SlashGear

In the days when laptop computers were more accurately termed "luggables", molly-coddling your machine wasn't really an option.  Once you'd heaved it out of the boot of your car, suspension hissing loudly in relief, you half-manhandled, half-dragged it to your desk and battered away at recalcitrant keys for the day.  Now, of course, we're used to pretty little slices of over-designed portable computing, the pinnacle of which is undoubtedly anything bearing an Apple logo.  And so crafty, niche-spotting manufacturers pander to our extreme fear of letting anything mar those brushed aluminium surfaces or slip between the slender keys; enter, stage-left, the iSkin ProTouch Keyboard Protector. Gear Diary's Mitchell Oke has been playing with this computer condom, to see just how well it can shield the keyboard of his MacBook from crumbs, bits of sandwich and other detritus, although he stops short of spilling any sort of liquid over its rubbery hide (poor show, Mitchell!  Throw the bugger in the bath!) Read The Full Story

This is something of a public service announcement.  Any robot that tells you that car-theft is a victim-less crime is a fool.  Someone obviously needs to tell Autonomous Solutions to bring their offspring up better, although with a name like Chaos you're asking for trouble I suppose.  What's wrong with a nice, sensible name... Peter, maybe, or George?  But no, Chaos is a quad-tracked, self-correcting mobile platform capable not only of dragging away someone's Hummer (as in the video below) but withstanding the sort of hazardous environments that would generally see a normal worker's reproductive parts gain extra chromosomes. [youtube muSBQwfVWtU]  Covert car park theft is aided by the near-silent motor and gearbox design, which also allows for a maximum 3-hour battery life.  Control software supplied with Chaos permits either direct operator control or 'multi-vehicle autonomous behaviour', a phrase guaranteed to get the easily-befreaked muttering ominously about "robot overlords". More video after the cut. Read The Full Story

Now Crave reckon this Micro Memo voice-recorder for the 2G Nano looks like a traditional English Beefeater standing guard, but I think it makes your DAP look like a one-armed bandit slot machine.  So really, the truth is a whole lot more boring - a flexible microphone lets you record audio and save it as (memory hogging) WAV files. An 8GB Nano can hold up to 51 hours of audio, though of course that means you're forced to listen to meetings and "memo to self" notelets on the subway home rather than that swell mashup album you downloaded yesterday. Read The Full Story

You're probably getting bored of iPhone coverage, and are saving your strength for the first "EXCLUSIVE! PHOTOS! HANDS-ON!" headlines you'll have to navigate around the web come April or so, but spare a thought for the poor Japanese.  They've had 3G networks for years now, and are currently testing 4G technology; with handsets available in shops today that support mobile digital TV, moneyless-payment, biometric security and more, while America excites itself over Jobs' latest trinket they have no super-advanced iPhone features to anticipate.  After all, they've got it all already. electro^plankton borrowed the daily life of a Japanese friend to see just what cellphone features they use - and expect handsets to have - on a daily basis.  Let's just say that the iPhone doesn't look so rosy in comparison.  Sorry iPhone, Japan's Not Interested [electro^plankton]

I have a dream.  In fact, it's more of a nightmare.  Anyway, in my nightmare my blender, toaster and wireless router meld together and go snuffling around underneath the kitchen cabinets, gobbling up scraps of discarded food and leaving unpleasant droppings.  That's right, I dream about robot cockroaches taking over my appliances. The cruel people at Case Western Reserve University have obviously been reading my tiny mind and are playing an evil trick on me.  They've gathered up a whole load of springs and wires and made a robot cockroach to chase me.  There's a video of it in action here (29mb download), and more photos after the cut. Read The Full Story

Here's a personal question to start the weekend with: do you have a dirty bottom?  Well, do you?  And, ostensibly unconnected but stick with me here, have you ever wanted a tiny water-jet to pop out from under your toilet seat and douche you in the downbelows?  From the sound of it, TDavid is giving it some serious thought. In a world where toilet-tissue is passé you need to be able to pull a discrete lever and spray yourself until you're fresh.  But a normal bidet takes up space in your bathroom and demands plumbing skills, so the Biffy clip-on bum-spritzer is a $99 way to achieve the same cleanliness of tush. Read The Full Story