty logo in plain view for all to see, complete in its daisy-and-tuffet glory?
We humbly suggest that the Sanrio empire would be well advised to stick to what it knows best: Infiltration through such surreptitious means as controlling the air supply.
(Credit:
Container Store)
There's a dirty little secret among MP3 owners: Even some of the most ardent iPod loyalists still have CDs. The horror.
But rather than hide them in the closet, we say this: If you've got it, flaunt it. And we can think of no better way to do that than with these "MixIt CD Stickers" from the Container Store. Popgadget notes that you can personalize your otherwise boring media storage with "colorful dots, happy stripes or cheerful florals." And if you change your mind, they can always blend in with the wallpaper.
(Credit:
Volkswagen)
Volkswagen has designed a programmable electronic bumper sticker that enables drivers to communicate real-time messages to other road users. A product of VW's Electronics Research Laboratory in California, the electrophoretic displays make use of a thin foil membrane that can be programmed to show messages and pictures that reflect a driver's mood at any given time. At the moment, the application is specific to VW's Chameleon concept car, but designers tell us they're looking into other automotive applications for the technology. The picture VW sent us shows a display wishing other road users to "Have a good day," although we suspect a more common use of the technology is likely to be as a substitute for certain popular driver hand signals.
Via Detroit News
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