Phone strap doubles as solar charger

This is a switch. Usually the products from Japan's Strapya fall squarely under the category of novelty items, ranging from the silly to the, er, exotic. But it's finally come up with something practical: A mobile phone strap with a solar charger.

The solar cell can be charged up to 500 times, according to Tokyomango, and can use an AC adapter as a backup battery. It doesn't hold a candle to the drunken salaryman dangle, of course, but nothing really can.

Via Crave CNET

First case of HD movie piracy reported

We knew all along that it was just a matter of time, and now the Chinese have finally taken the first step in pirating HD movies! The "honor" goes to Michael Bay's Transformers in HD-DVD format, complete with Mandarin dubbing and subtitles for mainland Chinese consumption. The original images of the work-in-process disc were taken from www.mov8.com, posted by a member going via the moniker HD-001. This person also added that the pirated movie was cut on three HD-DVD9 format media in pristine 1080p visuals and HDi interactive features.

Hats off to these mainlanders who also made a brief mention that Blu-ray piracy was in the pipeline, while making a resounding "HD-DVD is the best choice for China" claim. As hilarious as the claim sounds, we at CNET Asia were debating the repercussions. Our handheld reviewer John Chan prophesized on HD-DVD push courtesy of the Chinese, while yours truly took the stand that this was "too little, too late". Nonetheless, we did reach a common consensus that Tosh*** is probably smiling away right now, though the studios will be crying out loud for intervention!

Via AVS forum | Photo credit: www.mov8.com/HD-001

Vista SP1: Too little, too late?

If there ever was an exercise on how to alienate consumers, then Vista would surely be the textbook case study. Despite numerous delays, when the latest Windows operating system was finally launched a year ago it was met with so many reports of bugs and slow performance that users were actually reminiscent of Windows XP (despite having more than its share of bugs and complaints as well). Given a choice, more than a few customers would rather use the previous-generation Windows than have to deal with Vista.

A year down the road, and the promised Service Pack 1 for Vista is just beginning to roll out. Mind you, this update does not even have significant new features, but simply fixes basic processes like startup, shut down and a myriad of other applications that should have worked on launch day. The final release is slated for mid-March, though if you are as impatient as us you can try downloading the Service Pack 1 RC version. However, remember to follow the uninstall process according to Microsoft's instructions before putting in the final version.

Maybe this is why MacBooks are slowly creeping up from behind and grabbing more market share, especially since its own Mac OS X Leopard operating system is not only relatively bug-free, but even works on three-year-old Mac machines. So has Vista resulted in more Mac fanboys out there?

Flickr users freaking out, are you one of them?

While Microsoft's indecent proposal to Yahoo has gotten everyone, from analysts to former employees to grandmas talking in Silicon Valley, a big small group is slowly freaking out on the sidewalks. And it's not hard to imagine why some Flickrites are worried. When Yahoo acquired Flickr, the photo-sharing site was left largely on its own. The only time you even knew it belonged to the search giant was when logging into your Flickr account. If you had checked the "Keep me signed in" box, chances were, you'd slowly forget it was ever a part of Yahoo.

The problem now is Microsoft probably won't sit back and leave Flickr alone, like Yahoo does. One of the reasons Flickr is so successful is because of the amount of traffic that goes through there, a fiercely loyal community and, of course, tons of photos waiting to be tapped or possibly monetized. A Flickr group with 10 members is threatening to commit suicide, while another 65 members intend to drop their accounts. There's also an 1,015-member-strong group staging a protest in a more civilized manner and discussing the issue by posting threads. The point here is obvious: A lot of people aren't happy, but most are afraid the Flickr they've come to hold dear in their heart may no longer be the same if Yahoo concedes.
Read more »

Papercraft gadgets

Burning paper models for the dead is a religious tradition practiced by some Chinese. These can include houses, cars and even Rolex watches. The belief is that the departed will receive them in the afterworld, making their lives (or rather, afterlives) more bearable. But what if the dead person is a geek who never fancied flashy cars or gold-plated timepieces? You burn him an Xbox 360, of course.

That's when you need one of these paper craft models from Fx Console. Downloadable from the blog site are a series of PDFs which are templates for making tiny scale models of various consoles and even an iPhone complete with a box. Though small, the level of details on these models is amazing. The Xbox 360 even comes with a drive that opens. Don't take our word for it, go over and download one to see for yourself. The only problem is you may not be able to bring yourself to set one on fire after seeing how nice they look.

Via Notcot

If motorcycles are more your thing, check out CNET Asia blogger Michael Tan's feature on Yamaha's papercraft models.

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