Many inventions are quite useful in everyday life, but these 5 (link) could quite possibly be the most outrageous ever…

Then again, there’s always Japanese Chindogu.

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The Federal Communications Commission approved Apple’s iPhone, clearing the way for the combined phone and music player to hit the shelves. Apple expects to begin selling the iPhone in late June.

Some of the FCC documents confirm a few features of the phone, including it will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and will operate in the 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands.

That means that despite the phone’s high price, users won’t be able to roam with it into Europe, where operators use different frequencies. The phone uses GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology and the EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) wireless data standard. Apple has said the phone will ship initially only in the U.S. but many GSM phones today, even on the low end, are capable of operating in both Europe and the U.S.

Eager potential users who hoped for a faster data connection will be disappointed that the approval is only for EDGE. Many operators, including Apple partner AT&T, have upgraded their networks to deliver download speeds of about 500K bits per second or more, more than twice as fast as EDGE.

[Via PC World]

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Keeping with our hammock theme covered here recently with the vastly over priced tropical model, I just had to explain why I have a love-hate relationship with the hammock. They are incredibly comfortable to relax in on a summer day – if you can set them up, that is.

And that’s the very thing I’ve always disliked about hammocks – the need to use either two trees or, a huge steel exoskeleton which one must have to substitute in order to enjoy them. This has always made it difficult to enjoy a lazy nap at the park, beach, or especially a camp ground where you just can’t find a clearing that has two trees the proper distance apart.

Not anymore though. Over at the Discovery Store, they have a Portable Hammock for sale for under a hundred dollars.

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So I called my best buddy from the age of 5 the other day, and this is what I heard, “Hey Fred! I’m kinda busy right now,, what’s up?    Short Pause,,,,Leave a message!” BEEP!!!

Doh! Did I feel stupid,, then I felt really cool. Hey, he’s set up a whole phone just for me (mainly due to the fact that I call incessantly, cause he’s super busy, so I just routinely call and sometimes we get to talk (its easier that way). I was fooled by YouMail!

The best part is, the basic plan is free. That’s right totally personalized voice mail messages (and easy setup,, apparently the trick is to set up a speed-dial key on your mobile to call the YouMail VM.  You can also use it to check your voice mail online! Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, the NPD Group released video game hardware sales data for April. Nintendo’s Wii and DS consoles were again the big winners, as both platforms dominated all competitors. This marks the 4th month in a row that Nintendo has nabbed the top spots with its respective systems on the hardware sales charts.

The Nintendo DS was the overall best-selling system of April with approximately 471,000 units sold — more than twice that of the Sony PSP, which only managed to sell 182,000 units.

Despite being in limited supply, the Nintendo Wii was the best-selling console for the month. More than 360,000 new consumers purchased Nintendo’s home console in April. The second best-selling home system was the Sony PlayStation 2 with 193,000 units sold. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 managed 174,000 units sold and Sony convinced only 82,000 people to purchase a PlayStation 3 for the month, lower than all analyst estimates.

Nintendo was also the #1 software publisher for the month, releasing the top 4 best-selling games — Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for DS, and Super Paper Mario and Wii Play for Wii. The Pokemon titles sold a combined 1.7 million games in about a week.

According to VG Chartz, the Nintendo Wii has sold 2.5m consoles in Japan, 2.8m in the US and 1.79m in the rest of the world since its official launch late last year.

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If you take your golfing seriously (or just like spending a load of money on golf gadgets) and want to know everything there is to know about your golf swing then this watch could be the answer.

The golf swing analysing watch records a load of statistics about your swing, including:

1. Tempo
2. Rhythm
3. Backswing length
4. Club-head speed
5. and the time

The stats are accurate up to 1/100th of second, so if you’re at the level were honing your timing to that extent would make a difference then what are you waiting for.

You can get the golf swing analysing watch for $399.95 from Hammacher, which is a paltry amount of money compared to all the additional prize money you’re sure to win*.

* -Golf is a game of skill and boredom so we cannot be held responsible if you’re crap at it, watch or not

In these days of green issues it is always great to find somebody who has taken it upon himself or herself to develop a green product, even more impressive is when the product is both useful and of course more importantly has the potential to become a seller. Well it was a while now when the first hamster powered shredder came to light, but since then the bugs have tweaked and the mark II version is now on show.
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Everything is going digital today, so why not your shower as well?

You can replace those “analog” knobs for hot/cold water & shower with the The Grohe Ondus AquaFountain. The design is quite a head turner with all black waterproof casing, sleek handles coming out of a round, cylindrical base, and of course, the all digital interface creating a more precise temperature settings for the streaming water.

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