Engineering + Design AG (EDAG) of Germany will soon show a two-seater sports car called genX at the Geneva motor Show in March that has externally side-mounted suitcases and an interior that transforms into a bed. Longtime Jeopardy host Alex Trebek is first in line to buy one.
Out of the Box Computers Sells PCs built inside motorcycle gas tanks. They call them -- what else? -- Think Tanks and they also sport built in radios and CD players. They would be perfect for mounting on actual motorcycles, but then of course you wouldn't have any gas.
Hundreds of pages of U.S. President George Bush's defense budget proposal were posted briefly on Friday on the "comptroller" area of the Pentagon's Web site. Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone.
Dog Issued Credit Card After Owner Mails Application As Anti-Spam Joke
You have to give this dog credit. Which is exactly what a credit card company did recently. Tired of getting spam pitching a pre-approved credit card, a Silicon Valley area man filled out the application with his dog's information and was shocked when his dog received an approved credit card in the mail.
Rise of the Machines: Pentagon Plans Industructable 18-Ton Killer Robots
The U.S. military is planning to transform its new Stryker military trucks into robots by 2010. The trucks will scan urban areas behind enemy lines using high-tech sensors, carry troops and destroy everything that moves. Pentagon brass even envision Stryker robots with frickin laser beams attached to their heads. Is that too much to ask?
A new electric screwdriver from Japan's Matsushita Electric Works lets you record "macros" for repetitive screwing. For example, if you want to start slow, then speed up for the finish, you can record that with a "macro" button. No, it's not a marital aid.
The London Times quoted Google CEO Eric Schidt yesterday as saying that "An IPO is not on my agenda right now." This statement counters widely reported speculation that Google would float an IPO as soon as this spring. The news will dissappoint suits on Wall Street who were salivating over the biggest Silicon Valley IPO since Netscape. You can follow the story -- where else? -- on Google News.
Leaked Pepsi Superbowl Ad Stars Teens Harassed by RIAA
A Pepsi commercial to be debuted Sunday during the Superbowl has been leaked on the Internet and stars 16 teenagers harassed with lawsuits by the RIAA. One of them says (with Green Day playing "I Fought the Law (and the Law Won)" in the background) "Hi. I'm one of the kids who was prosecuted for downloading music free off of the Internet. And I'm here to announce in front of 100 million people that we're still going to download music free off of the Internet." Then a caption announces the "Pepsi iTunes Music Givaway."
Shock! Tinkering Enthusiast Guts New Apple G5, Builds Intel Inside
An overenthusiastic PC freak gutted his brand-new, dual-processor Apple G5 and built an Intel (OK, an AMD Athlon....) PC inside. Shhhhhhhh. His parents, who shelled out big bucks for the G5 as a Christmas present, have no idea. UPDATE: This was a joke, apparently. No G5s were harmed.
A 14-year-old UK boy developed deep vein thrombosis -- a condition normally associated with older people flying on long-distance airplane trips -- after kneeling all day in the same position obsessively playing Xbox. This is perhaps the youngest known case of what some flip quasi-medical wags call e-thrombosis, but is by no means the first.
The Sigma e-Book from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., and Panasonic that I told you about last May will finally become available February 20. The Sigma looks like a real book and features low power consumption and a very high resolution screen. Panasonic said last year that you'll get up to six months (or 10,000 pages, whichever comes first) on three AA batteries. It features "instant-on," so there's no waiting to boot. Two facing black-and-white 7.2-inch displays have screen resolution of 1,024×768, which is very high for such a small gadget.
A Gartner security analyst guesses, er, estimates that the MyDoom worm will cost businesses some $250 million in lost productivity and tech support. Question: How much will it cost Microsoft?
David Bradley, inventor of the Ctrl+Alt+Del key sequence for rebooting a PC, plans to retire after 28 years with IBM. Microsoft owes him a debt of gratitude.
Proof You Can Buy Anything On the Web: The MikeRoweSoft Papers
Mike Rowe, who was recently hassled, then bought off, by Microsoft over the registration of his MikeRoweSoft.com domain, has apparently posted for sale on eBay the threatening letters he received from Microsoft. (Note: This is NOT a hoax.)
I first told you about the Blade-Runneresque Korean sci-fi movie, Natural City, August 25, 2003. Now there's a high-resolution version of the trailer I pointed to, plus a second trailer. The movie is directed by Byung-chun Min and stars Ji-tae Yu, Jae-un Lee and Rin Seo.
Jupiter Says Spam Filters to Cost Legit Marketers Big Bucks
Jupiter Research estimates that anti-spam filters will cost marketing firms big bucks -- $419 million per year by 2008. Yeah, but how much will it cost real spammers?
Timex is actually transforming nine of its existing watch lines into "Speed Pass"-capable credit cards that can be used to get gas at over 8,000 ExxonMobile stations and 440 McDonald's restaurants. It can also be used at specific Stop and Shop markets in the Midwest. Now if they could only make real credit cards that tell the time...
A new infrared laser pointer from Japan's Kokuyo Company has forwards and backwards buttons that control PowerPoint presentations. Unfortunately, you can't control *other people's* PowerPoint presentations with it, as it requires a USB peripheral receiver.
The question of cell phone safety has now been answered. A Malaysian man was badly "scalded" in the buttocks today after his cell phone exploded while being charged on a nearby table. Exploding cell phones are usually caused by low-quality, counterfeit batteries.
NASA's Spirit Rover computer system, which stopped reliably sending data from Mars last Wednesday, is bogged down by managing too many files, according to a team of scientists. But aren't we all?
Concept Car Transforms Into Bed
Out of the Box Computers Sells PCs built inside motorcycle gas tanks. They call them -- what else? -- 
You have to give this dog credit. Which is exactly what a credit card company did recently. Tired of getting spam pitching a pre-approved credit card, a Silicon Valley area man filled out the application with his dog's information and was shocked when his 
A new electric screwdriver from Japan's Matsushita Electric Works lets you record "macros" for 
The Sigma e-Book from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., and Panasonic that I told you about 
New Timex Watches Works As Credit Card
You Heard It Here First: Cell Phone Guns
A new infrared laser pointer from Japan's Kokuyo Company has forwards and backwards buttons that 
