The Winklevoss brothers are currently doing a stint as commercial models. No, they’re not modeling clothes, underwear, apparel or gadgets. Instead, they’re endorsing Roll Global pistachios. And they’re poking fun at Mark Zuckerberg while they’re at it.

The ad starts with one twin cracking a nut with one hand. The other commends him for a wonderful idea. And they both wonder if “someone will steal it,” which is clearly a hit at former Harvard schoolmate Mark Zuckerberg, whom they had accused of stealing the idea for Facebook while they were in college.

“Who’d do that?” they ask. Well, let’s hope that Zuckerberg doesn’t go and steal their nuts.

Nutty commercials aside, the Winklevoss brothers are no stranger to big money. Aside from being born to a well-off family, the twins were granted a $65 million settlement from Facebook in 2008. But only $20 million of that is in cash, and the rest was in insoluble Facebook stock. Given the skyrocketing value of Facebook as a company, the brothers tried to question the $65 million (in the hopes of getting more money), but the case was ruled as “closed” by a judge. The Winklevosses threatened to bring their case up to the Supreme Court, although the last we’ve heard from them in terms of litigation, was that they’ve given up.

We doubt that appearing on a pistachio ad would get these guys an equivalent of their Facebook settlement, but at least they have a sense of humor about it. Check out the video clip below.

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Check out the Android Market and give “Office Jerk” a try. The game almost exclusively is made up of throwing inanimate objects across an office at an office jerk. Anything on your desk is fair game to be used as a weapon such as wadded paper, staplers, fans, and more. You win points by hitting the worker in the head and extra points for a successful string of hits. There’s even an arrow showing which way the wind (in an office?) is blowing so you can factor it in.

Personally I would suggest not assigning him a coworker’s name if you are playing this game during downtime while at work as it may cause consequences you’d rather not deal with. There is a free and $.99 version of “Office Jerk” in the Android market.

Of course, it’s not really an official iOS 5 preview. Magician and performance artist Simon Pierro shows how interactive the iPad can be — supposedly with iOS 5 — with the aid of augmented reality. Photos can be printed just by peeling the image off screen. You can play tennis by grabbing the ball right off of the device. You can even change the weather forecast to a windy day by blowing on your iPad. Best of all, with iOS 5′s “SpaceTime connection,” you can use FaceTime to actually stream real objects to the other end of the line, and not just media.

Seriously, we do hope our tablets would be this powerful in the future. But until Apple (hopefully Steve Jobs) makes a formal announcement at WWDC this Monday, this would probably make for some fun weekend watching.

Much has been discussed about Google in the past few weeks, with an algorithm change that supposedly reduced the search visibility of low-quality sites. Some people are probably stressed about this, and others are elated at the reduction of “spammy” frontpage results.

Let’s take a little break from all this and have fun with a search engine called Google Sloppy. Google Sloppy looks like a hand-drawn version of Google’s home page. The site misspells your search queries and sometimes substitutes the wrong words.

Search for “potato” and you get a list of matches for “optato.” I didn’t even know there was such a word.

Google Sloppy is a work of Yuin Chien, a graduat student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

“The Search Operators” is the sloppy twin of Google search. By reversing the passive roles of UI elements, we want to expand the traditional notion of user interfaces. We hope this sloppy twin helps you switch mind set from everyday web routines and open up new perspectives.

Google Sloppy is done with html5 canvas, js, processing.js, jQuery, Google Search API, and a lot of imagination, according to the creators.

2011 will be an impressive year for the mobile business, as we’re going to see some impressive handsets and tablets hit stores but also witness the continuous power struggle between Apple, Google and the new Microsoft-Nokia newly created Death Star.

In short MWC 2011 was dominated by Android devices and there’s no question about it. We did look at Windows Phone 7 handsets, Windows 7 tablets, bada phones and even MeeGo-powered devices but the undisputed king of the show was Android.

On the other hand, without actually being there, the iPhone 4 won the best mobile device at the GSMA Awards, which is not something we didn’t expect, in fact we deemed it the best smartphone of 2010 ourselves.

Furthermore the iPad was the most used tablet on the floor. From exhibitors, to business professional coming to MWC to look for new partnership and business ideas to the press that covered the event, I saw a lot of iPads in use. That’s not something I can say about Galaxy Tabs, which were so scarce during the show. In fact I must have spotted 3-5 devices at most, not counting the ones on display at Samsung’s booth.

Overall it was a great show and since we covered all the hot devices hitting stores now or later this year, I thought I’d give you a sneak preview of what went on behind the curtains of MWC. The kind of stuff you don’t really hear about since it doesn’t concern new gadgets directly. But luckily I had my cameras with me at all times to capture some interesting, strange, and funny moments while I was walking the MWC 2011 halls.

Android Presence

Android was everywhere, in all shapes and sizes. It was even present on the floor to guide you through this continuously evolving Android world.

Mozilla Carriage Tools and the Fox

Mozilla was offering free rides at MWC, too bad I didn’t have time for such an adventure myself. And the Fox, for some reason, came out of hiding too to play with the folks at the show.

INQ Facebook Phone

I thought INQ wasn’t making any Facebook phones. As it turns out it was HTC that launched the Salsa and the ChaCha, two Android handsets with Facebook buttons, but INQ might still be cooking some special Facebook phone too.

MeeGo Engineer Testing a BlackBerry PlayBook

How else would you get to see what’s wrong with your platform than by going around to test what the competition has on display. This MeeGo engineer was certainly interested in testing the PlayBook as thoroughly as possible. I can only but wonder whether he checked out the Xoom or the Galaxy Tab 10.1 too.

Sony Ericsson Playing Real Life Sims

What better way of promoting your newly launched Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (PlayStation Phone) handset than by actually ordering some employees to play real life Sims during MWC. And these folks took an impressive tour of the venue acting like Sims as I encountered them a bunch of times.

Bring Your Own iMac to the Media Center

The Media Center barely had enough spots for the press to hook up their laptops to the web and send out their MWC 2011 updates. Just like I did. But it looks like somebody decided not to travel light and packed an actual iMac to the show in order to use it to work on editing videos and images right then and there. I knew you won’t believe me that’s why I have pictures:

Packed Keynotes

You thought that Media Center looked pretty packed? Well the keynotes and media events hosted by the MWC were equally full. And in the darkness you could easily spot everyone’s new mobile device, whether smartphone, tablet or laptop, being lit up. Too bad Cisco’s free Wi-Fi hotspots rather failed to deal with all the traffic!

Weird Association

While inspecting the gadgets at the Motorola booth I found an unusually weird association on one table. There they were, the brand new Xoom tablet, the Motorola Atrix 4G, playing peacefully with a MacBook Pro. And, just for the fun of it, there was also an Adobe sign, to make sure that we understand some Flash was present there. I call it the “Google, Apple and Adobe table”, something we don’t usually get to see at such shows.

Dancing Rehearsals

Well it’s not all about gadgets at the MWC, or any other show for that matter. It’s also about ladies handling gadgets during the show. Or about ladies rehearsing some sort of dancing for the MWC.

Or is it the Mobile World Catwalk?

MWC 2012 Dates

MWC will stay in Spain for one more year, at least, and considering what we saw this year, well, we can only be excited to watch this mobile business grow in the following months. In the mean time we have dates for next year’s event, so in case you’re a phone manufacturer, app developer, or you plan to start a business around mobile devices, then start planning ahead accordingly.

Now Sega has brought the video game to the Water Closet with their new Toylet video games. There are currently four different Toylet games that incorporate a screen mounted on the wall and pressure sensors placed inside the bowl. In order to play the games, you must hit the sensors with your stream.

Choosing between the four games can be quite a tough choice. Mannequin Pis calculates exactly how much urine you discharged, while Graffiti Eraser makes you try and pee as forcefully as possible as you attempt to erase digital graffiti from a virtual wall. Milk from Nose actually has you compare your stream force with whoever used the urinal before you. The North Wind and Her is the most racy of the four as your urine represents the wind and you attempt to forcefully blow a skirt up around a woman’s waist.

The cost and when exactly these Toylets will be available to the general public has not yet been released.

As you already know the Blendtec blenders have shredded various gadgets so far, and they were always popular ones, like the iPhone 4 or the iPad, so we must conclude that the Cr-48 notebook has also gotten pretty popular with the crowds. Either that or someone convinced Blendtec into tearing the laptop to pieces to prove a point: your data is safely stored in the cloud even if your Chrome OS machine gets lost, stolen, or blend.

As you can see in the video below, the Chrome notebook is too big for the blender so it has to be torn to pieces beforehand. Tom Dickson has absolutely no issues pushing that half a keyboard inside the blender, as he’s interested in pressing that delete key.

As you expect the Cr-48 is not stronger than the blender and the notebook, or at least the part of it used in this video, is transformed into Chrome dust, but you expected that already. Come to think of it I think that Blendtec would blend the cloud too, if only they knew where it’s hiding.

As for the Cr-48, the notebook has been in the wild for a while now, and we’ve seen various different takes on the way Chrome OS works since Google’s latest media event. Some people loved the whole cloud computing thing while others were not particularly impressed with it, so it’s really too early to tell if the Cr-48 is indeed a successful device or not. In fact we’d need to see how future Chrome OS products would sell in order to better judge Google’s efforts at coming up with a worthy Windows, Mac OS and Linux alternative so we’ll just have to wait for these products to hit stores. What’s your take on Chrome OS so far?

But today we’re not going to talk about multiplayer support, computer or console Angry Birds version or future iOS and Android updates. Today we’re going to take a look at one of the youngest Angry Birds fans and players, a two-year old starring in the short homemade video below. This little guy is as addictive as any other Angry Birds fan, and I know exactly what he’s going though when someone else asks whether they can play the same game on a his Angry Birds-friendly device.

Sure, older users might employ more advanced tactics but youngsters are certainly able to come up with out-of-the-box solutions for Angry Birds scenarios considering that their brains are basically sponges absorbing plenty of new information every day.

The video, just a little too cluttered by unnecessary ads, shows how easily toddlers can adapt to new technology. We’re looking at a Samsung Android device here running Angry Birds Seasons, or Christmas Birds as this cute boy calls it.

Back in my time, and I still proud myself with my young-ish age, we didn’t have that sort of technology around us and we turned out just fine. Now imagine how gadget-friendly these kids will be in a few years as they’ll grow along this kind of technology, touchscreen-based interfaces and mobile smart devices. On the other hand letting children enjoy too much technology might not be exactly the way to go, although we’re going to leave that topic for a different time.

Do your children play Angry Birds on your smartphone or tablet?

It’s all up there, as AT&T Alisha puts it, “unfortunately Android is not high tech as a iPhone,” the kind of attitude that will get carriers nowhere especially with savvy consumers. Because, let’s face it, carriers will not get away with such behavior at least not with most customers.

By now, even AT&T employees, have to know that Android is the number one mobile platform that the iPhone has to worry about, and vice-versa. There’s no clear winner here as both Apple and Google keep pushing their mobile operating systems and their devices to get as much market share as possible both in U.S. and worldwide. Neither one OS has been declared the winner yet and this battle will continue for a few more years. Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry 6, Symbian^3, webOS 2.0 are the losers in this smartphone wars, at least for now, but AT&T Alisha would still be wrong to say that any of the four OSes mentioned here are not as high tech as “a” iPhone.

So how is this all connected to Verizon you’ll ask? Well, it’s pretty simple! Unfortunately for AT&T, Apple will terminate that iPhone exclusivity in order to fight Android properly. Unfortunately for AT&T, Verizon will steal some customers back when the Verizon iPhone gets introduced. Unfortunately for AT&T, some hot Android devices will have to hit AT&T stores soon, in order to truly keep up with the competition. And unfortunately for AT&T Alisha, she’ll have to pitch to her customers in a few months, should she still hold a job with AT&T, a few hot Android devices, which will be on par, if not above the iPhone, like the upcoming Motorola Olympus.

Verizon, while being the most important Android carrier in the USA and in the world, but not the detrimental factor that lead to Android’s significant growth in 2010, is desperate to get the iPhone to its customers. That means Verizon partly agrees with the fact that the iPhone is superior. But not from a “high tech” point of view but from a mind share point of view. Apple’s marketing machine is working flawlessly and any product Cupertino launches, especially the iPhone, becomes an instant must-have device.

But, at the end of the day, that’s not because the iPhone is superior to Android, from that high-tech point of view, since that’s not something a carrier could actually objectively measure.

What smartphone do you pack? Is it as high tech as an iPhone?

The Pionen datacenter being used by WikiLeaks in Stockholm, Sweden, is an underground facility that was formerly used as a nuclear bomb shelter. The storage facility, where WikiLeaks files are being kept, employs high-security measures and even U-boat engines as emergency power sources.

The facility also has a floating conference room, suspended glass corridors, and flooring that resembles a lunar landscape.

The former bunker was reopened in 2008 as a datacenter, after a redesign by futuristic Swedish architects Albert France-Lanord. And yes, they were inspired by Bond villains of the past, likely to be Moonraker’s Hugo Drax (from Bond #11 in 1979).

Interestingly, WikiLeaks entire document cache is said to be able to fit into a high-capacity USB drive. So we wonder if storing it in such a high-tech facility is actually worth something functional, or is all for show. Hey, if you’re going against governments and banking institutions, maybe you want to appear villainous, indeed. What can best exemplify this than having an evil lair of your own?

In fact the short YouTube clip below, which will probably become very popular in the near future shows us how important social networking and the Internet are for our day to day life by imagining the Nativity seen as witnessed by Twitter, Facebook, Google, Foursquare, Amazon, YouTube and more Internet tools we take for granted these days.

Without giving away all the fast-paced social networking action that goes on in the 3-minute video below, I’ll certainly point you to a bunch of interesting details:

• Archangel Gabriel uses SMS to tell Mary she’s going to get pregnant
• Mary owns an iPhone 4 and uses Gmail to tell Joseph she’s pregnant
• Joseph is trying to get to Bethlehem with help of Google Maps in order to avoid those nasty Romans
• Hertz can only offer a donkey for rental on 0000/12/24 although cooler things will happen in the next 2k years or so
• Twitter and Facebook serve to announce the world that the baby is about to be born and to upload images of Jesus once He’s born. And a lot of people happen to Like it
• Foursquare is used to find any available stables for the birth of the baby
• Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar use Facebook and Gmail and buy their gifts all the way from Amazon
• Naturally the Star of Bethlehem has a Twitter profile that needs to be followed

Oh dear, did I just tell you the whole Nativity story from the social networking and Internet point of view? I guess I did, but you should see for yourself how it happened:

This time around we won’t talk about Christmas updates and new game versions but we will look at hidden strategy tips coming from insiders as seen in the video below.

Let’s start it all off with the Pigs’ side of the story. Nobody told us why they’re green and, most importantly why they want the Birds’ eggs. You might say they’re probably green with envy they can’t lay their own eggs, but that’s not it considering they surely want to eat the Birds’ eggs. We also know they’re excellent builders although they clearly didn’t get their full degrees yet. They can build impressive structures but these are almost always are destroyed in the end. Last but not least we have to look at the Pigs’ weird defense strategy. They don’t have any special powers, refuse to really attack the birds and are simply standing there like sitting ducks, or, well, pigs.

On the other hand we have the Birds, a tenacious group that comes with all sorts of powers. What strikes us is the fact they simply can’t defend their eggs properly despite their clear weapons’ skills. It’s also interesting that they choose not to fly, like regular Birds do, but keep using the slingshot to attack the Pigs. It’s also pretty clear that for each saved egg, and for each Pig killed in action, a bunch of innocent, but clearly Angry Birds must die. That’s the law of the jungle, I guess. Just watch this video:

Naturally this post should be taken with a pinch of humor by all fans of this highly addictive game. And yes, Rovio, you’re doing a tremendous job hitting us up with those extra Angry Birds levels, so we can’t wait for more to come.

Rovio mobile has recently started selling Pigs plush toys over at their online store. Angry Birds (and Pigs!) fans can now get their hands on several of these elusive characters online for $14.99 apiece.

There’s the regular Pig, the Pig with helmet, the mustache Pig and King Pig. The limited-quantity Angry Birds pigs will start shipping this January, 2011, though, so we probably can’t expect to give them as Christmas gifts anytime soon.

Rovio earlier launched a line of Angry Birds plush toys featuring the first five birds–red bird, blue bird, yellow bird, black bird and white bird. We can only guess at what Rovio will think of next. Maybe they will start including a slingshot with every purchase.

10. The Mark Zuckerberg Halloween Mask

This one is actually doable so you still have time to print it out and pretend you invented Facebook and how to deal with privacy matters. Via Gawker

9. The Krang Halloween Costume

It’s worth making one in order to chase after all those Teenage Mutant Turtles you’re going to find at your local party. Via Switched

8. The iPhone 4 Halloween Costume

This iPhone costume was fun a few years ago, but now, carrying around a 40-inch TV connected to your iPhone seems not the right way to celebrate Halloween no matter how many pillars your current iOS version has. If you really want to make it interesting, pick up a smaller TV and connect it to an Android device instead! Via Flickr

7. The Iron Man Halloween Costume

It’s actually a commercial, but not a bad idea. Who doesn’t love what’s-his-name that makes lots of guns and can fly a superhero costume? Via Likecool

6. The Jawa Halloween Costume

Star Wars costumes, unlike iPhone costumes, rule! Especially when your kids get to become a little Jawa ready for some trick or treating action on this strange planet we call Earth. Via Geekosystem
5. The Robocop Halloween Costume

Also made for your kids, the Robocop costume is epic. Easy to make, too bad there’s not enough time to have it ready.Via Sweet-Juniper

4. The StarCraft Ghost Halloween Costume

StarCraft is one of the best games every created, and since I don’t play Terans, the Ghost is one of my fierce enemies. But this Ghost Costume comes without nuclear bombing capabilities, not to mention there’s no cloaking mechanism either. Via Unreality
3. The Steve Jobs Kit Costume

This one is actually still doable. You’d need a printer, a couple of MacBook and iPhone boxes, so yeah, you must be an Apple fan, and the Steve Jobs Kit can be yours! In order to work you’d have to carry the boxes with you at all times while wearing glasses, jeans and a black turtleneck. Via Scoopertino

2. The Angry Birds Halloween Costume

I don’t have to explain this one to you, smartphone fans, do I? I just hope I’ll never see a million Angry Birds costumes at any Halloween party! Via The Clock Blog
1. The Trick or Treat Door Costume

Going trick or treating with a portable door and a few grandma costumes is a hilarious prank to pull. You and your friends will have to get enough candy to give out to everyone opening their door to knock on yours. Via Reddit

What will you and your kids wear tonight for Halloween?

So what is Google selling this time around you’ll naturally ask? Well the point of this ad, called “Google Search with My Location: Pizza” is to show you how easy it is to find specific stuff right near your area by simply searching, typing or speaking, for stuff on your mobile device.

“With Google Mobile you can search for things nearby without entering a location” the guy says before searching for “Pizza”. The phone used is, ironically, an iPhone, to show us how the whole Google Search with My Location service works. He gets various results based on his current location so he’d really have various places to choose from when it comes to pizza. On the other hand, using a non-Android device here is definitely relevant for the whole point, the service should work on any other mobile platform that has Google Mobile support.

So why does he need 10 minutes to prove the point? Well, without wanting to spoil this whole thing for you, let’s just say that Google Mobile is trying to prove that no matter where you are Google Search with My Location works. Either that or the fact that no matter where you are in this world and no matter what you’re doing, there’s always a pizza place right nearby ready to deal with your pizza passion.

The concept of this ad is definitely interesting and pretty original although watching it is really time consuming, not to mention the boredom that quickly installs after the first minute. But if you have 10 minutes of your life to spare you should check it out as I won’t tell you what’s going to happen till the end, although I will warn you that the video hides various surprises along the way. All you have to do is click on them!

Moving on to the ad below, we’re definitely going to recommend you to watch it, especially if you hate Apple, and then pass it along to anyone that has a great sense of humor. The commercial shows Newsday, an otherwise respectable newspaper, coming to iPad and iPhone owners as an app.

And Newsday seems very interested to remind you that its iOS app is basically going to offer you the same newspaper-like reading experience you get when, well, reading newspapers. In fact, the application will actually be a lot more interesting than a regular newspaper, even if it won’t be able to do all the things a newspaper is capable off.

Speaking about Newsday, the app is available free of charge in the App Store for the iPad, the iPhone and the iPod touch, although you would need a larger screen to enjoy it. And here’s what the app will actually have to offer, since you’re bound to check it out now that you’ve seen the commercial:

- Get breaking news, sports, entertainment, business, lifestyle and more
- Customize Long Island news by zip code
- Flip through most popular photos and watch news, sports and entertainment videos
- Share stories, photos and videos via email, facebook and twitter
- Get alerts as news happens
- Be prepared with continual weather and traffic alerts plus watch our new traffic cams
- Follow your favorite sports teams with up-to-the-minute schedules for pro, college and high school sports

The application has been available for quite some time in the App Store, but this commercial is fresh of the oven. I wonder though if Apple minds having its iPad smashed like that on video.

Ellen DeGeneres stated on her show today that representatives from Apple contacted her regarding the parody commercial to express that they won’t impressed.

I thought it was funny, a bunch of people thought it was funny. You know who didn’t think it was funny? Yeah, the people at Apple didn’t think it was so funny.

I watched Ellen’s parody iPhone commercial and thought it was rather tame and wasn’t even that extreme. In the skit, Ellen fiddles on the iPhone, trying to send a text. She enters the wrong app or presses the wrong key or button due to the “chubby finger syndrome.”

The parody had an element of truth in it where all iPhone users can relate. Who can honestly say that they can type out a message correctly on the iPhone the first time around, all the time?

Today Ellen DeGeneres followed up her apology with praises for a range of Apple products, including the iPhone, iPod and iPad.

They thought I made it look like it’s hard to use, and I just want to say that I’m sorry if I made it like the iPhone is hard to use. It’s not hard to use. I have an iPhone. I just learned how to text on an iPhone, it’s the only phone that I can text on, and I love it. I love my iPad, I love my iPod. I love IHOP, if you have anything to do with that.

When did Apple get so serious over harmless, tongue-in-cheek humor? This is the same brand that rolled out a series of commercials making the PC look inferior compared to a Mac. The commercials themselves were simply called “Get a Mac” and were being aired on TV throughout 2006 to 2009.

Watch Ellen’s apology, which includes the controversial commercial itself. You can be the judge on whether or not she crossed the line or if Apple just needs to be more lighthearted.

Since Apple is a $50 billion business and it keeps growing and growing, here’s a top yours truly has compiled for you containing the best 10 ways to make money off Apple without necessarily being involved with the company. Some of these will make Apple mad, so don’t try any of them at home, kids!

10) Steal Apple products! It’s worth doing for some people and it won’t immediately attract Apple’s wrath. After all it’s some sort of indirect good publicity. If it’s worth stealing then people will conclude it’s also worth paying for it. In order to really make money this way you’ll basically have to steal a lot over the course of any given timeframe and you’ll most probably end up in jail.

9) Sell Apple-like products! And I’m thinking about Macs or Mac OS X software solutions for PCs and about knock offs! If I say Psystar to you does that ring a bell? Selling Apple related stuff not made by Apple will make Apple mad and you will be sued. Apple will probably win and tear your little start-up company down to pieces. You’d be better of with knock offs like the terrible iPhone replicas. At least that way Apple won’t really come after you since it won’t know exactly where in China you are based.

8 ) Make third-party gadgets, docks, connectors and cases! Apple will be more than happy to see you create stuff we don’t really need for its products. You’ll have to remember though not to use Apple’s trademark without permission. If that should happen then a lawsuit is definitely heading your way. And in case you end up covering an Apple product in jewelry and sell if for tons of dollars then you’ve hit the jackpot.

7) Create “apps” for the App Store! You don’t have to have a great idea as long as you fool Apple into allowing your shitty/shady app in the App Store. Fill it with ads or fool the public into paying for something that’s not giving them that much in return and you could make some money for a while, at least until Apple bans your app from the store.

In case you make true genuine apps then you should, by all means, make as much money as possible off the App Store and be congratulated for it!

6) Sell your music through iTunes! Having your songs sold through iTunes could be the goldmine you were looking for. But do you know how to sing in the first place? In case you do, and have a great agent to promote you then maybe you have a chance of having your music sold through Apple’s service. Apple will keep a chunk of that money and so will your agent.

I’d include eBooks here too but the iBook Store is yet to be opened. But do people read anymore? I mean besides TFTS, of course!

5) Become an Apple retailer and open your own store chain! Your stores might get robbed from time to time but you will definitely be very popular in your neighborhood. Building your gadgets store near an Apple Store will probably make Apple mad and ruin your whole business plan. In the long run you should make some money but don’t stick just to Apple products since they’re (still) too expensive for most folks!

Alternatively you can choose to become an Apple supplier although in that case you won’t make it in my top 5. How much money do you think Foxconn is making by working for Apple anyway?

4) Sue Apple for alleged patent infringement! Everyone does it but not everyone will walk away with lots of money since not everyone will succeed at beating Apple in this game. Take Nokia for example! They’re asking for $1.3 billion in damages but the whole lawsuit will only start in 2012. And there’s no saying they will win especially since Apple has sued them back. Which will probably happen to you too.

3) Be sued by Apple for alleged patent infringement! Whether you win or lose the trial one thing is certain: you will become popular with the public in case you happen to have your own line of totally-different-than-Apple’s products. Take HTC for example! The company was sued by Apple but it will become even more popular with iPhone haters and lovers. HTC has become a worthy adversary in the mobile business and if Apple is trying to keep it at bay then it must mean Cupertino is afraid of it. So if it’s worth suing it must be worth buying! (This rule will not apply to any Psystar-like situation.)

2) Be Google! This one is really hard to pull off for most people but if you manage to become Google then you’ll have no problem infiltrating the ranks of Apple, maybe even be part of its board. Make friends with everyone, help them for a while with various apps and solution its customers will desperately need, learn what you can from its way of handling its mobile and computer businesses and then storm off ready to launch Android, Chrome OS and your own phones in the near future. Prove the new devices/software are better than Apple’s and you’re in for success. Apple will not know how to handle the whole thing and a long battle is going to emerge. Who will win? He who controls the Internet we’d suspect, but we’re in for a really long battle.

1) Become Apple’s acting CEO, at least for a while! Our hats go off to Tim Cook again! He managed to steer the Apple giant while Steve Jobs was away. Not everyone could be capable of such performance and that’s why not everyone will walk away with a bonus of $22 million. Getting to that top spot might be particularly difficult but you can always try! I hear the Genius bar is hiring! You’ve got to start somewhere and maybe that’s the best place to do so since it will give you a chance to hear our side of the story whenever something’s wrong with an Apple product.

So what do you say, folks? Are any of you making money off Apple in any way?

In case you are wondering, writing about Apple products didn’t make the list yet, but we’re all working on it!

(This article is part pamphlet so it should be treated accordingly!)

Created by iPhone fans for iPhone fans, these three-dimensinoal fridge app magnets are perfect to hang a “hey honey, sorry for the mess in the kitchen” to your loved one, or “please don’t wait for me tonight, having beer with the buds tonigh”. Each of the magnets measures 7/8″ x 7/8″ and are made from some sort of epoxy (with added magnesium), while the outer cardboard packaging is 9.5″ x 5″.

Priced at $12.99, the iPhone fridge magnets can be shipped in 2-3 days, and won’t cost nothing to have them delivered if you order three or more.

We can’t help but wonder if Apple will go after these guys, but kudos to Jailbreak Collective for catering to our weaknesses.

Like it or not, Verizon is a carrier definitely worth checking these days, not only because they have the Motorola Droid and the Droid Eris, quite a nice collection of BlackBerry smartphones that include the Curve 2, or because rumors and reports have mentioned a CDMA iPhone in the works (although nothing confirmed on that one), but mostly because they havea much better 3G coverage than AT&T.

In the new ad, Verizon thinks “forever with AT&T” is a lot, even for a vampire. Sure deserves a “here we go again” , so let the games begin guys.

How `bout that AT&T, anything in return?

According to reports, when the Police came, Strellis was sitting quietly on the floor of an aisle, probably knowing what’s going to happen to him. After “managing” to smash 29 LCDs worth some $22,000 and creating an unimaginable chaos, the Georgia man is now charged with a whopping 29 counts of criminal damage to property. What’s funny though, when put in cuffs, Strellis invoked the Fifth Amendment right that usually “protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure”. He’s now being held in the Gwinnett County Jail.

The whole incident has been taped on video by the store’s security cameras and although the quality is poor, you can see how easy it is for the guy to create rampage.

In a word, the Apple iPad doesn’t do magic (like we all expected it to do) and people are now starting to make fun of it. Among those to be nasty with the stylish tablet, the chaps from CollegeHumor really have a point in their new “iPad Commedy Gold Mine” video — they say that from feminine hygiene to giant iPhone, it’s really hard not to make fun of it; “its most revolutionary feature is its big fat stupidness.”

So how about you guys, what do you think about the Apple iPad? Would it make any difference if it was called different or if it allowed multi task?

We have shown you these days a lot of computers capable of running Windows 7. Every manufacturer out there is eager to start selling Windows 7 machines and forget about Vista and XP. But will Microsoft’s marketing department be able to rise to everyone’s expectations and think out of the box when it comes to promoting Windows 7?

How many iPhones and MacBooks have you seen featured lately in TV shows? You’ve seen quite a few, didn’t you? How many TV shows featured Windows 7 or previous versions of Microsoft’s OS? Not that many, right? Well maybe Microsoft has finally realized that it needs to be more present in our lives, at least when it comes to TV shows. Redmond has reached a deal with Fox regarding Windows 7 advertising. Microsoft will sponsor a commercial free TV show in which the cast from Family Guy will constantly talk about Windows 7.

“Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show will air on Sunday, November 8 at 8:30 PM (ET & PT) and with Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein on board we will probably see a lot of jokes and gags based on Windows 7. After all, the story will have plenty of Windows 7 in it and it will not be interrupted by any commercials.

Microsoft must have paid quite a lot for the show although the financial details haven’t been made public yet. Microsoft and Fox also plan to roll-out a 12-week college tour in which students will be invited to try Windows 7 while Stewie and Brian will host outdoor-movie nights.

Will this strategy work? Will we see Windows 7 sales increase after the dedicated Family Guy show airs? People love Family Guy, myself included, and people are interested in Windows 7, myself included. And let’s not forget that there’s a pretty important incentive to buy Windows 7 right now. I’ll call it Windows Vista! Everyone, and I am sure you will agree, will want to finally get rid of Vista and replace it with Windows 7.

Just a word of advice for when you will install Windows 7 next week, if you think it looks like Vista, it’s because it does! But it won’t feel like Vista! Right Stewie?

Every now and then we like to showcase items just because they’re fun and don’t take that much time to describe. The Play More notepads concept by the Netherlands-based studio Trapped in Suburbia takes the whole concept of making mistakes to an entirely different (and entertaining) level.

They have basically taken a regular notepad and printed the reverse sides of every sheet with designs reminiscent of various sporting balls. That way, when you screw up and decide to crumple the paper in disgust, the resulting wrinkled sphere resembles a tennis ball or basketball or…well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Unfortunately, this is but a concept. You can’t head to your friendly neighborhood artsie craftie store to buy them just yet. We’re hoping that someone with more business than design sense sees that there’s a lot of money to be made here so the rest of us can get our hands on some in the near future. Head on over to www.trappedinsuburbia.com to check this out and see some pretty cool art along the way.

There is just something warm and comforting about hearing a crowd erupt into thunderous applause. Whether at a football game or rock concert, the result is the same. Even though it might not be for you, you can still find solace in the act of being part of this communal adoration. It’s a team thing I suppose. But what if your life doesn’t leave much room for you to be appreciated? What if a brown-nosing colleague is always overshadowing you? What if you are simply a loser? Now you can have your own canned pat on the back anytime you need it with the Box of Applause.

There really isn’t much we can say about this particular product. It is basically a wooden box that, upon opening, emits a pre-recorded sound of applause. That’s it. There are no lights, no USB ports, nothing. It’s simply a box of applause. It might not quite fit in on a blog that’s dedicated to the latest and greatest technology has to offer, but we still found it fitting, nonetheless. Maybe it’s because of the depressing world we live in or the fact that a bit of levity goes a long way. Either way, it’s a good thing.

The Box of Applause is available at www.skymall.com for $24.95. That’s such a small price to pay for automatic appreciation. The unit takes 2 AAA batteries (included) and measures 4.5wx3.5hx4.5d-in (11.4×8.9×11.4-cm).

We’ve all heard the saying, “Driving me up the wall!” which is something your sibling or boss can do to you … but now you can literally drive up the wall by yourself! That’s right … The Air Hog Zero Gravity R/C defies all that we know from our good friend, Newton!

This Air Hog Zero Gravity R/C is unlike other radio controlled cars (in fact this one is infrared controlled) as it seems to defy the law of gravity by driving up walls and giving spiderman a run for his money by zipping effortlessly towards ceilings. The amazing thing about this “Zero Gravity” contraption is that it is able to perform this unbelievable feat by simply using a fan in the roof to create a suction vacuum against surfaces.

Pretty darn impressive if you ask me.

You’re probably wondering how one would power such an gadget? Well, this baby is powered by charging it and will last a good (but sadly little) 10 minutes on a half an hour charge. I reckon little Timmy might get bored waiting so long for a 10 minute romp (kids are not renowned for their patience I’m afraid so I reckon this is more for adult entertainment.

Either way this 5 inch vehicle will give you hours of entertainment (inbetween 3 x hours charging time of course) and if you’re willing to fit the $50 price tag, you’re in for a treat impressing all your friends!

[source]

Here’s a cute alternative for those people who can’t afford the luxury of having a real pet due to financial or living conditions. The Youdoo Dog is the first do-it-yourself dog kit on the market and although you have probably always wanted a real pup, this little cutie will get you through the times you can’t.

By no means will it ever replace the love you can have for a real pet, but at least this way, you can appease your little loved one by letting them design their own pooch with the bits and pieces supplied in your Youdoo Dog kit.

Putting your own Youdoo Doggy together will have the added bonus of  some quality time with your little one and knowing you didn’t just throw a teddy bear in their arms (like every other teddy around!)

The kit arrives with a blank Youdoo puppy (consider its face a blank canvas of opportunity!), collar, t shirt and transfer sheet to create your own unique pup’s personality.  All these little add-ons help to create the bouncing toy puppy of your dreams and if you’re not partial to dog’s, well then, you’re in luck, as Youdoo pets of all types and sizes are soon to follow.

Get ready to start your own Youdoo “Youzoo” (For £9.95 per pup, you can afford it!)

[source]

Sometimes we like to take a break from the latest and greatest (and not so great) cutting edge gadgets in order to feature a product that in some way served to catch our attention, either on account of being wacky, patently absurd or just because it brought a smile to our well worn faces – and these Pipparkaka Karma Sutra Inspired Gingerbread Cutters certainly fall into the latter of these categories.

Sure to break those periods of awkward, stony silence (just as much as to create them) as your extended in-laws descend upon you this Christmas, these Pipparkaka Karma Sutra Inspired Gingerbread Cutters will allow you to create a virtual, and wholly edible, adult inspired gingerbread or cookie selection with which to feed your guests whilst no doubt keeping your eyes peeled as to who opts for which of the positions available (the mind boggles).

Designed by Swedish designer Susanne Burelo, and apparently inspired by what the Swedish word for gingerbread (‘Pepperkaka’) and its proximity to the word ‘Pipparkaka’ – you can hazard a guess as to what this means – these Pipparkaka Karma Sutra Inspired Gingerbread Cutters come in a set of eight cutters and are available via email contact only.

[Source | Design Spotter]

Firstly we feel compelled to point out that, with the issues we’re having with Firefox at the moment – especially when multiple tabs are open (just how much memory and system resources does a browser need?) – this post is offered very much from a tongue in cheek perspective but, in light of the fact that this brought a smile to our faces, we thought we would share these instructions as to how to make your very own IE Voodoo Doll here on TFTS.

Created by a lady known as Teresa who goes by the pseudonym of ‘Chisa’ on the DeviantArt forums (justly credited) these instructions will assist you in making your very own IE Voodoo Doll – allowing you to stick pins into Miscosoft’s browser logo to your heart’s content.

We have yet to come across a Firefox version – though even if we did we’d probably not be able to post about it here as it would doubtless bring our server to its knees.

You can view the step by step instructions in a larger, readable format, via Teresa’s original DeviantArt forum post.

Fear not though, as the mightily versitle USB connection could be your savour. With this brief article about how USB devices can enrich and enliven your relationships with those closest to you, you can hardly go wrong.

The USB won’t let you down.

USB Drink Warmer

If you’re anything like me, you make a cup of tea or coffee and sit at the computer for what seems like only a couple of minutes only to find that your drink’s already cold. Of course, as your spouse is all to willing to point out, you’ve actually “been sat on that bloody computer all night”, but that doesn’t change the fact that you have now got to either drink cold tea/coffee or actually lift yourself from your seat and step foot in the kitchen – following extensive, helpful directions from the aforementioned spouse.

If any of the above seems horribly familiar to you, the USB drinks warmer could be the answer.

Featuring a mini hot-plate that attaches to your computer via the USB port, this device is guaranteed to keep your drink warm thus absolving you from the responsibility of making any further drinks in the house until your drink is over. And the fact that is also has a little LED that lights up to inform you that the stainless steel hot-plate is active can only be a bonus.

Product link here.

Wireless USB Timer Controlled Lock

If your house is anything like mine then, having been in receipt of a particularly impassioned if not somewhat bitter monologue from your spouse concerning the benefits of human interaction, and, acting as though you are interested in said human interaction, you depart from the computer room (you actually want a drink, but there’s nothing stopping you from having a discussion on the way) only to find that she/he/they have suddenly taken over your computer – this is a big sentence, isn’t it – then this device is for you.

Now you can leave to haven of security that emanates from your multi-lingual adding machine safely in the knowledge that, if you have to be away no one else is going to take your place to either a) deliberately start browsing sites at random as if they are actually looking for something in particular or b) start playing the Sims.

With the USB Timer Controlled Lock you can be sure that the moment you venture anywhere further than two metres away your computer will lock itself automatically leaving you to make a drink, run into the toilet or grab a revitalising freeze dried meal with a knowing smile on your face.

Product link here.

USB Self Destruct Box

We have all, at some point or other, been in a position where, if we had a self destruct button beside our computer, we would have closed our eyes, thought of all the people we have known, and pressed it – whether it be because you have just sent an email saying how much you dislike someone to them instead of who you intended to send it to (who, let’s be frank, you don’t much like either), or perhaps because you have just been caught surfing the sort of sites that your parents told you would make you blind – and, in fairness, the vision is getting a little hazy these days.
Or perhaps, in a bid to feel like you did when you were younger, you decided to remove your slippers, roll up the tank top, and take on a group of strangers at Unreal via your fat pipe connection only to be well and truly hammered by characters with silly names made up of a liberal use of capitalisation and symbols who you strongly suspect have barely got out of nappies.

Whichever the case, this could be the answer.

Enter the USB self destruct button. If it all gets a bit too much, its nice to have the option of saying goodbye and getting out of whatever mess you now find yourself in. And the fact that it’s also a four port USB hub surely can only be seen as a bonus.

Oh, and it also has a light (which is bonus number two).

Product link here.

USB Lava Lamp

Those who have little interest in computers, and technology in general, will often claim that people who sit at computers all the time lack social skills and are not especially interesting. Well, let’s dispel this myth straight away. I for one have more friends than I can count on my thumbs and, as for excitement, I have really met anyone who can keep up with me. In fact, whenever I am out, its almost impossible not to notice that the people I am with aren’t keeping up with me as they make concerned attempts to fall back – by walking into alleyways, suddenly staring at the ground and whistling for no particular reason, claiming they have a migraine, that sort of thing.

But if that’s not enough to prove just how interesting and fun you are, this USB Lava Lamp could be your salvation. With this on your desk never again can anyone call you uninteresting, or boring, or generally brain dead.
And, if only to add salt to their wounds, you could dim the lights and play ABBA in Winamp as you shuffle around in your computer chair lit by the ghostly, disco ambience of your USB Lava Lamp.

Consider them told.

Product link here.

USB Heated Gloves

Lets, just assume, merely for the sake of argument, that you have employed all the above measures to impress upon your spouse that you are a highly dynamic social magnet who’s not only great fun to be around but who also happens to have some pretty cool dance moves and it has not worked for you. Unlikely, I know, but these things happen. Fear not, for the mighty USB will not let you down.

Whilst the fact that you’ve been thrown out of the house could initially be construed as a negatively charged occurrence, and the fact that winter’s descending upon you perhaps only adds to this feeling that something, somewhere, may have been taken the wrong way by those you live with, its not all doom and gloom. Obviously, as you were removed from the house you had time to clutch at something, anything, if only to remind you of the world you’re leaving behind (hey, it’s a fresh start – a world of opportunity) and that thing just happened to be your laptop then there’s no reason to let the bitter, penetrating wind, the frost and the snow get you down.

With a brain the size of a planet, you remembered your USB heated Gloves that you stored in your coat pocket just in case of such emergencies. A brilliant piece of forward thinking on your behalf therefore accords you your heater mittens courtesy to your lap top and the mighty USB connection contained therein.
You may be facing the future alone, but at least your hands are warm.

Product link here.

If you liked this article, you might like Ultimate Geek Accessories – Time Machines.

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Korean Clock Lady Video

This is a video of a prank call aired on the Howard Stern Show, where a caller calls the Korean owner of a clock repair shop. Unfortunately – and it is extremely unfortunate – the lady concerned seems wholly unable to actually say the word “clock” (a prerequisite of owning a clock shop one would have thought).

The resulting conversation is extremely amusing, and well worth a listen.

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