Washing Machine with Mp3 player by LG

It has very little to do with the wireless technology, which is the focus of this blog, but the recent patent filing by LG, called “Home appliance with MP3 player“, was just too good to pass.

The name of the application states the obvious - LG decided to patent some home appliance with MP3 player functionality. And do you know what that appliance is? See here:

Yep. It’s a washing machine! With speakers, special dock and control panel for MP3 player inside.

Now, I know that competition in home appliance market is very intense. And I understand that appliance vendors will try almost anything to differentiate their product.

But a washing machine with an MP3 player?! C’mon, do they actually spend loads of money in their R&D departments to come up with the stuff like this? And do you really need a patent for that?

So what’s next? I think I’m going to patent microwave oven withPDA/cellphone functionality.Or maybe vacuum cleaner/plasma TV device would be a better investment?

Source: unwiredview.com

Ultimate PC Reset Button

posted in: Bits and Pieces, Technology

Are you tired of those tiny reset buttons on your PC? If the answer is “Yes!“, then we have a solution for you! In association with Maddy McBlast, our mad scientist, we give you…the ultimate reset button for your PC!

First of all, some introduction is necessary. In the time before Windows, all computers had a normal-sized reset button because, back then, computers required frequent resetting. And it was normal and nothing happened and it all worked well. You could even reset them with the famous “Ctrl+Alt+Del” key combo. Then came the Windows…and the rest is history. Excellent as Windows are (you do sense the irony in this, don’t you?), it is not a good practice to manually reset your computer “due to possible data loss“. I think that mainly because of that, you now get reset buttons sized as the ones on the PocketPC, that you have to push with a toothpick to activate. Both phoenixx and I used up all our toothpicks and realized that it was time for drastic measures! It looks like the more you spend on a computer case, the smaller the reset button is. See here:

The first reset button actually requires a toothpick, while the second one is nicely blended with the case so that you miss it with greater probability. Fortunately, Maddy McBlast has provided a solution for us:

Yes, it looks like a giant mushroom, but it’s not. We already tried eating it, so we know. It’s a button that is used in industry for stopping various machines and most important thing about it is that it can be activated in any direction. All you have to do is to hit it with something (like, a fist). Here’s another photo of it:

Connection is simple, and only two wires are necessary. Simply replace the original reset button on the case. We used three wires just because we could! No, seriously, the third wire is for future improvements (maybe for a LED?):

Looking at the pictures so far, you could have thought that we are just messing with you and that this button is even smaller than those pesky little reset buttons. So, just for you, we took a photo just for you…just for you…and you. What was I talking about? Oh yes, we took a photo just for you to see how it compares against other things:

So there you have it. No more will you need a toothpick or a pencil to reset your PC. No more will you be forced to use the Task Manager or the Start button to reset your PC. And you know what? Windows will even work better knowing that you have a huge reset button and that you could end their miserable virtual life in a second!

Japanese MP3 player blasts out facials too

Although Japan has a reputation as a pretty sophisticated high-tech wonderland, there’s no shortage of garbage products designed to appeal to the wallets of the gullible or the plain bored, so the latest bizarre gadget barely caused us to wrinkle an eyebrow.

The mpion, made by an anonymous manufacturer and sold by various mail-order retailers such as Netyokocho, is – believe it or not – an MP3 player that gives users a facial while they listen to music.

For the extortionate price of ¥20,790 the mpion delivers a 1998-style 128MB of memory that can hold about 32 tracks. However, the real selling point (to those into bogus science) is a negative ion generator slapped on the back of the player.

The idea is that negative ions (or ‘minus ions’ as they’re called in Japan) can clean skin pores when applied to the face far better than old-fashioned soap and water. Apparently, the two modes that can be activated alternately banish microscopic dirt or help diffuse skin cream. Well, if it’s on the internet it must work, right?

Worst of all, the mpion weighs just 35g so it won’t even make a decent paperweight or doorstop when it becomes clear just what a useless piece of junk it is. At least it has a safety feature built in to stop one overdosing on negativity. Wish we could say the same.