When you receive that humongous government stimulus check, there are plenty of places to help you spend it. Sears (and Kmart) are offering a gift card worth an additional 10% off the check amount. So is Wally World, Radio Shack, and the grocery chains Kroger and Albertson. Staples is also in on the fun. Watch out, though. Home Depot’s offer says that if you use the check to buy eco-friendly gadgets, it will offer a discount. That’s not really a bargain unless you have been waiting for decades to afford a solar panel. We could go on, but hey, you can play Let’s Make a Deal with tons of companies, so take your choice.

Tags: discounts (T), gift card (T), government (T), retailer (T), stimulus check (T)

Read More | Reuters

Filed under: Hacks, Mods, iPhone

Back in February, we posted a link to a beautiful iPhone case mod that used a matte black TiAIN finish. iPhoneclub community member Jo Croiman has gone in the opposite direction, creating a polished metal beauty complete with LED logo.

The Psycho iPhone Mod, as he calls it, is the result of manufacturing his own rear case pieces, polishing them for hours with a Dremel and affixing LEDs -- taken from another dead iPhone -- underneath a plexiglass logo (the LEDs only pull an additional 50mAh from the battery).

Finally, he sandblasted his own logo into the back of the case. We think it looks fantastic! Great work, Jo.

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We have seen soccer-playing robots, but did you know there is also an annual Robot American Football game? Produced by the same group that organized Robot Sumo in Japan, the mini-bots do the playing, thereby depriving its viewers of outright violence and blood-letting that you get most Monday nights. We only have one question after viewing the video. What do you suppose the robotic players do when one of the human refs blows his/her whistle?

Tags: bots (T), football (T), football game (T), robot american football (T), robotics (T), robots (T)

Read More | Robots-Dreams

lenity: the state or quality of being lenient.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It rains every day and the birds won't shut up -- yeah, spring's here, and Samsung's celebrating by dressing up the T10 in this fetching black and purple floral number. Details are scarce, as the "La Fleur Special Edition" of the well-regarded PMP isn't official yet, but we'd expect to see it pop up rather soonish.

[Via PMP Today]

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If you already own an Mplayer, then you might want to get it a friend. The A-DATA Theme Series T703 Mickey Flash Drive is USB 1.1 or 2.0 compatible for Vista, XP/2000/ME, Linux 2.4 or later, and Mac OS 9 or later. With the mini-weight of 20g, feed the Disney authorized gadget’s ear with your SD card, add a photo to its mini-frame, and attach to your cell phone or backpack. Choose from red, white, or purple for the Minnie-mouse price of $33.00 for 2GB or $49.00 for 4GB.

Tags: brando (T), disney (T), flash drive (T), mickey (T), minnie (T), photo (T), sd card (T), usb (T)

Read More | Brando

We like the triangular look of Kenwood’s AS-IP300 iPod Speaker. It works with all models of the Apple player and charges while playing your tunes in 3D sound. The device features a stereo mini-jack AUX input and comes with a rechargeable remote and adapter, batteries, and AC cord. At a size of 380 x 157 x 221mm and a weight of 1.2 kg, the speaker is available in black or white at a price of $199.95 in Japan.

Tags: 3d sound (T), apple (T), ipod (T), japan (T), kenwood (T), rechargeable (T), remote (T), speaker (T)

Read More | AudioCubes

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Personally, we can only imagine what a $300,000 speaker setup sounds like. But you -- we know you're eager to pick up the Epilogue Speaker System (previous edition shown) and rub it in the faces of everyone else, right? Regardless of whether you answered that truthfully or not, Goldmund (those same cats who actually had the nerve to create a $17,000 Blu-ray player) has introduced the latest version of the aforesaid system, which will now be built specifically for integration into the Goldmund Media Room. Pretty though they may be, we have a sneaking suspicion you won't be getting much bang for your buck with these -- but then again, what do our virgin ears know, anyway?

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If you are the type that buys a new USB drive when the old one fills up and never get around to emptying its contents, or if you run a business with many employees, the Virtual Console USB Duplicator can take on 60 1GB drives in a matter of minutes. The gadget duplicates the files rather than making binary copies. If you are wondering who can afford the $7,999.00 price, VC’s client list include. IBM, Intel, HP, AT&T, Xerox, Philips, NASA, and the U.S. Army and Navy, to name a few. VConsole also makes duplicators for smaller numbers of drives for smaller prices.

Tags: big business (T), usb (T), usb drive (T), usb duplicator (T), virtual console (T)

Read More | V Console

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Something's really wrong with the world if more than a few months pass by without a new iPod alarm clock from iLuv, so we suppose everyone's a-okay for a few more months now. Announced today, the firm has introduced its first pair of HD Radio clocks, and sure enough, one of 'em plays nice with Cupertino's darling. The i169 would be that player, which offers up a mostly black motif, dual stereo speakers, remote, iPod dock, AM / FM / HD Radio reception, an auxiliary input and dual alarm settings for good measure. As for the currently available i168, it provides most everything you read up there sans the iPod compatibility, but then again, it only demands $89.99. What about the i169, you ask? It'll set you back a cool $169.99 when it lands in "early May." Full release waiting after the break.

Continue reading iLuv kicks out i168 and i169 HD Radio alarm clocks

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