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Sling Madness

Technological breakthroughs happen so fast that even a couple of years ago can feel like a distant memory. Like, bust—the first two frantic days of March Madness are around the corner (March 20 and 21), meaning two long work days stuck in a cubicle without access to a TV to watch dozens of first-round games. Back, back, back in the day, your ass was either playing hooky or taking a stupid long lunch break to watch the games. Back, back in the day, you could sit in your cubicle and get score updates via your web browser. And back in the day, like last year, you could try your luck procuring a watchable live stream, which is probably less rewarding than scrambled porn. I mean, shit, you can still squeeze a nut off scrambled porn.

Popularity: 31% [?]

The Logitech Harmony One Wants To Rule Your Coffee Table

Got three or four remote controls laying around your living room? You can start using them to peg your girlfriend’s cat when the Harmony One universal remote drops next week. Hook up the One to your Mac or PC, fill in the model numbers of your A/V gear and it’s ready to run the show and replace up to 15 of its lesser brethren. A customizable touch screen instantly fires up all the devices and dials in the right settings for any activity from watching TV to gaming. The One also features hard buttons that mimic the layout on standard cable remotes for changing channels and operating your DVR. It’s a nice change-up from the Logitech Harmony 1000 which operates fully off a touch screen. We could finish with a joke about one remote to rule them all. But we really hate hobbits.
Harmony One universal remote, $250, logitech.com

Popularity: 9% [?]

Fuji FinePix Drops World’s Smallest* Digicam

Thinking about taking your pics to the next level? Fuji’s 10-megapixel FinePix S1000fd gives you the chance to manipulate the f-stops and shutter speeds like pro shooters to craft your images. So what if you ninety percent of the people who buy it just leave the camera on automatic? Even if you treat the Fuji the same way a soccer mom treats her SUV and never take it for an off-road spin you can still talk a big game. The four-inch wide, 11.5-ounce frame makes it the world’s smallest camera with a 12X optical zoom. Better get the Fuji when it ships in April, you’ll probably be able to use that line for six months. FinePix S1000fd, $250, www.fujifilmusa.com

Popularity: 16% [?]

This Slingbox Swings Both Ways

Although the Slingbox “place-shift” tech has been out for a few years, the new Pro HD model steps up its game to the realm of high def. If you have an HD cable or satellite rig at home, the Slingbox will stream your TV and video content (including anything on your TiVo or DVR) in a native HD signal to your laptop, smartphone or any Web-connected device. When will HD cell phones hit the market? Who gives a shit. Pick up the Sling and you’ll be ready for the little bastards. You will need a fairly stout connection (around 1.5Mbps upload speed) for the Slingbox to pump out pure HD signal. But not to worry, the device automatically steps down the quality of the stream to work with whatever janky network you’ve got. Whether you want to watch HD or can only manage a standard signal, you’re good to go. Step up your A/V nerd game when the Slingbox HD Pro hits the market (around $400) this fall. www.slingbox.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

Let The Rovio Run Your Domestic Spy Ops

Best known for its remote controlled raptors and farting robots, tech toy company WowWee will roll out the high-end Rovio some time this winter. As you can see it’s more stealth bomber than kiddie toy. Equipped with a Web camera, GPS navigation (which allows it to be programmed to know your home), and a third wheel for sidway maneuvers, this drone will obey any command coming from any PC or Web-enabled device, including a cell phone. Live audio and video are streamed back to you via built-in WiFi, which makes this robot perfect for any number of clandestine activities. There’s a lot of hardware under the hood for a mere $300 bucks.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Skullcandy Headphones Play Music Without Music Player

It was just this week we showed you those new high fidelity headphones by Dr. Dre, but now we’ve already found another shiny object to fawn over. These new headphones by Skullcandy don’t even need a music player or audio source to listen to music, just a SD card loaded with your favorite tracks. It then plugs right into wire free headset and you’re good to go. They’re set for release in Spring of 2008 and will even come pre-loaded with SD cards from some of Skullcandy’s music partners, providing plug and play music right out the box.

[Source]

Popularity: 9% [?]

Winding Down: Everything’s Coming Up Roses

More lists of sexy ladies. This time it includes American Idol-er Antonella Barba doing her best American Beauty impersonation. [Coedmagzine, via]

If you still care about vinyl toys or Darth Vader, here you go. [Likecool]

Magneto is for the birds. [Superpunch]

Unfortunately, this slimmer-than-an-iPhone LCD TV from Pioneer is still just a concept, but it should be around soon enough. [Gizmodo]

Popularity: 16% [?]

Winding Down: Letting It All Hang Out

Pam Anderson doing what she does best: showing her breasts in Vegas. [Hollywood Tuna]

A truly puzzling but retro cool subwoofer. [Gearfuse]

Being able to pop one of these limited edition white gold bottles of Dom without flinching is our New Year’s resolution. [Bornrich]

You sick of your dog chewing your prized possessions? Affix a cell phone on vibrate around its collar and call when naughty. [Afflicted Yard]

Popularity: 15% [?]

Winding Down: Regifting Time

Time to wrap this up. [Terrestrial Imagination’s Flickr]

Beam people with the perfect snowballs thanks to the ‘Sno-Baller,’ or just toss ice bricks at them with the ‘Block Maker.’ [Likecool]

BANKSY’S vandalism gets vandalized by residents of Bethlehem. [TheWorldsBestEver]

$54,000 speakers are surprisingly elf-looking. [Bornrich]

Popularity: 19% [?]

Pace Yourself

Before the Pacemaker impacts the US in February ‘08, the DJ technology that functions like two CD turntables and a mixer, you can get familiar with it’s beta program here. Download the program now, start mixing, then upload your music for other members to rate. Finally, an online community (for deejays) that won’t suffer the same demise as MySpace, Facebook, etc.

Popularity: 10% [?]