As usual, Japan has it going on in the advanced concept phone department. This reconfigurable Fujitsu device was shown at CEATEC and allows the user to separate the screen and touchscreen keypad however they like. This comes from a research partnership between Fujitsu and Docomo.

Both parts can be used by themselves or joined together with magnets and used horizontally or vertically. What the touchscreen shows is determined by where you stick the screen on the keypad. The screen module houses all of the software functions, which includes video recording and games. The keyboard section is responsible for other tasks, like 3G and radio. Communication between both sections is done through Bluetooth. It would be nice to see this move from concept to reality, but who knows.

Pioneer intros not one, not two, but four new GPS navigation devices at once. Collectively they are the HRZ099, HRZ088, HRV022, and HRV011. They all share the same specifications including a 40GB storage capacity, 1Seg TV, 7-Inch LCD Screen and they can play WMA, MP3, AAC, and DivX file formats. As you might expect, hey are also compatible with iPods.

The Pioneer HRZ099 is the High-End model of the litter, equipped with a 800 x 480 resolution. The others are 480×234. The Pioneer HRZ099 and HRZ088 also feature a built-in Amplifier with a maximum output of 50W x 4ch. Aside from these 7-Inch GPS devices, the company also introduced a 5.8-Inch GPS which sports 8GB of Flash Memory, a built-in amplifier (50w x4), 1Seg TV tuner, an SD card slot and USB Port. It can also reproduce DVD/WMA/MP3/DivX/WAV/MPEG-4 files.

Let me start off by saying, if they do a remake of Sanford and Son, I expect to see this thing front and center. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a dumpster converted into a hot tub by Michel de Broin, who has a whole dirty/clean issue to see a therapist about. I especially like the ladder, making for an easy entrance.

Depending on your neighborhood, just be careful you aren’t soaking when the garbage truck comes along and lifts you up and dumps you in the back. But until that day, enjoy “1649 litres of filtered, chlorinated water”. Its interior is lined with waterproof blue material while a pump and filter system purifies everything.

How many times have you wanted to say F**k the rain by sending a special message through those storm clouds toward the man above? Well now ya can thanks to this umbrella by Art Lebedev and Anton Schnaider .

It also doubles as an effective way of communicating with your fellow human beings who displease you. Just point it toward them, give a little forward jab so they know it’s for them and then for a bit of theatrics give it a twirl and walk off. It’s available for $56. I’m wondering if enough of these pointed at the heavens would piss God off. Guess we’ll find out. Should be interesting. I just hope it doesn’t lead to something like Bush’s third term.

If there’s one thing people hate and fear, it’s needles.(Aside from snakes and politicians) There’s some good news. A Japanese inventor has created a needle-free and painless injection that will allow you to get your vaccinations without fear. It even has a nice name. “Mother’s Kiss” uses tiny plastic ampules to deliver medicine. I hear ya. It’s painless, but it must be expensive.

Nope. It’s cheaper and safer than regular syringes, which also makes it perfect for developing countries, because shared needles spread diseases like crazy. Assuming they can get costs down low enough, you may soon see this in your doctor’s office. Though I’m sure he’ll just find another way to scare you.

Here’s the first geotagging video camera in the world from Geotate, an auto geotagging company and DXG Technology Corp. Both companies have teamed up to develop the geo-enabled video camera based on DXG’s DVH586 platform, running on the Yuma geotagging software. It’s aimed squarely at the “YouTube” generation.

The device makes it possible to share boring details of your travels with pinpoint accuracy, so that everyone knows exactly where you’ve been. Images are automatically tagged in milliseconds without running the battery down too much and you don’t even need for a phone signal.

This allegedly leaked photo of new Nintendo DS screens has everyone scratching their heads. Apparently the difference in the updated display is a screen size from 3 inches to 3.25 inches. Though it’s not the widescreen system that many of you were hoping for, the new screen size shouldn’t mess with the aspect ratio of existing DS titles. Could this be a sneak peek at the new DS’ upgraded screens? We’ll find out soon enough.

Nature is always the best model, whether you’re building robots or…other human made monstrosities. And with that in mind, Nissan has applied the idea to the Biomimetric Car Robot or BR23C. The robot car is modeled after Bee behavior in order to prevent car collisions and thereby eliminate accident casualties.

The BR23C adopts a bee’s eye view of the world. The insects rely on a 300-degree field of vision to identify obstacles and avoid them. Likewise the robot, using a Laser Range Finder (LRF) uses a 180-degree radius vision to detect obstacles two meters away. The image is transmitted to a microprocessor, which directs the robot to change direction or speed up in order to avoid a collision. In other words, avoiding collisions is all instinct.

If you love Steampunk, then you’ll love Haruo Suekichi’s creations. He’s has lost count on just how many pieces he has created, but an estimate is around 6000-7000. They are made primarily with brass and leather and each is unique. They go well with bowler hats and canes, handlebar mustaches, and frilly shirts. If Haruo Suekichi lived during Jules Verne’s time, he would have made watches for him. Haruo Suekichi has been at it for 13 years and now he’s showing an interest in creating antique fountain pens to go with the rest of your Victorian theme.

I guess to Korg size doesn’t matter, since they’re flaunting their tiny USB keyboards. It’s Korg’s new line of nanoSeries USB keyboards, that measure just 320mm across, and are super slim too. The line consists of a tiny keyboard, synth pad and fader deck. All of the drum pads apparently perform just fine despite their size, though the faders seam cheap. Still, it’s perfect for the musician with tiny hands. The nanoKey will cost you about $90, while the nanoKontrol and nanoPad are both $109.

Apple has reached an agreement with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office and the National Federation of the Blind and they will make the iTunes service more accessible to the blind. It will be called iTunes U and that area of the iTunes Store will feature educational content from colleges and universities for the blind from December 31st onward. That’s just the beginning.

Apple will also continue toward providing full accessibility of iTunes before the June 30, 2009 deadline. To top it all off Apple will be donating $250,000 to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. Nice move by Apple, because like the new windows campaign suggests, not all users come from the same mold.

These coasters from Meninos, take your love of iPhone and use that power to protect furniture. They’re made from thin plywood wrapped in a vinyl decal, with rubber slapped on the bottom. The 3.34″ coasters come in a pack of 16 for $60, which seems just a bit expensive, but let’s face it, it isn’t cheap being a geek.

Now, if only they had wireless capabilities, you could set your drink down and open the app at the same time. Or play an iPhone game between two drinkers. Everytime you take a drink, you set it down on an app and counter each other’s moves. Oh well, maybe next time.

River has updated their already bizarre Mickey Mouse MP3 players with something new. This version has hypnotizing eyes and may need a good exorcism. Glowing LED demon eyes no doubt make it easier to take over the world. It also has 2GB of storage for your soul, even MP3 or WMA files. If your kid’s head turns all the way around and he/she can’t stop watching Disney movies, don’t complain to us.

External storage is important for backing up your files and other content on your computer. If you take lots of digital photos or video that you archive, you can eat through lots of storage capacity very quickly. It’s always best to buy as large an external hard drive as you can afford. Today SimpleTech has announced upgrades to connectivity and capacity for some of its external HDDs.

Both the SimpleTech Pro Drive and the SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive have been upgraded to include eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB 2.0 connectivity options. SimpleTech also offers a PCI expansion card for computers that lack eSATA connectivity.

I have been using my iPhone since the original launched last year and I really like it. I will say that one of the biggest issues for me is still the on screen keyboard. It’s hard to hit the right keys with any speed when I am typing an email or a text message. Thanks to that fact, I haven’t missed the ability to type Word or Excel documents. I am sure some users have greatly missed the ability to use Excel though.

Softalk has announced a new application for the iPhone simply called Spreadsheet. The app is exactly what it sounds like — a spreadsheet. The program can be used to make all sorts of Excel-like spreadsheets that can then be emailed using the iPhone.