Apparently this pose is called a phoon. Did you know that? I didn’t. Well here’s a site that features lots of people doing ‘phoons’ in strange places and situations around the world. The Web, doncha just love it!

Er…not sure how to write this one up actually. It’s a ‘message in a bottle’ server site. The site lists international Web pages which are ‘run by people who will put your message into a bottle and throw it into the sea (or river)’ Er…really? There’s even a virtual version which uses only hyperspace.

Yawn, OK I’m starting to get a bit bored with these iPod clones. I reckon from now on I’ll only report on ones of outstanding beauty or functionality. Anyway here’s the last of the mundane, the 10GB iRiver iHP-100.

So there’s this company in San Diego which will rent you arcade games for your party. They’re called – logically enough – Party Pals. What I want to know is, where can you fit these things in anything less than a Bel Air mansion? And have you heard the NOISE? My old pinball machine use to make enough racket to rouse the entire neighbourhood. Sheesh! [via boingboing]

The latest in the current craze for micro radio controlled toys is the Konami Combat DigiQ tank set. The set comprises two tanks and controllers, but the interesting thing is that they can fight each other using dinky little laser guns. [via gizmodo] This looks like the start of a smart toy fightback against the rising dominance of games consoles. Take a look also at the voice activated micro r/c car featured here. Apparently the other fascinating thing is that…

Following on from the Ferret’s strong belief that the world is being pushed away from a reliance on mid-eastern oil supplies, comes this report on a new technology to convert waste products into oil. Changing World Technologies of West Hempstead, New York has come up with a process it calls thermal depolymerization process, or TDP which uses precise levels of heat and pressure (mimicking Mother Nature) to convert waste glup into petroleum hydrocarbons. Sounds very neat, don’t it? [via metafilter]

BroadQ’s QCast Tuner for the Playstation 2 is a $49.95 disc of PS2 software that’s run on a networked PS2 with a broadband adapter. The package also contains a piece of PC software which lets the PS2 browse and stream the contents of the PC via the PS2 connected television. That means you can stream music, video (including DivX) and even MPEG2 stuff from DVDs. It’s as cool as this ArsTechnica review suggests.

Michael Moore, self styled US social campaigner, has been getting a lot of stick recently. Ever since his outspoken Oscar speech actually. Here’s an example of the kind of thing that’s going around. Here’s another. And another. Interesting. I wonder whether this is being orchestrated by anyone (or thing) in particular?

I wouldn’t normally mention this, but it’s kind of funny. Microsoft has been busily rushing around prosecuting companies which sell or make chips which modify its XBox games console for a while now. And lo, out of nowhere comes a seriously anoraky guy who comes up with a method of doing it with just a bit of solder and some smarts (OK a lot of smarts!). Just goes to show that policing intellectual property rights just ain’t what it used…

Apparently SonicBlue, makers of the ReplayTV and Rio range of MP3 products has been bought out of bankruptcy by D&M Holdings for $36 million and change. [via i4U] For those of you not familiar with the name, this is the Tokyo based owner of Denon and Marantz, two very high end audio equipment brands. This is a very interesting move, because I have a good mate who works with an associate company, and I know for a fact that Marantz…

i4u.com reports on a new model of Playstation 2 catchily dubbed the SCPH 50000. The main features are the addition of a DVD-R/+R, -RW/+RW drive and a blessed 30% reduction in fan noise. It also has progressive scan output for a better piccie and an updated remote control. Priced at around 25000 yen (�130.00/$212.00) when it arrives in Japan next month.

The Google Hacks site is cool, and has a goodly selection of toys with which you can play Google-Meister to your heart’s content. Funky. I particularly like the Cookin’ with Google hack. Enter in some ingredients and get a list of suitable recipes. Fun.

April Winchell’s collection of weird multimedia bits deserves the widespread audience it is garnering. I mean, where else would you find Abba covers in Hindi nestling alongside Leonard Nimoy, Telly Savalas and The Brady Bunch singalongs? That’s not to mention the cooking lessons with Vincent Price, hypnosis clips for bedwetting and other such bizarre and eclectic pot pourri. Weird, weird, weird. [via metafilter]

Littlewhitedog.com has posted a review of the D-Link DVC-1000 broadband videophone complete with video clips of the kind of resolution you can expect from this little puppy. You’ll need a television (or PC), a phone handset to talk through, a broadband connection and some friends – or a friend, OK? Oh and around $250.00. D-Link product info here.

Aunty is reporting on a new tech based Phone & Go bus service which lets rural dwellers call up a central despatch to ‘order’ a bus. A bus-on-demand service sounds cool.