Gizmodo

Panasonic Thinks You Want an iPod Dock With Your MW-10 Photo Frame [Photo Frame]

Jason Chen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:54:47 -0500

The only way companies are making photo frames appetizing now is to combine them with other devices, and in Panasonics MW-10, they shove an iPod dock and speakers into it.

The thing has a 9-inch display, SD slot, 4GB of internal memory and USB connectivity. It'll be $300, which is expensive enough that you might want to get a photo frame, iPod dock and speakers separately. Those components will probably perform better than this all-in-one anyway. [Pr Newswire via Engadget]

Your Deteriorating Internal Organs, Reduced to an Xbox Game [Thiscyborglife]

John Herrman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:40:00 -0500

3D medical imagery has always been fascinating to me: generating 3D models from film footage is still a fledgling tech, while medical professionals render guts on a daily basis. And sometimes, apparently, connected to Xbox controllers.

Researchers at Iowa State University have designed software that can quickly and simply render a detailed 3D model of a patient's MRI and CAT scan results. The software, called BodyViz, claims two core advantages over similar technologies: It's easier to use, and it's set up to use with an Xbox 360 controller out of the box because, let's face it, to the latest crop of med school grads, old-school mice and trackballs are lame, bro.

Add a couple of stock FPS weapons, hook this thing up to some robotic arms with knives, fire up the laparoscope and bam: surgery, revolutionized. [IA State via BoingBoing]

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

AMD's Atom-Mauling Bobcat and High-End Bulldozer Chips [Amd]

matt buchanan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:39:14 -0500

Sure, AMD's sorta reveling in getting handed $1.25 billion by Intel, but more importantly, they've just revealed the future of AMD chips: The promised Atom competitor Bobcat, and a new high-end architecture called Bulldozer.

Bobcat's a low power chip at Atom, like for netbooks, that can run using less than 1W of power. It'll be manufactured using a 32nm process. It's not hitting until 2011 though, and as Ars' Jon Stokes points out, by then Intel will have been at 32nm with Atom for a while, and already close to going to 22nm.

Bulldozer is AMD's new server architecture, also, slated for 2011 which uses a new design with two "tightly linked cores" as the heart. You can read about it in way more detail over at Ars, though for now, Stokes says it's still hard to tell how competitive they're going to be with Intel's 2011 lineup. Guess we'll see. [Ars, Image via Michele Eve/Flickr]

Intelligent Learning Retinal Implants to Adapt to Real Eyes [This Cyborg Life]

Adam Frucci — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:20:00 -0500

A Swiss company called IMI has been putting its "Intelligent Retinal Implant System" through clinical trials for the past three years. When it's ready, it could help restore sight to the blind.

The use of a high-speed digital signal processor allows the provision of "intelligent information" to the implant (and the nerve cells) by using tuneable software to approximate the information processing normally carried out by the healthy retina. The entire process enables patients to optimize their visual perception during the learning phase. Indeed, using the patient's feedback on perception as an input for the tuning of The Pocket Processor is the unique, patent-protected feature of the System and constitutes the 'learning' capability of the Learning Retinal Implant System.

The next logical step is, of course, enhancing vision beyond what we're born with. When these things become optional for people with healthy vision, you'll know we're really living in the future. [IMI Devices]

Gadget Deals of the Day [Dealzmodo]

Kyle VanHemert — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:15:00 -0500

Challenge your friends to some Fifa 2010 on Xbox Live and wager a piece of pie as the stakes. Even if your new Wireless-N Xbox Live adapter doesn't give you the edge you need, at least the pie is free.

Top Deals:
• 20" HP TouchSmart 300z All-in-one Multi-Touch PC for $724.99 with free shipping (normally $949.99 - use coupon code SVNY56474).
• Xbox 360 Wireless-N Adapter for $87.99 with free shipping (normally $99.99).
• Free Slice of Pie at Waffle House w/ Coupon for $0 (use this form).

Gaming:
• Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) for $15.98 (normally $28.55).
• Kororinpa 2: Marble Saga (Wii) for $14.99 plus free shipping (normally $30).
• Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) for $15.98 (normally $20).
• The Conduit (Wii) for $17.99 plus free shipping (normally $28).
• Quantum of Solace (PS3) for $14.99 plus free shipping (normally $20).
• WWE Legends of Wrestlemania (360) for $16.99 plus free shipping (normally $35).
• Guitar Hero 5 Guitar Bundle with Smash Hits & Metallica (360) for $99.99 plus free shipping (normally $159.90).
• Creative Fatal1ty MKII Professional Series Gaming Headset for $54.99 plus freee shipping (normally $70 - use coupon code HEADSET11X15).
• Xbox 360 Wireless-N Adapter for $87.99 with free shipping (normally $99.99).

Personal Portables and Peripherals:
• Microsoft Zune HD 32GB Media Player for $269.99 with free shipping (normally $289.99 - use coupon code BQ?GSVLT3DNGVC).
• Nokia E71 Unlocked Smartphone for $229.99 plus free shipping (normally $280 - use coupon code 47XR?F955NJR13).
• Cables Unlimited 900MHz Wireless Stereo Headphones for $19.49 plus free shipping (normally $29.49 - use this form).
• Olympus Stylus 7000 12MP Digital Camera for $150 plus free shipping (normally $198)
• Alpine EX-10 Advanced iPod Controller with Bluetooth for only $35 plus free shipping (normally $75).

Hobomodo:
• Xbox Live Gold Weekend for $0: 11/20/09 - 11/23/2009
• Fozwot (iPhone) for $0 (normally $2.99).
• GoGo In-flight WiFi on Delta Airlines for $0 (use coupon code DELTATRYGOGO, more info here).
• 32-page booklet on how to create Your dream nursery for $0 ( use this form).
• Free Slice of Pie at Waffle House w/ Coupon for $0 (use this form).

If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, LogicBuy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

Racing on Carbon Fiber Legs: How Abled Should We Be? [Aimee Mullins]

Aimee Mullins — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:40:00 -0500

One Olympic swimmer has a D-cup breast size. From a physiological standpoint, she's at a disadvantage to a swimmer who's an A-cup. If she amputated her breasts to become more streamlined, would we consider her crazy, or worse, a cheater?

The Amazons, after all, amputated their left breast so it wouldn't impede their skill in archery. Though athletes have taken some truly crazy stuff to have an advantage, nobody's gone so far as elective amputation.

I've spent the better part of my lifetime trying to get out from under an idea of being "disabled," and the baggage that comes with that label. (Look it up in a thesaurus if you want a taste of what I mean.) As of yet, the best prosthetic available is not as efficient and not as capable as what Mother Nature gives us—or, what she was supposed to give me, and South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. The revolutionary design of the woven carbon-fiber Cheetah Leg, nicknamed for its design inspiration, has been in existence for nearly 15 years—and after my initial triumphs with them in the mid 1990s, it has been the leg of choice for nearly all elite amputee sprinters. But in one instant, after Pistorius entered a summer 2007 track meet in Rome and placed second in a field of runners possessing flesh and bone legs, he and I were deemed too abled.

Commence the comical nightmare of being told that we now possess an "unfair advantage" in wearing prosthetic limbs to run. The scores of amputee sprinters who had competed with the limbs for the previous 13 years—and were still comfortably categorized as "disabled"—were virtually ignored. What is fascinating is the immediate shift in society's regard of a disabled athlete as an "inspiration" (cue the patronizing "awwwww") to a legitimate threat to other athletes ("Uh, what the hell do we do now?").

The first obvious issue for me was the deliberate ignoring of the truly excellent athletic feat performed by Pistorius and the insistence that if he could beat able-bodied athletes, "it must be the legs." Look, I also beat a few able-bodied athletes when I ran Division I track in college, and so have plenty of other well-trained amputees in the last decade. The difference is, none of us have ever posted his times. Bottom line: If it were just the legs making us superfast, I would have done a decade ago what he's doing now, and so would others. Oscar's not running with any different technology than what I ran with 14 years ago.

The modern sports ethos that we've constructed is based upon increasing advantages. Because certainly, in so many sports, we have pushed past natural human function to facilitate a more exciting game—better times, better performance. But where does an advantage become unfair? The crux of that question lays under the umbrella of ethics, which should indeed govern our rule structure within the competitive arena, but there's something in this story which specifically points toward a deep-seated fear, one we don't want to talk about in polite conversation, one which parallels historical instances of racial integration of sport and gender integration of sport. If we allow a person, one who we view as our inferior (in whatever way), to play with us, and then that person beats us, what does that say about us?

In the 1930s, Jesse Owens and Joe Louis blew the lid off common thinking of how "capable" an athlete of African descent was compared to an athlete of European descent, although the beginning of league integration took a decade more to achieve, and in some sports another three decades. It was as recent as 2003 when some members of the PGA balked at Annika Sorenstam's quest to compare her talent to the best men in the world, admitting their fear of how it might feel to have a woman beat them, an embarrassing display of archaic thinking.

In 2001, golfer Casey Martin, who played with a degenerative circulatory leg condition that made it nearly impossible to walk an 18-hole course, successfully won a Supreme Court decision allowing him to use a cart as an acceptable assistive medical device. The PGA Tour fought Martin for years, saying all pro golfers must walk because uniform rules are essential for the integrity of the sport. "Accommodating Martin with a golf cart will not fundamentally change the game," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for a 7-2 majority.

What keeps percolating for me is this perceived discrepancy between advantage and "unfair" advantage. It's absurd to look at a star line-up of athletes and think that they all have an equal shot. We don't cry foul play when an athlete from the United States, with the best access to training facilities, coaching staffs, and nutritional science is up against someone from say…Uzkbekistan. It's tough luck that 5' 11" Tyson Gay has to line up against a 6'5" Usain Bolt.

It makes me twitch when we talk about "a level playing field." No two athletes are the same genetically and environmentally, and the mental and emotional factors they've endured in their life are relevant in their performance, too. The only reason athletes today are better than those of decades ago is because of science and technology: We know exactly what and when to feed our bodies for maximum energy, we have lighter shoes and better bikes and new rubberized track surfaces and (legal) supplements and altitude training. We are upping the ante each Olympic year with "smarter" design of an athlete's tools, both inside and outside the body.

A whopping 74 world records were broken last year between March and November with the Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer suit. 74! Do you wonder if Mark Spitz is annoyed that his times are compared to those of athletes using something he didn't have the opportunity to use or wear?

My interest was piqued in the latest version of the Fastskin LZR suit, an R&D collaboration with NASA. From the initial press releases to subsequent monthly articles, whatever I could find describing it was overwhelmingly celebratory: Writers cooed about the sharkskin-inspired biometric fiber panels for less drag in the water, and its corset-like torso construction, enabling a swimmer to compress their physique and keep better, more supported form during fatigue, making them markedly more efficient in the water.

Very, very few writers brought up any kind of ethical concern of such a tool like this suit until after the Beijing Olympics, choosing to focus on the race between swimwear companies to develop their own supersuit. Even then, the majority of articles on swimming were marveling at how Michael Phelps says he "literally felt like a rocket coming off the wall" using the device. Jason Rance, the lead designer on this Speedo suit, commented, "It's part of the evolution of the sport, and it's really exciting for swimmers. They say they feel like Superman."

After the ensuing arms-race to out-do the performance of the Speedo, the Americans and Australians led a protest to FINA, the governing body of swimming. In July of this year, FINA banned the full-length suit, having the suit stop at the knee instead, and mandated that all must be constructed of a "textile," which is in itself an incredibly ambiguous, vague rule. The ban will take effect in January 2010, and—most intriguing—FINA will allow all records set with the suits to stand.

Let's think about Tiger Woods having not one, but two LASIK surgeries to achieve 20/15 vision, when what we consider the best of natural vision to be is a mere 20/20. Before his first LASIK surgery, Woods had lost 16 straight tournaments. Immediately following the surgery, he won 7 of his next 10. Advantage through technology, or not?

On a company website he endorses, there's a quote from Tiger after his first LASIK surgery, and I found what he said remarkable on a few levels. He said:

For years I played golf with an invisible handicap, invisible to everyone but me. It was my contact lenses. My eyes would sting burn and water all the while I was trying to concentrate on championship golf. I had the Lasik procedure with a TLC laser eye center surgeon and the results were fabulous. I'm 20/20 with no contacts. My vision is so crisp I feel I can read all the subtleties of the green and look down the fairway hundreds of yards and focus perfectly on the fly. I'm very happy with the results, and grateful for my TLC center experience.

The first remarkable aspect of this is that for him, the "handicap" was the ineptitude of the contact lenses, and not the fact that he was visually impaired. (He suffered from -11 nearsightedness, considered the worst 1%, legally blind without corrective glasses or contacts.) The second is his own literal description of being able to now clearly see—without the impediment of burning, stinging eyes—hundreds of yards down the fairway thanks to his technological altering. He himself declares the advantage.

"Invisible to everyone but me." So is that why nobody's up in arms, the fact that you can't see his augmentation? Is that why nobody's challenging this medical method which assists him in achieving dominance in golf? Of course, in the same way that my running legs don't power themselves, Tiger's new eyes don't power and execute a beautiful swing. His athletic talent is further revealed and enabled than what it would have been under the limits of nature, thanks to technology.

Advantage is just something that is part of sports. No athletes are created equal. They simply aren't, due to a multitude of factors including geography, access to training, facilities, health care, injury prevention, and sure, technology.

I really don't know how we compare world records of today to those of 50 years ago. A modern climber's ascent to Everest has innumerable inherent differences than an ascent of a climber who didn't have access to lighter tanks, comfortable breathable fibers against the skin, medical support at base camp, etc. The competitive benchmarks in that sport have changed from simply being, "Can you climb the mountain?" to "Can you climb it with oxygen, or without?" A wooden tennis racket isn't the same thing as the graphite ones used now. We wholeheartedly accept titanium golf clubs, LASIK surgery, the invention of new pitches, better injury prevention and repair, titanium knee and hip replacements, Tommy John surgery (surprisingly even in Youth Leagues), and a notable shift in the size of the average NFL player.

Where do we draw this ethical line on performance enhancement? I'm not sure I can answer that right now. What I will say is that I don't think it's useful to have this discussion around the existing Cheetah Leg, confusing the current non-enhanced technology with future prosthetics that will indeed provide augmentation. As with all evolution in sport, let's decide the parameters of competition when the technology actually exists, when we have metrics that inform us as to what extent augmentation is a certainty. Conjecture has no place in this discussion.

Maybe our acceptance of Tiger's LASIK super vision is really answered in the question, "Can everyone have access to it?" In other words, perhaps because the average citizen out there on the street can get laser surgery, it's okay for Tiger to get it, too, whereas the nature of a bionic prosthetic is still viewed as exclusive, and having to wear one isn't exactly a position the average citizen covets.

What's going to happen in the future, especially with the rise of more capable prostheses? The human leg is actually a series of internal motors and springs, so the fact that external motors aren't allowed in track is kind of interesting. (Case in point: Dean Kamen placed 14 motors in his new design of the artificial arm to simulate human function.)

In the not-so-distant future, designers will be able to build a prosthetic leg with a chip in it that they can program to accurately simulate human performance thresholds. (Since we know that no two "able-bodied" athletes have the same bodies, and therefore what they can achieve with their bodies are different, will they average out individual "able-bodied" thresholds to get those metrics? Will they cap how fast they imagine the fastest man on earth to be at 9.58? That time was unimaginable even 18 months ago, when Bolt then set the new WR at 9.72.)

The chip used in a prosthetic that will dictate "acceptable human" metric-based output is what will be allowed in the Olympic standard; meanwhile, the Paralympics will be no holds barred. In an ironic, amazing cultural flip, you will see runners in the Paralympics going faster than those in the Olympics. Now won't that be an interesting comment on "dis"ability?

Aimee Mullins is an athlete, speaker, actress and model we met at TEDMED. She's also the guest editor for our theme week This Cyborg Life. Read her bio here.

LASIK image: Stefan Zaklin/Stringer/Getty; Tiger image: Lucas Dawson/Stringer/Getty Images; LZR image: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images; Aimee images: Howard Schatz, Greg Kadel

Xbox 360's Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM and Zune Video Come November 17 [Xbox]

Jason Chen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:14:44 -0500

All those features we went over in our Xbox 360 update impressions post are finally rolling out to everyone on November 17.

To recap, here's what's new:

•Facebook – Update your status to share what movie, game or entertainment you're enjoying, connect with friends and view their Facebook stream, status updates and photos on the big screen – all seamlessly integrated and custom-built for Xbox 360. You can even compare your Xbox LIVE and Facebook friends lists to see which of your friends are on LIVE.
• Zune – Zune video on Xbox LIVE offers a full fidelity experience with instant on HD in 1080p and 5.1 channel surround sound. No waiting for downloads or buffering, it's there at the press of a button. You can also share the experience with up to seven friends through voice chat and Avatar integration on the TV screen – it puts a whole new spin on "movie night."
• Twitter – Stay in the know by discovering, posting and replying to Tweets right on your Xbox 360. You can even view friend profiles, trends and conversations, or search to see who's tweeting about your favorite game.
• Last.fm – Discover more music and explore endless personalized radio stations with Last.fm on Xbox 360. Skip, "ban" or "love" tracks to create your perfect mix-we've even built in "Gamer Stations" with game-related types of music selected specifically for the gaming community (Available in the U.S. and UK)

In addition to these social features, Xbox LIVE will also be debuting "News and More," a new section of the "Inside Xbox" channel, transforming Xbox LIVE into a full-fledged media portal. With a regularly-updated stream of content from MSNBC, The New Yorker and Dilbert, "News and More" brings the latest in current events, arts and entertainment right to your fingertips.

Eating 1.5 Pounds of Nails and Scrap Metal Isn't The Best Way To Turn Yourself Into a Cyborg [This Cyborg Life]

Sean Fallon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

A Peruvian man named Requelme Abanto has a new identity—the "hardware store". That's because he recently had surgery to remove 1.5 pounds worth of 5-inch nails, rusted copper wire, scrap metal and coins from his stomach.

The 26-year-old construction worker ate the metal for months, and told Peru's Channel 9 television that he may now do it in public "as sport."

"I swallowed 17 nails in February and didn't die," he said. "Five-inch nails, all in one day."

Doctors weren't surprised to find that Abanto had torn a hole in his stomach, so let this be a lesson to the kids out there—eating your way to a cyborg body isn't the best idea. Naturally, the man's mental health is being evaluated while he recovers. [AP via Metro Image via blurradial]

Police Robot Negotiator Ends Standoff With Armed Man [Robots]

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:41:00 -0500

Sensorial telepresence is a fancy name for sending robots with sensors to remote places, generally to perform dangerous tasks. Last Saturday, one was used to negotiate with an armed 61-yo man holding a hostage, barricaded into a home.

There are no details about what were the motives of the standoff. The whole thing started after the police of Avon, Colorado, received a call at 4pm, reporting a man with a hostage, hiding in a barricaded house. After a few hours, and learning that the man had no hostages but fearing a potential shooting, the Jefferson County Bomb Squad send a robot only armed with cameras, microphone, and speakers. A negotiator at the other side was able to convince the man to stand down, and get out of the house without a single bullet being fired.

You can insert a punchline here, but this time I'm just happy that a potential tragedy ended well thanks to a bit of technology. [Post Independent via The Register]

Walmart Hacks the Palm Pixi's Price Down to Size: $30 at Launch [Palm Pixi]

John Herrman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:31:57 -0500

It looks like retailers are going to have to do what Palm won't: Make the Palm Pixi genuinely cheap, or at least cheaper than the Pre. For example! Walmart's already cut the Pixi's price from $100 to $30—pre-launch.

The $30 Pixis (Pixies?) are backordered already, probably because this is far and away the best deal we've seen so far for this handset. This news does two things: It raises the possibility of a free-on-contract Pixi sometimes in the near future, and calls into question again whether or not the Pixi can ever be a truly good deal. Today, the Pre is $100 at Amazon, so a $30—or even free—Pixi might not be worth the loss of screen size, speed, Wi-Fi and camera quality. This isn't the kind of queasy, awkward decision a company that's so close to the brink needs its customers making right now anyway.

And as BusinessWeek crunches it:

Amortized over the required two-year contract, with the cheapest offering being Sprint's $70 a month unlimited data, 450 voice minute Everything Data plan, the Pixi works a out to $74.15 a month and the Pre to $76.25. Not much to choose from there in budgetary terms.

And that's at $100 and $150 prices for the Pixi and Pre, respectively—not the new bargain basement/flea market/crack den rates. So what does that leave in the Pixi's favor? Size? Style? The fact that its name actually sounds like a noun? [EverythingPre]

Rotating Outlet Solves the International Outlet Smorgasbord [Outlets]

Adam Frucci — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:20:00 -0500

We know that every country has its own plug, and that isn't going to change anytime soon. But this spinning outlet is a pretty elegant solution to that problem.

There's no real info on this thing, but it appears to offer most major plug types by spinning the three segments around. It'd be the perfect thing to put in hotels, where people are continually unable to charge up their razor or laptop. [GadgetLab]

AT&T Adds New Verizon Ads to Its Map Lawsuit [Cellphones]

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:18:15 -0500

Remember AT&T whining that Verizon's maps don't look right? Well, more Verizon ads featuring the same accurate-from-where-we're-sitting maps have been added to the original suit. [AllThingsD]

Inside Apple's Newest Temple [Apple]

matt buchanan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:36:55 -0500

While every Apple Store is in some sense a place of reverence, the new Upper West Side store unabashedly evokes that feeling, more than any other. It used to be a Victoria's Secret.

Update: For everybody asking for full-sized pics, you can grab 'em here, off my Flickr page.

I call it a temple because the architecture conveys a nearly religious aesthetic, a place to worship Apple, beyond any other Apple store you've ever been to. The top floor's a vast open space, enclosed by spartan stone walls which support a massive glass ceiling. The rows of tables in the main room feel like pews.

I can't tell you—and the pictures can't show you—how utterly open and expansive the room feels. Apple says it has more demo units than any other store in the world. To give you an idea of the space, the walls are 45 feet tall, and could fit 11 Apple 5th Avenue Cubes inside. It's the spareness that's breathtaking. It's cold. Not literally, but the stone walls, the glass, the sheer space rob it of any sense of warmth or feeling. The only sense of life in room is the products. It's a temple to them, really.

The beating heart, where things actually happen is tucked underground. The Genius Bar and personal training space is the biggest ever in an Apple store, able to handle up to 100 customers at once at 45 feet long. It's pretty much like any other Apple store down there, just bigger.

It's impressive. The store, at 67th and Broadway, opens Saturday. And they're giving away 2500 commemorative shirts if you're that kind of crazy.

Apple Store Upper West Side Opening on Saturday, November 14

NEW YORK-November 12, 2009-Apple® will open its newest retail store on New York's Upper West Side on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m. Set beneath a breathtaking all-glass arched roof, the street level of the Apple Store® Upper West Side offers more Macs, iPods and iPhones than any store in the world for an incredible hands-on experience. The lower level features the largest area ever created by Apple for personal training and technical support, including a 45-foot Genius Bar. Located on Broadway at 67th Street, the Apple Store Upper West Side is just minutes from Lincoln Center and Central Park.

"We opened our first store in Manhattan seven years ago, and the response has been incredible," said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of Retail. "We hope our new store on the Upper West Side will become as much a part of the community as our stores in SoHo, the Meatpacking District and on Fifth Avenue."

A highly trained team of more than 200 employees brings the unique Apple retail experience to the Upper West Side, offering the same legendary services that Apple stores provide around the world. At the Genius Bar, customers can get free advice and expert tech support from knowledgeable experts. Customers who buy a Mac® at the Apple Store Upper West Side can join the popular One to One program for personal set-up service and personal training for just $99. Visitors can also get free tips from Specialists who are on-hand to help shoppers find the perfect gift or choose the right Mac, iPod® or iPhone® for themselves.

In time for the holiday season, customers can now reserve their favorite Apple product online at www.apple.com/retail/reserve and pick it up at their local Apple store between December 15-24. Apple retail stores will also gift wrap any iPod or portable Mac for just $5.

The Apple Store Upper West Side is the fourth in Manhattan and Apple's 15th in the New York metro area, joining the hugely successful Apple Stores SoHo, West 14th Street and Fifth Avenue. Nearly 170 million people on four continents have visited Apple retail stores this year. Apple now operates 280 stores in ten countries including the US, UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, Switzerland, Germany and France.

The Apple Store Upper West Side is located at 1981 Broadway, on the corner of West 67th Street. The first 2,500 visitors to the store will receive a limited edition, commemorative t-shirt.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Your Next Body Is Growing In a Lab Right Now [This Cyborg Life]

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:20:00 -0500

At TEDMED, I witnessed video clips showing science I never knew was so advanced. Dr. Anthony Atala has been growing human tissue and organs, in a lab, for nearly two decades. He's even printed kidneys from a cell-stuffed inkjet printer.

The footage below is from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, one of the world's largest labs dedicated to regenerative medicine—a field interested in repairing or replacing human tissue so the body can self-heal.

This collection is sort of a greatest hits of Dr. Atala's last 20 years of research (no, none of this was done overnight on a whim), though almost none of what you'll see has left the lab for clinical trials. Karen Richardson, Sr. Communications Manager at the lab, walks us through the videos in the gallery below. Watch the clips, then scroll down for our Q&A with mad (but completely sane) scientist Dr. Anthony Atala.

Interview With Dr. Atala

What can we do in organ growing/generation today?

Laboratory-grown organs and tissues are already benefiting patients today. For example, laboratory-grown bladders are being tested in children with spina bifida and adults with spinal cord injuries and will soon be tested in patients with bladder cancer. Tissue engineering technology has been used to repair narrowed urethras, the tube that empties urine from the body.

What will we be doing in 5 years?

We are currently working to engineer 22 different tissues and organs in the laboratory, including blood vessels, heart valves, bone, muscle, kidneys livers. Scientific progress isn't always linear, so it's impossible to predict how long it will take to reach our goals.

In 10?

In addition to tissue engineering, our lab and others are working toward cell therapies to benefit a variety of conditions, from diabetes to urinary incontinence and heart failure. There are many challenges to overcome—and the timeframe is impossible to predict—but we do see promise in these technologies.

In 20? (I know, totally nuts, but that's what makes it so fun.)

I don't know how long it will take, but I do foresee a future when organs will be available off-the-shelf, ready to "plug in" and replace injured or diseased organs. I believe we'll have a boutique of technologies that will includes tissue engineering and cell therapies and doctors will select the ideal treatment based on the patient's needs.

[Lead image: A human bladder is engineered in the laboratory using a biodegradable, three-dimension scaffold that supports bladder cells while they multiple and develop. A technician is "seeding" cells on the scaffold. (Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine). For more information on these projects, go here.]

The Boxee Set-Top Box: It's Coming [Boxee]

John Herrman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:11:28 -0500

Boxee's fantastic connected media center software has always been just that: fantastic connected media center software. Today, the company says its going to announce hardware—a Boxee Box, even.

Boxee's post on the box has nothing in the way of details yet, so I'm just going to have to take a WILD guess at what this thing will look like: It'll be a box, with an Ion chipset, a medium-sized HDD, HDMI-out and a Boxee sticker and a $200 price tag. Why? Because nothing else would really make any sense.

We'll get to see the box—assuming it's not just this Boxee-compatible Myka number we saw a few days ago—come December 7th, when it gets the full unveiling treatment. Also interesting, though probably a little aspirational:

* make it easy for users to consume and find content – no matter what the source
* give content owners, aggregators, and developers the tools to create unique experiences with a variety of business models
* enable CE companies to enhance their Connected devices

This will be the first connected device running Boxee, but the idea is to provide consumers with a way to get Boxee in their living rooms, no matter whether it's on a Connected TV, game console, set-top box, BluRay player, computer, etc.

Multiple Boxee Boxes! Boxee Boxen! [Boxee]

Amazon's Blu-ray Sale as Good an Excuse as Any to Own Robocop [Deals]

Adam Frucci — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:38:46 -0500

Amazon is currently having a pretty great Blu-ray sale, with titles such as Robocop and Terminator available for a mere $9.99. Come on, don't fight it. [Amazon]

Intel Pays AMD $1.25 Billion To End Antitrust, Patent Wars [Antitrust]

John Herrman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:23:10 -0500

In case you were wondering if Intel's business practices were as shady as the European Commission and the NY Attorney General think they are, look no further than this: Intel is paying $1.25 billion—plus frills—to avoid fighting.

Here's how Intel describes the settlement:

Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices today announced a comprehensive agreement to end all outstanding legal disputes between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes.

So, they're not fighting directly anymore, and the mountains of patent and antitrust disputes are resolved: Intel will pay this ridiculously large sum of money to AMD, and agree to not engage in anything even resembling monopolistic behavior, and both companies will live in harmony, cross-licensing technologies and competing, but softly! Great. Well, sort of: Intel's biggest problems right now don't come from other companies, but from governments: complaints from AMD no doubt helped spur investigations by the European Commission and New York Attorney General into Intel's business practices, and as part of the agreement AMD is withdrawing their complaints with both agencies, but the EC issued their $1bn+ fine quite a while ago, and from the looks of it, the AG's office is eager to move forward with their investigation too. In other words, this probably isn't the end of the pain for Intel.

That, kids, is why you don't engage in anticompetetive practices in a two-company industry. [WSJ Law Blog]

The First Movie Shot on a Canon 7D? It's About Zombies, Of Course! [Film]

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:20:00 -0500

Boy have zombies made a comeback lately, right along with teenage vampires. Regardless, indie zombie flick Dead Season is the self-proclaimed first film shooting on the $1700 Canon 7D. (Warning, gore ahead.)

The camera quality is sort of a mixed bag for the bloody independent film. High resolution coupled with gorgeous depth of field tricks emulate Hollywood (or at least, TV-level) production. But, while you can call me old fashioned, blood and guts only look better in low-fi. Best of luck to the group finishing the film. These dailies from week one have some nice moments. [Thanks Super Greene!]

Apple Responds to Microsoft's New Retail Stores [Blockquote]

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:07:52 -0500

Ron Johnson, Apple VP of retail, had this to say in response to Microsoft's move into the world of retail stores during Apple's Manhattan store opening today.

Fujitsu's Crazy Little Modular Pico-Projector Phone [Projector Phones]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:06:44 -0500

The F-04B isn't your average touchscreen QWERTY slider. If you want to slim things down, the 3.4-inch screen and slide-out keyboard can be separated, and you can also attach an 854 x 480 pico-projector in place of the keyboard.

When separated, the keyboard communicates with the screen via Bluetooth, and can act as a keyboard (duh), microphone, speaker, and game pad. It also serves as a remote control when the pico-projector is used.

Apparently the F-04B's 12.2-megapixel camera takes "nice pictures for a phone", but the touchscreen could do with being a little more responsive.

The phone was first shown as a prototype at CEATEC 2008, but Akihabara News says that Fujitsu and Japanese carrier, DoCoMo, have "officially" announced it as the Separate Keitai F-04B. No word yet on what OS it runs, availability, or pricing (inside or out of Japan). Definitely a unique idea. [Akihabara News]

Stunning Milky Way's Heart Image Combines Three Space Telescope Views In One [Space]

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:50:59 -0500

I've seen many amazing, inspiring, and humbling deep space images, but this look inside the heart of our very own galaxy has left me without superlatives. Zoom in to get the 2820x1409 pixel image, and see how it was made.

Click on the images to zoom in

This new six-by-three-foot multi-wavelength image combines three visions of the Milky Way's center: A near-infrared image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and an X-ray vision from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

It was created to commemorate the International Year of Astronomy, which marks 400 years since a curioser and curioser man called Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the truth out there, back in 1609. [NASA]

All the Apple Store Data You Could Possibly Want to Read [Apple]

matt buchanan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:17:13 -0500

So, I'm at the opening of the fancy new Apple Store on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Retail chief Ron Johnson is talking about how awesome their retail is and whatnot. I'll have pictures up shortly. But for now, digits.

The numbers, admittedly, are impressive.

• Apple's total sales in 2001 were $5.4 billion. Apple Stores this year: $6.6 billion. (Apple's total sales this year were $36.5 billion.)

• They hit 170 million visitors this year. 10 million people hit Genius Bars or personal training.

• Sales per store—$26 million, which is just below what Macy's, Target and Best Buy make per store. But, if you look at the real estate, it's a slightly different picture. Apple Stores do sales of $4,300 per square foot which is 5x the $872 per square foot Best Buy does.

• Wow—over 100,000 applicants on file for jobs at the Apple Store worldwide. 10,000 people submitted applications for the new Upper West Side store. Just over 200 got a job.

• Apple realized they were going too small with their stores, so now all of their stores will be at least "three tables wide." In other words, they're going to be bigger. They're also going to be opening more stores next year, more like 50. More of them will be "significant stores," iconic ones like the Fifth Ave. store with the Apple Cube. And they'll be going more international, adding stores all over Europe, like the UK, Paris and two in Shanghai getting those "significant stores."

• All checkouts are done using an iPod touch now with a new EasyPay system, if you care about the purity of the Apple Store and the old Windows Mobile system offended you.

Okay, BIG NEWS. They're gift-wrapping for the first time ever. And you can reserve presents. Your Christmas is now officially complete. You're welcome.

One Day, This Will Be Remembered as the First Real Tricorder [IPhone]

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:12:00 -0500

Leave it to a NASA scientist to create the first Star Trek Tricorder using a stamp-sized sensor chip, an iPhone, and some spiffy programing. What does it do? It can detect killer gasses in the air.

While the concept is not new, this prototype is fully working and operational. Created by Jing Li and a team of researches at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, the sensor is a multiple-channel silicon-based sensing chip integrated in micro-board with 64 nanosensors.

The low-cost, low-power system can detect minimal concentrations of ammonia, chlorine gas, and methane, showing the values in an iPhone application. It can automatically communicate the results with other cellphones or the Enterprise's computer using Wi-Fi or 3G, and order massive teleportation evacuations if needed. OK, not true. No teleportation yet, but we are getting there. [NASA]

Casio Exilim EX-FS10 Camera Is Also Your Smarmy Golf Pro [Cameras]

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Smile shutters. Blink warnings. Fart detectors. Point and shoot cameras have been stuffed with gimmicks for years, but the arms race isn't ending any time soon. Casio just added golf swing analyzation to their Exilim line.

From what we can tell, you have a buddy hold the EX-FS10 while you hit balls at the range or on the course. The camera takes a look at the angles of your swing posture, then it chastises you with fierce blue and red lines. (Meanwhile, your buddy will purely use profanity.)
Otherwise, the Casio Exilim EX-FS10 is a typical, 9.1MP camera with perks like 1000fps burst mode, 720P video recording and 3x optical zoom. No word on price, but I think it's worth assuming that the camera is available only in Japan for the time being. [Akihabara News]

Designed by Porsche, This $250 Flashlight Has a 20 Year Battery [Flashlights]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:36:02 -0500

The mPower Emergency Illuminator combines a beautiful design (courtesy of the Porsche Design Studio) with new battery technology. One tube holds two CR123 batteries, while the other stores a Lithium Reserve Battery that has a minimum shelf-life of 20 years.

"The mPower Reserve Battery offers an unprecedented minimum shelf life of 20 years and has an immediate activation to full power. Through an intricate battery design, mPhase developed a way to eliminate power dissipation before initial activation."

The flashlight uses an intense, high-performance LED, and has an accessory USB connection to charge your mobile devices. It's slated to arrive in March, but we hope to get a better look at it at CES in January. [CNETand Yahoo News]

Single-Slot Graphics Card Drives Eight 2560x1600 Monitors Simultaneously [Graphics]

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:22:44 -0500

If I have trouble concentrating on a 30-inch panoramic monitor, I can't imagine myself in front of the eight monitors that the single-slot Matrox M9188 PCIe x16 graphics card can drive, each at 2560 x 1600 pixels.

The $1995 Matrox M9188 comes with 2GB of video RAM, and works with Windows 7, Vista, XP, and Linux. It can be combined with a second one to form a seamless desktop across 16 monitors. Apparently, this is perfect for "energy, transportation, process control, financial trading," and making your head explode. [Matrox]

Steve Jobs Really is the Kingpin at Apple HQ [Image Cache]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:46:37 -0500

A bunch of us hadn't seen this little effigy of the Jobsian One before, and it's just too weird not to share. Dax Norman paints famous folks on bowling pins, and took these shots outside 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino.

The turtle neck and glasses are there, but I don't know what's up with that "where's the bathroom?" pose. Cute, but strange. [Artist Dax Norman via Walyou]

Which PSPgo Color Do You Prefer? [Leaks]

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:40:58 -0500

That's the question Sony posed in one of their infamous, leak-laden surveys on the device, according to Destructoid.

Note that Piano Black and Pearl White have both already been released, but there are a slew of others that the company is at least considering putting on shelves. I'm remiss that there's no Fireball Orange option. That Bright Yellow just isn't getting it done for me. [Destructoid via Kotaku]

Dell Zino HD: $230 Mini Home Theater PC [HTPCs]

Mark Wilson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:11:00 -0500

After giving us an early look, Dell has revealed the full specs of their color-happy Mac Mini-esque Zino HD. And for $230, you aren't just getting an Atom net top. UPDATE x3

Instead, Dell has turned to AMD chips starting with a base Athlon processor (which can be bumped to an AMD Athlon™ X2, and AMD Athlon™ Neo X2). A single hard drive squeezes inside (up to 1TB) along with as many as 8GB of RAM. And you can choose between integrated graphics and an ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB card.

That should be enough power to drive 1080P out of the HDMI port (using an optional Blu-ray drive now and TV Tuner option sometime in the future). You also score 4 USB ports (2 front, 2 back) along with 2 eSATA ports for easy drive expansion.

The Zino HD goes on sale today. But I haven't spotted it on Dell's site just yet. I'm interested to see what you really get in that base $250ish rig, and how much a few of these key upgrades will cost. If Dell keeps the price down, the Zino HD could be a no-brainer when compared to the Atom and Ion-based systems floating around. [Dell]

UPDATE: Dell's press materials they sent out said the Zino HD would start at $250. As of right now, the cheapest configuration online is $360. We've contacted Dell for clarification.

UPDATE 2: This is fun, isn't it? Swap out Windows 7 Professional with Home and the price drops to $260. I have no clue why a sub-$300 computer defaults with a $100 OS upgrade.

UPDATE 3: OK, it looks like the website pricing updates are done. My base configuration is down to $230 with a 1.6GHz Athlon, 2GB RAM, DVD drive, and 250GB (7200RPM) hard drive. Bumping the specs up to a dual core Athlon puts the price to $289.

Oh My, Another Windows XP Phone: ViewSonic VPC08 [Windows XP]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:53:45 -0500

Here I was thinking the xpPhone was the only handset crazy (brave?) enough to run a full-blown copy of Windows XP. Appears ViewSonic may have one planned, too. This clamshell has a QWERTY keyboard, 4.3-inch touchscreen, and Intel ULV processor.

The VPC08 also has 512MB RAM, 8GB storage, secondary 2-inch display, number buttons, and a 2-megapixel camera. It's all far from official, but there's already talk of a price: $800. We still don't know how much the xpPhone will cost, but we do know what its specs and custom interface look like. Take a look. [Tech163 (translated) via Cloned in China]

Apple's New Patent Application For Pen-Based Tablet Input [Apple]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:29:40 -0500

Apple may have shunned the stylus for the iPhone, but its all about pen-based input on tablets. It's just filed a patent application for tech that improves digital ink recognition by breaking down strokes and phrases.

A system comprising: a pen-based input tablet configured to collect and organize received ink information into ink strokes.

"Upon the occurrence of an ink phrase termination event, the ink manager notifies the handwriting recognition engine and organizes the preceding ink strokes into an ink phrase data structure...The present invention, in large part, relates to the observation that client applications and handwriting recognition software in pen-based computer systems can make far more accurate ink-related decisions based on entire ink phrases, rather than individual ink strokes."

I'm thinking a possible Apple tablet would still be a finger-based multi-touch device, but this seems to suggest Apple is also thinking about the note taking side of things, as well. Either way, tablets are mentioned all over the application…one step closer to Jesus' wet dream? [USPTO via Unwired View]

Readius-Like Folding eReader Planned for Next Year [EReaders]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:02:53 -0500

Polymer Vision have gone bankrupt and been bought by Wistron since we first saw their unique Readius prototype in Feb 08. However, the new owners now confirm plans for a similar 5- to 6-inch handheld in 2010. Stay tuned. [DigiTimes]

Vimeo Videos Get Friendly With iPhones and Android [IPhone]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:34:15 -0500

I love Vimeo's video quality, but unlike YouTube, it doesn't make my uploads iPhone friendly. But that may change: they've already converted all "Staff Picks" and HD video showcases into iPhone and Android-friendly formats, and say there's more to come.

We've been working on it for the last few weeks. This is sort of the prelude of offering Plus members iPhone support; and in the future, an app. In the future, like the next several weeks—maybe longer, we'll be offering Plus users the option to transcode their videos to an iPhone version too."

Sounds good, but don't forget that with Flash 10.1 on the way, pretty much every phone (including Android handsets, not just the Hero) should get Flash support around mid-next year. Wild guess: except for the iPhone, probably. Ugh. [CNET]

Leaked Shots: PlayStation 3 to Get Facebook in Next Update? [PS3]

Danny Allen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:04:12 -0500

These dashboard screens—reportedly found directly on the UK version of PlayStation.com—suggest the PS3 will soon have Facebook integrated into the Cross Media Bar interface, plus a new photo viewing option, and the ability to change gamercard colors.

OK, the last one isn't super interesting, but the Facebook feature would be nice. Looks like Sony caught on before we had the chance to confirm the pics ourselves, but ScrawlFX says it found the them here, here and here. [ScrawlFX via Kotaku]

Loving A Gadget-Obsessed Person Is Easier Than You Think [Relationships]

Rosa Golijan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:20:00 -0500

I've warned you about dating someone gadget-obsessed, but you just couldn't help yourself and fell in love with one of us. Let's talk about avoiding feeling like you're in a ménage à trois with a person and some circuits.

Gadgetwise's Jenna Wortham was forced to contemplate the hardship of loving someone who's in lust with electronics when one of her readers wrote in with a desperate plea for advice:

My boyfriend is in love with his iPhone. He uses it all the time-during dinner, the movies and even in bed! I have an iPhone too, so I can understand his obsession, but at the same time it's becoming enough of a distraction while we are together to be a problem. What should I do?

Jenna explained that, as any other relationship issue, you can resolve this one by talking with your partner. You need to set limits, figure out when it's absolutely unacceptable to reach for the digital mistress and when the wandering attention can be excused. That's it. It's that simple. Whether your lover is obsessed with an iPhone, a BlackBerry, a printer, or tricked-out ottoman, communication is key. [NY Times]

Photo by Fe Ilya

Windows Mobile Marketplace Adds Non-Mobile App Store [Windows Mobile]

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:47:54 -0500

Microsoft added a few nice new features to its Windows Mobile Marketplace today, including enhanced security and a nice-looking store that can be accessed from your computer's browser, much like Xbox Live.

The security features are really more like anti-piracy measures, but that's developer stuff—what about us consumers? Well, the new online portal seems like a solid idea, albeit one that implicitly acknowledges that app browsing is not that great on a WinMo 6.5 phone. You can access the portal from any browser, taking advantage of your computer's larger screen and faster loading to find apps that much quicker. They'll be downloaded as soon as you open the Marketplace app on your WinMo device. The site looks nice, too—cleanly organized and easy to use. It's not a substitute for a good on-device app store, but it's a nice feature to have. [Windows Team Blog via Engadget]

DIY Palm TouchStone Car Mount: Death to All Cables [DIY]

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:40:00 -0500

A modder managed to wire Palm's TouchStone inductive charger directly into his car's battery, giving his Pre both a simple mount solution and wireless charging. Makes tossing a phone into a cupholder seem so inelegant, doesn't it? [EverythingPre via MAKE]

Microsoft Patents The Sudo Command [Microsoft]

Rosa Golijan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:20:00 -0500

Microsoft has been granted a patent for a sudo command, because apparently you can patent a command that goes back to the mainframe days as long as you explain that it's a "personalized version" with a GUI.

Groklaw has an explanation of the history of sudo and details about the patent, but it all boils down to this: Someone at the US Patent Office must've been snoozing when they approved this patent application. Either that or the command worked on a person. [USPTO via Groklaw]

Photo by xkcd

This Is Simply The Coolest Pop-Up Book We've Seen [Books]

Rosa Golijan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

It may not overheat in the presence of bread, but this pop-up book has the most accurate paper Large Hadron Collider ever. Figures that a book would make ending the world by firing that bad boy up look fun.

The book's called Voyage To The Heart Of Matter – The Atlas Experiment At CERN and it's written by Emma Sanders and crafted by Anton Radevsky. It'll be out at the end of November and run for about $33. I just want one because it'll satisfy both the physics dork and the bookworm inside me all at once. [Atlas via Shiny Shiny via OhGizmo!]

Facebook Status Update Clears Teen From Criminal Charges [Facebook]

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:52:40 -0500

This is Rodney Bradford. A few days ago, Facebook saved his 19-yo life. Facebook, and his status plea demanding the immediate consumption of one of the basic food groups every human being needs to properly function in the morning: Pancakes.

Rodney was arrested on October 18 as a suspect in two crimes. He declared himself innocent and Robert Reuland—his defense lawyer—found the key to free him: "Where's my pancakes?"

That seemingly inconsequential Facebook status update proved crucial when the Californian company confirmed that someone wrote it from his father's Harlem apartment computer, using Rodney's user and password at around the time of the alleged crime: Saturday October 17, 11:49am.

Of course, you can argue that anyone with Rodney's password could have written the status update, while the 19-yo went on to commit two crimes, but his defense lawyer and the district attorney disagree:

This implies a level of criminal genius that you would not expect from a young boy like this; he is not Dr. Evil.

A spokesman for Brooklyn's District Attorney said the Facebook update served as the confirmation of the other alibis, namely Rodney's father and stepmother, who declared he was at their Harlem home at the time.

The most interesting thing in this case, however, is that this seems to be the first time in which social networking has been used to save the ass of someone, rather than nailing a really stupid thief. Some people believe that Facebook and other sites will become part of criminal cases across the country, as they get deeper under society's skin. Personally, I can't wait till we are all monitored by automagical retinal scans, and naked bald people in funky swimming pools decide who is a criminal and who is not. Can't wait, I tell you. [Fort Greene]