The stop-motion animated face of Japan’s NHK Television, Domo is bringing his pop-iconhood overseas in the form of a series of Nicktoons shorts and the very first Domo Mimobot Series of Designer USB Flash Drives! The Domo USB Flash Drive comes preloaded with great Domo content, including the Mimobot SoundByte application, wallpapers, icons, and the original NHK spots featuring Domo himself!

Too bad $39.99 will net you just 1GB of storage space - that’s hardly enough these days. The Domo USB flash drive works with both Windows and Mac platforms, and is Ready Boost-ready.
[ Domo USB flash drive copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

• First, the proportions in the green one are all wrong compared to the orange one. Even counting the perspective, the first unit seems to have a much smaller wheel, with a bigger middle button. It's also farther away from the bottom of the iPod. Finally, the screen doesn't seem so elongated as the green unit.

• The surfaces are also different. The orange nano is clearly curved, while the green one is clearly flat. The button in the orange one follows the curve of the surface, while the button in the green one is clearly receded, like in the old nanos. With that side lighting, a curved surface would be obvious in the image. This one is clearly flat.

• The rounded corners on the orange iPod screen are bigger and more obvious than in the old one.

• Finally, the faker of the green iPod forgot to put a short ended iPod cable in the shot, using the old style one.

Our theory is that:

a) The original MacNN shot, which they obtained, may very well be the real McCoy.
b) The J.R. guy removed the MacNN watermark and reposted it in some forums, looking for some kind attention.
c) The same J.R. guy tried to keep the attention by faking this shot, but failed to realize the obvious physical differences between the two iPods.
d) J.R. is a loser.

Update: This just in. We just got a higher resolution image of the iPod without any water marks:

At the end, however, remember our basic rule about rumors: don't trust any of them. We all will have to wait for September 9 to see what's really rocking in Cupertino. [Engadget]

I’ll be honest. The i300 passed me by on release, and when Matt asked me to check out a WM2003 device, I wasn’t exactly excited by the prospect. However, the i300 does have a few unique selling points, and you could say was ahead of its time, meaning it could be worth a look even today.

The Samsung i300

What's in the box?

As usual for Samsung, there's a box full of goodies, two batteries and even a dock included.

• Samsung i300
• AC Charger
• Docking cradle
• Standard battery
• Extended battery
• Direct USB connection
• Headset

Samsung i300 Specification:

• Dimensions : 113 x 48 x 20 (mm)
• Weight : 121 g
• Talk time: up to 7 hours
• Standby time: up to 200 hours
• Display type: TFT, 256K colors at 240 x 320 pixels
• Camera: 2 Megapixel, 1280x1024 pixels, video captue/playback, with flash
• Bluetooth, v1.2
• MP3/WMA/AAC/MPEG4 player
• Operating system: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE
• Memory: 3 GB microdrive, 64 MB internal memory, expandable via TransFlash memory cards
• Tri band: GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900

General

There isn't much to see on the top of the Samsung i300, just the black iRDA 'window'.

Samsung i300 top view

On the bottom you'll find plastic cover over the proprietary Sync/Charge connector.

Samsung i300 bottom view

On the left hand side you can find another plastic cover over the proprietary headphone connector. Below there a buttons for voice recorder, keylock and volume control.

Samsung i300 left side

Looking to the right side there's yet another cover, this time it covers the MicroSD/Transflash card slot. There' also a dedicated camera button and two additional soft keys.

Samsung i300 right side

The Samsung i300 has a decent looking keypad with regular numeric pad and standard smartphone shortcut keys. In the middle is a rotating jog dial that works to scroll through the phone's menus as stored media files.

Samsung i300 keypad

Unusually, the Samsung i300 package includes a neat docking station that allows you to charge the device and the spare battery at the same time.

The Samsung i300 in its dock

Review

So why are we reviewing an older smartphone? A few reasons really. For a start eXpansys want you to buy one, but I was also interested in the retro looks of the device, and of course the 3gb “microdrive”.

3gb isn’t a great deal now with the iPhone, but then this isn’t anywhere near the cost of one. It’s was, until the Diamond, the only WM based device to have built in storage. It’s an interesting phone and is as quick as any of the devices being launched today.

The retro look comes from a mix of black and silver plastic, but feels very well built. The sides are filled with various shortcut hardware buttons, and although these make it look a bit business orientated, most are of some use.

Throughout it’s life, it has, perhaps oddly, been pushed as a consumer device (and in the marketing, you’d be forgiven for thinking the hard disk only accepts music files!). This seems a little strange to me, as its crying out to be used in enterprise. Its a true USB Stick/phone combo, and 3gb of storage, plus a decent well spec'ed phone for £70 seems good.

The i300 of course does beat the likes of Sony Walkman phones in terms of storage, but the teenage girl crowd are not going to want to carry around i300! Style wise then, it is in a niche market, but I do firmly believe it retains its use even now – especially with now stupidly low pricing - it even comes with a decent set of headphones and a headphone adapter for those wishing to use their own headphones.

i300 headphone adapter

As you might expect, music (and anything else) is easily synced to the device with a combination of Windows Media Player and ActiveSync, but unfortunately the built in speakers are pretty awful. As usual, and as most people do, using earphones improves the quality no end.

As well as the full scale hard disk, the i300 still supports external micro-sd cards, which can be hot swapped without removing the battery.

There's is sadly no way of upgrading the device from its rather old WM2003 Second Edition despite the fact that later builds of the i300 did include WM5.

The usual array of software is available on the device immediately – and Samsung have also added “Picsel viewer” which opens most Office documents.

The built in camera at 1.3meg is acceptable, but does struggle to perform at the levels expected these days. The camera button is on the right hand side of the phone, next to a button dedicated to the standard profile selection screen. This doubles up with a long press to activate flight mode. A third button applies the keylock.

On the right hand side, there is the volume rocker switch, the headphones port, and a voice control/voice recorder button.

The front of the phone is typical retro candybar looks. Screen at the top, buttons at the bottom, and the standard WM softkeys. The navigation ring is really useful though. First off its the usual 5-way direction pad, but the ring itself also spins, with a ridge to make it even easier to navigate through websites and other documents. It is also the method used to digitally zoom the camera.

I really do want to love this phone, and considering its age, its still amazingly useful and easy to use. It is big, and perhaps a bit too heavy. It just about gets away with it, because you do get something for the hassle – the hard disk. I do hope it can withstand a few heavy falls though!

The battery life is acceptable, although you will lose access to the hard disk when the battery drops to a certain level. This will at least in theory give you a little bit of extra time to get home and recharge! The package does include an extra battery that you can carry for the emergency situations.

Samsung i300 battery packs

Highlights

• Nice retro look
• 3gb memory
• High quality screen
• Decent battery life

Lowlights

• A little too heavy
• WM2003 and seemingly no WM5 upgrade available

Conclusion

For all its minor niggles, I can’t help liking the i300, despite its age, and the older OS. The 3gb storage is a really nice addon, and its what separates this from other devices of its time – and makes it a worthwhile purchase for some even now.

Review by: Mark

Sure, they're masterfully painted, but more interestingly come from a time when Apple, a more innocent underdog, could portray their products as fine art without coming off as arrogant. I'm not saying that this campaign wasn't at least partially born of hubris, but the effect - especially this many years later - is more strange and hilarious than anything else. Details and a full gallery are available here. [MyOldMac via Cult of Mac]

As we saw at E3 and WWDC, the iPhone version of Spore is Spore Origins, which is limited to the "primordial ooze" stage you see here, with a limited version of the Creature Creator thrown in for tweaking your bug cosmetically. On the plus side, it's simple and a quick diversion, and it's fun combo-ing your way through 35 increasingly difficult levels of munching little floaties. You can also import photos from your iPhone camera to texture-map on your creatures (Benny's Michigan Fab 5 tee).

But on the downside, the game suffers from the same control awkwardness that all of the accelerometer-only games do—as you can see in our video, the camera had a tough time keeping focus because you're always dramatically moving the phone to try to reign in your creature. A training stage featured a level-like bubble for each axis that showed you when you were at the zero-point, which was incredibly helpful—too bad it disappeared after training.

And most disappointingly, Spore for iPhone does not connect with the greater Spore hive in any way, meaning you won't see any procedurally generated creatures made by real other players of the game via Spore's central server. Kind of a weird choice for such a connected phone, and most confusingly, EA says the simpler Java based game for most other cellphones does in fact have connectivity to the greater spore world.

There's still some vagueness with release date (EA's site still only says "sometime in September") but all other Spore platforms launch in the US this Sunday. Look for it then or soon thereafter in the App Store for a price that'll probably be in the $10 and below range.

This week's app coverage on Giz:

• Remember what it was like to buy a CD? Apple's plans to include lyrics and additional album art via an app download for certain albums will help you remember.
• Continunig to carry the torch for political apps is Election '08 - a $1 app that collects poll data, electoral vote projections, and tons of other election data.
• And at CEDIA, all of the home automation systems are racing each other to release remote control applications, turning your iPhone into a capable touchscreen control surface for opening the blinds from across the street or jacking up the AC if your cat gets hot.

For even more apps: see what you missed last week and check our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

Belkin Leather Folio Case for iPod touch (Persimmon Orange/Bone White)

Stash Reef Sandals

Unless you’re going to the beach with a larger group, you are going to run into a problem: you are in the water, while your stuff is not; how do you make sure it won’t get stolen? The Stash Reef Sandals offer the solution: they have a little “drawer” inside the sole where money, credit cards or keys can be stashed. And who ever heard of flip flop thieves?

The full post can be found on S2999.

Vacuum cleaning robot

Vacuuming must be one of the most boring chores on earth. But get one of these and you’ll never have to do it again.

The full post can be found on Decide What to Buy.

LayZ Inflatable Spa

The LayZ Inflatable Spa is the ultimate must-have luxury gadget. It can be positioned indoors or outdoors and is the perfect thing to pull out for your next party.The spa inflates within 10 minutes and just by plugging it in. The tub features 80 turbo-massage jets and comes in two sizes, a smaller 2-4 person version for those with limited tiled space in their house, and a roomier 6 person tub.

The full post can be found on Gaj-It.

Lensbaby 2.0 and 3G

The Lensbaby 2.0 and 3G are selective focus SLR lenses, which have a flexible “lens barrel” to give you that smooth out of focus effect in portions of your images. Basically, you bend, push and pull the lens to move the “Sweet Spot” where you want it and blur the remaining areas of the image. The Lensbaby 2.0 and 3G are designed to work with a number of cameras, including Canon, Sony and Nikon digital SLRs.

The full post can be found on Photography Bay.

Storefront Rocket Ride

This is the classic rocket ride encountered in front of supermarketsduring the 1960s, recalling a time when a single nickel and imaginationwas the only requirement a child needed. An authentic unit refurbishedto its original state, including the details of its tapered nose cone,bulbous body, and symbols suggestive of space travel.

The full post can be found on Random Good Stuff.

Krysalid’42 Trimaran Offers $600,000 Sail

Featuring a foldable structure that can be unfolded within two minutes; it proposes to offer more room on the bulky (42 foot) bridgedeck tavern to accommodate 6-8 people .

The full post can be found on Elite Choice.

Carry Your Music with You Everywhere You Go with Reppo II

Jonas Saraanen understands that you may be feeling nostalgive about the love-and-peace era but still need you feet firmly on the ground. The Reppo II includes integrated speakers and high quality digital amplifiers in a backpack that you can carry on your back anywhere you want.

The full post can be found on GadgetsBlog.org.

Thanks to all the sites for their submissions now over to you guys for voting (don’t forget to leave a comment with your reason for a chance to win a $50 Amazon voucher) :

Want to hear about future contests first? Subscribe to our daily digest via email or RSS.

If you write for a gadget themed blog and wish to be included in next weeks contest check out the CGOTW instructions page.

[ Another $50 Coolest Gadget Contest copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

You simply need to follow this step by step guide in getting your own Wikio RSS button.

• Get yourself over to http://www.wikio.co.uk/tools/universalsubscription

• Enter the URL of the page you want the RSS Button for in the area as shown below

• Choose your button type and grab the code presented to you in the box beneath (see screen shot) and get it to your site.

The general idea is that this button will allow you to put just one single RSS button on your blog. Clicking on this button will then enable your readers to subscribe to your blogg via the RSS feed using the RSS service of their choice, and it thus means you no longer have to display a long list of various RSS services and their corresponding buttons.

Clicking on the button once it's been installed on your site should open a new page containing a selection of the most popular RSS subscription buttons.

See, it's that simple....... enjoy!

Posted by: John

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, RSS, wikio, Treo 850, Tracy & Matt]

Long story short: "In many of the patients, one neuron responded every time they saw a particular video," wrote Emma Byrne in yesterday's Financial Times about a new study published online today in the journal Science.

To get you warmed up for the heavy stuff to come, here's Benedict Carey's September 4, 2008 New York Times front page story on the findings.

For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving

Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it.

The recordings, taken from the brains of epilepsy patients being prepared for surgery, demonstrate that these spontaneous memories reside in some of the same neurons that fired most furiously when the recalled event had been experienced. Researchers had long theorized as much but until now had only indirect evidence.

Experts said the study had all but closed the case: For the brain, remembering is a lot like doing (at least in the short term, as the research says nothing about more distant memories).

The experiment, being reported Friday in the journal Science, is likely to open a new avenue in the investigation of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, some experts said, as well as help explain how some memories seemingly come out of nowhere. The researchers were even able to identify specific memories in subjects a second or two before the people themselves reported having them.

“This is what I would call a foundational finding,” said Michael J. Kahana, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the research. “I cannot think of any recent study that’s comparable.

“It’s a really central piece of the memory puzzle and an important step in helping us fill in the detail of what exactly is happening when the brain performs this mental time travel” of summoning past experiences.

The new study moved beyond most previous memory research in that it focused not on recognition or recollection of specific symbols but on free recall — whatever popped into people’s heads when, in this case, they were asked to remember short film clips they had just seen.

This ability to richly reconstitute past experience often quickly deteriorates in people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, and it is fundamental to so-called episodic memory — the catalog of vignettes that together form our remembered past.

In the study, a team of American and Israeli researchers threaded tiny electrodes into the brains of 13 people with severe epilepsy. The electrode implants are standard procedure in such cases, allowing doctors to pinpoint the location of the mini-storms of brain activity that cause epileptic seizures.

The patients watched a series of 5- to 10-second film clips, some from popular television shows like “Seinfeld” and others depicting animals or landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. The researchers recorded the firing activity of about 100 neurons per person; the recorded neurons were concentrated in and around the hippocampus, a sliver of tissue deep in the brain known to be critical to forming memories.

In each person, the researchers identified single cells that became highly active during some videos and quiet during others. More than half the recorded cells hummed with activity in response to at least one film clip; many of them also responded weakly to others.

After briefly distracting the patients, the researchers then asked them to think about the clips for a minute and to report “what comes to mind.” The patients remembered almost all of the clips. And when they recalled a specific one — say, a clip of Homer Simpson — the same cells that had been active during the Homer clip reignited. In fact, the cells became active a second or two before people were conscious of the memory, which signaled to researchers the memory to come.

“It’s astounding to see this in a single trial; the phenomenon is strong, and we were listening in the right place,” said the senior author, Dr. Itzhak Fried, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Tel Aviv.

His co-authors were Hagar Gelbard-Sagiv, Michal Harel and Rafael Malach of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Roy Mukamel, of U.C.L.A.

Dr. Fried said in a phone interview that the single neurons recorded firing most furiously during the film clips were not acting on their own; they were, like all such cells, part of a circuit responding to the videos, including thousands, perhaps millions, of other cells.

In studies of rodents, including a paper that will also appear Friday in the journal Science, neuroscientists have shown that special cells in the hippocampus are sensitive to location, activating when the animal passes a certain spot in a maze. The firing pattern of these cells forms the animals’ spatial memory and can predict which way the animal will turn, even if it makes a wrong move.

Some scientists argue that as humans evolved, these same cells adapted to register a longer list of elements — including possibly sounds, smells, time of day and chronology — when an experience occurred in relation to others.

Single-cell recordings cannot capture the entire array of circuitry involved in memory, which may be widely distributed beyond the hippocampus area, experts said. And as time passes, memories are consolidated, submerged, perhaps retooled and often entirely reshaped when retrieved later.

Though it did not address this longer-term process, the new study suggests that at least some of the neurons that fire when a distant memory comes to mind are those that were most active back when it happened, however long ago that was.

“The exciting thing about this,” said Dr. Kahana, the University of Pennsylvania professor, “is that it gives us direct biological evidence of what before was almost entirely theoretical.”

Here's the abstract of the original report by Fried et al, as published September 5, 2008 in the journal Science.

Internally Generated Reactivation of Single Neurons in Human Hippocampus During Free Recall

The emergence of memory, a trace of things past, into human consciousness is one of the greatest mysteries of the human mind. Whereas the neuronal basis of recognition memory can be probed experimentally in human and nonhuman primates, the study of free recall requires that the mind declare the occurrence of a recalled memory (an event intrinsic to the organism and invisible to an observer). Here, we report the activity of single neurons in the human hippocampus and surrounding areas when subjects first view television episodes consisting of audiovisual sequences and again later when they freely recall these episodes. A subset of these neurons exhibited selective firing, which often persisted throughout and following specific episodes for as long as 12 seconds. Verbal reports of memories of these specific episodes at the time of free recall were preceded by selective reactivation of the same hippocampal and entorhinal cortex neurons. We suggest that this reactivation is an internally generated neuronal correlate of the subjective experience of spontaneous emergence of human recollection.

The abstract of the Science paper (cited above) reporting findings in rodent brains follows.

Internally Generated Cell Assembly Sequences in the Rat Hippocampus

A long-standing conjecture in neuroscience is that aspects of cognition depend on the brain's ability to self-generate sequential neuronal activity. We found that reliably and continually changing cell assemblies in the rat hippocampus appeared not only during spatial navigation but also in the absence of changing environmental or body-derived inputs. During the delay period of a memory task, each moment in time was characterized by the activity of a particular assembly of neurons. Identical initial conditions triggered a similar assembly sequence, whereas different conditions gave rise to different sequences, thereby predicting behavioral choices, including errors. Such sequences were not formed in control (nonmemory) tasks. We hypothesize that neuronal representations, evolved for encoding distance in spatial navigation, also support episodic recall and the planning of action sequences.