Check back tomorrow to see what we’ve been, uh, cooking up…

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Coming up: BBG explores heat

Last Thursday, Plantronics introduced their newest bluetooth headset, the Voyager Pro . It has signal processing software that enhances incoming audio and dual mics with a stainless steel screen, acoustic gore vents, and tiny electronic filters that cancel out wind noise. Buttons for muting and adjusting volume are on the headset, too, so you don’t have to fumble with your phone while talking. It’s gotten great reviews so far, including a CNet editor’s choice award . I, too, spent a week with the Voyager Pro–making phone calls on it while working at my desk, running in the park, and watching my friends surf at the beach in Pacifica. The best thing about it compared to the dinky bluetooth headset I was using before is that the batteries lasted all week–I never turned it off, and probably got a good 3-4 hours of talk time on it. The design is simple, neither elegant nor tacky. The Voyager Pro swivels at two points–the over-the-ear piece can be rotated to fit the right or left ear, and the mic piece is adjustable too, which is nice. The sound quality is as good as everyone else says it is–crystal clear in most environments, except at the super-windy beach, where I had to duck into the car to finish my call. I never really did like the over-the-ear earpieces, though, because it takes a couple extra seconds to put on and it also makes things like sunglasses and hair bands fit slightly awkwardly. Personally, I prefer Plantronics’ Discovery 925 because it’s prettier and I can just stick it on my ear when I need it–but I could see how a dude in a suit who is on serious phone calls all day with clients and bosses would prefer the more professional-looking and engineered-for-better-sound-quality Voyager Pro. Costs $100. Product page [Plantronics]

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Review: A week with the Plantronics Voyager Pro

Pure Digital kicked off a revolution with a cheap, dead-simple-to-use pocket camcorder. I bought the Ultra when it launched. The pop-up USB was inspired, and it was fun to capture videos of my pug blinking . Yet with every newer, flashier iteration, Pure’s product line has continued to stray from what made its first offering such a success. I reviewed both the Mino and the MinoHD for Wired, and grew increasingly skeptical. First they traded low prices for Apple-like design lines and a smaller footprint. Then, by the time they added HD resolution, the Flip couldn’t top the picture quality of pocket cams sold by competitors for $50 less. Nobody hits it out of the park on their first or second at bat, especially in consumer electronics. Pure did, miraculously. But the company’s latest offering isn’t a homerun (last baseball pun, swear). It feels like an identity crisis. The UltraHD adds 720P, 8GB of storage and an HDMI port to the Ultra, but now they’re back to pushing big and clunky? It’s hard to force lightning to strike twice. But with four Flips to choose from, it’s even harder to explain to your grandmother which camera to buy or why. And I’m not certain even Pure could tell her. [image via Flickr ]

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Pure Digital makes cute pocket cams, but which should you buy?

Daan van den Berg scanned Ikea’s LAMPAN lamp, infected the form with a digital “elephantiasis” virus , then ran out the result on a 3D printer. [Next Nature]

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I am not an elephant! I am a light fixture! I am a lamp!

Illustrated by MacFormat’s Adam Benton, this mockup strikes me as convincingly conservative — but only if you accept the proposition that Apple would make it at all. I’ve been imagining something similar, but even smaller. The Apple Netbook [Mac Format] Rumor - Media Pad Could be Apple’s Newest Device Hit [Cult of Mac]

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Cupertino’s tablet netbook: just a concept?

Photo: Jim Barton they’re welcome 2it [Kennington Fox's Flickr via Cult of Mac ]

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Guard your pod!

( Download MP4 , or watch on YouTube .) In today’s episode of Boing Boing Video , we review the Tricaster , a compact device that facilitates high-quality live internet video broadcast production for a lot less dough than the equivalent amount of traditional TV production gear. A number of web video productions are now using the Tricaster, including Leo Laporte ’s TWIT.tv , and Mahalo ’s newly launched Kevin Pollak chat show . I visited the Kevin Pollak set this week to view the device in action with BBV editor Wes Varghese and Richard Metzger. Metzger has also been experimenting with live-to-hard-drive production (= tape his interview show using the Tricaster, then it’s ready to go as a produced piece without a lot of editing.). What interested me most about the device was the possibility of changing the economics of live video online. The Tricaster costs about $10K, and just renting a satellite truck full of switching gear and engineers for conventional live production costs a hell of a lot more - like, start adding zeroes. So, the possibilities I see are much like the possibilities we began to see for web video 10 years ago, when digital video cameras suddenly became a lot more affordable, and video editing software became cheaper, more widely distributed, and a lot easier to use. Bottom line: more live video, in more of it the hands of people who wouldn’t be producing live video otherwise. Newtek, the company that makes the Tricaster, loaned Boing Boing Video a review unit and we’re going to be doing some experiments soon. Below, and after the jump, some screengrabs from backstage video I shot on the Kodak zi6. The featured guest on this installment of the Kevin Pollak show was Jon Hamm of Mad Men . Diggnation / Totally Rad Show / Project Lore star Alex Albrecht was also in the house, as was George Ruiz of ICM , who shot some nicer photos here . Kevin Pollak show crew notes: Alex Miller was running the TriCaster. Kenny Chen was the floor director, Josh Negrin is sitting next to Alex at the Mac Pro and Jason McIntyre is sitting at the 2 iMacs. RSS feed for new episodes here, YouTube channel here , subscribe on iTunes here . Get Twitter updates every time there’s a new ep by following @ boingboingvideo , and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video . (Special thanks to Philip Nelson of NewTek , to Jason Calacanis , and to Boing Boing’s video hosting partner Episodic .) Sponsor shout-out : This Boing Boing Video episode is sponsored by WEPC.com , in partnership with Intel and Asus . WePC.com is a site where users come together to “share ideas, images and inspiration about the ideal PC.” Participants’ designs, feature ideas and community feedback will be evaluated by ASUS and “could influence the blueprint for an actual notebook PC built by ASUS with Intel inside.”

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BB Video review: Tricaster, and the Future of Live Video Online

Monolithic in design and simple in principle, HP’s latest MediaSmart home server, the LX195, runs Windows HS and has a single 640GB hard drive, gigabit ethernet, a 1.GHz Atom CPU and just 1GB of RAM. Though the specs are unimpressive, it’s only $390 and has 4 USB ports–consider it intermediary between high-end local backup and low-end NAS. HP launches a lower price Windows Home Server, the MediaSmart LX195 [CrunchGear]

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New MediaSmart box cuts price (and corners)

This Energizer-branded inductive WiiMore charger lets you juice up the sticks without removing their sheaths. It’s $50. Wii Energizer 2x Induction Charge Station [Amazon]

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Energizer-branded Wiimote charger up for pre-order

Nintendo Wiimote Wii remote replica soap [Digitalsoaps@etsy via Gizmodo via Gadget Venue ]

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$10 Wii Soap