By Evan Ackerman

When space shuttle Discovery launched on Sunday, it was carrying one surprise passenger: a small, and probably quite confused, Mexican free-tailed bat. An inspection team noticed the bat sleeping about a third of the way up the external fuel tank prior to launch, but everybody assumed that the bat (affectionately named “Interim Problem Report 119V-0080″) would wake up and fly away as soon as Discovery’s engines lit. Instead, visual and infrared imagery confirmed that the little guy was still there, alive and holding on, up until after Discovery cleared the tower.

Here’s what the Kennedy Space Center had to say on the matter:

Although we remained hopeful he would wake up and fly away, the bat eventually became IPR 119V-0080 after the ICE team finished their walkdown. He did change the direction he was pointing from time to time throughout countdown but ultimately never flew away. IR imagery shows he was alive and not frozen like many would think. The surface of the ET foam is actually generally between 60-80 degrees F on a day like yesterday. SE&I performed a debris analysis on him and ultimately a LCC waiver to ICE-01 was written to accept the stowaway. Lift off imagery analysis confirmed that he held on until at least the vehicle cleared to tower before we lost sight of him.

And thus is the legend of the STS-119 Bat-ronaut.

Godspeed, little guy, godspeed.

VIA [ Space.com ]

By Evan Ackerman

I suppose it was inevitable, wasn’t it? Technology has brought us a real live honest to goodness 2 channel foam flying f*ck. Makes a great gift, for obvious reasons. $35.

[ Thumbs Up ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If the speaker on your cellphone or bluetooth equipped MP3 player just isn’t cutting it, Sony Ericsson’s new MS500 portable speaker might be of interest to you, as long as you’re not expecting much. The wireless speaker connects to your devices via Bluetooth A2DP, and has a range of about 32 feet. It comes attached to a lanyard allowing you to clip it to your belt or bag keeping it in easy reach, but if you do decide to push the limits of its range, the MS500 also has its own set of play and volume controls which means you don’t necessarily need to have access to the device it’s connected to.

A basic set of AA batteries should provide up to 5 hours of music, and the splashproof shell means you can take it to the beach or use it during other outside activities. Unfortunately there’s no info on pricing or availability at this time, but when it is released you’ll have your choice of the black and orange color scheme pictured above, or white and pink.

[ Sony Ericsson MS500 PR ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In one of their ads, Elecom claims their new Scope Node Mouse is “like you’re holding a pen.” Now I’m pretty sure they’re not going to sway the Wacom crowd with that claim, but as you can see in the photo of the underside of the mouse, the 1600 DPI laser sensor has been placed off-center so that it sits closer to where the tip of a pen would land when held in your hand. Supposedly that results in a more precise mousing experience.

It’s also got a bizarre exposed scroll wheel, though I imagine that design reduces the amount of crap that ends up getting trapped inside the mouse. So I’ll upgrade that feature from bizarre to clever. At the moment the Scope Node M-SN1UL is only available in Japan, but you’ll probably be able to find one online eventually.

[ Akihabara News - Scope Node Mouse, as Precise as a Pen ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Normally I’d scoff at the notion of paying $11.99 for a single pair of socks, but how can anyone who’s ever spent any amount of time trying to rescue the Princess not want a pair of these Warp Zone socks? They’re not an officially-licensed Nintendo product of course, but the random coin box pattern on the foot and the green warp pipe design on the leg makes it pretty clear where they got their inspiration from. You can order a pair from AshiDashi, but be aware they only come in men’s 8-13 sizes.

[ Warp Zone Socks ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m sure we’re all familiar with those novelty handgun lighters right? You know the ones I’m talking about, they’re often seen in movies where you think the hero is about to get shot, but it turns out the bad guy has a sense of humor and is just lighting up a smoke. But if you’re looking for a unique twist on the gag, this rifle lighter seems a bit more intense. It’s got an adjustable flame, child-proof safety features and I can only assume you light it by pulling the trigger.

The only downside is that the rifle is only 14.5 inches long. Massive when compared to something like a Zippo, but too small to ever be mistaken for the real thing. But on the plus side it’s just $10 from Bass Pro Shops.

[ Shoot And Cook Rifle BBQ Lighter ] VIA [ Plunder Guide ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I recall having a pogo stick as a child, which was about as fun to use as my unicycle. Try as I might, I could never keep enough balance to stay on either for more than a few seconds. I suppose that if either one of them was actually much fun, I might have kept at it long enough to get good at it. Of course we didn’t have the Flybar when I was a kid.

Your average pogo stick didn’t get very far off the ground, a foot or so at the max. The Flybar is merely an improvement on the original pogo stick, using super-strong elastic bands and an adjustable piston to achieve heights of up to 7 feet. Seriously, just imagine hopping down the road in seven-foot hops. Granted, you’re going to have to shell out $210 and spend a good while mastering the device, but you know it would be worth it.

[ Flybar ] VIA [ GearFuse ]

By Evan Ackerman

See this bracelet? It’s telling you not to do drugs. Well, not you, since you’re mature enough and intelligent enough to make those kinds of decisions for yourself. But the youth of America are a bunch of clueless and impressionable… You know… Youth… and they only really pay attention to social messages they can turn into bling.

The Sound Advice Project wants you to talk to your kids about drugs, and to make it easier on you, they’re offering you a bracelet to bribe them with. The bracelets are custom made, and the arrangement of beads represents a sound wave that you record. The Project wants you to say something positive and about drugs. Er, yeah. But you don’t have to, as far as I can tell, and you can use the six seconds to make up a physical, wearable incarnation of whatever phrase you’d like.

At only $18, it’s not a bad little geeky gift idea.

[ Sound Advice Project ] VIA [ BBG ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Ever since Apple popularized the all-in-one computer other companies have attempted to recreate its success. So far none have managed to create such a stir, though a few models have done well. Every now and then I see one that just looks like the company half-assed it. In that spirit, I give you the Averatec D1133.


Am I the only one that thinks they simply took a laptop, removed the screen and set a slightly larger one on top? Heck, it even looks like a rather bulky laptop base. Now you’ve got a computer that looks like a laptop, feels like a laptop, but isn’t portable like a laptop. Great. Well if you don’t mind the odd appearance, here are the specs for the D1133:

• AMD Athlon X2 1.5Ghz
• 18.4″ display (1680×945, 16:9) with 1.3 Megapixel webcam
• 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, DVD drive
• USB 2 (4), eSATA (1), Audio in/out, 10/100 Ethernet, DVI, 4:1 flash reader, WIFI-G
• ATI Radeon HD 3200 GPU
• Vista Home Basic

No word yet on pricing or availability.

[ Averatec ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]