DVICE
I've always figured that aliens looking down at Earth must conclude that the dogs are in charge, as it is us humans who walk behind them picking up their poop. The Powerloo doggie toilet from Michigan inventor Curt Fournier doesn't do much to change that, but at least you'll have a place to put all that smelly dog doo-doo.The Powerloo is a complete outdoor flush toilet that connects to your home plumbing and sewer lines, sucking down the poop after you've deposited it in special biodegradable bags. You still need to pick it up first, which I suppose is why I tend to prefer cats.
Now, if only we could teach dogs to wipe, flush, and put down the seat themselves.
The Powerloo will be available starting in June for about $1000, or about 10 times the cost of a regular human toilet.
Powerloo.com, via Treehugger
We love steampunk style here at Dvice, but normally the only way to own something this cool is to make it yourself.This gorgeous creation called Telecalculograph Mk II was created by steampunk artist Jake Hildebrandt using a cutting edge PC, and is being given away to promote the new steampunk game Damnation. All they're asking you to do is create some kind of video, picture, or art installation that shows your love of steampunk.
Make.com, via Destructoid.com
Verbatim is not usually the brand name that comes to mind when we think of mice, but we've tried one of the company's mice and it performed admirably. Now Verbatim is going all me-too on us, itching to get in on the "nano" craze, releasing the Verbatim Color Nano Wireless Notebook Mouse with a minuscule wireless dongle to match. The tiny USB attachment looks a lot like Microsoft's, almost too small to see when it's plugged into a USB port (and easy to lose in a crowded backpack), but still big enough to get the job done. Choose from a rainbow of colors for this $30 pointing device, small enough to be aimed at notebooks and road warriors.
Via Geeky Gadgets
If you're sweating bullets after seeing Terminator Salvation, Professor Ronald Arkin from Georgia Tech is working on some software that may ease your fears. Or make them worse, you know — either one.Arkin is working on what's being called an "ethical governor" for combat robots, which will be a software package that informs the 'bots on how to act following the same kind of guidelines human soldiers use — sometimes better than the meatbags themselves.
"Ultimately these systems could have more information to make wiser decisions than a human could make," Arkin told Discovery News, "Some robots are already stronger, faster and smarter than humans. We want to do better than people, to ultimately save more lives."
The success of Arkin's program will probably come down to how flexible and versatile it is in a real combat situation. After all, modern soliders are constantly finding themselves in new and evovling situations, when the rules of engagement aren't always clear. Humans can be held accountable for their actions and brought to justice. Robots? Well, I don't know if "faulty programming" is going to be much of a consolation if something goes wrong.
Either way, even with Arkin's software we probably won't see combat drones operating in the theater of war without human oversight.
Discovery News, via Botjunkie
Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos clocks have been around since the Jazz Age, and here's a new one designed for luxury brand Dunhill that looks like one of Dunhill's cigarette cases from the art deco days of the 30s. Just like its Atmos brethren, this mechanical marvel is powered by temperature changes, where a variation of one degree Celsius will power the clock for 48 hours. This thing could go on ticking forever! Its appropriately timeless design is backed by a fascinating intricacy, crafted of 242 precision pieces and built to last way beyond the next Art Deco era. While many Atmos clocks are much less costly than this outstanding $70,600 model (some are available used for approximately $950, most are around $5,000+), all are equally fascinating. It's hard to believe this tech has been around for the better part of a century.
When Obama visited the Queen of England, what'd he give her? An iPod. Not an awesome, customized iPod, though to his credit he did personalize the contents with a "rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers" and pictures of the Queen from an earlier visit to America. That, and the Queen pretty much gave him the same — a framed picture of herself.Video game producer THQ took a look at all that and decide to one-up them all (not that it was too hard). The company sent Queen Elizabeth II a gold-plated Wii console with a matching Wiimote and nunchuck, as well as a copy of THQ's new title, Big Family Games. It's all just a promotion for THQ, of course, but hey — would you say no to a gold Wii?
Geek, via Geekologie
If you're looking for headphones from the future, look no further than the Q-Sound solar Bluetooth headphones. Not only do they look pretty damned futuristic, but they get extra juice from the sun and connect to your device of choice with no cables required.Oh, and I'm sure they sound great, too.
It's a fact: rich guys love cigars. It's just one of those things you have to get into once you start making millions of dollars. So it's only natural that cigar accessories exist that are aimed at said rich guys with money to burn.The Petrof cigar humidors fit neatly into that category. This thing is designed to keep stogies at the perfect level of humidity so they taste just as delicious as your monied tongue deserves. There's a hygrometer and a humidifier and the door is sealed completely from the outside world. No word on price, but, well, it's expensive.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. That didn't stop Daniel Blade Olson, who created a RAID array out of a series of floppy disk drives. Yes, he set up a redundant storage system on a format that hasn't been relevant in over a decade.It's cool though, I guess. I mean, it can write a whopping 3.6MB in a mere 32 seconds! The future is here! But he's not done yet; he wants to create a 125 USB floppy disk drive array, which is too crazy for me to even think about.
Google speeds up its Chrome browser eight months after its initial release, claiming that this version 2.0 is 30% faster than its predecessor. We loaded it up and sure enough, it's even faster than earlier versions, and blows away Firefox and Internet Explorer by a country mile. Also added is the ability to quickly remove embarrassing sites from the "most visited" area on its startup screen, a true full-screen mode, hundreds of bug fixes, and finally, autofill that remembers what you've typed in web forms and saves you lots of effort.If you haven't tried Google Chrome yet, this might be a good time to download version 2.0 and revel in its quickness, which is much faster, especially at rendering javascript web pages, than its competitors. It's a noticeable improvement. The only reason I'm not using it all the time is its lack of plug-in compatibility, something I've become so accustomed to in Firefox that I'm not ready to give it up. But when I'm looking for sheer speed, Google Chrome 2.0 is the only choice.
Here's a video showing Chrome 2.0's updates:
We all know the day is coming when robots will carry us to and from our bathrooms, but you might be surprised to learn that the day of emotionally needy robots has already arrived. Roboticists from Japan's Waseda University have unveiled a new robot named KOBIAN that is capable of expressing "emotion" through body and facial movements. The range of emotions includes sadness, happiness, shock, and dislike (pictured above). No word on when this psychiatrist's nightmare will go commercial but the developers hope to place the robot in various environments where human interaction is essential.
Via Impress Watch
Technology is a wonderful thing. It's advanced science, medicine, the arts, music — it's hard to imagine something that hasn't been touched by the technology revolution. But, where does it end? When do our lives become so aided by technology that it begins to harm, not help? Are all our gadgets and devices slowly killing us by making us so lazy, soft and fat?
NYU student Anaid Gomez Ortigoza has designed a heart-sensing iPod peripheral she's dubbed the "Kokoro," or "the heart of things." All you need to do is wear it, and then a Polar heart-rate sensor inside the unit detects your pulse and responds accordingly.If you're excited, Kokoro will match your excitement with some fast beats. Feeling mellow? Maybe you're in the mood to just sit around and listen to some jazz, which Kokoro can make happen. Buttons on the device allow you to increase or decrease the tempo of the playlist being generated, in case you want to alter your mood.
Click Continue for a video of Kokoro in action.
At first glance, Gregory Siegal's LifeMap doesn't seem to do anything more than what your computer or a digital photo frame might. Where it really shines is how it handles your various albums' organization. Using the LifeMap's touchscreen, you can tag your photos with more than just the people in them and the date, but also where the photo was taken.From Siegal:
The LifeMap is meant to be hung on the wall in the social center of the home. Over time, as the family grows the LifeMap grows with it. As more photos are added and tagged with information, users can view a time line of their lives or a world map marking everywhere they have travelled.It's also light enough to sit comfortable in your lap — however you feel comfortable sharing.
Via Gregory Siegal
When a 3-year-old has a classier car than most people, you know he might be on the road to being a bit spoiled. The BMW Baby Racer II might not have the souped-up engine of a real BMW roadster, but it certainly has the sleek design.This kid-friendly racer is only available from BMW dealers, of course, and is the perfect way to make your kid a snob from the get-go. It can be yours for about $110, which is a lot cheaper than a real BMW, at least.
If you've thought about it, seen it or own it, someone else has gone and stuck a USB cord to it. You can pretty much get anything in the world as a USB gadget, from fun office games to foot warmers — even USB-powered friends. The best part? They're usually cheap, and they all plug in the same way.
Whoa, what happened here? Sure, it's DVICE, the same technology site you've been coming to for ages, but… different. You've got us — today DVICE unveils its brand-new look for spring 2009.
I messed up. My big plans to stock up on all my new favorite tunes yesterday got sidetracked, so I missed the last chance to raid the 
Sure, a USB thumb drive housed in the body of a full-sized rubber chicken isn't the most practical thing in the world, but it's still pretty awesome. 
Looking to get murdered by a robot this year? Well, there's no other robot out there that looks as capable of committing the cruelest of acts upon its master without any remorse than the CB2 (Child-robot with Biomimetic Body). Just look at those dead, soulless eyes! They harbor some serious evils within, you can tell.
We instantly like the idea of the Jaromatic because it seems like something you'd find in the Jetsons' kitchen. Designed and patented by Jerry Russell, the Jaromatic can open jars and bottles that are at most a foot tall or shorter of any shape as long as they are 5¼ inches or less in diameter. It really isn't picky: "Just place the jar or bottle in the appliance, press the button, and the Jaromatic will open it and break the safety seal. Even opens most safety-lid medicine bottles!"
There are few things as relaxing as getting a nice deep tissue massage. But you can always make great things better, can't you? And any massage seems like it would be made better if it was done on the Sonora Sound Spa Table with integrated Bose Speakers and an iPod Nano.
Have oodles of data to store? Unless you need more than 16TB (that's about sixteen trillion bytes), this eight-bay DroboPro ought to do the trick. You can attach it directly to a PC or Mac via USB or FireWire 800, or hook it up to Gigabit Ethernet as network-attached storage (NAS) for quick 100MB/s iSCSI data transfers. Hey, that's way more than fast enough for 1080p video viewing over a network.
See what happens when you cling to the past? Blockbuster might be about to go broke, unable to save itself from bankruptcy or get out from under a mountain of debt. Because of that, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes says he has "substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern." 
After 
I know that auto manufacturers in the U.S. have been told by President Obama to get their houses in order, but is this really the answer? 
Figure out which direction this thing drives yet? In the image above, the Honda Zeppelin would zip off to the left. At glance, you might be tempted to say that designer Myung Jin Jung's creation's most interesting quality is its asymmetrical design, but the real weird stuff is actually going on inside. The front seats of the Zeppelin swivel 180° (when the vehicle isn't in motion, or that's the plan), so that the occupants can interact with one another 
Perhaps the oddest thing about the latest faux 
The D-roll, or "digital roll," is what designer Hao Hua considers to be a "next generation laptop design," as it does away with the book-like form factor in favor of one mimicking an artist's scroll. Whether or not something like this will even be possible in the near future seems to matter less when you look at how much effort Hua put in the design.
