F-Default

Here in America, we use paper to pay for things—maybe plastic if we’re lucky. But over in Japan, wireless RFID is gradually becoming the rage. And this NEC robot supports the trend of paying for something without feeling like you’re actually paying for something.

Using the robot is easy enough. You push the touchscreen on its chest to select, say, tickets for an amusement park. Then you wave your FeliCa-enabled wallet phone (RFID device) over the robot’s right hand to, as we can only assume, pay for your tickets and deactivate the robot’s deadly laser security system.

Apparently the system could also incorporate facial recognition to identify frequent visitors, or recommend services based upon their age/gender. And while we know that this terminal is just a kiosk shaped like a robot, we can’t help but to admire the sincere technoanthropomorphism. [IT Media via Pink Tentacle]

Source: This Robot Wants Your Money, Jerks [Robots]

Remember Hypercolor shirts? The heat-sensitive pigment made for an interesting gimmick—but the whole color-changing effect was ruined after a few runs in the wash. I would expect the same thing to happen with these “please touch” lambskin pillows—except this time you would be out $160. Do people really put their pillows in the washing machine anyway? [Coliseum Shop via Outblush via Geekologie]

Source: Please Touch Pillow Brings Dreams In Vivid Hypercolor [Hypercolor Pillows]

You can’t wait for the movie. You have the t-shirts, the tricorder replica, the klingon doctorate, your room looks like the Enterprise’s bridge, your face has morphed already into a sexy Vulcanian, and you have been writing your first Star Trek novel for years now. But do you have these plates for your electrical wall thingies? Yeah. That’s what I thought. Go get the three of them for only $18. My favorite by far is the power plug plate:

And yes, it’s TNG and not the original series, but unless you are one of those people who actually have William Shatner albums in their iPod, these will do. [Think Geek]

Source: Star Trek Plate Covers Won't Make Your Lights Turn On Any Faster [Star Trek]

We learned about the Eternity, or A867 as it’s also known only last week, and now over at BGR they’ve got hold of more leaked info. It’s a slender full-touchscreen 3G cellphone, with GPS, AT&T mobile TV support. But it’s got just a 3-megapixel camera instead of the rumored 5-megapixel. It uses the Touchwiz UI, which lets you send SMSs in landscape mode, and it looks like it’ll be just $99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, competing it nicely with the iPhone—though it’s not quite so capable. It’s also due in stores very “soon,” although it’s passed an earlier-rumored November 4th launch date. [BGR]

Source: Samsung A867 Eternity Touchscreen Phone Leaks Out, $99 On AT&T [Cellphones]

I have no idea what a Feng Shui compass is supposed to do (even after reading that explanation), but I do know that this is the world’s first electronic Feng Shui compass—and that’s automatically awesome. Did the crazy people who invented Feng Shui 4,000 years ago imagine that their imaginary system of furniture placement and directional sitting would be adopted into something so…electronic? Would they be ashamed? Proud? Am I going to get killed like Bruce Lee for making fun of Feng Shui? Watch the video to find out. [Fortune Compass]

newVideoPlayer(”/FortuneCompass_Gizmodo.flv”, 475, 286,”");

Source: This is the World's First Electronic Feng Shui Compass [Fortune Compass]