Take the noise (and fun) out of karaoke with Urusakunai Kara OK!

Picture the scene: you’re due to perform at the big sing-off tonight, and you desperately need to do some warming up. But oh no! Your neighbours are at home and have taken out an ASBO on your noisy antics. What do you do?

Well, Urusakunai Kara OK! to the rescue! This handy little microphone plugs straight into the back of your Nintendo Wii and allows you to sing along to your heart’s content without bothering your neighbours. With the attached plastic sing-tube (for want of a better description), you can belt out “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for only your Wii (and not your neighbours) to judge you.

The device is washable, which is a relief for anyone who has to share your karaoke equipment. Personally I think I’ll hold out for the giant Perspex Rock Band Drum box.

Urusakunai Karao OK! (via Kotaku)

Happy Square Root day!

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Apple’s product release earlier seemed to happen at exactly 13:37GMT, which I’ve always had in my head as l33t-o’clock. I wondered briefly if that was intentional on Apple’s behalf, and then put the thought aside after remembering that Apple probably doesn’t run on GMT.

That disappointment was shortlived as various tweeters starting noting that it was Square Root day. Square Root Day occurs just nine times each century, and is when the day and the month are the same number, and when multiplied together make up the last two digits of the year?

So basically, today – 3/3/09 is like saying 3 * 3 = 9. The first of the century was the 1st Jan 2001, and then there was the 2nd Feb 2004. Before that, it’d been 20 years since 9th September 1981. After today, the next square root day will be the 4th April 2016.

People celebrating the occasion are expected tonight to carve square root signs into fruit and vegetables and burn them in a massive pyre. I’ll be taking part. See you in Hyde Park at 10pm, yeah? We won’t let some rubbish drizzle dampen our mathematical spirits!

Cod eats phone, fisherman catches cod, phone returned to owner

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Andrew Cheatle is a lucky chap. He lost his phone on a beach a couple of weeks back and assumed it’d been lost at sea. On a shopping trip to replace the handset, however, his girlfriend’s phone rang. She handed it to him, saying it was some guy going on about a cod.

On the end of the line was fisherman Glen Kerley. He’d found a handset in the belly of a cod, and figured he’d try and return it to its owner. After going to meet him, he was reunited with his (rather battered) handset, and after it dried out, he was amazed to find it worked perfectly.

So what was the handset that survived a week in a fish? I wasn’t sure, so I consulted the masses on Twitter. The wonderful @lovelychaos was first with the answer – it’s a Nokia 1600 – a handset designed for use in developing countries. Well, I guess it’s proved its worth!

The smartshoe, shoephone, mobileshoe – it's a phone in your shoe, ok?

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Here’s something I doubt you’ll see at MWC and probably for a very good reason. There’s not many people who enjoy dropping their phone on the floor ,so any footwear company would be hard pressed to sell the idea of walking on it for several miles a day.

However, a chap by the names of mikeyberman has put together a guide on Instructables of how to make the perfect device for getting your phone into places you shouldn’t…

Google Earth puts Valentine's holiday island firmly on the map

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It all smells rather of some large publicity stunt, in fact, it is a large publicity stunt, of which I’m now a part, but what the hell – Google Earth has made it very clear to the world that the island of Galesnjak off the coast of Croatia is shaped a lot like a heart – or at least a love heart anyway.

The owner of the island, Vlado Juresko, had always had an idea about the dimensions of his 130,000 square yard piece of uninhabited real estate but only got the full picture once inundated with booking requests…

eBay Nutcase of the Week: The alleged last bag of Woolworths Pic 'N' Mix can be yours

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If you missed out on the thrilling, frenzied, staff-assaulting, dignity-sapping, blatant and aggressive looting of the once-proud Woolworths brand over Christmas and the New Year, there’s still time to get yourself a bit of Woolies history.

Enterprising store manager Ed Adams, of the Petts Wood branch in Orpington, London, decided to nick/liberate the last remaining scraps from his branch’s Pic ‘N’ Mix display counter – an 800g selection of “delicious nostalgia” he’s now put up for sale on eBay…

Niche of the week: ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com

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This week’s bizarre corner of the web is the This is why you’re fat web site.

Subtitled “where dreams become heart attacks” it showcases “deliciously gross food” in all its saturated, multicoloured glory.

Savour if you will the “deep fried peanut butter-covered brownie wrapped in cookie dough”, “the garbage plate”, “The Romellete”, “The Meat Ship”, “hot beef sundae”, “the bacon explosion” and “baconnaise – everything should taste like bacon”.

The Zoom Bicycles Jet Stealth 80cc Bicycle Engine Kit, for weak-limbed environmentalists

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If you’ve ever been caught out on your bike, riding into the wind, up a slight hill, almost in tears at how hard it is and WISHING with all your might that someone would invent a little engine to help you out at times like this, you’re in luck – here’s a little engine to help you out at times like that.

The Zoom Bicycles DIY engine enhancement kits come with anything from a 49cc to an 80cc engine to pop onto your bike yourself and eliminate all that tiresome pedalling, but the catch is the weight – the motor adds around 19lbs (8.6 kilos to you Euro-people) to the weight of your bike…

Woman filing for divorce after husband caught "having it off with another man in a dungeon" in Second Life

The husband in question is John Best, 34, who, if you ever believe what the News of the World says, was using his laptop in bed – while his wife was asleep – to indulge in a bit of M2M action in Second Life.

He had a great excuse for doing it. He said “it wasn’t real life” which, to be fair, is 100% correct. Here’s the NotW’s superb visual representation of the story…

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“I couldn’t sleep a wink the rest of the night wondering whether this meant he was betraying me or not – that he’d rather have gay sex on Second Life than…