Ninjabread Men Cookie Cutters

Perpetual Kid reports: [edited]

They're cut out for action! These stealthy shinobi warriors are set to sneak into your kitchen and stage a cookie coup! Cut, bake, decorate… and then watch them disappear! Add swords, nunchaku, and shuriken stars with icing and toothpicks for more ambiance!

Our Ninjabread Men Cookie Cutters are moulded from food-safe ABS plastic.

Price: $7.99, arriving mid-October.
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Looxcie

looxcie.com reports: [edited]

Looxcie is always on, continuously videoing – there's no record button. When you experience something you want to share, just click the Instant Clip button to save a clip of the last thirty seconds. And you can answer calls while videoing

Download the Looxcie App and use your smartphone [as long as it runs Android v.2, Ed.] to view, edit, and share Looxcie video.

Price: $199

Thanks to Conrad for the link
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True Grit

Apple Trailers reports: [edited]

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross's (Hailee Steinfeld) father has been shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), and she is determined to bring him to justice.

Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), she sets out with him - over his objections - to hunt down Chaney.

Her father's blood demands that she pursue the criminal into Indian territory and find him before a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) catches him and brings him back to Texas for the murder of another man.

- - - - -

Brett's 2p'orth: It will be fascinating to see what the Brothers Coen bring to this classic film.
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LaCie Wireless Space

LaCie reports: [edited]

The LaCie Wireless Space makes it easy for you to access your files, no matter where they are in your house. It has three pre-configured modes that allow you to create a Wi-Fi access point, a Wi-Fi Ethernet extender to connect your printers or computers, or even use it as a Gigabit router. If you already have a Wi-Fi network, you can use the LaCie Wireless Space as wireless storage.

With capacities of 1 and 2TB, it holds all of your music, movies, and photos, helping you to access and share them on any computer on your home network. You can even stream movies from the Wireless Space to any UPnP/DLNA compatible device, and it works in tandem with iTunes & Time Machine. Now, it’s simple to organize your files in a central location and play them on all your devices.

Use it as your network router - with static and dynamic port forwarding and PPoE connections, the Wireless Space performs even better than most cable routers, thanks to Wi-Fi n and Gigabit Ethernet performance.

Price: 1TB: £179.90 · 2TB: £249.90

- - - - -

Brett's 2p'orth:

Apple Time Capsule:

Price: 1TB: £234.00 · 2TB: £388.00
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2

Digital Photography Review reports: [edited]

Panasonic has announced the DMC-GH2 Micro Four Thirds camera. The successor to the GH1 continues with its 'hybrid' stills/video philosophy but adds a host of tweaks and improvements, foremost of which is a brand new 18Mp multi-aspect ratio sensor offering 16Mp output and an ISO range of 160-12800. The GH2 also inherits many features from the DMC-G2, including a revised control layout and touch-screen control.
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Etch A Sketch iPad Case

Pocket Lint reports: [edited]

If you've got an iPad, how many times have you heard the wisecrack, "It's just a glorified Etch A Sketch"? Well you can now turn your iPad into an Etch A Sketch [well, looks-wise anyway, Ed.] with a little help from a new iPad case from getaheadcase.com

The $39.00 case is made of impact resistant plastic with rubber feet and a felt backing to gently cradle your iPad. Strategically placed windows allow for easy use of all your iPad's switches, ports and buttons.

There is also a retractable kick stands allow you to either lay your iPad flat, or angle it for easy use of the iPad keyboard. Disappointingly those buttons don't seem to do anything other than look the part.
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Fujifilm FinePix X100

Digital Photography Review reports: [edited]

Fujifilm has announced the X100, a large-sensor compact camera aimed at professional and enthusiast photographers. Based around a 12Mp APS-C CMOS sensor, Fuji EXR processor and 23mm F2 Fujinon lens (equivalent to a 35mm semi-wideangle), the classically-styled camera features traditional analogue controls for shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation.

Of particular note is the new 'hybrid' viewfinder system which allows the user to switch between optical and electronic viewfinders and project detailed shooting information into the OVF. The spec is rounded off by 720p HD movie recording, a 460k dot 2.8" LCD, flash hot shoe, and magnesium alloy top and base-plate castings. The camera will be available from early 2011.
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Plastic Surgery Preview

FaceTouchUp reports: [edited]

This tool's intended purpose is to help you visualize difference cosmetic procedures on a photo. It does not take place of a consultation with a physician. The photos you produce here are for illustrative purposes only and do not guarantee an actual surgical outcome. For an accurate evaluation based on your unique facial structure, please consult a qualified physician.

- - - - -

You don't need to login or register, simply click on one of the sample images.
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Spiderpodium

breffo.com reports: [edited]

Spiderpodium has been designed to accommodate virtually every handheld portable device available. The hole in the body is designed to allow most proprietary chargers to fit.

Available in White or Black. £14.99 + £2.75pp

Thanks to Mel for the link.
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World's Simplest Cell Phone?

John's reports: [edited]

John’s Phone Snow is the world’s simplest white cell phone: no frills and no unnecessary features such as a camera, text messaging and an endless number of ringtones. You call, you hang up, and that’s it.

John’s Phone is compatible with any type of SIM card. Pay as you go and SIM-only contracts, both national and international. John’s Phone offers global roaming, except on the 3G networks in South Korea and Japan.

With its standby time of more than 3 weeks, John's Phone is perfect for use while travelling or driving.

The back of the phone features a small opening with an address book and pen – two unique features you can use even when your phone is switched off.

In addition, it includes an earphone that allows you to call hands-free while driving.

Price: €70
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10 iPad Wallpapers

Michael Paukner has created a range of tastefully faded iPad wallpapers. They will, of course, work fine on your iPhone or iPod touch.
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Linq

Incipio reports: [edited]

This durable and rugged iPod nano carrying option is a perfect solution for users who want to keep all functions of the nano close at hand. Now you can wear your 6th generation iPod nano all day, every day.

The Linq is expected to release towards the beginning of October for $24.99. Additional watchbands may be purchased for $9.99 each.
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Electronic Artificial Skin

boingboing reports: [edited]

Researchers at Stanford and UC Berkeley have developed ultra-sensitive artificial skin. The Stanford group's elastic polymer skin detected a fly and butterfly on it, expressed by a change in the amount of electric charge the materials could hold.

The UC Berkeley researchers constructed their skin from a grid of semiconductor nanowires laid out on pressure-sensitive rubber. Each nanowire intersection functions as a transistor "pixel" that changes current based on the pressure.

Fully working artificial skins will need to do more than detect pressure and bend. "The ultimate prosthetic skin should behave like our own skin," says Stephanie Lacour, a materials scientist from the University of Cambridge, UK.

That would mean the skin being able to detect sideways shear forces — such as those produced by scratching a twig down your leg — as well as pressure. "This is one of the most difficult things to implement," she says.

UC Berkeley's Ali Javey agrees that there are many challenges to overcome to make a fully functional artificial skin, not least integrating that skin with the brain. But applications in robotics could come much sooner, he says. The next step is to scale up production so that enough artificial skin can be made to cover an entire robot's body.
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Most common words unique to 1-star and 5-star App Store reviews

marco.org reports: [edited]

I wrote a script to crawl U.S. App Store customer reviews for the top 100 apps from every category (minus duplicates) and compute the most common words in 1-star and 5-star reviews, excluding words that were also common in 3-star reviews.

Keep in mind that the results are not representative of overall user opinions: most users don’t review apps, and people who dislike an app are more likely to leave a review than people who like it.

These are the top words by rating, with descending frequency:

★★★★★:
awesome, worth, thanks, amazing, simple, perfect, price, everything, ever, must, ipod, before, found, store, never, recommend, done, take, always, touch

★☆☆☆☆:
waste, money, crashes, tried, useless, nothing, paid, open, deleted, downloaded, didn’t, says, stupid, anything, actually, account, bought, apple, already

Some are obvious: people like awesome apps and dislike those that crash. A few words are more interesting, though:

It’s promising to see simple in the top-positive list, which says a lot about user expectations on the platform.

Both positive and negative reviews seem unusually obsessed with price. This seems odd, given the relative cost of the hardware, accessories, and cellular service where applicable.

The negative words are most interesting to me: in addition to complaints about the price, one word is especially telling of a prevalent attitude I’ve seen for a while: useless. More than any other adjective, reviewers condemn apps they don’t like as “useless”.

via daring fireball
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Concrete Wallpaper

++++++++ reports: [edited]

concretewall.no reports: [edited]

Concrete Wall is a high-quality vinyl wallpaper. It is available in 2 widths: 62cm (2’) and 124cm (4’). Rolls can be made to up to 25m (82’) in length. The wallpaper is produced to your precise requirements and can be applied with regular wallpaper paste.

The wallpaper is washable and UV-resistant. Depending on your personal wishes, we can make the wallpaper either lighter or darker, or even add a specific colour cast.

Concrete Walls uses photographs by Norwegian photographer Tom Haga.
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LaCie MosKeyto

LaCie reports: [edited]

The LaCie MosKeyto [Geddit? Ed.] measures less than 20mm and weighs 10 grams, making it one of the smallest USB keys on the market. It offers capacities up to 8GB, and becomes nearly invisible when plugged into your computer, and can even travel alongside it in a protective sleeve or briefcase – just plug it, and forget it.

Since it lies flush against your device, you’ll never lose it, and there is no risk of damage to the USB port, computer or key if the drive is knocked or bumped.

Additionally, LaCie has integrated an extra 4GB secure online storage from Wuala into the MosKeyto, making storage and sharing your files, photos, or videos easier than ever.

Price: 4GB: £15.90 · 8GB: £24.90
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$1500 3D Printer

The nearest thing to magic I've seen for a while. Let's hope they don't start building themselves...

For a review, click here.

For the manufacturer's website, click here.

For opensource stuff on 3D printing, visit RepRap and/or MakerBot.
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Canon up the hi-def ante...

Engadget reports: [edited]

You're looking at Canon's new 4k 'Multipurpose' concept, an amalgamation of still and video cameras pumping 60 frames per second at 4k resolution out of an 8 megapixel 2/3-inch CMOS sensor.

Yep, we said 4k video, approximately quadruple the resolution of 1080p. We had a chance to go hands-on with the prototype at Canon Expo 2010, and believe us when we tell you that it's really, really sharp, both in terms of hardware and the images it produces.

The hardware is essentially a giant SLR body packing a fixed video-style lens complete with zoom and focus controls and a high-def flip-out LCD viewfinder.

Although the 4k Multipurpose camera will never come to market, it certainly sends a bold message to an industry content with 1080p that higher resolutions like 4k are coming down the pipe and aren't just the realm of boundary-pushing cinema nerds.
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Pro HDR

EyeApps reports: [edited]

Thanks to Pro HDR, you no longer have to choose between a blown-out sky or a hopelessly dark foreground. Bringing high dynamic range photography to your iPhone, Pro HDR lets you capture an image exposed for the highlights and another exposed for the shadows. It then automatically aligns and blends the images, giving you a 3-megapixel HDR image.

- - - - -

Brett's 2p'orth: I uploaded this £1.19 App to my iPhone 4, and it works surprisingly well. The image below was taken using the iPhone's Camera App. I used the spot focus facility to choose the most neutral area I could find...


The image is OK, but the highlights on the coffee machine, and the wall behind it, are blown-out.

Using Pro HDR results in a more balanced image...


For best results use a tripod, although the program does its best to align the two images it takes.
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iPod Nano

Apple has updated the iPod shuffle (it now looks more like its previous incarnation) and added a hi-def screen and camera(s) to the iPod touch. But the jewel of the bunch is the iPod Nano.

Only a little larger than the iPod shuffle, and weighing less than an ounce, it features a 240x240 pixel colour touch-screen. 8 & 16GB versions are available in a range of colours, starting at £129.


For more information, visit the Apple site.

And/or visit Engadget's hands-on review.
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ViewPad 7

Register Hardware reports: [edited]

Viewsonic has introduced its 7in Android 2.2-based tablet. It claims the gadget is a world first - thanks to the device's 'phone functionality'.

The tablet's full specs have still to be published, but Viewsonic did say the device will sport front (0.3Mp) and rear (3Mp) cameras; have WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity; assisted GPS; and Micro SD storage.

Viewsonic hasn't specified the ViewPad 7's screen resolution - at 7in, 800 x 480 seems most likely.

The device will ship in October for £350.
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