Hasta La Gadget!

Tabloids is a beautifully designed iPad application that turns your Twitter stream into a newspaper. More correctly, it grabs the links found in the Tweets of people you follow and formats them into a tabloid-newspaper-style page.

I think the idea is fantastic, although this first, 1.0 version is still rather sparse. I already use Twitter as a replacement for my Sunday newspapers, shuffling off the links of interest to Instapaper for browsing later. Tabloids takes this a step further, automating the process (and as the product blurb points out, showing up the Twitterers who post lame links).

The pages combine headlines, articles ledes and a What’s Trending section, complete with descriptions for the hashtags. You can click through to read further with the in-app web browser, and there is support for multiple accounts. This is handy if there are multiple users of your iPad, or to separate work and personal feeds. Future versions should also support your Twitter lists, which will be kind of like the different sections in your newspaper. I shall be putting my fellow Gadget Lab Twitterers in with the funnies.

The app is $3, available now.

Tabloids [iTunes via Mashable]

File under “first-world problems”. This travel belt from Hermès concertinas, zig-zag, like a folding ruler and ends up short enough to fit into a carry-on bag. It is made of metal and leather and costs €580, or $725. I hate it.

Are you ready for the rant? First, a well made leather belt is probably the least likely item of clothing to malfunction on any length of trip. But second, a belt – by its very nature – is a flexible strip that will bend, twist and roll into any shape, adopting the form of any nook or cranny in your suitcase. The Hermès belt turns into an inflexible block of hide and metal, demanding its own space in your luggage and managing to fail utterly in its purpose.

It doesn’t end there. Take a look at the design, and imagine pulling it through the belt-loops in your pants. The joints are set the wrong way, so every one of them will catch on each and every belt-loop. And remember, these riveted-together offcuts are priced at $750. Classy work as ever, Hermès. I still haven’t forgiven you for buying Leica and turning it into a fashion brand all those years ago.

Hermès Folding Travel Belt [Selectism via Oh Gizmo! Not available on Hermès web-store]

Um, suicide is not funny. Especially when it’s the eighth attempt — this one resulting in death, sadly — in three months by employees at a Foxconn facility in China. Yes, the very same factory we reported on last month that produces the gadgets we love so dearly. But check this little snippet from DigiTimes, translating the original Chinese language site Jinbw:

“Terry Guo, chairman of the Foxconn Group, has sought the aid of an exorcist in an attempt to put an end to the recent run of negative incidents at the plant.”

Seriously? And here we thought that improving working conditions might better serve employees. Engadget Chinese did some digging and confirms reports that Foxconn will bring in a monk(s) to perform a religious service meant “to bring peace to employees” — not necessarily meant to ward off evil.

In other news Foxconn just announced consolidated net profits of US$568.73 million for the first quarter of 2010, up 34.8 percent on the year.

Foxconn chairman ‘has sought the aid of an exorcist’ to stop suicides originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 06:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s approaching mid 2010 and you know what’s missing. Jetpacks. Jetpacks and those 30-inch and larger OLED TVs we were promised. Hell, the largest OLED TV available for retail currently is only 15-inches… if you can both find and afford it. Now OLEDNet claims that Samsung Mobile Display — you know, the cellphone AMOLED guys — is purchasing equipment in preparation for bringing its 5.5 generation facility on-line in the first half of 2011. That should give Samsung the ability make 42-inch AMOLED TVs on a trial basis by the end of the twenty-eleven. But with relatively cheap LCDs steadily closing the gap on OLEDs size, contrast, and power savings advantages, well, we’ll believe it when we see the first big screen OLED TVs in our living rooms. And with 3D LCDs (and plasmas) all the rage amongst distracted and financially-vested television manufacturers, we don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Samsung preparing for 42-inch OLED TV trials in 2011? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 06:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Kug is a single-serve kettle and mug, hence the ugly, caveman glottal-stop of a name. Originally intended as a lightweight way to make a morning cuppa for arthritis sufferers who had trouble lugging full-sized kettle full of boiling water from counter to cup, the Kug may now make it to a kitchen or desk near you.

The Kug consists of two cups and one girl (kidding. It’s two cups, one base). The inner cup contains the liquid and can be removed for cleaning. The outer cup contains the electrics, a heating element and a power dock which couples with the base unit (itself plugged into the mains). The Kug is switched on by twisting the indicator on the outer cup toward the plus-sign on the base, and you can park this arrow anywhere between plus and minus to keep the tea (or coffee) hot.

The designers, Ben Millett and Alan Harrison from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland, are in talks to get the Kug to market this year. I’ll be buying one, if only to keep me away from all the clever brainiacs in the Wired Kitchen who insist on talking to me and asking difficult science questions before my first coffee of the day.

Kug [The Kug via Daily Mail]