By Robert French

It was Harry Potter 7 which was the chosen movie to watch with friends the other night and we came across the option to upgrade our seats.  Usually we choose to take higher priced tickets in 3-D or Digital for better viewing, but to upgrade our seats was unheard of,  made me think I was checking in at the airport with the hostess trying to upgrade me which I usually refuse.  This was different, the D-Box Motion Code theater seats were readily available to enjoy movement during the movie and feel the action come to life. We couldn’t say no to trying this technology for the first time.

When I first arrived to the theater salon there were a limited amount of D-Box seats available. I sat on the seat allocated from the number printed on my ticket and it activated immediately with motion to tell me the seat is on.  During the trailers and advertisements before the movie, there was a 30 second tutorial, explaining what to expect.

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By Andrew Liszewski

For those times when the talent’s being difficult, you keep blowing fuses on set, or Photoshop’s being a pain in the butt; the Photojojo Store now has a Shot Glass Lens Set to help get you through it. Modeled after a real Canon EF 24-105mm lens, the shot glasses are “…perfect in every detail, from the teeny raised numbers to the focus-ring ridges to the wee auto/manual focus switch. They’re nice and heavy, too: sturdy ceramic that feels solid in your hand.” Get ‘em in a set of 3 for $18 and you’ll ensure in the future you’ll never miss another ‘shot.’

[ Shot Glass Lens Set ] VIA [ Coudal Partners ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Etsy seller ‘EricaKnit’ (possibly not her real full name) is currently offering her knitting skills to anyone interested in this impressive wooly version of R2-D2. Custom made from merino wool for each interested buyer (or whatever type of wool they please) the sweater looks particularly appropriate for wintertime cosplay, or sci-fi conventions that take place when there’s snow on the ground. The ‘catch’ though? You’ll be dropping $450 for this unlicensed homage.

[ Etsy - CUSTOM made to order -- Star Wars R2D2 sweater ] VIA [ Gamma Squad ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It kind of defeats the purpose of carrying an umbrella on a rainy day to stay dry, but the kid in me (who pretty much runs the show) really likes this more entertaining take on the brolly. The tip of the canopy is actually sunken so it works like a funnel, channeling the rain drops down into a squirt gun that doubles as the umbrella’s handle. As long as you’re the only one carrying around this special umbrella you’ll stay completely dry, while the random strangers you pass on the street won’t know what hit them. It was created by Alex Woolley as a concept piece sadly, and I’m almost certain it hasn’t gone into production. Otherwise there’d be one hanging on my door already.

[ Alex Woolley - Encouraging Adults to Play in the Rain ] VIA [ Fancy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you frequent a vending machine at work or school you’ve probably learned to silence that little voice inside telling you there are far healthier snacking alternatives. But at the same time, there’s nothing more boring than a vending machine filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. So a San Diego-based vending company has come up with a nice compromise. Their ‘Fresh Healthy Vending’ machines are still packed with snacks like cookies, chips, crackers and juices, but they’re all from companies who use organic or all-natural ingredients. In other words, they provide a far healthier way to deal with the munchies.

The machines can be packed with snacks from over 500 recognized brands, which tend to lean towards items like granola bars, smoothies, yogurts, etc. instead of chocolate bars and candy. They’re also a bit on the high-tech side, with dual zone climates for keeping dairy based products fresh, payment systems that accept credit and debit cards in addition to coins and bills, and even remote wireless monitoring of stock and sales. Since organic and other healthier snacks tend to cost more than your typical vending machine fare, I think the Fresh machines face some tough competition from their incumbent rivals. But maybe snacking guilt will give them a big advantage.

[ Fresh Healthy Vending Machines ] VIA [ PSFK ]

By Paul McCollum

While the sun may have set on the WoW culture of non-stop, never leave the house obsessed gamers, the love of PC gaming still lives on. Fans of faster games are as competitive as ever and always looking for every edge to get them one more capture or one more kill. Razer thrives of the frenzy of hardcore gamers and produces some of the finest gaming accessories available. Recently they released a new version of their wildly popular Mamba mouse with dual sensors: laser and optical. Again the Mamba mouse has a split personality, it can operate in both wired and wireless modes.

Razer has also included highly customizable software for programming its 7 buttons and even the LED backlight color of the scroll wheel. Adaptive sensitivity and variable acceleration as well as other values can be saved into multiple profiles to accommodate different needs for games or work. Razer threw in more than a few updates to this now classic palm-fitting mouse and retained almost all of the attributes that made it great. To see more details on the upgrades and performance, check out the full review at Everything USB.

[ Everything USB - Razer Mamba 4G Gaming Mouse ]

By David Ponce

We talk a great deal about consumer electronics on this site, but that doesn’t mean that those of us with more precise and business oriented needs can’t find a thing or two to suit their tastes. For instance, if you work in some environment that does a lot of CAD you’ll no doubt be in the market for a machine like Dell’s M4600. It’s referred to as a “powerhouse” and comes in Core i5 and i7 Extreme edition Sandy Bridge processors. And in the case of the i7 configuration, you can now get a hefty $869 off, bringing the $2,868 price down to a much more manageable $1,999. Still $2k so you get quite a bit: Core i7-2720QM 2.2GHz Quad-core, 2GB NVIDIA Quadro 2000M graphics, 8GB RAM, two USB 3.0 ports, 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive, 802.11n WiFi and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OS and a 3-year warranty.

[ Up To $869 Off Dell Precision M4600 ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m marking down August 11, 2011 in my calendar as the day I found a better way to spend $1,500+ (£950). R9′s custom coffee tables are clearly not sanctioned by Lucasfilm, hence the fact they refer to this beauty as the ’70′s Falcon’ table. The under-the-glass centerpiece is made from cold cast bronze with a retro wood grain veneer, tying it back to the design of the rest of the table and its wood base. This particular table is shown as being ‘Sold’ on the R9 website, which makes me wonder if it’s a one-off piece, but I’m sincerely hoping it’s not.

[ 70's (Millennium) Falcon Coffee Table ] VIA [ Fancy ]

By Andrew Liszewski

They say at your last time at bat it’s nice to hit a home run. And while I’m not sure if Hitachi, who’s leaving the TV business at the end of the year, has quite put it out of the park with the six new models they announced today. Their new flagship model, the P50-GP08, is a solid triple for sure. It’s a full HD (1920×1080) 50-inch plasma display with a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio that’s also 3D capable. But it’s the extras that make it lustworty. Besides 4 HDMI connections it’s also got 5 separate TV tuners built in, a removable 500GB hard drive presumably for PVR purposes, web connectivity and a motion sensor that will automagically turn it off after people have left the room.

But it’s the soon-to-be-released Wooo remote app for the iPhone and iPad is what I’m lusting after. I’m assuming it connects to the TV over wifi because in addition to letting you change channels and volume, an interactive program guide, easier access to settings and other mundane stuff, the app lets you stream recordings from the P50-GP08′s hard drive! That alone is worth the price of admission if you ask me. Which should be around $4,200 in August, if you live in Japan.

[ AV Watch - Hitachi's New Wooo Flatscreen TVs ] VIA [ TechCrunch ]