Nice GameSpot article looking at the Half Life development and covering all sorts of interesting things like the stolen source code, missed deadlines et al. Definitely worth a read if you’re an HL freak waiting for the game to hit the shelves this week.

The Dreamate DM-800 is supposed to help you sleep better by triggering a pulse wave which will promote blood circulation and relieve stress. Hmm… [Via Popgadget] ‘In the Meridian Theory of Chinese Medicine, there are three specific "acupuncture points" on the wrist, they are Shern-Men Point, Day-Ling Point and Ney-Guan Point respectively. Shern-Men Point is located along the "Heart Meridian", which is responsible for the mental health and function of circulatory system. Day-Ling and Ney-Guan Points are located along the…

The Link Backphones from Skullcandy. Perfect for adding remote automation to your 1920’s mobile phone handset. �24.95. ‘The LINK system allows you to listen to your music and use your mobile hands-free through your headphones, without ever touching either device. When a call is received, you can either eliminate the music entirely, or simply reduce the music volume with the inline music control on the LINK console – listen to both the music and the call at the same time!…

For some reason I’m always getting asked how peeps can send faxes over their shiny new ADSL broadband connection. And up till now I’ve had to shrug in an enigmatic French way and spread my arms in defeat. But no longer. Thanks to the MultiVOIP MVP130-FXS (trying saying that quickly on New Year’s Day morning). $299.00. Press release here. ‘The low-cost MultiVOIP MVP130-FXS Analog Adapter (gateway) is a single-port device that connects to an IP network via 10/100 Mbps Ethernet…

These Power Strip Savers are a simply brilliant idea. I constantly have to juggle with naff black power bricks when trying to extract precious juice. I wish someone would do similar over here. Oh and the very naff company site is here. ‘Simply plug your power adapters into this handy cable, and plug the cable into your powerstrip. You�ll get full use of the sockets on your powerstrip, plus an extra socket for every Powerstrip Saver cable you use!’

The Product Design Database site features such a fabulous selection of olde Japanese consumer goods from the 60’s onwards (like this Kenwood P9 linear turntable) that you may find it hard to breath whilst browsing. Just remember then that it’s – in, out, in, out…and so on. Until death. [Via Metafilter]

The Saitek SP550 combination USB joystick and gamepad in one. For all you game junkies who will be playing a blockbuster release sometime this holiday.

O’Reilly has released a new book entitled Spam Kings. Yep, about same. Billed as ‘The Real Story Behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements’. Do please forward this post to everyone you know. Twice ‘Unlike most spammers who chose to remain in the shadows, Wallace, a large man in his early twenties, regularly tangled with junk email opponents in Nanae discussions. Wallace argued that he was an entrepreneur and that spamming was his First Amendment 22 Spam…

The Atmos Clock. It may not be very new, but it certainly is v clever – ‘The power consumed by a 15 watt light bulb could run over 60 million Atmos clocks simultaneously!’ Prices start at v expensive and work their way elegantly upwards. ‘The technological concept is a remarkable one. Inside a sealed capsule, a mixture of gas and liquid expands as the temperature rises and contracts as it falls, moving the capsule back and forth like a tiny…

Bathroom Mirror LCD. $3349.00 buys you unabashed luxury. And Dan Rather in your toilet. Bargin’. ‘How many times have you wished you had a television in your bathroom but never had the counter space? Now you can have an LCD TV in your bathroom mirror. Incorporating the television into the mirror is a simple and elegant way to conserve space without the clutter a conventional television presents. The television mirror provides a convenient viewing location when it is on, and…

Folks, I confess that I have absolutely NO idea what a bean jam grommet is, but I simply had to feature it because of the delicious translation from Uncle Babel. Actually I think it’s some kind of Internet connected combo home automation controller, remote video transmitter and home security device. But who cares? IP address to be difficult to know, the remembering ? leprosy. Love, love, love! ‘Inside the residence it requires in real time live broadcast! * Even while…

The Boxit mobile phone protective case. $29.00. Not the most beautiful thing in the garden, but useful nevertheless I bet. ‘Functional in the Case � The flexible transparent face allows “dial-thru” functionality, while a special waterproof Gore audio membrane guarantees effective sound transmission.’

TI RamSan solid state drives. Billed as the ‘world’s fastest storage’. Mmm, I could do with a new hard drive. How much? $1000 a gigabyte? Here, and keep the change my good man! ‘The RamSan-325 can accelerate I/O intensive applications such as databases up to 2500% by delivering random data at sustained rates exceeding 1.5 gigabytes per second….The 250,000 I/Os per second RamSan-325 is available in capacities of 128 gigabytes, 96 gigabytes, 64 gigabytes, and 32 gigabytes.

Solar Powered Radio Headset. $34.95. I believe the radio will only play Sunny Bono tracks, but I’ll get back to you on that. ‘They’ve built this nice radio that solar recharges a small Ni-Mh AAA battery that’s included and it will operate on solar alone in just 30% of full sunlight. Any additional power goes to keep the battery topped off. One hour of sunlight is 1-2 hours of radio play. The AAA battery will let you play the radio…

I’m F��ling Sp�ndy. Auntie Flo give you some cash and sweeties on your last visit? Don’t know what to do with the sudden onset of wealth? Then this might be the place for you. Uses Amazon as the product engine. ‘Fill in the details below and we will find a random product on Amazon matching your requirements. We can’t guarantee they’ll have it in stock, but just keep trying until you find something you want to buy and then hit…