So it is a Friday afternoon, and you just can’t wait for work to finish so that you can go home and unwind, waiting for Croatia to bundle fighters Turkey out of the Euro 2008 tournament before you see the Dutch dismantle the Russians. In order to pass some time at the office, why not pick up this $70 USB Digital Microscope? Powered by your computer’s USB port, you will be able to use it to check on just how much bacteria there is around your desk, perform a quick scalp check on your colleague’s head while role-playing as Jane Goodall. It is capable of magnification from 10x up to 200x, so I’ll let your imagination run wild on what exactly you would like to see.

While a 52 inch version of Westinghouse’s QUAD HD LCD monitor has been available to select companies in need of high-resolution displays for a while, a new version is now available to anyone willing to shell out $50,000. The new model, dubbed the D56QX1, has been bumped to 56 inches in size and like its predecessor features a resolution of 3840×2160. That’s 8.3 million pixels, compared to 2.1 million for boring old 1080p HD. The D56QX1 also features a 1200:1 contrast ratio, 500 nits brightness, a 6.5ms response time and compatibility with a wide variety of dual-link DVI video cards from ATI and Nvidia. Just make sure your desk can support 108lbs of monitor before you make the investment.
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Get on with the program with Sanyo’s new CE52SR1 waterproof LCD monitor. At long last, you will be able to do some work done even if you’re taking a bath, but then again make sure your computer is at least waterproof - unfortunately that doesn’t exist yet without having to purchase another Ziplock waterproof bag or something. The Sanyo CE52SR1 isn’t meant for home use though, as it targets outdoor applications for advertising and display, featuring anti-reflective and tamper-proof glass.
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Given how many songs are ‘illegally’ downloaded from the internet every day, it’s kind of hard to claim you’re a rebel when so many other people are doing exactly the same thing. And even though this clock radio from Intempo ’steals’ music it in a slightly different way, I still don’t think it deserves the ‘Rebel’ moniker. Instead of grabbing music online, the Rebel records the most-played tracks from any FM station and then converts them to MP3 files which can be offloaded to a memory card or USB flash drive. It does seem to be a slightly easier way to discover new music, as long as you’re happy with the quality of FM radio, which is far from CD quality. The Rebel also automatically removes DJ banter and commercials from the recordings, though I have my doubts as to how effective it is given that DJs will usually talk through the entire intro of a song.
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If you’ve got some dough to drop and are uber-fanatical about having that perfect audio tuning in your media room, Audyssey Labs has a product you might want to check out. It is called the Audyssey Sound Equalizer and you’ll find it pricing for around $5,000.

The Audyssey Sound Equalizer uses the company’s MultEQ XT room correction technology and a special PC application to “capture up to 32 points of acoustical information throughout a listening area. Based on these measurements, MultEQ Pro automatically calculates an equalization solution that corrects for time and frequency response problems in the listening area, creating a fully automated surround system setup.”
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Is this the best Sprint and Samsung phone ever? Many of us think so. And it just got better. Thanks to the unveiling of the iPhone 3G with it’s $199 price tag, Sprint rethought a few things.

Like offering an extra $100 mail-in rebate which levels the playing field with AT&T. Apparently, current customers can buy the phone without renewing their 2-year contract, which is good news for those who want to switch carriers.
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