Pat Morita, best known for portraying Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid series, passed away in 2005. And somewhere, in heaven, he's still catching flies with chopsticks. And somewhere, here on earth (Las Vegas, Nevada), his widow is selling his personal effects on eBay. This happens to be a Viking pipe puffed on by Mr. Miyagi himself -- I'm bidding!

YOU ARE BIDDING ON A GREAT PIECE FROM THE ESTATE OF LATE ACTOR PAT MORITA. I AM THE WIDOW AND TRUSTEE OF HIS ESTATE. I HAVE BEEN OFFERING FILM MEMORABILIA. AFTER MANY REQUESTS TO LIST SOME OF HIS PERSONAL EFFECTS I HAVE BEEN DOING SO RECENTLY. OFFERED HERE IS A GENUINE MEERSCHAUM SMOKING PIPE WITH THE ORIGNAL FELT LINED CASE. THE PIPE WAS USED VERY LITTLE BY MR. MORITA. I PURCHASED IT AS A GIFT TO HIM FOR HIS BIRTHDAY ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO. HE ALWAYS USED TO SAY "THIS IS TOO GOOD TO BE USED" BUT HE ENJOYED IT NEVER THE LESS.

Haha, "enjoyed it never the less" is right. She's talking about that reefer. You know, marijuana. And, in honor of Mr. Miyagi, I am buying this pipe, getting high, and waxing my car. Who's with me? Okay good, you bring the weed and elbow grease. eBay Auction and Mr. Miyagi's other auctions Thanks to Kyle, who allegedly owns Mr. Miyagi's headband. I'll fight you for it!

NBS' E. V. A. and Butterfly speaker systems are freakishly awesome and horrifying all at the same time, especially with those pointed edges. Cause, really, I thought it was a bench.

The speakers aren't obvious: the woofer faces the floor, and the apertures are on the side. All the sound reaches the listener indirectly. The speakers range from $25,000 to a whopping $200,000 if you have the money to do a good deed and stimulate the economy, all by yourself.

galleryPost('evaspeakers', 2, '');

[NBS Electronics via Born Rich]

Well, it looks like a few pesky patent issues weren't enough to keep CSR, mostly known for its Bluetooth chips, from snapping up omnipresent GPS chipmaker SiRF, with the two companies today announcing that they're set to fully combine their companies into one giant chipmaking operation. Under the all-share transaction valued at some $132.7 million, SiRF shareholders will get 27 percent of the newly formed company, to be known as CSR, while two SiRF directors will also get seats on the CSR board. Any further details are a bit hard to come by but, as CNET's Business Tech points out, CSR has increasingly been focusing on all-in-one solutions combining Bluetooth, WiFi, and whatnot, so it would stand to reason that SiRF's GPS know-how could be added to the mix.

Filed under: GPS, Wireless

CSR gobbles up GPS chipmaker SiRF originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Since CGI has rendered stop-motion filmmaking all but obsolete, it's nice to see someone doing something fresh with the format. In this case, John Douglas Powers has created a mini-masterpiece using various machinery.

In the short, entitled "The Collector," a helping hand, in a very wall-e-esque manner, roams the landscape in search of various objects it can catalog and add to it's sizable stash. Somehow this leads to a Peacock feather sprouting from a hole once occupied by a screw, and is subsequently collected in a glass tube.

Not sure what that has to do with anything, but I cant complain, seeing as the style kinda reminds me of the early Gumby cartoons I hold near and dear to my heart...but without the clay and all. [John Douglas Powers via Make]

If you are looking to spice up your PC case, the guys at Mashie Design have put together a simple set of instructions on how to deck it out in an asteroid motif.

All that is needed is some Styrofoam, Claycrete, and some paint to achieve a convincing texture that looks like it came straight out of space (or straight out of the stone age). [Mashie Design via Unplgged via Gearlog]

For those out there who obsess about keeping the recycling separate from the normal trash, your chariot has arrived.

The All-In-One recycling center has an 8-gallon bin for cans and bottles and a 5-gallon bin for newspaper and junkmail. There's a foot-activated can crusher that automatically drops the compressed rubbish into the bin, and a carbon filter in the lid to contain odors. In addition, the front of the unit has an LCD screen which reminds you what day the recycling comes.

But the price? An overblown $250 dollars. My inefficient and inadequate recycling habits will have to do for now. [Brookstone and Williams-Sonoma via Red Ferret via BB Gadgets]

How many versions of Windows 7 can a netbook run? Three, and possibly more, according to HP's Kyle Thornton, who recently attempted to "clarify" the situation in an interview with Computerworld. Those include in the main Professional and Home Premium editions, as well as the low-end Starter edition which, among other things, is limited to running no more than three applications at a time. According to Thornton, HP has also been testing Windows 7 Ultimate on its Mini netbook line, although it apparently isn't saying if it actually intends to offer it on future netbooks or not. But that's not all. Thornton also says that HP "hopes" that it'll be able to continue to offer both Windows XP and Vista Business on its business-oriented netbooks even after Windows 7 ships... and ships, and ships.

Filed under: Laptops

HP netbooks likely to run "at least" three versions of Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The word "awesome" is not used very often to describe a water filter, but the description is apt when referring to the Rehydr8 concept.

Apparently, the filter would use the magic of thermoacoustic refrigeration—a process that relies on sound waves and an environmentally safe gas like helium to generate cooling. Furthermore, each bottle features a built-in, powerless thermometer to display the temperature and ensure that you are getting a perfectly chilled container of water.

Is it an absurdly eco-friendly and elaborate way to replicate what could be done cheaply with a simple pitcher filter and some cubes of ice? Yes, yes it is. But it sure looks like the kind of water cooler that I would like to gossip around at work. [Yanko via Ubergizmo]

The ModBook—a tablet MacBook that you can use a stylus on—is cool, but have you ever wondered how it was made? Wonder no more. [ModBook]

This video has swearing, but its newsworthiness demands that we f*cking post it anyway.

Incidentally, we heard a rumor that certain employees of a certain organization that may... or may not... be known for testing products think this video is awesome.

[ONN]