Offbeat posts

The Great Signal Caper continues. Is it alright to call it a caper now? More things should be called capers. Anyway, Apple has responded to customers’ never-ending pleas for an end to the iPhone 4′s signal issue by offering an accessory previously unbethunkable: the iHand. Taking a more utilitarian approach to product design, the iHand is all about function. Simply slot your iPhone 4 into the iHand’s hand, hold the iHand’s hand in your hand, dial a number, and enjoy worry-free calls of the clearest crystal clarity! Truly, Cupertino’s been boiling midnight oil BP-style on this. The iHand is available…

If you thought Jar Jar Binks was the craziest George Lucas could get, hang on to your midichlorians. He’s topped it with a cease and desist letter sent to Wicked Lasers Inc. for having the audacity to sell the most powerful laser available to consumers, with a hilt that he thinks looks like a Star Wars lightsaber. If you look at the product itself, the resemblance is not even close to a light saber. The company, Wicked Lasers, has been selling similar products for over seven years without any legal repercussions, nor any intention of copying the Star Wars franchise. The specific charge is that the hilt…

No one ever said YouTube didn’t run interesting contests. If someone did say that, they’re clearly being ridiculous. Following up YouTube’s artsy-fartsy Guggenheim contest, the site has now courted director Ridley Scott , who will be executive-producing a project called Life In A Day. If you’re unfamiliar with Scott, he’s the guy behind Gladiator, Blade Runner, and the upcoming Monopoly. Ridley Scott’s Monopoly. I swear that’s a thing. Anyway, the ‘Day’ in question is July 24th, and YouTube wants you to participate by recording that day. It doesn’t have to be special or fancy (though I’m going…

Blake Bevin is some kind of hero-person. I’ve never quite handled tying my own shoes – I mean, like, sure I can do it easily enough, but it’s always kind of sloppy, y’know? Nothing I’d wear to a fancy party. Actually, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t wear Blake’s design to a fancy party, either. But she’s certainly on the right track. Check it out! Apparently, these were in Back to the Future II or something – I only saw the film once, and I was, like, 11. But my failure as a geek aside, these shoes rule. Rocking the Arduino, Blake has replaced the knowledge required to tie one’s shoes with a force sensor that…

Remember growing up when people used to want to be astronauts? Well tomorrow’s people walk this planet today, and while space exploration budgets are cut and we still don’t have jet packs, today’s the day the NASA-developed ‘Moonbase Alpha’ game hits the Valve Steam servers for some PC gaming goodness. Announcing the title last year, the space scientists spoke about the power of games as educational tools, saying their game functions as a persistent environment, calling it “a massive visualization tools and collaborative workspace while simultaneously drawing users into a challenging,…

Once upon a time we’d take fast fairground rides to get a sense of it, nowadays we can actually, you know, just do it: head off into the wide blue yonder of zero gravity sensation. Sensation seekers these days have this new option on their itinerary, for when those picnics and beach holidays get a little tired, why not get a sense of life on Mars? Space.com talks up the holidays offered by Zero Gravity Corporation, who are taking people up and out in a G-Force One airplane to experience weightlessness. These are all part of the many ongoing 21st-Century experiments attempting to assess the scientific…

He may have written some classic hits, but Prince has no ‘Kiss’ to give in his latest ‘Purple Rain’ of vitriol against ‘teh internets’, which the diminutive pop star says ‘is finished’. Is this a ‘Sign of the Times’, or simply an attempt by the artist to propel sales of his latest album, 20TEN, which isn’t going to be made available in shops, instead it is to be given away in the UK with copies of the Daily Mirror. Speaking to the Mirror, Prince slammed, like, this whole Internet thing, saying it is over, finished, dead, last year’s number. At the risk of being a rock ‘n’ roll…

This morning it appears as though YouTube has been the subject of a malicious attack, with HTML in comments being used to insert code into video pages. The good news? The hacker only seems interested in targeting Justin Bieber videos. The hack employs a number of generally harmless exploits, such as showing javascript alerts and pop ups and redirecting users to other websites. One pop up falsely claims Justin Bieber has died in a car accident, and recommends users check cnn.com for more information. YouTube is deleting comments in an attempt to alleviate the problem while security is beefed up….

The news has been chock full this year about how China hates Google and Google hates China, but how does the largest country in the world feel about the rest of the internet? Well, not so hot either, in fact China has banned its soldiers from tweeting, blogging and online dating. Apparently, China is concerned that soldiers will be easier to compromise if they are overly available via the internet. “Soldiers should not take part in any Internet interaction, even if they try to cover up their military identities, because they cannot ensure they will not be revealing any information relating to…

This is both inspiring and terrifying. The National Federation of the Blind has been working diligently on creating a car that can be driven by blind people. Using a clever system involving vibrating gloves and puffs of air, the specialized car provides a way for the driver to interact with the car’s surroundings in a non-visual way. Currently the car is being tested and will debut as part of the pre-race activities at the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona. The innovation doesn’t stop there though. The team plans to take their car on the road, literally. The street-ready version, a Ford Escape Hybrid, comes…