News » Top Five Tech Girls with the Best Racks

Girls that are hot and are techies…sign us up! While techies (or geeks for that matter) aren’t exactly thought of as very sex symbols, these five babes are definitely defying the norm—especially with their amazing racks (coupled with their intelligence, of course). And they are by no means in any particular order because they all rank No. 1 in our book!

Marina Orlova

This busy babe, who hails from Russia, has both beauty and brains. Orlova holds two degrees in philology (the study of linguistics and origins of words) and is the author of Hot For Words, which is a spin off from her YouTube videos that school you on words on their meanings. Despite what be a boring subject, we’ll listen to whatever this buxom blond tells cares to share! Like her tagline says, “Intelligence is Sexy!”

Veronica Belmont

Looking the cutie next door, Veronica Belmont is a self-proclaimed geek and we wouldn’t have it any other way! She’s all about tech, gadgets, video, geek culture, gaming and kittens, so her site describes. Based out of San Francisco, CA, she’s a technology and gaming video host, as well as a contributor for Qore (a mag about PS3 for Sony), Tekzilla and many more. She’s an avid gamer and social-networking junkie, which makes her the perfect girl if you’re a serious gamer!

Jolie O’Dell

The sultry Jolie O’Dell is a tech writer and journalist and has written for numerous entities like Mashable, VentureBeat and more. Another San Francisco native, O’Dell really knows her tech. She has a B.A. in Media Studies, but went back to school to study Java and programming, so this hottie can code like no one’s business!

Olivia Munn

This modern day busty geek goddess does it all! She’s an actress, model, TV host and author, not to mention one of the hottest techies on the planet! Munn turned heads as the co-host of “Attack of the Show!” on the G4 network and has since then become a “Daily Show” correspondent in addition to her many other projects.

Jessica Chobot

She licks PSPs, loves video games and has a hot body (and even better rack)…basically every guy’s dream girl! Jessica Chobot hosts IGN Weekly and is the video game hottie for “The Daily Habit” on Fuel TV,in addition to other gigs like writing the “Ask Jess, Dammit!” blog for Maxim. When she’s not getting her gaming fix, Chobot is feeding her Japanese culture fixation with lots of anime and manga!

Review » iHome SD63 Retro Headphones

Retro is in.  Always has been and always well be.  Take for instance classic cars.  A 60s Mustang will forever hold its value.  And lets not forget about the music.  It will forever have a place in everyone’s hearts, old or young.  And as it turns out, the fine folks that make those iHome Devices, SDI technologies, have their roots in an era when things were built to last.

The company has now reissued their SD63 Retro-Style Hi-Fi Stereo Headphones.  Aesthetically they’re all 60s, but on the inside is today’s tech, although speaker technology hasn’t snadvanced all that much in the last 40 years; as far as we know it’s still a coil and magnet setup to a large degree.  iHome says these phones boast rich hi-fi sound, plush air cushioned ear pads, an adjustable headband and a rotary volume knob on the headphone for added convenience.  And guess what?  You can buy them today for $49.99.

Review » Smartfish Whirl Mini Laser Notebook Mouse

Today I’m going to talk about the little brother to the mouse I reviewed yesterday. The Smartfish Whirl Mini is supposed to be perfect for laptop users, and just as effective as the Smartfish Whirl Desktop version for keeping your hand and wrist straight while using it. So how well does it hold up compared to it’s bigger brother?

First things first:  the design of the Smartfish Whirl Mini Laser Notebook Mouse is pretty much the same as the larger version, with a few notable differences.  The main difference is the color scheme; no longer just boring and cheap glossy black plastic, the Smartfish Whirl Mini sports a very nice grey (or other color – they have several to choose from) plastic middle (the plastic feels more heavy duty than on the desktop version as well) and it also picks up a black rubberized piece on each of the sides.  These black pieces help to make sure the Whirl Mini doesn’t accidentally slip out of your hand, and gives you something with a slight texture to grip.

Another difference is the DPI settings – while the desktop model could go as high as 1600 DPI and as low as 400 DPI, the Whirl Mini is locked in at 800 DPI.  I don’t understand why the ability to change the settings was removed from the Whirl Mini, but it is what it is.  800 is respectable when dealing with laptop mice, but it surely isn’t the cream of the crop.

The Whirl Mini has no advanced features you might like to see either (just like the larger desktop version) – no web buttons, no zoom buttons, etc.  Just the standard two face buttons, and the scroll wheel.  It was a problem with the larger version, and continues to be a problem here as well.
The problems that are seen throughout the Whirl line are really a shame for the Whirl Mini.  It’s by far the better of the two mice in terms of comfort, feel, and design.  With other laptop mice I find myself using the touch pad still more than I do the mouse, but with the Whirl Mini I was actually using the mouse exclusively.  Since I sit with my laptop on my lap when I use it, my hand is usually lower to begin with than if I was on my desktop.  What that meant to me, was that the Whirl Mini really felt natural in my hand.

Another nice thing is that it’s a LOT more portable than it’s desktop counterpart.  It’s about three quarters of the overall size of the desktop version, but only a little over half of the height.  The ErgoMotion pivot point has a much lower profile than the desktop model, which makes it seem a lot less likely to snap off.  While the wireless feature is also essentially the same between the desktop version and the Whirl Mini, the dongle on the Mini is a little bit smaller, and sits almost flush with the side of my laptop, meaning it’s not uncomfortable when it hits my leg.

While I’m finding myself enjoying the use of the Smartfish Whirl Mini, I still can’t justify giving it a score higher than four start out of five.  Yes it’s comfortable, and yes it might be improving the circulation in my hand, but the fact that it still has no advanced features that are standard at other mice with the same price point is a deal breaker for me.  Couple that with the fact that they removed the ability to change the DPI, and four is generous.  Don’t get me wrong, if you really want an ergonomic mouse for your laptop, this is a good choice – there just might be better.

Pros:

• Compact design
• The cheap and ugly look of the desktop version has been fixed
• Very comfortable to use

Cons:

• Removing the ability to change the DPI was not smart
• No advanced features to speak of
• Might be too small if you have larger hands

You can pick up the Smartfish Whirl Mini Laser Notebook Mouse from Amazon for $37.01

Review » StressVest Delivers 4,500 Volts Instead of Bullets (video)

There is nothing worse than not knowing if you’ve been shot.  Chances are that won’t be the case if you’re hit with an actual bullet.  We’re actually referring to police training or just a friendly game of laser tag.  So what’s an aspiring gun shot wound victim, or inducer, to do?

Drop $2,500 and get the StressVest.  It delivers a real time shock, up to 4,500 volts, when your mark has been hit with a real gun retrofitted with one of their compatible, eye safe lasers.   For police force trainees this is essential since it induces stress and provides a more real world experience, demanding them to think under the pressure of not only gun fire, but the possibility of actually being wounded in the line of fire.  With each subsequent hit the voltage (i.e. stress) can automatically be increased. And unlike paintball, there is no mess to clean up and the chances of an unprotected individual being hit from a stray shot are zero to none.

In the event you’re looking for a more casual experience – you’ll need to have a federal ID to pick one of these up – the StressVest can be set to a vibration mode.  Additionally, shooting distances can mimic that of the would be actual ammunition, and the lasers work through windows or windshields.

Review » Griffin Intellicase: Folio iPad Case with Smartcover

 

Striving for perfection, while impossible, should always be the goal at hand.  And if any iPad 2 case is gonna come close to that, it’s probably gotta be Griffin’s IntelliCase.  The case is designed to protect both the back and front of the tablet, all the while incorporating a smart cover that automatically wakes up the iPad when it’s removed thanks to a set of built-in magnets.  But that’s not all.  The flexible cover folds back and serves as an upright workstand or can be laid down for watching movies or casually surfing the web.  And yes, all of the iPad’s ports are left open for easy access.

Griffin has it available right now for $59.99.

News » Outrun Video Game Electric Car (video)

 

An electric card with a display that renderes the real world, as you drive, in in the style of the 1986 video game OutRun by Sega.

Review » Bleach Soul Resurreccion

This is my first video game review here as I’ve really been shying away from them lately.  I just don’t have the time to devote to playing everything anymore.  However when I found out that NIS of America was bring the new Bleach game to the states, I made sure my calendar was completely clear so I could get my hands on it.

First and foremost, I am a HUGE Bleach fan and have been for years.  I not only watch the English dubs on Cartoon Network with my son, but I regularly watch fan-subs as well, so I’m usually well ahead of the English story.  In short, I’m a pretty big Bleach fanatic.  While some might think that would skew the rating on my review, they’d be wrong – I love these characters because they’re so deep.  I wouldn’t give a good rating to anything that didn’t hold up to the anime and manga expectations.

That being said, if you’re not a Bleach fan this will probably pass under your radar – and not without reason.  While the world of Bleach is a masterfully written story, very little of that shines through here.  If you don’t know who the characters are before starting the game, you probably won’t know who they are when you’re done with it either.  If you have no idea what Hueco Mundo is, or what the difference is between Fake Karakura Town and regular Karakura Town; well you won’t pick that up here.  Apart from the three or so paragraphs of information that gets narrated before each chapter to let you know what’s going on and the simplistic banter (only a line or two every now and then) there’s nothing to tie the story together for a Bleach “noob”.

If you do watch and/or read Bleach regularly however, you’ll be able to instantly pick up on where each mission is in the grand scheme of the story.  Whether it’s Ichigo facing down Grimmjow, or Kenpachi vs Nnoitra, there are enough major fight scenes for you to re-enact that those alone make it great for a Bleach fan.  The action in the game is fast and furious (not the movie), and while it does take a few cues from the Dynasty Warriors games, it also does quite a bit to improve on them.

One thing that’s great (and that drive me insane) is the ability to upgrade different characters by using the experience they gain by playing them.  There is a whole field of upgrades for each character, and for a completionist like myself – it’s maddening.  The game rewards you by playing well and keeping a combo going by increasing the amount of experience you gain per kill (at one point I finished a level with over 10,000 because I kept my combo going from the level start to the boss fight), and it really pushes you to try different things to achieve that perfect run.

Unfortunately, the game is short, very short, only about four hours long (for the story mode), and maybe another three to four hours with the mission mode.  Unless you’re like me and want to upgrade each of the characters to their max level, there’s really no point to going back through everything once you finish with everyone.

Something else they got right though is the artwork.  Bleach Soul Resurreccion looks gorgeous if you’re a fan of cell shading.  It looks like it was ripped right out of the manga, and each of the characters looks as close to perfect as they can.  Even the backgrounds in Hueco Mundo are really good (Fake Karakura Town looks pretty boring unfortunately), and very reminiscent of the manga/anime.

So there you have it, if you’re a Bleach that’s been waiting for a game to do the series justice, this is as close as you’re going to get right now.  Yes it’s short, and yes it has it’s flaws, but it’s fun and great if you just want to throw down.  If you’re looking for a challenging and deep game though, you may want to look elsewhere.  For me, I give the game four stars out of five.

Pros:

• The artwork is amazing
• Combat is fast and fun
• Characters feel just like they should

Cons:

• The game is extremely short for a retail purchase
• The depth of story isn’t explored
• Level up system, while fun, artificially extends gameplay

You can get Bleach Soul Resurreccion from Amazon for $59.99

Review » Blackberry Torch 9850 Coming Soon, Actual Release Date And Price Unknown

 

Blackberry Torch 9850

Oh RIM, how we’ll miss you. Okay, that might be a bit unfair, but in late the company just can’t seem to get a break in terms of an exciting device. Like most companies they’ve “dialed” it in for too long and have failed to unveil handsets that are vastly different from one and other, and boast the allure of an iPhone or an Android handset, which have long had the luxury of owning.

However, RIM’s latest, the Blackberry Torch 9850/9860 might be the closest thing we’ve seen to stave off their downward spiral. But from where we sit that ain’t saying much. It’s a touchscreen affair measuing 3.7-inches with an 800×480 resolution. Okay, we can live with that. There is also the presence of a 5 megapixel camera, which isn’t lack luster, but in today’s marketplace there are many phones sporting 8 megapixel shooters so it’s a bit perplexing as to why they just didn’t max the thing out. While the RAM is suffiecent, 768MB, it only ships with 4GB of storage, though you can expand that to 32GB via a microsSD card. We’re a bit skeptical, but RIM says that the 1230mAh battery can achieve a 13 day standby time – you can cut that number down by 90% in NYC, where cell tower competition is up the ying yang. And there is of course WiFi, GPS, an optical touchpad, the ability to record 720p video and Blackberry’s newest OS, OS 7.

If you’re wondering about the release date and the price, well, just keep on wondering. RIM is mum on that info, though we suspect it will arrive sometime late in the year, which by all accounts is a risky move since Apple will surely release the newest iPhone around the same time.

Did we mention that it’s 11.5mm wide, where as the iPhone 4 is just 9.3mm? Fatty if you ask us, but maybe you’re a chubby chaser.

Review » Sparrow Key Chain Prevents Key Loss Returning to the Nest

Lose your keys much?  The best way to combat that short coming is to place your keys in the same place.  Most people tend to opt for the dish or a hook by the front door.  But come on, that’s boring at best.

The Sparrow Key Ring is straight up adorable.  It attaches to your keys using, what else, a standard key chain ring.  The birdhouse sticks to the wall using a self adhesive sticker or included screws.   When you come home you place the birdy back in its house.  After all, home is where the heart is, and God forbid that tweetie bird be without one, and you without your keys when you’re flying out the door.

The Sparrow Key Ring costs $18, and comes in black, lime green, pink, yellow and a few other colors.  It also doubles as a whistle.  How appropriate.

Review » Digital Bathtub Thermometer RetroFits Any Faucet with No Installation

 

Cooking your kids, while great if you’re a cannibal with a penchant for Casey Anthony syndrome (she’s so guilty), is probably not a good idea if you wanna remain in the good graces of society, not to mention on the other side of the steel bars.  So to insure you don’t burn your kids with boiling hot water you should probably take a close look at this handy gizmo that fits over most faucets and provides a digital temperature read out.  It’s even color coded in the event your vision is acting up from all the late night partying.

 

We’re not entirely sure if this product can be purchased separately since it is included with ThinkGeek’s infant bathtub, which features a built-in clean water reservoir for rinsing off the young tike.  But heck, it’s just $89.99 and ships with a rinse cup.  Now that’s value!

News: As Android Surges Microsoft and Google Trade Punches in Patent Spat

 

The ViewSonic ViewPad 10 tablet computer is displayed, in Atlanta. The ViewPad 10 is a dual-boot tablet that comes with both Windows and Android operating systems. (AP Photo/ Ron Harris)

San Francisco. Google Inc's Android operating system has deepened its dominance of US smartphone sales and now enjoys a 40 percent share of the market, according to figures released Thursday by research firm ComScore.

Apple Inc's iPhone ousted RIM's Blackerry for second place with 26.6 percent market share in the second quarter, the report said.

Also Thursday, research firm IDC named the iPhone as the world's top selling smartphone with 19.1 percent of shipments, almost three percent above second-placed Samsung's 16 percent share.

The new sales figures came amid an escalating spat between Google and a group of tech giants headed by Microsoft and Apple which Google has accused of collaborating to strangle Android smartphones.

Google's chief legal officer David Drummond on Wednesday accused the two tech giants of plotting a "hostile, organized campaign" against Android using a portfolio of patents that they recently bought from bankrupt telecom equipment maker Nortel for 4.5 billion dollars.

Their plan, according to Drummond, was to "strangle Android" by using "bogus patents" to force makers of Android smartphones to pay them licensing fees.

But Microsoft head of communications Frank Shaw responded via Twitter Thursday that Microsoft had in fact reached out to Google to join the purchasing group but was summarily rebuffed.

Shaw even quoted from the email sent by Google to Microsoft in which it declined the invitation. "After talking with people here, it sounds as though for various reasons a joint bid wouldn't be advisable for us on this one," Google's general counsel Kent Walker wrote in the e-mail. "But I appreciate your flagging it, and we're open to discussing other similar opportunities in the future." "Free advice for David Drummond," quipped Shaw. "Next time check with Kent Walker before you blog." Drummond responded later Thursday saying that Google declined to partner with Microsoft on the patents because such a move would have cost billions of dollars without allowing Google to use the patents to defend itself against claims by Microsoft and its bidding partners.

"Making sure that we would be unable to assert these patents to defend Android - and having us pay for the privilege - must have seemed like an ingenious strategy to them," Drummond said. "We didn't fall for it."


DPA

Gadget: iPhone app brings Roman London to life

Apple sold 9.25 million iPads over the last quarter, almost 20 times the number of Motorola's Xooms.

Motorola announced dismal device sales in its earnings report on Thursday, with tablets faring near the worst among the company's products.

The company shipped 11 million mobile devices over the past three months, according to the quarterly statement. Yet only 440,000 of those were tablet devices.

In other words, the Motorola Xoom Android tablet flopped big time.

Out of the remaining 10.56 million devices shipped, 4.4 million of those were smartphones. That number of course pales in comparison to Apple's 20-plus million iPhones sold last quarter, and even to the 5 million Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphones sold in the first three months of the phone's release. Especially considering that's 4.4 million across all of Motorola's device models.

It's a quarter of rough numbers for the company, which of course is facing competition on all sides.

For perspective's sake, compare the 440,000 Xoom tablets with Apple's numbers this quarter: The Cupertino giant sold 9.25 million iPads over the last quarter, almost 20 times the number of Motorola's Xooms.

And it's important to note that when Motorola says 440,000 units "shipped," that signifies the number of devices sold to retail stores, not to customers. It's difficult to determine how many actual sales to customers occurred without further detail.

And even if the iPad weren't doing so well, the Xoom is still competing with the myriad Android tablets available from other hardware manufacturers.

Still, it's not all doom and gloom for the U.S.-based mobile device manufacturer. Smartphone sales are up from 2.7 million during the same time period last year, which is nothing to scoff at.

WIRED: Motorola's Droid 3 wants to kill your Blackberry

But with the majority of phone sales being "dumbphones" -- or relatively low-end cellular devices -- the company's strategy of relying heavily on smartphone sales as a strength has yet to pan out.

With any luck, the company will be able to turn things around as more smartphone devices debut in the fall.

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha announced that the Droid Bionic -- a highly anticipated dual-core smartphone which was pushed back to the drawing board for further improvements -- will debut some time in September.

Gadgets: I'm stuck in a DVR time warp, and I like it

Every summer, I start descending the scroll-list of stuff we have recorded on our nearly full DVR.

Hey, do me a favor. Don't tell me how the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton ends. I haven't watched it yet. I'm assuming the deal was sealed?

Every summer, after most of the TV shows my wife and I watch end their regular-season runs, I start descending the scroll-list of stuff we have recorded on our nearly full DVR.

The digital video recorder's hard drive, which holds about 30 hours of HD-quality programming (much more if it's not HD), is stuffed with old stand-up comedy specials we never watched, never-to-be-deleted cartoons for the kids, a handful of current programs that air in the summer like "Louie" and "Children's Hospital," and some movies we didn't care about enough to rent but which were worth recording when they aired on cable.

But the bulk of what's there right now, in these hot summer months of reruns and reality shows, are very, very old programs that were easy to cast aside in the fall and spring.

I make it my mission to catch up in the summer on a lot of that programming, deleting as I go, clearing up space before our other shows start up again in August and September.

There's that royal wedding, which was recorded in the wee hours of a Friday months ago. I hear it was kind of a big deal. I would hope so: It takes up a whopping six HD hours on our DVR. I'm beginning to have my doubts that it will ever be watched, but I'm also curious about those interesting hats I heard so much about and that kiss on the balcony I missed.

Maybe it's worth experiencing something even if everyone else who gushed over it at the time has moved on.

In that way, all those neglected programs on the DVR are a bit like a time portal, a way of experiencing life as it was (at least on TV) weeks, months or years ago.

Among my DVR's contents are about half a season of "Saturday Night Live." The "Weekend Update" segment, viewed now, reminds me how obsessed the country was with former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O' Donnell. Was it witchcraft everyone was fired up about? The jokes would seem to suggest as much. Huh. I'd forgotten all about that.

And those easy punchlines from last year about Amy Winehouse's drug use don't seem that funny any more. (Were they really funny at the time? I may never know.)

There's three full seasons of "Breaking Bad" on the DVR that I promised myself I'd catch up on before Season 4 started this month. That didn't happen -- I'm still in the middle of Season 2 -- but a pleasant bonus has been imagining how viewers reacted at the time the episodes originally aired.

I can go online and find the Internet record of recaps, reviews and even archived tweets about each episode.

I might miss the thrill of being part of the discussion of a buzzed-about show while it's airing (also on our DVR: the full first seasons of "Game of Thrones" and "Boardwalk Empire"), but I can watch at my own pace, marathoning through two or three episodes at a time, as you might with a DVD set.

For old episodes of shows like "The Office" and "Modern Family," which we let stack up when time was short, there's the pleasure of also seeing commercials for movies that arrived, bombed at the box office, hastily moved on to a DVD afterlife and which we can now probably catch on HBO.

And there are the sometimes-tragic ads for new TV shows that have already been cancelled after a short run. So long, "The Cape" and "Mad Love," shows we never even knew had arrived.

Maybe our household is unusual and other DVR owners don't have such squirrel-like tendencies, storing up a stockpile of TV for the barren months. But given that we're a nation of hoarders (as I learned from another DVR'd show, "Hoarders"), and that about 40.5 million homes have digital video recorders, according to research firm Magnaglobal, I bet we're not that unique.

I bet there are a lot of people reliving the past, time-shifting into another era.

According to a report from the Nielsen Co. from late last year, 88% of DVR owners watch their recorded shows within three days of recording.

That leaves 12% of us who regularly engage in lengthier time warping, reliving the TV past with a sage knowledge of the present. The only downside: The onus is on us to be ever-vigilant in avoiding spoilers for the programs we've yet to watch.