How did I miss the latest (and possibly greatest) in current mobility hoaxes? This one is a doozy…

There seems to have been a buzz on the internet about popping corn using the radiation of mobile phones.

It turned out to be a hoax but still the videos are funny to watch.

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This came in today from Robert Oschler, our very own robotic mad scientist…

Hey Judie,

Here’s brand new detailed coverage on WowWee’s upcoming Tri-Bot robot, which we created after playing with him solid for several days:

We just released an In-depth video review that covers the important features and capabilities of the latest successor in WowWee’s Robosapien line of robots, the Tri-Bot. When you combine Tri-Bot’s ability to be driven merely by tilting his remote control along with his unique three wheel base, the net result is a simple to own and easy to love robot with amazing mobility not seen before in consumer robots. This YouTube video will show you these cool features, several of his fun and useful behavior modes, and tell you about the games Tri-Bot can play with you:

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John Phillips sent this to me via Facebook, and I just had to share. Are any of you getting a Wii Fit? It actually looks like fun, and of course the video pokes fun…so enjoy.

Update: 10:20 pm EST - Everything at YouTube seems back to normal. For those of you who tried to reach YouTube this morning, it appeared the site was either down, subject to denial of service attacks or maybe (but probably not) the subject of a hack to their domain record(s). Check out the image above and you can see what started the DNS hack conspiracy theory. Four funny looking domain server records with YouTube in their name. This is probably a fluke in someone’s server naming because if you look at the same query for Microsoft it’s just as odd.

Link: IpTools.com - YouTube Domain IP Hacked?
Via: Centernetworks: YouTube Down?

I’ve always wondered why restaurants can’t automate the process of ordering and paying for food. While I like interacting with (most) waiters/waitresses - I’ve had enough unpleasant experiences that given the choice I’d rather plop into a booth and key my own order into a terminal. One restaurant chain does have this self-ordering feature. The restaurant is uWink. They currently have one location in Woodland Hills CA and are opening two more in 2008 in Hollywood CA and Mountain View CA. The chain was founded by Nolan Bushnell who was also responsible for the Chuck E. Cheese chain as well as the founder of video game maker Atari. Unfortunately after about two years on the market it doesn’t seem that this concept has caught on too well. Check out the next page for a YouTube video report that explains the concept, then read a review posted on May 2, 2008 titled “uWink: A Cold Greasy Plate of Fail” to hear about one reviewers experience.

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Take one big fishing pole. Attach a half dozen steaks. Get in the water with the pole and sit on a surfboard. Cast it out to a shark. Hook a ride into shore. That’s pretty much what this video claims to show. I’m not sold that this is authentic. Entertaining? Heck yeah.

If it a sign that you have actually “made it” when your name is incorporated into a song, then I would say that Google is there…not that there was really any doubt. I heard Teyana Taylor’s new song “Google Me Baby” on MTV Hits today, and thought it would be fun to share…

It’s kind of catchy!

If Teyana looks familiar, it may be because you saw her on MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen. Maybe she’ll pay mom back for that outrageous party now.

CNN caught wind of our unique blogging practices here on Gear Diary; I think someone on the team must have wanted some extra attention…

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I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read the title of Nick Denton’s “Eleven Ways the Internet Can Kill You” this morning; filed under “Webtards”, his choices used to make the point did live up to the hype. Included were the following items: YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, pornography, SPAM, blogging, eBay, drugs, webcams, chat rooms and his number one item, which I will leave for you to discover.

Among the gems, item #6…Blogging.

At risk: Those already at risk of dying
Case 1: There’s a trick to making listicles like this: Put the weakest item in the middle. Unfortunately the New York Times spent an entire trend piece on the bogus idea of “death by blogging.” But Gizmodo editor Brian Lam tells me, “Only bogus to lazy bloggers. I did 75 hours this week and anyone over fifty would die doing that.”

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How often does this happen? You start the shower so that it can warm up and then you’re distracted by other things. Maybe the kids call you from another room, you start folding clothes, reading an article in the newspaper. Suddenly 5, 10 or 15 minutes can suddenly pass and the entire time you’re wasting hot water. Evolve Showerheads has a solution. And it’s not the typical reduced flow showerhead. What they’ve done is add a temperature flow valve that auto-senses when the shower reaches 95 degrees. Then it slows the water to a trickle - saving otherwise wasted hot water. When you’re ready to enter the shower, pull the flow cord and the warm water flow resumes! How’s it work? A quick 3 minute YouTube video that I created last night follows.

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