By Chris Scott Barr

Remember back when we found out that the Pre was able to sync with iTunes? I suspected that it wouldn’t be long until Apple put an end to that handy little feature. Well it took a good month and a half, but they’ve finally done it.

The latest iTunes update (8.2.1) mentions in the notes that it “addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices.” In case it wasn’t specific enough for you, it means that the Pre is no longer mistaken as an iPod. It was fun while it lasted guys, but if you want to keep using the two together, you probably shouldn’t update iTunes. Ever. Time to find something better to suit your music syncing needs.

[ Apple ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By David Ponce

High definition televisions are great. What’s not so great is the jolly bunch of celebrities who hurriedly started caking on makeup once they realized the new technology allowed their so-called fans to notice their skin imperfections. Here’s a newsflash Joan Rivers: we can see caked up makeup too! You understand of course that whenever there’s a need, a company will pop up to fill it. In this case a company called Cargo has started selling a line of makeup products called “Blu-Ray High Definition Makeup” that allegedly makes someone look “radiant and flawless” (read, not so damn old or pimply) while still looking natural. The products are made from “special pigments and high-tech ingredients”, which doesn’t tell us a whole lot or inspire much confidence. Then again, half of the products on the shelves nowadays find buyers on the strength of the marketing efforts alone. For what it’s worth, prices here seem just about in line with regular makeup products (or so a female friend tells me).

[ Product Page ] VIA [BoingBoing Gadgets ]

By David Ponce

Bang & Olufsen are better known for their impossibly expensive and allegedly superior speakers. Who knew then that they’d dabble in something so mundane as alarm clocks. Of course, they wouldn’t be living up to their name if they’d done any old alarm clock. In the BeoTime, you’ll find a “built-in motion sensor and subtle automatic backlighting.” Motion sensor? It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s more like the iPhone’s, to properly align the LCD display.

Of course, we asked ourselves just why it looks like this… And sure enough B&O’s site had a handy answer:

Inspired by the conflict between night and day in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, BeoTime is visually unlike any alarm clock you have ever seen. And yet every innovation is grounded in clever functionality. The horizontal line and square panels relax the eye to suit a bedroom setting, whether you place BeoTime on a side table or hang it on the supplied magnetic wall fixture. The tube shape is easy to hold when setting wake-up or shut-down times or using BeoTime for basic remote functionality.

Right… We’re thinking this sounds just like the kind of talk that always manages to separate certain folk from ridiculous amounts on money… in this particular case €311. Given B&O’s relative success in the market place we can only conclude that the world is full of people with more money than sense.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Xataka ]

By Andrew Liszewski

The next time you have a heart attack (that’s supposed to be a weekly occurrence right?) how would you like it if the person performing CPR on you was trained at home via a PC app using the Nintendo Wiimote? Well that’s exactly what biomedical engineering undergraduate students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham have in mind. And given the fact that the American Heart Association has pledged $50,000 to fund their research, the idea must have some merit.

The students have been working on the concept since last January, and this past Spring a working prototype of the technology was demonstrated which is when the AHA stepped in and offered the grant. If all goes well, the UAB Wii CPR software would be made available for download from the American Heart Association website as open source code as early as this Fall. And I think the Wii Vitality sensor which Nintendo introduced at E3 this year has finally found its killer life-saving application.

[ PR - UAB Students’ Nintendo Wii CPR Earns American Heart Association Support ] VIA [ Popular Science ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I still don’t see the reason why anyone would invest in a standalone weather device when accurate forecasts are available via almost every other gadget on the market, from phones to even the Wii. But the WoodStation manages to somewhat justify its almost $150 price tag since it’s made from a stylish piece of maple or walnut. When sitting on your night stand or desk it looks like a small chunk of wood, but waving your hand over the motion sensor causes the face to light up with glowing icons providing information on the current weather, humidity levels and temperature, as well as the date and time.

[ WoodStation ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Whether you find yourself deep in the woods on a camping excursion or at 30,000 feet on a long-haul flight you’ll never have to go without a cup of freshly brewed espresso again thanks to Stelton. Their Simply Espresso is a battery-powered thermos-sized contraption that will brew a cup of espresso no matter where you are. Just add water and one of the espresso packs, push the button and in no time flat you’ll have your caffeine fix. No pricing info at the moment, but it will supposedly be available sometime this Fall.

[ Stelton Simply Espresso ] VIA [ Acquire ]

By Andrew Liszewski

On Monday Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced a bunch of new storage devices and accessories like the SimpleNet box Evan brought you yesterday, and these slick looking SimpleTOUGH portable drives. But they’re not only about looks. The drive is billed as “one of the world’s most rugged drives for protecting data in harsh environments” and it’s not only water-resistant, but it can also survive a drop of almost 10 feet. I particularly like the integrated foldaway USB cable which means you never end up in the situation where you desperately need a file off the drive, but have neglected to pack the appropriate cabling.

The SimpleTOUGH drives will be available in 3 sizes, 250GB for $99.99, 320GB for $119.99 and 500GB for $149.99.

[ Hitachi SimpleTOUGH ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I don’t work with a lot of spreadsheets or anything, so I can’t vouch for how much time is wasted by moving your hands all over the keyboard to get to the arrow keys. However, for those of you that spend most of your workday doing just this, you might be interested in the Matias Optimizer Keyboard, which claims to increase spreadsheet navigation by 22%, among other things.

The keyboard supposedly achieves this with the use of an “Optimize” button where the Caps Lock usually is. It turns things like your Number Lock key into a Tab button, and others into Page Up, Page Down, etc. As I said, none of this is a big deal to me. That’s why they’ve also targeted writers with some other interesting keys. Hold down that same Optimize button and you get 5 dedicated Cut, Copy and Paste keys. Honestly, that sounds a bit silly. If you’re a writer, you damn well better know where your X, C, and V keys are.

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By Chris Scott Barr

There are some debates that all geeks seem to have with their friends. Star Wars vs Star Trek, Pirates vs Ninjas, Windows vs Mac, etc. One that tends to come up in my circle is which will try to take over the world first, zombies or robots. Well here’s a little bit of info that’ll give you an edge when voting on the side of robots.

Apparently a group of people have developed a sniper robot that refuels using biomass. Yes Virginia, the damn thing gets its juice from consuming human bodies. I’m sure that it’s programmed to only go after dead bodies, but a quick bullet to your backside would be enough to prevent its imminent shutdown. The AI is programmed to plan out its actions for the immediate future through the next 24 hours. With a name like EATR, what could possibly go wrong?

[ RTI ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]