You’ve gotta love these speakers that look like giant iPod earbuds. Unless your last name Bunyon or your first name is Green, these jumbo earphones will have to sit on your desktop instead of in your ears.

Part of the new lineup of whimsical products from Fred & Friends, these gargantuan earbud speakers are sure to draw looks sitting there alongside your laptop. They get their 500XL moniker since they’re about 500 times the size of a pair of iPod earbuds.

If you just have to have a pair, you’ll have to hold your breath for just a little while, since pricing and a release date haven’t been announced yet. (You might want to check with Perpetual Kid, since they’ve been known to carry much of the Fred line).

[via UberReview and Mike Ballan]

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On the eve of the in-store release of Apple’s sleek and sexy MacBook Air portable, it’s been revealed that an even thinner, tinier MacBook is in the works.

The MacBook Paper is about twice the thickness of a sheet of paper, and it too fits inside of an envelope. Be sure to check out the video clip below to see the new micro laptop in action.

Best of all, you can get your own for free. Just head on over to apcommunity to grab yours. And no, this isn’t real.

[via TUAW]

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Ever feel like telling one of those stupid voice-recognition phone systems exactly where it can stick option number 2?

Carnegie Mellon alumnus, humorist and robotics author Daniel H. Wilson stars in this humorous video clip of what happened when he got a little too snarky with Diane, the voice behind an Automated Voice Response (AVR) system. 

Be sure to check out more entertaining clips (including some catchy tunes with Keepon the rhythmic robot) over on CMU’s Robo U Website.

[Thanks to Technabob reader Mandy for sending this along!]

Those iconic Space Invaders seem to be turning up everywhere these days. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere — even in your underwear.

Yep, Ted Baker is making these invader-inspired drawers, perfect for keeping your junk in check.

They’re available from Asos.com for £18 (about $35 USD - that’s some pricey underwear!) I guess we now know the right answer to the “boxers or briefs?” debate.

[via Wonderland]

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Psssst. Do you remember how you had to walk a mile to school in the snow with no shoes on to use the mainframe? Ever fall asleep in class learning dbase III? Do you sometimes miss the boop bop beep bop wheeeeeee wailing of the modem?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you just might like this fun vinyl and foam soft sector coaster set from the clever folks over at supermandolini.

You can’t write protect anything to these disks, but you don’t need to worry about spilling a drink on them either (bonus).

Purchase a set of six for €27.00 (about US $40) at supermandolini.

Can’t get enough of the sound of your own voice? This desktop bird plugs into your PC and parrots back what it hears.

The electronic parrot offers up an array of random phrases, plucked from the words it overhears, all the while gesticulating its mechanical wings. Just plug Polly into your computer’s USB port, and your fine feathered friend will get to yackin’ and flappin’ toot sweet. You can grab these birds from Thumbs Up UK for £19.99 (appx. $39 USD).

I’d love to get my hands on a bunch of these to recreate Disney’s Tiki Room in my cubicle.

Damn, now I can’t get that song out of my head.

Two of my favorite pastimes, waffles and Tetris have joined forces in this, my favorite photo of the week.

I’m guessing that you could slow down those rapidly descending breakfast blocks with just a little butter and maple syrup. And there’s nothing quite like a little paper napkin technology for keeping score.

[via pfrhanzilicious on Flickr]

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Seems like a day doesn’t go by when some new bit of USB wackiness finds its way to my computer. Today’s find: this desktop boxer that connects to your USB port.

The pint-sized prizefighter is more sophisticated than your average USB gizmo, letting you throw punches using your computer keyboard. The left and right arrows control the fists, while the up and down arrows rotate the turntable. An on-screen score card keeps track of how many punches you land successfully.

The USB Boxer is available from I Want One of Those for £29.95 (appx. $59 USD). That’s not exactly cheap, but according to the marketing collateral, it’s “The most advanced USB toy of 2008″, so maybe that’s worth extra.

If you think that mankind continues to evolve, perhaps you’re wrong. According to this clever video game T-shirt, we all stopped evolving somewhere back in the mid-1980s, parked in front of a Missile Command cabinet.

Depicting the gradual metamophosis from ape to human to arcade addict, this shirt doesn’t take into account the gradual decline from the upright position of Homo Erectus in the arcade to today’s Homo Potatus parked on the couch in front of the Xbox 360.

Regardless of its lack of anthropological accuracy, the shirt makes for a nice retro-chic fashion statement, right down to the familiar bitmapped “INSERT COIN” type. The Evolution of Man T-shirt is available from GameAsylum for $19.88.

[via Fashionably Geek]

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For those of you out there who never played the 1989 Japanese game Zero Wing, “All your base are belong to us” might not mean anything (not like it made much sense even if you did play it).

Then again, the awesomely bad Engrish phrase has permeated geek culture for quite some time now, so if you’re not familiar with it by now, you’ve been living under a rock for the last 7 years. Now you can use the phrase to stake your claim on anything that’ll hold ink with this fun rubber stamp.

Designed with an appropriately retro bitmap typeface, the stamp was created by Etsy artist Terbearco, hidden between the artist’s stamps of bunny rabbits and birdies. (Also found in the artist’s collection, the F.U. stamp, perfect for making those cute animals profane).

The AYB stamp measures about 3″ x .5″ and costs just $6.99. So if you’re ready to make your mark on every piece of paper in the office, you can grab one here.

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