Yet another in a long line of chilling articles outlining just how mercenary the music business has become. This Salon piece reveals the incredibly tight contract terms that the contestants of American Idol in the US (and presumably Pop Idol over here?) had to sign to be accepted onto the TV show. The most chilling words are ‘in perpetuity’ and the fact that the contestants have to agree that ‘other parties … may reveal… information about me of a…private, intimate,…

Don’t have a Gameboy at home? Want one? Then why not try out the strangely compelling online Gameboy emulator, Gameboy Emu? You can play anything from Frogger to Madden NFL 2001. Strange use of a Java enabled browser though, I must say.

The Sony Vaio Contents Egg (aka the Vaio Note Personal Library) is a concept storage server for the home, which will hold your photos, music and other multimedia goodies for your pleasure. It’s got a hard disk, CD-RW and supports keyboards and stuff, so I suppose that really it’s nothing more than a fancy looking Vaio laptop turned on edge. Still it’s always good to see computer companies thinking outside the boring beige box, isn’t it? Sony is really cranking…

Need a cellular network mast hidden from view? Want to install one somewhere sensitive? Then call The Undetectables company who will disguise your ugly antenna as anything from a chimney (complete with road grime) to a clock tower. Let’s hope that they don’t help place them anywhere near children’s playgrounds or the like, eh? Warning: nasty flash site.

As a companion to the Adobe document article below, here’s a very useful little Web service from Adobe. Need to read an online PDF document but don’t have the Acrobat Reader installed? Simply go to this Adobe page, enter the URL, and presto a converted page on-screen for your enjoyment. And while we’re at it, here’s another free service from Adobe which lets you email a PDF document or URL to their automatic conversion service and receive back a text…

Textile experts at Cornell University have produced a great free booklet in Adobe PDF format which offer laboratory tested methods of removing 250 types of stubborn household stains. Banana oil to remove a grass stain? You betcha.

A closet that automatically selects clothes for you based on the weather forecast, and a fridge with an integral web camera so that owners can use their smartphone to see what they need to buy while wandering down the supermarket aisle. Welcome to the world of 21st century electronic appliances, courtesy of the Japanese and this Washington Post article. [via madville]

The Sony PUD-J5A head mounted display is a Playstation 2 gadget for getting that all immersive feel in your gaming. Pop it on to the noggin, slot in your favourite game and throw up as you try and orient yourself to the weird world of virtual reality glasses. OK so I’m being a bit unfair, but still, if you have $500.00 to spend I would suggest a new digital camera might be more long term fun.

Yes I know it’s yet another Bluetooth headset (just how many ears do we have available anyway?) but this one looks a little more ergonomically sound. Instead of one of those long thin Ericsson type prong devices, the Astradis Bluetooth Headset is round and cuddly. OK, so maybe not that cuddly, but at least it might look nicer nestled in your ear. Priced at �119.00.

A nice ExtremeTech article on the potential future of flexible electronics like the roll up computer display above. The idea is that instead of using rigid plastics, other more supple materials will be used which will open the door to all sorts of new and innovative devices. I interviewed Michael Sauvante, the CEO of Rolltronics a while ago and came away very impressed not just with the company’s technology but also with the ethical vision of the man and the…

Time magazine is suggesting that that the new Roomba, a vacuum cleaner robot that does your housework for you, is revolutionary. More here. I suggest that Electrolux might be a bit miffed since its Trilobite has been on the market for some time. But then again what do I know?

There’s a big discussion going on at the moment as to the sighting of the first smiley – :-). Apparently this is the earliest known modern version anyway (from 19 September 1982). So I suppose that makes tomorrow the 20th anniversary of the emoticon. Whew!

Oh no, the price of chocolate is apparently rising rapidly on the commodity markets. Panic now!

The Sharp XV-Z90S is being billed as the world’s first wireless video projector. It uses Wi-Fi 802.11 technology which means that you can set this puppy down anywhere within your home or office and it will pick up and project material from your remote PC, laptop or whatever you have connected to the transmission unit. Warning: BabelFish translated site. A large screen DVD movie theatre (or PC game session) in your living room powered by the PC in your bedroom?…

The First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra is an orchestra that plays their stuff on..er…vegetables. And they have a CD out. And you can listen here. And words fail me.