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Txtshorthand used to sell underage sex
2008-02-01 14:30:00
A "sex ring" operated by young Japanese school girls was recently uncovered by decoding their use of txtshorthand. The girls were apparently selling sex to older men via mobile transactions."Take this piece of seemingly benign code, for example:IkebLURV1700Yukichi2JC1Ikeb = Ikebukuro. The neighborhood that the girl is in.LURV = "I will have sex with you."1700 = Time: 5PM Yukichi2 = Yukichi Fukuzawa, the guy whose face is on the 10,000 yen note x 2 = I cost 20,000 yenJC = Joshi Chugakusei (Junior high school girl. JS would be elementary school girl, JK would be high school girl)1 = Grade 1. In Japan, 1st year of junior high = 7th grade. "Unfortunately(?), this may make for a valid reason for parents to enforce no texting at the dinner table.
More About: Technology , Sell

Waxy outs social media spammer
2008-02-01 00:00:00
Similar to the search engine research conducted on SWBU last month to out a viral marketing campaign connected with PayPerPost, Waxy.org uncovered a social media spamming campaign for The Times (UK)."Since 2004, The Times retained the established SEO consulting firm Sitelynx to handle their search engine marketing. Working on behalf of The Times, a Sitelynx employee posted thousands of links to community and social news websites, including Mahalo, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Metafilter, Yahoo! Answers, Ma.gnolia, and Netscape's Propeller. His actions were done without any disclosure of his affiliation to Sitelynx or The Times and were, in some cases, posted under the assumed identity of his wife."Waxy goes on to include a breakdown of all the found accounts and number of links dropped on each. Needless to say, link spammers should learn that the possibility of being outed on blogs for poor conduct will result higher SEO rankings with negative content than all their hours of making ne...
More About: Social , Media , Advertising , Spammer

Allergy-analyzing robots invade Tokyo
2008-01-30 10:00:00
Invading Japan for further analysis, a swarm of 200 robots are taking to the skies. In preparation for forecasting pollen levels, Weathernews, Inc. is sending out what looks like enlarged ping pong balls with embedded LEDs."[They] weigh 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) and measure 30 centimeters (1 ft) across, consist of a monitoring unit housed in a spherical styrofoam shell. A pair of eyes glow 5 different colors ? white, blue, green, red and purple ? to indicate the level of Japanese cedar and cypress pollen in the air."Called Pollen Robots , the spherical bots monitor and provide up-to-the-minute pollen reports and maps online.
More About: Technology , Tokyo , Invade

Edited For Orgasms
2008-01-30 08:00:00
This is perhaps on the side of trying too hard, but someone took the time to edit their way through a variety of Star Trek episodes for anything resembling an orgasm. The Trekkie YouTube clip features the numerous seasons and character climaxes. Cheesy? Definitely. Worth your time? Questionable. [via]
More About: Orgasms

Mobile touchscreen concept gives the reach-around, still disappoints
2008-01-28 12:30:00
A new mobile concept called P-Per offers a reach-around to the iPhone-famous touchscreen. By using minimal parts, the potential phone offers sustainability."The design consists of just 4 layers, a printed circuit board, extruded polycarbonate, recycled titanium, and a wrap around flexible haptic LED touchscreen."Textually says the design would satiate tech nerds, but we have to politely disagree. The mobile industry should be tapping into those that feel left out from the need for breakable screens and texting typos. Though we may be trading style for bulk, tactile QWERTY keyboards are a must for the true "tech nerds" who text under the table.
More About: Technology , Mobile , Reach , Concept , Touchscreen

Sight for the week's end
2008-01-28 01:30:00
InteracItive LED kit in Evil Mad Scientist Auxiliary photo pool. [via]
More About: Interactive , Sight

Tuesday Tasting: Sensual Intelligence, Cell Phones and Sex::Tech
2008-01-23 08:00:00
Each week, Ariel Waldman serves a tasting of the latest in sex and tech.Thermal Bras and Panties Could Boost Your Mobile Phone BatteryA new pair of underwear could use your body heat to charge your batteries. The prospect of using nanowires or microspopic strands of silicone has researchers convinced this may be the future of fashion. "This discovery could lead to special clothing that could produce electrical current for batteries in cells and handheld computers," reports Green Daily. While still a concept, the idea of electricity-producing lingerie is pretty hot.Previously: Solar swimsuits power up bikini babesSensual Intelligence Possibly More Sci-Fi Than AILike using your left hand, sex toys are now trying to mimic a foreign feeling by the use of an artificial "mind". Dubbed "Sensual Intelligence", a new down-there-device called SaSi uses a positive or negative button for the user to select what does and doesn't feel good. The device learns your preferences, but also apparently...
More About: Cell Phones , Phones , Tech , Cell

Geek graffiti uses glow sticks
2008-01-21 13:00:00
Dubbed Street Wars, this new form of street graffiti uses glow sticks and creative mods on street signage. Known for "playful reappropriation of urban elements in public settings", SpY was the force behind the project. The creator's site is currently down (as of 4am PT), but will hopefully be back up to provide more details.
More About: Graffiti , Geek , Glow , Sticks

Tuesday Tasting: Making Out, Macs, And More Porn
2008-01-16 03:30:00
Each week, Ariel Waldman serves a tasting of the latest in sex and tech.Kiss-Me Meter Measures Make-Out-WorthinessCatching up on the CES craziness from last week, we're surprised this one didn't make it into Engadget's Crapgadget edition. The Kiss-me Meter is designed to measure the make-out-worthiness of your breath and thus advise on whether you should make a move or start gargling some serious mouth wash. By blowing into the gizmo, an LED indicator shows where you stand. If we saw someone using this, we would make sure we stood far away.OhMiBod Compatible With iPhone, No Word On Macbook AirOhMiBod should've held off from announcements for another week, as only a few days ago it was boasting iPhone compatibility. No word yet on if the line of vibrators plans to sync up with the new Macbook Air. We're guessing that the serious lack in audio quality in the Macbook Air may make for some not-so-hot vibrations.Unlimited HD Porn That Doesn't Hit Your WalletAnother CES find that ai...
More About: Technology , Macs , Tuesday

The perfect accessory for the non-pervert
2008-01-16 00:30:00
It's been covered before on Tuesday Tasting - the saturation of subway gropers in Japan. Not wanting to be lumped in with the lot of pervy men, a new accessory helps define where non-wandering hands are."On super crowded trains, standing commuters quickly run out of stationary rings to hold on to, and have nowhere to put their hands. That's probably what inspired gropers to fondle in the first place, but it's also a looming dilemma for non-perverts as to where they can put their hands in order not to be mistaken for one."While the idea of men holding onto rings to proclaim their non-perv status may be laughable, the product apparently sold out within a very short time frame.
More About: Culture , Accessory , Perfect

Export to World transforms pixels into paper
2008-01-14 11:00:00
With an uber-geeky name like Export to World , you know their products have to be virtually awesome and useless at the same time. The concept coverts virtual Second Life objects into tangible elements with the use of paper. Like IKEA, all the objects can be constructed with simple scissors and glue. A Flickr album helps give some added context to the conversion.
More About: Design , Paper , Pixels

Sight for the week's end
2008-01-13 07:00:00
Sushi + tush = pervy form of Onigiri[via (nsfw)]
More About: Culinary , Sight

Picks for the most lame and lovable CES ads chosen
2008-01-11 12:00:00
Perhaps the only thing more pervasive than flashing screens (or lack there of) at CES is advertising. Engadget points to what they found to be the best and the worst ads at CES this year. The team doesn't give a blow-by-blow review of each ad, but we can only imagine the snickering that took place behind the camera. What are your best/worst picks from the ad album?
More About: Technology , Advertising , Lame

Lather, Rinse, RFID
2008-01-10 11:00:00
RFID technology continues to merge into a variety of miraculous experiments around the globe. The latest concept uses RFID tags to communicate to washing and drying machines how individual articles of clothing should be treated. The objective is to avoid laundry dilemmas. Named ClothTAG, the concept could be cute, but may also create an entire new generation of overly-tech-dependent hipsters.
More About: Technology

Subliminal advertising takes a slightly less subtle route
2008-01-09 15:00:00
Created by Ogilvy out of Frankfurt, this series of ads aims to nudge the naughty-minded into buying an otherwise innocent product. The ads were produced for Globus Supermarket in Germany. With tag lines like "satisfy your appetite", the play on imagery is pleasurable until you find yourself wanting to fondle mangos and feel up bananas.
More About: Advertising , Route

Girl on gadget action gets predictable
2008-01-09 13:00:00
While many of us tech-fetishists can't take our eyes off of the saturated-with-shiny CES floors, others have alternatives that catch their glance. The infamous I4U News (the ones that bring you your monthly girl-on-gadget moments) are taking their reporting to the array of oh-so-predictable booth babes. These are the lovely ladies that somehow got lost on the way to the AVN expo next door. Thankfully, gaggles of geeks are around to ogle and escort them around gadgets accordingly.
More About: Technology , Action , Gadget , Girl

Rock out with your controller out
2008-01-09 11:00:00
The title doesn't have too much of a ring to it, but guitar gamers everywhere are already singing praises for the new Rock Band plus Guitar Hero mashup controller. Finally, one controller to rule toggling between your two favorite ways of rocking out."Rather than wait for Harmonix and Activision to sort out the whole Rock Band/Guitar Hero/PS3 guitar incompatability fiasco, [Nyko has] gone ahead and released their own guitar, one that avoids the whole mess and gives PS3 owners a single peripheral that'll work on both games."Called the Front Man, the controller is set to rock your world in March.
More About: Gaming , Controller

Tuesday Tasting: Luxury, Ladies, and Lying Down
2008-01-08 13:00:00
Each week, Ariel Waldman serves a tasting of the latest in sex and tech.Non-Booth-Babe Babes Battle for CES Floor SpaceApparently I won the best summary of the CES news for twittering ?CES effectively splooged all over my Google Reader" this week. Thankfully, Gizmodo gives something for us to effectively splooge over: non-booth-babe babes at this year's CES. Captured in pixels, "Videographer Richard Blakeley and noted letch Nick McGlynn went out and snapped some pics of some of the real babes of CES". The Gawker site of course failed to mention their competition: the geek girl of CES, Veronica Belmont.Bed Speakers Make Your Lonely Bed into a BoomboxA new "technology" aims to drown out the sound of your sobbing in a lonely bed with dropping a few beats. The Slip Sonic Impact's BM101 speaker panel slips between your mattress and box spring to help vibrate your emptiness away without the need for a dishwasher afterwards. Turning your box spring into a boombox, the system will run you...
More About: Technology , Luxury , Lying , Ladies , Tuesday

Pin-ups push purses for Louis Vuitton
2008-01-07 15:00:00
Molded into classic pin-ups, six supermodels are gracing some of Louis Vuitton's latest purse promotions. From Claudia Schiffer to Naomi Campbell, the hair is big and the legs are definitely long. The revisit to retro was photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot. We could leave LV's Spring Summer 2008 collection behind, but we'd gladly get on the waiting list for some pin-up-esque lingerie.
More About: Photography , Fashion , Purses , Push

Digital battles analog over street art
2008-01-07 13:00:00
Analog graffiti may be on its way out, as a new street artist does digital to make their message. Known as "The Decapitator", the artist takes advertisements and obviously enough, decapitates the main characters that appear in them. With no words and subtle changes, this graffiti style is more along the lines of last year's Broken Link as opposed to the infamous and much-hated "The Splasher". Thankfully, "The Decapitator" keeps to his digital stance by maintaining a Flickr account.
More About: Photography , Advertising , Street , Digital , Analog

Massive 3D display uses balloons as pixels
2008-01-07 11:00:00
Vertically engineered, an interactive project called "Electric MoOns" produces a massive 10x10 3D physical display. The display uses 100 white balloons in a dark room to create the illusion. From Make:, "When music is played, the balloons synchronize their movements and their interiors are illuminated by dimmable super-bright LEDs". A screen-based UI allows for a user to tweak the movement and lighting of each balloon.
More About: Interactive , Display , Balloons , Pixels , Allo

LED hard drive visualizes data storage
2007-12-28 01:30:00
Conceptual in form and function, a hard drive proposed by Degroenebanaan would visualize your data storage in an artsy way. Called the IVY, the gizmo focuses on manipulability and customization. Depending on the amount of data stored, the OLED screen can change from being completely blank to saturated with a Mondrian-like design
More About: Design , Technology , Drive , Storage , Data

Fake it 'til you make it
2007-12-21 13:00:00
New research in the area of monkeys points to a natural reason for females to fake orgasms. Faking it may in fact help increase procreation rates, or at the very least, an enjoyable time for the male counterpart."Female monkeys may shout during sex to help their male partners climax, research now reveals. ... The researchers found that females yelled during 86 percent of all sexual encounters. When females shouted, males ejaculated 59 percent of the time. However, when females did not holler, males ejaculated less than 2 percent of the time."Perhaps faking it shouldn't make you feel so guilty anymore.
More About: Fake , Make

Bristlebot takes on Roomba
2007-12-20 15:00:00
Using a toothbrush head, motor and battery, you too can make a Bristlebot. After watching the video, we're convinced that the Bristlebot is some possessed mini-me version of the Roomba (Tantek has coined the term Toothba for the prickly palate cleaner). Admittedly, we'd like to create a whole army of them and watch them battle it out in a dirty bathtub.
More About: Technology

Victoria's Secret Stuffer Bear recalled for choking hazard
2007-12-20 12:00:00
We all know that presents from Vicky's help us get a little kinky in bed, but we've never been the type to be into choking fetishes. Supposedly, Victoria's Secret Stuffer Bear s are being recalled for potential choking hazards to young children. Yet another reason to keep Mommy and Daddy's "toys" in a safe place.
More About: Random , Hazard , Recalled

Toastvertising turns to spam
2007-12-17 12:30:00
Unlike cupcake vs. muffin, toast vs. spam takes on a more creative route. Smelling of toast for days, a team created a little "toastvertising" against spam using 220 pieces of toast. Thankfully it wasn't the other way around, as the smell of spam for days is quite worse than any email selling b!g er3ct!0n_s.
More About: Spam , Advertising

Stripped down "Shoppenboys" help women shop
2007-12-14 05:00:00
French shop Celio makes an effort to help women shop for their hubbies. Stripping down several men of varying sizes to their boxers, the cutely named "Les Shop penboys" provide a human template for trying on clothes. Similar to picking out cup sizes on cute girls in a lingerie store, women can pick out the man most similar to their own to see how the clothes fit. Men who are bored with shopping everywhere owe these nearly-naked, fearless few a beer.
More About: Women , Fashion , Stripped

Chocolate never tasted so geek
2007-12-14 04:30:00
Concepting a cute hub for the holidays, designer Sang-Hoon Lee created the Chocolate Portable HDD. Unlike other gadgets named Chocolate, this design would allow users to actively "break off" USB pieces of memory similar to a candy bar. Complete with a touchscreen interface, this design is best suited for those who have a sweet tooth for storage.
More About: Design , Technology , Geek

Garnier and PayPerPost go for broke, fail at viral campaign and life
2007-12-13 11:30:00
Update: The agency who created the site and Garnier appear to have been unaware of any activity executed by PayPerPost. The campaign itself is a cute spoof site, but didn't have the intention of marketing without transparency. Adrants is currently investigating who was behind the PayPerPost marketing. We're begrudgingly posting this to out Garnier's lame attempts at viral marketing and potentially another blogging blunder from PayPerPost (though, we're sure they're smiling at the idea of getting any buzz):Shake Well Before Use received an email from deanaburke@gmail.com: "Hey- So I saw this video on youtube- I guess Garnier pulled sponsorship of this show, the harry situation, b/c it was too sexed up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQGOZaG0kO g -deana" Of course, any attempts to Google this email address fail.The YouTube video shows a supposed Garnier employee telling viewers not to go to http://theharrysituation.com in a very *wink wink* manner.The Harry Situation site is a ho...
More About: Life , Advertising , Blogging , Viral , Campaign

Best Buy sends cease and desist letter to blogger
2007-12-12 23:30:00
Best Buy has never been a popular brand amongst bloggers with all the buzz around their Geek Squad stealing porn. Recently, LaughingSquid received a cease and desist letter from the ruffled retailers for coverage of Improv Everywhere's trademark intrusion apparel. Apparently, Best Buy viewed blogs as promotion, rather than an authentic news source. Contrary to many Consumerist reports of bad customer service, LaughingSquid was pleasantly surprised with an apology letter and follow-up call from their PR department. However, despite the "front-of-the-house" apology, other departments within Best Buy is aggressively trying to shut down the blog, sending a DMCA notice to LaughingSquid's data center.Update: The C&D letter was misclassified as a DMCA notice. More updates likely to come from Twitter.[img via Scott Beale/LaughingSquid]
More About: Blogger , Advertising , Blogging , Letter