ONE-BILL [VZN]

We wrote about Chestnut Hill Sound’s George iPod speaker dock back at the beginning of the month. Our review unit arrived today, so we decided to pop the box open and take some shots.

There are a handful of features that separate George from the rest of the speaker-dock herd. Click below to see more pictures and learn about what makes this system so different.

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N-Gage to debut at GDC - Nokia rules out optimised device [Mobile Entertainment]

Ten years ago, I was working at a big box electronics retailer just south of Seattle. This was the era of Pentium Procs with MMX, Pilot 5000s, and PCS cellphones. Our store offered price protection to its customers, which is the practice of refunding any difference in price resulting from a price change in a purchased item. Let’s say you pick up a 15-inch CRT for $399 on the 2nd, and then the store’s price drops to $349 a week later. You could return with your receipt and get the difference back, as long as it was within 30 days of your purchase. This is common amongst the Circuit Cities and Best Buys of the world.

But really, who keeps tabs on this stuff? Price Protectr, that’s who. The vowel-dropping, Web 2.0-looking website tracks the prices of products from many of the Web’s most popular vendors and tells its members when price drops that could garner them rebates are made. Make an account and put in your purchased merchandise and purchase date, and let the website do the rest. If a price drops, you’re notified by email. Nice.

So far it only works for websites, not brick and mortar retailers, but since most stores that offer price protection include their online presence as well, you might be able to fold in your real life purchases. The site design is hinky, sure, but it’s a handy website if you spend a lot of money on gadgets (if you don’t, why are you here?).

Website [PriceProtectr, via TechCrunch]

MYDo Burururu wasn’t enough to keep you from falling asleep while in class or studying at home. The Visomate USB powered Vision and Posture Reminder helps delay that impending hunchback you’ll get from reading Crunchgear every day. When you’re slumped over and not practicing proper posture you will get flashed but not in a good way. The LED light will flash red when this happens and when you’re getting too close to the monitor when you’re watching all that porn through ultrasonic sensors otherwise it lights up blue to let you know you’re in the clear. Pick one up for $26.

Sit Up Straight [Ubergizmo]

The contest is now over and we’ve drawn a winner. Over the course of a week, we climbed all the way to #85 on the Technorati list of most favorited blogs. Thanks for your effort, it is, as always, much appreciated.

So who’s the winner? Read More

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What about the lazy Wii guy? Does he need one?

HydraCoach [Coolest Gadgets]

I feel like a fool for running around the living room.

Wii Bit Lazy [Joystiq]

Push to talk, or PTT, sucks. There aren’t many things more annoying than being at the mall and hearing someone’s phone chirp followed by a disembodied voice saying, “Dude, we’re at the Mervyns!” We hate that. Cingular/AT&T, though, thinks we deserve more of it, as it’s allowing all of its customers with compatible hardware access to PTT with other customers on a pay-per-use basis.

No need to sign up for it, it just works, at $.15 a minute. One neat feature is the ability to convert a PTT call to a standard cell call, including those with multiple people. Another feature that’s a bit spooky is that you can get the online status of friends in your contact list on the network, much as you can with IM. This might actually get people to use PTT on the network, but do we really want people knowing when our phones are on?
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After the past two presidential elections, it’s easy to see why Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wants to ditch electronic voting machines in favor of paper-based ballots. Crist notes that the 2000 race specifically was a wake up call that something needed to be done to fix the problems associated with voting electronically.

He will be asking Florida legislature for $20 million in funding to switch to a paper-based machine so that proper records are ensured. With the reliability of Diebold nowadays, perhaps regressing technologically is the best move.

Florida governor wants to dump touch-screen voting [Reuters]

Uncrate has tenaciously gone through the catalog of all the gear Jack Bauer regularly uses on “24.” It’s a show I’ve tried several times unsuccessfully to get into. Oh well.

Foremost (read: most expensive) among these gadgets is a fancy pants Special Ops Watch. Its rugged design makes it ideal for any counter-terrorism operations. The watch features LED lighting, a tempered and scratch resistant face and a ballistic nylon velcro band. Cooler still, it has a lithium-ion battery that recharges by way of an electro magnetic induction charger. It’s available for $450.

Other items on the list include the “Jack Pack” messenger bag, Motorola i880 phone, telescope, handcuffs and bulletproof vest. It’s a cool little list and I suggest giving it a read.

Jack Bauer Gear [uncrate]

Take a look at this screengrab from an AMD machine running Linux. What are we seeing? Wobbly, transparent windows, hot UI effects, an amazing 3D task switcher, and enough eye-candy to make Vista Ultimate look like Midnight Commander.

I’m not saying we all go out and pick up a copy of Ubuntu, but maybe that’s actually what I’m saying. What is this machine running? An older GeForce card, a fairly fast processor, and Ubuntu Edgy Eft with Beryl 0.1.3 Window Manager.

Wii: Great for babies, the mentally deficient.

It seems that Sony’s games division lost 54.2 billion yen ($445 million dollars) after the release of the PS3 this year. The company attributes the loss to problems during the launch including a general inability to make any units available to anyone. They also had some kind of problem with exploding batteries.

In related news, the Times is saying that the Wii is so great and so fun that you’re a damn fool for not liking it and that it’s great for kids and it’s fun and really great and they have Zelda and there’s like a remote that’s good fun for the whole family and if you don’t like it you’re a dumb head.

Of course I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the general consensus.

Profit Slips at Sony on Losses for PlayStation 3 [NYTimes]
Nintendo’s Wii, Radiating Fun, Is Eclipsing Sony Machine [NYTimes]

Here’s our Blidget.

Who Are You? [Gearfuse]

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Got Wood? [Ubergizmo via Akihabara News]

Rumor ’round the fabricated watercooler is that the Zune is trying to commit suicide. Apparently the lithium ion battery behind the Zune’s display is swelling from overheating and putting a great deal pressure on the screen, causing it to crack or break. Microsoft says the issue doesn’t pertain to its warranty so users who have had this happen to them are pretty much SOL.

We here at CG haven’t had any problems like this happen yet, but what about you guys? Any Zune users have cracked screens from this issue?

Zune screens cracking from battery pressure? [Engadget]

Kingston Press Release [Kingston]