Famed maker of awesome Takara Tomy’s latest bundle of cool is a super cute air filter for babies. It’s outfitted with an antibacterial filter and Sharp’s “decontamination ion” purification tech (my AC in Japan actually had this too) so your offspring don’t inhale all the nasty, germ-y stuff floating around your house. It’s about $150 (17,640 yen), so it’s kind of pricey, but it’s smaller (115×80×140mm) and definitely packs in more cute per square inch than most air filters. [Fuji Sankei via Tokyo Mango]
Original post by Matt Buchanan
Comcast ain’t so happy about the FCC’s vote to ban exclusive apartment contracts for cable providers. Says Sena Fitzmaurice, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Government Relations:
“Consumers in apartment buildings and condos across the nation received a blow today from the action taken by the FCC. The result of this decision is likely to be higher prices for services and years of litigation and uncertainty for consumers. The significant concessions building owners have been able to bargain for on behalf of their residents will be lost.”
The argument for the bustup, however, is that by allowing tenants to choose their own provider, it’ll increase competition—since Verizon and AT&T want in the game, for one—and drive down prices as everyone’s forced to cut each other’s throat to sign up individual renters. Which way will it go? Who knows. The one thing we don’t doubt is Comcast’s ominous warning of “years of litigation” [...]
Original post by Matt Buchanan
Nokia has announced that its Music Store, which was announced at its Go Play event in London a few months ago, is now open to the public. The Nokia Music Store allows users to purchase tracks on their PC or directly from their handsets.
Original post by Ricky Cadden
This unique high-end phone builds on the enV concept by adding a large external finger-touch display plus live broadcast TV. Other specs and features are similar to the enV, including a 2 megapixel auto-focus camera, stereo Bluetooth, QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO high-speed data, and a memory card slot.
Original post by Kiven
If you’ve made the switch from incandescent light bulbs to CFLs in order to be more energy/money efficient, one issue possibly plaguing your otherwise greener conscience is where to recycle it after it goes cold in about seven years, since it can’t be recycled with glass bottles, thanks to its mercury content. IKEA to the rescue! They’ll take old CFLs off of your hands for free recycling, which is useful given the big push CFL bulbs are getting from everyone from Wal-Mart to governments. Of course, the snag is that’s only helpful if you have an IKEA somewhere in your general vicinity, but them’s the breaks. [IKEA via Consumerist, Flickr]
Original post by Matt Buchanan