On many of the online shows that I am prone to watch on my typical work day, I have been seeing ads for the “Mojave Experiment”. At first I thought it was a reference to the Area 51/Roswell incident, but Roswell is actually nowhere near the Mojave desert.

The Mojave experiment is actually an ad campaign by Microsoft for Windows Vista that is more of a response to the negative criticism that Vista has been receiving.

The ad features some random people responding to some questions about Windows Vista. Microsoft asks them questions like “Why haven’t you upgraded yet?” They usually say that they have heard about all the problems. Oddly enough, they don’t show the responses where people say, “I couldn’t afford it”.

These people are then introduced to a new version of Windows called Windows Mojave. The people respond favorably, and then Microsoft tells them that Windows Mojave is actually Windows Vista. (Surprise!) The ad then shows the footage of the people wanting to get Windows Vista.

I usually don’t like ending an article with a question that isn’t rhetorical, but I want to open up the floor for comments. Is Microsoft manipulating this little experiment to purposely produce favorable results about Windows Vista? If so, then this isn’t an experiment, is it?

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Arkon will be making available premium upgrade aftermarket car mount bundles for both the Mio Moov and Navman S-Series GPS, and each of these mount bundles comprise of a custom cradle adapter as well as a location specific pedestal that is meant for use in the vehicle itself only.

Users can choose from a variety of different mounts that attach to the windshield, dash, cup holder opening, lighter socket, sun visor, and air vent locations. Arkon offers the most extensive lineup of car mounting solutions for use with Mio, Garmin, Magellan, TomTom, and other leading GPS makers.

If you’ve grown extremely attached to your GPS navigation system and can’t live (drive) without one, then I would suggest investing a small sum of money (anywhere from $17.95 to $29.95) on one of these puppies.

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Many kids nowadays are getting used to being chauffeured by their parents all over town, so maybe it’s time for some of those kids to “pay” for their trips. Gizoo is currently selling “Dad’s Cab” for $18, which allows you to put this fake taxi meter on your dashboard via a set of adhesive strips. While it doesn’t charge your kids money (they’d ask you for the money anyways), it does ask for unique methods of payment such as tidying their room, or making a cup of tea for the driver. Harmless fun and it might even teach some kids to appreciate the things that parents do for them. Expect it to mysteriously disappear from your dashboard if you start “charging” your kids too often though.

Sony's Blu-ray player continues to help pay the bills for patent lawyers.

Orinda Intellectual Properties is the latest to file a case alleging that Sony has violated some Blu-ray related patents, says gaming website Edge.

Sony has allegedly infringed on a patent that broadly describes "methods for recording and reproducing information via optical disc," according to the Aug. 20 lawsuit in the Texas Eastern District Court.

Orinda has named Sony Corp., Sony Electronics, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America as the defendants in the lawsuit.

In addition to royalty payments, Orinda has asked for an injunction on manufacturing, sales and distribution of Blu-ray devices from Sony, which would include the PS3, Blu-ray players and computers. The demand is a standard operating procedure by plaintiffs in most patent infringement cases, though it is up to the judge to make a decision.

This is the second lawsuit that Sony is facing related to Blu-ray. Last year Target Technology sued Sony for a Blu-ray patent infringement. The case was dismissed later.

Photo: Blu-ray Lenses (Flickr/37Prime)

A recent post on the Google blog has hinted that we may soon be able to edit the search results presented to us via a Google search.

The post, by Google Distinguished Engineer Ben Gomes, discusses how Google are always experimenting with new features for its search page. He said,

Experimentation is a very powerful tool, and we use it very widely to test potential changes to search. At any given time, we run anywhere from 50 to 200 experiments on Google sites all over the world.

As well as discussions on the amount of whitespace around results having an effect on how prominent they seem to the user, he also mentioned editable search results. In the image above you can see a couple of icons next to each of the main search headings allowing you to change the order they appear on the page. There is also a delete cross available and right next to the “Similar pages” link an option to comment on the search result.

At the moment this is just an experiment and Google treats it as such; deciding whether a feature would be useful or just another distraction to the task you are trying to perform. Therefore, editable search results may never see the light of day, or they could become the next big defining feature as to why Google search is the one you choose for your search needs.

Read more at The Official Google Blog

Matthew’s Opinion
I would find being able to edit the order of search results, delete them and comment on each quite useful. That is, if you were then presented with a web address that lead directly to that edited page you created.

Imagine typing in a search word and Google reminding you that a similar search was performed by you several weeks ago. You are then given the option to go directly to the edited page you created. Rather than searching for the info again, you get all that hard work you did filtering results presented to you saving a lot of time. If this editing was lost as soon as you navigated away from the page then the usefulness is lost to a large extent.

It’s good to know Google allow for such ideas to be experimented with and its partly because of this they keep introducing useful new features and are the number one search company.

When I received the Air Jacket from Power Support I swear I thought they had sent me an empty case. Inside, however, there's an almost invisible hard backing that fits snugly to the back of the iPhone 3G and an anti-glare screen for the front.

Virtually thin as "Air," the Air Jacket measures .7mm and is said to protect from scratches, dust and impacts. While it certainly compliments the iphone's aesthetics, I'm not so sure it would protect your baby from anything more than a dust bunny. $34.95 from Power Support.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the iFrogz Treadz, with it's 100% silicone rugged tire tread design. As with all the iFrogz cases, it's treated with a proprietary anti-dust technology to help it repel lint and dirt (that's what gives it the smooth feel, even after months of wearing.) It certainly provides more protection than the "invisible" case, but I'm still not testing it by dropping my 3G. Sorry, there's only so far I'll go to test gadgets for our Popgadget readers.
$14.99 at iFrogz.

Product: Jabra SP700.
Price and Availability: $99 out now
Pros: Doesn’t make you look like a tool.  Easily answer calls in your car.  Makes not upgrading to the expensive new cars “tech package” a lot easier to live with.  Sound is great, surround sound through speakers is even better.
Cons: no air of superiority that comes with a headset (wait, maybe that should be in the Pros?)
Overall: I’ve already ordered two for my cars.  I give it 10/10

If you are like me, you’ll go to almost any length no to wear your bluetooth headset.  An incoming call when I am in the car sends me fumbling around my front seats for the tiny headset, the awkward install into my ear and then my eyes are back on the road.  Surely that is safer than just answer the phone?

This is my new solution: the Jabra SP 700.  I love this darn thing.  I had my doubts this would work for me, as despite my feelings on the look and overriding “tool-i-ness” of a bluetooth headset, there is something almost fun about being plugged in like that.  But this Jabra piece changed my mind.

Form
Almost hiding on my visor, the unit looks good as its buttons are hidden on the sides.  A sexy almost Scandinavian voice announces settings like “power on” or “connected” keeping my eyes on the road.  I’ve not tired of her yet, but I am sure that is coming.  Set up, as with most bluetooth devices, is super simple.

Better yet, the unit comes with a built in FM transmitter that pumps your callers voice through your cars sound system.  It creates a very warm environment that is more like talking in person than on a call.  I really dig it.  Jabra can also send music on your phone to the cars.  The SP700 will even search for the best frequency for you to transmit over, very cool.

Function
The sound quality is indistinguishable from just using the phone.  Callers sounded clear to me and me to them.  Road noise was swept away and people were amazed I was driving around, much less on a dirt road.  Jabra says the SP700 has echo cancellation and noise reduction all aimed at making your conversation as natural as possible.

I let my wife borrow it this morning.  She phoned more from the road after a couple of uses and wanted to let me know she was keeping it.  She was headed into the office to show it to her friends.

All calls are announced by that sexy Scandinavian voice, keeping me focused on the traffic, not searching around for my phone.  Taking the call is as easy as tapping the visor-mounted unit.

Jabra has put out an excellent option for hands free communications in the car.  I highly recommend.

Product page: [Jabra]

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Kyle Lechtenberg has designed the Visual Assistance Card that will help visually impaired users keep their personal information private, allowing them to shop in just about any store. It works by laying on top of the debit/credit card reader, relying on Braille imprinted on the card to keep everything hush hush. I know that there is just a small percentage of clerks who wouldn't think twice about ripping off a blind person, but better safe than sorry these days. The Visual Assistance Card, being light weight is a snap to carry around, so hopefully it will roll out soonest possible before more visually impaired people experience credit card fraud due to unscrupulous people.

Just as small, fast-moving mammals replaced lumbering dinosaurs, pocketable gadgets are evolving to fill niches that larger, deskbound computers can't reach. But as they shrink, these gadgets are faced with problems mammals face, too, such as efficiently dissipating heat.

The recent example of Apple's first-generation ipod nanos causing fires in Japan raises the question of whether increasingly innovative product designs are impinging on safety. The nano incident illustrates how risk can increase as devices decrease in size, says Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies.

"As [gadgets] get smaller, the tradeoffs become more difficult, the balance becomes more critical and there's less room for error," Kay said. "I'm not surprised it's happening to the nano because that's the small one. You're asking it do a lot in a very, very small package and that's pushing the envelope."

There's no question that industrial designers' jobs have become much more difficult as the industry demands ever more powerful and smaller gadgets. With paper-thin subnotebooks, ultra-small MP3 players, and pinkie finger-sized Bluetooth headsets becoming increasingly popular, it's questionable where exactly designers draw the line between innovation and safety.

Kay highlighted batteries as a key concern. Most gadget-related safety hazards are due to faulty, cheap battery cells -- the most obvious case being Sony's exploding laptop batteries in 2006, which heavily damaged the company's reputation before it conceded to a recall.

Battery-related malfunctions come as a pressing issue because batteries have, for the most part, stagnated in terms of development. They're also barely shrinking in size compared to the gadgets containing them. Therefore, designers are forced to design around batteries, and they're having less and less "wiggle room," Kay said.

Narijana Bukicevic, senior analyst of power management at iSuppli, agrees that safety is a concern with innovative new product designs; she's particularly concerned with how portable devices handle heat. She explained that since designers, such as Apple's, strive to innovate on the form factor, they detach themselves from tried-and-true methods that are known to be reliable.

It's not the outside appearance of gadgets that concerns Bukicevic, either: The arrangement of chips and layout boards in portable devices are subject to increasingly draconian size restraints.

"When you have a constant change in the devices, I think you have less room to prove designs," Bukicevic said. "That's more of an issue especially with portable devices because ... the changes are not, 'Let me move this from there.' The changes are always radical."

Howard Nuk, creative director of design consultant Frog Design, acknowledged that risk comes into play with innovative new product designs, but he said manufacturers and designers put diligent effort into testing new products before they make their way out the door.

Nuk explained that the challenge for designers isn't simply to make products smaller. While at first glance the trend in technology seems to be that devices are simply getting smaller, a more precise way to put it is that they're evolving into gadgets designed around humans rather than what gadgets can do, he said.

"What we're noticing now is less the idea of miniaturization but more so the idea of lifestyle optimization," Nuk said. "Right now we're at the point where technology can be more or less be any size. The focus is miniaturization in just the right spot to hit the perfect balance between comfortable interaction and pocketability."

Nuk used Apple as an example of how "pocketability" has evolved. When you compare the awkward, boxy shape of the original iPod with the sleek, rounded lines of the iPhone 3G, you'll notice the major difference (aside from functionality) is the depth of the handset, making it thinner and easier to fit in your pocket.

By contrast, the width and height of the iphone are actually greater than those of the first-generation iPod. If the iPhone's screen were any smaller, web browsing wouldn't be as convenient and videos wouldn't be as pleasant to watch -- two key strengths that catapulted the iPhone to success.

However, Nuk added that if designers spend too much time testing a product for safety, technology would be at a standstill.

"Anything that is new definitely opens itself up to more risk, but without risk there's no reward," Nuk said. "We [designers] like to push limits as much as possible ... and there has to be due diligence in testing. But if you sit there and test and test and test you lose the chance to be innovative."

(Photo credit: Uvince/Flickr)

If you spend an equal amount of time on your iphone watching movies as well as talking, it would make perfect sense to consider the iPhone Projector. After all, this device helps project a video image of the movie on a nearby surface, giving your eyes some much needed relief instead of staring at such a small display for hours on end. Some of the features found on the iPhone Projector include :-

• LCoS projector
• 4:3 aspect ratio
• Manual focus
• 20,000 hour lamp life
• 10-15 lumens brightness
• 200:1 contrast ratio
• VGA resolution
• 15" to37" screen size
• 2W stereo speaker
• Composite Video