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Cool off with an "iPhone 4" fan
Most fake Apple products make us roll our eyes, but this one is cute. Mostly because it's not trying to be an iPhone. The "shockingly thick" device is actually a personal cooling device, or "fan." To use it, slide off the real panel and remove the thin blue sponge inside. Get it wet, wring it out and put it back inside. Replace the back cover and then press the Home Button. The fan whirrs into action, providing the user with a cool, refreshing breeze. Keep the wind blowing by recharging the internal Lithium-ion battery by connecting to your Mac's USB port. Pro tip: add a little perfume to the sponge for scented refreshment. White "iPhone 4" Air Cooler from M.I.C. Gadget on Vimeo.
Keepin' it real fake: the iPhone 4 has a fan in China (video)
With competition like the Samsung Galaxy S II showing us just how thin a phone can be, the iPhone 4 isn't quite looking as svelte as it once did. How's an Apple-loving gadget fiend supposed to stay faithful in a time like this? Why, by holding their handset next to something much, much thicker. Enter the "iPhone 4," which actually isn't a phone, rather a powered fan that serves to keep you cool, not connected. As you can see after the break, the Home button won't kick you out of an app, instead kicking that ducted air-mover into high gear, and while you won't find it in your local Apple Store, stumble across one of these plastic bricks in Shenzhen and it'll only cost you $10 or so to take it home. Small price to keep your handset feeling good about itself -- until September, anyway.Update: Jasper wrote in with a link of where you can buy one for yourself, if you're still suffering from a heat wave.[Thanks, Chris]
Crapgadget: 'money to burn' edition
Gadgets can radically alter our lives -- they can save us time and money and improve our health. And then there's the crapgadget, a breed of technology seemingly designed for little more than draining our already microscopic bank accounts. But hey, it's your money, and if you want to spend it on, say, an inflatable outdoor movie theater, a speaker shaped like a tiny bird, or a case for your iPhone with a terrifying fake beetle attached, that's your call. If you need us, however, we'll be recovering from our solo table tennis game by fanning ourselves off with our smartphone. Check out the latest craptastic roundup below, and be sure to vote for your (least) favorite.
Lady Gaga uses Chrome, and here's the 91-second film to prove it
One of the world's most (in)famous names has picked a side in the browser battles -- last night saw the debut of a new Google Chrome commercial, starring Lady Gaga and her "little monsters." Spanning a minute and a half of Gaga and her fans singing and gyrating their way through her latest single, the ad is intended to illustrate the power of the web and its creative new modes of interaction. To be fair, said interaction is mostly Lady Gaga saying "jump" and a crowd of YouTubers doing it without bothering to ask how high, but hey, the result is fun to watch. You just need to disable your sense of shame for all humanity and click past the break. [Thanks, Daryl]
20 gigapixel, 360-degree panorama of Wembley Stadium is among world's largest, most detailed
Jeffrey Martin is a busy man. Having already shot an 80 gigapixel panorama of London's skyline and a 40 gigapixel peek inside a Czech library, he has now turned his attention to England's hallowed Wembley Stadium. The recently rebuilt home of football served as the stage for a new 360-degree panorama, shot during the FA Cup Final this Saturday, which spans 10 20 gigapixels in total and has been made available online at the source link below. Recording was done using a DSLR mounted to a custom robot rig that would continually pump out imagery to an equally exclusive Fujitsu workstation equipped with 192GB of RAM and 24 processing cores. All that grunt was used to automatically stitch more than 1,000 high-res images together, earning the finished product the honor of being one of the world's largest 360-degree sports panoramic photos. Give the source a bash to tag yourself if you were at the Final or to check who else was there. [Thanks, Adam] Update: We originally had this at 10 gigapixel, going from information on the FA's website, but it turns out to be a 20 gigapixel pic. Its claim for being the largest sports panorama may actually be disputed by Essendon FC in Australia, who managed to pull together a 20 gigapixel image of their own at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in late April. You can see that jumbo pic here, or check out a couple more from Daytona and the NCAA Final Four this year.
Fanscooter is the world's slowest extreme sport (video)
What do you get when you get when you combine a fan and a scooter? If you said "Scooterfan," you should be ashamed. Really ashamed. The correct answer, clearly, is Fanscooter, the latest project from fighting robot builder / MIT engineering student Charles Guan, the guy who brought the world the similarly named and equally breezy Fankart last summer. What this new DIY vehicle lacks in the ominous ever-forward creep of its predecessor, it makes up in actual vehicular rideability, marking the return of Guan's HFF propeller -- the "h" stands for "holy" and the second "f" stands for "fan" -- which is positioned between two Razor Scooter decks. The whole things is topped off by a power source taped on in a manner that would surely put Homeland Security on high alert. Checkout of some slow-motion Jackass-style video of the project, after the break.
Super Mario reimagined as a first-person game, conquers the castle of our hearts (video)
You've seen Super Mario evolve from a modest 2D sprite into a 3D world-exploring superhero mechanic, but have you ever seen life through his eyes? Here's your opportunity, as a fanmade animation treats us to a first-person view of the intrepid Italian's adventures through the familiar World 1-1. There are kill streaks, achievements like "headbanger" and "pole dancer," and some extremely realistic sound effects to set the mood. The priceless video follows after the break.
Thanko's USB kitty mask might get you noticed
You know why he's so happy? Because he's Japanese, and being Japanese is awesome. Trains run on time, robots do the work, and you get to wear kitty-faced masks with a USB- or battery-powered fan to circulate the atmosphere in front of your air holes... and nobody cares. ¥1,980 (about $24), or ¥2,190 gift wrapped for someone special.
ColorWare hits a lurid low with Dyson Air Multiplier
When it comes to ColorWare, the surprise is never the choice of colors, it's the price you'll pay for exclusivity on a lime-green and suicide-orange paint job. This time its the already overpriced $300 Dyson Air Multiplier getting the $450 ColorWare treatment. For that absurd price you'll be treated to a brand new "bladeless fan" personalized with the airfoil, base, and control colors of your choosing from a healthy palette of gloss and sofTouch finishes. Of course, there's always the $150 option to send in your existing product for ColorWarezation, assuming you can go three weeks without habitually demonstrating the concepts of inducement and entrainment to baffled pets and family.
Fan-made Sonic the Hedgehog 2 HD remake trailer runs loose
Fans continue their attempts to make a better Sonic game than Sega can -- this time, by remaking one of the franchise's all-time favorites. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 HD is an update to the Genesis classic that, barring any ceast and desist letters, should be available to everyone in alpha form in "Q1" of this year. Unlike the previously-released Sonic Fan Remix, Sonic 2 HD isn't trying to stray too far from the simplistic visuals of the 16-bit original. While we think it's a rather impressive fan endeavor, many Sonic fans disagree. One outspoken commenter noted on the game's official site: "I thought you guys were gonna show us something that would blow away a project like Sonic Fan Remix. Guess not guys ... I'm not following this sh-t anymore." Sonic fans really are hard to please, huh? Check out the trailer after the break.
Beer cooler built in the shape of Google's Android... just because (video)
The bounds of Android fandom, will we ever know them? The latest exhibition of one man's love for his mobile OS is this here beverage (we know it's only going to house beer, let's be honest) cooler, which has been lovingly recreated in the form and proportions of the Android logo. Standing somewhere over four feet tall, it's really a fantastically well executed DIY project, and its maker has taken the time to document it on video for us as well. You'll probably find the unfinished droid a little disturbing to see, what with its unpolished skin and rough edges, but maybe that's a fitting metaphor for the constantly evolving operating system anyway. All we know is that the end result is at least as sweet as Gingerbread, if not more so. See it all just past the break. [Thanks, Tony]
Visualized: here's looking at you, fanboy!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to mock the above self-portrait without resorting to obvious jokes about the iPhone needing a bumper, the iPad lacking a camera of its own, or prefixing insults with the letter i. Come on, it's Christmas, let's be a little more like San Diego and keep it classy. For his part, David Polette, the author of this piece, admits to no Photoshop trickery whatsoever, having relied simply on his camera, Apple gadgets, and no small amount of patience to line things up just right. Android users, care to play along as well? [Thanks, David] Update: Ask, and ye shall receive! Tipster Antonio did up his own version of this with a Galaxy Tab and a G2. Check it out below!
Breakfast Topic: What cemented your interest in WoW?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. A few months ago, my girlfriend finally got me to take the leap and start a WoW account. I realize now that in most cases, this is the other way around. Admittedly, I did not know too much about the backstory or how to effectively play my class. Like most players (I hope), I made some serious noob mistakes, such as leaving my pet on aggressive while in The Stockades and Ragefire Chasm. Luckily, I quickly learned what I was doing was wrong. Being a hunter means that I often played solo a lot, and I figured as long as I am leveling and not dying that often, that qualifies me as being a "good" player. However, it only took one wipe before the final boss deep within the Sunken Temple to alter my viewpoint. The group quickly began to disband, leaving me wandering the Swamp of Sorrows desperately looking for my corpse. The last member of the group remaining started blaming the wipe on me and attempting to really go to town on how terrible I was. I tried to be civil about it and why she felt that way -- or if she had any advice that would help me -- but that did not work at all. I finally lost it and went on my own rant in retaliation. From that point on, I wanted to be the best, to know all about not only my class but my race as well. That one wipe seemingly snowballed into my seeking out fan sites and reading novels not only on lore but books taking an academic approach to the game, as well. Now I cannot seem to shake this WoW obsession. What was that crowning moment that pushed your interest in WoW over the edge ? Was it piece of incredible lore, some jerk from a RDF group, or something different entirely?
Massive fan-made Command and Conquer game released
When devoted fans of a video game franchise have a story to tell within the confines of the franchise's universe, they usually turn to written fanfic. The team at CNCLabs had a different idea: Why not turn their story, inspired by a group of soldiers encountered in Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun Firestorm -- then never heard from again -- into a fully realized video game? After three years in development, their lofty goal was met, resulting in the release of Command and Conquer 3: The Forgotten. Our personal favorite aspect of the fan-made expansion? True to the series, it's got live-action cutscenes. Sure, they might lack appearances by old, old, old wrestlers, but we'll be damned if they don't have heart. You can check out a trailer for the fan game after the jump, or download it on The Forgotten's official site.
Lego Android is 15 inches tall, eats apples for breakfast
Say it with us now, awww. The adorable green bot family scene above is highlighted, rather conspicuously, by a 15-inch tall dude in the middle. He (it?) was built by one Grayson Wendell, who went to the trouble of coding up a program for designing Lego domes mathematically, before spending an entire week putting his own lime-green droid together. Between this and the Android tattoo girl, Google really seems to have cornered the market on fanmade art, while we also appreciate the classy touch of including an iPhone in the shot -- hacked with an Android installation, of course. [Thanks, Grayson]%Gallery-101859%
FanVision handheld makes NFL nosebleeds far more bearable
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has just made public his own Kangaroo TV operations, but the end product is something far different than just in-stadium televisions. The FanVision handheld (shown above) has been reportedly shopped to every single NFL team, but only a dozen of 'em decided to take Mr. Ross up on his offer (along with the University of Michigan, curiously enough). Essentially, this here handheld works only while within the stadium, enabling fans to view instant replays from multiple angles, out of town games, real-time stats from around the league, NFL Red Zone, live fantasy football updates, on-demand video from your home team, a cheerleader cam (yeah, seriously), highlight reel of the game and the actual network telecast of the event that you're at. 'Course, this type of fan customization isn't exactly new -- the Mariners have been offering something similar to Nintendo DS owners for awhile now -- but given the high absurd price of front row seats, we'll take any extra angles we can get. FanVision will be available within the stadiums of the signed-on teams (listed after the break) for $199 without any activation or recurring fees, though the MSRP is tagged at $259. Sure beats paying for PSLs, huh?
Keepin' it real fake: Dyson's Air Multiplier gets ripped off, multiplied a few more times
We never really understood the value proposition behind Dyson's (admittedly boisterous) Air Multiplier, but that's mostly due to the $300+ MSRP. Cut that back to right around $40, and you just might have us singing a different tune. Thanks to the wonders of KIRFing, Dyson's bladeless fan has seen itself duped and multiplied over in China, with a 10-inch version now selling for just $41.05 so long as you buy ten or more units. Abiko seems to the company hawking the knockoffs, with its version reportedly "indistinguishable from the original." So, what's it going to be? The real deal? Or the real deal? Update: Dyson requested that we add this comment, so we're more than happy to present you with it. "The Dyson Air Multiplier™ fans were launched in 2009 after four years of research and development. A team of specialist Dyson engineers have refined and patented the technology: illegal copies are of significantly inferior quality. Dyson rigorously defends its intellectual property and treats any infringement very seriously. Dyson is taking legal action against anyone who copies its technology."
NZXT's Sentry LXE touchscreen fan controller turns you into Storm, minus the cheese
We know, you're probably scoffing at those mortals still using "fans" to "cool their gaming rigs," but unless you've thrown down the cheddar on a swank liquid cooling solution, you'll probably find yourself at least mildly interested here. NZXT has taken a break from the mice and keyboard routine to break out a rather unique piece of kit in the Sentry LXE. This touchscreen fan controller connects to one's desktop via PCIe, and from there provides finger control of up to five internal fans. Users can adjust each one individually, set it to automatically keep the machine at a given temperature or create a silence that would spook even the Reaper. As you'd expect, there's an inbuilt temperature alarm to notify you if temps head north of a designated point, and all this fun awaits you in exchange for a low, low $59.99. Head on past the break if you're in need of a video demonstration.
Dyson Air Multiplier fans grow up to Tower and Pedestal dimensions
James Dyson seems to have made the manipulation of air his life's mission, and his most recent product, the "bladeless" desktop fan, has apparently enjoyed enough success to merit an expanded range. You'll soon be able to splash a cool $450 on either of the elongated Tower (above left) or Pedestal Air Multipliers. They function along the same principles as the original: air is stirred up (by blades!) in the base and then thrust through the circumference of the device to deliver cool, calming, and buffet-free chills to your overworked self. Mind you, Dyson's keen to point out that only 7 percent of the air comes from its impeller-driven base -- most of the flow comes from "the inducement and entrainment of surrounding air." Boy, the company sure is getting its money's worth out of that thesaurus purchase. If you want to read more of this highfalutin stuff, go past the break for the full press release. P.S. -- No animals were injured in the making of this image, or so its author tells us. Thanks, Matthew!
Full-length Mega Man fan film now showing on ScrewAttack
If you can set aside 90-some-odd-minutes during your oh-so-busy Saturday, we suggest you check out the entirety of Eddie Lebron's recently released, massive fan project: Mega Man: The Movie. Its got a level of polish we're not accustomed to seeing from most fan films -- by which we mean we can watch the entire thing without involuntarily cringing our faces off. The full movie is hosted for free over at ScrewAttack. All kidding aside, it's totally worth watching. You can really tell that a lot of hard work and love for the franchise went into the making of the film. Also, a lot of mustache pomade.
