AppGeek.com, from iEntry Inc., doesn’t play favorites – as they feature apps from Apple, Android, and Blackberry (with Windows 7 apps coming soon!).

Each app featured on AppGeek allows you to share it socially via Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and StumbleUpon. They also include screenshots, videos, app recommendations, price… etc. Everything is right there for you, making it very easy for the user to see if that app is right for them.

Well, why are you still reading this? Go over to AppGeek now and start finding new apps.

A recent report from Forrester Research, gives hope to the tech industry, vision for the future, and a half-humorous/half-disgusted view of the American consumer. Forrester, a technology and market research firm, performed an in-depth investigation of over 50 thousand American and Canadian homes to determine how techie we’ve all become.

The answer: exceedingly so. In Wednesday’s report, everything from HDTV to cell phones received attention. For example, the report revealed the number of hours that we spend online. The average American spends about two hours a day online, and most of that is for personal purposes—Facebook, gaming, etc. With over 60% of families now using high-speed Internet, extensive online time is more possible and enjoyable.

Forrester also made some observations about the present that impact market positions for the future. Americans have rushed to buy up HDTVs at a record pace. Nearly ten million households purchased HDTVs last year. The number isn’t expected to decrease much over the next several years, with nearly ten million more per year entering consumer homes. That’s good news for the HDTV manufacturing and service provider industry. It also looks rosy for the programming industry.

Beyond merely watching TV, households are getting connected. While HDTVs are the leader in terms of technology consumption, home networks come as a close second. By 2013, thirty million more homes will obtain home networks. Again, this paints a pretty picture for Internet providers, wireless router manufacturers, and the host of online services that will benefit from the influx.

The thirst for connectivity is going somewhere, and that somewhere is gaming. Games are no longer an activity reserved for the lazy teen holed up in his bedroom. Games are now a pastime of half of all American adults. Thanks to technology like the Wii and games like Guitar Hero, families are jumping on the gaming bandwagon in droves. For homes that do not have children, the likelihood of their becoming “hardcore gamers” is pretty high (50% more likely), which means playing games for ten hours or more every week. “Casual gamer” is the designation that describes most Americans—taking part in an occasional free iPhone or online game.

So whatever happened to the “economic downturn?” Technology costs money. Despite talk of the recession, American consumers have been putting their weakening dollar toward strengthening their technology acquisitions. It’s anyone’s guess why that is the trend. What Forrester’s report proves is that America has a fixation on technology. And as technology only increases and becomes more widespread, the technology sector is going to grow.

Corporate users have been enjoying the iPhone as a communication device, allowing them to stay in touch with their company’s home base both via E-mail and voice. But employers are liking the device as well, since IT costs have been significantly lower than expected. The 12-page report examines three large companies with significant iPhone use ” Kraft Foods, Oracle, and Amylin Pharmaceuticals. According to Tim Shadler, the reports author, the iPhone helped create a happier, more productive workforce.

There’s nothing in particular about the iPhone’s hardware or software features that helped create this surge in employee satisfaction. Rather, employees’ happiness came from the ability to use the tool they chose. After all, the iPhone is one of the most lusted-after phones on the market right now.

The report does note some downsides: ActiveSync and calendar support on the iPhone are still not up to snuff when compared with the competition, and the device can’t top BlackBerry Enterprise Server when it comes to reliability. Still, with new features like expanded push notifications and copy and paste expected this summer, corporate iPhone use is sure to continue to expand.

I couldn’t find an official name for the proposed jacket, so let’s call it ‘Mike Myers Movie Jacket Simulator’, or MMMJS for short. The jacket has 64 independent actuators that align across your entire upper body. Due to the amount of microprocessors that the jacket runs on, it doesn’t eat up as much power as you’d think. On two AA batteries, the jacket could run for a hour with all of the actuators running at once.

So, just what are the jacket’s makers trying to simulate? They want users to feel the tension that the actors/actresses are portraying on screen. Not necessarily the physical aspects, like getting punched or shot, but the mood, or what the character is feeling inside. Like I stated earlier with the Halloween example, the jacket’s portion of the chest might vibrate to simulate long, drawn breaths.

The actuators themselves are capable of cycling on and off 100 times per second. Below is a picture of the jacket, which to me looks like an exercise outfit. Hopefully, Phillips can develop something a little more up to date when it goes commercial.

If you want to keep up with news on the jacket, or wondering where it’s going to show up at next. You can find info at the IEEE-sponsored 2009 World Haptics Conference 2009

[via: IEEE]

Mail Online has an in-depth look at “Jules,” the human-looking robot head, which can mimic real human facial expressions. And in real time no less.

Mail Online reports:

Jules mimics the expressions by converting the video image into digital commands that make the robot’s servos and motors produce mirrored movements.

And it all happens in real time as the robot can interpret the commands at 25 frames per second.

You can see plenty of images of Jules at that site, but you can also see Jules in action in the video embedded below.

Creepy, exciting stuff. For a look at fictional Terminator news, read my thoughts on the upcoming sequel.

For many, that means its time to start thinking about Christmas trees, and appropriate trimmings. Gizmodo is pointing today to a pretty cool Digital Picture Christmas Ornament, which is only $15.50 at Chinavasion.com.

It’s about time Christmas ornaments got a little more hi-tech.

Features as listed at the site:

- 8 MB Christmas Ball digital picture frame for the holiday. Other memory sizes are also available.

- Fashionable holiday ornament for Christmas Trees or the desktop.

- Includes and additional clock function

I’ll tell you what I’d really like to see, is an mp3 player ornament or at least an iHome-style one. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to have the beautiful rendition of Jingle Bell Rock as performed by Hall & Oates coming right out of your tree? Or Max Headroom’s Merry Christmas, Santa Claus?

A video version would be even better.

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.

Here’s a quick video essay to introduce you to the Strix – a 120mm, terminally guided, top attack mortar projectile.  This thing will happily find and destroy it’s target, even main battle tanks (MBTs) day or night from up to 7 klicks away.   All you need is a standard 120mm mortar!

I don’t know what’s more interesting.  The presentation, or the cheery, 1970′s science class documentary theme music at the end.

Technorati Tags: mortars, MBTs, weapons, boom, technology, saab, explosions

The new book by Nick Sagan (son of Carl Sagan), You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised, is characterized by explanations of some of the fascinating technologies envisioned in classic science fiction along with explorations of the progress modern science has made towards achieving those visions. Classic science fiction references appear side-by-side with summaries of state of the art scientific research.

The book is divided into 5 broad chapters, each covering 10 technologies that we have made progress towards realizing. The chapters are Travel and Transportation, Computers, Cyborgs, and Robots, Communications, Weapons and Security, and Life, Health, and Sex.

The Pros

This book is very well written. Each technology is described with multiple fictional appearances as well as detailed accounts of modern advances involving that technology. I was also surprised at how realistic many of the concepts once considered impossible have become. There were also detailed diagrams and high-quality images for all of the sections, which made the content much more engaging.

The Cons

Some of the technologies in the book were much less interesting than others. In a desire to have the same number of sections in each chapter, some sections were added that probably could have been left out – language translators, watch toys, and sex toys, for example.

I definitely recommend this book. It was a quick read, and each section was engaging and interesting. The price is very reasonable, as well.

The Stats

Title: You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised
Author(s): Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, and Andy Walker
ISBN10: 1556526857
ISBN13: 978-1556526855
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Cost: $11.21 (from Amazon)
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Published: April 1, 2008

Technorati Tags: Carl Sagan, Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, Andy Walker, science fiction, technology, books, book reviews, You Call This the Future?: The Greatest Inventions Sci-Fi Imagined and Science Promised

Frotz is a Z-machine interpreter which is needed to run Zork and other Zork like games, made popular waaaay back in the day by this little company called Infocom.

It’s a free app from the store, which comes with a bunch of games pre-loaded, and the ability to natively browse the IFDB (Interactive Fiction DataBase) for new stuff to download and play.

Game play is a little slow thanks to the iPhone keyboard but it’s still pretty much the same experience as it was back in the 80s.

Technorati Tags: frotz, iphone, apps, app store, zork, infocom, ifdc

You can also turn it into a nice DVR for recording all of your TV shows buy purchasing the DVR station, which amazon has for just $78 – $20 less than retail as well.

Technorati Tags: deals, archos, 605, wifi, pmp, movies, music, more

Be it 2d4 for your wizard’s magic missile or 5d8 for your uber-dwarven palladin’s war axe of d8 ravaging, Diceshaker’s got you covered. You can roll the dice by the little Roll button, or just flick your iphonepod back and forth.

There are no elegant animations of dice actually rolling though, which I still think would be a good touch to any die rolling application.  There is the sound effect of dice rolling, should you choose to use it, or Diceshaker can remain silent for you.  In addition to rolling dice, it will remember your multiples for you.  You’ll not have to go in and set the wheels for 5d8 more than once and can easily return to your preferred combos.

Diceshaker also lets you know what was rolled on each individual die.  So if you’re running a game where dice pools are used, this app is still useful for you.  I do wish it had a little more oomph to it graphically but as a straight utility piece of software it certainly gets the job done.

Best of all, it’s free.

Technorati Tags: iphone, ipod touch, apps, app store, apple, gadgets, software, role playing, diceshaker, roll the bones, die roller, 4d6

I find this trend very interesting – a while back we had cheap software that anyone could download and use and then pay the author if they liked it, or pay a small fee for some nifty software.  Now we’re seeing this trend appear again with the App Store and phones/PMPs of all things.

While it’s listed under the productivity category, Ambiance is really a relaxation tool.  It’s a wonderful little app that plays relaxing sounds and white noise so you can tune out the rest of the world and concentrate on the task at hand – even if that task is gently slumping forward onto your desk and drooling on your keyboard.

There were other white noise or relaxing sounds apps out there but Ambiance seemed to carry more bang for your buck (or 99 cents).  In this version you have 13 different sounds to choose from, ranging from good old white noise to my favorite – crickets.

The sound quality on all is good, if a little loud with some of the static noises.  I found that sitting at my desk with this app running it worked wonders for tuning out the rest of the world. In situations that are loud, such as on the train during my commute, the softer sounds like crickets or the creek were very hard to hear.

Ambiance also has a simple timer built into it.  Let your sounds run for 5 minutes or 5 hours based on how you set the timer.

Matt Coneybeare, the author, has a few updates already in the pipe with Apple that should prove to be very good for this app.  There will be a built in volume bar for Touch users to turn down the louder color noises as well as 10 new sounds:

- Cicada
- Coast
- Rain – Light
- Rain – Thunder
- Rain – Tinroof
- River
- Stream
- Subway
- Train
- Vinyl

If you’re looking for a white noise and gentle sounds app this will be $0.99 well spent.  It’s got all the hallmarks of great software.  It’s pretty, easy to use, does what it says it will and it’s cheap!

Technorati Tags: reviews, software, apple, iphone, ipod touch, app store, ambiance, white noise, crickets

Technorati Tags: lego, star wars, sale, deals, these are the droids you’re looking for

The Daily Mail reports word from a trusted industry source that Apple, Inc. will be releasing the iPhone Nano in time for the 2008 holiday season.  The slimmer, cheaper version of the hugely succesful iPhone will not have internet access and will be limited to the 3G network.

The iPhone Nano will probably be announced later this year, possibly at the Apple Expo taking place in Paris in mid-September.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, iPhone Nano, Apple

Like the Kindle and other popular eBook devices, Readius features an eInk screen, simulating real printed paper for improved readability. It fits in a pocket or the palm of your hand when closed, but rolls out into a paperback-sized 5″ screen. Controls include 5 touch-sensitive context buttons integrated into the display and 3 tactile buttons on the chassis.

Polymer Visions hasn’t announced when Readius will hit the market yet, but for now you can head over to www.readius.com and drool over its full feature list, or check out the New York Times’ more extensive review.

Inkseine introduces a gesture-based UI, which reduces screen clutter and makes the app just plain fun to use. It also includes a few unique features. My favorite: you can highlight handwritten text and use it to search any document on your computer (or search the web), then open it for viewing or hyperlink it into your notes for easy access later. Inkseine also has a handy widget for taking clippings and pasting them directly into your notes, like a streamlined version of Snipping Tool.

Naturally as soon as I downloaded it I went straight to planning a D&D campaign. First I sketched out a couple of regional and dungeon maps. After adding some annotations, I hyperlinked the dungeon maps to the regional maps using the search feature. I have all my D&D books in PDF format so I used the search tool to look up the monsters and traps I intended to use, then took snapshots of them and pasted them right into the notes for easy access. I have the whole adventure planned out with everything at the tip of my stylus, and anything I forgot to paste into the notes I can easily search for mid-session without digging through a stack of books. Freakin’ sweet.

I could go on about the things you can do with Inkseine, but I’ll let you check out the features yourself over at its page at Microsoft Research.

You can also turn it into a nice DVR for recording all of your TV shows buy purchasing the DVR station, which amazon has for under $80 – $20 less than retail as well.

Technorati Tags: deals, archos, pmp, wifi, media player, movies, like an ipod but with dvr

APC has a great article up on the top 10 reasons to hate the new iPhone 3g.  As much as I kind of want to, I really don’t hate the new iPhone.  In fact, I’d love to have one.

My favorite reason cited: No Adobe Flash support. Ugh.

Undeniably, the iPhone has the best web browser of any phone on the market. But when you hit a web page with Adobe Flash in it, you’ll just get an empty space with a ‘missing plugin’ icon. Apple says Flash would run too slowly on the iPhone, but in reality, it’s probably more to do with Apple wanting to promote its competing web app development technology, Sproutcore.

Apple realises the ‘mobile web’ is at a tipping point… if it can get enough momentum behind developers coding sites specifically for the iPhone, it will help sales of the iPhone along in the long term. (That said, unlike Flash, Sproutcore is an open standard that theoretically works in any web browser that supports Javascript, so it could be widely supported by all handset makers if their phone web browsers got better.)

Who the hell uses Sproutcore?

Technorati Tags: iphone, hating, hate, 3g, apple, technology, gadgets

It’s a fairly simple idea which can I think have pretty far reaching effects.  It lets you chat in IM style directly over a television broadcast by laying two lines of text at the bottom of the image.  Simple, right?  But ground breaking at the same time.   In this demo video, there’s a chat going on over one of President Bush’s addresses.

You can see where this could lead.  Imagine many different chat channels, some populated by well know and respected commentators, some by you or me or anyone else.  You could be watching your favorite sports match and reading comments from fans, ESPN commentators or even the moms of some of the players involved.

Think of a standard CNN broadcast with a chat channel featuring some of the writers from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Or the unfolding of a natural disaster with relief being coordinated real time on several chat channels.

This is I think a first step, but an important one in user generated television content.  Will there come a time when the comments are as important as the show being broadcasted?

The instructions are available here and they are fairly simple but do require you to telnet to your Neuros.  Did I mention that I love this little gadget?  As does everyone I’ve introduced it to so far.

Technorati Tags: Neuros, hacks, open source, technology, geeks,   television, chat, coolness

Mash that up with the bits and pieces of our psyche that loves kittens and puppies and you’ve got yourself a burning desire to posses a babydinosaur.  Now make that baby dinosaur a robot and if you’re like me, you’ve got a little plastic and metal slice of heaven with silicon brains.

Pleos from Ugobe are a lot of fun, but they’ll run you $349 each.  Sure, that’s less than a purebred rat dog and they eat less too but it’s still a chunk of change.  Thankfully, Pleoworld has turned 1 year old today – and here I’m thankfull for its very existence and also the fact that you can get a Pleo for the next two weeks at the low, low cost of $235 (plus S/H).  Huzzah!

You’ve got two weeks to act on this deal, possibly a little less by the time you read this.  Just go to the Get Pleo portion of Pleoword and add one to your cart.  Then at check out, use the code PLEOWORLDISONE and up to July 12, you’ll get the special dino discount.    I know I and my whole family really enjoy our Pleo.

Technorati Tags: deals, pleo, ugobe, robots, technology, dinosaurs, cool, discounts, huzzah

People like me just enter the once in a blue moon contest for one of the gadgets and hopes for the best. If I don’t win (which is each and every freaking time), then I shrug it off and make due with what I have. (I super glued my cell phone to my laptop and taped an apple on it- Oh yeah baby, I’m happening.)

NEW YORK (Reuters ) – Know someone who loves gadgets and can’t wait to buy the newest model? Chances are you would describe them as assertive and a strong leader — and possibly arrogant, according a U.S. research.

An online study evaluating the characteristics of 25,000 American adults found avid technology consumers tended to score highly in personality traits such as leadership, dynamism and assertiveness — but low in modesty.

“A lot of previous research points to wealthy young males as early adopters of technology,” said Sarah Welch, lead researcher at Internet ad network firm Mindset Media that conducted the study in partnership with Nielsen Online.

“But this study tells us that there are characteristics beyond age and gender and income that are also extremely highly correlated with tech consumption,” she added.

The study looked at 20 personality traits or “mindsets” including openness, creativity, self esteem and spontaneity.

Respondents were rated on a scale of 1 through 5, with 1 representing those who demonstrated the least amount of a given mindset and 5 representing those who demonstrated the highest intensity of a mindset.

Those who scored a 5 in leadership were 68 percent more likely to have purchased three or more computers in the past two years, the study found.

Likewise, respondents who rated highly in assertiveness were 62 percent more likely to purchase a new cell phone when the newest model arrived on the market.

Although tech consumers don’t fit a typical demographic mold, the findings weren’t entirely surprising, Welch said.

“If you look at those with qualities of a modern leader, they’re often forward-facing and interested in what’s next,” she said.

“And those who are really assertive are the types to grab life by the horn, so it also makes sense that when they see something they want or like they go straight for it.”

Welch said the results could have implications for technology companies looking to attract a new set of consumers and even potentially impact the way such products are designed.

But the study also found that avid tech consumers were also likely to be low in modesty and may be perceived as conceited or arrogant by others.

Low levels of modesty also correlate with what Welch calls “badge-buying”, or a tendency to buy luxury brands.

“So there’s an element of pride in being able to have the latest and greatest, not just in the realm of technology, but in all other areas,” Welch said.

(Reporting by Lara Hertel; editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

We have a winner!  Congratulations Ron!  Neuros Technology will be in touch with you soon.

What better way to leap back into action than to team up with the fine folks at Neuros Technology to give away their flagship product – a Neuros OSD! The OSD is (in my opinion) the single easiest way to digitize and play back your entire media library. Got old VHS tapes you want digitized? Use the OSD! Want a DVR? The OSD can do that too. Able to play back just about any file format directly to your TV, easy to carry around with you, and the simplest way to watch your digitized archives. It connects right to your TV or home entertainment system and allows you to archive all of your DVD and video content – even right off of your video camera. Here’s your chance to own this $180 slice of awesome for free.

I’ve been using the OSD for a while now, as has my Editor Dawn and a number of friends. This is by far the simplest single point of entry for digitized media in multiple formats to get pumped right to my television. Even more to my liking, it’s an open source project that’s constantly evolving and improving.

Neuros Technology has offered to give an OSD to one of our readers and we’re going to make it as simple as possible to have your chance at it. All you need to do to score an entry into this contest is leave a comment with this post. Just tell us why you want an OSD. It can be for a noble purpose – digitizing the last remaining copy of your High School performance of Caligula. Or it can be purely selfish – playing your seven thousand hours of free BBC content on your 47″ LCD TV rather than your 15″ LCD monitor. Just let us know what you’d like it for and you’ll get an entry into this contest. From the Neuros site: Plug the Neuros OSD into your TV, connect your DVD Player or VCR, and hit play. Your movie will be safely and legally transferred into a digital library! It works with home movies too. Just plug your video camera into the OSD, push play, and your memories are digitized.

If you want more chances to win, blog about this contest (or throw it on Facebook or other social sites) and link back to this post and you will score FOUR additional entries, for a total of FIVE entries in this contest. Don’t forget to use our contact page to let us know you’ve done this! Email us your link, we’ll check it out and get back to you with your extra entries. Sorry folks, to win this, you must be a resident of the United States.

Each entry receives a number, and the winner will be chosen by drawing a random number out of a virtual hat.

Trust me when I say that you’ll enjoy the heck out of the Neuros OSD – you want one of these, even if you didn’t know you wanted one of these before reading this. This contest ends on the 30th of June at Midnight, so get your comments in now and link back for your extra entries.

How easy is it to use? Check this out:

Here are the official rules:

1. You can’t work for ArsGeek or Neuros Technology.

2. You must be a US Resident to enter.

3. You’ve got to be older than 13 and by entering this contest you signify that you are indeed a teenager.

4. You’ve got to use a valid email address that you will check when leaving your comment. Why? We’ll supply the winning email to the folks at Neuros Technology so they can contact you and get your shipping address. If they can’t contact you, they can’t ship you your prize. All other email addresses go into the dust bin. We don’t harvest emails, nor do we send spam or even create a list of addresses for some future use.

5. This contest will run for two weeks. It started on Monday, June 16th and will end Monday June 30th at midnight EST. Entries made after this date will not be valid.

6. The winner will be chosen on Tuesday, July 1st. You’ll be contacted via your email by me, and I’ll also forward your address off to the Neuros Technology folks.

7. All decisions on the winner are final.

Good luck!

The ArsGeek Team

Technorati Tags: neuros, osd, technology, gadgets, contest, give away, dvr, television, dvd, digital media, storage, awesome

This guy however, he’s like the DaVinci of RC Helicopter flying.  He makes Airwolf look like me.

Technorati Tags: airwolf, rc, remote control, helicopter, madness, copter ninja, talented bastard

With gas prices now over the four dollar mark (Road Warriors still plays in my head when I think about that).

Seth Sandler, you’re my new hero. With merely a cardboard box, tape, a piece of glass, paper and a webcam; he was able to create a Multi-Touch pad. His parents should be proud.

With the $10,000 you save, you can actually afford that tank of gas.

Get your own face bank

Oh you’ve gotta love the web grape vine. I saw this latest *gadget* on Podgadget who saw it on Shiny Shiny  who found it on Sharp Edge.

Who would have thought that umbrella’s could do more than keep us dry? Imagine an umbrella that keeps you dry, takes pictures through the rain, has GPS, a digital compass and  downloaded photo-streams on your umbrella screen.

Wi-Fi Umbrella #16518

The high-tech brolly allows you to take pictures with a built-in camera. These can be uploaded to Flickr (a photo-sharing website) via a wireless internet connection and within two minutes you can watch downloaded photo-streams on your umbrella screen with a simple wrist-snapping movement.

Invented in Tokyo (where else?) the Pileus umbrella also has GPS and a digital compass, which uses Google Earth to help you navigate yourself around the world. They are working on incorparating a video camera as well. 

Technorati Tags: wifi umbrella

Jon Tannis is a self confirmed geek. He spent a number of decades in various high tech industries pioneering network security and taking an active role in the development of several protocols we all know and love today. He’s got a love for all things technical, is a tinkerer extraordinaire and also just happens to own almost one million, five hundred thousand chickens. He thinks anyway, he’s never gone out and counted them all.

Jon is a new breed of geek. He’s retired, for one thing, although ranching a million and a half free range chickens on several thousand fenced acres in Arizona may not be everyone’s idea of a retirement. For another, he thinks he can help solve some basic problems, like food availability for all using new, low cost methods, vast numbers of poultry and the ability to essentially nuke them from orbit at will.

“We thought about that a bit back” Jon says, “we actually had several discussions about the feasibility of taking out poultry from low Earth orbit. Turns out the cost was prohibitive, the technology not quite there for safe consumption, and lots of industry guys thought we were nuts. Who wants to shoot chickens from space?”

When Jon decided he wanted to leave the ‘small world’ of Silicon Valley for greener pastures, he didn’t expect to take himself quite so literally. He spent the first several months of his retirement enjoying the fruits of a long work life in technology and researching how he would like to spend his retirement.

“I’d always dreamed of being a cowboy. When I was growing up, I was a sucker for John Wayne. Not the war movie Wayne so much as the good guy in the chaps with a six shooter at his side.” Jon continues “Hell, in my wildest dreams, I’d never picture the duke riding herd on a couple thousand walking, squawking drumsticks.”

The idea came to him when he was looking into purchasing property, wanted a working hobby and still wanted to benefit society in some way. Farming and ranching are about as old as cities and writing but Tannis’ approach takes a decidedly new and technologically based angle.

Tannis has breeding stations set up every two hundred acres. In each breeding station, a thousand square foot fenced of section of land, are several open air buildings, feeding stations and water troughs. While the feed and water have to be delivered by truck, they’re handled through automation and distributed to the roosters and chickens on a timed basis.

“All our birds are RFID enabled” says Tannis. Ranchers head out to the breeding stations once a week to check on the health of the roosters and see about new chicks. When a chick is born, an RFID tag is implanted into a wing, where it will remain for the life of the chicken. Roosters get the same treatment, but with a different tag. The breeding stations feature “chicken locks” – two sets of doors which allow chickens in and out but keep the roosters from leaving.

“Don’t feel sorry for the roosters” opines Tannis, “they live a good life. They get food, water, decent space and all the chickens they can handle. They also don’t get zapped with microwaves.”

Zapped? Here’s where the technology gets even fancier, and allows Tannis to keep such a large number of chickens roaming his several thousand acre property.

Set every mile in a grid pattern is a small, innocuous looking tower attached to a generator. These towers serve two purposes. The first is to enable a cellular network. “We use Verizon” says Tannis, grinning. “We tried to ink a marketing deal with them in exchange for bandwidth but they didn’t want to be known as the wireless company that killed chickens. They just donated it in the name of research.”

The second purpose is to house a series of microwave transmitters, similar to what you’d find in your microwave at home but much more powerful. These are mounted on movable brackets powered by small electric motors. Their purpose?

“That’s what takes out the chickens.” Tannis goes on “The beauty of RFID is that each chicken is individually tagged from birth. We know what breeding station they came from, how old they are and at any given time, we can use our RFID scanners in the field along with our cellular network to locate them with fair precision. “

When Tannis is ready to round up several thousand chickens for sale to the market, he does so in a very non-traditional way.

“These towers are effective pretty much up to a mile an a half with line of site. So we use an algorithm to determine the nearest collection of chickens, they like to bunch up on the range, which meet our age requirements and distance from the towers and we zap the hell out of them.”

Pickup afterwards is easy. A few trucks, lots of sacks and three ranchers speed out to the scene, gather the deceased poultry and bring them back to the processing plant.

“It’s very quick. Much quicker and less painful then say chopping their heads off. It also has the added benefit of killing off surface parasites and it burns the RFID tag right outta them so none of our consumers will be finding that in their chickens.”

And if you’ve ever eaten at one of the popular fast food chains, you’ve probably sampled some of Tannis’ stock. So far there have been no complaints. “The big chains, they’re our test market. We aim to make our profits from them. Then, for every chicken we sell, we’ll donate one to help ease hunger, first in the US and then abroad. We figure we’ll still make a good profit, enough to keep us afloat and our labor paid, while contributing to the greater good.”

Tannis took me on an extensive tour of the property. Several thousand acres is beautiful to behold, but takes on a surreal look when you realize just how large a number a million and a half is. There are a lot of chickens roaming around.

Tannis initially had a few hurdles to overcome. “We lost a lot of chickens to foxes, coyotes and even a cougar once.” His solution to this problem was decidedly low tech. “We have mules. Six of them that wander the property. We call them ‘asses with attitudes’. Mules have long been used to defend livestock from predators. The Tannis Ranch mules are outfitted with RFID collars which identify them as something other than chickens. “Can’t do anything about the hawks though.” says Tannis. “We’re toying with the idea of importing pigeons so they’ll have another target but we haven’t gotten the numbers back on that yet.”

“Our towers and the control computer wont microwave the mules. We actually have several safeguards. First, the RFID tags identifying them as non-targets. Second, if a firing does happen, the collars emit a steady beep that gets louder the closer the mules get to the firing station. They’re trained to move away.”

The same setup works for the ranch workers, who carry an RFID enabled ID with them. “The ranchers also have dead-man switches. Anyone out in the field takes one with them. We radio everyone 5 minutes before firing. Everyone in the field holds down a button on the dead-man switch. If you let go of our button, the microwave transmitters shut down. That way, if you’re hurt, or if someone’s in the wrong place and our RFID network isn’t working, we have a failsafe.”

Back at his ranch, I asked Tannis if he was enjoying his new life. “Are you kidding?” he asks, pointing around his 10,000 square foot ranch as he puts his booted feet up on a table. “I live like a rock star. I have twenty people working my ranch, a car for every day of the week, two pools, take vacations whenever I want. Chickens paid for all this. I love chickens. I love my life right now.”

When asked about the high-tech nature of his job, Tannis responded “Yeah, it’s a bit weird really. It’s still something of a cowboy life, but all of my workers bring laptops into the field with their horses or trucks. Hell, half of my staff have CS degrees.”

Jon Tannis plans to launch a website – tannisranch.com – in the near future. If you’d like to learn more you jon welcomes your thoughts and questions at jon@tannisranch.com or contact the American Poultry Association.

Technorati Tags: food, chicken, technology, death ray, microwaves, free range, geeks, silicon valley, pioneers, cowboys, rfid

Anyway, let me take you on a journey to “I Want One of Those”… because I do. I want several of “those”. I’ll probably never get any of “those” but it feels good to want.

From WiFi Signal Detector T-shirt to Space Putty- I’ve got you covered… or myself covered for the far away holidays.

I present you with my top 10 “Must Have” My intro’s are in bold italics and everything else is from the site:

This first one I chose to give as a gift to someone you hang around with often. Not because you care about them, but because it makes them essential to your geek habits.

This is geek chic at its pinnacle, its apex, you know, the top basically. These slim fitting (but not tight) black t-shirts have a WiFi signal detector built into them, which is pretty darn cool. When you wander into a WiFi area the little arrows do their light-up sequence spinny thing, and the five bar detector on your chest will illuminate to show you the strength of the signal. The shirts are black and come with a choice of a blue or green Wi-Fi signal, and in a variety of sizes depending on your diet. Whether you’re a laptop roving geek-head or not is of course irrelevant, light up T-Shirts are so ‘now’ and so ‘tomorrow today’ that going out without wearing one will soon seem so very yesterday. That may not have made much sense, but since when did that matter? Possibly tomorrow, but definitely not today. Powered by a couple of AAA batteries and fired up by WiFi signals, these T-Shirts will turn you into your very own hot-spot beacon without you having to buy a coffee or skulk round an airport (did that make any sense?).

Features
A black t-shirt with illuminating WiFi detector.
The detector has 5 bars to determine the strength of 802.11b or 802.11g signals.
Choose a t-shirt with a detector that glows in either blue or in green.
The t-shirts are slim (but not skinny) fitting.
The t-shirts are 100% cotton.
T-shirts are available in small, medium, large or extra-large.
Hand wash only.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Requires 2 x AAA Batteries (not included).
£19.95 $35.91  €29.53

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/essential-gadgets/wifi-t-shirts/index.html

I picked this because who hasn’t felt the heart drop once you saw your shiny new gadget inflicted with it’s first scratch. It SUCKS when that happens!

Invisible Shield is the ultimate in gadget protection and is the toughest, most durable gadget scratch-protection film available on planet Earth. A gadget is so irresistible when it’s shiny and new, a gleaming totem of gorgeous technology. Sadly, within no time at all, it gets scratched and damaged – and you end up losing that ‘loving feeling’ you got when you first opened it. So next time you splash out on some flash piece of kit wrap it in this simply amazing Invisible Shield stuff and it will stay looking brand spanking new for years, every time you use it will be as if you’ve never touched it before.

Developed for the US military to protect the leading edge of helicopter rotor blades in the desert sand, this wonder stuff is absurdly tough. It’s basically an ultra thin clear urethane plastic, that’s virtually invisible and more or less invincible, after all if it can protect rotor blades moving at hundreds of miles an hour, imagine what it can do to your iPod, iPhone, Wii, PSP etc. The Shield creates a complete wrap-around protection (slightly fiddly to apply, but so, so worth it), so no more scratches, knocks, oily finger marks, nicks, all the little things that stop your gadget looking as good as it should.

This stuff is so tough you can scratch a key across your iPhone screen without it leaving a mark! Invisible Shield is probably the best gadget accessory we’ve ever seen, no forget that, it’s definitely, unquestionably, the best gadget accessory we’ve ever seen. When you love gadgets as much as we do, you want to keep them looking perfect, and this wonder stuff does it.

The moment you buy your shiny new toy, wrap it in Invisible Shield and it will look brand spanking new for years.
Features
The most durable protective film for gadgets ever invented.
Originally designed to protect military helicopter blades, the invisible SHIELD gives military protection to your tech pieces.
The shield is made from invisible and invincible clear, urethane plastic.
The shield wraps around your entire gadget offering 100% protection.
The invisible SHIELD allows gadgets to be scratch-free and look as good as new years after purchase.
The invisible SHIELD is idiot proof to apply.
Suitable for use on the most popular gadgets (see list at the top of page).
Sizes vary according to the gadget they fit.

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/essential-gadgets/invisible-shield/index.html

Okay, this may not be a dire essential but OMG- how cool would *this* be?? Imagine you to be on a romantic walk by the stream and you hear a splash- “There’s fish in them there waters!”

You’ve never got a fishing rod on you when you want one. Oh how we remember all those times strolling along the banks of the Limpopo, when up pops the fin of a marlin, or perhaps we hear the splash of a leaping sword-fish, and darn it if we’ve forgotten a fishing rod. If only we’d had a Pen Fishing Rod to hand? Of course marlin and swordfish are not fresh-water fish and we’ve never been to the Limpopo, but it sounded more appealing than watching a dead perch floating in the Grand Union Canal. We’re getting off the point somewhat (again!). Ok, this clever little gadget is about the size of a large marker pen at only eight inches long, and yet opens up to become an aluminium alloy 4ft fishing rod, complete with a left and right handed reel (packed separately), a 5lb breaking strain line, and even includes a triple hook spinner. Never again will you be caught short when you spot a fish rise, and it’s small enough to carry with you everywhere!
Features
A 4ft fishing rod that compacts into a slimline case, designed to look like a large pen.
The rod has a minituarised reel with a switchable rachet ideal for left and right handers.
The rod has a line brake and line fastener for exceptional stability.
The rod itself is made from aluminium alloy.
The line has a breaking-strain of 2.5kg.
A triple hook and spinner are included.
Suitable for ages 14 years+.
Size: 22 x 1.5 x 1.5cm (in ‘pen’ form).

£24.99 $44.98  €36.99

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/gadgets-gizmos-newarrivals/pen-fishing-rod/index.html

This one is just plain old cool. If you don’t think so then you must leave now because you are not worthy of being called a geek:

If you’ve ever had a problem telling the time, then worry no more. The Binary Watch is so completely impossible to use (unless you’re a code-head) that not being able to tell the time is no longer a cause for worry, but just perfectly normal behaviour. Of course for those of you who ‘get it’, the Binary Watch – whilst palpably a watch – is not about telling the time, it’s about being carefree and eminently cool. It either says ‘I’m sufficiently techno-cool that I can actually tell the time on this thing’ or ‘I’m so laid back I don’t need to know what the time is, but cool lights, huh?’.

As the classic joke goes, ‘there are only 10 types of people in the world – those who understand binary, and those who don’t’ and it doesn’t matter if you’re a 1 or a 0, it’s a unique if slightly daft gizmo whichever way you look at it. Though of course if you look at it upside down, the time will be different. Nevertheless, despite the whole very-hard-to-tell-the-time drawbacks, this is one cool watch. And here’s how it works…

The Binary Watch displays time in binary format. (Now there was a useful sentence.) Using blue LED lights to indicate hours and minutes, the LED “ON” means 1, and the LED “OFF” means 0. The first row denotes the hours and the second row indicates the minutes, and apparently the translation of time from binary to decimal is easy: simply (huh) add the numbers of lit LEDs on the upper row to tell hours, and add up the numbers of lit LEDs on the lower row to tell minutes. The upper LED-row (8-4-2-1) shows hours. The lower LED-row (32-16-8-4-2-1) shows minutes. The time is displayed for five seconds when the side button is pushed – but if you think that’s long enough to work it out then you’re considerably cleverer than we are.

It comes with a leather strap, is made from solid stainless steel, and is water resistant to 90 feet – just in case you wanted to show off your binary proficiency to a halibut.
Features
Blue LED display
Leather strap
Solid stainless steel case and back
Water resistant 3 ATM – 90 feet
Battery included (type CR2032)
Size : 25 x 1cm x watch face of 5cm

$89.91 £49.95 €73.93

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/hot-watches/binary-watch/index.html

Another awesome must have. I’m an astronomy geek and gazing at the stars/planets is a passion of mine. Unfortunately I live in the NW where clouds conceal my view regularly. I still love to gaze though and picture the stars beyond the atmosphere.

Staring out at the infinite reaches of space on a dark and starry night is an awesome experience. Only trouble is, not many of us know what we’re looking at, and space becomes about a thousand times more fascinating and beautiful when you can unlock some of its secrets. mySky (forgive the lowercase m, it’s a brand thing apparently) is your very own handheld interactive guide to the universe. Point it at the night sky, and it will locate and identify celestial objects. No knowledge of the night sky is needed, it will align what it sees, and is capable of identifying over 30,000 celestial wonders. Just pull the trigger to find out about the planets, stars, nebula and galaxies in your night sky.

Once it identifies the object that you’re pointing it at (as long as it’s not an alien – this looks a bit like a ray gun, so best not to start some inter-galactic war by putting the wind up any passing ET’s), it will show you a multi-media presentation on its full-colour LCD screen. mySky will also take you on a guided tour of the sky above you highlighting the best things to look at depending on your time date and location.

If you’ve got a telescope, you can also hook this gizmo up to it and it will control the telescope, moving it and pointing it at any object the mySky can find.

Let the universe unfold before you.

Please note, this product is exempt from all special promotions and discount offers.
Features
Identify planets and stars in the night’s sky.
Visual and audio guided tours of the stars in your location.
Find and display mode for constellations.
LCD screen with full colour display.
Real time sky maps found.
Satellite finder.
Ergonomically designed to be comfortable to use and hold.
Can be connected to computerised telescopes in order to direct the telescope to the chosen constellation.
Adds a GPS function to a non computerised telescope.
Includes an SD card.
Six hours of battery life.
Suitable for ages 14 years+.
Requires 4 x AA Batteries (not included).
Size: 27 x 24 x 9cm.

£299.00 USD $538.2 €442.52
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/my-sky/index.html

Come on now- AWESOME??? Right? Right? Tell me I’m wrong… this is just TOO COOL! I can be the faux guitarist in my friends band! Or at least be the coolest person in the office (gawd I wish I was an associate… )

Were you born to rock, were you born to roll, were you born to sell your immortal soul – surely that?s a lyric from some Quo, Cooper, Sabbath, Leopard, long haired scream? If not it should be, and this testament to guitar thrashing rock is (obviously a bit daft) in actuality, an iconic 1GB MP3 Player, complete with its own mini guitar amp speaker. It’ll hold about 250 of your favourite tracks, and scrolls through them sequentially. There’s no LCD display, or glowing little buttons, this MP3 Player is all guitar. It comes with a mini stand, so you can sit it on your desk, a plectrum as well as headphones and a lanyard for hanging it round your neck. So next time you feel the urge for a damn good thrash, grab the U Rock MP3 player and play air-guitar until you pass out. It looks super cool, and after all, that’s mostly what rock is all about.

Please note, this product is exempt from all special promotions and discount offers.
Features
An electric guitar shaped MP3 player.
Guitar detail includes strings and machine heads.
Mini stereo speakers disguised as a guitar amp.
A plectrum.
Lanyard.
Headphones.
1GB of memory holding up to 250 songs.
No software required.
Scroll along your playlist tracks.
Colours may vary.
USB and 3.5mm cables included.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Size:-

Guitar: 16.5 x 5.5 x 1cm
Amp: 9 x 8 x 5cm.

£49.99 $89.98  €73.99
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/mp3-audio/u-rock-mini-guitar-mp3-player-and-amp/index.html

Considering I had just written an article on this I *had* to pick it- The Geek Gods heard my cry!

Isn’t it strange how when you’re driving along it’s always everyone else who’s the idiot? Of course from time to time we’re all idiots, and for the most part not intentionally, but nevertheless inevitable and puerile hand gestures always seem to follow. Well the LED car sign let’s you express yourself in more efficient and most of the time a very much more considerate manner. You just fix the wireless remote in the front of your car, and place the unit on the back shelf. You have five different messages you can illuminate to whoever is behind you, a Smiley Face, and Winking Face, ‘Thanks’, ‘Back Off’ or ‘Sorry’. It’s pretty silly, but we reckon it would help calm a lot of the over-heated nonsense that goes on out on the open road.
Features
LED Emoticon to communicate to fellow road users.
Five buttons on a mini control unit to be kept near your fingertips.
Each button corresponds to one of five messages to other drivers.
Messages include ‘Back Off’ for those riding a bit too close for comfort, ‘Thanks’ for putting a smile on the nice man who let you out’s face, ‘Sorry’ for the dodgy moves, a smiley face or a winking face so your mood at good manoeuvres and attractive passers by can be illustrated.
Sucker for attaching it to your rear windscreen.
Always drive with due care and attention to other road users as well as pedestrians.
Suitable for ages 17 years+.
Requires 4 x AA Batteries and 2 x AAA Batteries (not included).
Size: 17 x 17 x 4cm.

£24.99  $44.98  €36.99
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/travel-gadgets/led-car-sign/index.html 

I *love* camping. I get scared as hell when everyone’s asleep, it’s late at night and you have to use the bathroom but you don’t want to run down the batteries on the camping light or you’re too groggy to light the lantern. Feel great knowing you can wind up and then wind down.

Camping is a joy, camping lights however are so often not. Finding batteries in the midst of the wilds is no easy task, which is why this wind-up camp light is such a dream. Unlike so many of its predecessors, this light has an incredibly efficient winding mechanism, and as it uses LEDs, you’ll never have to change the bulbs. As well as a bright main light that casts a beautifully even glow, there are also two safety/night lights which from a full wind-up charge will glow for up to 48 hours, so you’ll always be able to find it in the dark.

The eco-friendly wind mechanism will give you thirty minutes of ambient light from just one minute’s winding, and a full ‘wind-up’ will give you four hours of light. Its table-top design is augmented by a recessed hanging loop in the base, so you can pop it on a table, or string it up on a tree, the top of your tent, whatever. As well as muscle power, it comes with a 12v in-car charger, so you give it a quick boost in the car if you’re feeling too knackered after all that trekking to crank it up. It’s a smooth wind-up light that’s built to last, and is in our opinion the perfect camping light.
Features
An eco-friendly, super reliable camp light.
5 super bright LEDs with over 50,000 hours life.
Two modes: ‘Normal’ (5 LED Lantern), ‘Nightlight’ (2 LED nightlight with amber glow).
A 1 minute wind= 30 minutes of light.
A full wind gives four hours of constant light or 48 hours on ‘Nightlight’.
Splash resistant.
Comes with an in-car charger.
Requires an internal NiMH battery (included) with a 600mA capacity giving up to 8 hours continuous light output.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Size: 16 x 12.5 x 12.5cm.

£19.95 $35.91 €29.53

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/travel-gadgets/wind-up-led-camp-light/index.html

My photo gallery is proof that self pics are a pain. I lack the equipment to use my digi cam and have to resort to the limited web cam. If I had one of these things I can walk up to strangers and take decent pics with them ALL THE TIME! “Hey check out person, you saved me 35 cents! Let’s take a picture!”

It’s so simple isn’t it, you see it and think, now why didn’t I think of that? Often the simplest ideas are the best, and the Quik Pod (despite the rather annoying missing “c” in Quik) is no exception.

How often have you been out and about or on holiday and wanted to get a snap of yourself? The outstretched hand approach always results in half a head and a rather startling strained expression, or god forbid there’s the excruciating advance on some stranger tactic to ask them to take your picture for you. This is of course fraught with problems, odds are they don’t speak English, they’re undoubtedly going to take a really lousy picture, and they may of course just run off with your camera.

Enter the Quik Pod. This handy telescopic monopod takes any camera or camcorder, allowing you to hold your camera at a distance so you can take a proper snap of yourself and your partner. It’s brilliant. Not only does it take a picture that doesn’t look as though you took it yourself, but you can also use it to photograph way above the heads of the crowds at gigs, film yourself as you ski, or cycle, skate or blade, or sneak your camera round corners for candid pics, the opportunities are endless. Making your You Tube masterpeice has never been easier, and the Quik Pod will make your opus considerably better than all those dark bedroomed half headed monologues out there. Packing down to the size of a saveloy (huh?), the Quik Pod is the must have camera and video accessory of the year.
Features
Extendable hand held telescopic monopod.
Gives your camera that extra distance to get better pictures of yourself and your companions.
Attaches to all cameras and camcorders weighing up to 450g with the standard tripod fitting (universal 1/4-20 screw).
A mini tripod.
A built-in self-image positioning mirror allows you to crop the image.
As it weighs just 100g it’s perfectly portable.
Easily fits in your backpack, rucksack or pocket as it’s retractable.
The Quik Pod is made of high quality polycarbonate and aluminium components for strength and durability.
The opportunities to use Quik Pod are endless:

Brilliant for holidays and travel – you can get a snap even when you ski, cycle or skate.
Use it underwater with a water – proof camera.
Reaches above the heads of the crowds and helps you sneak your camera anywhere you like for candid pictures.
Great for photo or video blogs.
Quik Pod pack includes:

Quik Pod,
Pocket Clip,
Hiking Clip,
Wrist Strap,
Sporty Style Carry Bag.
Suitable for ages 12 years+.
Size:
- Retracted length: 19 cm.
- Extended length: 47 cm.
£19.95 $35.91 €29.53

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/travel-gadgets/quik-pod/index.html

Space putty… because it’s space putty!!! Nuff said?

It’s squidgy, bouncy, runny and yet hard, this Space putty is an un-put-downable liquid lava goo. What once used to be silly, and occasional potty, has now become spacey. These iridescent pots of putty could not be more addictive to play with. It’s a ‘love at first squeeze’ thaing, no meeting or moment of idle thought is complete without a lump of this malleable magic stuff in your hands. You can mould it, bounce it, shatter it, stretch it, or in the case of the Iridescent Green one, even watch it change colour as you play with it. What you can’t do with it however, is put it down. You have been warned, Space Putty is highly addictive.
Features
Malleable, iridescent putty.
Totally addictive.
Available in Metallic Silver, Oil Slick, Royal Blue or Colour Changing Iridescent Green.
Suitable for ages 8 years+.
Size: 6 x 6 x 3.5cm.

£4.95    $8.91  €7.33
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/office-toys/space-putty/index.html

(the site states all US amts are approximate- don’t get mad at me if it’s wrong)

Technorati Tags: cool geeky stuff

Nothing seems to get your message across of “BACK OFF!” because bumper stickers have become the visual white noise and people tend to take glares and finger waving as invitations to act even more inconsiderate.

Well… I was thinking, “It’d be so cool if I could make a reader board for my back window to tell the drivers behind me to get off my tail, get off the freaking phone and pay attention to the road… or Hello gorgeous, heading my way?” Being as I’m not the successful inventor type (I was one step away from just sticking a lite-brite in my back window and frantically changing the message at each red light) I felt this dream was unobtainable UNTIL I happened across a site HERE that specializes in exactly what I’m looking for (costing around $45.00).

Whether or not it’s legal to display such a thing in a moving vehicle (even if you watch the language) is currently unknown by me because I was merely surfing to see if my “genius” idea had been done . IF it *is* on the wrong side of the law, I was thinking that if a cop were to pull me over for having a nifty gadget to convey my thoughts I can quickly change it to read, “I love traffic cops, and they’re awesome. Marry me.”

Even if it’s not legal to drive with the display, should you wind up stranded on the side of the road without a cell phone or passenger with hiking boots, you can display a help sign (providing your issue isn’t a dead battery?).

Here are some things I’d like to program into one:
“If you’re going to ride my butt at least buy me dinner first”
“Drive now, talk to your idiot friend later.”
“You obviously don’t pay attention to fashion, but can you PLEASE pay attention to the road?”
“By the time you finish reading this, my accomplice crawled into your back seat with an ax.”
“I’m single, but I can remedy that if you’re willing to follow me to Vegas.”

Yes, the one’s I’ve seen have been a little too small for a full sentence to scroll in enough time to be read at a red light or stop sign, but it still makes a nice day dream. (sigh)