bubble

It's the height of summer, and for some of us that means allergy hell. Even our fortified caves and vehicles can't keep out all the offensive particles that make life miserable. So it may seem like desperation to you lucky non-sufferers out there, but we're sorely tempted to invest in this "Pro-Aqua" air-cleaning system, which sounds like a combination of a "Scooba" and one of those industrial-strength mosquito machines.

The indoor system improves air and climate quality through wet and dry cleaning mechanisms, including "wet vacuuming, air washing and scenting, inhalation, bed … Read more

Even if they involve Optimus Prime, we're sick of geeky cakes.

The convergence of the automotive and confectionary industries reached a fever pitch quite some time ago, in that South Park episode where Satan demands to have a "Ferrari cake" at his Halloween party, after all. But that doesn't mean there's no room left for innovation in the field of tooth-rottingly-sweet edible homages to technology.

We are, for example, totally loving this masterpiece by artist Heidi Hesse. has created a wire frame shaped like a Humvee (the military vehicle that inspired our wonderful, beloved Hummer) … Read more

Greetings and felicitations, Bubblenauts! This is Episode 3 of our new gadget show, set aboard a tiny bubbleship floating in geostationary orbit far above the planet. This week you can feast your tentacles on an exploration of whether robots deserve human rights, and witness everything there is to know about the socio-cultural evolution of the beat 'em-up videogame.

We'll also give you a bunch of good reasons to hate the Motorola Motofone F3--a mobile for the third world that's distinctly third-rate. Thrill as we blast it into a gabillion plastic shards. Subscibe to the podcast through iTunes, … Read more

Yesterday O2, the network that loves bubbles, announced it was adding a new handset to its business phone portfolio called the Xda Argon. The Argon is the long-awaited successor to the O2 Xda IIi and offers a similar feature set.

At the time of its launch back in 2005, the Xda IIi was a feature-packed, cutting-edge handset that appealed to executives and gadget fiends alike. Two years on and we're not sure if the Argon has the same wow factor.

Yes, there's a large 89mm (3.5-inch) color touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity and support for push email, but there'… Read more

For awhile we thought the majority of Webcams on the market were being designed by aliens. That was the only explanation we had for the inordinate number of models we've seen that have menacing or downright scary looks. (Except the ones that look like blenders, of course.)

The "Bubble Head" concept could change all that, as their friendly one-eyed faces show, if some manufacturer would just show a little guts and make them on a mass retail scale. The cams are made of polyurethane to survive falls from wherever they're perched, including the ladder that comes … Read more

Hey, Bubblenauts! It's the second episode of Crave UK's new gadget show, set aboard a little Bubble Ship, floating in space. This week we investigate the gluttonous power consumption of modern gadgets, and prove that "digital" doesn't necessarily mean "more advanced."

We also take a look at a laptop made entirely of bamboo, and kick one particuarly obnoxious mobile phone out of the airlock, where it explodes into a billion shards of ill-concieved plastic resin.

Climb aboard the Space Bubble, a geostationary satellite high above the surface of Earth, crewed by a solitary … Read more

We got the tip today about a brand new service called Bubble Guru. Its goal is simple: to give your blog or Web site visitors a short pop-up video message that runs and closes without any user interaction required. You can also record and send message to friends via e-mail. For viewers, there's no escape--the talking bubble will follow them as they scroll down the page.

The service is by no means a full-fledged video blogging tool; it falls into a strange subcategory between video messaging and a pop-up advertisement. It's also a little early in development, offering no way to save and track the messages you've created. For now the service is free, but a paid subscription version is on the way for about $10 a month.

We thought long and hard about the usefulness of this for the casual user. In truth, video embedding services from YouTube or Viddler is much more user friendly. Users can turn those videos on and off at their discretion and pass any interesting ones along to a friend. That, however, isn't the point of Bubble Guru. This service is all about grabbing your attention, which it does very well. We've embedded one for you: to see what it looks like, click "read more" below.… Read more

After all these years, it's amazing that those infuriating plastic "bubble packs" are still around. By now, we'd have thought for sure that there would have been a major class action over bodily injury caused by the sharp edges of this horrible stuff.

Until that day, we may have to try out something called the "Package Shark" that supposedly opens the hated material cleanly and, more important, safely. If it works as easily as it appears to in the company's video, we're getting one for sure. We totally agree with Red Ferret'… Read more

It's been a banner week for germaphobes. Just the other day we pointed to a device that purifies water with UV rays, and now we get word of a product that filters out airborne germs from the air within its immediate vicinity.

The "Ionic USB Air Purifier," according to Fareastgizmos, "discharges negative ions to absorb second-hand smoke, odors, clean airborne dust, and eliminate bacteria, germs, viruses." The device circulates air silently without a fan and needs no filters. All you need, apparently, is faith.