Fed up with store bought mobile phones? Fancy making your own instead? Then maybe you ought to lock in with the Homebrew Mobile Phone Club folk and roll your own. Er…and did we mention that it helps if you live in the Californian sunshine?  Geographically distant persons are also encouraged to participate in discussions on the mailing list or (if you’re adventureous) you can form your own local chapter. There is currently no formal national or international membership organization, so starting…

The Book of Cool. Got a wayward 15 year old who needs..ah…channeling? Then maybe this might help. A 3 DVD and 320 page package which gives instruction on how to do a bunch of cool tricks and leet skillz. Like pen spinning, street bike, cool pool shots. You know the kind of thing. I’m not sure that the little tyke will end up as cool as the book promises, but it should keep them quiet on Boxing Day. £29.95.  The…

So hot on the heels of Riya’s apparent move away from developing face recognition technology for photos, comes news of a new Swedish company, Polar Rose, which is working on…er…face recognition for photos. Plus ca change plus c’est la m�me chose, eh? They’re in closed Alpha at the moment (i.e.don’t bother asking to try the tech) so let’s see how they get on when it goes public, shall we?  Polar Rose grew out of computer vision (analysis of digital images and…

Sellaband is a new kind of musicians marketplace, with some fascinating differences. First of all, the object of the site is to let artists and fans collaborate and share in any earnings from eventual CD and advertising sales. Secondly, the site offers a top notch recording contract at a major studio for any band that raises $50,000 worth of contributions from their fan-base. Why would fans chip in? Why for a share of those future CD and site advertising revenues, of course. It’s really kind of…

Name Your Porsche is a new service which will create a custom nameplate in the style of the original that you can stick on your fancy German automobile car thing. It’s available for all the glorified Volkswagen, sorry Porsche, range from 911 through Cayman. Could this spread further afield? Could we soon be attaching cute nom de plumes to our toasters (Frank, you’re so hot!) or washing machines (spin, Betty, spin)? If so what’s this going to do to the precious ranks…

Searchmash is a clean new search engine interface experiment run by Google. Very stealthy, very interesting. Nothing mind blowing on there as yet, just a few cool new features, but definitely one to watch. [via Slashdot]  SearchMash lets you search the internet in new ways. It is constantly evolving as we come up with ideas and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Check back here from time to time to see what has changed, and also to tell us which ones are…

The Skyacht Personal Blimp brings affordable, albeit slow, air travel within reach of everyone. Well everyone that likes floating around underneath a very bulbous hot air balloon thing painted like a demented goldfish. Mind you, one nice feature is the fact that it can be deflated and stored in a cupboard. A large cupboard. [Via Metafilter]  The Personal Blimp uses hot air (rather than Helium) for lift and virtually silent electric motors for propulsion. To put it another way: the Personal Blimp is…

The Connaught Type-D H Hybrid Sports Car. We are amazed that hardly any of the major car manufacturers can come up with decent hybrid cars, whilst smaller producers don’t seem to have that problem. Weird huh? You’d expect it to be the other way round. Anyhoo, this one does 140mph, 0–60 in 4.5 seconds and 42 mpg.  When the Type-D is stationary, the petrol engine does not run. The air-conditioning can still operate if needed, though, thanks to that 48-volt…

Scrybe. An interesting new web application that looks as though it will offer a new twist on the old calendar, to-do list metaphor. Of course it’s all Ajax and Web 2.0 looking but the innovative print out and timezone options point to something a little bit different. It’s hidden behind a video walkthrough at the moment, but definitely one to watch.  Scrybe is a groundbreaking online organizer that caters to today´s lifestyle in a cohesive and intuitive way. Simple solutions for some age old problems….

Evolution.  A short video about fashion beauty manipulation. Hmm…looks like there’s a big ole pendulum about to start a-swingin’. [Via Boingboing]  Low self-esteem is an issue that affects all women regardless of age or ethnicity. It can lead to introversion, a withdrawal from normal life and a waste of potential. At Dove, we believe that it is time to stop this waste by developing a more inclusive definition of beauty.

 Man there are some rubbish Web 2.0 sites and services coming down the line. It’s like suddenly the suits have discovered the new mini-boom and they’re running up any old dross web service to climb on board the mythically accelerating GooTube gravy train. Oh no, not the Interwebs hype again! Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Right, where were we…? So thank goodness for FlickrStorm, which is fabulous and has nothing to do with all the nonsense. Basically it’s a search engine for Flickr, and…

3D on the page. How cool is that? [via Funny Junk]

Eco-artware.com. Goods and gifts from recycled, reused and natural materials. Like this tractor rubber handbag, lined with faux leather and featuring an interior light which goes on when the bag is opened. $210.00.  A stylish bag for commuting to work followed by a night on the town. A large open inner pocket holds lists, timetables and dtheater programs, while important contents stay secure with a top-zipper closure. 12″ faux leather handles allow for either hand or shoulder carrying.