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Despite being kicked out of public places, ripped off by the man at the checkout, bombarded with annoying “truth” ads about the horrible death that awaits you, and generally being treated like outcasts by society —you continue to reside in that little country called “Flavor.” And you have decided that no commercial or politician in Washington is going to force you to pick up and move. So, for all of those die-hards out there, it is nice to know that there are still a few manufacturers that are smoker friendly.galleryPost(’smokinggadgets’, 10, ”);

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You can get the Epson Stylus CX7450 printer/scanner/copier for $70. They laso offer a $70 msil-in rebate if you buy any digital camera with the printer. Like the $9.99 Argus Keychain Digital Camera, with the shipping the final price is $ 86.78. So, after rebate you will get the printer for less than $17. Cool, no?

The features include four separate ink cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow), a print speeds of up to 28 pages per minute, a memory-card reader, a 120 sheet paper tray and basic scan/copy capabilities. The camera is not good, but you can use it as a webcam. The rebate is valid until March 31, but the $9.99 camera may not be available at this time.

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The Zcam which was showcased at CES is capable of tracking your movement and translating it onto the screen, so playing a game of boxing is different than the experience you get on the Wii. While you don’t need to move about so much in the latter, the Zcam will surely add a dash of realism during your gaming moments should it be implemented. You will need to place a tiny 3D camera right below the computer screen though, where infrared technology is used to track your movement. I’ve seen some folks trying it out at CES, and they seem to have a good time giving the computer a can of whoop ass when it came to a boxing simulation game. The Zcam is tipped to go on sale later this year, retailing for approximately $200 with a game included.

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The Rovio robot is pretty smart by itself as it is capable of being aware of its environment courtesy of the NorthStar 2.0 system that does a faux ’satellite’ triangulation in order to triangulate its current position. Not only that, the Rovio’s navigation system also shares similarities to GPS, Radar and auto pilot features that have been crammed into a single system. It’s owner will be able to designate a route for it, where it can then perform tasks unsupervised. It also comes with WiFi connectivity and a webcam that allows it to be set to “patrol mode” which makes the average human all the more lazy as one can then scout through various parts of the house without getting up from a chair. The Rovio will retail for $300.

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Walter Mossberg has tested the Asus Eee PC, the small low cost computer that is the darling of some Linux lovers and assorted digital elves with EXP576. And while he says that it is a “valiant effort,” he clearly doesn’t like it for many reasons, even bringing the MacBook Air in his equation, and I totally agree with him:

On the positive side

• Has a very small footprint and fits anywhere.
• Comes with all the software you need for images, music, office applications, mail and web access.
• Very simple interface, with the Linux operating system.
• Wireless.
• Price: $300 to $500 depending on the configuration.

On the negative side

• Has a very small footprint, so small that it’s a pain to use thanks to a cramped keyboard and a tiny 7-inch screen with very limited resolution (which requires a lot of scrolling).
• All the software is very rudimentary and has some strange, undecipherable errors. It doesn’t recognize his stock Kodak camera, either.
• The included Linux is so simple that non-experienced users will find very difficult to install new software.
• It doesn’t automatically reconnect to the Wi-Fi network.

So no, for the Mighty Moss, the Asus Eee PC doesn’t cut it. And yes, I can’t blame him. His reasoning is solid, even while I can feel a little bit of a setup in his comments, prepping for his upcoming MacBook Air review. The fact is that those are the problems that the Asus Eee PC objectively has: the poor software, the glitches and the too-small screen and keyboard problem alone are enough to gun the Eee PC down. If you use one for more than 30 minutes, your hands will be so cramped that they will call you Captain Hook on the street.

That said, the Eee PC is amazingly good for tech-oriented people looking for portability and modding fun. However, as Mossberg says, for regular consumers the Asus could be as useful and enjoyable to use as Addy’s old Fujitsu Lifebook: she used to call it Fuckitsu because it was equally small and similarly underpowered (actually, it was faster, but the price tag was gigantic compared with the Asus.) Clearly, there’s a limit to size savings and we think that we know where Mossberg is going: the key for this class of computers is a combination of great battery life, comfort (great screen, great keyboard), very low weight and power. And of course, great software on board. If any of these fail (like in the case of the Asus), then the computer is a bad solution.

And yes, I love the smell of napalm in the morning. [All Things D]

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Had enough yet of gadgets in the shape of a gun? This final, majestic example of the carbinicious delicious molds an egg into the shape of a submachinegun, revolver, pistol or Robocop-like monstrosity.

Breakfast for wannabe gangbangers? The design outfit apparently behind it doesn’t actually have it for sale, so it’s possibly just a photoshop.

Product Page [Urban Trend via Billionaire Boys Club via ctothejl via complex via BookofJoe, and so on.]

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A bunch of researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK are currently working on a computerized lip-reading system which could potentially be used to fight crime when perfected. One of the main obstacles would be to come up with a precise and sufficient database of photographs as well as videos to form a reliable basis for their lip-reading software. It is hoped that sometime down the road, they will be able to construct machines that are capable of converting lip-motion videos into text automatically. In addition, the researchers have plans to extend the silent speech-recognition system to other languages.

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No idea why one would actually include a subwoofer inside a china vase, but here it is anyway. The BooM China Vase/iPod speaker that holds a 25-watt subwoofer that is guaranteed to surprise guests to your home as they admire this piece of decorative item. What do you think are some other common household items that would look (and do) better than the BooM China Vase/iPod speaker when it comes to stuffing down a subwoofer?

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newVideoPlayer(”robopult_gizmodo.flv”, 475, 376,”");There’s only one thing better than robots that can destruct things: robots that can destruct things and terrify people by firing flameballs, bowling balls, watermelons and bloody pig entrails at high speed. Like the Robopult, a gigantic $70,000 industrial robotic arm hacked to throw all these things like a Terminator version of Roger Clemens. We talked with Aaron Rasmussen about how the heck did they manage to get an industrial robot and some of the details of this crazy project:galleryPost(’robopult’, 3, ‘Robopult’);

Jesus Díaz: How the heck did you get your hands on a giant industrial robotic arm?
Aaron Rasmussen: My friend had it for his company, and it was caught in some sort of accounting limbo. So he agreed to let us use it if we didn’t break it. We had to give it back after, sadly. That robot goes for about $70,000.

JD: OK, so that was free. What about the cost for the whole project? I saw that you “rented” (buy and return) an HD camera for free from Fry’s…
AR: The total cost was actually only about $1,000, or about $1,220 if you count the camera that gets hit by the bowling ball:

• Truck rental: $716.13
• Gas for truck $72.86
• Bowling Balls $60.00
• The pig entrails, water for us, carrots, watermelons, eggs and such came to around: $100
• We found scrap parts for the catapult arm
• We traded computer services for the heavy equipment (Skylife and tractor).
• The RV camper van was a junker from a friend of a friend.

Looking at the full video, it seems like the best way to spend a weekend and $1,000 with friends. I personally can’t wait for some kind of laser arm version. [Mana]

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Yoggie has introduced the Firestick Pico, a small USB thumb drive device that acts as a personal firewall. The Firestick Pico is a small USB drive that is actually a 300MHz Linux computer that runs with an Xscale PXA270 CPU. Once inserted into your USB port it will offload the security onto the computer, the Pico comes with a license for the Kaspersky security suite.

A good idea for those in need of that extra protection while on-the-go, a firewall on a USB stick will not only give that needed protection but also save some CPU power as compared to running a software solution.

The Firestick Pico is currently available and retails for $119.

Via [jkOnTheRun]