Sony's "David Blaine" starts 30 days of living in display window

I don't know if there's a Guinness Book of Records world record at stake here, but as part of its effort to promote its digital book readers, including the just-announced PRS-700, Sony has "memory expert" Dave Farrow sitting in a window display in New York reading books all day for the month of October.

As we reported Thursday, the sit-in--or read-in--is timed to commemorate National Book Month and promote literacy in schools. According to Sony, for every one of Farrow's page turns, Sony will provide a set of 100 eBook classics to a school or education institution.

Of course, if endurance artist David Blaine were performing the same stunt, he'd probably never leave the window, but it should be pointed out that Farrow will get plenty of breaks--and not just of the potty variety. Apparently, Sony is allowing anybody to get in the window and read for a bit, so Farrow will get some time to leave the rather small space he is inhabiting.

Sony has a live Webcam that's pretty amusing with both an interior view inside the window (with sound) and a street-view perspective. Check it out.

Via CNET Crave

Mazda designs concept city car

The Kiyora concept, shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, is another in Mazda's lineup of concept cars featuring Nagare styling. Mazda designers have built a new Nagare concept car for almost every major auto show. Nagare means flow in Japanese, and the cars built under this concept show styling cues that represent the way wind and water flow over earth and rock.

Although previous cars in this design theme have been low and sporty, the Kiyora captures the strong trend at the Paris show for small city cars. As such, it is designed as a compact four seater with minimal cargo space.

Mazda specifies a 1.3-liter engine for the Kiyora, using similar variable valve timing tech and direct injection as the 2.3-liter engine found in the CX-7. Along with low displacement, the powertrain enhances its economy with an idle-stop system, a feature commonly found in hybrid cars. Although Mazda hasn't specified actual fuel economy numbers, it does tout CO2 emissions of just 90 grams per kilometer, a particularly good rating compared with current cars.

As the theme for the Kiyora, the notion of water gets carried throughout the interior and exterior styling, and even to one innovative feature. Large translucent panels in the doors evoke the clearness of water, while the front of the car looks like a bow wave. The driver interface uses a large, curved touch screen which, when the car is stopped, shows fixed icons. Turn the car on, and these control icons flow down to positions previously set by the driver.

As a typically exotic feature for a concept car, but still within the water theme, the roof is designed to channel rain water to a carbon filter. The filtered water is caught in a bottle between the front seats so that passengers always have fresh water on hand. This is truly the car for a water-starved future.

Via CNET Car Tech blog

Bandai goes postal for its addictive Peri Peri game

If you've been following the full series of annoying keychain toys from Bandai Japan, you'd be overwhelmed by a strong sense of déjà vu. Not least because that courier service perp holding the product in question looks terribly like the same character who pitched the Puchi Puchi bubble wrap and bean popper.

For those who've been affected forever by these habit-forming gizmos, you can feed your habit with the new Peri Peri which this time hops onto another silly behavior. Here, it's a keychain toy that recreates the sound and feel of tearing open the paper "zipper" on a FedEx/UPS/DHL envelope. If you wish this on your worst enemy, get it from Strapya World of Japan which starts retailing it from November 22 for 998 yen (US$9.55).


Via New Launches

Hasta la Vista baby, we're just not interested

Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is still playing second fiddle to XP with business users, with more enterprises confessing to checking out the unreleased Windows 7 OS than its predecessor.

More than half (58 percent) of businesses using Microsoft technology are "exploiting" Windows XP compared to just 4 percent for Vista, according to the "reality checker" research by the Corporate IT Forum (Tif).

Tif's reality checker surveys help its members quickly compare the progress and position of their companies' IT against the technology choices of other members.

The group also found that 35 percent of organizations describe themselves as "not yet interested" in Vista.

The OS most people appear to be developing or piloting is Windows XP, with 12 percent of businesses saying they were doing so compared to 5 percent for Vista.

Interestingly, more businesses said they're currently investigating or analyzing Microsoft's next scheduled OS, Windows 7 (30 percent), than Vista (14 percent).
Read more »

T-Mobile taking more pre-orders for sold-out G1

If you've been sulking around the past few days after hearing that the T-Mobile G1 has already sold out through pre-sale orders, here's some news that might cheer you up.

T-Mobile announced Friday that it will continue to take pre-orders for the G1 through October 21, though the Google Android smart phone won't be delivered by the official October 22 launch date. Rather the carrier has a target delivery date of November 1. Here is the official statement from T-Mobile:

"Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our October 22 launch date, and have sold through them all. However, to accommodate additional T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through October 21, for delivery at a later date. Also, people can still pre-register on the T-Mobile G1 Web site to be notified prior to launch where they can purchase the device beginning October 22. Details are available on the T-Mobile G1 Web site, www.T-MobileG1.com."

Via CNET Crave | Photo credit: CNET Networks

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