Hasta La Gadget!

We know by now that Apple has adopted a more-or-less annual update cycle for the iPhone. In between major revisions, we’ve seen the company release “S” versions that feature upgrades to the previous version’s internal hardware. But GSM Arena received a couple of pictures showing what their tipster thinks is a prototype of the iPhone 5S. If – and that’s a huge if – these images are legitimate, then it looks like the iPhone 5′s thin and tall form will be discarded in favor of that of a Nokia Lumia.

If this is a legitimate leak, it appears that the iPhone 5S is going to be wider than the iPhone 5 and will have a curved edge-to-edge screen. The curvature of the screen in the device is mimicked by its rear panel. As I said, I think it looks a bit like one of Nokia’s Lumia phones.

Another thing that it looks like? An illustration in one of Apple’s patents, which describes a phone with a transparent housing and a flexible wraparound display. But obviously neither of these features are present in this alleged prototype.

Again, the pictures could be a hoax or those of a knockoff. Or it could be legit, but as with many prototypes, one that is not destined to become a commercial product. It’s also possible that Apple will skip the iPhone 5S and go straight to the iPhone 6. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple has decided to cash in on the demand of people who want an iPhone with a larger screen. It wouldn’t be unprecedented.

[via GSM Arena & Patently Apple via Nowhereelse]

“Be the first in your dentist’s office with a plush tooth or the first on your block with a squashy snuggly eyeball.”

We’re just suckers for these super adorable plush toys of innards and body parts by I Heart Guts. An aptly named company, don’t you think?

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Chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, Birol Kilic, thinks the Jabba’s Palace LEGO play set is “culturally insensitive.” Why? He says that it resembles Istanbul’s historic mosque Hagia Sophia. Or any other building with a domed roof, for that matter.

He says that “This does not belong in children’s bedrooms, and the minaret-like tower features machine guns. Children will become insensitive to violence and other cultures.” Maybe he should worry about real world problems instead of worrying about a LEGO set based on a 30-year-old movie.

It all started when his organization was notified of the issue by an outraged Austrian father, whose sister had given the LEGO set to his son last Christmas. The father returned the toy to the store. It could have ended there, but the Turkish Cultural Association petitioned LEGO to drop the play set from its line-up.

Sadly, like so many things these days, political correctness and overzealous idiots are trying to kill the things that we love. Don’t mess with Star Wars. In response to the accusations, LEGO released the following statement:

All LEGO Star Wars™ products are based on the movies of the Star Wars™ saga created by Lucasfilm. Jabba’s Palace appears in Star Wars™ Episode VI and appears in a famous scene on the planet Tatooine. The building is the palace of Jabba – a fictional movie character.

The picture shown above depicts the building from the movie scene. The LEGO designers try to reproduce all buildings, space ships and characters from the movies as close as possible when creating a new LEGO Star Wars™ product.

This is done to allow both young and old Star WarsTM fans to act out the scenes from the movies at home. The LEGO Star Wars™ product Jabba’s palace does not reflect any non-fictional buildings, people, or the mentioned mosque.

The LEGO minifigures shown on the box and found inside the box (Jabba, Salacious Crumb, Bib Fortuna, Gamorreanic Guard, Oola, Han Solo, Princess Leia disguised as Boushh, Chewbacca and B’omarr Monk) are all modeled after fictional characters from the movie.

The LEGO Group regrets that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to interprete it wrongly, but point out that the design of the product only refers to the fictional content of the Star Wars™ saga.

A few media have reported that the product is being discontinued due to the mentioned criticism. This is, however, not correct.

As a normal process products in the LEGO Star Wars™ assortment usually have a life-cycle of one to three years after which they leave the assortment and may be renewed after some years. The LEGO Star Wars™ product Jabba’s Palace 9516 was planned from the beginning to be in the assortment only until the end of 2013 as new exiting models from the Star Wars universe will follow.

LEGO has no plans to prematurely discontinue the playset, but you can always buy one for your collection, just in case.

[via Nerd Approved]

Guys hate condoms right? But everybody loves bacon. Now everyone will want to use condoms since they come in… bacon flavor. Like the box says, they “make your meat look like meat.” Now that bacon condoms exist, no children will ever be born again. Because… bacon.

These bacon condoms come from J&D’s (the guys who made Bacon Salt) and aside from making your junk look like bacon, they have “baconlube”, an ultra premium water based meat flavored personal lubricant. You can’t go wrong with that. Or can you? Now you can make bacon in the bedroom as well as on the stove.

I’m pretty sure this is an April Fool’s joke, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an idea whose time has come.

[via Obvious Winner]

There are clearly some executives at Walmart who have never actually ventured into one of their stores to see some of the unusual customers who frequent the world’s biggest retailer. While the vast majority of people in Walmart stores are reasonably normal, but there are a select few that nobody wants to see… Ever. That isn’t stopping Walmart from considering an interesting way to get online orders to people more quickly and at a lower price.

Walmart executives are reportedly considering a crowdsourced delivery service. This delivery service would allow Walmart customers to pick up other people’s packages and deliver them to the people on their way home. Apparently, the idea is that Walmart would offer the customer delivering the package a discount on their purchase for doing so.

I can only imagine one of the many People of Walmart turning up at your door with your online order in hand – if they don’t steal it first. Walmart executives say that the crowdsourced shipping service is feasible and could turn up in the next few years. I think I’ll pass.

[via Reuters]