As part of a promotion for their new RF510 “boosted” notebook, Samsung will let you buy a roll of custom wrapping paper featuring a holiday-appropriate pattern of your choice adorned with tweets pulled from either a specific hashtag or username. Well originally they gave out 3,000 rolls for free, but that ship has already long sailed. Now a 19×76-inch roll of the custom wrap is $6.95 which isn’t that expensive actually. Arguably it’s not as cool as the QRapping Paper we brought you last week, but it’s the perfect choice if your giftee is a Twitter fanatic.

[ Samsung Boosted Tweetwrap ] VIA [ PSFK ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When I stumbled upon the Tweeting Teakettle a couple of months ago, I thought I’d found the worst possible use for Twitter. I love how companies find new ways to prove me wrong. This time it’s not a small startup company, but a tech giant named Sony who has me convinced that Twitter will somehow bring about the apocalypse. It seems they are putting a good amount of effort into a device that will allow your cat to send tweets.

That ugly, bulky device that you see pictured above is a prototype of their Cat@Log, which will assist your feline friend in telling the world of their eating and napping habits. If you’re wondering why they used a stuffed cat, it’s because you’ll be hard pressed to find a cat that will let you put this thing on them, let alone stand still for a picture once it is on.

As for the technology itself, the device contains a GPS sensor, accelerometer and a camera. These will log your cats activities, and make appropriate tweets based on them. One example given was that if your cat walked around for a bit and then ate some food, it might tweet “Meals taste better after a walk.” Currently this is one of 11 different phrases used.

This definitely gets my vote for the worst use of Twitter so far this year. I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the meeting where this was brought up. Not only did someone have to suggest this, but there had to actually be other people in the room who thought it was a good idea.

[ TechOn ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’ll be the first to admit that I hate Twitter. Much like the constant MySpace and Facebook updates that people made before, most tweets are of mundane activities such as grocery shopping and bathroom activities. Well now we can look forward to automated tea-time tweets thanks to this gadget.

This stylish looking teakettle has a sinister secret. Instead of whistling to let you know that it’s ready, it will send out a tweet via WiFi. Really? Have we become so reliant upon technology that we have to have our phone or computer inform us that our tea is ready? Thankfully these guys still need a bit of funding before this technological atrocity is released to the general public. They’re currently aiming for a retail price of around $115.

[ MobileInc ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Gaurav Kheterpal

Twitter has recently added a local flavor to the popular Twitter Trends service. It’s now possible to select a geographic region to see what’s hot and what’s not in your city or any city of your interest. The current Twitter Local Trends serves 15 major US cities and 5 countries aside from the United States and I’m sure that it’s a matter of time before more countries and cities are added.

This latest offering further strengthens Twitter’s portfolio of location aware services. Last year, it had launched a Geolocation API which helped make twitter applications location aware. For a start, Twitter offered the Local Trends facility to 1% of its user base and I’m lucky to be amongst the chosen ones. From what I’ve seen so far, Local Trends seems to work well without any major issues.

It will be interesting to see how Twitter refines it as it adds more countries and cities.

[ Twitter ] VIA [ CNET ]

I’m not saying that man’s best friend was the reason MySpace became ‘uncool’, but now that dogs will be able to tweet their comings and goings with a little help from Mattel, I think it might be time to say goodbye to Twitter and move on to the next social media fad.

Puppy Tweets, which is officially being announced at next month’s Toy Fair in New York, is a small sound and motion sensor equipped device that is worn on a dog’s collar and translates their barks or activities into Twitter posts. It communicates with a receiver that connects to your PC as I understand it, and only posts ‘pre-recorded’ tweets based on what the dog is doing. So if they’re being particularly active a tweet saying “I finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing and…OOUUUCHH!” might get posted. Yeah… hi-larious.

As frivolous pet accessories go this one definitely ranks at the top of the list, though when it’s available this Fall it will have an MSRP of just $29.99, putting it near the border of inexpensive novelties.

[ CNN - Even your Chihuahua can tweet ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Back before the whole world went nuts about Twilight there was another set of books/movies which drove tweens wild. I am of course speaking of Harry Potter. Sure, there are still a pair of movies to be released, but I’d say the excitement has died down considerably. That didn’t stop one creative individual from crafting a magical artifact from the Potter universe using muggle technology.

The Weasley family had a peculiar clock which instead of telling time, informed you where each individual was located. So how would one get a timepiece to display such information? Through the magic of Twitter, of course.

The face of the clock has a dozen locations written on it (technically 11 places, and one which says “read me”) and four hands with pictures of each family members. A Seeeduino microcontroller board and wireless router are used to monitor Twitter updates and move the hands. If a Twitter update contains one of the locations on the face, the hand moves appropriately. If an update does not contain one of these, the hand will move to “read me.”

This is one of the more creative projects that I have seen in recent history. Taking something purely magical and crafting it from available technology is just awesome. Thankfully the creator took the time to document his work so you can make your own if you choose.

[ TheMagicClock ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When you’re trying to lose weight, sometimes it’s hard to find the proper motivation. Sure, having a goal in mind, or even a pair of old jeans that you’re hoping to fit into can help. But sometimes you need something a little stronger than your own will to keep you going. I’m talking about peer pressure. No, you don’t need a bunch of people standing around telling you that you’re overweight. However, if all of your peers know your exact weight at all times, you might feel pressured into doing something about it. If that sounds like the kind of prodding you need, then you might want to check out the Withings Wifi Body Scale.

I’m still no fan of Twitter, but this has to be one of the more interesting uses of it that I’ve seen. The scale uses Wi-Fi to send a Twitter update every time you step on it. Now you can send all of your friends instant updates so that they can support you in your effort to reach your goal. You have to wonder how many people will keep an extra scale in their bathroom, just so they can check their weight before broadcasting it to the world. The Withings WiFi Body Scale will set you back a whopping $159.

[ Withings ] VIA [ Dvice ]

It first surfaced last week, but today Peek officially announced the availability of the TwitterPeek, a version of their handheld device designed exclusively for accessing and publishing content on Twitter. Now Twitter power users might find the device a bit limiting since the lack of a web browser prevents you from following links, and the lack of a camera prevents you from uploading your own photos, but you can pretty much do everything else including viewing twitpic images, following other Twitterers and posting replies or direct messages.

At the moment the TwitterPeek is available in a $99.99 version that includes 6 months of service followed by a $7.95 per month fee, or the previously rumored $199.99 version that includes a lifetime of service.

[ TwitterPeek ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Are you an important person? I mean someone that people hang on your every word, simply because even the most mundane actions in your life are news-worthy? Well I’ve got some awesome news for you. Peek, the makers of the Pronto email device have a new gadget up their sleeve. It looks very similar to the Pronto, but this one is dedicated to Twitter.

That’s right, if you don’t have a smartphone with a data plan, you can still tell everyone about the tiniest details of your life when you’re away from home. I honestly think that this is simply the worst idea ever. This is only encouraging people to post even more boring facts about their everyday life that no one cares about. Unless your life is filled with the same level of excitement of James Bond, you don’t need to be updating everyone hourly on it. There’s currently no word on pricing or availability.

[ Peek ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I think I must be in a programming mood or something, since this is my second post involving minor amounts of code. Anywho, if you’re one of those people who thinks their friends actually care where you are at any given time, then here’s a little something that you might be interested.

You’ll need SSH access and dynamic DNS on your Palm Pre (yes, this hack is for Pre owners only) for this to work. Then you’ll add a few lines of code into a new php file (along with a few other steps) and you’ll be automatically tweeting your location every hour (or whatever interval you choose).

Bear in mind, the simple act of using this hack will probably result in a loss of followers (and real-life friends if you have any). Why? Because not only are you constantly updating people with the pointless crap you do throughout the day (see example 1) now you’re sending out your exact location throughout the day. Trust me, if you actually want people to know where you are that bad, you’re not important enough for them to care.

[ PalmPreHacks ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]