Binary Ibiza Ride RB Wristwatch Tells Time, I Think

If you found telling time on one of those Movado watches without the hours denoted on the face a pain, than you might find telling time on this watch just as confusing. The Binary Ibiza Ride RB tells time by displaying colorful diodes. With a press of a button it will even tell you the date as well. The style of the watch is perfect for any hipster geek (now isn’t that an oxymoron). However if I had this watch and someone asked me the time, I wouldn’t know what to tell them…hmm.

Smile, You Have a Tooth Tattoo

I’m not crazy about tattoos. Yes I’m very well aware that they are fashion statement, a statement of rebellion, or just a reminder of that night you got drunk. But anyway you shape it, I’m not crazy about them - they are so, eh, permanent?. So it startled me to come across the desire for someone to want to tattoo their teeth. Yes, you heard me - your teeth. A gentlemen by the name of Steve Heward who is a dental technician as well as a trained tattoo artist, will gladly paint on your crown a famous politician, artist or animal. Basically whatever you desire on your already expensive tooth. He claims to be tattooing teeth since the 80’s and it will take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour depending on the artwork. It can easily be removed at the dentist’s office with a rubber grinding wheel. Well, atleast no laser is involved. Prices range from $75 to $500 and you will be sent a certificate with your crown to prove it’s a pedigree. I have to say, this is a whole different kind of toothfairy…

Surfs Up with Burtons Snowboard USB Flash Drive

Though we can barely balance ourselves on a skateboard for 5 seconds, forget about an actual surf or snowboard, we love Burtons clothing and accessories. Luckily they are now producing some boards that are safe enough for geeks like us to operate. ACP-EP Memory and Burton have teamed up to produce some stylin 2GB snowboards. There is the colorful Feelgood drive for $19.99, an unnamed but pretty black/ white / red version for $29.99 and the slick black Vapor for $29.99. Personally, we like the cheaper Feelgood one. We’re suckers for colorful GADGETS.

Sneakart Makes Your Sneakers a Walking Custom Sticker

If you just can’t find the right pair of sneakers that you are looking for at Foot Locker, maybe you should design them yourself. Sneakart allows you to create your own artwork, that they inturn will manufacture into stickers for your sneakers. You can also upload designs for others to purchase and make royalities on every sale. The stickers aka Sneakskin is supposedly waterproof and can be removed without leaving residue on your sneakers. Prices are reasonable and they will ship outside the UK…YAY! So for all those who had stickerbooks when you were young, here is your chance to recreate in on your sneakers.

Oakley’s O ROKR PRO MP3 Bluetooth Sunglasses Review

The likelihood of water mixing with oil is very improbable because of the chemical composition of both of these liquids; Equate that same theory with the infamous internationally renown Oakley eye wear giant and one of the top telecommunication icons, Motorola teaming up and perhaps you’re left scratching your head.

However, in as far as technology is concerned, these two companies have managed to blend high end eye wear with hands free bluetooth wireless technology, with the O ROKR PRO sunglasses ($249). Oakley eye wear is widely known for it’s exacting durability and craftsmanship and sets the standard by which all other sporting and leisure eye wear companies emulate (think professional cyclist Lance Armstrong and more than a few professional baseball players that have several pair of Oakley’s in their collection).

[Read more]

Hidden Camera Neck Tie for 007 Dads

Who has a dad that doesn’t love James Bond? This Father’s Day get your pops a gift that would be fit for 007 himself. The Hidden Camera Neck Tie hides a high resolution color camera. High res, as in 768 x 492 - which isn’t too shabby for such a miniscule camera. The camera can be connected to a Pocket DVR. Ok, so it is kind of pricey at $209, but it’s a heck of a lot cooler than that tie you were going to buy him anyway.

Oakley Split THUMP MP3 Sunglasses Review

The Split THUMP from Oakley is another addition to the Oakley THUMP family of sunglasses with built-in MP3 Players. I for one was never a fan of the original THUMP. I felt they were extremely masculine looking and certainly would not be considered very attractive on any woman. The Split THUMP however is a more softer, unisex approach with the original concept in mind but this time the design is a little more woman friendly.

Design:
At first glance the Oakley Split THUMP is a bit less severe in style compared to the other sunglasses in this line. They are styled as a high end pair of sunglasses which could easily pass as a pair of D&G or Gucci’s. However, the frames are on the large size and will probably not look good on petite female faces, then again, large frames are very in style this summer. The glasses come in several different Frames/Lens: Polished Black with Warm Grey lens, Polished Black with Grey Polarized lens, Crystal Black with Black Iridium lens, and lastly Brown Smoke with Dark Bronze Lens. We got to review the Polished Black with Warm Grey lens with 1GB of storage. There is a 2GB version of the same pair. The stems of the sunglasses have the controls for the Built-in MP3 Player. The right stem has the Power/Play/Skip/Pause controls. The left stem has the volume controls. When you take off the stickers that depict the functions on each arm you either better memorize it before throwing the stickers away or the only other way to see what the functions are is to take the glasses off and to look at the opposite side of the arm where the functions are lasered into the plastic.

The Split THUMP are unique because not only can you use them as a MP3 player but you can choose to use them as a stand alone pair of regular sunglasses by removing the speakers (ear pieces). The speakers are removable and can easily be snapped into place or removed depending on what you plan on using them for that day. In addition, the eyewear is designed to be sweat resistant, so that no sweat lines will form around the frames of the glasses. This is one pair of glasses that aims to do everything and a bag of chips. But onwards to see if it lives up to all the hype.

Setup/Installation:
Oakley’s Split THUMP comes with a USB cable which connects via a USB port under the right arm of the sunglasses. The USB cable not only sync’s music or transfers data files from your computer to your glasses but it also charges them as well when connected to a computer. A full charge the battery will last 8 hours, certainly enough time for a long jog or a bicycle ride. I tested the Split THUMP first on my Mac. After connecting the Split THUMP, in a few seconds it was available as a device to drop music files into. The Split THUMP does not support .m4p formats but it will support AAC (Non DRM), MP3, WMA, and WAV. Unsuprisingly, it won’t sync with iTunes either. When I opened up iTunes, it didn’t pick it up as a MP3 device for iTunes. The Split THUMP operates as a typical Flash Drive that you can drop music files onto when you use it with the Mac. For me it wasn’t really a deal breaker since I’m not a huge fan of iTunes anyway. However the web site advertises that iTunes Plus files will work with the Thumps, which is another way of saying that DRM free AAC music files purchased from iTunes can play on the Split THUMP.

I then moved over to my PC which is running Win XP Pro ( gave up on Vista) again it was a pretty simple setup. I attached the sunglasses to my PC via the USB and it was picked up automatically and installed. Windows Media Player was the only media player I had installed on the PC so it became the default player for the Split THUMP. When working with PCs, the Split THUMP also supports AAC, MP3, WMA and WAV as well. It picked it up right away and listed it as a device I could sync with. I sync’d a few songs and it did it very easily with no problems at all, I let Windows Media Player handle it. For both Mac and PC computers, I didn’t need to download any device driver software or have to use an installation CD. It was a very simple and painless install as well as transferring music on to the glasses.

Wearability / Interface:
As we said earlier the control buttons are located on the stems of the sunglasses and are very simple to control. To turn on the sunglasses to use the MP3 player you have to hold down the “play” button and it will turn on. The same can be said when you want to turn them off. By a simple touch of any of the buttons you can easily operate the glasses. The tricky part is the removable speakers. You snap them into place on either stem if you want to listen to the music while wearing the sunglasses or remove them if you want to use them as just a plain pair of sunglasses. The speakers when snapped into the glasses are adjustable to fit comfortably in your ears. It took a few tries for me to fit them in my ears to hear the music and not look like total dork or the glasses looking crooked on my face. The speakers contort very nicely, it just takes a bit of playing around till you feel comfortable with them in your ears with the frames on your face. For me the stems were never behind my ear when I had the speakers in my ear. The stems rested just a little above my ears and just below my temples. Since I have long hair it was easy to cover up but for women with shorter cuts it may look strange to the average passerby. As a plain pair of glasses I was surprised that the Split THUMP didn’t really keep the sun out of my eyes all that well… for those who like very dark sunglasses, they indeed are just average. Personally I like my sunglasses to have shades as dark as possible, so maybe I am a harsh critique. On the other hand, one of our other editors thought that it was just right.

Sound Quality:
I was delightfully surprised when listening to music on the Split THUMP. Honestly I thought it was not going to be that great. But it wasn’t bad at all. There are no EQ or Bass/Treble options, basically you have to make sure to transfer decent quality MP3’s over to the glasses and it will play well. Also if you adjust the speakers in your ear you get to hear more or less bass. The music experience was definitely above par compared to some earbuds we have reviewed in the past. Unfortunately after an hour I started to get a headache and the speakers became uncomfortable. However I will give this disclaimer, I’m not a fan of earbuds at all as I wear traditional headphones for music devices so I could just not be used to it. But in regards to the sound quality and performance of the overall MP3 player part of the sunglasses, it was fine and the audio experience was good quality.

Conclusion:
For those training for the Olympics or cross training for a Triathlon these are certainly sunglasses for you. You won’t have to deal with wires and you will have a pair of sporty looking sunglasses on. Prices range from $249 to $399 depending on the storage capacity you choose for your Split THUMP. For the average consumer this is certainly a luxury item and at least for women they are nicer than the regular THUMP sunglasses. However for most folks this will never be an iPod replacement but certainly a cool gadget that will make your friends jealous and epitomize your geekiness.

The Good: A female friendly design, good sound quality, removable speakers means that they can be used as a plain pair of sunglasses, can drop data files as well as songs on to glasses.

The Bad: Gets uncomfortable after a while with speaker buds, lens could be darker.

Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism Fashion Phone Review

The Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism is a fashion phone with a truly unique style the likes we haven’t seen anywhere else. The Crystal Prism is special edition of the 7900 Prism phone that has been designed in partnership with French designer Frederique Daubal who designed special accessories and wallpapers especially for the Crystal Prism. Like most of Nokia’s other model running Nokia’s S40 5th Edition, the OS on the Nokia Prism is easy to use, fast and responsive. The 7900 also features an OLED 240×320 display that is really easy on the eyes, very colorful and is very much a pleasure to use. It even makes watching videos and viewing pictures bare-able despite the screen being relatively small for that sort of thing.

Multimedia:
Listening to music with the supplied earphones is a pleasant experience with good sound quality. The phone also supports Bluetooth with A2DP so alternatively you could pair with a wireless pair of headphones. The music player on the phone supports MP3/AAC/eAAC+/WMA formats with skins and album art, is compatible with windows media player, and promises to last for up to 9 hours. The phone has 1GB of internal memory which makes the Prism a capable music phone as well. As for video playback, the Crystal Prism supports a nice selection of QCIF, 3GPP, H.263, and MPEG-4 codecs and formats. Playback was smooth, but it’s no iPod Touch experience.

Camera:
Inside the Crystal Prism is a 2 megapixel camera which takes pictures that are ok, pretty much on par with your standard camera phone photography. Notably the camera does have a 8x digital zoom and even a flash, which many phones do lack. The phone is also capable of recording “DVD Quality” video using the H.264 codec. Again, the quality of the video recording was pretty average, really more suitable for outdoors where there is sunlight. DVD quality really means that it is high res enough to be put on a DVD without distortion. Unfortunately there is no dedicated camera button, so taking a photo will mean that you have to fumble through menus first. However, that isn’t a deal breaker for me personally. You have to remember that this is a fashion phone, not a Nokia N95 power machine. And as a fashion phone, it is overall well rounded.

Applications:
Although the 7900 Crystal Prism is a long call from a smartphone, it does sport a nice feature set and even comes preloaded with great mobile apps like Yahoo Go and Widsets. The phone also comes with standard apps like an alarm clock, stopwatch, a calculator and you a few good games like Golf Tour and Snake III. Of course you can always download more at your leisure.

The 7900 Crystal Prism has Opera Mini running on it which is pretty much the best web surfing experience you can get on a non-smartphone. The phone is 3G capable so if you have access to 3G service, browsing is sure to be a good experience. Unfortunately we tested it on T-mobile’s network which is limited to Edge and complex web sites did take a while to load. But at least you aren’t limited to old fashioned WAP! The 7900 Crystal Prism also supports SMS, MMS and Email (POP/IMAP/SMTP). This ain’t no Blackberry service but it does the job well and pulls each of your email accounts in to a separate box.

What’s in the box:
Inside the box, headphones are included as well as a matching shimmery purple carrying case, a poster, and a matching scarf. Yes, a scarf / shawl / bandanna of a sort - Looks like they went all out.

Call Quality:
Reception on the 7900 Crystal Prism was spectacular. In areas where my iPhone could only pick up one bar or no bars at all, the Prism had full bars. Call quality was very good as well. Even the speakerphone quality is great. I was told by people on the other end of the line that they couldn’t tell the difference when I was on or off the speakerphone. Unfortunately the Prism lacks dedicated volume buttons which you do miss when you need to quickly change the volume according to the environment. Battery life was also good. The phone lasted for a few days, albeit with relatively light use. The phone is Quadband GSM and supports wCDMA which means it will work well as a phone for globe trotters.

Construction:
The phone is slim, and weighs just the right amount at at 101 grams 93.6 ounces), making it comfortable to hold and carry around. Unfortunately the keypad on the 7900 is a bit disorienting because the keys are made of triangular shapes. However it’s really not that bad and is far from the worst keypad we’ve ever used, it just takes a bit getting used too. I guess you can say it’s the price you pay for fashion, since its very original keypad layout is done in such a way to match the unique design of the phone.
We do have another gripe with the construction of the phone. While the phone does appear to be well made overall, removing the battery and sim card proved to be an arduous chore. Once you slip in the battery and sim card, you can’t remove the sim card without removing the battery first. And it gets worse - removing the battery is super frustrating. There is no way to easily slip it out. We had to use a thin piece of plastic to pluck it out whilst holding it over a mattress so that the battery would land on a soft surface.

Special Features:
The 7900 Crystal Prism boasts a special feature called “living wallpaper” which is wallpaper that is supposed to change dynamically according to the time of day, battery life and signal strength which is supposed to result in a unique color scheme for each individual phone. We weren’t so impressed with this feature but we loved its special keypad backlighting feature which lets you choose from 49 colors. Match the keypad color with wallpaper and you have one hot fashionista phone.

Pricing:
The Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism is somewhat pricey at around $499 to $550 USD. Unfortunately we don’t see it available yet in many US stores - even ones that sell unlocked phones and imports.

Conclusion:
The Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism is a well rounded fashion phone that with the exception of the somewhat oddly designed keyboard and lack of dedicated volume and camera buttons, doesn’t sacrifice much form over function. For those looking for a leisure phone for nights out on the town, or those not in to smartphones but you value good looks and a solid feature set, we’re confident that you’ll be happy with the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism.

The Good: Very stylish, easy to use phone, well rounded feature set, great reception
The Bad: Unique keypad layout is a bit disorienting, Removing the battery and SIM Card is way too difficult, lack of dedicated volume and camera buttons

Ex-BoyfriendJewelry.com Lets You Unload Unwanted Memories

Did you just get out of a bad relationship but managed to hold on to some of the bling that you obtained during the relationship? You’re not giving it back to him, so why not sell it. Ex-BoyfriendJewelry.com lets you buy, sell, and trade the unwanted jewels. And the site also gives you the opportunity to rant about the bozo who gave you the jewelry. “I’m selling this to pay off the jewelry account my fiance opened in my name FOR ANOTHER WOMAN!! MEN!!” (Source: People, May 26th 2008)

G-Shock Celebrates 25 Years, Intros More Tough As Hell Watches

What could be considered the Academy Awards of watches, Casio kicked off their 25 year celebration of their G-Shock line with a red carpet gala. Sure people were there from the music and fashion industry, and many came to see Mr. Kanye West (more on that later) and Spike Lee whom are both big fans of G-Shock. To us though the stars of the show were the watches and after everyone showed their admission bracelets (in the likeness of a G-Shock watch) for entry and settled in to their seats for the press conference, that is when the fun started. Casio gave a brief history of how the line was created with a very cute slideshow of images. G-Shock watches from the past, present and future flashed in front of us. They also startled us by dropping a bundle of watches from the 30 foot (or so) ceiling on to the floor of the stage. Then they introduced Spike Lee as an “icon of street culture” and as well as a collaborator on a short film celebrating G-Shock’s 25th anniversary. The presentation concluded with the newest additions to the G-Shock line were introduced:

Toughness and Beauty
Two watches introduced were the MTG 1000 and GIEZ /GS -1100 geared towards the more high end rugged customer who is not afraid to wear a tough durable watch with a suit. Both are sophisticated designs that are not only sporty but professional. MTG 1000 retails for $400 and the GIEZ/GS -1100 retails for $300.

Extreme Conditions
Four watches were introduced with the the extreme sportsman or woman in mind.

RISEMAN, is a watch that is for the aviator in all of us or world traveler. No matter were you go around the country your watch will always be the first to know what time it is. With its built in Multiband 6 Atomic Timekeeping Technology, calibrating anywhere around the world by connecting to one of the 6 worldwide transmitting towers your watch will automatically change its time. It will never know what jet lag is. MSRP $220 and Available in Macy’s in June.

GULFMAN, the watch the Tin Man could love. For those that may find themselves in more damp/moist conditions than other folks which could lead to rust, may like the fact that the GULFMAN watch is completely rust resistant and is made of titanium parts that eliminate rust. No need for any WD-40 here. Pricing and Availability TBD

MUDMAN, is for the Dirt Bike rider or Miner. MUDMAN is resistant to all dirt, mud, and dust. SO go get yourself real dirty cause even if you can’t see the time from all the filth you got yourself into, your watch will still be working. Pricing and Availability TBD

FROGMAN, probably pretty obvious from the name, FROGMAN is meant for those who are Scuba divers or others who plan at least 200 meters worth of diving. You may get all prune like and soaked and tired but your watch will just keep tick/tocking along. Pricing and Availability TBD

Commemorating their 25th Anniversary, two new watches were released in May. The new GWM5625E-7 and GW225E-7 models are both white and feature the classic designs of the original G-SHOCK model of yesteryear with a few more bells and whistles. The GWM5625E-7 will retail for $150 and the GW225E-7 will retails for $350.

Heirs to the Thrown

Finally 4 new models were introduced that are more colorful and substantially more stylish than the original G-Shock from the early 80’s. Coming in the colors white, red, pink, and yellow, these new heirs to the G-Shock throne will spice things up with their vibrant colors and trendy designs. Perfect for those hipsters and females who dig G-Shock durability. Pricing and Availability TBD.

Overall the event was really exciting and showcased what Casio has in store for us this year and beyond. They are certainly looking forward to pushing G-Shock for another 25 yrs. A focal point of the event was of course Kanye and how he was going rock the house. We waited for over 2 hours for him to show and eventually gave up. Perhaps he left his G-Shock at home.

Mosquito Proof Jacket is a lot Less Smellier Than Bug-Off

If you’re planning on traveling to a warm climate this summer, and chances are that you are, than you probably know that Bug-Off is something not to leave behind. Or you could drop the Bug-Off all together and get this Mosquito-Proof jacket from Napapijiri. The jacket is waterproof and also coated with a “secret concoction of chemicals” that will keep those nasty vampire insects off of you. We’ll take one in pink. The jacket retails for 155GBP. (Source: Stuff Mag, May ‘08)

Electric Light Shoe Sneaker Has Tokyo Inside Of It

What’s the city of Tokyo doing packed inside a sneaker? Onitsuka Tiger, a major Japanese footwear brand hired the designers at Freedom of Creation to create a miniature city inside an illuminated show. The result is a meter long sneaker complete with an airport, billboards and Japanese cultural icons called the “Electric Light Shoe“. The shoe will be touring Onitsuko Tiger stores through out the year and they have even produced a USB key sized light-up version of the sneaker in case you wish you could take it home yourself. [Read more]

Adjustable High Heel Shoes Make You Shorter or Taller On the Go

For all the ladies who need to wear a nice pair of heels to work but by the end of the day wish you could wear something more comfortable, and for those women who may be too tall or too short for that hot date, these are the shoes for you. Camileon Heels is a company that makes shoes that have adjustable heels. Available in all different styles, heels can be adjusted from 1 1/2 to 3 1/4. Wear the shoes with just enough heel to look professional and then extend it at night for that after work cocktail party. The shoe is easily adjustable and tries to hide the extended part of the heel underneath the shoe. Prices range from $210 and upwards and are all made from Italian Napa leather. So the next time you snap a heel in your fancy Louboutin’s consider getting a shoe that could have prevented that for half the money. Skeptical? Dvice has a full review of Camileon Heels, complete with a video.

Dress up as a Cell Phone or Credit Card Next Halloween

If anyone wants to start preparing for Halloween costumes. I suggest you check this site out, buycostumes.com. Some of the outfits that stick out for us is the cell phone costume for guys (flip version) and kids (candy bar version). Obviously this place doesn’t think woman use cellphones since it is not available for them. But you can always dress up as a credit card instead.

Philip Stein Watches May Ease your Stress and More

I love watches, I can’t pass buy a watch counter or Tourneau without popping in to see what latest editions from Raymond Weil, TAG Heuer, or Cartier. However until recently I never heard of Philip Stein Luxury Watches. Not only are they pretty to look at, they will make you feel good and not by just wearing them. Based on frequency technology or what they call “Teslar Technology” that turns negative energy received through everyday stress and electronic pollution into something calming for a better peace of mind and overall better health. There are testimonials on the site saying how this watch saved their life. I love watches more than anyone but I can’t imagine it making me feel better, other than it would look pretty nice on my wrist. Available in a lots of different styles, wrist band colors, etc…check it out, you may actually not feel anxious the next time you look at your wrist for the time.

A Little Parched, Grab a Sandal

If you get a little thirsty as you stride along the beach, instead of lugging around another bottle of water just fill your sandals with a cold beverage. The Reef Dram Sandal from Swell features a flask in the footbed with a screw cap. You can only open it with the Reef’s exclusive opener. Unfortunately the design is not all that feminine, which I think stinks. Are only men thirsty when walking around?! [Read more]

Say You Love Her with Recycled Mac Jewerly

What have some people done with all those old keyboards from Mac since the newer slim aluminum keyboards came out, use them for jewelry of course! Acorn Studios has released a Mac-Girl Set that features a “Return” key keychain, “Delete” and ‘Help” earrings, and “M A C” keys as a pendant on a necklace. If you want this set act fast because it’s a limited edition with only two sets available. I guess that was all the keyboards they had…

Taaz Lets You Try Out New HairStyles & Makeup Virtually

We can’t remember the name of it, but years ago there was some cutting edge makeover software for the time, which lets you take your photo and try out different hairstyles and makeup colors on yourself - without actually having to really try it yourself. Now a new web-based service is doing just that, for free. Taaz lets you upload your photo and then try out different hairstyles as well as different makeup combinations for your skin, eyes, and mouth. Afterwards you can print out the experiment or share it with your friends. But the coolest part about printing it out is that Taaz will supply you with a detailed shopping list of what you just applied to your virtual face, so that you can go out and buy the products on your own. (Source: WebWare)

iBoxers for Girls Stores Your iPod in a Very Safe Place

When it comes to fashion meeting technology, we’ve seen a whole assortment of iPod compatible clothing - hats, caps, jackets, t-shirts, gloves - just about everything you need to make a complete outfit. But what overkill iPod outfit would be complete without boxers? Play Underwear’s aptly named iBoxers, are not only available for men but for women as well. The boxers are specially designed with a pocket to hold your iPod, other MP3 player or cell phone. They are available in a choice of prints or colors such as pink, black, white, turquoise, or yellow and they retail for $19.

O’neill h4 Audio Beanie Keeps the Music Going in the Cold

Designed for snow boarders, the O’neill H4 Audio Beanie is a winter cap that securely hides integrated headphones inside of it. The earphones are molded in to the beanie’s earflaps and feature a covering cap that promises to enhance audio quality while protecting you from the harsh cold. And of course, the H4 Audio Beanie can be connected to most audio devices - including the ipod, via a 3.5mm output connector. But not everyone snowboards, yet lots of us do live in cold climates, so this beanie is useful for everyone. The beanie is available in many styles and colors for both men and women. There is even a pink one for girly girls. The O’neill h4 Audio Beanie retails for £34.00.

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