You’ll notice Sony’s heavy use of qualifiers in their small and light claims—it’s because the new 13.1-inch Z-series powered by Centrino 2 is no Keira Knightley (or MacBook Air or X300). Blu-ray is actually optional. But the screen is where this thing shines: Its XBRITE-DuraView LCD is scratch-resistant with 100 percent color saturation, and you can get a crazy-high 1600

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Floating, Off-Roading, BB-Shooting RC Tank Delivers Beer, Removes Eyeballs [RC Tank]

We think Danbar Toys has a winner on its hands this day with this $92 amphibious BB-shooting RC tank, with cupholders. I mean, what better way to cap off a beer-fueled barbecue than with a remote-control tank that can go anywhere, turn on a dime, and take people’s eye balls as war trophies at the same time? The “creatively written” instruction manual (borderline Engrish) cautions against firing at people or animals, but we’ve had a few already this morning, and Uncle Bob and his stupid cat are absolutely asking for it. Drink, er, fire away.

And, this thing can deliver a mean cocktail and turn in place while moving, no sweat. Great news for finicky guests that change their mind at the last second.
[Danbar Toys via Technabob]

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Dale Larson was the first — and only — person waiting in line outside the San Francisco Apple store last night. As of this morning, he had been joined by just two others — one of whom was already taking…

Dale Larson was the first — and only — person waiting in line outside the San Francisco Apple store last night.

As of this morning, he had been joined by just two others — one of whom was already taking a coffee break.

Larson arrived a full 36 hours before the second-generation iPhone 3G goes on sale at 8am Friday morning, July 11. He pitched a tent, set up a folding chair, and got ready to wait.

For Larson, a technology marketing strategist, standing in line this day counts as both business research (and promotion) as well as a opportunity to get his hands on an awesome new gadget before everyone else does.

“It’s hard not to be a fan of a product that’s so game-changing,” Larson said.

Last year, Larson was third in line for the launch of the first iPhone. This time, he wanted to make sure he was first.

And he sees his willingness to wait in line — along with the enthusiasm of other line-waiters — as a sign of how well Apple is doing.

“You have to ask yourself: What about your product makes people want to stand in line for it? If you can’t answer that question then someone else is going to come along and eat your lunch,” Larson said.

For the first night, Larson was the only person in line. This morning, he’d been joined by two others. One of the others, a tourist from Barcelona, said he probably wouldn’t stay.

“There are a lot of things to see in this city, and I have some friends I want to show around,” stated the Spanish visitor. He did bring Larson a cup of hot chocolate, however.

Larson also said that the Apple store staff have been very accommodating, letting him come inside to charge up his laptop and phone and to use the restroom, and that passersby had been very friendly, asking questions and bringing him food.

Photo: Jonathan Snyder / Wired.com

Via [wired.com]

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Apple App Store Developers Furious Over Crafty “Line Jumping” Application Names [Apple App Store]

A few Apple App Store developers have apparently taken a page from the line cutting Steve Wozniak this day, and are using a loop hole in the service’s naming conventions to shoot their apps to the top of the list. The story goes that certain developers are slicing to the head of the class with sneakily inserted spaces and quotation marks. One “offender” is Jirbo, Inc., which put a space in front of all of its games’ titles. All Jirbo games now appear at the top of the alphabetical App Store games list.

Stated one anonymous, and pissed off App Store developer:

“As a developer myself with my own game on this list, I’m extremely disappointed that these companies have essentially tried to step all over everyone else in order to promote their products, particularly Jirbo, Inc. who decided to put a space in front of all of their games’ titles. I would imagine that as a consumer, these tactics would be equally perturbing as they screw up the integrity of the store.”

Crafty, cheating or just plain smart? What state you?[Macenstein]

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