rock

A few years ago we may have asked, "How did we ever live without cell phones?" Now we ask the same question about text messaging. It was indeed a lifesaver last week at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. With live music ringing throughout the city 24/7, it was hard to find a quiet spot to make a phone call. So, along with thousands of others, I found myself obsessively texting to stay in touch with my cohorts about great shows (and to find ways to escape the bad ones). Cryptic messages such as &… Read more

We weren't particularly fond of the keyboard computer, but we don't want to hold that against all combo devices. The "Meivo TV," for instance, is something we wouldn't kick out of the living room if someone gave it to us as a gift. The 22-inch LCD has 720p resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, wireless keyboard and mouse, and is ready for both HD and Vista, according to Tech Digest

Made by U.K. gaming notebook maker Rock, the Meivo is priced at 1,000 pounds (around $1,940)--which may be its biggest … Read more

The country is experiencing record swings in temperature this winter and $1 billion in failed citrus crops due to freezing temperatures in California.

What a great time to think about pool sports.

The AquaClimb is a rock climbing wall for your pool. And who knows, you may not have to wait until summer to use it if temperatures swing back into the 70s, as they did on January 7 in the northeast.

There is no limit to the weight that the wall--a stainless steel frame with fiberglass panels and nonslip coating--can hold, according to the company. AquaClimb's base screws … Read more

So maybe you don't have a recording studio in your basement. But if your musical ambitions go beyond playing "Freebird" on Guitar Hero, you might be interested in this new product from Belkin that's making its debut this week at CES. The TuneStudio, as it's called, might look like something like a Fisher-Price "My First Recording Studio" with its compact size and bright colors, but it's actually a pretty hardcore piece of equipment. You can plug in up to four audio sources (you know...mics, guitars, old-school beat boxes). There's a … Read more

If it's possible to have a polar opposite to the "Hover Mouse," it would be this decidedly terrestrial Stone Age version reportedly from Russian designer Neko.

No, there's nothing terribly Crave-worthy about this Jurassic item, at least from a technology perspective. But given that we're often accused of being Luddites--OK, Neanderthals--we thought we'd beat our friends to the punch before they sent it to us. We doubt that it's solid rock, but it still achieves that fossilized caveman look that so many of us aspire to.

But if you'd rather go the … Read more

Cue the Deep Purple. Air guitar, that time-honored musical tradition generally best left for performances in garages and basements, has just gotten a big boost from technology.

Scientists at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have created a T-shirt that adds a real-life sound track when wearers strum their imaginary instrument.

Textile motion sensors embedded in the shirt sleeves detect motion when one arm bends and the other fake-strums. They then send the information to a computer that interprets the data and plays it as a series of guitar riffs.

Fortunately, the contraption is wireless, so there are … Read more