Every other day it seems like a new manual razor is hitting the market advertising “the closest shave ever” by throwing in extra blades or lubed comfort strips. And let’s not forget that there are plenty of electric shavers out there if you have sensitive skin or you want to save a little time. As I was shaving my rugged man-stubble baby smooth this morning, I pondered this question: With all of the choices out there, what kind of shaver do you use?
Robot designers are currently duking it out for the British army in hopes of nabbing the hearts (and pocketbooks) of the UK’s fighting force. In a makeshift “wartime European village,” scientists and researchers are putting their helper-droids to the test as Army officials look on and investigate how the automatons might serve alongside troops. Some of the robots being looked at include a “Moon buggy” which remotely patrols for enemies via thermal imaging and then sends the data back to a command center, a helicopter that can be maneuvered in tight urban spaces, and a RC car with what appears to be a pile of digicams mounted on top of it. The winners of the competition will be announced Monday, but you can hit the read link and see a video — replete with annoying British television presenter — of some contestants.
After bickering between Activision and Harmonix meant you couldn’t use Guitar Hero’s guitars with Rock Band on the PS3 (’cause Activision wanted moolah for Harmonix to release the patch), Sony has grabbed them both firmly by the nuts and said “everybody’s instruments must work with everybody’s games.”
This means that Guitar Hero: World Tour’s insane kit—guitars and drums—will work with Rock Band 2’s and vice versa (and Konami’s Rock Revolution series). Some of the advanced game-specific features might not work (like maybe the touch features on GH:WT’s guitar), but basic compatibility will be there. They’re working on making stuff already out there (GH3 and RB) play nice too. All I have to say is you rock, Sony. [PlayStation Blog via Kotaku]
There’s a slight issue for Asus Eee PC owners who want to use their older batteries with the Atom-based Eee PC 900A revealed earlier this month—they won’t work. That’s because the tiny laptop uses a different connector (4400mAh, cheap) than its predecessors the 701 and 900. There’s some good news, however, as jkkmobile notes the 900A’s 8GB SSD implements a single pci-e card, not a split one; and the SLF flash should give you speeds comparable to the 900/901 4GB SSD. [HKPug via jkkmobile]
Color us stumped and incredibly excited. We’ve discovered this totally useless yet endlessly amazing DVD player / Terminator head out in the wilds of the internet, but finding any information deeper than people exclaiming “this is awesome” is, in a word, difficult. Look, we’re not saying that we want to find the company that makes these, order 100 of them, rip out their guts and replace them with those electronic rat brains, swap the eyes for stereoscopic cameras, tack on Darth Vader-esque voice boxes, and then mount them to the unkillable bodies of an army of robotic warriors we’ve been building, but… uh, well… okay you got us.
Those hoping for a PS3 price cut in the near future better not hold their breaths. A Sony spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the company had no plans right now to give you another deal on the machine, and anyone hoping for that kind of news at Leipzig will be sorely disappointed. Given that they slashed the price less than a year ago, this shouldn’t be too surprising. Though PS3 sales are still trailing behind the Wii, it’s relatively recent discount put it neck to neck for second place with the cheaper Xbox 360. [Reuters]
I know people like the Philips Senseo coffee pod system—I’m a snob and refuse to try it—so just for you folks, Philips is releasing a new version of the Senseo that can make froofy milk drinks, too. Called the Senseo Latte Select, it appears to be identical to the old Senseo but now features a new milk compartment that can whip up cappuccino, latte macchiato, or cafe latte on request—plus that milk compartment can be cleaned “with the touch of a button.” Coming to Europe this September for about $280, you’ve gotta make a lotta latte to pay it off. [Philips via Single Serve Coffee]
If you’ve been making a mess of the floor (you know, with drool) waiting for Lenovo’s IdeaPad S9 netbook to come flying in your direction, here’s a little something to further whet your appetite. A “Lite” version of the device appears to have gotten official pricing, specs, a site, and apparently a deal if you buy three at once (at least in Hong Kong). The diminutive laptop will feature that Intel N270 Atom CPU (at 1.6GHz) we’ve already heard about, an 8.9-inch SWVGA display, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, and will apparently utilize a Linux build. That last point is of note as this model was previously believed to be carrying around an install of Windows XP. The new literature also suggests that the S9 (and presumably the S10) will pack a multi-touch trackpad, and be available in white, red, or pink. The S9 Lite will be launched next month, and prices run from HKD 2,899 (about $371) for a single model down to HKD 1,933 ($247) if you pick up three at once. And hey, who doesn’t need three small laptops?
For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh’s shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above. Turns out I was way off, and it’s actually Kinesio athletic tape from a company in Albuquerque. And upon further inspection, the hype surrounding the $15 tape appears justified, and goes way beyond helping athletes.
In addition to gracing the shoulder of one of America’s finest looking athletes, the Kinesio tape also boasts magical properties, like the ability to assist and support muscles without inhibiting a joint’s range of motion. Kinesio tape has actually been around for a while, and is available for a range of uses, but it took the modern-day Olympic games (and the right “spokeswoman”) to see orders shoot up from 250 a month to 1,600 in a weekend.
John Jarvis, director of Kinesio USA, says the tape has graced the bodies of Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, countless baseball and football players, and cycling superman Lance Armstrong.
Surprisingly, Forbes notes that athletes comprise only 10% of Kenesio USA’s customers. The largest market is pediatrics, where doctors have been helping children deal with neurological disorders for the past 25 years. With disorders like cerebral palsy, for example, the tape is used to help strengthen weak muscles. Kerri Walsh is great and all, but that’s the real reason I can get behind this product. [Forbes]
AMD’s going through some rough times, no doubt about it, but for fanboys of the CPU maker (wait, do CPU fanboys still exist?) here’s your feel-good story of the year. The always-thorough Tom’s Hardware has pit Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor against AMD’s Athlon 64 2000+, and the results just might surprise you. The 1GHz Athlon (with a core voltage of 0.90 volts and a power draw of just 8 watts) managed to best the aforementioned Atom in both energy consumption and processing power tests. The gurus at Tom’s credited the more modern 790G platform and the highly efficient K8 architecture as big players in the Athlon’s strong showing, finally deeming said chip “more economical, faster and quieter” than the Atom. We know you’re in disbelief — good thing there are 14 pages of proof waiting in the read link.
Every other day it seems like a new manual razor is hitting the market advertising “the closest shave ever” by throwing in extra blades or lubed comfort strips. And let’s not forget that there are plenty of electric shavers out there if you have sensitive skin or you want to save a little time. As I was shaving my rugged man-stubble baby smooth this morning, I pondered this question: With all of the choices out there, what kind of shaver do you use?
After 
There’s a slight issue for Asus Eee PC owners who want to use their older batteries with the Atom-based Eee PC 900A revealed earlier this month—they won’t work. That’s because the tiny laptop uses a different connector (4400mAh, cheap) than its predecessors the 
Those hoping for a PS3 price cut in the near future better not hold their breaths. A Sony spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the company had no plans right now to give you another deal on the machine, and anyone hoping for that kind of news at Leipzig will be sorely disappointed. Given that they 
I know people 
For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh’s shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above. Turns out I was way off, and it’s actually Kinesio athletic tape from a company in Albuquerque. And upon further inspection, the hype surrounding the $15 tape appears justified, and goes way beyond helping athletes.
Surprisingly, Forbes notes that athletes comprise only 10% of Kenesio USA’s customers. The largest market is pediatrics, where doctors have been helping children deal with neurological disorders for the past 25 years. With disorders like cerebral palsy, for example, the tape is used to help strengthen weak muscles. Kerri Walsh is great and all, but that’s the real reason I can get behind this product. [
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