Its Electronica

While most remote controlled toys come in the form of cars, planes and helicopters, it is pretty rare to see it in the form of a butterfly. The Silverlit i-Fairy bucks conventional thinking, retailing for £24.99 a pop. I suppose this is less exciting than a RC airplane, considering how slow and clumsy butterflies flutter about as they enjoy an extremely short life on earth after emerging from the cocoon. A quartet of AA batteries are required to power both the i-Fairy butterfly and the remote. I wonder if birds from a distance might actually mistake this for an actual butterfly and swoop down to make a kill, only to realize that it is made out of inedible metal parts.

Bratty Bonita has a new collection of laptop bag designs, and they’re pretty cute, especially if you’re into flower designs!

Their Flower Power collection is made up of Russian leatherette and embossed flower prints!

Read on to take a closer look at their designs!

Michaela Flower Power (my favorite!)

Rubina Flower Power

Leoniza Flower Power

Embossed Rosareal Flower Power

The thing I love about Bratty Bonita is you can ask them to customize your laptop bags for you (ofcourse, for a higher price). You can mix and match the designs and prints, just the way you want it.

Where to buy: Bratty Bonita
Price: Upon request.

[ Image source from Bratty Bonita ]

Tags: bratty bonita, laptop bags

If you love your pet so much and decide to have it cremated, where else to place it’s beloved ashes but in a beautiful urn? This idea goes one step further, as it comes in the form of a digital picture frame that can hold up to 75 pounds of pet remains, featuring a 7″ display and 256MB of storage space for you to share your blissful memories in photo or audio form. 256MB is rather paltry these days, so I guess displaying photos will be a much better idea since you might be too emotionally distraught after listening to Lassie’s barks on loop. The Pet-Urns, creepy as they are, will retail for $249 a pop.

A recent survey conducted by Rubicon Consulting on the iPhone found that users "report very high levels of satisfaction"  with the product. That’s not surprising considering almost half of the 460 survey-takers switched carriers just to use Apple’s popular smartphone. Oddly and more interestingly, the survey also found that 28 percent of iphone users carry a second phone.

The survey found that most of those two-timers are having an affair with a Research in Motion blackberry. Why carry a second phone when you’ve already got "your life in your pocket"?   Rubicon Consulting speculates that those carrying a companion device might be using it for features missing from the Jesus phone: For example, compatibility with Microsoft Exchange or a built-in keyboard.

The survey also suggests that if the next iPhone includes Microsoft Exchange support (which Apple has promised to include in version 2.0) and/or a built-in keyboard, RIM may lose a number of BlackBerry customers since iPhone users would have no use for a second device. But since Steve Jobs would probably rather talk to the media than allow a built-in keyboard to be on an iPhone, RIM shouldn’t need to worry.

The Apple iPhone: Successes and Challenges for the Mobile Industry [Rubicon Consulting]

IPhone’s Hold on Users Not Exclusive [NY Times]

Sony’s Rolly might be around in other countries for a few months already, but Sony has just officially released it in the US. This unique music entertainment player comes in a highly portable palm-size form factor shaped like an egg, and will be able to roll and spin as though it is dancing to the current tunes being played. This could be the next big thing in the portable media player market, as there is a huge novelty factor attached to it that will definitely make those group outings more fun and exciting compared to just toting an ipod or Zune around.

Made for producing superb audio quality, Rolly features 180-degree, horizontally opposed stereo speakers. As a result, listeners can enjoy high quality sound from nearly anywhere in the room. Sound reverberates from the surface the device is placed on, whether on a desk or on the floor. With a digital amp for high sound quality and speakers with neodymium magnets, powerful audio performance is delivered. With built-in robotic technologies, the device is designed to move its small arms, shoulders and wheels-six moving parts-to the beat of the music. With about 700 colors in its repertoire, lighting adds to the impact of the motion.

The Rolly itself already comes with pre-loaded choreography for three songs - “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (theme from “2001 - A Space Odyssey”), Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” and Earth Wind and Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland.” It is able to “shake its booty” so to speak - right out of the box, while two tracks have been thrown into the fray for demonstration purposes to illustrate just how motion can be integrated into the listening experience. Each purchase also comes with the Rolly Choreographer software that allows you to create the relevant motions. I think there is a very high chance of a Rolly dance off competition in the future if the Rolly craze catches on. Features include Bluetooth connectivity, 2GB of flash memory and a battery life of 4 hours (music playback and motion). It will retail for approximately $400.

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Let’s see you wrap your brain around this thing. On May 15, display manufacturer Shinoda Plasma unveiled a prototype of its 1-millimeter thick, 125-inch plasma tube array. And yes, it’s flexible. The film-type display weighs only 7.9 pounds and offers a 960-by-360 resolution. Stop by the InfoComm 2008 conference in Las Vegas in June and you’ll be able to check one of these out.

True, 960-by-360 pixels isn’t all that great by today’s standards; Shinoda Plasma mainly envisions this display to be used by advertisers. But you can imagine how convenient a super-thin display would be for people in Tokyo, who live in cramped-up apartments: After watching a movie, they could roll one of these babies up and tuck it in the corner — and they might even have room to do jumping jacks.

Photo courtesy of Pink Tentacle

Flexible, lightweight 125-inch plasma display [Pink Tentacle]

by Darren Murph, posted May 20th 2008 at 1:24AM

It’s been a tick since we’ve heard anything noteworthy on the e-passport front (that’s probably a good thing, truth be told), but Samsung SDI and German security printer Bundesdruckerei are out to break the silence. The two have teamed up to demonstrate a passport that boasts a “slim and bendable” OLED color display within a “polycarbonate data page.” Predictably, the aforementioned display can be used to “provide a raft of information including a video of the document holder.” It’s also noted that the units will be heat-resistant, enabling officials to laminate the cards and make them less susceptible to manipulation. Information about a potential release date wasn’t divulged, but it sure sounds like this stuff is dangerously close to being ready for use.

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Filed under: Displays

by Donald Melanson, posted May 19th 2008 at 3:48PM

We’ve already seen how quick on his feet Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can be, and it looks like the big man finally had to put those fleet-footed skills to good use, as he was recently forced to duck for cover under a barrage of (three) eggs during a speech he was giving at a Hungarian University. Apparently, the disgruntled egg-tosser was angry with Ballmer for “stealing billions in Hungarian taxpayer money,” which he demanded that Ballmer give back “right now.” Head on past the break for a video of the thoroughly awkward encounter.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

The Calmee Space HDD docking station from Fujitsu was recently launched in Korea, and this one connects to your hard drives via SATA. It is big enough to cater for both 2.5″ and 3.5″ hard drives simultaneously, boasting Plug-and-Play and Hot Swap functions. You can expect to fork out around $46 for this puppy.

I know that going fast can be quite the adrenaline rush for some, but that is no reason to be reckless. Somebody who seems to have a whole lot of explosive passion and time decided to come up with a jet-powered bicycle that ought to get you from point A to the hospital pretty quick (as crashing into concrete walls are no fun, I can tell you this much). This unique two-wheeler is capable of hitting its maximum stride of 75mph. Time to give your insurance agent a call if you want to take it out for a spin.