Contraptions & Contests.

Just a leisurely stroll through internet-wonder-ville this morn found a few things of interest.

What if you could own lie detector sunglasses that are supposedly 95% accurate. Would you, uhhhhh, give me the benefit of the doubt (5%), 95% of the time I'm talking? Israeli-developed technology, this stuff is for real. Wow. How's that addage go: 'for anything you say, a cannon-will-be-used against you.'

I know, I'm constantly blogging alternatives to iPods for all you gadget freaks... It's only because my 2nd gen 40 GB iPod was roughly a $400 item, and no longer even recognizes the hard disk. All my songs, my (backup computer) data, addy book, etc are gone forever to some place that is fast growing in popularity- wherever iPods go to die.

Here is a Sony Walkman NW-S200. A swell 'lil playing device that reminds me of the stylishness that Sony always tries to convey. In some ways it reminds me of the first 'taxi-cab yellow' Sony Sports Walkman they released that was waterproof and dustproof (about 20 years ago). It had that same kind of Sony Style to it (for back in the day).

Should these still be called Walkmans? I think with Sony and their proprietary Mem Sticks et al, a better term would be "StickMen." Now that I think about it, a StickMan just wouldn't be available in powder pink, so that could be a StickLady. By golly, now is that perpetuating an image that women should be anemic and underweight and have self-image issues? Ohhhhh. Now I see why they leave it at Walkman, ne'ermind.

Back to the iPod and iTunes bashing. One of the most influential (and famous) bloggers anywhere is prolly Nicholas Carr with RoughType and Rough Sort. On RoughSort, Carr writes about the news of MySpace intending to sell its some 3 million unsigned bands' music. Basically, Carr says: "technology leaders seldom get dethroned by direct competition."

One can only hope... I mean, Intel is proportedly laying off somewhere between 10-16.5% of its 100,000 workers to keep pace with new chipmaker AMD. AMD just wallops Intel in virtually every benchmark and temperature comparison. So, it can happen.

I've written about my opposition to iTunes and DRM on Cnet.com. Basically, I feel I'm treated like a thief for BUYING music. I can't freely use the music I buy from iTunes. Just wait for folks to upgrade their 'puters and try transferring their whole iTunes library. Anyways, I'm not saying to steal music. That's still wrong. I'm still buying hardcopy cd's, I guess.

At BoingBoing, there's an article today about Bob Dylan and iTunes. It's not a very happy article, and is a great example of how iTunes is trying to bully us consumers. I whole-heartedly agree with these statements- especially the last few paragraphs about ridding DRM entirely, buying from other sources, not getting good value fromiTunes at $0.99/track, and understanding that there simply aren't enough legitimate options to keep some from using p2p.

Wow, if you've read through that rant, you deserve a hero cookie. Better yet, some hard earned swag or cash.

Nokia is holding a contest: Nokia Eye on Fashion. Snap a pic using a Nokia camera phone and send it in to their Nokia India site. You could win a new unreleased Nokia phone or some haute designer stuff. I scanned the rules and couldn't find anywhere stating you had to reside in- or capture the image in- India. Ends September 22nd.

Fossil is having a contest that ends shortly (Sept 12th, 2006): Design Your Own Tin. You can only enter once, and you could win between $100 and $1000 plus the chance to visit their design studio and have your tin produced. Wow, even thinking about going to Richardson, Texas is such a thrill. hold me back. wow. yeah, i know.

You think celebs don't want to be part of contests? Well Brad Pitt recently held a contest to help build new sustainable housing in New Orleans to help revitalize the area after Katrina. Nice going Brad, the Global Green initiative sounds like everyone's a winner. And hey, just check out who's involved: Mikhail Gorbachev (Founder & President), Leonardo DiCaprio, Jerry Moss (Founder, A & M Records), and Edward Norton... Cheers.

image credits: Sony NW-S200 from Popgadget.com, Brad Pitt pic from imdb.com, Global Green from GlobalGreen.org