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Keepin' it real fake: N-KIA E68 shows what an innovative Nokia handset might look like (video)
Yo Nokia, you can keep your E5 and its HD Voice fanciness, we want ourselves an N-KIA E68. Why, we hear the enraged Nokia acolyte ask, why would we defile Nokia's good name in such a manner? Mostly because this phone has one of the most fun and ingenious slider mechanisms we've seen yet. So what if we've got no idea what wannabe OS it's running and so what if it'll most likely fall apart on us a month into owning it? We still want one, dammit! Video after the break.[Thanks, Derrty]
Teen archer launches cellphone-laced arrows into Brazilian jail
Sometimes we sit around at Engadget HQ and do informal, anonymous surveys of our favorite gadgets of all time. Cell phones are unsurprisingly always at the top of the list. But the bow and arrow always comes in a close second -- call us closet traditionalists. Anyway, seems like a gang in Sao Paulo trained a 17-year-old to shoot arrows with cell phones strapped to the tips over a prison wall to communications-starved inmates. Apparently the misguided teen got at least four phones in before he fired one at a cop's back. Whoops! Still, dang. We much prefer this practicality of this old-new mashup to, say, steampunk flash drives. [Image credit: Robert van der Steeg's flickr]
Sharp's Plasmacluster Ion Generator: refreshes skin, won't eradicate enemies
Akihabara is home to some rather unorthodox wares, but Japan's certainly seen it's fair share of ion generators over the years. Though, we have to say -- we've yet to see or hear of one with a name this good. Sharp's IG-CM1 is better known as the Plasmacluster Ion Generator (or Virus Buster, if you will), and so far as we can tell, it's a portable Ionic Breeze. In other words, this thing somehow cleans the air around the owner and rejuvenates their skin, and when the day's done, it'll recharge over USB. We know, it's all you can do to stifle that chuckle, but Sharp's clearly pretty serious about this thing. You know, judging by that stratospheric ¥17,950 ($210) price tag.
The weirdest booth attractions of Gamescom 2010
While most booths at Gamescom relied on the games themselves to attract visitor attention, there were plenty of booths that went to some ridiculous lengths to stand out from the crowd. Take the above picture, which was set up to promote some sort of tractor simulation that's apparently popular in Germany. And that was actually one of the more game-related booths we captured for the odd gallery below. And you thought Gamescom was all about the games. You're so silly.%Gallery-100139%
Gadget bandz bring gear lust to tween wrists
You know about Silly Bandz, right? Well, maybe you don't have subscriptions to Tiger Beat and spend your evenings at home alone on Bieber message boards like we do, so allow us to explain. They are rubber bands that are shaped like things--unicorns, peace signs, hamburgers, aliens, emoticons--traditionally worn on the wrists, and eventually traded with like-minded collectors. They are very popular in the 8 - 12 demographic. You might relate them to Pogs, slap bracelets, Lisa Frank pencils, and baseball cards. Now that you know what's up, the point is that they are now available in gadget shapes: iPod nano, laptop, iPhone 3G, NES controller, digital camera, and the "most collectible" iPad...er, "tablet." That is all.
Takara Tomy Neckphones: wraparound pillow speaker, coming soon to a Skymall near you
It may not have the same charm as the Flying Pasties, but Takara Tomy's Neckphones definitely have the "it" factor. Perfect for lounging in a nearby water hole (or watering hole, we suppose), this blow-up neck pillow has a pair of stereo speakers strategically placed near your ear canals, and there's even a pouch that we'd never, ever trust to keep your PMP safe from the liquids below. We suppose you could also take this on a plane, but don't bring your grumbles over here when the gals in 16A and 18B take issue with you blasting Now That's What I Call Music! Volume 11 for the entire coach cabin to hear. We're guessing you'd need to contact an importer to pick one of these up outside of Japan, but you'll have to let go of at least ¥1,800 ($21). We're surmising the hit in respect will be far more detrimental than the MSRP, though.
Vaska of Kiev and the 1000-core Oriental rug
Usually when a handsome, chiseled foreigner with a fitted baby-blue tank top tucked into his Levi's offers to take us for a ride on his magic carpet, we smile coyly, mumble an excuse, and keep walking. But something about this man took us by surprise: we can't tell if it was the perfectly-cropped widow's peak or the smell of a 27-year vintage Intel 80286 wafting from underneath his fingernails. Long story short, we followed him home and never looked back.
iPad-toting Syte Shirt redefines 'multitasking'
Disgusted with Apple's refusal to bestow honest-to-goodness backgrounding to the iPad, even though the (presumably) weaker iPhone 4 has been doing it for weeks? You aren't alone. Syte Shirt, a new startup with a vision to change the world in a way you've never even dreamed of, has just announced its first product: the iPad-toting shirt that you're undoubtedly gawking at above. This pre-shrunk heavyweight cotton tee sports a slit on the inside for sliding your tablet into, and there's a window on the front that enables the wearer (or anyone else, for that matter) to fully interact with the tablet without you having to disrobe. Imagine that! Heck, there are even ports for accessing the dock connector and the 3.5mm headphone jack, which certainly helps to justify the otherwise unconscionable $49.95 to $54.95 price tag. Right? Right? %Gallery-98005%
Watermelon cooler push cart: perfect for those sultry North Carolina summers
Crazily enough, the device you're staring at above -- jaw solidly on the floor, we're sure -- is real. As in, you can purchase one for you and yours. So far as we can tell, this here watermelon cart (priced at ¥19,950, or a whopping $231) serves to keep your voluptuous fruit cool when being transported from market to mouth, but everything beyond that is lost in translation. What's curious, however, is that this seems like a device created and sold exclusively in Japan. If we had to bet, though, we'd say it was originally dreamed up by a farmer in eastern North Carolina -- you know, the home of watermelon Cook-Out milkshakes, an official watermelon license plate and roads where chop-top school buses are frequently used as watermelon hauling machines.
Scientists formalize perfect handshake; world peace on track for 2012
PH = (e² + ve²)(d²) + (cg + dr)² + π{(4< s >2)(4< p >2)}² + (vi + t + te)² + {(4< c >2)(4< du >2)}² Where (e) is eye contact (1=none; 5=direct) 5; (ve) is verbal greeting (1=totally inappropriate; 5=totally appropriate) 5; (d) is Duchenne smile - smiling in eyes and mouth, plus symmetry on both sides of face, and slower offset (1=totally non-Duchenne smile (false smile); 5=totally Duchenne) 5; (cg) completeness of grip (1=very incomplete; 5=full) 5; (dr) is dryness of hand (1=damp; 5=dry) 4; (s) is strength (1= weak; 5=strong) 3; (p) is position of hand (1=back towards own body; 5=other person's bodily zone) 3; (vi) is vigour (1=too low/too high; 5=mid) 3; (t) is temperature of hands (1=too cold/too hot; 5=mid) 3; (te) is texture of hands (5=mid; 1=too rough/too smooth) 3; (c) is control (1=low; 5=high) 3; (du) is duration (1= brief; 5=long) 3. It's that easy! Perhaps just as interesting is the fact that this formula was arrived at by University of Manchester scientists hired by Chevrolet "as part of a handshake training guide for its staff to prepare them ahead of the launch of the new 5 Year Promise offer, which aims to offer peace of mind and reassurance to its customers." Now excuse us while we go practice with our best friend for the rest of our useful lives. [Image courtesy of Aidan_Jones]
DARPA has artificial blood; Cullen family stock upgraded to 'buy'
A few years ago, DARPA teamed up with a company called Arteriocyte to research methods for manufacturing blood without an actual donor on-hand, and whaddya know -- a million and change tax dollars later, here we are. You no doubt remember stem cells. Well, they're back in a major way (did they really ever leave?), and this time instead of clogging up the Supreme Court's backlog they're helping manufacture blood that is "functionally indistinguishable" from the real type-O. "Pharmed" blood (their word, not ours) will eventually be a godsend for troops in the field, where fresh blood often takes three weeks to arrive from the source. But don't cancel all your donor appointments just yet -- eBlood (our word, not theirs) won't be ready for human testing until 2013. And pints still cost more than a bottle of Johnny Walker's finest -- around $5,000, and that's before they factor in the cookies and apple juice they gave the umbilical cord for its time and patience.
Sony skips over Alpha line, uses Canon DSLR for Cyber-shot press photos
Yeah, it'd be far more egregious if Nikon lowered itself to using Canon gear for press photos, but even still, Sony should know better. And by "know better," we mean "remove telling EXIF data before hosting press shots up for the world to see." Sure enough, the outfit used Canon's (admittedly stellar) 5D Mark II to capture the press photography that represents its new WX5 and TX9 Cyber-shot digicams, and the proof -- as they say -- is in the metadata. Hit that source link and download away to see for yourself. But be quick -- we get the idea this little slip will be cleaned up in record time. [Thank, Tyson]
Slurp digital eyedropper sucks up, injects information wirelessly (video)
How does Jamie Zigelbaum, a former student at MIT Media Lab, celebrate freedom from tyranny, drool-worthy accents and "standing in the queue?" By creating Slurp, of course. In what's easily one of the most jaw-dropping demonstrations of the year, this here digital eyedropper is a fanciful new concept that could certainly grow some legs if implemented properly in the market place. Designed as a "tangible interface for manipulating abstract digital information as if it were water," Slurp can "extract (slurp up) and inject (squirt out) pointers to digital objects," enabling connected machines and devices to have information transferred from desktop to desktop (or desktop to speakers, etc.) without any wires to bother with. We can't even begin to comprehend the complexity behind the magic, but all you need to become a believer is embedded after the break. It's 41 seconds of pure genius, we assure you.
Little Spiderman uses vacuum cleaners to climb buildings, win the hearts of the ladies
The enterprising youngster you see above had a dream. A dream to become like his superhero, Spiderman, who isn't real. Nobody really believed him or thought his ideas about how to achieve his goals were very good, but, as you can see from the photo, he's got the last laugh. Hibiki Kono, using two cheap, 1,400 watt vacuum cleaners he bought at a grocery store to begin scaling walls of local buildings, and impressing all of his new friends. His mother's not that into him doing it in the house -- she's afraid he'll destroy the walls and ceiling -- but as you can see from the video below, the sight is pretty impressive.
The Fingerist finds fame, retail opportunities in Japan (video)
Japan tends to be on the weird side of any coin, and The Fingerist does nothing to undermine that reputation. This accessory for the iPhone and iPod touch was conceived at a "mutton BBQ restaurant" when one dude said to another that he needed an amp for his guitar app. Lo and behold, after an apparently successful CES appearance, the axe-imitating speaker thingie -- replete with a guitar strap and line-out to jack into real amplifiers -- is now on sale for ¥14,800 (or $150 for the rest of us). We can't wrap our minds around such an expense just for the privilege of fingering our touchscreens, but then you can make some pretty sweet music using these things (video evidence after the break).
Hello Kitty engine oil: because not everyone can drive electric cars
If you're going to emit noxious fumes into the air each time you step on the pedal, at least have the decency to emit cute noxious fumes.
iPad frozen into slab of chocolate, delivered to unsuspecting wife
So this fellow Stefan wasn't content with just getting his wife an iPad. No sir, he thought he'd put all the rest of us to shame by ensconcing the Apple tablet inside some fine chocolate from London and then transporting the frozen concoction nearly six thousand miles to Cape Town, South Africa. There's really not much more science to it than that, the chap wanted to surprise his better half and judging by the pictures on his blog, he succeeded spectacularly. Hit the source link to see for yourself.
Engadget dines at Taipei's Windows 7-themed restaurant (video)
Taiwan may be a comparatively small place, but it's well known for a few things: incredible eats, incredible technology, and the best Little League World Series teams this planet has ever seen. We're experiencing the best of those first two this week at Computex, and since we were all the way over on the other side of the planet, we couldn't help but stop by the Windows 7-themed eatery that opened up for just a couple of months surrounding the nation's only hosted consumer electronics show of this magnitude. The place, as we were told by the one and only Andy Yang from Engadget Chinese, is Taiwanese through and though. It typically goes by 100 Seafood, but for a couple of months it has been transformed into a 64-bit dining location with Windows 7 wallpaper, stickers, banners, and even mugs. Each day there's a special menu item that sells for just NT$77 (around $2.38 in the US), but considering that said special was some form of intestines on the evening that we showed up, Engadget and company sprung for dishes with a bit less relation to the digestive system. In all seriousness, the grub hit the spot after a long day on the trade show floor, and the take-home mugs for us media folk made the journey even more worthwhile. Now, to see if the lid closes over if we don't activate the thing in 30 days... Take a trip to this magical place yourself in the galleries below, or do one even better and jump past the break for a video! %Gallery-94338% %Gallery-94337%
Forever White Headset plays music to your ears while bleaching your teeth
This one took us a while to figure out, but here's the deal: you apply a hydrogen peroxide gel to your teeth, use the included cheek retractors (we're not kidding) to stretch out into a horrifying smile, and let the blue LEDs activate the gel's superpowers. To fill the one-hour treatment time with something other than thinking about where your vanity has led you, the kit also comes with "a real, high-quality MUSIC HEADSET" (aka headphones) that you can hook up to an MP3 player. The wholesale site even advertises "terrific high-profit margins," which we reckon might be the truest thing about this product.
HP data center fueled by hopes, dreams and... cow dung
We've seen data centers use excess heat for greener purposes, but how's about injecting a little green into the other side of that equation? HP Labs is on that very wavelength, going so far as to publish details on how these centers could be partially powered by none other than cow manure. Yeah, cowpies. The essential thought process went a little something like this: "Data centers need a lot of energy. Dairy farms create a lot of methane. Let's make it happen." Purportedly, 10,000 dairy cows could "fulfill the power requirements of a 1-megawatt data center -- the equivalent of a medium-sized data center -- with power left over to support other needs on the farm," and heat generated by the data center could "be used to increase the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of animal waste." The stomach-twisting details can be found beyond the break, but we can't be held responsible for any images you conjure up. Remember -- once your third eye sees it, you can't un-see it. [Thanks, Bob]
