By Andrew Liszewski

I’m still a little upset I missed out on the whole ‘race car bed’ fad when I was growing up. But damned if I’m going to let the opportunity to bath in a fire truck pass me by! American Standard has created a series of ‘funbaths’ that easily install over regular bath tubs making them more… um… fun.

This version, the Fierce Fire Truck, features a built-in hand shower, a polished chrome handrail, self-leveling feet and a raised designed that makes it easier for parents to bathe their kids and harder for adults to use it while keeping some shred of dignity. Not something that’s gonna stop me though. But what will is the $2,199 price tag. There’s also a Pretty Princess Castle version that sells for the same price, and a customizable flat panel version that’s a bit cheaper at $1,799.

[ Fierce Fire Truck Design FunBath ] VIA [ Luxury Housing Trends ]

By David Ponce

This is a first for Apple: you can now stream the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ upcoming album,I’m With You, for free, right now, on the iTunes Music Store. I’m listening to it as I type. While there isn’t a whole lot of information to go by on why Apple is doing this (is there ever?), it could be a sign of things to come. The pressure is mounting on the boys in Cupertino to offer a service similar to Spotify, Rdio or Pandora, where users pay a flat monthly fee and stream as much music as they want. Certainly with the announcement of iCloud a while back one can envision a strategy that includes such a service.

In any case, the album is pretty good. It’s a 1h track, meaning you can’t skip around to specific songs, but whatever. Oh, and this isn’t for the iPhone.

VIA [ TUAW ]

By David Ponce

Today we’re taking a look at the higher end m11x from Alienware. The Core i7 configuration comes with 6GB RAM and a 2GB GeForce GT540M graphics card. There’s also a 500GB HDD. Of course for an 11-inch gaming laptop with these kinds of numbers, especially from Alienware, one has to expect to pay a pretty penny. Before today’s rebate this machine is $1359, coming down to $1,149 after $210 in rebates.

The offer is valid until August 25.

[ $210 Off On Alienware Core i7 m11x ] VIA [ LogicBuy ]

By David Ponce

As people used to say in the now defunct website Digg, the title says it all. But if you feel like you must know more and clicking on things isn’t your thing, then perhaps we can mention that this helmet is a creation of one Jenn Hall, a resident of Philadelphia. And before you jump to the comments to profess your knowledge of how old this is by intertubes standards, know that we’re aware. Yes, it dates back to the distant July of this year. A month ago. But we still think her helmet is cool and worth mentioning an entire month later.

There doesn’t seems to be any plans for her to make them for money, though she does provide a step by step so you can make your own.

Hit the jump for a few more pics and links.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Ponce

Let’s talk about serving sizes. You pick up a box of cookies and smile as you notice it’s 160 calories per portion. Not so bad. Then you frown when you notice that “a portion” is two cookies! What is that? Who eats two cookies? People eat cookies by the sleeve, my friends. And so nutritional information based on arbitrary portion sizes are misleading. So are electric cars’ range estimates. No two people drive alike, and driving habits are the end-all/be-all of EV range. If you drive like my father, you can probably drive coast to coast on one charge. Drive like me and… well you get the idea. EV range estimates will eventually learn your habits and get more accurate, but by then you’ve already bought the damn car.

Enter the EV Profiler.

As you can imagine, it’s a device crammed with sensors whose job it is to determine how you drive over a statistically significant period of time. How hard you brake/accelerate, how many hills you climb, how many pedestrians you drag for how many miles, etc. The data is uploaded to servers nightly and after about a week you get a report that allows you to make a more informed decision on whether going green is really the thing for you.

You can rent the EV profiler for $25 a week, or $82 per month either directly from the company or from a car dealer that carries them.

[ EV Profiler ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not sure when umbrellas became more of a style accessory than a way to stay dry in a downpour, but I’m wholeheartedly behind the fad. And if carrying around a faux sword isn’t your thing, perhaps an umbrella camouflaged as a bottle of spirits will fit the bill? The Ofess 0% umbrella looks like a stylish bottle of wine when not in use, but comes apart to reveal your standard rain shield, using the bottle’s neck as the handle. While you then have to deal with the inconvenience of carrying an empty tube when it’s open, it also provides a place to store a wet umbrella so it doesn’t drip everywhere. Available in a variety of colors and vintages (I hear 1988 was a lovely year for umbrellas) for ~$36 (¥2,800) from Rakuten.

[ Ofess 0% Umbrella ] VIA [ Matomeno ]

By Andrew Liszewski

You’ll have to accept looking like an absolute fool while wearing them, but if you’ve got a soft spot for automotive design, particularly the gratuitous use of visible carbon fiber, Gucci’s got a pair of loafers for you. Their GG Plus Moccasins come in a beige & ebony fabric pattern similar to what’s found on the brand’s purses, with a black rubber sole. But on the heel you’ll notice a patch of carbon fiber which pretty much does nothing but provide eye candy. (And maybe lightening the shoe a touch.) Because they feature the Gucci logo they’ll set you back $425 a pair, and a bit of self-respect.

[ Gucci GG Plus Moccasins ] VIA [ Carbon Fiber Gear ]

By David Ponce

We’re pretty happy it’s becoming common knowledge that when someone is badly injured and bleeding severely, the best on-scene treatment while awaiting paramedics is the application of a tourniquet. If you don’t know, this is when you tie a piece of rope above the injury and tighten in order to cut off blood flow and prevent death from exsanguination (read: bleeding out). Sadly, it’s not always possible to apply a tourniquet in every situation: when injured in the groin, the abdomen or the neck for instance. For times like these, Combat Medical Systems of Fayetteville, N.C. has developed the CRoC, or combat ready clamp, which is a vise-like device designed to manage difficult inguinal bleeds (that’s groin bleeds… Come to think of it, this is probably not a good idea on the neck…).

Uncontrolled bleeding accounts for 25% of potentially survivable deaths in the field and according to an article in the U.S. Army Medical Department Journal, getting better stemming the flow of blood in the field could save up to three soldier lives per month.

While the CRoC is clearly aimed for the armed services’ use, you can apparently buy one for yourself for $445.

[ CRoC Product Page ] VIA [ MedGadget ]

By David Ponce

We’ve talked about Razer a bunch of times over the years. They make gaming accessories that are generally well received. Now they’re coming out with an alleged “world’s first” 10-driver circumaural 7.1 gaming headset (5 drivers per ear). They’re not going the usual route of virtual surround but rather true surround with precise control over each audio channel. There’s a separate controller through which you can customize levels to your liking and a precise, unidirectional noise-cancelling microphone.

Of course when it comes to audio equipment the proof is in the pudding and the Tiamat won’t hit shelves until Q4 of this year for $180. At that price, it better be some really good pudding.

[ Razer's Tiamat ] VIA [ Techcrunch Gadgets ]