Now you can hook up a dirt-cheap SATA disk drive to your PC or Mac by simply plugging it into this USB desktop adapter that works just like an iPod dock. Until now, if you wanted to add a bare hard drive to your computer, you either had to put it in some sort of enclosure, or open up the hood of your PC and install it next to the other drive in there. That’s not easy for the uninitiated.

This disk dock couldn’t be simpler, accommodating 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch disks that you simply plug into its top. It’s a cinch to connect it to your PC or Mac, too, because all you need to do is hook up a USB cable between this dock and your computer, just like you do with your digital camera. Then that naked hard drive acts just like any more-expensive external drive. All this convenience is relatively cheap, costing you just $46.79. — Charlie White

Article

f gaming wasn’t already on the hot seat, now those violent games your parents and senators hate so much can now simulate gun shot and other torso wounds. The TN Game’s Third Space Vest is the work of physician Mark Ombrellaro who got the idea from a type of vest used in a real medical circumstances to simulate and investigate types of injuries.

The vest is designed with the shooter game in mind (even though it could be used for other types of games). It includes eight different zones that can apply a wide range of feedback — anywhere from a simple tap, to a full blown explosion-type of force.

This vest will be available in November for $189 and come bundled with a space game and Call of Duty II. A software development kit will be available shortly and expect patches to come for other big name shooters like the Quake, Doom and Unreal Tournament series. — Travis Hudson

Official Website

George Lucas will slap the Star Wars logo on just about anything, and now it looks like Ferrari is following by putting the stylish red paint job and yellow seal on everything from pens to laptops. Now the company has teamed up with Segway to release the Segway PT i2 Ferrari Limited Edition people mover. Other than the paint job and logo, not much has changed; you still get 25 miles per charge. If you thought the regular Segway was really expensive, then prepare yourself, the PT i2 will set you back $12,000. As a bonus, the PT i2 does come with a leather bag to store your Grey Poupon. — Stephen Schleicher

Mortars pose a significant threat to infantry as even if they aren’t always lethal, they drop out of the sky and can effectively pin a squad down. Well, some crazy military engineers decided to take the Phalanx M61 (pictured above) that protects naval vessels from anti-ship missiles and toss it on the back of a truck to counter mortars before they can land.

That big white lump on the top of the M61 is a radar. Once an incoming mortar is detected, the M61 spews out several hundred shells from its six 20 mm barrels until said mortar explodes. The Phalanx M61 “Counter-Rocket” is a closed-in weapon system (or CIWS) — meaning it takes care of itself for the most part — and it can fire 4500-7000 rounds per minute.

Click on through to see the M61 play target practice with a few mortars. — Kevin Hall

Official Article

We were surprised at Hitachi’s 32-inch HDTV whose thickness was just 0.74 inches. Now it looks like Samsung has topped that, creating a flat-panel HDTV that’s half that thick. Imagine a TV that’s just 10mm thin — just over a third of an inch. That’s the depth of this 40-inch 1080p LCD TV (pictured at right) from Samsung that will be unveiled at the FPD International 2007 convention in Yokohama, Japan later this month. When a panel is that thin, the design looks more like a pane of glass than an LCD.

To accomplish this feat, Samsung uses miniaturization techniques it learned from manufacturing desktop monitors, and upscales them into TV size. That 46-inch screen pictured at left is just as thin, but the screen’s bezel has been shrunk as well, to just 10mm wide (as opposed to 30mm). Samsung’s not talking about when such paper-thin TVs will ship, but you can be sure the company aims to beat that Hitachi set’s announced release date of 2009. — Charlie White

Let’s hope the Biplane didn’t get its name from something that happened during test runs — motorcycles tend to be at their best with at least one wheel on the ground.

The Biplane is a concept motorcycle design that Suzuki is showing off at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Details are scarce, but it looks damn fast and the sleek, yellow shell looks like something straight out of an anime. Click through the gallery for a few other angles of the Biplane. — Kevin Hall

Jalponik, via BoingBoing Gadgets

ey, kids! Have you ever wanted to listen in on the conversations of other people without them knowing it? Create codes that allow spies in the field to get information about enhanced interrogation techniques without those killjoys at Amnesty International finding out? Dress up as a totally extreme rapping turtle and get a blow job from a sexy lady squirrel? Well now you can, thanks to the Cryptokids— the NSA’s new program for young people and furfans. The Web site, with detailed biographies of its cadre of rad furry spies, has had so much more effort put into it than we’re comfortable thinking about. But it’s important to recruit children into the spy apparatus, as it’s the best way to get info on the parents. We call them “nature’s hidden listening devices”! As for the furries, well: do you want that fat sweaty guy in the raccoon suit working for us … or for the terrorists?

Official Website

Indeed the biggest nerdfest ever! DragonCon 2006: The 200 StormTrooper March. Find more on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kK4vUMQH0k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E94R8K-MsaU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veIifNiD1DY&mode=related&search=

And of course “StormTroopers gone Wild!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjQCO-RZ-0s&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81aPYBmTYWA&mode=related&search=

Bored using your advanced green laser for traditional spreadsheet pointing techniques? Why not kick up your skills a notch and start using green lasers to track aircraft? With beams visible in daylight that extend for miles, green lasers are ideally suited to track objects in the sky. Stop worrying about things like mandatory jail time and social isolation and play the intriguing game of SkyTag™ today.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/tracker.shtml

OMG, how fucking dumb/ignorant can some people be:

North Carolina’s 8th District congressman has a winning plan for Iraq: “The only way to make Iraq stable enough for the U.S. to withdraw is by “spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior.”

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/crazies/congressman-demands-iraqis-be-converted-to-christianity-223931.php

Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.

In a December in which bumblebees, butterflies and even swallows have been on the wing in Britain, European brown bears have been lumbering through the forests of Spain’s Cantabrian mountains, when normally they would already be in their long, annual sleep.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2091875.ece

According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies.

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm#2

Tired of laying in bed and watchin’ movies in a crap way? Buy your ultimate bed!

http://www.dexterton.com/dic_furniture/ruf/cinema.html

EMC announces on agreement on acquisition of RSA Security.

It is wonderful to see that maybe finally the interface/UI of RSA might be updated from its windows 3.11 look, maybe have integration with EMC Control Center (ECC), one can wish for good things to happen.

This is a major step for EMC, they now have the full range product suite which is related to data mangement: migration/analysis tools, storage tiering, backups, archiving and data security.

http://www.emc.com/news/emc_releases/showRelease.jsp?id=4487&l=en&c=US