ThinkGeek tribbles will give you no trouble

These furry, quivering, cooing, critters are a “must bring” for the opening of the new Trek movie in May.

Here’s a bit I wrote for the Boston Globe this week:

I’ve seen the trailer for J.J. Abrams’s upcoming “Star Trek” prequel about 30 times. I’ve picked through the high-definition video, checking the battle scenes against the starship-size reference charts in my office, and confirming that the license plate on the Kirk family car is from Iowa.

Sadly, I have seen no mention that Finnegan, Kirk’s tormentor at Star Fleet Academy, will be in the new movie. The original series’ famed tribbles, those cooing guinea pigs that love grain and hate Klingons, are rumored to be in the new “Star Trek” picture, however.

via Sharp images, not looks, in ‘cinema’ headset – The Boston Globe.

Headsets getting some cachet

From my Boston Globe column last week: Smaller, better-looking video eyewear (for watching vids, checking in on your Second Life, etc.),

Headsets getting some cachet – The Boston Globe
By Mark Baard
May 12, 2008

digital eyewear
Digital eyewear is slowly becoming suitable for public viewing. In other words, headsets such as the Myvu Crystal are slim and colorful enough that they might be taken for a pair of over-the-top Gaultier frames instead of an assistive device.
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The ear buds hanging from the arms of the Crystal are a dead giveaway that something “smart” is going on behind those shades.

Like the original, less sexy looking Myvu models, the Crystal (about $300 at myvu.com, starting next week) creates a single image you can see inside the translucent lenses.

Now Artoo can ride on your laptop

For serious collectors only. Flash drives dressed for rebellion

Boston-based design house Mimoco last week released limited edition USB flash drives that look like Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Storm Trooper, and R2-D2. More characters are in the pipeline, according to Mimoco.

Chewie is my favorite. Having his face on a USB flash drive should help me to form an attachment to my data, thus making it a bit harder to lose.

Link to my Boston Globe column, and excerpt, below.

clipped from www.boston.com

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Chewbacca as a USB drive

The Boston-based designer toy studio Mimoco (mimoco.com and starwarsshop.com) has just released the cutest little USB flash drives you are likely to find. They are a line of inch-long “Star Wars” toys with lots of artful details (Chewbacca’s belt, Artoo’s input panels, and so on), which hold up to 4 gigabytes in their bellies.

The Commodore name lives on

Badass: Commodore’s tough-looking gaming PC 

From my Boston Globe column this week: Commodore (the brand is now owned by a Dutch company) has just released a line of high-powered gaming PCs with custom skins…

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Also: Designers Didier Hilhorst and Nicholas Zambetti have crafted a set of pillows that double as wireless remote controls — one for power, and one each for volume control and track selection.

clipped from www.boston.com

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Commodore Gaming PC’s a beauty

But the real action on my block was indoors, where every kid experimented with his own version of the home PC.

I had the chunky Commodore 64, with a cassette tape deck for external memory.