If your dog is crap at thermoregulation, you are going to need to give the little tyke a hand. The Cool&Hot comfort pad not only comes with a fantastic PR image, but it will also allow your pet to get all cuddled up and warm in the winter, or remain as cool as a corpse throughout the summer. The controls are only operable by animals with opposable thumbs, but it is suitable for any gender of dog, not just bitches, as the fantastic title of this article suggests. If your canine compadre is the very apple of your eye, or you are Legend, we recommend paying out the highly unreasonable, 18,500 yen ($173.) Be warned though; your little mutt (not a euphemism), is likely to rip through the Cool&Hot pad with its teeth, piss on the exposed electric wiring of the heating element and then scorch its face off as it collapses in a horrific electrifying spasm due to electrocution. (Read the full post about ‘Cool&Hot Comfort Pad Keeps Your Bitch Warm [Pet Pleasures]’…)

China-based Ainol recently introduced the new T20, which aims to join the crowd in the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games. The company wish to stand out from others by providing analog tv tuner on it. Besides, the T20 also comes with video input, which allows you to watch video from cable tv. (Read the full post about ‘Ainol T20 Introduced’…)

An agency employed by the government in the UK has told schools in the UK that they should stay away from Windows Vista and Office 2007 when looking to upgrade. The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) has not seen enough evidence that the related costs such as hardware upgrades and installation would produce enough benefit to warrant the £175 million it would cost schools to upgrade. At the same time they have stated that Office 2007 has no ‘must have’ features for schools and should be avoided, and that schools should look more towards free options and those that support the international standard ODF (Open Document Format) for storing files. (Read the full post about ‘It’s official UK schools told to avoid Vista’…)

This cool decorative tape lets you leave messages by blacking out the the white areas. A brilliantly simple design concept, the tape works in pretty much any language thanks to its free-form display concept. Perfect for labeling boxes, temporary signage, creating impromptu artworks or modern graffiti, the tape comes in either a dot-matrix or segmented style. Just grab a permanent black marker and mark out the appropriate white portions of the tape to reveal your message. Designed by rAndom International for Suck UK, the tape should be available soon. Prices will range from £5.00 to £7.00 (about $10 to $12 USD) a roll. [For some reason, all this talk about tape made me think of Flight of the Conchords]. (Read the full post about ‘message tape mimics digital displays’…)

Need to tell time in two places at once? These funky metal watches from Penguin Clothing offer displays at both the top and bottom of their cases. The gold-tone Penguinator and brushed stainless Two-Timer each feature a pair of completely independent time displays, so you can keep track of time in both your home town and in Timbuktu at the same time. Just flip the watch over on your wrist to switch between time zones. Both models offer sturdy steel cases, along with dot matrix time displays manufactured by Seiko. Plus, they’re water resistant to 5 atmospheres (about 165 feet), so a swim in the pool shouldn’t be a problem. (Read the full post about ‘penguin dual time watch does handstands’…)

If you happen to own an iPhone, you know that the built-in digital camera is pretty limited due to its fixed lens. Now you can add a zoom lens which will let you get up close and personal with your photographic subject. This add-on 6x optical zoom lens by Conice might look a little weird protruding from the back of your iPhone, but it will give you much greater flexibility for your photos. I’ve seen similar add-on lenses for cell phones before, and while they’re not as good as a built-in zoom lens, they’re better than nothing if you’ve got a steady hand. Since the iPhone doesn’t have any sort of image stabilization or a tripod mount, you might have some trouble keeping zoom photos in focus. (Read the full post about ‘iphone zoom lens: get ready for your close-up’…)

The Apple iPhone Update v1.1.3 was delivered earlier this week to iPhones around the country with new features including: location data via cell tower triangulation (via Google) or WiFi triangulation (via Skyhook Wireless) Webclips - ability to make sections of web pages into widgets custom icon layouts for home screens (up to 9 total) SMS multiple recipients Chapters for video and subtitle/audio language options Karaoke mode (Lyrics displayable) Apparently the “CPS” (Cell Positioning System instead of Global Positioning System) is fairly accurate with Google Maps as reported by BMW Geek: I got the new iPhone update – holy crap it’s accurate with google maps using the cell tower “gps” they have now. (Read the full post about ‘iPhone Update’…)

AT&T currently has a special $99 promotion on the red LG Shine, BlackJack II and the BlackBerry Curve 8310. The promotion is valid through Valentines Day, which for those that may need a reminder is February 14 and they all require a 2-year agreement with purchase. “Chocolates and flowers are standby gifts for Valentine’s Day, but this year we’re spicing things up by offering terrific deals for those who want to go with something different,” said Andy Wilson, vice president of National Marketing for AT&T’s wireless unit. A nice offer for those looking to make a switch to AT&T, all three phones (personally I would prefer the Curve) would make a great primary phone, especially for only $99. (Read the full post about ‘AT&T offering $99 Valentine Day specials’…)

Posted Jan 19th 2008 4:49PM by Paul MillerFiled under: Laptops We’re fairly certain this BoringTrash fellow’s statement that his IBM ThinkPad R50e “tried to kill” him is a bit unfair — it appears to us that the R50e was merely attempting to get him out of the way so that it could completely devour his bed. The best part of it all is that the three-year-old exploding laptop still works when plugged into an external monitor, but BoringTrash is keeping this one away from from mattresses for the time being.Tags: mobile devices, gprs, gadgets, technology (Read the full post about ‘Exploding ThinkPad attacks man, burns through bed’…)

Posted Jan 19th 2008 6:06PM by Paul MillerFiled under: Gaming, Peripherals Alright America, you’ve got yourself some prep work to do: Nintendo’s about to foist this whole nefarious “exercise” paradigm on you, in the form of the Wii Fit, and we know how you fell for that whole “Wii” fad a year or so back. The thing has a 300 pound weight limit at the moment, though it’s unclear if Nintendo is going to “upgrade” that for American users, but you’ll just have to risk it. We figure a few dozen Twinkies a day, on top of a couple potlucks a week, and a few barrels of Pocky to keep it cultural, and you should have yourself out of contention for silly balance exercises and hula hooping tomfoolery by the time Q2 rolls around, Nintendo’s promised ship date. (Read the full post about ‘Wii Fit shipping Stateside Q2 2008, says Nintendo’…)