Shiny new Apple gadgets are revealed regularly and each time that happens we rush to a store and go through the same cycle of reactions. Drool. Love. Hate. Love. Drool again. This is what owning Apple products is like.

Reprinted with permission from Matthew Inman aka “The Oatmeal,” a former web designer turned comic artist. You can see more of his work on The Oatmeal. Matthew is a one man operation, so be sure to check out posters and prints from his shop.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a way to pass the time while waiting for the next shiny gadget, Matthew wants you to know that his comic about how everything goes to hell during a zombie apocalypse is a good—albeit somewhat vulgar—read:

The author of this post can be contacted at tips@gizmodo.com

This concept from over at Yanko Design would charge batteries using a traditional jump rope action. Also, your self-respect. Start practicing!

The charging mechanism would be placed in the handles, with the charging itself taken care of by the spinning rope. Just a few hundred hops, or 20 minutes worth, will charge the batteries 100%. Whether you’ll have the energy required to do whatever it is you were trying to use after your marathon charging session is a question best left unasked of this concept. [Yanko Design via Technabob]

How does Google keep its employees fresh for long days and nights of working? With sleep pods.

FT reporter Richard Waters was in Google’s Mountain View headquarters yesterday and snapped this photo of an anonymous Googler catching some rest. When Richard walked past the pod later, he said a pair of female legs were sticking out from the pod.
This contraption is a MetroNap EnergyPod. Metronap says it “harnesses science and NASA technology” to deliver a refreshing nap for users.

On its site, Metronap says, “Occupants are reclined into the optimal napping position to promote blood circulation and reduce pressure on the lower back and ambient sounds help nappers drift into light sleep.”

When it’s time to wake up, the EnergyPod delivers a light vibration.

There are plenty of technical hurdles keeping the masses from decking out their roofs with solar panels, but their general ugliness doesn’t help much either. Tegolasolare puts their photovoltaic panels second to the surrounding architecture, not the other way around.

The Italian company’s red clay roof tiles look just like traditional terracotta and incorporate photovoltaic panels, as opposed to merely accommodating them. It’s a perfect example of how forward-looking, sustainable technology can exist in harmony with traditional architecture.

Of course, lose the drab solar roof look and you lose your eco-savvy neighbor visibility along with it, and really, what fun is having an Earth-saving roof if it looks just like your regular old one? [Tegolasolare via 3 Rings and Solar Lighting via NotCot]

A yottabyte is one septillion bytes. To save all those bytes you need a data center as big as the states of Delaware and Rhode Island. It doesn’t seem like much, until they tell you the price tag: $100 trillion.

How much is $100 trillion? Too much to imagine but ,to give you some sense of scale, the gross domestic product for the United States was $14 trillion in 2008. The word GDP: $61 trillion. And yet, one day we will look back at this figures and shrug, as we order a 4 yottabyte memory card to save a few hours of our life with our 5-senses brain impulse recording device. For $19.99. [Backblaze]

Apple’s claiming that the iPhone 4 represents the platform’s biggest advance since the original model’s intro back in 2007 — but does the argument hold water? Follow the break for a comprehensive rundown of the key differences between the newest member of the iPhone model and last year’s king of the hill, the 3GS!

iPhone 4

iPhone 3GS

Apple has unveiled its new iPhone 4 after a couple wild, unprecedented months of leaks. Sure, it looks exactly like we expected it to (Steve compares it to an old Leica camera), with a glass front and back, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts, kids. The stainless steel band that goes around the phone is an antenna system, while also providing the main structure of the phone, though it’s plugged into the same old GSM / UMTS radio you all know and love — there’s a reason they didn’t call it the iPhone 4G. There’s also of course that front facing camera we were all anticipating, a rear camera with LED flash, and a new high resolution display that doubles the pixels in each direction (960 x 640) for a 4X overall pixel count increase — Apple calls it a “Retina Display.” It’s rated at 326ppi, which Apple claims is beyond the human eye’s limit of distinction. Check out an example of the new screen up against the iPhone 3G after the break. Similar to the iPad, it’s an IPS display, offering 800:1 contrast. Naturally, it’s still the same old 3.5-inch size. Under the hood is the A4 processor that runs the iPad. Despite the new engine (and the 25% thinner chassis), Apple managed to make the battery slightly larger, and the new handset is rated at 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of music. Oh, and that WiFi? It’s 802.11n now. The camera has been bumped to 5 megapixels, with 5X digital zoom and a “backside illuminated sensor,” which now can also record HD video at 720p / 30fps.

On the software front, applications will automatically get high resolution text and buttons as part of iOS 4 (the OS previously known as iPhone OS 4), and with “a little bit of work” developers can make their entire app compatible with the new resolution display. Developers will also get access to a new gyroscope, giving devs “six axis” motion control between the gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass, with a new “Core Motion” API to deal with it all. Users won’t be left out in the cold, however: they can mess around with that new HD video using a brand new iMovie app, if they shell out $4.99 for it. If anyone’s feeling particularly frisky, iOS 4 even lets you switch your default search provider to Bing. Last but certainly not least, that new front camera is enabled for video chat using the new “FaceTime” feature. It’s a WiFi-only (for now) video calling feature that works from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 with “no setup” involved, and can flip over to the rear camera if your grandparents get tired of your face.

The phone will be available in white or black, retailing at $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB. They go on sale June 24th, and AT&T will be giving some extra grace upgrade timing — up to six months early. The 3GS will be dropped to $99 and the 3G will disappear completely. Pre-orders start in a week, with 5 countries at launch (US, France, Germany, UK, Japan), with 18 more following in July. Apple will also be selling a first party case for $29, and a dock for the same price.

SOURCE: ENGADGET

It’s by no means a new debate, but it remains an important one, and today the Wall Street Journal tackles the issue with a pair of essays on what exactly the internet’s doing to our noggins. So, which is it?

Smarter
Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, holds down the pro-internet side with “Does the Internet Make You Smarter?” He compares the advent of the internet to that of movable type, which initially made for a flood of amateur literature but ultimately had “the effect of increasing, rather than decreasing, the intellectual range and output of society.”

He envisions the internet as a huge scale version of scientific peer review, in which resources like Wikipedia give individuals a productive outlet for their free time. Of course, Shirky admits, watching Scarlet take a tumble on YouTube isn’t exactly a picture of high-tech enlightenment, but the internet is a new resource and now comes the part where we figure out how we can use it to make the world a better place.

Ultimately, Shirky thinks the web “will fuel the intellectual achievements of 21st-century society,” having diverted young people away from the TV and onto a medium where reading and writing are essential. Eventually, the “throwaway” material of the internet will get thrown away and the collaborative and imaginative potential of the web will be realized.

Stupider
Nicholas Carr*, perennial “the Internet is making us stupider” essay writer, offers the counterpoint with “Does the Internet Make Us Dumber?” He contends that the surplus of information on the internet is just that, a surplus, and sees this abundance turning us into a class of “scattered and superficial thinkers.”

But Carr’s notion of the internet as a detrimental influence isn’t just informed by his own experience; he cites a growing body of scientific work to prove his point. A study conducted at Cornell University reveals that while some facilities like spatial intelligence are boosted by internet use, “new weaknesses in higher-order cognitive processes,” such as “abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection, inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination” are emerging, according to one researcher.

What it boils down to for Carr is that reading books builds a sort of mental discipline that is extremely valuable for our naturally inattentive minds. The internet thrives on and reinforces those tendencies towards inattention, he explains, and he’s worried that the next generation might not have the patience to pull themselves out of the web’s swamp of distractions, or worse yet, might not even see the point in doing so.

My Take?
Carr’s right. I skimmed both articles. I am finding, though, that the iPad (and it’s forced unitasking) offers a nice calm place to take in sights and sounds of the internet, one at a time, without the Growl growling at me every five seconds. I wouldn’t quite say it’s my digital Walden, but it’s the closest thing to it I’ve come across lately.

For those interested in reading further, this month’s issue of Wired has more in-depth pieces from both Shirky and Carr on where they see the internet taking us. You can read ‘em all distracted-like on Wired’s site or go buy the magazine and start disciplining that mushy brain of yours. [WSJ 1, WSJ 2]

*Read an excellent excerpt of Nick Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brain

Our present need for internet connectivity is so profound that secondary devices like the Nextep Computer are bound to happen. Developed to be worn as a bracelet, this computer concept is constructed out of a flexible OLED touchscreen. Earmarked for the year 2020, features like a holographic projector (for screen), pull-out extra keyboard panels and social networking compatibility, make the concept plausible. Ten years from now is not too far away, so how many of you think we’d be buying such gadgets?

Designer: Hiromi Kiriki

As far as tech concepts are concerned we see most designers lure in as many specs as possible, just to make the gadget geeky enough for the pros. The Sony Alpha SLR Concept promises no high-funda tech-specs and simply addresses the issue of ergonomics. The theory being that a flat back on any camera is a pain on the wrist and facial features like nose-protrusion and chubby-cheeks! Solution: Sony Alpha – featuring a slanted rear. The tilted back is easy on the wrist and face.

More Details here (in Spanish).

Designer: Abel Verdezoto I.

Running out of time! Death is coming to get me! That’s exactly what you think when you work for hours and hours and hours on project after project, be you a graphic designer, industrial designer, interior designer, exterior designer, whatever! Now. How can one solve such a problem of melting into the seat we sit in all day long? Exercise of course. But what one to do! If only there were a sort of Twister-esque… clock!

Here it is. The “Graphic Designer’s Clock” as designed by Nurcan Durmaz. this is a fun little number that tells you what simple movement to do at what time of the day. One exercise every 20 minutes. What a gem!

Designer: Nurcan Durmaz

The Smart Fridge here is for those who have shunted cooking to a hobby and rely more on designer microwave meals. The idea is to give you a fridge that is intelligent enough to come up with a healthy recipe, depending on what you stock in it. Not only that, it guides you with vocal instructions, spoon by spoon, till you dish out the perfect-wholesome meal. A touch interface door glams up the appliance, creating the desire to own a piece that’s futuristic but may not be what you’re looking for!

Designer: Ashley Legg

Love it or hate, eBooks and Readers are here to stay. Hardcore paper-buffs like me find it hard to embrace the sterile, cold feel of glass and metal (or plastic), when all we want to do is curl up with a warm book. However for the sake of evolution, I take it upon me to present to you a concept that could be the future of e-reading; eRoll! The current trend is either the iPad-way (touchscreen) or the Kindle-way (screen + keypad), with the common factor being a rigid display. eRoll predicts a future where a roll-able flexible screen will be used, thus reducing the size of the book to a baton. Sigh!

Designer: Dragan Trencevski

Let’s talk about the future of Harley Davidson. Motorcycles from OUTER SPACE! And what does that mean? Laser cuts. Laser cuts all over the place. Options. Wheels. Great things. All of this under the title “2020 Harley Davidson 1,” designed by Jonathan Russell. There’s other features, like two ways to sit, greatnesses here and there, but the most fabulous of these is the Apple Computers inspired laser-etched perforations in the aluminum which gives translucency enough to let the LED lights underneath shine through.

As Russell notes, the perforations are evident in the newish Apple Macbook Pro, which has the “no-light-when-off” but “shiny loveliness when turned on” features that we all know and love. This is used on the cycle to display gauges and GPS systems on the gas tank surface. In a similar move, the perforated aluminum behind the seat hide and reveal the tail lights and turning signals.

Non skid treads. Enlarged V-Twin engine, hidden battery and oil tank. Such a lovely chrome “picture frame” for the engine this doth make. Gas tank, airbox, oil tank, and battery all located inside the tank area.

Wrapped two to one exhaust. Perimeter breaks for ultra-stopping.

Due to the long history of flat track racing Harley’s got and the designer wanted to represent, this motorcycle’s got such a power to weight ratio as to rip it up with extreme speed on roads across the country.

Comfortable, aggressive, fabulous.

Designer: Jonathan Russell

Freshly laundered and added to the Google store, these hoody sweatshirts cost just $41.75 and come with—drum roll please—A GMAIL LOGO. [Google Store via Gmail Blog - Thanks, Brian!]