Jun 21

$100,000 Razor Has Just Two Blades

Posted in: household, Today's Chili

This kind of shaving excess is the reason eco-hippy recumbent riders wear beards

I’m having a hard time working out just who would buy this $100,000 Zafirro Iridium razor. It would have to be someone very rich, and very, very hairy. I’m thinking Robin Williams, but he’s way too smart to drop the price of a cheap apartment on a bathroom accessory.

What could possibly justify this price? Well, nothing, but that doesn’t stop Zafirro from trying. The two blades are made from white sapphire and “launch a new era of shaving” (the era of shaving whilst broke, I guess). These blades are sharpened using “high-energy, ionized particles”. Included in the price is ten years worth of cleaning, servicing and sharpening.

Then we get on to some more convincing reasons for the jacked-up price. Zafirro uses some very expensive metals for the construction. The handle, for instance, is made from iridium, a metal “from meteorites” which is “10 times more rare than platinum.”

If you thought that buying objects made from ivory or woolly mammoth tusks was non-PC, then you’ll be happy with Zafirro’s environmental policy: “Due to the limited global supply of iridium and the expense associated with manufacturing, only 99 of the Iridium line will be made.” Why make any at all?

It gets worse. The screws that hold the razor together are machined from platinum, and Zafirro calls the “leap” from regular razors to sapphire-bladed razors a “quantum leap” like that “from vacuum tubes to transistors, CB radios to the iPhone.”

It’s all so depressing. If Zafirro sells a single one of these, the world will be a worse place. And if you do buy one and manage to cut yourself on the 100-atom thick edge of the blade, I have something to help. Maybe I can interest you in a tiny square of toilet paper, made from the wood pulp of the Bois Dentelle. This is a tree so rare that only a few remain, up in the high cloud forests of Mauritius. I’ll sell you a sheet for just $10,000.

Zafirro Iridium [Zafirro via Book of Joe]

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Jun 21

19-Year Old Alleged LulzSec Hacker Arrested in England (Updated)

Posted in: Today's Chili, top

British police dealing with digital crime have apprehended a 19-year-old in Essex, England, accused of participating in LulzSec’s recent rash of bold online assaults. This would mark the first time an actual human’s been nabbed since the Lulz riot started. More »

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Jun 21

Google TVs pop up in Android Market device listings, still can’t download apps

Posted in: Android, android market, AndroidMarket, apps, Google, GoogleTv, Software, Today's Chili

Just days ago, Google snapped up SageTV to bolster its Google TV ecosystem. Now, the team in Mountain View appears to be on its way to making good on its promise to put the Android Market on the platform as well. Those with a Revue or other Google TV system can now see them listed as “other” in their list of My Devices in the Market. Of course, you can’t actually download any apps to your Google-fied box just yet, but it’s a start, right? Besides, if you’re really that anxious for Google to give you access to Market apps, you can just get your hands dirty and do it yourself.

Google TVs pop up in Android Market device listings, still can’t download apps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAndroid Central  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 21

Rumor: Native PlayBook E-Mail Client Actually Impossible

Posted in: BlackBerry, playbook, rumors, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili

It may actually be impossible for the PlayBook to use Blackberry's email system

Is it possible that the lack of an email client on BlackBerry’s PlayBook is due to the fact that it is impossible to do? A rumor reported by Business Insider says that RIM has to rewrite its entire messaging architecture to get email and messaging onto the flailing tablet.

The problem, according to a source who spoke to a director of BlackBerry product management, is that BlackBerry accounts cannot support more than one device. When the back-end software was written, the designers never foresaw that a person would want to access their email from anything other than their single BlackBerry phone. Thus, it will require “significant work to make the BES [BlackBerry Email System] support multiple devices.”

This could be made even trickier by RIMs current transition to the new QNX software platform.

Bear in mind that this is a single-source rumor. It is, however, both plausible and interesting enough to pass on. Why else would RIM have shipped a business-targeted tablet without the company’s flagship feature?

The Real Reason There Was No Email On The BlackBerry PlayBook [Business Insider]

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Jun 21

FCC outs new Apple AirPort Extreme

Posted in: Today's Chili

The Federal Communications Commission posts its test report on a new AirPort Extreme Base Station, Apple’s wireless hardware.

Originally posted at The Digital Home

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Jun 21

Nokia’s Hot-Looking N9 Shows Hope for Windows Phone

Posted in: meego, nokia, Phones, Today's Chili

Looks like Nokia finally hired a designer with some taste

Look what Nokia went and did. With pretty much everybody writing the company off as already dead, the Finns have come up with the rather hot-looking N9 smartphone.

The specifications sound impressive. Powered by the MeeGo 1.2 operating system, the N9 has an 8MP camera (with Carl Zeiss glass lens), 1GB RAM and 16 GB or 64 GB of storage.

Interestingly the N9 is running the MeeGo operating system, which Nokia is laying to rest in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. So this might be the MeeGo’s last gasp before its head is plunged into the water trough one last time by Windows Phone 7, but it’s going out in style.

Joe Wilcox of BetaNews calls the N9 a “waste,” because MeeGo is basically dead once the first Windows Phone 7-powered Nokia phones ship in the next year or two. But to Gadget Lab, the N9 offers a glimpse into what Nokia and Microsoft have in store for us: cutting-edge hardware running a beautiful new operating system. Perhaps the Nokia-Microsoft partnership is indeed what both companies needed to survive and play catch up with Apple and Google in the platform wars.

With the N9, Nokia has “invented” a new gesture: the swipe. The phone has no home button (although you do get volume switches and the like on the side), so returning to the home screen is done by swiping in from any side of the screen. This could be annoying or awesome, depending on implementation.

The N9’s familiar icon-driven interface is divided into three sections. Events shows you the feeds from your friends’ social networks, along with notifications. A multitasking view shows an Exposé-style tiled view of all open apps, and the applications view shows all your apps as icons.

Impressive, but the outside is even better. Gone is the busy, miniature-computer styling of previous Nokia smartphones. This thing is a sleek marriage of a giant 3.9-inch 854 x 480 AMOLED Gorilla Glass screen curving gently out from a polycarbonate unibody body. It’s like a giant iPod Nano, in a very good way.

If Nokia can knock out phones this good with Microsoft’s lovely Windows Phone 7, then things might not be as bleak as they seemed. Available soon, price to be announced.

N9 product page [Nokia]

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Jun 21

Sliding Keyboard: it’s like Swype, but for Windows Phone 7

Posted in: Android, keyboard, phone, smartphone, Today's Chili, ui, Windows, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7

In the Android realm, Swype has been life-changing for many; of course, reverting back to the messaging ways of old has been a must when jumping ship to WP7. Now, gesture tracing crosses the aisle, and it’s hopping over to Microsoft’s turf courtesy of Invoke IT’s Sliding Keyboard. With the look of the regular ol’ WP7 keyboard, this set of arm floaties records the user tracing out text, just like ex-Android fans are accustomed to. The company goes a bit further by offering a pair of goggles — in the form of Bing search, text messaging and email options along the bottom of the app. Sure, it’s seeing its fair share of first-revision bugs (word recognition seems a bit poor based on early reviews), but at a cool $1.29 (and a free trial preceding that), it’s a good bit cheaper than a therapy session. Right?

Sliding Keyboard: it’s like Swype, but for Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WM Poweruser  |  sourceWindows Phone Applist, Zune Marketplace  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 21

Pinzacord Lays The Smack on Your Tangled Cables

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Today's Chili

The Pinza shows your unruly cords who’s boss

Your desk, like mine, is a mess of cords. Worse, those cords tend to slip and slide onto the floor beneath where they immediately multiply and tangle themselves like Medusa’s hairdo. What you need is one thing to rule them all. That thing is the Pinza.

The Pinza is a fancy variation on the home-made bulldog clip cable-wrangler. You run your cables through the slot in the center of the stainless steel cylinder and then pop an o-ring over the end. This pairs up with another rubber ring to stop the Pinza from sliding around. To extract a little more cord, just pull. When you let go again, the weight of the cord pulls the Pinza back. It rolls on its rubber runners and pinds the cord in place.

Better still, it looks great, which is important on my desk as it needs to contrast with all the half-empty espresso cups and unopened bills that litter the top. It’s also cheap, as these things go, costing $12 or $16 depending on which size you choose. Available now.

Pinza cord wrangler [Pinzacord via Werd]

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Jun 21

Who needs a 92-inch TV? Mitsubishi, the guys who make it

Posted in: Today's Chili

The Japanese electronics company, the last bastion of rear-projection TVs, says really big sets are still the best way for it to turn a profit on its products.

Originally posted at Circuit Breaker

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Jun 21

ClamCase for iPad 2 is a little lighter, suited for picture taking and $149

Posted in: Apple, apple ipad, AppleIpad, bluetooth, case, ipad, ipad 2, Ipad2, keyboard, netbook, tablet, Today's Chili

Just in case you bought an iPad 2 but really needed a netbook, ClamCase is back with a redesigned version of its case / battery powered Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard combo. This one is a hair thinner and a little lighter than the previous version (reviewed here), with cutouts for the back camera and speaker grille plus integrated magnets to awaken and sleep your tablet when the case is opened or closed. The keyboard has also reportedly been refreshed for an improved feel, but even though the black version is on sale now for $149 (white ships next month) there’s still a 4-5 week wait for shipping to get a hands-on and find out for yourself. Logitech’s Keyboard Case for iPad 2 is another option for $100, but it will only protect your precious slab on one side — something to consider while you’re checking out specs.

Continue reading ClamCase for iPad 2 is a little lighter, suited for picture taking and $149

ClamCase for iPad 2 is a little lighter, suited for picture taking and $149 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceClamCase  | Email this | Comments

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