Chris McGonigal

Nook Simple Touch seeing price drop to $99, touts 'no annoying ads' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You know what? It sucks to be undead. People are always trying to bash your skull in. You're hungry for brains, but can't move fast enough to catch things with brains. You're falling apart (literally). Ace Hardware understands you.

A very clever marketing campaign for the Westlake Ace Hardware in Lenexa, Kansas has dedicated an entire sub-section of their website for zombie-related items. There are items and tips for humans to protect themselves against zombies (pick axes, chainsaws, locks) and there are tools for zombies to repair their rapidly decaying bodies (duct tape, caulk, bolts).

Most of the recommended items are just things you want to have around the house anyway, but should some horrid virus sweep across the world and prove Harold Camping not-crazy, then these items would be really useful. How do I not already own a nail gun? What is wrong with me? [Westlake Ace Hardware via Laughing Squid]

From 9to5Toys.com:

Walmart today lists the iPad 2 in all sizes and varieties with a “Starter Accesory” which include previous generation Smart Covers or USB all charges (or $50 iTunes gift cards when ordered and picked up site-to-store).

If your shopping tastes take you to Target, you can get a $40 Target gift card with iPad 2 purchase (or $450 iPad 1 32GB 3G/GPS).  They also have various other iTunes/Apple device offers via circular, below:

Related articles

• 15% off Apple iTunes Gift Cards: $15 for $13 + free shipping, more (9to5toys.com)
• 15% off Apple iTunes Gift Cards: $85 for $100 + free shipping, more (9to5toys.com)
• 15% off Apple iTunes Gift Cards at Best Buy (9to5mac.com)
• 15 percent off Apple iTunes Gift Cards: $85 for $100 + free shipping, more (9to5mac.com)
• HHI Texture Back Skin Protector for iPad 2 w/ $2 HHI credit for $3 + $3 s&h (9to5toys.com)
• 15% off Apple iTunes Gift Cards: $15 for $13 + free shipping, more (9to5toys.com)
• HHI Re-Elegant Super Slim Case for iPad 2 w/ $2 credit for $8 + $3 s&h (9to5toys.com)
• HandHeldItems: Up to 70% off select iPad 2 cases + 20% off coupon, $2 credit (9to5toys.com)
• Luxury Convertible Flip Case For Apple iPad 2 w/$2 HHI credit for $14 + $3 s&h (9to5toys.com)

Forget tossing down the sawbucks at Guitar Center, you can make your own fog machine at home for just $5 with stuff you get from the store. Nope, there's no dry ice, smarty pants. This video shows you how to do it.

Basically, you add 1 part food grade glycerine from the local supermarket to 3 parts water. That solution is your "fog juice."

Then, cut off top of a 1 liter soda bottle into an aluminum basket. Using masking tape to seal the rim so now smoke escapes the sides.

Fill the apparatus with your solution and place over a heat source. The concoction will start smoking up in no time. When it needs a reboost, just pour a bit more of your "homebrew" in the top of the bottle.

DIY Halloween, holla! 'Cause there's nothing spookier than being broke.

[via BoingBoing]

After an autistic girl and her service dog were wrongly kicked out of a discount clothing store owned by TJ Maxx, the district manager profusely apologized and gave them a $25 gift card to pick out anything she liked. When she returned and tried to use the gift card, store staff kicked her out for having a service dog again. Looks like someone didn't get the memo.

Three months after the nine-year-old girl, Emily, was kicked out of "Winners," a chain owned by TJ Maxx, she and her mother came back to the store to pick out something nice using the gift card the district manager gave her.

"We were asked to leave the store," Emily's mother told CBC News. "My child's service dog was not permitted in their establishment anywhere. And if that's true, then that includes my child because there is no separation between the two of them."

"I was disappointed that I didn't get anything from the store, even my dress that my mom picked out nicely for me," Emily told CBC News.

The mother said she didn't think the store's apology was sincere because while the manager had made the perfect "putting out of the fire" gesture, the store hadn't bothered to educate their staff on the proper protocol.

Parent company TJ Maxx said that it's standard policy for service dogs to be allowed in stores. "We are looking into the particulars regarding this customer's experience and will reach out to her directly, as well as take whatever actions we believe are appropriate," Doreen Thompson, a TJX spokeswoman told CBC News.

Edmonton store bars girl's service dog twice [CBCNews] (Thanks to Neil!)

January Jones begins to malfunction on set after highly skilled hackers broke into and dismantled the robotic starlet's operating system.

EL SEGUNDO, CA—Satellite broadcast provider DirecTV has been inundated with new subscribers following Monday's introduction of NHL ShutOut, a special new sports entertainment package that allows customers to miss 100 percent of National Hockey Leagu...

Amazon's gift card restriction patent: puts some thought in your otherwise thoughtless present originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Escort's SmartCord Live brings radar detection, KRS-One to your smartphone (video)

Escort's SmartCord Live brings radar detection, KRS-One to your smartphone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MercuryNews was told by the San Jose Police that using Siri while driving is illegal. The San Jose Police Luitenant said that the actual act of talking to Siri isn’t illegal, but it’s the part when you use you’re hands to navigate through its functionality when things start getting setup for a nice ticket.

“It’s legal to talk to Siri, as long as the phone’s not in your hand,” says San Jose police Lt. Chris Monahan. “But if you have to push the phone to activate her, or if you ask for directions and she puts them up on her screen for you to read, then California’s hands-free law says your’re breaking the law.”

Where it gets murky is that the iPhone is also a GPS device and it isn’t illegal to use your fingers to use GPS devices, especially one that is mounted to your dashboard. Let’s just say: keep it safe.

Americans are occupying more than Wall Street, and some cops are clamping down way harder than those in Manhattan. In Oakland, riot police attacked with tear gas, rubber bullets, and, most vividly—flash bangs. Meet the M84 stun grenade.

The M84 is the Army's friend. You've probably played with a virtual one in games like Call of Duty before kicking down a door and shooting everyone. They're perfect for temporarily blinding and deafening anyone close by, leaving them vulnerable to, well, anything. Each 2/3 pound grenade is stuffed with an pyrotechnic metal-oxidant mix of magnesium and ammonium that creates a thunderous boom (about as powerful as a jet engine) and bright flash (equivalent to that of a spotlight). Think of it as someone shining a flashlight in your face and yelling in your ear. Only much worse. And that's why riot cops love them—a crowd, disoriented as hell by a grenade, is a lot easier to disperse and cuff.

However, there are rules governing the use of weapons like the M84—or at least there are supposed to be. In Oakland, straight from their official Crowd Management/ Crowd Control Policy document, cops can't just go around chucking flash bangs willy nilly:

The use of sound and light diversionary/distraction devices presents a risk of permanent loss of hearing or serious bodily injury from shrapnel. Said devices shall be deployed to explode at a safe distance from the crowd to minimize the risk of personal injury and while moving the crowd in the direction that will accomplish the policing objective

That's sure not what it looks like in the video above. [GlobalSecurity and MotherJones]

Motorola Droid 4 exposed to our wandering eyes, comes with LTE in tow? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We'd like to clarify that these products do not include the next version of Google TV software. The boxes were prematurely updated with the stickers in anticipation of the next release of the Google TV software, which, once available, will be a free and automatic update pushed to all Logitech Revue boxes that are installed and connected to the Internet.

Logitech Revue on sale promising 'new & improved' Google TV with Android 3.1, Market (Update: Logitech responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Last week, we posted this now-infamous photo of Kirk Cameron’s birthday party. It was originally posted on Twitter by Christian Vlogger Lane Chapman, who didn’t provide much context. Naturally, we had to invent our own. Like that Kirk was celebrating his 41st birthday with 42 inches of Subway sandwiches (the extra inch represents “and many more”). Or that poor Belinda back there had to stand outside as punishment for accidentally humming a Fleetwood Mac song. (“Secular music is a sin, Belinda! Stay outside and think about what you’ve done!”).

Well now, some people who actually attended the birthday party have come forward to say that despite what the picture looks like, it was actually super fun and everyone came. Chapman, the original poster, wrote:

I posted the pic to wish Kirk happy birthday. Much of the media made their own conclusions which I do not share. Happy birthday, Kirk!

Meanwhile, some folks at Yahoo spoke to some others attendees to get the full story:

Cameron, who is now pursuing a new television career as a Christian evangelist and co-host of an evangelical show called “The Way of the Master,” spent his birthday at Living Waters Ministry in Bellflower, Calif. The ministry’s staff threw him a small party, and ordered from Subway. Lane Chaplin, a student at nearby Trinity Law School and a guest at the party, snapped a photo of Cameron blowing out the candles on a cake in Living Waters’ rather sparse conference room.

According to a person at the party who spoke to The Cutline, there were 10-15 people behind the camera when the photo of Cameron was taken. [Yahoo/Cutline]

Oh right, our bad. A millionaire had his 41st birthday party catered with five-dollar sandwiches. It would be silly of us to imply that that wouldn’t be totally awesome. Though if Kirk Cameron actually fed those 15 people with just four sandwiches… well, he may not be on Jesus’s level yet, but you have to admit, it’s still pretty impressive.

Shut the f*ck up, Belinda! No sandwich for sinners!

Aw, but zesty Hawaiian is my favorite. ;-(

(*forever alone*)

Clothing retailer H&M recently announced a partnership with Trish Summerville, the costume designer who worked on David Fincher’s English version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, to produce a clothing line based on Dragon Tattoo heroine Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara in the film). Because nothing says chic like bleached eyebrows and a history of rape.

H&M have collaborated with Trish Summerville, the revered costume designer who worked on the English film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , to add an urban, edgy twist to 30 pieces, all with the unmistakeable essence of Lisbeth Salander.

Judging by the picture, this appears to be one of the rare occasions when you’ll be able to read “urban” as a corporate adjective and it won’t be code for “for black people.”

Battered jeans, cropped leather jackets and hoodies make up the uniform of the private detective, who is played by breakout American actress Rooney Mara. “We took her [Salander's] basic pieces that we used throughout the film and did a little more fashionable version for H&M,” explains Summerville, who scoured resale shops in Sweden – where the film is set – for much of the character’s wardrobe.
Accessories including knitted snoods, backpacks and tribal earrings also feature alongside roughed-up leather boots and platform wedges.

What the f*ck is a “snood?” (*googles*) A knitted head scarf? Huh. Looks like it’d make a great hippie hairnet, but somehow I doubt the person wearing it will be doing much cooking.

The collection will be stocked under the retailer’s Divided range and will debut exclusively at Colette in Paris on November 28. On December 14, the range will then be go on sale in 180 selected stores H&M stores worldwide and online. [via the UK Telegraph]

Eh, they look mostly like your basic scummy, sh*tty unflattering asexual hipster clothes (smells like cloves right out of the box!). I just hope the Twilight costume designer doesn’t seen this and start getting ideas. “This fall, inspired by Kellen Lutz… It’s the ‘Mega-Huge Gaywad Collection,’ new from Hot Topic.”

Nature Valley creating Street View-style tour of National Parks, chews through countless granola bars to do so originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Obama administration has announced two initiatives to lower student loan payments for some borrowers. One, an update to the existing income-based repayment program, will cap loan payments at 10% of discretionary income for certain borrowers. The other proposal will let some borrowers merge older student loans with newer ones.

The current income-based repayment program caps loan payments at 15% of discretionary income for borrowers who meet certain income and debt criteria. A law passed in 2010 will lower that to 10% for new borrowers starting in 2014.

Under the administration's plan, borrowers whose first federal student loan is from 2008 or later, and who also have at least one loan from 2012 or later, will be able to apply for income-based repayment plans with a 10% cap beginning in 2012. According to the administration, the lower cap could reduce payments for more than 1.6 million borrowers.

The plan will also allow some borrowers who've made regular payments to be eligible for loan forgiveness on the balance of their debt after 20 years; currently, debt forgiveness kicks in after 25 years.

The White House's loan consolidation plan will allow some borrowers who have both newer Direct Loans and older Federal Family Education Loans to consolidate the loans into a single Direct Loan, with an interest rate reduction of up to 0.5%. The administration estimates that 6 million borrowers will be eligible for the consolidation program.

Help Americans Manage Student Loan Debt [White House Fact Sheet]
Income-Based Repayment Plan [Department of Education]

Heinz didn't get the message that it's unfashionable to cater to the 1% crowd. They're coming out with a 58th variety of ketchup. A kind for fancypants. It's more "upscale" because it uses balsamic vinegar instead of white wine vinegar.

At $2.49 a bottle, the ketchup, "Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended with Balsamic Vinegar," will sell for a buck more than regular ketchup. That's a glass bottle, by the way. In addition to the black label, Heinz is only selling them inside these kind of containers in order to demarcate its luxury.

"We think households who already use Heinz ketchup will use this in addition," Noel Geoffroy, the vice president for United States retail brands at H. J. Heinz, told NYT. She said that the tang of the balsamic "does a nice job of adding a sophisticated spin."

Photographs of the new ketchup suggest that it pairs well with "Haute Dog," "Hamburgeur," and "French Frites."

Initially the new "limited edition" ketchup will only be sold through the company's Facebook page until December, when it will stroll into stores and be available there through March. After that they'll evaluate as to whether sales are strong enough to make this ketchup a permanent fixture on the shelves.

Will I need to pop my pinky out when I pour this ketchup?

Ketchup Moves Upmarket, With a Balsamic Tinge