Aug 31 2006 Miuro the Japanese iPod robot

The new Japanese music robot Miuro, designed to turn an iPod music player into a scuttling boombox-on-wheels, is shown during a press conference in Tokyo Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Equipped with speaker systems developed with Japanese audio-maker Kenwood Corp., the 35-centimeter (14-inch) long machine, which looks like a ball popping out of an egg, from Tokyo-based venture ZMP Inc. will roll and twist from room to room blaring music. Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod portable player locks into the top of the 108,800 yen (US$930; euro725) robot.

I don't understand why this qualifies as a robot because as far as I can tell it's just a speaker attached to some wheels. Will it serve me coffee? Will it call me human master? It's lacking all the basic functions of what makes a robot truly a robot.

Aug 31 2006 Analog cell phone

This crazy cat combined his cell phone with an analog hand set to create this sweet looking contraption. If you use it in public people will think you're insane because it looks like you're talking on an unconnected phone. Trust me, I'd know. I walk around yelling into a handset all the time. It's how I spend my afternoons.

Aug 30 2006 Biggest MMORPG scam ever executed

I'm not familiar with how Eve Online plays, but apparently a player in the game pulled off the biggest MMORPG scam in the history of gaming. Over the course of four months, a guy named "cally" ran a player-operated bank called "Eve Intergalactic Bank" where hundreds of players deposited money. The bank offered interest, loans and insurance like every other bank, except that one day cally decided to grab all the money that was deposited and fly off to space with an alleged total sum of 790 billion Isk. In real life that would translate to $170,000. Which is why I've decided to quit my job and scam online gamers for a living. Why flip burgers when you can just invent imaginary banks and run off with billions of dollars?

Aug 29 2006 Albert Einstein robot learns to dance

There's no explanation for this madness but I assure you, it is madness.

Aug 28 2006 Lexus LS460 parks itself

Gizmodo got to hang out with some Lexus dudes and try out the self parking Lexus LS460. Here's how they describe it:

1. You drive past a parking spot at 12mph or less. The four rear and six front sonar sensors detect the cars, and the gap between them.

2. Putting the car into reverse activates the wide-angle backup camera. There's a little button on the bottom of the screen that looks like a car parking. Hit it. If the spot is more than 6.5 feet longer than the car itself, the car enters Advanced Parking Guidance System mode. This is where the magic happens.

3. Crawl backwards, keeping your foot on the brake. If you touch the gas, or the wheel, the mode shuts itself off. Make sure to stay under 2.5mph, or it'll shut off, too. The wheel, as you can see from the video above, spins itself like its being ghost-driven. The sonar system is constantly measuring distance, beeping with more urgency as you get closer to obstacles.

4. When you're in the spot, the computer will announce that parking is complete.

Pretty amazing tool. Especially if you're like me and the only way you know how to park is to run into stuff until you come to a complete stop.

Aug 25 2006 Wenger introduces the super ultimate Swiss Army Knife

Wenger has created this huge Swiss Army knife which includes every tool the company makes. They're calling it the “Giant Knife Version 1.0" and it debuted with all 85 features and can perform hundreds of functions. Although if you're in a sticky situation it'll take about 3 hours just to find the tool you're looking for. You'll be looking for a wrench and all of a sudden out pops a bicycle chain rivet setter.

Aug 24 2006 USB BBQ

This crazy sunuvabitch hooked up 30 USB ports spread over 5 PCI cards to make a miniature BBQ powered by his computer. Which is cool and all, but I'm more interested in that meat he's grilling up. Packaged raw meat? Asia is like the world of tomorrow today!

Aug 23 2006 Artist creates invisible sphere

215 Points of View is an artist's attempts to build an invisible sphere, with 215 monitors placed directly opposite 215 cameras, allowing the viewer to peer directly through an eight hundred pound mass of steel, glass and electronics. It's a noble idea, but the photos and video show that it's a horrible failure. Not only is the sphere still very much visible, but you can't even tell what the screens are supposed to be showing. Calling this an invisible sphere is like calling a shopping cart an automobile.

Aug 23 2006 Office-supply ninja stars

Here's a neat guide on how to create a tiny office-supply ninja star using nothing but some X-acto blades and tape. It's pretty much exactly what you think it is. Although I took some creative liberties and attached a butcher knife to the one I made. It's not nearly as portable, but its inceased killing power more than makes up for it.

Aug 23 2006 Ash Cloud from Mount Ubinas, Peru

Those crazy cats at NASA got this sweet photo of an erupting volcano in Peru. At least I think it's sweet. It'd be a lot easier to tell if there was flying magma and people running for their lives.

Aug 22 2006 Avdeco Plasma TV stand explodes

This is a warning about the Avdeco line of plasma and TV stands.

Amazingly, my plasma tv, fell straight down, and was resting precariously on the next two shelves. I quickly called my wife in to help me lift it off and to the ground. It is really a miracle that the plasma didn't fall over on its face.

And that, my friends, is why my TV stand of choice is a giant pile of bricks. It's sturdy and classy.

Aug 22 2006 How to make magnetic water

Dan Serena has a cool video on his site showing water reacting to a powerful magnet. He attained the magnetic water by taking a cup of water, mixing in lime juice and spinach leaves, and letting it sit in a fridge over night. The Vitamin C from the lime juice extracts the iron from the spinach leaf so that the water is laced with enough to make it magnetic. I can't actually tell if the video is real, but it's convincing enough that I'm throwing it up for you to judge. Recreating the experiment would be simple enough, but I'm not some rich fat cat that can go around wasting limes and spinach. That stuff doesn't grow on trees you know.

Aug 18 2006 Firefox crop circle surfaces

The Oregon State Unviersity Linux group sure takes their Firefox seriously. So much so that they created this 220 ft wide crop circle. Which sounds good now, but once the Fox shaped aliens come down and start laying down their wrath I bet they're gonna be pretty pissed somebody was abusing their icon.

Aug 16 2006 XYZ Imaging develops full color holographic posters

XYZ Imaging Inc. is the world's first holographic printing bureau capable of creating production ready multi-resolution, full color, reflective holograms from pure digital media. This technology uses patented holographic technology developed over a 6 year timeframe at a cost of nearly $ 23 Million US dollars. Combined with a revolutionary emulsion that is more than 300 times finer than ISO 300 film on a super wide format that measures over 1 m wide, allowing for the production of never-before-seen large format holographic prints with a single sheet size of: 1m wide x 1.2m long or longer (based on the length of the film roll).

Basically all you need to understand are this and this. Coolest posters ever? Coolest posters ever!

Aug 16 2006 Keyboard organizer

The Keyboard Organizer is a stupid little keyboard that flips open so you can store supplies, like one of those old desks you had back in elementary school. Although I suspect if you can't afford a desk large enough to store your pencil and eraser, you probably can't afford a computer either. Plus having to stop whatever you're doing to pull out some crap from your keyboard just sounds annoying.

Aug 14 2006 GTA inspired Coke commercial

Neat.

Aug 14 2006 Portable Rotary Phone is a cell phone

This old fashioned rotary phone is actually a cell phone that you can carry with you. Just put your SIM card in and dial the numbers using the rotary. It even rings like the old fashioned phones with the loud, gong style metal bells. The perfect gift for grandparents who are afraid of technology and fear their computer might be trying to eat them.

Aug 10 2006 EarMecca is earring earphone

Korean company EarMecca has developed an earphone that passes as an earring. I'm sure it's not the best of either, but those crazy girls can finally listen to their Backstreet Boys albums without looking like a total square. Oh, girls. They're so silly!

Aug 9 2006 Virtual girlfriend/boyfriend ensures you'll never have a real one

These Tamagotchi-style gizmos feature 8 LCD characters, all with their own distinct personality. The idea is to keep your randomly selected cyber partner happy by taking them out, complimenting them, buying them gifts and doing naughty things with them. Although for $40 you'd be better off just buying a few bottles of wine and crying yourself to sleep.

Aug 8 2006 Skyacht makes blimping accessible to all

The Skyacht is the world's first personal blimp, using hot air to provide lift and silent electric motors for propulsion. And just for good measure the designers even added some cool fins and wild colors to let everybody know you're not just a guy in a blimp. You're a guy in a blimp with attitude.

Aug 7 2006 Table Top Fireplace perfect for nothing

For only $340 you can own this miniature fireplace that goes on your desk. It burns oil and has stainless steel logs and a slate base, although I can't imagine who would ever need something like this. Are there really people out there so desperate for fire they'll pay $340 for a little miniature fire lamp on their desk? Let's just lock them away now so we don't have to deal with it when they flip out and start burning their office building to the ground because they wanted to see the pretty fire show.

Aug 7 2006 Virtual keyboard played with lasers

Digital Information Development (DID) has developed a virtual piano that is played with a keyboard consisting of projected laser beams. The box-shaped measures about 10 x 3 x 3 cm and weighs about 100 grams and projects a 25-key 2-octave keyboard onto the surface in front of it. A CMOS camera and infrared semiconductor laser module detect which keys are touched, and the corresponding notes are emitted from speakers built into the device. So finally you have a piano that'll work perfectly for all those Tron reenactment you do in your basement. Yeah I know about those. I've got eyes everywhere, you little weirdo.

Aug 2 2006 Eye Based Video Game Control: Quake 2

This brilliant son of a bitch combined a Tobii 1750 eye tracker with Quake 2, allowing the game to be controlled using his eyes. This is pretty much the ideal way to play first person shooters, although it requires a lot more concentration to do so since you can't look away from the screen. Although why would you even want to? Porn isn't going to watch itself.

Aug 2 2006 1984 Playset recreates Apple commercial with Legos

The title pretty much decribes everything. Although I'd be more interested in a Lego set that recreated the day I discovered I could fly. And by "discovered I could fly" I mean landed face first on the ground and started crying uncontrollably like a little baby.

Aug 1 2006 Windows Vista has terrible voice recognition

Unless voice recognition is supposed to get every single thing you say wrong. In which case it works perfectly.