Red Herring Blog: At the risk of future embarrassment, I’m convinced that Sony’s PSP portable PlayStation is the harbinger of things digital to come. The current model of the PSP may not be the version that blows the doors off the competition—Sony may not be the company to execute on the idea successfully—but it includes several features that will redefine […]
PSP: The Next iPod
Film Downloads
BBC News: A UK website is to offer the internet’s first legal film download service. Wippit, which already sells music downloads, has announced plans to provide movies that users will be able to keep, from this summer onwards. Some US sites offer films which can be downloaded legally for viewing within a time limit but cannot be stored. Wippit founder […]
Toast Your Design
Iconoculture: Playful parents and kids will eat up products that introduce whimsy into mealtimes. Now burnt toast delivers messages that aren’t just smoke signals. The Pop Art Toaster brands toast with whimsical designs like a coffee cup or a smiling sun. Those are the brands that come with the $28 “Modern plastic” model. A $35 version comes with 6 designs: […]
Vent It On Machines
We Make Money Not Art: Gametrak is a game controller in the form of a pair of fingerless gloves to strap on your arms. It captures your movements forwards and backwards as well as up, down, left and right. You can punch opponents with your hands, pick up and play using real golf clubs or tennis racquets or bounce virtual […]
Split Chores
Popgadget: A Spanish designer has come up with “Your Turn”, a washing machine which uses fingerprint recognition technology to ensure the same person is not using it twice in a row. “I thought it would be good to finish with macho man from the ice age who doesn’t do anything around the house except drink beers,” said Pep Torres was […]
I’m Single
Yenra: Swedish lifestyle company Singelringen has launched a finger ring for singles. Meaning the single ring in Swedish, Singelringen is for a burgeoning number of singles who are keen to identify one another as romantically unattached. With sharp declines in marriage rates over the last few decades, single people are not only growing in number but also in influence. Signs […]
TV On My Phone
BusinessWeek: Video-on-the-go has long been a dream of cell-phone companies worldwide. Carriers have spent the better part of a decade building networks capable of carrying fast video streams, partly in hopes of boosting profits by hooking customers on clips of pop singers and soccer goals. But just as those networks are starting to work well enough that consumers might actually […]
For Sweet Tooths
Entrepreneur.com: When Victoria Malmer went online to research different diets, she noticed a common thread among the many different discussion groups: the desire for water that didn’t taste so plain. After discussing her findings with friend Paul Staunton, both felt a definite market existed for water flavorings. And by making them calorie- and sugar-free, they would appeal not only to […]
Remix Culture
Trendwatching: Remix Culture is about clever programmers modifying Sony’s Portable PlayStation days after it hit the shelves Only days in the US this March; remix fanatics have added chat and TV to the device’s functionalities, cleverly capitalizing on the PSP’s WiFi connection and other built-in, semi-locked online capabilities. Is Remix Culture a techie-only affair? Nope. It works just fine for […]
Day Resorts
FortWayne.com: Now that every corner beauty shop calls itself a day spa, along comes something new: the day resort. That’s what Cornelia Zicu calls the haven she opened recently on top of the Ferragamo building in Manhattan. The main level houses 11 facial and massage rooms, luxurious locker rooms, a hair salon, a separate barbershop and a tranquil relaxation area […]