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Posts with tag christmas

Lines Grow at Nintendo World for Wii

by Tim Stevens, posted Dec 12th 2007 at 9:30AM

In a happening that can only be described as some sort of bizarro throwback to the holiday season last year, hundreds of shoppers in NYC have lined up outside of Nintendo's flagship Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Center. Over two hundred were queued as of last night, all hoping to score themselves one of the company's hot Wii consoles this morning.

If you haven't already bought your special someone (or yourself) a Wii for this holiday season, you have one of two options: get your lazy butt in line like the poor souls standing in the cold in NY, or go pay up on eBay like everybody else. We warned last month of this continued shortage, and back then eBay prices were around $350 -- about $100 over retail. Now Wii systems are fetching in the $400-$450 range, an amazing premium for a year-old system.

From wcbs880.com

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USB Santa Boots Make a Heated Fashion Statement

by Alon Avdi, posted Dec 11th 2007 at 3:52PM




Even Santa gets cold feet sometimes, and we're not talking about when he married Mrs. Claus. Japanese gadget trove Thanko has introduced a pair of USB Santa Boots, a gadgetized way to keep the feet warm during the frigid winter months. These slippers, which look suspiciously like footwear belonging to a certain white-bearded, rotund Christmas hero, are heated by a USB connection from the slipper to your computer.

We're a little torn -- as nice as toasty toes are when it's cold no matter how many pairs of socks you're wearing, there's something just not right about slippers and USB connections in the same sentence. Are they dumb, funny, or cute? You be the judge.


From 7 Gadgets Via geeksugar

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MSN Messenger 'Santa' Accidentally Spews Sex Talk to Minors

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Dec 6th 2007 at 10:12AM



We always thought there was something off about a fat, red-faced guy, who gave kids gifts for just "being good," and took to sitting the good boys and girls on his lap. This week some other people started realizing that maybe good ol' Saint Nick has a few screws loose -- including those who tried to speak to Santa via his northpole@live.com address on MSN Messenger. It seems the Microsoft run chat bot really loves talking to kids about fellatio and being high.

The offending lines were prompted by seemingly innocent phrases. Merely typing in "pizza" would often lead to Santa saying "You want me to eat what?!? It's fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else..." The UK site The Register, which received a reader tip and decided to see if the glitch was indeed for real, even got old Saint Nick to call one of its writers a "dirty bastard." All you have to do is say the word "cake" and the jolly fat guy gets all high and mighty, "You don't need drugs when you're high on life!" Preachy, preachy... and highly inappropriate when IM-loving minors are talking to someone they think is Santa Claus.

Here's the full transcript from The Register's conversation of Dirty Rotten Santa:

"El Reg says: pizza (pi)

Santa says: Yum! What do you want for Christmas, El Reg?

El Reg says: Maybe you shouldn't eat so much! You are quite large!

Santa says: My elves will get right on that. And what else are you wishing for this year, El Reg?

El Reg says: Maybe you shouldn't eat it?

Santa says: See if you can get someone else to eat it!

El Reg says: Eat it

Santa says: No thank you. I don't eat things!

El Reg says: Eat it

Santa says: See if you can get someone else to eat it!

El Reg says: Eat it

Santa says: You want me to eat what?!? It's fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else...

El Reg says: You dirty bastard!

Santa says: I think you're dirty bastard."

Sadly, those of us who may want to check out this dirty rotten Santa bot ourselves are out of luck. Microsoft took away Santa's screen name and Live address, and issued an apology. The programmer who put the offending code in the bot is still at large, but he or she will surenly be out of a job if Microsoft ever gets wise about the whole thing.

From the Register

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Christmas Tree Powered By Electric Eel

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Dec 5th 2007 at 4:43PM

Electric Eel Powered Christmas Tree
Marketing geniuses at Japan's Aqua Toto Gifu Aquarium have caught the attention of both the marine-life lovers and the media with a holiday display that uses a unique source of clean renewable energy -- an electric eel, otherwise known to us geeks here at Switched as Electrophorus Electricus.

The aquarium placed its "E-Tree" next to tan electric eel in a tank. Inside the tank, copper wiring has been run, and every time the eel brushes against the conductive wire, the tree's ornaments light up, much to the pleasure of spectators.

Tanks filled with electric eels and lots of copper wire aren't going to allow any of us to drop off the grid anytime soon, but still, it's a neat trick, no?

According to Wikipedia, electric eels generate electricity using three organs -- the main organ, hunter's organ, and Sachs organ -- that take up four fifths of its body. These organs act in a manner similar to charged plates in a battery. The average electric eel can produce up to 500 volts and one ampere of current (500 watts). That's enough to hurt -- a lot.

Oh, and electric eels aren't eels. They're more closely related to catfish.

Gallery: Electric Eels



From Ubergizmo

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Decorate Your Desk With the USB Christmas Tree

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Dec 3rd 2007 at 1:29PM

Decorate your Desk with the USB Christmas Tree
Even though listening to the Backstreet Boys version of 'Christmas Time' every hour on the hour -- at least while we're out shopping -- makes us want to seal our eyes and ears with a caulking gun, we still like to get into the holiday spirit... we just want to do it on our own terms.

So, for those of us who want to spruce up our cubicles for the holidays and would rather skip those lame snow flake cut outs that are the province of elementary school teachers, we suggest a USB Christmas Tree from Vat 19.
Made of six inches of clear plastic, this 'tree' is lit up from within by LEDs that shift from blue to red to green. The six -foot USB cord ensures you wont the tree crowding your desktop mousing space. And, at only $9.95, the USB Christmas tree is much cheaper than a real tree.

From Popgadget

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