OK, someone explain this to me: the new Gillette Fusion Chrome Collection Power Razor is a shaving implement with your standard retarded amount of blades, vibrating function and…a flashlight built in? But why? Who shaves in the dark? I’d say terrorists living in caves, but they clearly don’t shave, so that’s not it. Perhaps campers, but I don’t know many outdoorsmen who are going to spend $150 on a razor to bring into the wilderness. I’m stumped. Guesses, commenters? [Product Page via Book of Joe]
The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 comes in the wake of America’s new obsession with tiny laptops. I could tell you that it’s powered by a 1.6Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (4MB, 800 MHz), packing 120GB of PATA storage and up to 3GB of RAM (2 tested), but all you want to know is that it’s over half a pound lighter than the MacBook Air and will impress the fellow yupps at Starbucks. Still, if you’re interested in seeing if beauty is more than ultra-glossy skin deep, hit the jump to see what I loved and hated about the Lenovo IdeaPad U110.
The Decor The top is a sharp red with tendril textures—actually quite classy in person. Flip it upside-down and you’ll see that even the air vents feature a touch of style. The Weight Lenovo’s U110 weighs just 2.42 pounds (and 2.92 with the larger battery). That’s only .4 pounds more than the Eee and, trust me, it’s freakin’ light. So you know though, 2.92 pounds feels way, way heavier than 2.42. The “ohhh” factor is lost with the bigger battery.
The Screen In the past, I’ve found that the Eee screen was too small for enjoyable use. The HP Mini Note was borderline. Now I’ve found the perfect size. 11.1″ WXGA (1366×768) is just right for comfortable multitasking. And it’s LED. Ooooh!
The Keyboard I’m digging the keyboard. The Backspace button has been chopped a bit beyond my penchant for typos, but the keyboard is generally spacious enough for sure. And the subtly concave “piano painting” buttons feel excellent to the touch. Glowy Button Things Touch the panel above the keyboard for a tattoo-like glow of buttons. They offer some hot key support and extra sound control. Looks kinda neat, works kinda crappy.
The Footprint The 10.8″ by 7.7″ by .72″-.88″ dimensions can be tough to picture. That’s quite small. Just know that it’s officially beyond impulse purse stuffing size.
The Hookups Tons of good stuff here: 3 USB ports, FireWire, multi-card reader, Mini-PCIe, Express Card, mic, headphones, Ethernet, and VGA out.
Little Extras Lenovo packed in the little details. You get two batteries (4-cell and 7-cell) depending on your desired weight load. You get an external USB DVD drive since it lacks one of its own. Oh, and you get a cloth for the unbelievable smudgetastic glossy finish. The Speed The Lenovo U110 is not a speed machine. You can look at Vista’s performance rating of 3.5 to draw your own conclusions (3.0 is Aero graphics minimum), or you can know that, more often than not, it can become a bit irritating waiting for programs to launch. It’s not a “OMG THIS IS SOOOO SLOOOW” slow, but it is “Boy, I wish Office would load a bit faster” slow.
The Battery The 4-cell 1750mAH battery is rated at two hours. In the default “balanced” processing mode, I received less than an hour of runtime from normal use. Since the 7-cell battery is rated at six hours of use, expect only three. VeriFace 2.5 VeriFace scans your face and loads your computer without the need for typing. And it works great…when it works. Booting Vista, a Veriface animation pops up for about three seconds and loads with no problem. But for some reason—and correlation is by no means causation—I found that when waking the computer, VeriFace had recognition problems quite often. You are left sitting there like an idiot, double checking your lighting, positioning and hairdo…realizing that maybe you aren’t pretty enough to touch this beautiful computer.
The Price It’s $1899. That’s $100 more than the MacBook Air. For that, many Windows lovers may consider Lenovo’s X300. And they’d be right to. EVDO and a solid state drive would be great additions to the U110. And for not much more money, size or weight, you can get that with the X300.
Should You Buy It? Let’s put it this way—it’s buyable. It’s not the fastest Vista laptop, and if you want any decent battery life you’ll lose a chunk of the ultra-sexy form factor. But if you want a fully-capable laptop that’s extremely mobile—one that I’d say can conceivably function as your main computer—then sure. Because while the smaller battery’s life may be less than optimal, the real purchase-preventer here seems to be the price. And if you don’t care, neither do we.
Once upon a time horses were the kings of the open trail. The best horses were treated like royalty and their riders were worshiped for their skill. Unfortunately, those days are over. The Naturmobil pictured here was was built by Abdolhadi Mirhejazi of Dubai and it is powered by a single horse walking on a treadmill, encased in a plastic prison like some sort of common hamster. When the horse gets tired, a battery kicks in to power the vehicle along with the lights and the electrical system.
Thanks to its lightweight frame and complex gear system, the Naturmobil can can reach speeds of around 50 mph when the horse is really hauling. However, the cruising speed generally tops out at a more leisurely 12 mph. Mirhejazi hopes to parade his invention throughout the world in an attempt to secure financing for a second generation 4 horsepower Naturmobile that he plans to use for tourist transportation. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. [Xpress via Neatorama via DVICE]
After giving the new IdeaPad U110 its 15 minutes of fame in front of the camera, we got down to business. The 11.1-inch ultraportable is built like a tank — a really, really lightweight tank. The uniquely-designed lid and (overly) glossy motif is a welcome change for Lenovo, but after a good bit of use, it’s easy to see this one won’t appeal to the masses. Click on for the full rundown of impressions and notes (and a video, too).
This is a tanning bed for cats and dogs. Also, it is a sign of the apocalypse and/or the downfall of the American empire. Because really, when you’re tanning your pets, you don’t deserve to have any influence over the rest of the world. You’re officially an idiot.
Essentially, this thing is a sunshine simulator, making your pet feel like its laying out in the sun even when it’s the middle of February. But do you know what else a pet can sleep in front of to feel warm? A heater or a fireplace. It’s not like there needs to be a bright light there to confuse your cat about what season it is, and last time I checked pets don’t need to tan, as they’re covered in hair. If you purchase this you should officially lose your right to use currency and should forfeit agency over your finances to a third party with some sense in its damned head. [TrendHunter via BornRich]
This week, Iran told Barbie, “We have to talk.” It’s not an all-out Dear John situation, but the blonde dolly may need to tread lightly in the country. She’s not the only one: Spider-Man, Batman and Harry Potter are already on the clerical watch list. Yep, the country that brought you carpets, backgammon, ethanol, windmills and carrots—one that until the Islamic Revolution in 1979 was the most progressive state in the Islamic world—is considering a Barbie Ban. When I saw that, I wondered what other products had been branded off limits, and which gadgets were left for the Barbie-less boys and girls to play with. Turns out, the mullahs might not have their priorities straight.
The following objects are no-nos: • Blogger, Orkut and Facebook The first of these surprises me, as Iran has the fourth largest community of bloggers in the world—even Ahmadinejad has one. (His latest entry reads “My package from Amazon arrived today—although it took its satanic time. Canceled cabinet meeting and the Ayatollah and I hit the games room all morning. GTA IV FTW.” ) Anyone who wants to start one up has to inform the authorities, however. • Celebrity magazines “Using photos of artists, especially foreign corrupt film stars, as instruments to arouse desire, publishing details about their decadent private lives, propagating medicines without authorization, promoting superstitions,” goes the explanation. • Boots and hats Only when worn by women, although I suspect that the Village People’s steel toe-caps and leather cap might not make it past the “Down With This Sort of Thing” crew. • Neckties Although they’re not averse to slipping a length of rope around miscreants’ necks, I guess a skinny number with piano keys down the front is just taking it too far. • Breasts on mannequins Some shop windows display clothes on showroom dummies with mastectomies that look like they’ve been done with an ax and covered with flesh-colored duct tape. Yeah, lose that image from your brain now. • Western music The artist worst hit is, apparently, Kenny G, so for that let me just say Viva la Revolución!
What, no gadgets banned? Wrong. camera phones are off limits. High-speed internet, too. The reckoning is that denying these items will allow citizens to remain in a state of moral purity. The state has even invested in US-built software that can scan images and files sent by phone to ensure that the morals of its citizens remain pure. And, in a way, they’ve got a point. Can you remember life before broadband? Yeah, it wasn’t pretty—half an hour to open a single hi-res image. Porn traditionalists who like basic missionary sex must have been dying as they strained to see what was going on below the protagonists’ expressions of ecstasy as the pic revealed itself, millimeter by agonizing millimeter. Not quite the skin smorgasbord Westerners now enjoy.
Nuclear reactors aside, what does the Iranian gadget freak get to play with? LG, apparently. The Korean electronics company is big in Iran, which gave it the green light last year to produce five cellphone handsets in collaboration with an Iranian manufacturer. LG stuff is advertised all over the place. Switch on the (silicone-free) Iranian music channel and you’ll find the commercial breaks clogged up with plugs for LG’s RoboKing robotic vacuum cleaner.
Whoah there! So, Barbie is about to be sacked, but autonomous vacuum cleaners are totally fine? Mullahs! Ahmadinejad! Do you not realize what you are doing? Now, I’m no great defender of Barbie (as a kid, I read war comics, climbed trees and played Doctors & Nurses) but these robot vacuum cleaners may be more of a threat than the blonde, pneumatic doll. In the grand scheme of things, I would think Barbie is a more traditional symbol of womanhood than a robotic floor cleaner that does the drudgery of housework, freeing the ladies of the house to dream of getting jobs, drivers licenses and other sorts of trouble. Are you sure you’ve got the correct target?
The Peterson BB-1 BodyBeat attaches to your finger/random appendage, sending tiny rhythmic pulses that you can feel on your skin. The non-aural stimulation will give you a silent way to count measures while playing the piano… and since you have to use your fingers to do that, you will have to clamp this to somewhere else. The question is where?
Look, we’re not saying that FlipStart is on the way out, but when your “store” page tells people that the stock of your device has been “sold out” and then directs them to a third-party retailer for accessories, things might not be looking so good.
We know that you love swarming bug-bots as much as we do, so of course we were thrilled to tell you about BAE Systems’ MAST project the other day. Luckily, the Army-contracted company didn’t stop at mere photos to scare the living daylights out of humanity, they also created a really cheesy, yet deeply frightening video to go along with them. Enjoy a glimpse of the Skynet-controlled / shredding-guitar future of warfare after the break — and don’t say we didn’t warn you.
See it? No, not the reflective surface or the bastardization of the Intel Inside logo on the back… the other modification to this stock iPhone. Right, that Apple logo is burning white a la your off-the-shelf MacBook. Amazingly, the trick is accomplished without any appreciable increase to the iPhone’s waistline. You can take a chance with the Dutch machine-translation beyond the read link below or wait for the English text to be posted by iPhoneclub.nl later today. Regardless, be sure to check the video after the break. It’s not like you’ll be busting out the dremel to attempt this yourself anyway.
OK, someone explain this to me: the new Gillette Fusion Chrome Collection Power Razor is a shaving implement with your standard retarded amount of blades, vibrating function and…a flashlight built in? But why? Who shaves in the dark? I’d say terrorists living in caves, but they clearly don’t shave, so that’s not it. Perhaps campers, but I don’t know many outdoorsmen who are going to spend $150 on a razor to bring into the wilderness. I’m stumped. Guesses, commenters? [Product Page via Book of Joe]
The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 comes in the wake of America’s new obsession with tiny laptops. I could tell you that it’s powered by a 1.6Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (4MB, 800 MHz), packing 120GB of PATA storage and up to 3GB of RAM (2 tested), but all you want to know is that it’s over half a pound lighter than the MacBook Air and will impress the fellow yupps at Starbucks. Still, if you’re interested in seeing if beauty is more than ultra-glossy skin deep, hit the jump to see what I loved and hated about the Lenovo IdeaPad U110.
The Decor
The Screen
Glowy Button Things
The Speed
The Battery
Once upon a time horses were the kings of the open trail. The best horses were treated like royalty and their riders were worshiped for their skill. Unfortunately, those days are over. The Naturmobil pictured here was was built by Abdolhadi Mirhejazi of Dubai and it is powered by a single horse walking on a treadmill, encased in a plastic prison like some sort of common hamster. When the horse gets tired, a battery kicks in to power the vehicle along with the lights and the electrical system.
This is a tanning bed for cats and dogs. Also, it is a sign of the apocalypse and/or the downfall of the American empire. Because really, when you’re tanning your pets, you don’t deserve to have any influence over the rest of the world. You’re officially an idiot.
This week, 
The Peterson BB-1 BodyBeat attaches to your finger/random appendage, sending tiny rhythmic pulses that you can feel on your skin. The non-aural stimulation will give you a silent way to count measures while playing the piano… and since you have to use your fingers to do that, you will have to clamp this to somewhere else. The question is where?
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