Google’s bouncy ball logo on their home page is amusing, but not sure it can beat the Pac Man game version!

Now, don’t take this like I don’t think the Kindle is a slick and slightly sick piece of technology… because I do. But still, there’s room for improvement. Seeing that Dali himself would seem as creative as arithmetic in comparison to me (if I do say so myself), I figured I’d sit down and create a list of Kindle apps that would undoubtedly rock… if they existed. Observe:

1. Star Trek App

Picture this: you pull out your Kindle, flick it on and you’re greeted by a readout that looks just like a Star Trek style maintenance log. This app would let you go where no man has gone before… or at least not that many. Throwing up Spock’s “Vulcan salute” as you read is optional.

Extra features – Download Jake Sisko’s novel!
Source

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Google has a new Gmail feature to help those of us suffering from e-mail overload – Priority Inbox.

The idea is relatively simple. The Priority Inbox component watches your e-mail, what you read and reply to, what you delete and other signals and tries to ‘learn’ what you consider important. It then separates your Inbox into 3 sections: Important (at the top naturally), the Starred items, and Everything Else.

Requisite cute video:

So will it work? Read the rest of this entry »

As an amateur guitarist, I’m always trying to emulate my favorite guitar players, and of course, their sound. But without their rack of effects, getting even close to their sound is tough. And once upon a time, effects were very expensive, but as home computers have become more commonplace, effects have found their way (at least partially) into software.

Within the last few years, the iPhone has become one of the hottest gadgets to own. Enter IK Multimedia who have decided to marry the iPhone to a guitar effects rig in the form of the AmpliTube iRig. I got a chance to review this gadget and its associated iPhone app.
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Football season is here at last after hybernating over the spring and summer months, the old pigskin is flying again! Football season begets tailgate season and every year innovative tailgating products are introduced including this Char-Broil gas grill from the Grill2Go series that includes a couple of coolers that you attach to the bottom shelf of the grill to provide a restful and cool place for your tasty beverages.

Furthermore, the Grill2Go Ice has a collapsible design with 2 wheels and a lift-and-lock mechanism similar to rolling luggage with a stay-cool lid handle for easy transport. The removable coolers are each 30-quart coolers while the grill can cool burgers, sausages, brats and ribs over a 290 square inch area. The only downside I see is that the grill collapsed does not include the propane tank so you’ll need to make sure you bring along a strong friend that can carry that!

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $199.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

As it turns out, we have much deeper ‘relationships’ with our computers and other gadgets (think cars) than we think we do. Stanford professor, Clifford Nass, has done the research and even written a book (The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships) on the subject.

We treat computers and other devices like people: we empathize with them, argue with them, and form bonds with them. We even lie to them to protect their feelings.

From an article he wrote in the WSJ:

After being tutored by a computer, half of the participants were asked about the computer’s performance by the computer itself and the other half were asked by an identical computer across the room. Remarkably, the participants gave significantly more positive responses to the computer that asked about itself than they did to the computer across the room. These weren’t overly sensitive people: They were graduate students in computer science and electrical engineering, all of whom insisted that they would never be polite to a computer.

tugo is one of those items you wished you would have thought of first… it’s a drink holder that keeps your cup suspended between the upright handles of your rolling bag and its unique design keeps your drink level and works as a shock absorber to help prevent sloshing.

tugo easily attaches and is removed to fit in any pocket of your carry-on luggage… tugo is easy, simple, strong and fast.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $12.95 (includes h2otugo!)
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Skullcandy has modified the headphone and earbud industry with incredibly designed and great sounding music ear wear. The Holua Wooden earbuds are popular among those who are lucky enough to own a pair as reviews appear typically between the 4-5 star mark (out of 5) on the various sites the geeks have checked.

The earbuds are quite stylish “sporting wood” with laser cut aluminum accents all wrapped up in a matching wooden carrying box. The wood is said to have enhanced the sound of the earbuds. The earbud wears comfortably with an inducing foam earbud cover and is equipped with a pair of 8mm diameter small size driver units that fit just within the ear canal creating a snug seal for 200mW of input from a 3.5″ gold plated stereo plug.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $87.45
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

If your digital camera can’t keep up with your weekend life, check out the Pentax Optio W90 adventure-proof digital camera. That’s right, adventure-proof as this camera is waterproof to 20 feet for underwater photography or rafting down the Colorado (JIS Class 8 waterproof), shockproof to 4 feet to withstand extreme use, dustproof for use in dry and sandy climate (JIS Class 6 dustproof) and coldproof to sub-freezing temperatures for snowboarding or ice climbing (14-104F)!

With adventure-proof features, you’d expect a big cased camera, but the Pentax Optio W90 is only 4.2 x 2.3 x 1″ weighing in with battery at 5.7 ounces sporting reinforced polycarbonate plastic available in black, pistachio green and orange.

Not only does this camera look and act tough, but the digital camera performs with a 12.1MP sensor and a 5x wide angle optical zoom to cover subjects nearby or far-away (like a bear you decide you’d rather zoom in on than get closer to). Additionally, the W90 includes an LED lens lighting feature for macro photography (Pentax calls it Digital Microscope mode). The digital camera also records video with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and can playback video via HDMI on HDTV in 720p HD video at 30 frames per second.

Adventure photography does not get more compact and tough than this!

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $299.95
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Video eyewear company, Vuzix, has a new model in their Wrap line of video glasses, the Wrap 310XL. Here’s our full review after taking this pair for a test run. (By the way, we’re giving away this pair, so read on to find out how to enter to win!)

First of all, what exactly are these? Well if you’re not familiar with Vuzix, they produce video eyewear for entertainment, military and medical purposes. In the entertainment field, it’s mainly to get video to your eyes from a pair of glasses that look very much like sunglasses. Think VR eyewear. Read on for the rest of the review.
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