In case you hadn't noticed, the Internet has become quite the thing. Considering the ease of e-mail and text-messaging, those paper love letters and corny cards have come to seem obsolete. The Postal Service has been in a bad way for a while; so much so that now the government has considered closing 677 offices.
"The writing is on the wall, and the postal service obviously has to make some tough decisions if it wants to weather this storm," Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said during a hearing.
Some Postal and Congressional sources say that only 200 out of the possible 677 offices will be likely to close after a close review, but either way, this will mean massive layoffs.
Forget the pixelated fruit; this Pac-Man Potholder prefers piping-hot pie (or anything else that comes out of the oven, for that matter). Made of heat-resistant silicone, the cheery yellow mitt slips on like a hand-puppet to protect your digits from skin-searing pots and pans, then helps you keep hold of them with raised grips that recall the original Pac-Man game's iconic maze. (Bonus: If you've already got an arcade-themed kitchen, the potholder will pair nicely with your Tetris- and Space Invaders-themed ice cube trays.)
Sometimes an e-mail or a text message just won't do. When what you've got to say is important enough to put pen to paper, evoke the unparalleled sentiment of the old-school mix tape by delivering your note in one of Etsy seller Enna's Cassette Tape Envelopes.
Recently, I penned a little ditty about Iceblox—silicone molds that make Tetris-shaped ice cubes. I'm going to go ahead and let "Iceblox, Baby" live on as a one-hit wonder, but if I ever decide to write another geeky-ice-cube-tray-inspired tune, I'll be calling it "Freeze Game," in honor of Ice Invaders, the latest advancement in computer-game-themed ice-shaping technology.
Created by the "crackerjack design team" at Worldwide Fred, the arcade-based ice cube trays bring "a close encounter of the frozen kind" directly to your kitchen:
Did you spend a good portion of your childhood (and your allowance) blasting 2-dimensional aliens to smithereens? Now you can freeze those precious moments in time with Ice Invaders. 100% pure silicone, oven-safe, dishwasher-safe, raygun-safe!
Ice Invaders ice cube trays are available at Perpetual Kid for $8 each.
Let's keep going with the tech-inspired living-room decor, shall we? You've got iPhone coasters on the coffee table and Apple Dock icon pillows on the couch; why not add a download-inspired rug to the mix?
The Playing With Tradition rug recalls the days of the dial-up modem, when images often failed to load properly. Designed by artist Richard Hutten, the hand-knotted wool carpet marries high-end design with decidedly low-end tech. Pricing isn't readily available yet, but I think it's safe to assume that the limited-edition art piece will carry a price tag high enough to cover a lifetime subscription to the fastest connection speeds available; e-mail info@i-and-i.it for more info.
Remember the Pet Rock discussion in Office Space where Tom Smykowski explains his Jump To Conclusions Mat to Michael Bolton, Peter, and Samir? The scene goes a little something like this:
Tom Smykowski: There are people in this world that don't have to put up with all this sh*t. Like that guy that invented the Pet Rock. You see, that's what you have to do. You have to use your mind, and come up with some really great idea like that, and you can make millions—never have to work again.
Michael Bolton: You think the Pet Rock was a really great idea.
Tom Smykowski: Sure it was! The guy made a million dollars! You know, I had an idea like that once.... It was a Jump to Conclusions Mat. It would be this mat that you would put on the floor, and it would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.
Michael Bolton: That is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, Tom.
Samir: Yes, this is horrible, this idea.
The Cassette Tape Dispenser brings that scene to mind, but for a much smarter idea: It's a CASSETTE TAPE, and it DISPENSES TAPE. And while it may not make a million dollars anytime soon, it's one of the better looking tape dispensers I've ever seen. It's nerdy. It's nostalgic. And it definitely counts as a piece of desktop flair.
The Cassette Tape Dispenser is available at Firebox for $20 and comes in either red or green.
Of course, you'll likely want it in red to match your stapler.
Yes, I know that the Amazon Kindle and other e-readers are changing the way many people read. And I chuckled a bit this morning when I heard the news that Google is spending $7 million on a print ad campaign to inform the world of its plan to digitize every book ever written. But when you get right down to it, I still prefer my page-turners to have actual, you know, pages.
Which is why I love the idea behind Icoeye's clever Save Bookmark, which adds a little online humor to your offline reading. The best part? It's free. Simply download and print the graphic, cut it out, and [physically] save your page.
It is more than just a bit quirky, but I could understand how the Sanyo people back in the 1970's might have thought that washing machines made to bathe humans would be a natural progression in technology. To make everything automatic was a goal back in the day, hence the bathing chamber called Ultrasonic Bath. Sanyo showcased the curious contraption during the 1970 Osaka World Expo along with other appliances the company thought would be a common fixture in modern homes.
A user would have to climb into the contraption, the process beginning with a pre-rinse cycle by a five minute water jet spray, followed by a three minute massage bath that fills the chamber with hot water. Golf-ball sized massage balls pelt the body during the massage process, combined with pressure jets made by a whirlpool. Next, a wave generator creates bubbles to wash off dirt, followed by a rinse cycle and a "5-minute dry cycle blast" that makes use of infrared and ultraviolet light. Knowing all that and realizing how much energy might go into each use, you'd have to wonder how hard Sanyo thought it was just to take a bath the old way.
Spring will be here soon enough. Got any plans to geek out your yard this year?
Here's an idea: Embed a keyboard in the front lawn, as seen by Flickr user jasoneppink in Ekaterinburg, Russia. At the very least, it'll make for an interesting game of hopscotch: Q-W-E-R-T-Y...
Polaroid's recent announcement of quitting instant film was apparently a sign of things to come. Last Friday, December 19, the Minnesota-based company said it was filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
According to CNN, the comprehensive restructuring effort, involving all company subsidiaries, was prompted by an investigation of fraud at Petters Group Worldwide -- Polaroid's parent company since 2005.
"We expect to continue our operations as normal during the reorganization and are planning for new product launches in 2009," said Polaroid CEO Mary L. Jeffries. This new lineup will not include Polaroid iconic instant film -- much to the dismay of the product's numerous fans who are currently lobbying other companies to get into the instant film business.
After nearly sixty years of instant film magic, Polaroid Corporation is pulling the plug on its legendary product. Impelled by the availability of low-cost digital photo gear, the company says it will not longer make instant film.
According to CNN, Polaroid's white-bordered prints will be on sale through 2009. However, this December marks the final month of its last production year -- a decision that was met with melancholy across the blogosphere. From Facebook groups to fan websites, nostalgic Polaroid enthusiasts turned out in huge numbers to bid their farewell and even protest the official death of instant film.
Founded by Sean Tubridy and his Polaroid Flickr group friends, SavePolaroid.com has amassed 4,000 members who are trying to persuade another company to get in the instant film business. And while dirt-cheap digital cameras make this doubtful, few will argue with Tubridy's sentiment: "Watching a Polaroid picture develop is like watching a memory form right before your eyes."
It's a big party night tonight at the Fox house. The big One-Oh-Oh for chlorinated drinking water. Actually, it really is a big deal. Back on September 26, 1908 Jersey City, NJ started treating their drinking water with chlorine. Before that municipal water was less than pristine. Thousands of people died each year from waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery, often from municipal supplies.
Discovered by accident in 1774 in Sweden, chlorine wasn't named until 1810. Sir Humphrey Davey is responsible for the "chl" which sounds like a "kl" and based the name on the Greek word cloros, meaning pale green. All of this happened well before anyone connected contaminated water to disease outbreaks. We'd have to wait for Koch and Pasteur in the 1870s.
It looks like the creative types in Dubai have taken a break from building islands long enough to invent a car that takes horsepower to a whole new level. The Naturmobil, invented by Abdolhadi Mirhejazi, uses a treadmill which both propels the vehicle and charges a battery while the horse walks. When the animal gets tired, the car can then be driven off the accumulated battery power. There's apparently also enough extra left to then run a pair of LCD screens.
"Bearing in mind the originality and uniqueness of the idea, Naturmobil was designed and built to achieve the maximum level of attention from its audiences," said F. Minooeifar, Mirhejazi's marketing manager.
That's right--the horse-car inventor has a marketing manager. The biggest problem I have with the the Naturmobil is its greenhouse-like enclosure, which would tend to get pretty hot for the animal, especially in Dubai, or even California, where the inventor plans to exhibit his masterpiece in June.
For more pictures of the contraption, head over to Geekologie.
As the gaming world eagerly awaits the latest entry into the mega-popular and highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series, The New York Times has taken a step back in time with a trip to Melrose Park, Ill, where Stern Pinball continues to operate a 40,000-foot pinball warehouse--the last of its kind.
It's a bittersweet piece about the death rattle of an industry, featuring quotes that can't help but make you feel for those profiled, such as, "There are a lot of things I look at and scratch my head. Why are people playing games on their cellphones while they write e-mail? I don't get it." That one's from Tim Arnold, a former arcade owner, who adds, "The thing that's killing pinball is not that people don't like it. It's that there's nowhere to play it." But the factory's owner, Gary Stern, who inherited the family business from his father Samuel, posits that despite its tough times, pinball isn't going anywhere.
If the original $349 price tag for Wow Wee Robotics's eerie Alive Elvis animatronic head scared you off, we have good news. Now you can get the singing, blinking, sneering, luxurious head-of-hair and leatherette jacket-wearing "The King" keepsake for just $99. The deal is only good through WowWee's online store.
We had a couple of Elvis Alive heads in here (see my unboxing extravaganza) and can confirm they're life like (in the way that Joan River's face is still lifelike) and do offer lip-synching accompaniment to original Elvis Presley song recordings, thanks to an agreement with the Presley Estate. The robot, which offers a couple of IR sensors for minimal interaction, is big, heavy and is really no Milli Vanilli when it comes to accurate lip synching. At nearly $400, we wrote it off as a too expensive and scary oddity that only die hard fans with weekly passes to Graceland could love.
At $99, all that hair and perfectly chiseled features, plus offering the option of kareoking with The King (thanks to an included microphone remote and the ability to turn the voice but not music, off) seems somewhat more attractive.
So tell us, would you pay almost ten sawbucks for the chance to have plastic and rubber sneer at you, "Thankyouverymuch."?
If you're still not sure, I present WowWee's own Top 10 Elvis Alive Uses, after the jump.
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
Forget the pixelated fruit; this 
Polaroid's recent announcement of 
If the original $349 price tag for Wow Wee Robotics's eerie Alive Elvis animatronic head scared you off, we have good news. Now you can get the singing, blinking, sneering, luxurious head-of-hair and leatherette jacket-wearing "The King" keepsake for just $99. The deal is only good through WowWee's online store. 
