Apple TV = Dud

Apple TV: More Hype Than Content Adds Up to a Set-Top Flop
Video – Macintosh, iPod, iPhone: Apple has a knack for tapping into what consumers want from thier tech gadgets. So what happened with Apple TV, the Cupertino giant’s foray into the digital set-top-box market? Tech Ticker’s Henry Blodget and Silicon Alley Insider Apple analyst Dan Frommer talk about why Apple TV continues to flounder as competitors like Netflix, game console manufacturers, and cable providers close in.
See Video HERE

(Via MacBytes.com.)

So simple yet so effective..keep cables out of your way

Wire Button keeps pesky tangle of cables out of your way

Those iPod wires never seem to be the right length, getting in the way and cramping your style. Until we can do away with wires altogether, this Wire Button is a design concept that would be a welcome mediator to that spaghetti-bowl of cables cluttering up your torso.

Designer Jaehyung Hong put together this subtle, inconspicuous attachment that buttons down that wire, keeping it out of your way. If you wear shirts with buttons, this could be one of those little things that could ever-so-slightly improve your quality of life.

Via Yanko Design

(DVICE)

Greatest Hat EVER! Guinness ball cap with built-in bottle opener

Guinness ball cap with built-in bottle opener

This pedestrian ball cap has a garish bottle opener riveted onto the bill. It’s an officially branded Guinness product; too bad the best non-draught Guinness comes in a can.

It’s $20, plus shipping.

Catalog Page [BeWild.com]

(Via Boing Boing Gadgets.)

Carbon iPhone case

Belch improves carbon iPhone case

Following critique from the public, Belch says it has released a new version of its earlier carbon-fiber iPhone case. More fiber has been added to strengthen particular areas, and phones are inserted using a new top-loading method, which should make it simpler to both insert and remove them. Despite this the case is said to have been reduced in weight to 7g.
Belch has additionally inserted more neoprene for shock protection, and widened access to the docking port, the microphone and the speaker. Until midnight Monday (Eastern), the case is on a discount of $65 with free shipping; afterwards, it should return to its normal $80 pricetag.
Check it out HERE

(Via macnn .)

25 Mind-Blowing Gadgets

25 Mind-Blowing Gadgets From Smashing Magazine:

25 Mind-Blowing Gadgets – You gotta see em!

Click HERE

Geek Fishing! Star Wars Fishing Tackle

Star Wars Themed Fishing Tackle
Even GEEKS gotta fish, what would you use???

(Via ohgizmo.)

Solar Powered iPods, iPhones and Laptops?

Solar LCD Powered iPods, iPhones and Laptops?
A recently published patent application discovered by MacRumors reveals that Apple is investigating the use of solar power in versions of their mobile devices — both handheld devices and portable computers. Integrating solar power into a mobile device holds the enormous potential of extending battery life significantly. However, successfully integrating solar panels into these small devices is not without its challenges.

The major issues described are the limited area available to solar panels, durability, and the “wasting” of space on a portable device. It is due to these problems that solar power has not found its way into mobile devices, not just from Apple, but from all manufacturers.

The most interesting technique described by Apple, however, is the integration of the solar panels behind the actual LCD screen of a portable device. The solar panel would absorb ambient light that passes through the LCD screen of the device. This could eliminate any additional footprint typically required by the solar panels. If successfully implemented, Apple’s iPhone, iPod and laptops, could require no outward changes in design to add solar power.

Apple’s not the only one exploring this technology as an old (2001) Motorola patent describes the same technique. While several limitations to the technique were described at that time, the issues may have been better addressed in recent years.

(Via MacRumors.)

Indiana Jones – Just what I needed!

Like thousands of others, we flocked to the new Indiana Jones Movie, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. For me it was a great way to escape and live vicariously again through one of my favorite Movie characters!
There have been several “bad” reviews which made it even better when I saw it, since I was expecting the worse.
It is another Indiana Jones movie, no more, no less!!!

Here’s an interesting article from CNET about the movie:

There’s just something about that familiar Indiana Jones music. You know it–dun ta dun ta, dun ta da…

Even having spent months slaving over some 450 computer-generated images for the just-released Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the admittedly jaded Hayden Landis still gets excited when he hears that theme song.

“The little kid in you comes out,” said Landis, computer graphics supervisor on the film, recalling the music in the opening of the movie trailer. “I grew up with Indiana Jones.”

It’s that very nostalgic feeling that Landis and his team at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic tried to create with the film’s visual effects–at director Steven Spielberg’s request, Landis said.”

Read full article HERE