ie8 fix

bird

Diet Coke and Mentos guys switch to Post-it notes

As reported by my colleague Greg Sandoval in July, the Eepy Bird guys--you know, the fellows who have gained worldwide fame by dropping Mentos into Diet Coke--have decided to move on from explosive sweets.

Instead, the pair have decided to work in the Post-it notes milieu for now, and as such, they've released a couple of new videos showcasing exactly how the little sticky pieces of paper can be transformed into what amounts to colorful Slinkys.

And frankly, I never knew that the utilitarian notepads could be so much fun.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo. … Read more

'Samurai Girl' to help launch new experiment from Diet Coke and Mentos team

Can the team from EepyBird.com, which brought us the " The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments," duplicate their success with Post-it notes?

Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe, are the performance artists behind EepyBird. The pair will unveil their new "Sticky Note Experiment" Friday at the ComicCon Conference in San Diego.

As an example of how far Web-video fame can take you, the clip of the "Sticky Note Experiment" will debut not on the Web but on cable television. On September 5, the video will appear on ABC Family's Samurai Girl

Voltz and … Read more

MacBook Air gets more leather love

Of all the copycat accessories that can be produced, the "AirMail" case for the MacBook Air has some unfathomable popularity. Started almost on a whim, it was followed by the higher-end "Air Manila" in hand-stiched leather, and now there's yet another pretender to the envelope throne.

Japan's curiously named Bird Electron, which has long been known for its odd products, apparently decided to take a safer route in this case and follow what appears to be a popular design. (The original version has been sold out for months.)

This one is leather too and, … Read more

Got birds? Put that shotgun down

There's no two ways about it: Bird droppings are dirty business. And people who spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning them off their property may understandably wish they had a "Falco" robotic raptor to limit the avian population, but that would probably be overkill (though that may sound good). Still, there's a more appropriate technological response to the problem in the "BirdXPeller Pro."

This device repels winged rats with sounds that deceive them into thinking that a predator is in the vicinity, according to SlashGear, covering an area as large as an acre. … Read more

Where Jeff has the clap

EPISODE 56

Randall and Wilson talk today about crazy Apple lawsuits handwritten on notepads, 90210 could be returning from the grave, plus dolla-dolla-bill-y'all, the purple $5 bill hits the streets, and Mark the Intern kicks some ass. All that, plus Jeff is on the phone and 404 best buddy Demetrius Wren joins us in studio. Listen, or else you'll get the clap, too.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Why most digital distribution start-ups will fail

Music industry blog Coolfer has an interesting post this week about online tools for do-it-yourself musicians in which he points to a relatively new service called Speakerheart. I checked out the service, and while I agree with his assessment of the interface--it's based on Adobe's Flex (an offshoot of Flash) and is very slick and easy to use--I think that Speakerheart, like most other digital distribution start-ups, is going to have a very hard time.

The process is pretty straightforward: Artists sign up with Speakerheart to sell their songs through a digital storefront on the site. Artists have … Read more

Remote-controlled 'iBird' takes wing

Now here's a novel concept. We've seen all manner of objects take remote-controlled flight, from mosquitos and dragonflies to laser choppers and UFOs, but there's one that's been conspicuously overlooked: a bird.

Actually, it's an "iBird," to be exact (of course). Silverlit, which makes this winged avenger, says it simulates a bird's flight by using "realistic flapping wing movements" and is part of the "latest generation of RC flyers," according to GeekAlerts. That, at least, may be the case as long as it doesn't go anywhere near … Read more

Robotic 'Falco' hunts down airport birds

Birds are a perennial nuisance at many airports, but removing them can be a labor-intensive and potentially dangerous affair when winged raptors are trained to chase them away. So a European company called Bird Raptor has taken live hunters out of the equation altogether by creating an unmanned air vehicle that serves as a "gregarious bird removal system," according to FlightGlobal, or "GBRS."

The "Falco"--not to be confused with the '80s Euro-pop star--is the product of 11 years of development, a life-size mechanical replica of a female goshawk with a 5.25-foot … Read more

'Recycling speaker' is better left in the bin

Japan's Bird Electron has always been known for the literally stripped-down design of its products, but it seems to be in a particularly minimalist mood these days for the iPod.

First we saw the industrially bare steel speaker stand made for the Touch, and now we have a decidedly DIY-looking iPod speaker. And it's not just any speaker, according to GeekAlerts, but the "one and only recycling speaker for iPod."

The EZ17-B speaker is designed to fit snugly into the clear plastic box that comes with certain versions of the Nano and Shuffle, without the need … Read more

Royal treatment for the iPod Touch

What better way to put your iPod Touch on a pedestal than an actual pedestal?

That's what Bird-Electron has created with its EZ-18 speaker stand made of black steel, which gives it kind of a futuristic Vader-esque look. The stand includes a built-in 60mm speaker, though sound quality will undoubtedly be sacrificed for the sake of wireless portability.

In fact, it may not look very portable, but that may be a tradeoff because it's designed to be "durable and hard to tip over." And never fear: Uncrate says the stand has silicone padding to keep its … Read more