Each Youdoo Dog arrives as a blank puppy with no face printed on their cute canvas head. This allows the new owner to create their very own unique (and extremely well trained!) Youdoo Dog, simply by using the transfer sheet, collar and t-shirt, all of which are included in the box. The Youdoo Dog is the first in the line of Youdoo Pets, with cats to follow shortly. In the words of Shaw Taylor - ‘keep em peeled’.

The imaginatively-named Youdoo Dog can be yours for £9.95. At least there’s no poop to clean up after.

[ Youdoo Dog copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Price: $20 [Oddica via Nerd Approved]

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Whether you love or hate your iPhone, you'll get tired of holding that big sticky piece of glass next to your face eventually. Want have a talk while you work or exercise? Need hands-free calling behind the wheel? Do you just have lazy, withered arms? Chances are you need a headset. Though the famed white earbuds are good enough for some, why settle for them just because they just happen to come free, and with an embedded mic? Other companies want a piece of that iPhone action, and have headsets that fit and sound a lot better. "Oh, but fair and wise Gizmodo, which headsets hath you divined for my unworthy purchase?" you might ask. Look no further. Well, no further than after the jump. (And by the way, this review is actually useful for any phone with a 3.5mm mic-and-stereo jack.)

A few notes on testing and results: As with the earphone Battlemodo, my testing methods were not scientific but practical: The audio test was a sonically diverse playlist of reasonable bitrate mp3s, the isolation test was a ride on a San Francisco city bus followed by white noise on a home stereo, and the mic testing was done by, well, making a few calls.

Each headset gets its own conclusion, including a summary of the circumstances for which the set is best suited. One with fantastic sound might cut off the noises of traffic, making it useless for biking. Another might be great for running, but not pick up nuanced tones of your obsessively ripped lossless audio collection. Apple's own headset serves as a baseline—it doesn't have its own section, but it is referred to where appropriate. At the $70 mark and above, it tends to be outclassed. Because of the varying needs of headset users, there's no one Battlemodo champion, but some are definitely better than others. Here are the results:

Altec Lansing Earclip-S - $40
One of two earclip-style headsets we tested, these earphones don't offer much over the standard headset besides a secure fite. Music playback is as clear as on Apple's buds, but without any of the bass. They're not very attractive and feel cheap and flimsy. The sticky rubber sheathing can sort of grab your hair, if you're bushy around the ears, though it does help the clips stay put. There are two controllers, one on the mic and one down the wire for with volume and mic shutoff. The volume controller is sensitive and gets inadvertently adjusted pretty often, and the call/play button can be hard to find in a hurry. The mic added an annoying static sound to voices.
Conclusion: Recommend for exercise duty, where they would at least stay in place and sound OK. They're water resistant too, but at this price you may not be too paranoid about sweat murdering your headset anyway. They look, feel and sound as cheap as they are.

Shure Music Phone Adapter - $50
Shure's solution to the headset problem is to sell you the earphones and microphone separately. Pairing with the fantastic SE110s will make for a fantastic combo, but the combo will set you back almost $150 total. Good thing you can use this adapter with any earphones. Voice quality is high, even in situations with ambient noise, but extras are not; there is just one button and gator clip.
Conclusion: If you like your current earphones, keep them and buy the Shure. Ideally, your earphones will have a short cable, otherwise you'll have to clip the mic to your shirt and let the excess cable dangle.

Maximo iMetal iP-HS1 - $70
Music is richer and clearer than with Apple's headset, but not by much. These fit like traditional earbuds, and are on the large side in both look and diameter. They're solid, but could be perceived as a little garish on account of the chrome finish. The single, large low-hanging button works well and is the easiest of the lot to quickly press. The very capable mic is positioned and designed intelligently, and is the best we tested.
Conclusion: A solid replacement for lost or broken Apple headsets for people who have big, weird ear holes and don't care about isolation.

Maximo iMetal iP-HS2 Isolators - $70
These are the in-ear version of the iMetal. Sound is slighly bottom-heavy but the rest of the range is well-represented. The tips are comfortable, and provide surprisingly good isolation. Walking doesn't cause any annoying thumping from the cables, which is often a problem for similar in-ears. The single call/play button is identical to that on the other Maximo, as is the superb mic.
Conclusion: The best value and a recommended purchase, provided you want something that shuts you off from the outside world.

V-Moda Vibe Duo - $100
These in-ears are about as bassy as they are stylish. This results in a slightly muddy sound but they're good for casual listening. Isolation is fair, but you hear significant cable rustling when you walk with them. The tip choices are smart and comfortable for a wide range of ear holes. The single control button is on the mic, easy to find. The mic delivers clear, intelligible sound at a moderate volume.
Conclusion: Too expensive for what you get, but look great and are as tough as nails.

Sennheiser MM50-ip - $100
Sound is comparable to iMetal isolators in terms of balance and quality, but they handle high volumes and bassier songs a bit better. Senn gives us plenty of tip choices, most of which are cushy and easy on the ear holes, but with a low to fair amount of isolation. There is some degree of cable noise when walking, but it's not too intrusive. The mic has a flush call button that can be hard to feel, but luckily sits directly opposite an easy-to-fumble-for indention at the mic's grille. Mic quality is above average, but not very loud. Unequal cable length after the split drives some people nuts, but works fine.
Conclusion: If they were a few dollars cheaper they would be much, much more appealing. Without a significant performance advantage, they lose out to the cheaper Maximo iMetals.

AirDrives Interactive Headset - $100
Taking a totally different approach than just about anyone else, the AirDrives are earclips with drivers that sort of float above your ears. The logic is that they won't interfere with ambient noises and permit all-day listening without fear of ear damage. Achieving a proper fit (or hover, I guess) was difficult on my freakish baby ears, but once you bend them correctly they don't budge. The listening sensation is akin to being in a room with the stereo on, so it's easy to hear what is going on around you. Voices sound fine, but music is robbed of any low to lower-mid frequencies, which I expect would be a dealbreaker for many.
Conclusion: Good for work or exercise where awareness of your surroundings is key, but that's it. Sound is just too poor to recommend for music lovers.

Etymotics hf2 - $180
Excellent, balanced sound, featuring the same audio hardware as the hf5's that won their category in our earphone Battlemodo. These won't win over beat junkies, but are truly in a different class than anything else reviewed here in terms of sound quality—and price. Putting these guys in usually means getting a deep, full seal against your ear canals, which can be offputting to some people, but rewarding to others. Isolation is very strong, and cable rustling is minimal. The mic setup is a one-button affair, but that button is easy to find.
Conclusion: Only buy these if you're an audiophile who, for some reason, doesn't already have a pair of decent earphones. Otherwise, just grab the Shures.

We tried to cover the bases here, but this list of headsets is by no means comprehensive—if you want to add anything from your personal experience, please share it in the comments. Special thanks goes to Clay Hane for testing assistance.

It hasn’t quite gotten to the point in the year where the weather turns cool. Yet, because of the heat many offices set their air conditioning to freezing levels. Especially nicer restaurants, they are the reason I now carry a sweater whenever I leave the house. This little USB Heated Shawl could keep you warm while everyone else shivers in your office, it probably wouldn’t be good for a restaurant though. Well everyone except the usual suspects that could be standing in the middle of a blizzard in a t-shirt and never even catch a chill. Oddly, it seems like those are the guys always controlling the temperature.

The shawl has a small button so if you drape it around your shoulders it will stay in place. If having it around your shoulders bothers you, you can also place it over your legs. It works by just plugging it into your USB port. Which you likely guessed from the name of the product itself. For once this isn’t a Japan only USB product, it’s actually being sold in the US for $28.95.

Source: Newlaunches
[ The USB Heated Shawl keeps you warm at your desk copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

I am not going to write a big how to, but I can point you in the right direction for all of the resources to get your Wii playing DVDs.

If you want to know how its done, read on.

First up you are going to need a bit of equipment. You will need a FAT-16 Formatted SD card (Apparently FAT32 can also work with some versions), The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (for the Twilight Hack), Wii Brew SD Installer and a computer with an SD card reader. At the time of writing I am not aware if it is possible to do this from a Mac.

Once you have all of your equipment you need to install Wii Brew SD on your SD card. Check the Wiibrew SD Installer page to ensure that you have the right version of the software for your version of Twilight princess. Note that one of the versions has some slightly different save locations for the game, but as I don’t have access to a U.S. version, I can’t really comment on that. Check the Twilight Hack page for further detail.

The Wii Brew installer gives you a number of software package options. Simply select the appropriate Twilight Hack, Homebrew Channel, Channel Browser and most importantly DVDX (this is what lets you play DVDs). Once installed, you need to get it from the SD to your Wii.

Put your prepared SD card into the SD slot of your Wii and copy the Twilight hack into the relevant Twilight Princess save game slot, then load the file within Twilight Princess.

Running the file will install the Wii Homebrew channel onto your system. With the Wii Homebrew channel running you will see the DVDx installer option. This gives you the DVD support, but you will still need a program called MPlayer to play your movies.

By now, or soon at least the version of MPlayer on the Homebrew Browser will probably have DVD support, but at this time it doesn’t. So you will have to download it, save it to the SD card and then install it on your Wii. From there you will be playing DVDs to your heart’s content.

For a more comprehensive guide to the installation process and a whole lot of pictures, take a look at Life Hacker or there are some excellent instructions on the Hack Mii site. All in all, it is an exciting piece of news for Wii owners. [Hack Mii via Life Hacker]

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YouDoo fever then gripped the nation with millions creating dolls to love, or torment depending on their mood. Following on from the success of the YouDoo Doll, Prezzy Box introduces the YouDoo Dog.

The set comes with an iron-on sheet, collar and T-shirt. Print off an image of your doggy, or if you don’t have a dog of your own, find a cute picture, print it on the iron-on sheet and attach it to YouDoo Dog’s head. The YouDoo Dog is entirely customizable with pens or paint.

The YouDoo Dog is the first in the YouDoo Pets series, with cats to follow shortly. This doll is set to be one of the biggest sellers at Prezzybox.com this Christmas.

Did you love the YouDoo Doll, and would you prefer a YouDoo dog or cat?

You can view more gadgets and technology news or visit Prezzybox.com for price information.

No, you didn't accidentally happen on the website of The Onion but, rather, a story by Peter Slevin in yesterday's Washington Post about a thriving financial institution amidst the banking wreckage seemingly strewn everywhere these days.

Here's the article.

In Rural Missouri, The Place to Bring Your Cents of Humor

Banker Heard Name, and It Added Up

When Ellen T. Lindsey picks up the telephone in this flyspeck town, the first question, more often than not, is "Are you a real bank?"

Lindsey, the new manager, assures the callers that the institution is, indeed, real.

Tightwad Bank may be quirky and unproven, but it is a genuine bank with a real charter and a real vault and a pair of real bankers in charge. For good measure, the business cards say: "Tightwad Bank. Member FDIC."

"We're seeking the customers with a sense of humor," said Donald S. Higdon, 54, who opened Tightwad with his business partner in May after they grew bored with running a sober-sided bank in neighboring Kansas. "We thought the downside was limited, the possibilities were reasonable and the amount of fun was limitless."

If the concept does not work out — this is the second attempt at making a bank called Tightwad profitable — Higdon jokes that he can turn the place into a drive-through liquor store.

Coming from Kansas City, about 90 miles to the northwest, you have to drive through Peculiar to get to Tightwad. The next town east is Racket.

Not far away are Blackjack, Wisdom and Fair Play.

"Everybody just asks where it got the name," said shopkeeper Mark Huey, 37, whose family owns the Tightwad C Store on a main drag so short that "if there wasn't a curve in it, you could see both city-limits signs."



The story told by Huey and everyone else starts with a postman who coveted a watermelon. It was the early 1900s, and the mail carrier, making his rounds, made a deal with the grocer to set it aside until the end of the day. But when he returned, the melon was gone — sold to someone who agreed to pay 50 cents more.

As lore has it, the postman called the grocer a you-know-what, and the name stuck.

The first Tightwad Bank opened in 1984, the same year the town was incorporated. In fact, it was a branch of the Citizens Bank of Windsor, established first in a parked trailer with a safe bolted to the floor, and then in the formidable one-story brick building that is still standing.

Twenty years ago, Tightwad residents saw riches in the development of nearby Truman Lake, imagining a lively resort, maybe an amusement park or a water show. The bank would be well positioned to profit, but the boom never happened. To this day, the city-limits signs say "Pop. 63." Triple digits seem a long way off.

The Tightwad branch counted assets of more than $2 million at its peak, but managers closed the lobby in the late 1990s after two robberies. With the novelty worn thin and only a single drive-through window staffed, it did not take, well, a tightwad to see that the numbers no longer made sense.

The bank, then owned by UMB Bank, closed in January 2007.

Higdon heard the news one day when he was watching the local weather.

"The proverbial light bulb went off. I thought that might be fun to play with that name a little bit," explained Higdon, a career banker who had teamed with partner Jeff McCalmon to buy the 100-year-old Reading State Bank in nearby Kansas. He called his wife and McCalmon, expecting them to say it was the nuttiest idea ever.

They didn't. So Higdon contacted UMB about buying the building. He also set out to register the Internet domain name tightwadbank.com — only to discover that someone else in Kansas City had experienced his own proverbial light bulb. When they were unable to come to terms, Higdon reserved tightwadbank.net instead.

Higdon and McCalmon, who had built the Reading bank's assets from $4 million to $12 million, needed approval from state and federal regulators. They also needed a strategy, not to mention a bank manager, computers — and customers. Until the feds signed off this year, the bankers remained true to the Tightwadian code by refusing to spend money on new signs.

Along the way, the partners took another big step: They renamed the Reading bank, too.

"I thought, let's step out on a limb here and name the bank Tightwad," said Higdon. "To be really frank, the customer base in Reading, Kansas, was not too excited."

As Higdon was telling his story, he spotted a man and a woman climbing off their motorcycles to pose by the Tightwad sign. They turned out to be Lyndon and Debra Abell, D.C. residents touring the back roads.

"The Tightwad store was okay," Lyndon Abell said, explaining the photograph, "but the Tightwad Bank was too good to pass up."

That is what some of Lindsey's callers say, too. Like their predecessors during the bank's previous incarnation, they want to know how to open an account and draw checks on Tightwad Bank.

Higdon's challenge is to convert curiosity into cash.

To supplement the take from deposits, which have grown from zero to about $1 million, the bank sells Tightwad gear — $14 hats, a $9 mug, a $30 polo shirt.

The next product will be a Tightwad Bank gift card, designed for "your favorite uncle, also known as Cheapskate Charlie."

by Nicole Schlomann

Spearheaded by Chrissie Lam, the Pangaea T-shirt Project is an effort to "connect artists and activists, communities and causes," and profits benefit her efforts in Rwanda and other developing nations. Made from super-soft organic tees donated by Save Khaki and others, with some made in Uganda, the shirts are emblazoned with quirky graphics by artists like Bryan Collins, Steve Green, Chris McNally and Jon Theiss .

Artist and designer Lincoln Mayne volunteered to screenprint the designs himself. Lam's goals include "raising awareness and funds to help sponsor orphans, and filming genocide survivor testimonies." Her blog www.createforacause.com chronicles personal anecdotes of her volunteer work, as well as photos of her Rwandan experiences and the collection's tees.

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