There is a new i-Dog in town and he is bigger and badder than his older canine siblings. The new i-Dog Dance sports some new moves including the ability to stand on his hind legs when dancing. Out of the box he comes trained to obey eight commands, including “stay”, “stand” and “dance!” Give him a little tap on his face and he’ll respond by standing up. Scrolling up or down on his face lets you control the volume. Some of the other controls include pressing the lower left LED light so that he’ll tap his foot or getting him to dance by sliding your finger clockwise.

The i-Dog also features stereo sound output. Like his predecessors, the i-Dog Dance will respond to music played nearby or you can connect him to an audio device using the included 3.5mm cable, which incidentally works with the first gen iphone – in case you were wondering. And also like his predecessors – he requires attention and care. If you don’t pet him enough and treat him to music, he’ll get sick and display a green / yellow light pattern that doesn’t play his usual cheerful musical riff. On the other hand the more you do give him attention the more he’ll dance.

Overall, the new i-Dog Dance’s design is less curvy and more geometrically styled than previous i-Dogs. He’s also significantly bigger, which means more room for more powerful stereo speakers on his face and his back side. We love his new dance move – standing on his back legs, and that if you tap his face he’ll stand for you on the spot. He’s...

We got our hands on the new drool worthy Nikon D90, you know that DSLR that everyone has been talking about because of it’s unique features like Live View and the ability to record HD video. Here are some hardly cinematic sample videos that we took using the D90. Our initial thoughts – the camera takes beautiful pictures, as expected. The video is pretty awesome as well, but it totally lacks in the image stabilization area – if you plan on shooting something serious with it, you’ll definitely need a tripod. We had just unboxed it in Bryant Park, when miss Desperate Housewife herself, Eva Longoria, walked by with a trail of paparazzi attacking her. Check out the gallery below for unboxing photos as well as photos of Eva using Auto on the D90. Click here if you desire the full blown high-res versions of Eva.

Update: We...

We reviewed the Maxtor Shared Storage II a while back, which is essentially the predecessor to the the new Maxtor Central Axis. One of our biggest gripes with the Maxtor Shared Storage II was its complicated set-up and software interface, which luckily the new Maxtor Central Axis improves upon greatly. Another feature that we longed for was the ability to access files on the NAS over the internet, which the Maxtor Central Axis now brings to the plate. We also appreciate the Maxtor Central Axis’s much sleeker and modern design that wont put off Mac owners, such as ourselves. Unfortunately the new Maxtor Central Axis doesn’t support two hard hard drives in Raid configuration like the Shared Storage II did, but the 1TB of storage should be ample enough to back up all of the computers on most people’s home networks. Plus the Maxtor Central Axis has support for connecting external hard drives via USB.

If you reside in the USA this game won’t be helpful  but if you live in the UK it might be. Driving Theory Training published by Atari UK for the Nintendo DS gives players a chance to practice, take virtual driving tests on highway codes and theory. It was designed for those who need a little extra push to pass their written or road driving test. The questions that the game poses to the player  are actual Q&A’s from the “Driving Standards Agency.” It is certainly a very rigorous game and yet when I went to the UK the drivers weren’t all that great…

Well how sexy and retro is this? The Phonofone II – Limited Edition Black is designed by Tristan Zimmerman with only 200 pieces available for sale. Talk about bringing the past into the future. It may look like another iPod speaker dock in the shape of a Victrola but you would be wrong this time. It absolutely uses no power except the power of your iPod Classic or iPod Touch to amplify music through the horn part of the Phonofone II at 55 decibels. The iPod Nano or shuffle won’t be powerful enough to amplify the Phonofone II and it is suggested to use an inline headphone amplifier if you insist on using it. It’s perfect for Blues, Classical, and Folk music so forget listening to Rihanna through this thing. So in other words, the Phonofone II is not meant for a party of 100 but it sure goes nice with a cup of tea and a scone. The Phonofone II Limited Edition Black sells for $600 at Charles & Marie.

The Motorola ROKR E8 aka MOTOROKR is Motorola’s latest attempt at a good music phone. Personally, I’m sick of having to carry around a cellphone and an MP3 player. I refuse to join the the masses and get an iPhone, which we all know does it all. So I was hoping the MOTOROKR E8 would finally give me the best of both worlds. At first glance it was certainly different looking but let’s see if its looks translated into a decent music phone.

What’s in the Box:
Inside the box: The MOTOROKR E8, battery & charger, micro usb cable, stereo headset, 1GB MicroSD card, carrying pouch, CD, and user guides. I like the extra touch of a MicroSD card, it saves you from having to run out and get one right away.

I used to love my Little Professor Calculator back in the day from Texas Instruments…I guess I’m showing my age…But they just don’t make calculators fun anymore like they used too. Once you got passed Junior High, they all became boring Scientific Calculators with tons of buttons that I could never understand. However the Poseable Robot Calculator puts fun back in straight math! The 8 digit calculator has movable arms, will hold objects, a magnet for paperclips, and a detachable night light! The best part is you can pose it! Now this is certainly one calculator that will get all the your friends jealous when you head back to school or for adults make balancing your checkbook alot less painful…The poseable robot calculator can be found at fredflare for $18 and it comes in white, lime or blue.

All laptop bags have their perks. Rainebrooke’s Metro-Traveler offers the unique option to personalize your laptop bag via embroidery, or basically however you like, since it is made out of 600D Nylon on the exterior. This makes it a great buy for the college and under demographic who needs to get clever pins and Sharpee laden slogans out of their system. It has remarkable padding, a little under an inch thick, to protect laptops of the young and spontaneous (ie… clumsy). This is a lot like a backpack reincarnated into a laptop bag.

We have seen turntables before that convert LP’s to MP3 files before but this one takes the cake with its retro look. The Crosley Keepsake USB LP-Ripping Turntable easily plugs into your computer via USB  and then utilizing the included software you can rip your old LP to a digital format. The best part about this is your folks will think you actually went out an bought an old record player. It is made of solid wood, a metal and resin handle, and chrome snap closures so you can close it up and take it away like you could way back when.  The Keepsake also plays in 3 different speeds to support 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm records.  This is a great gift or just a great way to convert those old records easily. The Crosley Keepsake USB LP-Ripping Turntable can be found at Brookstone for $149.95 and comes in Tan or Black.

It’s a rarity for us to get excited about printers, but Epson’s new Artisan 800 and Artisan 700 are two of the slickest feature rich all-in-one printers we’ve seen in a long time. For starters, both the 700 and 800 are sporting a lovely piano black finish that makes them look good enough to be left in your living room if need be. Looks aside, the Artisan 800 features Wifi, an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), and Ultra Hi-Definition photos. But what makes the 800 really stand out of the pack is its 7.8″ smart touch panel  that lights up only the buttons necessary. For example, when faxing a document – you’ll only see the buttons related to Faxing. You can also use the touchscreen for selecting, copying, enlarging, rotating, cropping, and printing photos all without a computer. Another cool feature of the Artisan 800 is its ability to turn photos or drawings into personalized coloring book pages and make personal notepaper with a photo as a background.

The Olympics may be winding down but the Bird’s Nest craze is still running strong. If you thought the Bird’s Nest MP3 player or speaker was a bit much, than you’ll agree that this Bird’s Nest Cell Phone is overkill. The Imobile Phone V284 your standard GSM phone with the phone sports a 2.4 inch screen, bluetooth, a camera, and FM radio and all your standard features. But at $295 there is no reason to really want one unless you are just crazy for everything Olympic.

Memorex’s SimpleSave Photo & Video Back-Up Disc is a smart and super cheap way to easily back up your photos and videos. For the fraction of the cost of an external hard drive, you can pop one of the SimpleSave discs in to your computer and they will automatically back up and burn a disc with all your photos and videos. It’s dead simple, no software is required and it costs just $14.99 for a 5 pack. The only thing that is bothering us is that this technology is very similiar to Clickfree. So who copied who?

The sleeveless and somewhat stylish NuMetrex Heart Sensing Racer Tank has special electronic sensing technology integrated directly in to its fabric that monitors your heart rate. A tiny transmitter snaps into a pocket in the shelf bra to send data to a compatible heart rate monitor wrist watch, a cardio machine or other monitoring device.  The Tank comes in several colors including coral, white and black and it is made of quick drying nylon Lycra with a second-skin fit. Ok, sounds good and all but why you want to wear a shirt like this? For starters, by being aware of your heart rate can tell if you whether you are not exercising hard enough to burn fat or if you are exercising so hard that it’s dangerous.

One day, some unlucky soul is going to discover that they just erased some really important photos off of their camera’s memory card – without having backed them up first. And if you end up being that poor soul, you’ll want to be prepared by downloading Exif Untrasher. Exif Untrasher recovers JPEG images even after they have been deleted or your memory card has been formatted. There is actually a good amount of memory card recovery software out there, but most will cost you at-least $20 to $50 a pop. On the other hand, Exif Trasher is totally free. Unfortunately it’s only Mac compatible. Anyone know of a good alternative for PC or Linux folks?

Lexie Barnes is back with a new line of boldly feminine laptop bags.  We reviewed the Echo bag last year with great applause and this year’s Echo bag does not disappoint either.  Often times we find laptop bags being slapped into some awkward shade of pink like a tomboy shoved into a Sunday school dress. Lexie’s collections don’t follow suit.  They exude a vibrant flow of style and color, while incorporating utility with ease.

The Echo bags come in 3 different colors- Utopia, Pacifica, and Diablo.  We received the Diablo. Although this name may make you think of fiery red colors, don’t be fooled.  It really should be named Diabla (with the feminine ending), to show its swirly daring scarlet and deep purple designs.  It is bound to get some conversations started when you are out and about. 

Baby-G gave us a special preview of some of their hot new upcoming  for the Fall and Holidays season. For those of you not familiar with Baby G, Baby G is the “sister” watch to Casio’s G-Shock . You know, those tough as hell watches that you can drop a few stories on to the floor – and still manage to live to tell the tale. Click on the gallery images to find out more about the new models.

The new BG180SG-8 ($89) and BG5600SG ($79) have a sporty yet girly design going for them with their grey/pink coloring. They are both shock resistant, 100m water resistant and they have a LED light, they support world time in 48 cities, they both have a 1/100 sec Stopwatch and the BG5600 also features a multifunction alarm with 5 daily alarms.

The X-files 2 movie… I so wanted to believe but I guess no one else did. Sadly this is one X-file Mulder and Scully won’t be able to solve – as to why their movie tanked in the box office. Even if it did involve some Bat and a Joker. But hope is not lost and for those few out there who still at heart will always be an X-Philies, there is the X-files Limited Edition Black and White 8GB iPod Nanos and Black and White 80GB Classic iPods. All four of them come with a different etching on the back marketing the movie that was. The Classic iPod will set you back $329 and the Nano version $269. The truth is still out there, in your wallets.

Have you ever wanted to color coordinate your iPhone to your outfit…no? Well now you can. More-thing.com is selling all the colors of the rainbow in a 10 pack of silicon cases made for the iPhone 3G.  All cases are durable and tear resistant with openings for LCD screen, headset, and dock connector. The whole thing will cost you $69.99, that is the price of a premium iPhone case in some stores.

We’ve seen all kinds of software over the years, but software that wants to replace Prozac? Optimism software, designed for both Mac and PC is a unique app that charts your lifestyle and helps you pinpoint causes for your bouts of depression so that you can eliminate and reduce those causes. “The program is an advanced health and mood diary. It helps you discover the things that trigger your depressive episodes, the symptoms that they produce, and based on this knowledge, effective strategies for staying mentally well. Its great strengths are its charts and report, which together give you a visual “birds-eye view” for identifying the important cause and effect relationships. Many people discover, when looking back over their health records, that their depressive episodes have been quite predictable.” Anyway, the reviews for this app are pretty good and for $19.95 it can’t hurt to try it? Depression is no joke, and as skeptical as we are about the idea of using software to fight depression – it cant be that crazy an idea, after all – computers do make US happy.

After testing the beats by dr. dre last week, it was pretty much settled that there would be nothing else that could compare, it basically accomplished everything you could want out of an expensive pair of headphones. However when was I was asked to review Atomic Bass from Radius, I was taken by the fact that for small earphones it claimed to also deliver excellent bass perfectly suited for Hip-Hop and Dance music. Was this a joke or was I going to be surprised…. I was about to find out.

When it comes to making international calls, U.S. carriers charge you an arm and a leg. For most, it just pays to get a calling card with cheap international rates. But most of are lazy and who wants to have to enter a pin each time they make a phone call? That is what makes Gorilla Mobile so unique – the service offers you great international rates, the likes of which you would find on a calling card, but you’ll never have to enter a pin each time you make a phone call. All you have to do is call the Gorilla Mobile number from your cell phone (or landline phone) and then dial the international number. You’ll be billed per minute directly to your credit card, so that also means you don’t have to buy prepaid phone cards in advance of the phone call. Gorilla Mobile costs just $5.95 a year to use. So what is the catch? The only thing to be hesitant about is that we don’t see much feedback from customers online, but if Gorilla Mobile is true to what they advertise, this will be a must-use service if you make a lot of international calls.

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