It does make me wonder sometimes - housewives hate the sight of cobwebs all over the house, especially those left behind by daddy long legs, and here we are with a gizmo that supposedly helps spiders spin more webs. Ah well, at least this is placed outdoors where spiders have better luck catching some insects in the tangled web that they weave.

All you need to do is stick the Spider Web Maker in your garden, sit back, and wait for one of your arachnid chums to finish their architectural delight. Marvel at the visual spectacle that is the spider’s web from your very own garden.

Unfortunately for the spider, you might get bored of their “work” once they’re done, and wipe the slate clean to get a new piece. I’d be bummed too if I were that particular spider, seeing somebody figuratively flush my sweat and blood down the water. At least each £7.99 purchase comes with an information booklet written by Natural History Museum scientists, providing more information on spiders and their webs.

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The name Targus ought to be familiar with people who own notebooks - after all, most of the standard notebook carry case that comes with each notebook purchase aren’t exactly up to par with what consumers want. How else would you explain the many other notebook carry cases that are available at your local computer store which offer much, much more in a compelling design, to boot? Targus is back with a bang, this time with its Spruce EcoSmart line of MacBook Pro carrying cases. As you can tell by the name itself, these were specially designed for Mac users, and I must say that Targus has done a pretty good job in making sleek bags to match the equally stylish MacBook Pros - all this without causing additional harm to the environment (more on that later) at a pocket friendly price.

These new cases will not exact a heavy toll on Mother Nature as they are manufactured from 100% recycled nylon and are PVC-free. In addition, the metal used inside the Spruce EcoSmart case is nickel-free, and best of all is, the entire range of plastic components used are fully recyclable, giving you the opportunity to go green the next time you upgrade your MacBook Pro to the latest edition and get yet another notebook bag for it. According to Al Giazzon, vice president of marketing at Targus, “Targus continues its commitment to developing environmentally conscious laptop bags. With the growing popularity of MacBooks around the globe, Targus’ new line of Spruce bags provides a stylish and eco-friendly alternative for carrying and protecting the MacBook Pro.”

There are several Spruce products to choose from - the Spruce topload (TBT049US) measures 15.63″ x 4.25″ x 13.25″ and weighs 1.80 lbs., while the Spruce messenger (TBM015US) measures 16.63″ x 4.50″ x 13.75″ and weighs 2.06 lbs., and they will both retail for $79.99 a pop. As for the Spruce backpack (TBB013US), this puppy measures 13″ x 8.25″ x 18.75″ and weighs 2 lbs. with a recommended retail price of $89.99. They will be made available later this spring.

Press Release

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Do you happen to have a great love for street performances, and have an affinity towards the Beastie Boys and Run DMC along with artists of a similar genre? Well, you’re in luck then with the availability of the Beat Box Mixer & MP3 Speaker. At least you don’t have to be talented to recreate the superb sounds made by the above mentioned artistes, thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

The Beat box Mixer is perhaps a healthy alternative for those who just aren’t any good at beat boxing. Plug in your mp3 player and beat box along with your favorite tracks. With backing tacks and four funky beat box sounds, you can mix up your own music or make something new! Featuring original beat boxing sounds supplied by Doctor Badfunk. Beat box mixer also includes one USB port to replace your computer’s USB port occupied by your Beat Box Mixer.

Powered by a trio of AA batteries, the Beat Box Mixer & MP3 Speaker will retail for £12.95 a pop.

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With rumors running rampant about Steve Jobs’ health over the last few months, including that he was either dead or at death’s door, and with the announcement that he was not going to be giving Apple’s last keynote address at MacWorld, the Cupertino Guru decided it was time to quell the scuttlebutt and explain his health condition which prompted his recent rapid weight loss. According to Jobs, a strange hormonal imbalance has cause his Holocaust survivor like appearance and his decision to pull out of the MacWorld keynote was more to spend the holidays with his family rather than preparing for the last great Apple Keynote (you may remember Apple announcing they will not longer participate in MacWorld Expo after 2009). Anyone buying it? I mean, seriously.

If unbalancing your hormones would be the key to losing weight, we would’ve heard about it as the great miracle diet in Hollywood by now. The magic pill that would put your hormones out of whack and drop that hard to lose last ten pounds. Then, one would merely have to take another magic pill to right the ship, as it were. No, the key is in the second reason why he’s not giving the keynote – he’s spending time with his family. All of a sudden. At this stage with his rapid weight loss the news he’s been battling cancer. Sorry, but how could this be anything else except an attempt to buttress Wall Street against another ground pounding on Apple Stock once the worst is realized? Remember last year’s rumor that caused the stock to tank?

We certainly hope this isn’t the case, and that it’s idle speculation which is fueling the story. And certainly Steve Jobs has a right to keep his health condition private, sort of, he does have a feduciary responsibility to Apple Stockholders. Bet let’s apply Akham’s Razor here and look at the simplest possible explanation. His health isn’t the best. And with the perception that Steve Jobs IS Apple (or M’Apple as the case may be) doesn’t it make more sense that Apple is merely trying to cover up the Jobs story and is unable to merely come out with his heir apparent(s) and say here’s the new face(s) of Apple? One thing is for certain, 2009 will be filled with rumors about Jobs’ health if his treatment to counter this hormone imbalance doesn’t work.

Hat Tip – Engadget

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The most exciting time in the HDTV / home theater industry each year is the start of the year, at CES. Now just a few short days away, from Thursday 7th January 2009 to the 11th, CES 2009, also known as the Consumer Electronics Show will run.

During CES 2009 all the major electronics companies such as Sony, Samsung, Philips, Pioneer etc will announce all their new HDTVs for the 2009 year. I can’t wait to see all the new models, and see all of the new improvements they have made.

As usual all the companies will be trying to out do each other. I predict, much like last year, everyone will be fighting for the world’s slimmest HDTV. Also, I think me might see, more 240Hz/ 480Hz HDTVs, maybe a larger (>11-inch) OLED HDTV, “Eco” HDTV, Internet connected HDTV, and 3D HDTV features.

I will keep this post updated with all the CES HDTV announcements as they come in.

2009 CES HDTV Announcements

• Samsung 2009 HDTV Lineup
• LG LH95 / LG LH9500| LG 55LH95, LG 55LH9500

Apple will announce new products during a Tuesday morning keynote at San Francisco's Macworld Expo. Wired.com will be liveblogging the event on site.

Apple's vice president of marketing Phil Schiller (no, not Steve Jobs) will be delivering the keynote starting 9 a.m. PDT Tuesday. Wired.com's James Merithew, Mark McClusky and Leander Kahney will be there with yours truly, blogging up a storm. At that time, revisit this post to track our coverage and in-depth analysis.

In the mean time, read our pre-Macworld reports to get caught up on what's expected at the show. 

See Also:

• Steve Jobs Cites Treatable Hormone Imbalance For Weight Loss ...
• Jobs Won't Appear at Macworld 2009 to Be Apple's Last Show ...
• Apple Says Farewell to Macworld, Hello to the Big Time
• Fans Plan Silent Protest for Steve-less Macworld
• Rumor Roundup: What to Expect at Macworld Expo 2009

Photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

Amazon.com said Monday its users will be able to rent and watch movies and TV episodes from its Video On Demand store via the Roku digital video player. The Roku player, which costs $100, will allow users to see rented movies and shows anytime on the player itself or online.

The move should make the Roku player much more valuable. If Roku can add more partnerships it could put the player a step ahead of competitors. Netflix rival BlockBuster also has a streaming video box, while Apple has had movie rentals available through Apple TV. Amazon.com has about 40,000 titles in its catalog.

Photo: (graysky/Flickr)

A man known for his great jokes, Aaron once fooled a lot of people into thinking he had the much-coveted color hiptop before anyone even knew what it looked like:

And noone can forget when he got the original OTA:

And we leave you with your “Fun Fact of the Day” - Aaron was the originator of the Cat Remote rumor that kind of launched Hiptop3.com

I have one of the later models of iLuv and so far have found it extremely convenient.  Especially since I tend to flake on charging my iPod.  Well now iLuv is offering a new gadget for us to drool over.  This one has found its way to this year’s CES and won’t be out for a few more months, but they at least released a  few details to draw in our interest.  The dock has all the usual convenient speccs but with one extra to sweeten the deal.  One great perk is that  iMM183 will work with both your iphone and ipod at the same time.  That is as long as you have a 4th Gen or later iPod.

It features dual docks to help those of you that have both or a significant other with one as well.  The dock has the regular features like a built-in alarm clock and is able to play your iPod/iPhone through the built-in speakers.  It also has an FM radio and of course a way to plug in any other audio devices you have around.  It also has an extra feature to do with the weather this time around.  It has support for weather text alerts from NOAA and SAME that will automatically come through on the preset radio channels.  It allows you to archive as many as 10 notices for ongoing situations as well as has an LED warning to show when there is a new alert.  So far there is no price released, but it will be available in March.

Source: iPodnn

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by Daniel Dumas

Get ready for an onslaught of the cheap. With the economy more unstable than Plaxico Burress' mental state, electronics manufacturers are putting the e-brakes on their budgets, flattening their costs, and rolling out their cheapest, most practical gadgets. You know, the ones that people like you and me can afford.

You'll get a glimpse of this "fashionably cheap" approach to gadgets at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The show, which runs from January 6 to January 11, is the electronics industry's biggest North American conference. This year's tradeshow will no doubt feature some excessively large HDTVs, as it has in the past. It will still attract more than 100,000 attendees, mostly members of the electronics industry, plus a few thousand journalists, though CES attendance will be down a bit compared to last year. And it will still have its celebrity appearances (including Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Akon), paid for by companies hungry for publicity.

But behind the glitz, companies will be showing their bread and butter for 2009: A lot of inexpensive, no frills devices designed to perform expertly without sucking up the last remaining drops of your severance package.

Cell Phones

Convention show speculation will invariably focus on what form the next the iphone will take. Be like Public Enemy; don't believe the hype. There are other cooler, better, and yes, more capable handsets out there.

Shredding a path through the tangled cellular jungle is, surprise, Palm. The company everyone thought had flatlined is taking the defibrillator to itself with the potentially awesome Nova operating system. The Linux based OS -- which will launch at an undisclosed date in 2009 -- is being pimped as "a next-generation operating system with much more capabilities, driven around the Internet and Web-based applications," by Palm CEO Ed Colligan. We know it's all marketing hype, but Palm's seemingly endless financial woes might be just enough to spark a minor revolution in cell software. With the company's declining market share, it's a sure bet that Nova-based Palm phones will be cheap buys in 2009. And fans of the OG Palm OS need not fret, both of you can still pick up a Centro for just $99 well into the New Year.

Notebooks and Desktop PCs

Netbooks netbooks netbooks! Yes, these wee wonders have broken into the mainstream and are now considered legit devices. Look for refreshes on existing netbook lines from Dell, HP, Asus, and MSI. We expect one from Sony too: We're predicting Sony will show a fully-featured netbook, with its trademark Vaio styling, in the $500 to $700 range.

Also expect to see a lot of all-in-one desktops that are less about design and more about functionality. We've seen iMac clones like the beautifully rendered Dell XPS One and the Gateway One before. Those days are over. In their stead will be ugly, obtuse, yet practical all-in-one boxes that trade a slim profile and processing power for a sub-thousand-dollar sticker.

Televisions and Displays

The schoolyard contest of who can build the biggest TV won't exactly stop mid-shove. Sharp, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony will roll out some retina-searing, 100-inch-plus LCDs, but behind the big screens there will be more of an emphasis on screens that can deliver bang for the buck. Third-tier manufacturers like Vizio, Westinghouse, and Sceptre will be offering screens that have just as much resolution, color, and calibration options as their second- and first-tier brethren. They'll just cost thousands less.

Miniature pocket projectors will be huge. Instead of dropping ten thousand ducats on a 1080p home cinema caliber projector, corporate VPs will be pocketing portables like the Toshiba Pico to project their PowerPoint presentations on the go. We've already seen a chorus line of projectors like the Pico emerge in recent months. The G-Lab crystal ball predicts more of these handhelds at cheaper prices.

Cameras and Camcorders

A few titanic, feature-heavy SLRs (Exhibit A: Canon 5D Mark II) will sail through CES but so will a fleet of thrifty shooters that anchor cheap thrills by way of thoughtful touches. Look for small shooters that incorporate printers, Wi-Fi, and web browsers.

Also gaining a deep foothold will be mini video cams like the Flip Mino and the Kodak Zi6. Designed to upload footage to the web (alright, basically just to YouTube), these devices record in hi-def and often cost less than two hundred bucks. Until now they've been the pet projects of borderline boutique manufacturers like Pure Digital. But now mainstream camera companies will be rolling out their own versions of pocket video cameras, putting still more price and feature pressure on this category. And you know what that means: Cheaper, better products for you and me.

Wired.com is sending a 9-person team to cover CES with news reports, photos and video. Follow all the latest news at wired.com/ces.

Photo of CES 2008 by mobil'homme/Flickr