For the both of you looking to buy a Zune (I kid, I kid), the options will be limited come September 15th. Microsoft is doing away with the current Zune line and will only manufacture its upcoming Zune HD in 16-and-32-gigabyte flavors for $220 and $290, respectively.

Both sizes come considerably cheaper than the Zune HD’s natural predator, the iPod Touch, which sells for $300 for a 16GB and $400 for 32GB. That’s subject to change during Apple’s September 9th event, as the company regularly lowers its iPod family prices with each big announcement.

If you want to get yourself a Zune, I’d wait until the HD hits and current models have their prices pushed down.

Via Wired

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Little kids are slobs. Because they don’t have the hand-eye coordination of adults or because they just like making a mess, dinnertime always turns into a disaster with them. Well, the Gyro Toddler Food Bowl helps keep their messy tendencies in check.

No matter which way the handles of this bowl are turned, the food in the middle stays upright. Pretty clever. Of course, if they throw the entire thing, well, it’ll still make a mess, but it’s better than nothing, right?

ThinkGeek via Random Good Stuff

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Remember how cool it was when you bought Rock Band 2 and imported all the songs from the last Rock Band? Well, all but three of them. But remember how you got the sense that, yes, this isn’t just a game, but a platform unto itself? After all the content spilled across various Guitar Hero discs and iterations, remember how cool it was to know that Harmonix and Electronic Arts wanted to give you all your rock in one place? Remember that?

This week you can recreate that moment when you buy Guitar Hero 5 and import all the songs from the last Guitar Hero. Well, all but 50 of them. That’s right, 50 of the last game’s 85 songs didn’t make the transition. It seems that Activision couldn’t get their act together when it came to whatever licensing shenanigans needed to happen behind the scenes. So when you pay the token fee that goes to Activision’s legal department for clearing all the paperwork to ensure you can play fewer than half of the last game’s songs, remember that this is just a game, and not a platform.

But Activision pledges they haven’t yet given up! There could, maybe, be more on the way. Possibly. Depending on how it goes. Perhaps for a fee, perhaps for free, who knows.

And to further celebrate Activision’s obvious love of the music, above is a video of how ridiculous it looks when you have Kurt Cobain as your lead singer. Ouch.

Follow this link to our sister site, Fidgit, for the list of lucky songs that made the jump from the last Guitar Hero

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17 year old Emps is looking for a quiet retirement home for the rest of his days. He’s a sweet natured little fellow who gets along with other dogs and still enjoys his walks. Do you have space for a little Emperor?

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Sony must have reached into our dreams of the ultimate laptop, and pulled out the VAIO X. The machine makes its debut today at the IFA 2009 trade show in Berlin, and this 11.1-inch-screened laptop weighs a mere 1.5 pounds. That’s made possible by its featherweight carbon fiber frame and aluminum keyboard, resulting in a premium laptop that Sony says will be “aspirational.” You know what that means.

Sony’s VAIO X prototype is running an Intel Atom processor, which would add credibility to the company’s claim that its battery will last all day. Sony also left open the possibility of more powerful (yet power-saving) processors inside, too. It’s not going to be cheap, retailing for around $2000, and it’ll be available toward the end of next month. Just in time for the Windows 7 launch.

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Dino is just about everything you’d want in a doggie companion – he’s loving and easy-going, great with children of all ages and could live with confident cats and female dogs. He’s good on and off the lead and all he asks for in return is a comfy home and some TLC.

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We don’t talk wine all that often (unless it comes stored in some futuristic case or served by a robot), but SD26 — a new restaurant in New York City — is giving us another good reason to: its electronic wine lists.

The Smartcellar handhelds were originally created by New York-based Incentient to act as a more efficient way for sommeliers to keep track of inventory, but it quickly became more than that. “We see a lot of customers accustomed to using their iPhones in dining rooms, scouring the Internet looking for information about the wines on the list,” SD26 wine director Jason Ferris told the New York Times, “So this is just the next logical step.”

Smartcellar gives diners and sommeliers a wealth of searchable information, including what region and vineyard a bottle of wine is from, its price, producer, and whether or not it’s out of stock.

Via New York Times

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Lexus has a tricky hybrid up its sleeve, planning to show the LF-Ch Compact concept at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show in a couple of weeks. The sporty five-door compact has the Lexus Hybrid Drive with its EV (electric vehicle) Mode that gives you all-electric driving at lower speeds.

Unlike the Chevy Volt, which uses a gasoline engine to power the battery, the Lexus Hybrid drive works like its cousin, the Toyota Prius, with the gasoline engine kicking in when higher speeds or more power are required.

Looks like the LF-Ch could be a worthy addition to the existing line of Lexus “full hybrids.” Lexus isn’t saying when this sweet ride might be available — you know how it goes with concept cars, many of which never see the light of day outside of a trade show — but for now we have this enticing graphic, along with one more of the rear end of this snazzy electro-Lexus:

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With emulation allowing us to play retro arcade games on both consoles and our computers, having stand-alone arcade cabinets doesn’t make as much sense as it used to. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want one, especially one as sexy as Surface Tension.

This tabletop arcade cabinet has a solid wood frame, glass top and aluminum control panel. You’ve got all the buttons and trackballs you need for any game you want to play. If you want authenticity and you want it to fit in with your furniture, this looks like a great option.

Surface Tension via Arcade Lounge via BornRich

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You know, I’m sure it’s an impressive piece of scientific equipment, but I’m not sold on the usefulness of a fart detector. I’m sure the two Cornell computer engineering students who made it are quite bright, and combining a hydrogen sulfide monitor, a thermometer, a microphone and custom software was impressive. But really, do we need help detecting horrible farts? The problem has never been with detecting farts, after all. It’s been with dealing with them once they’ve been detected. But hey, nice work nonetheless, guys.

Via PopSci

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Sure, there have been much bigger displays, even a 150-inch monster, but not at such a respectable 85-inch size or relatively cheap $30,000 price. Of course, that’s way out of reach for most of us, but we can remember 10 years ago when a 42-inch 720p monitor cost $30,000, so let the past be prologue — affordable huge screens like this can’t be far behind.

This model TH-85PF12U brings the kind of specs you’d expect, rocking the 1080p at a depth of 3.9 inches. Make sure you get a hefty couple of buddies to help you schlep this thing into your home theater because it weighs 260 pounds. And you’ll have to have a space that’s 74 inches wide to accommodate it. But just look at it — it’s the perfect-sized TV. Now wait a couple of years for the perfect price to match.

Via CNET

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Oldies Club calendar for 2010 is now available.
Our Woof Factor winner, the lovely Elllie, features on the front cover, while the calendar months each feature one (or two) of some of the wonderful oldies rehomed by Oldies Club.

Make your desk happy, buy it an Oldies Club calendar. Just £5.99 including p&p within the UK [...]

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If you were a fan of Bruce Sterling’s earlier sci-fi novels that had hapless adventurers discovering the futuristic underground of Europe, these super-modded Nokia phones were probably the kind of cyberpunk gear you visualized.

An Istanbul-based industrial design lecturer by the name of Mehmet Erkök, from Teknik Universitesi’s Department of Industrial Product Design department, created these phone mods for his own pleasure, and your geek awe. Hopefully, Nokia will take a cue from Erkök and one day give us commercial versions of these dystopian works of mobile phone art.

Via Jan Chipchase

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Discovery spacewalker Danny Olivas at work during the STS-128 mission’s first spacewalk. During the six-hour, 35-minute spacewalk, Olivas and astronaut Nicole Stott, removed an empty ammonia tank from the station’s truss and temporarily stowed it on the station’s robotic arm. Olivas and Stott also retrieved the European Technology Exposure Facility and Materials International Space Station Experiment from the Columbus laboratory module and installed them on Discovery’s payload bay for return. Credit: NASA

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Just when we thought Sub-Zero built-in refrigerators were the coolest, in sashays Jenn-Air with its fully flush refrigerator. Check out the space between the doors, exactly matching those of the other cabinets, so your guests will certainly be flummoxed when they start looking for the refrigerator.

In the picture is the 42-inch French door bottom-freezer refrigerator with custom cabinet panels; Jenn-Air also announced three other fully flush models, including a 36-incher with doors like this one and a bottom freezer, and 42- and 48-inch side-by-side fridges.

Jenn-Air’s flush-mounted tech is unique, using a special articulated hinge that lets you swing open the doors to greater than a 90-degree angle. Besides that, you get lots of high-tech performance for your $6900, including a precision management temperature system that gives you customizable coolness in different areas of the refrigerator.

It’s elegant, and it’s not that much more expensive than conventional built-in models by Sub-Zero, GE Monogram, Bosch, Viking, and others.

Jenn-Air, via The Appliancist

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