Uh oh. Is Apple’s newest gadget going up in smoke? No official report from Cupertino is forthcoming, but most are speculating that the problem is Apple’s legendary albatross—battery issues.

The conversation is heating up on Apple’s discussion board. One user quips, “An iPhone getting warm due to a running app is normal. An iPhone getting too hot to touch is not.” But apparently, some users are having just that problem. As one user complained, ” I had been burned…from the iPhone getting so hot.”

Since hitting the market, the iPhone has been legendary for its speed, functionality, touch screen, and thousands of apps. Most users are more than pleased with Apple’s revolutionary smartphone, and the new iPhone 3GS, with an amazing array of cool features, has not been a disappointment. Now bundled with a video camera, compass, higher speeds, and an upgraded firmware, the new iPhone is sizzling hot—in more ways than one.

No functionality seems to be compromised from the incendiary phone, but users don’t want to play hot potato with their iPhone all the time. Apple is going to have to do something.

Smartmow is a 3 blade mulch system that runs on lithim ion batteries that can be charged with the included charger. The lithium ion batteries will last about 2-3 hours but the Smartmow will automatically re-dock and charge until it gets the job done. In this time frame it will cover about 3,230 square feet. For hard to reach areas it also includes a remote so you can still enjoy mowing your grass from inside your house. To start the mower you have to use a security card that is provided when you purchase. This is for safety and theft measures.

If only Billy Mays could get a hold of this product, he could sell a billion of them. They might need to look into hiring him to market the Smartmow.

To find out more information or purchase one of these visit www.smartmow.com

To get a first hand look of this product check out this exclusive video from WebProNews:

Here’s an in-store tip. Shop around! How often have you heard that before? Seriously. Have in mind what you want, go to some place that they know their stuff, learn more about it, check out their prices, then go to a couple more places. Once you’ve found that same item in another store at a lower price, record it, and if you’d rather not get it at that store, go back to that first one and see if they will lower their price for you. Sometimes they may mark down some of your other items just so you’ll shop there with them. A sale is better than no sale to some places. Not all places will do it, but it’s worth a shot. The worst they can say is “No” after all, and then they lose your business as you walk out the door. Yes, it takes more time than just going to one place to get everything, but believe it or not, some places are less expensive than others! And we’re not just talking about a box of cereal.

Do not forget to shop online–there are some fantastic deals there as well! Some stores may have a good price in the store, but check their website also, because sometimes they have “Online Only” specials on their merchandise. Some internet-based stores are excellent places to go for your holiday shopping needs, like Amazon.com or if you like to take chances, try Craigslist.org or eBay.com.

Hope something in here sparks an interest in your holiday shopping needs. Maybe some of the best deals are happening right now AND during the intense holiday season? I do know one thing: if you get on it now, it’s better than the hassle of the shoppers traffic, and headaches, just to find out they are sold out of something.

First up is Koi Pond developed by The Blimp Pilots.  The premise behind this app is simple really, it’s a virtual koi pond that resides on your iPhonepod.  From the App Store:

Imagine gazing into a pond of crystal clear water.  Picture bright, playful koi swimming through its shallow depths.  So close. . . . Can you touch them?

You run your fingers across the cool  surface of the pond.  Water ripples away from your touch.  The koi, disturbed, dart away.  Only to quickly forget and swim close to you once more. . . .

Now imagine all this on your iPhone or iPod touch!

Koi Pond is really very lovely to look at.  The water is done wonderfully, reacts well to touch and has nice splooshy sound effects.  Even the plants react when brushed with your finger.  The fish act naturally and will dart around your screen if disturbed, as advertised. As you can see from the screen shots, everything is proportional and really shines on your screen.

There are several settings you can control, such as the hue of the water, the number of fish and number of plants.

The upswing is, it’s really a relaxing app to gaze at.  I’ve gotten in the habit of leaving it on and sitting next to me on my desk while I work for the relaxing visual.  This app shows off what the iPhonepod is capable of graphically.

There are just a few suggestions I’d make for the next version.  It would be nice if it wouldn’t allow the iPhonepod to autolock while it’s running.  To keep it going next to me, I have to turn autolocking off - not a huge deal but I’ve often forgotten to turn it back on again at the end of the day.  Or better yet, a timer function.

A few more effects in a newer version would also be great!  Rain, wind blowing gently over the water, the ability to feed the fish.  None of these effects are necessary though to make this a worth while app.

Koi Pond was released July 30th, and has found itself #1 at the App Store in a relatively short amount of time and with good reason.  It’s pleasing to the eye and I’ve already gotten a number of comments on it from other folks just wandering by.  If you’re looking for a beautiful way to show off your device and a great way for a little relaxing visual, go spend your buck on this rather than a candy bar and enjoy.

Technorati Tags: ipod, iphone, touch, koi pond, the blimp pilots, review, software, app store, apple

On taking the keyboard out of the box I was immediately struck by how sturdy this thing is. There’s a simple lock toggle that keeps the keyboard closed when you want to stow it away and slides back to allow it to fold open. It doesn’t feel chintzy or cheap at all, which is good as it retails for $69.95.

On opening the keyboard the keys feel sturdy and when you place it on a hard surface like a desk or table, the keyboard sits nice and flat. The keys have a nice, natural action although typing fast can get a bit loud. They keys had a nice action to them - not too much resistance, just enough give to let me know I was really typing.

They’ve gone and done in my opinion, a wonderful thing and replaced the pesky CAPS LOCK key with a nice Function key. With this you can access the functions you may be used to on your laptop keyboard with a simple left handed pinky stroke.

It’s definitely nice to have a full sized keyboard along when using my laptop. While I’m used to the laptop keyboard, using a full sized keyboard reduces arm strain and also has other nice features, like a number pad (including a Tab key for one handed entry) and all of my keys nicely spaced out. There are also volume/mute function keys above the number pad. Sitting on my desk, the rubber pads keep it nice and centered.

There is a strange non-battery spot on the left, just above the indicator LEDs (num/caps/scroll) where it looks like batteries may go but there are no connections for them nor a door to close this off.

The one time I had trouble with this keyboard was typing on my lap. The keyboard has a tendency to start folding up as I’m typing. having the locking mechanism be a bit stronger would alleviate this.

Seeing as this is a laptop keyboard, there is one more addition that would turn this from a good product into a great product - although engineering wise it may be hard to place. But a track button and three mouse buttons would make this stellar!

They dimensions on this are 10.08″ by 5″ by 1.18″. Opened, they are 18″ by 5″ by 0.87″. Easily able to fit along with it’s cable into your laptop backpack. The YAG factor is pretty low - it’s weight is about 1 pound and you’ll not notice it in your backpack until you need it. As a caveat, this review was written on this keyboard.

If you’re interested in this, Matias is currently taking pre-orders on their site.

Technorati Tags: matias, folding keyboard, technology, gadgets, reviews, arsgeek

Pardon the crude doodle, but I had to quickly toss what was in my head onto paper.

Researchers make tiny radio from nanotubes
By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Transistor radios tinier than a grain of sand, made using nanotechnology, can not only tune in to the traffic report, but may end up outperforming current silicon-based electronics, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The researchers made the microscopic radios out of carbon nanotubes — tiny strands of carbon atoms — and say in theory they could lead to faster devices.

They overcame a series of obstacles that have defeated efforts to make nano-radios, including getting amplification, by making their devices on quartz wafers.

“Our goal is not to make tiny radios per se, but really to develop nanotubes as a higher-performing semiconductor,” said John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois.

He said the devices are meant to showcase a new way of making carbon nanotubes in perfectly aligned rows, much like strands of silky hair that have been combed flat.

These strands are a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair, forming a thin layer of semiconductor material that can be used in electronics devices and circuits.

“The radio is really a step along the path to building new platforms for electronics technology,” said Rogers, whose study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We’re interested in nanotubes not because they are small but because smallness imparts some electronic properties that are very appealing,” he said.

“You could make a faster device.”

He said a key to the work is to gain control over what shapes the tubes take and how they are configured. The researchers make the tubes by combining carbon and heat and a catalyst on a special wafer material that makes the tubes line up in an orderly way.

“There are millions of them all in these perfectly aligned arrays,” Rogers said.

After they have made the arrays of tubes, he said the rest of the process is very similar to making electronics using conventional silicon chips.

The researchers teamed up with radio frequency electronics engineers at Northrop Grumman Corp Electronics Systems in Linthicum, Maryland, to build and test the radios.

They consist of two radio frequency amplifiers, a radio frequency mixer and an audio amplifier, all made from the carbon nanotube materials. Regular-sized headphones plug directly into an output transistor made from the nanotube material. And they used a regular-sized antenna.

In one test, the researchers tuned one of the nanotube-transistor radios to a Baltimore radio station and picked up the traffic report.

Rogers said the device could work better and have less distortion than some of the tiniest silicon chip technology used today.

“The radio itself is not interesting,” Rogers said. “But the fact that we are at a point that we can do things like a radio is a good milestone for us.”

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Mohammad Zargham)

It was several weeks ago when I received my Pleo with the intent to do a full review of it in a couple of days and ship it back from whence it came. Well, the best laid plans and all that. . . the fact of the matter is, I’m stretching out my review period to the fullest as I don’t want to send the little girl back. And more than me, for the first time with anything I’ve reviewed, my wife and daughter have become far more attached than I have. What is it about this little robotic, rubber dinosaur that is so cool and so great? Let’s start with what it is and what it’s capable of and get around to why it’s the coolest thing to walk into our home this year.

What exactly is a Pleo? It’s a robotic Camarasaurus, a brown, green and yellowish juvenile dinosaur. From the Pleoworld site “Camarasaurus was a late-Jurassic North American herbivore, 60 feet long in adulthood, and just Pleo’s size as a newborn.” Pleo sports Ugobe’s LifeOS, a complex inter meshing of programmatic and physical parts which mesh to form something that can react to and adapt to the world around it. LifeOS utilizes a large (50+) number of algorithms that simulate such things as emotions and chemical reactions that drive some behaviors. Put another way, Pleo can, to a limited degree, see, hear and feel what’s around it and react in novel ways.

This little girl weighs in at three and a half pounds and stands about seven and a half inches tall. On a carpet she has a walking speed of really slow and on hardwood or linoleum he can walk at a steady but slow pace. She won’t be chasing the cats around and she won’t be running away from the vacuum but he certainly will be tooling around your place checking it out.

When a new Pleo arrives at it’s destination and is un-boxed the batteries have to be charged before you can start up your dinosaur and see what all the fuss is about. Battery charging took about four hours and is accomplished by setting the enclosed battery (my Pleo arrived with two) into the Pleo green charging dock and watching as the red light grows stronger and then turns to green, signaling a full charge.

Looking at the picture above you can see the battery dock, as well as an on/off switch, SD card slot (for adding new modes to the Pleo), a USB connection (for updating) and the volume switch.

Once the battery is replaced into Pleo and it’s turned on for the first time, the Pleo enters it’s ‘hatching’ phase. This lasts about 10 minutes and is essentially where your dinosaur is born. Pleo will churn about a bit, make some random seeming noises and eventually open her eyes. She is becoming aware of herself and her environment.

After the hatching phase, the next forty five minutes make up the “Infant” phase. Here Pleo starts to investigate actively it’s surroundings, takes some shuffling steps, makes some directed noises and will begin to really respond to touch, sounds and sights.

The final phase is the ‘Juvenile’ phase – this is where Pleo will be for the rest of her well, for lack of better word, life. Now the Pleo has gained some confidence and will stride about the place, taking a look here or there, asking to be pet or scratched (ours loves it’s rump scratched) cry out when lonely or frustrated, play tug of war and even give ‘paw’ after some coaxing. Ours has learned to come when called as well.

One of the first things I noticed about the Pleo was that you can definitely tell it’s a robot by the whirring sounds it gives off when moving about. You can hear things moving about as it wags it’s tail or shuffles around. Oddly, my whole family got over it in about ten minutes and now I don’t really notice it. It is however one of the first things anyone points out when they first meet my Pleo.

Her battery lasts her between forty five minutes to an hour depending on how often we engage her, how much walking she’s doing and if she falls asleep out of boredom or if my wife’s around, out of being cuddled. Yes, cuddled. I think it’s really a tribute to the Ugobe folks that we have three cats hanging around the place always looking for attention and when the Pleo is on, it spends at least a quarter of it’s time in my wifes arms, head placidly laid against her shoulder, tail wagging slowly.

Let’s take a look at Pleo’s price point. $350. That’s a lot of money for something that most would consider a toy, about as much as an Xbox 360 will run you. Is it worth it? Well, that’s something of a subjective question. If you’re in the market for a home robot that’s able to think and feel – or at least trick us all into thinking it can think and feel, then the answer is a definitive yes. Pleo is more real seaming and far more fun to use than other robots that I’ve seen, including various robot dogs, vacuums, and mechanized toy fighting machines.

Pleo helps you get past that leap of suspending reality into plain reality. When the Pleo gets into a situation that should distress it – being picked up by the tail or boxing itself into an area it can’t get out of it reacts exactly like I’d expect a juvenile creature would. It cries out, sometimes for help, others in sheer frustration. It doesn’t just bump mindlessly into the walls until it finds a way out. Once, when we didn’t come, it DID find it’s way out, groaning and doing the Pleo equivalent of mumbling to itself the entire time.

But hey, I’m a self professed geek and I love robotic toys and things that bring us one step closer to a future where Will Smith will be running around blowing the arms off of robots. How do other people react, people who wouldn’t normally be exposed to a Pleo? I had the opportunity to bring Pleo to two Christmas events. Reactions ran the gambit from initial “Wow, cool!”, “What the hell is that?” and “Ahh! Get it away!” After a few minutes though (and a quick switch into holiday mode for some dino caroling” the results were always the same. Every person at both gatherings ended up spending some time with Pleo. One on one time. They would get down on the floor with it and play tug of war. Often I’d glance over to see two people deep in conversation, with the Pleo being cuddled by one of them. People didn’t just think it was cool, they reacted in an emotional way towards this simulated little dinosaur. Without conscious thought they would scoop it up and pet it, and then quickly put it down and apologize to it if it acted scared or angry. “Sorry Pleo!”

How many toys have this effect on folks? It wasn’t just the kids, although anyone under the age of ten seems to immediately fall in love with this dinosaur. I mean, it’s a dinosaur! And it walks around, reacts to them and does things they tell it to, all without a remote control.

What does the future hold for Pleo? Good things I think. For starters, the folks at Ugobe wanted to get him shipped out in time for the holidays so they put aside some very interesting features for a later date. Sometime in 2008, hopefully fairly early, Ugobe will release software changes as free downloads to folks who already own a Pleo which will allow the Pleo to become much more adaptive, responsive and able to truly evolve his personality over time.

Back in July I wrote a piece about the dawning age of designer life forms and featuring speculation about the pleo itself. In it, I was talking about the concept of a learning robot, one that interacts with it’s environment and learns from it. “That is why this little guy has me excited. I view this not only as an amazing looking product I’d love to get my hands on, but as a major step forward in the field of personal robotics and AI. Coming as it usually does out of left field from a small group of people.”

Pleo just isn’t a toy, not in my eyes, it’s a step towards integrating artificial intelligence into our lives not as a series of programs but a manufactured and physical product that touches our lives as we touch it. Remember the Jetson’s and the promise of robotic friends and flying cars? Well we’re still short of flying cars but the Pleo just might be the first entry in the robotic friends category. Even now in the state it shipped in it’s a joy to interact with and evokes real emotions from everyone who meets it. Most people don’t meet toys, they play with them. Everyone I know talks about meeting the Pleo. If Ugobe’s software update delivers what is hinted at, then we’re another step closer to a true robotic companion. That to me is worth the price of admission.

For now we can tide ourselves over with any new modes that the folks at Ugobe release - so far I’ve found the Watchdog mode and the Holiday Pleo mode.

It’s not uncommon for me to return home from work and find the Pleo wandering about, with her other battery charging and my wife and daughter playing with her. I know for a fact that my wife turns Pleo on when no one else is home because hanging out with the Pleo is fun, pure and simple. Even the cats have accepted her and barely blink when she wanders past.

I don’t generally give gadgets, toys and in this case robots a rating based on a scale of on through ten like we do with video games because I feel that it’s much more enlightening to read a review and get some hands on feedback of whatever it is being reviewed. I’m going to cheat here a bit though for those who skip down to the bottom for a number.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give the Pleo a 9.5. This isn’t really a toy, any more than it’s a pet, but falls somewhere in between – certainly closer to a toy than a pet but I couldn’t classify it as a toy. You don’t play with a Pleo in the sense of playing with a model car, you play with it in the sense of playing with a puppy. There are some minor distractions, the whirring noise which fades into the background after a bit and a slightly rubbery feel to the skin but these are easily overlooked.

I’d almost guarantee that most anyone will find the Pleo a fascinating robot to own and interact with unless you just don’t like robots or have an irrational fear or hatred of cute little dinosaurs. If you’re interested in getting it, you can go directly to the source at Ugobe or find it at a third party source through their site.

Some technical details:

Significant Processing Power

• Two 32-bit Microprocessors – central and image processing
• Four 8-bit Subprocessors – motor control

Highly Articulated Movement

• 14 Motors
• Over 100 Custom-Designed Gears

Complex Sensory Network

• Infrared and camera-based vision system – object and color detection and navigation
• Two Microphones – binaural hearing
• Eight Skin Sensors – head, chin, shoulders, back, legs
• Four Foot Switches – surface detection
• 14 Force-feedback sensors – one per joint
• Orientation Tilt Sensor – body position
• Infrared Mouth Sensor – food detection

Multiple Data Ports

• Mini USBTM port – online downloads
• SDTM card slot – Pleo add-ons
• Infrared transceiver

High-Quality Sound

• Two Speakers – mouth and back

Power Source

• Rechargeable and replaceable NiMH battery pack

Technorati Tags: robots, pleo, designer life forms, lifeos, robotics, dinosaur, gadgets, toys, future, technology

What ninja wouldn’t want to pimp their gear if they felt they were still keepin’ it ninja? If I were a ninja I would SO be into this. We at AG thought we’d throw the idea out there because bling is da bomb, ninja’s are da bomb; and yo baby, it’s all for profit… er… tradition.
From Tabi Boots to Star Pouches, we’ve got you pimped.

And while this is being designed, marketed and perhaps as we’re in hiding in fear for our lives because the ninja community may not appreciate the new line: Pimp your own gear and bring out the ninja in YOU!

	Ninja Gear Sale: $29.95 You Save: $16.04 (34%) From Youth to Comic Book Store Guy from the Simpsons sizes
	Grappling Hook Price: $18.99 You Save: $16.01 (46%) Seriously- how many times have you been in a situation in which you wished you had a grappling hook? If you’re like me… EVERY DAY!
	REAL Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book by Robert Hamburger List Price: $9.95
	Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead Price: $11.16 Okay, this may not be Ninja… but it’s cool and it’s needed as you never know when an uprising can happen.

Technorati Tags: ninja, ninja bling, zombies, ninja gear, pimp my ninja, tabi boots, grapple hook

USB Missile Launcher
Stir Up Some Mayhem to Break Up the Monotony — Is your 9 to 5 getting you down?
Ever find yourself bored and frustrated on the job? Take control of the airspace
in and around your cubicle for a fun way to break up the day. — This USB
Missile Launcher features a 15 foot range so you can conduct target practice, or
see if your missle can land just outside the corner office. — Use your PC to
aim and launch the three foam missiles to secure your borders and defend your
homecube. The missile is controlled left to right, and fired using your computer
controls.

USB Missile Launcher
Price $29.99

Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball
Tired of being called unsympathetic? Give the gift that keeps on giving. For that friend, significant other or relative who keeps trying to get you talk about their feelings, Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball will have you appearing heart felt and caring in no time with over twenty responses such as: ”How did that
make you feel?” and “Talk about your mother.”

Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball
Price $8.95

Train Man : Densha Otoko (2005)

My absolute favorite film of the year, therefore who WOULDN’T appreciate this as a gift? You have geekdom, Japan, a great love story and quirky all wrapped up in 102 minutes!
“A supposedly true combination of a romance and a Pygmalion story, Densha Otoko began as an on-line tale that captivated audiences in Japan: there’s a novel, a TV show, and a manga series, in addition to this feature. The title character is a textbook otaku, an anime and video game nerd who divides his time between the electronics stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara district and the computer in his cluttered room. One day on a commuter train, he prevents an obnoxious drunk from bothering a pretty girl. She sends him a set of Hermès teacups as a thank-you and a tentative romance begins. Train Man has no idea how to behave with a girl, so an on-line posse tells him how to dress and what to say. Ultimately, his example inspires them to go out into the world. Director Masanori Murakami effectively uses a split screen to create the on-line community. Takayuki Yamada makes a wonderfully maladroit Train Man: when he calls Hermès for the first time, he holds the phone as if he were about to commit seppuku. Miki Nakatami infuses Hermès with a winning mixture of gentleness and independence. This touching romance will delight Gen-Y and -Z members, whose lives are bound to the Internet. (Unrated, suitable for ages 13 and older: minor violence, alcohol and tobacco use)–Charles Solomon”
Train_Man Densha Otoko
Price $19.99

Blood Feud in NY
Did you ever wish you were a part of a crime family or know someone who does?
At the end of the Millennium, the FBI, working with various state and federal
agencies managed to rid New York of the ruling crime families that had become
entrenched in the city over many generations. As the boss of one of these
families, you are competing with the other players to determine who will
ultimately rule the world of organized crime. As tensions flare, a full scale
Mob War erupts to determine who will become supreme Mafia Boss of New York. This
is a hard action, take no prisoners game. You are a Boss at the head of a
powerful criminal organization. You and your adversaries are currently based in
one of the five boroughs of New York or in New Jersey. Your goal is to build and
expand your underworld empire by any means necessary. This can include
corrupting precincts to increase your take, kidnapping opposing family members
for ransom, and the coup de grace, taking out the opposing families’ bosses,
thereby removing them from the game. To take control of the city’s underworld,
you will need to be a brilliant strategist, a careful planner and a skilled
negotiator. Knowing the exact moment to take the offensive will be necessary if
you want to take advantage of opponent’s weaknesses. In the end, your paranoia
may prove to be one of your greatest character traits: ALWAYS watch your back!
Blood Feud In New York Board Game
Price $24.95

Halo III Covenant Carbine Scaled Replica
Give that Halo lover something they can take with them when the Xbox is off.
Price: $19.88

Marvel Minimates: Marvel Zombies Box Set of 5
Do you know someone who likes Marvel characters? Do you know someone who likes zombies? Do you know someone who likes BOTH? The Marvel superheros have become the walking undead! A great add to any collection- and they’re ZOMBIES!
Set of 5
Price: $18.99

X-Finger Middle Finger Road Rage Device Placed strategically in any vehicle, you can get that road rage out to defuse itself by squeezing a little bulb and gesturing to that moron exactly what you think of them. Hopefully you place it in an area where any little passengers won’t see…
Price: $14.49

The Cubes- Ann
A great addition to The Cubes collection or a starter. Used as either a voodoo doll playset or perhaps placed on a desk decorated with whatever subtle message you’re wanting to give your boss or co-workers, The Cubes is a brilliant set for anyone who is stuck in Cubicle HELL
Price: $12.99

No I Will Not Fix Your Computer-Tee
Are you or a friend constantly getting sucked into using your talents for free by any of your not so close friends, co-workers, relatives or acquaintances? Save your voice and get your point across. You are a person who deserves your own free time damn it!
Price: $19.95 - $21.95

Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy (Hardcover)
Nothing beats a pop-book, unless it’s a Star Wars pop-up book! Sabuda and Reinhart Studios have created another spectacular pop-up book for George Lucas’s epic STAR WARS movies! Bestselling pop-up artist and engineer Matthew Reinhart has designed a thirtieth anniversary commemorative edition that comes packed with a variety of novelty features — pop-ups, working light sabers, pull tabs, and other interactive looks at the exciting and popular movies. This beautiful book will impress all fans of STAR WARS and gives a whole new perspective to the films.
Star Wars Pop-Up Book
Price $19.79

Mental Floss
Turn your friends and family into geeks by causing them to fall in love with learning and showing off their brain power. This game seriously caused me to give trivia/question games another chance when I was getting completely tired of the genre. You’re guaranteed to walk away a genius!
The Mental Floss Trivia Game picks up where every other party game stops. This mind-challenging game has taken traditional trivia and turned it on its side with more than 1,500 crazy questions. Try to make it through an “Enlightening Round,” stop a “Big Fat Lie” and play a “Mental Block” card to give your opponents a real setback. Includes game board, six movers, 250 floss facts, 200 Enlightening cards, Mental Block cards, Peace of Mind tokens, die, label sheet and instructions. Price $22.98

LaCie’s taken an interesting twist and added it to their latest hard drive – they’ve worked with designer Neil Poulton to design something that actually looks nice. Then they’ve added a fan less cooling system so it sounds nice too, assuming nice means quiet.

I took the 500GB model for a test drive over the past few days and I was very impressed. On opening it, I was faced with a shiny black cube that reminded me instantly of the Monolith featured so heavily in 2001 and subsequent sequels.

This thing is black. And shiny. There aren’t a lot of buttons or labels to mar the surface, with the majority of them being at the rear, with the exception of one LaCie label. The rear of the drive features a power in plug, USB plug, power switch and vents for the cooling system. Okay, I was impressed. This is actually a piece of equipment I could see sitting in my TV room. It also looks very nice next to the Alienware m9750 laptop. When turned on there is a pleasant blue LCD reflection beamed to whatever surface it’s sitting on to let you know that the drive is powered on.

I was pleasantly surprised when I plugged the LaCie drive in to my Vista system and it was immediately recognized. Then it proceeded to launch some on board installation software and prompted me to format the drive. I like that it gave me an option to set aside up to 32 GB of FAT32 (the largest technically supported by FAT32) space aside so that I could share data on the drive between my Vista install, Linux and any Macs I happened to have hanging about. Nice touch LaCie.

The formatting went flawlessly and within a minute after plugging the drive in and following the format wizard, I was storing data on it. The drive is cool, quiet and quite nice to look at. My only problem is that I’m rather obsessive about fingerprints. I found myself wiping the drive down after each move (I moved it several times) as my fingerprints were clearly visible. A minor flaw to be certain. The drive is fast, quiet and easy on the eyes.

The drive itself spins at 7200 RPM, has a high speed USB 2.0 connection, 8MB Cache, transfers up to 60MB a second (480Mb). It’ll work with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, OS X (10.3 or higher). Unofficially it also works fine with Ubuntu 7.10.

It’s 4.6 inches by 7.6 inches by 1.8 inches and weighs in at just over two pounds. And it really does look quite nice. I’m glad to see that hardware is being encased in something that I’d be happy to display, rather than hiding behind my existing hardware.

Technorati Tags: lacie, external hard drive, coolest looking drive, monolith, usb 2.0, fanless, cylon

Recording films, television shows, and video game play in real time has become something I am increasingly taking for granted. It pains me to pull up those pre-Neuros times as I am now able to store my DVD collection on my external hard drive, and to put downloaded content like YouTube onto my Neuros. Granted I can’t access menu items from the recorded file, but if I want to… I can always record the special features and commentaries to view later. Additionally you can store a film to a thumbdrive and toss it to a friend for viewing or sneak it onto your laptop (or any portable device) to watch during a long winded seminar or meeting.

Feel like surfing through Youtube while you’re watching television? You can. Want to pull up your entire music collection? You can. Anything that you store on your hard drive, you can access via your television using Neuros. It’s created a relationship between my computer and television- two platforms I love.

Have you ever been stuck on a part of a video game and you’ve found frustration in trying to explain your issue to someone who has conquered the game? Fret not, just record your failure and e-mail it to your friend or post it on a forum for assistance. How did I ever live without this?

Being open sourced and having frequent easily downloadable upgrades, I’m looking forward to what the future has in store for this delightful little device I’ve named, “George”.

Yes George has sucked out my passion to write, draw, and complete my plans for world peace as I have a ton of films to store and watch, but I just see mental vegetation as one step closer to Zen. I AM the Buddha. Thank you Neuros!

I’m certain there’s SO much more that I haven’t covered or tried out yet, but baby, I’ve just gotten started on my road to media addiction.

I’m not quite sure what to file the Pleo under. Gadget? Toy? Science? All three I guess.

Here’s a - in my opinio- very cool video of the Pleo taking her first steps, about 10 minutes after hatching, but you know how home movies can be.

From the Pleo site: Pleo, a one week-old dinosaur, is a robotic marvel and the newest member of your family! Pleo interacts with you – moving organically, expressing emotion, autonomously exploring and responding to the world around him. On Pleoworld.com owners connect, find training tips and download new enhancements to Pleo. Pleo’s sophisticated sensory system has devices that enable him to hear, to see, to sense touch, and to detect objects: a color camera, sound sensors, two infrared sensors, 14 motors, over 100 gears, eight touch sensors, and an orientation sensor.

I’ll have a few review of this so far very cool little dinosaur in a week or so.

Technorati Tags: pleo, ugobe, robot, robotics, dinosaur, hatching, awesome

That’s why I jumped at the chance to try out the Duracell Powersource Mobile 100. What is this thing? It’s a fast charging portable 100-watt inverter with a lightweight, high-output 4.0 amp-hour lithium-ion battery pack. It takes electricity from your wall or your car and puts it into your stuff. That’s right, it’s got an adapter for your wall and your car’s 12 volt DC powersource.

The DPM 100 features a 3 prong AC outlet and two USB ports. For me, this means I can hang my Archos, my Creative Zen and my PSP off of it all at the same time. Or more realistically, use it to power my PSP while traveling so I don’t blow through the battery as fast. What will it do for a PSP or my laptop? It powered my PSP for close to 8 hours before it cut out and my laptop for a bit over 2 hours. That’s not bad in a little power source that weighs just under two pounds. When you think that your Blackberry could eke out 9 days of power from this and that you can charge your cell phone on the go, it becomes even more attractive.

The DC power converter for your auto is a great feature too. Keep this in your car for those long trips (yes, I’m talking to you people with kids who also have gadgets to charge) and you’ll love it! At a little over four hours to recharge completely you won’t spend all day waiting. I also like the fact that the DPM 100 was just barely warm to the touch after a full charging - no juggling a hot, 2 pound battery.

How’s the YAG factor? At about 5.25 inches by 3.25 inches it’s not overly large. Two pounds is pushing the envelope a bit for lugging around with me every single day. I would not hesitate to leave this in the car though, or pop it into my carry on luggage for a trip on a bus, train or plane. Adding 8 hours to the PSP’s 4.5 hour charge is huge. Adding 8 hours to the DS Lite’s 10 hours will keep you going with barely enough time to sleep. Who wouldn’t want this on a long trip?

Bottom line: If you’re in the market for a portable power source that can recharge at and wall outlet or in a car or boat then this is one that you’ll be happy with. At $99 via Amazon.com it’s not going to set you back to badly, especially when you consider what you’re getting out of it! If you’re a power hog like I am, have kids who use stuff or like to take your gadgets on your trips then this is definitely worth the investment.

Technorati Tags: duracell, portable power, battery, charger, powersource mobile 100, usb, three prong

You simply slide the two pieces together through one of the four slots (for 20, 30, 40, or 50 degree tilts) and plop the laptop on the stand. It’s really quite simple and effective.

The angle at which the two pieces fit together prevents your laptop from sliding around. 20 or 30 degrees is great for using your laptop’s keyboard. 40 or 50 degrees is good if you’re looking to use an external keyboard.

The stand is very portable, one of the features I like. It’s light and will fit right into my backpack along with my laptop. I also notice that it keeps my laptop a bit cooler (when undocked) while using it. The difference isn’t huge, about 4 degrees in temperature - yet it is cooler.

I really like the simple design, bordering on elegant. I like it, yet it makes me a bit angry I must admit. Angry that I didn’t think of this myself. It’s so simple yet effective. If I had come up with this idea, well I’d be writing from a much more expensive laptop.

The YAG factor on this little stand is pretty low. It’s not something I’d carry with me every day since I dock my laptop at work, but I certainly will use this at home and bring it with me on any trips where the laptop is coming. It’s light, relatively small for what it is and greatly helps with my hand position when typing.

The iRiser retails for $39.95 and you can purchase it directly from Matias or grab it from your favorite retailer. As a bonus, each iRiser also comes with a mini-iRiser for your iPod. Is it to coy saying ‘iLike it’?

Technorati Tags: irizer, laptop stand, review, gadget, my stand goes to 11