Updated yet again. Somebody from SomethingAwful.com has posted the ringtone on the Internet.

Updated again. I interviewed Paul Saucido, creator of the controversial ringtone. Read about what he was thinking.

Original story: The wires were buzzing this morning with a story from the Brownsville Herald in Brownsville, TX about a ringtone on Cingular's deck called "La Migra," in which a man with a stereotypical Southern accent tells the listener to "put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o" because "this is La Migra," Spanish slang for immigration officials.

The story was full of Latino activists who were horrified, horrified at such a "racist" message. But when I saw the ringtone actually came from Barrio Mobile, a Latino-focused content company whose Web site is mostly in Spanish, features reggaeton artists, and whose other ringtones have titles like "Naughty Mami" and "Where My Latinas At," I thought there might be a little humor gap going on here. After all, I doubt actual racists would really mock gringos' idiotic attempts at turning English words into Spanish by tacking an "o" onto the end.

And yup. According to a statement by Barrio Mobile, "This ringtone, 'La Migra' was written and produced by a Mexican-American comic as a satirical statement. His position is that people of Hispanic background need to maintain a sense of humor about the immigration situation. The ringtone, which was available on one carrier only, was specifically listed in a “Got Jokes” category. It is in no way meant to be racist. We deeply regret and apologize if the ringtone was found to be offensive in any way."

This ringtone controversy seems to be a clear case of misplaced context: a mockery of immigration hysteria told by a Mexican-American comedian to the almost entirely young, Hispanic target audience of Barrio Mobile sends one message, but when it's plucked out of Cingular's deck without context by a random reporter, it sends another.

Does ethnic humor - or, for that matter, anything that could be deemed offensive to anyone - have any place in the mobile context? Or should we keep our content as healthily bland as possible, because it could be misconstrued on carrier decks that give no context and no clue? I'd love to see some comments on this.

The Brownsville Herald's follow-up story continues to prove my point. While the "national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens" is outraged, three young Mexican-Americans at the local shopping mall think it's hilarious -- and they're Barrio Mobile's core market. Meanwhile, a bunch of political blowhards on the anti-immigration side of the debate also don't get that it's a joke. George Lopez, Carlos Mencia, John Leguizamo, and Greg Garcia, where are you guys when we need you?

When the PaPeRo R100 one-foot-tall robot debuted at the RoboFesta Kanagawa back in 2001, it could speak hundreds of words, remember the faces of up to 10 people, and dance.

NEC must have felt that the PaPeRo R100 needed a companion, so the company designed a virtual version. With CG PaPeRo, you can install it to a PC or PDA, and can do all the same things that the robot version does. What's neat about CG is that you can have a conversation with the robot version, then download the convo into the CG version and pick up the conversation where it left off.

NEC hopes to adapt this kind of technology for use in cell phones, GPS, and other devices.

In the meantime, we hope to get details on when, or if, the PaPeRo goes on sale.

For more information, read PC Magazine's Lance Ulanoff's report.

PHILADELPHIA—On the smart highway of the future, sensors embedded in the road and radar arrays on poles overhead will measure traffic flow and detect traffic jams and accidents. On the smarter highway of the future, all that costly infrastructure may be rendered obsolete by a device already plastered to all-too-many drivers' ears: the cell phone.

SLIDESHOW (9)

Slideshow | All Shots

At the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) annual conference in Philadelphia, competing technologies squared off, with the aim of capturing government funding and customer spending on services that would make travel faster, safer, and possibly more enjoyable. Exhibitors ranged from XM Satellite Radio pitching access to weather, highway-condition, and parking-space availability information to winch-making companies such as MG Squared and Camera Lowering Systems that raise and lower (for maintenance) traffic cameras mounted as much as 150 feet in the air.

Civil libertarians might be spooked to see all the vendors with cameras that can read license plates in the blink of an eye, as well as several face-recognition systems. Relax, it's not you they're after—not yet, anyway. Some vendors noted that license plate readers work so well that you don't really need an E-ZPass or similar toll transponder for toll readings. The "Homeland Security" appellation was slapped on a lot of products that might otherwise raise the ire of Americans who'd like to have a small dose of privacy along with their security.

The most fascinating technology on display was the AirSage X-10 cell-phone-based traffic and accident monitoring system. It works this way: Cell phones in cars report their locations to cell towers. That data is anonymized and aggregated by the cellular carrier, and then handed off to AirSage, a four-year-old Atlanta company. It massages the data and calculates traffic speed and accident locations by how quickly cell phones move from tower to tower.

If cars move from tower to tower at 50 mph on the Interstate, rush hour is looming but traffic is okay. If they're moving at 25 mph, rush hour is upon us. If the average speed is 3 mph from mile 31 north to mile 33, and a trickle of cell phones are moving at 65 mph north of mile 33, there's probably an accident, but it hasn't blocked all the lanes. If a cell phone isn't moving at all, it's probably a driver who's pulled off the road, and isn't calculated. AirSage then resells this information to radio and TV stations, commercial traffic-reporting services, XM or Sirius, cell phone providers, and maybe the police department.

If a technology such as AirSage X-10 takes off, the nation's fledgling investment in in-pavement sensors that detect traffic flow may not go much further. It also could put the hurt on some TV-camera sensors and radar-based sensors. AirSage has one deal so far, with Sprint-Nextel.

Note on anonymized: The AirSage reps kept interrupting our demo every few minutes to ask if I wanted to see a copy of the privacy policy. I left with multiple copies and a Web link in case I wanted to see it again. In simplest terms, before the speed-and-location information leaves the cellular carrier's computer, the information about you (the guy in the silver Corvette who's doing 78 mph in a 65 zone) is changed to "20 cars at such-and-such cell tower averaging 66 mph." Anyway, location reporting is an opt-in on cell phones. You have to enable it, either for things like this or to report your location if you call 911.

As for the X-10 name, the AirSage peopled grimaced when I asked: Say, are you related to the company with the every-color-of-the-rainbow site selling remote-control light switches that work most of the time (so long as it's not raining)? Not at all, they explained. X-10 means AirSage believes it can cover 10 highway miles for the cost of 1 mile of embedded sensors. Oh.

While pavement sensors are already in place in a few markets, others are implementing radar (not the kind that gives traffic tickets and not the frequency that sets off radar detectors) to measure traffic flow, or video cameras with vehicle-recognition software. Vendors such as Northrop-Grumman that provide traffic management centers (TMCs) use pavement sensors now and are examining newer options.

Study the image to your left very carefully. Can you pick out the non-Apple related product?

Brookstone's Digital Alcohol Detector (third product from your left) looks like it should be a part of the Apple family, doesn't it? We're not sure if that's the look Brookstone was going for, so if you own many white Apple products, you may want to go with another digital breathalyzer. Nonetheless, the Brookstone Digital Alcohol Detector does the job for keeping you safe, despite a few gripes.

PC Magazine's Brian Bennett volunteered to escort the Brookstone device to a fancy cocktail party in the penthouse of the swanky NYC hotel, the Royalton.

After sipping on Gin and Juice, laid back, with his mind on his money and his money on...just kidding. He enjoyed one cocktail at a time, testing his BAC level after each drink. The first Kettle One and Cranberry drink rendered a reading of .02%; a Greygoose and Cranberry was a 0.4%; and a Bombay Saphire and Tonic was a .07%. And he wants to make it very clear that all of these drinks were top shelf, baby! To Bennett's knowledge, the device gave accurate readings.

How It Works: Just blow into the mouth vent and within 10 seconds your BAC is displayed in 2 decimal points, ranging from 0.00 to 0.12. The backlit LCD gives off a redish glow. Uses 2 AAA batteries (not included).

The Brookstone breathalyzer differs from Q3 Innovations' AlcoHAWK series of breathalyzers in that you must calibrate the device at least twice when you first get it. The process takes just a few minutes, then you can take as many readings as you like. (The AlcoHAWK series does not need calibration; however, if something goes wrong with it, you have to send it back to the company so they can recalibrate it.) The disappointing part about the device is that if you mistakenly hold in the power button when you turn it on to get a reading, it goes into recalibration mode, rendering all previous readings useless. So, to turn on the device, make sure you just press the power button--don't hold it in. To calibrate it, hold in the button.

Everyone at the party stood in line to try the breathalyzer. Bennett felt that it provided seemingly accurate readings with different people. For example, it gave a lower reading for the guy having beers as opposed to himself, who was rocking the hard alcohol cocktails. It even provided a zero measurement to the most responsible member of the group, who was drinking just Coke. 

Overall Impressions: He was impressed with the Breathalyzer's accuracy, and liked how small and easy it is to slip into pockets. But having the same button that both powers the device and triggers the device calibration procedure makes it way too easy to recalibrate by accident. And if there's no sober person around to recalibrate it for you, you're in trouble!
 

Get the Brookstone Digital Alcohol Detector for $50.00.

Stay tuned for more alcohol tests on GearLog. In the meantime, if you haven't already checked out our other alcohol tests, see below.

-Alcohol Test 3: AlcoHAWK Micro
-Alcohol Tests 1 & 2: AlcoHAWK Slim & AlcoHAWK ABI
-Alcohol Safety Month Intro

I suppose if I spent a lot of time in my bathroom, that I would consider turning my toilet into a fish aquarium. But, I'd rather stick to cleaning a toilet than having to worry about cleaning an aquarium.

The Fish 'n' Flush Toilet Tank Aquarium, developed by Aqua One Technologies, is just what the name suggests. It was demonstrated at the Kitchen and Bath Show with a very positive reception. Maybe that's because they stuck SpongeBob in the tank?

The Fish 'n' Flush Toilet Tank Aquarium is low voltage and safe to assemble. Just add gravel, water, and fish. The tank holds 2.2 gallons of water and is approximately 19.5" x 8.5" x 13.75".

The Kit Includes:

    * 1/4 thick wall injection molded Acrylic Aquarium with Base
    * 1/4 thick wall injection molded Clear PVC toilet tank
    * Top mounted push button flush mechanism with easy removable lid
    * Custom Under Gravel Filter
    * Air Pump
    * 2 Nine-inch Artificial Plants
    * Basic Aquarium Guide
    * LED Light Fixtures
    * Water Conditioner
    * Flush Valve
    * Fill Valve

At least if your fish dies, you don't have to go very far!

Preorder the Fish 'n' Flush Toilet Tank Aquarium now for $399.00.

[Found via CoolBuzz]

If you've been paying close attention, then you've probably noticed the surplus of transparent technology lately.

First, there's the SGG Thermovit Elegance glass radiator. Designed by Prefit, a distributor of architectural ironmongery for glass, it is 100% energy-efficient, which means any unused energy is automatically converted into heat. It operates by 60% to 70% infrared radiation and 30% to 40% convection, and is available in various sizes, from 23in. by 15in. up to 59in. by 27in. It can go anywhere in the house, even the bathroom since it's splash-resistant.

So how does the SGG Thermovit radiator work? From the Web site:
"Heat is created by the electrically conductive neutral coating on one of theglass surfaces facing the laminated inter-layer. Electricity is sent across this coating and this generates heat because of the resistance the electricity has to work against."

But you better cough up the dough. Depending on the size of the glass radiator you request, prices range from $1,279.81 (1,000.94EUR) to $1,796.40 (1,404.97EUR) [Found via CoolestGadgets].

Then there's the concept of a Transparent Toaster, developed by Inventables Concept Studio. With the Transparent Toaster, you can see the bread while it's toasting. Seems like a good idea to make sure your toast doesn't burn. But, I'd have to clean it regularly, considering you'd be able to see the crumbs through the glass. Currently, the company can't get the glass to heat enough to toast bread, but they hope that one day this brave little toaster will come to life [Found via SciFi Tech].

In other related news, researchers at Japan's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research are quite busy inventing transparent material. Their invention may benefit many job fields, such as photography, astronomy, and fiber optic communications. They were able to create glass that is 100% transparent, but is still a work in progress.

But all transparent products don't have to be costly like these. The following products have been around for awhile, and are 100% transparent:

• NexxTech's Transparent LCD World Time Clock for just $14.99. 
• Wesley Trans-Clear Electric Guitar for $165 (129EUR)
• Wesley Trans-Acrylic 5 String Electric Bass Guitar in blue for $190 (149EUR)
• MAD CATZ Xbox Memory Card ($19.99), which lets you save settings
• Technocel Retractable EarBud for Cell Phones ($16.99)
• Freeplay Energy EyeMax AM/FM Emergency Radio with LED Flashlight and Hand Crank ($49.99)
• Eurostyle Office Chair ($79.99) in transparent blue, purple, or white
• Stainless Steel Breadbox with Transparent Cover ($24.99)
• The Amazing Transparent Man/Indestructible Man films --1956 ($12.99)

Every year at E3, the three big game-console companies--Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo--throw huge, circuslike press conferences before the show opens. (We reported on Nintendo's yesterday.) These events don't always provide the most ground-breaking news, but they are useful to jolt the weary, jet-lagged media into some form of awareness. Jason Cross from ExtremeTech made it to all three. He says:

Though these "press conferences" (and we use that term loosely, since the press don't get to ask questions) are carefully orchestrated, rose-colored views of each console's potential and place in the world, they can offer tasty nuggets of what the future has in store, provided you take each morsel with a big grain of salt.

Take a look at his story, E3's Dueling Press Conferences, for more details on each.