Tech & Gadget Stream

Some people are so obsessed with beauty, it seems. Take the STC Wireless Router from Saudi Telecom, for example. Now how attractive could a wireless internet router get? Pretty much eye-catching, is what one would conclude looking at this one. The uniqueness quotient? The router not only sports the regular wireless internet, Voice over IP, land-line telephone and wired DSL but also doubles up as a flower vase. According to the designers, the ratinale behind this exclusive design came about because " Saudi Telecom was in need for a unique router design that would provoke a positive emotional response ". Some thinking, that. It might require a bit of re-conditioning for most folks to get used to a wireless router that looks good as well, but then who wouldn't want to use some harmless camouflage to spruce up a gadgety interior?

Egad, we haven't mentioned the BlackBerry Storm yet. In case you've been on Mars, the Storm is RIMM's long-awaited just-released entry into the touch-screen phone market, available only with Verizon. This will be is a shock to BlackBerry devotees, but the Storm is the first BlackBerry without a real keyboard. Instead, like the iPhone, its keyboard is virtual--only the Storm has a technical twist that is supposed to give you something like a real keyboard tactical experience. Walt Mossberg , the Wall Street Journal 's fabled technology columnist, is lukewarm about the innovative keyboard and startled at the Storm's lack of wi-fi, but he likes the Web browser.

f you are looking to drop a lot of dough on a seemingly fragile speaker system then you might want to check out the Harion. These speakers made of Heat-resistant glass are manufactured by Hario , a glass maker in Tokyo. They will cost about 16 million yen or $168,000. You get a center speaker, a sub woofer, a couple of tweeters and mid-range speakers. It sounds like a lot of the cost comes from the long and difficult development. Three years, eight months and 23 subcontractors is what it took for them to put out a finished product. Good news though, an executive from Hario says that if they get a minimum of ten orders they may be able to lower the price to around $105,000 per unit. That may be more in your price range. No word on what they sound like. I would guess (or more likely, hope...) that the sound quality should be high to match the cost!

here's nothing like having your (smart)phone work for you: Nokia is coming up with the Home Control Center , an application that could help in many areas like home security, energy usage monitoring or device/lighting activation. The cool thing is that Nokia isn't trying to do the heavy lifting by themselves. They will let third-party companies create applications and plug-ins, thanks to an extensible architecture. It will be launched next year, so stay tuned. If you could, what would you like to operate remotely in your home?

Atomic Floyd has released its own pair of in-ear headphones known as Titanium2, merging both form and functionality into a single device. Some of the innovative features found in the Titanium2 include AcousticSteel and SoundProof. Couple that with the angel wing ear loops look, and you'll get a better idea of the Titanium2. Designed by Stefan Andrén, the Titanium2 is more than welcome for use with the most popular portable media players in the market today in addition to other MP3 devices. Atomic Flyod will launch the Titanium2 this December in the UK.

Mention music flow, and what image flashes across your mind? Well, perhaps it is time for you to experience a paradigm shift with the words “Music Flow”. This concept features a faucet that plays back your favorite pre-loaded MP3s, complete with matching earbuds and controls. The product looks like a pretty ordinary home faucet, but it brings a new dimension to how we interpret everyday fixtures around the house, as this new fun interface function injects some much needed soul into a digital device. The Tap has internal memory to store all your favorite MP3s, functioning also as a speaker whenever the earphones are placed in the cradle. Turning on water would be the equivalent of turning on the sound. Since it is a concept, why couldn't the designers make it waterproof?

While this generation's game consoles in the living room are able to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection, Tectoy's Zeebo takes a different route by relying on 3G instead. This is weird, since 3G networks aren't exactly widespread and they are also infamous for the lack of coverage. Still, the Zeebo will be released in Brazil later next July before making its way to other markets in the following months. Being connected to a 3G network, you will be able to pay and download games as well as content from the said network, helping (in theory, at least) cut down on piracy while lowering costs for consumers (no manuals to print, no shipping costs, etc). The Zeebo is meant to compete in emerging gaming markets and not mature ones that are saturated with the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Hopefully the games will be engaging enough to warrant a purchase. Word has it that the Zeebo will cost $258 in Brazil when released.

Do you like your toast dark? How about the Dark Side of the force? If the path of a Dark Jedi is your calling, you may want to remind yourself by branding all of your toast with the dark lord himself. This Darth Vader toaster will brand a semblance of Vaders helmet on to your toast every morning. They probably made this toaster due to this quote from Star Wars IV: A New Hope: Darth Vader: I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was the student, now *I* am the master. Obi-Wan: Only a master of toast, Darth. Now make me a delicious yet wholesome breakfast. The toaster runs a cool $55 and is available at the Star Wars Shop.

I'm a huge fan of the Flip Mino camera, which is tiny and easy and to use, but while the video quality is great for web video and casual use, it's not really what you'd want to capture, say, a wedding or any really important event. Of course, this is not really my concern. For me, I use my Flip cameras to record my dogs doing goofy things and occasionally I find them so cute, I wish the quality was just a bit higher for when I force friends and family to watch their antics on my widescreen television. My prayers have been answered! Now there's the Flip Mino HD , which records in high-def, at 720p. There's 4 GB of built-in storage, for 60 minutes of high-def video recording. The rechargeable battery is good for two hours of recording before it needs a recharge. The Mino HD is more light sensitive than any other previous model for recording in low-light situations, and there's a more advanced compression engine for better overall sound and image quality. There'

The ultra-stylish Samsung Cleo, launched in the Canadian market, is unlike any other flip phone in its shape - it is a solid square with a lovely floral pattern inscribed on the outside, and as Samsung describes it, is quite like powder compact (of the make-up kind). When flipped open, it measures a total length of just 5.5 inches in spite of containing a full-blown QWERTY keypad and a spacious color LCD screen that can display your SMS messages as threads of text conversation. Plus Samsung throws in a 1.3MP camera, an MP3 player with up to 8GB expandable memory, and Bluetooth (stereo). It will be available exclusively in partnership with Bell Mobility and Solo Mobile in three delicious options - pink, champagne and a special "Kisses from Cleo" edition - a "shimmering pink phone with a Cake Beauty mulberry sorbet lip butter." The handset is apparently priced at $300 and currently available only with Solo Mobile starting at $100 for a 3-year contract. Cool(eo) Can

If you bought the white iPhone because the black was too passé and they didn't have the leopard prints model available, then you can compensate for the lack of bad-enough taste by buying this gold retro handset . It's just like any other retro handset available, but you can connect it to the stereo/microphone jack of the iPhone and it's fake gold. Additionally, you can use it to smack people in your next sweded version of Scarface for just $50.

In what seems to be an attempt at greater productivity, Microsoft China executives are now being driven to work in busses that are equipped with computers that clock you in the moment you log in. However, I have to wonder—besides snooping eyes—what would make you actually do work, instead of goofing off and playing Minesweeper, or even browsing your most favorite blog.

Diebold just can't seem to keep its nose clean these days. The nation's largest manufacturer of ATMs admitted not too long ago what everybody already knew: that their e-voting machines were totally bunk. Apparently in the course of that investigation it emerged that the company also thought it would be a laugh to load the open source Ghostscript Postscript interpreter software into those faulty machines without releasing its changes or paying the proprietary usage license fee -- leading Aritex, its developer, to file a lawsuit. It doesn't really instill confidence any further to hear that our nation's terrible electronic voting machines are running on stolen software, guys -- and to be honest, we're kinda starting to wish you'd get out of the ATM business, too.

At first I thought this was just a vacuum figure but it is in a fact a mini working USB retro vacuum for people who sit at all the desk all day and want to clear those crumbs. The retro styling is just an added bonus.. a very cute and cool USB device.

Race game gurus prepare yourself, Fanatec has released a Porsche licensed Steering Wheel compatible with Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The Porsche 911 Turbo S wheel is limited to ten thousand units in total. Each wheel includes a laser engraved chassis number plate to certify authenticity. All owners can register in the Porsche 911 Turbo S public registry which will be available in the "911 Wheel Club". The total production is broken down into one limited run of 3000 standard units and then a Clubsport edition (2000 units) and Pure Edition(5000 units). The special Editions include even more extravagent features such as a load cell sensor for pressure and contactless magnetic sensors for gas and clutch with an unlimited lifetime. The "Pure Edition" is only directly compatible with Xbox 360, but there is an RF dongle available to get it working with PS3 and PC. Key Features include: * Multiplatform: Xbox 360 – PC – PlayStation(R) 3 * Backwards compatible to existi

In case gas mileage on your Hummer wasn't spiting Prius drivers everywhere enough, engineers have pooled their talents to add aftermarket tracked belts in place of the "nothing wrong with 'em" wheels. Needless to say, MPG and top speed will be greatly diminished on this H2. But the tears shed in the face of its general lack of humanity should be voluminous enough to wash away the world's pollution one or two times over.

You may not like it now, but you would be thankful for that big butt of yours if you ever got a chance to ride a bike fitted with designer Deco Goodman's "Commuter Cyclist's Sustainable Energy Source." The device attaches underneath the seat and collects power generated by the compression of the seat springs, braking, pedaling etc. As a result, the electricity could be used to power headlights/taillights and any portable gadgets you bring with you on the road. As you might have guessed, it is only a concept at the moment, but at least it doesn't sound completely far-fetched.

We recently mentioned that Meizu's M8 iPhone clonephone was really coming to the shops in China at the end of the year, but according to the head of the company, thing's'll be happening a bit sooner than that. J. Wong himself has suggested that it'll be on sale in China no later than the 30th of this month, with Wi-Fi disabled as per China's legal requirements. A fully-enabled Indian version will follow... and then Europe, Hong Kong and the US should be happening by December 24th. The price has been fleshed out a little as well: the 8GB one should go for about $350, and the 16GB for $420. So it's not long until Apple's lawyers can get their mitts on one, and see how much cloning has gone on.

Folks living across the pond will be able to get their hands on a new e-book reader known as the BeBook. It offers the following specifications: * Supports PDF, mobi, prc, epub, lit, txt, fb2, doc, html, rtf, djvu, wol, ppt, mbp, and chm formats * Supports BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF and TIF image formats * Supports RAR and ZIP compressed files * MP3 playback capability * 3.5mm headphone jack * 500MB internal memory * SD memory card slot * 800 x 600 resolution * RSS feed support The 950mAh lithium-ion battery is able to last for approximately 7,000 page turns, and takes around 3-hours to charge it fully. The BeBook will retail for about $360.