Okay, so being the winner of our “Pink Palm Centro Misery Giveaway” means you’ve been a big loser at love, at least once during Valentine’s Day, but now you’re getting the messaging phone extraordinaire and you can send hate messages to the one who wronged you. Only kidding….

The winner will be receiving the Pink Centro, valued at $399.99 (or $99 with a 2-year Sprint contract).

And the winning/losing story:
M & I had been dating for 7 years. Valentines Day was a huge day for us, as we had been set up on a blind date on V-day 2000. A mutual friend set us up & we hit it off immediately. We got close quickly, but were both happy with keeping our separate living arrangements as we were both professionals with busy work schedules. We had always talked of getting married at some point and having kids. We had similar ideas & ideals about marriage & families. Back to V-day. M always put a huge effort into making our V-day celebration special. I never knew from year to year what he would plan. One year, he whisked me away to NYC in a limo to an intimate dinner & then to a show that I had wanted to see. On the way, he took me to my favorite SoHo boutique to buy a new dress & beautiful shoes.

Don’t be too jealous, see the misery come in after the jump…

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This looks like something we might see in a movie about futuristic space travel (like the film Sunshine), but is actually a real present-day subterranean farm underneath a bank building in Tokyo. The project, with the cool sci-fi sounding name “Pasona O2,” covers an area of 1,000 square meters (about 10,764 square feet). Created as a facility for teaching urban kids about agriculture, the farm grows rice as well as tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables. If I worked above ground in that building, I’d be tempted to take my lunch breaks below ground - to get fresh air.

Take a look at some of the other beautiful photos at pruned. Also via Japundit, by way of Tokyo Mango.

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If the concept design for the paper weighing scale designed by Duck Image Studio sees the light of day, then I will no longer have to worry if someone else is looking down at the embarassingly high figures on my scale while I am standing on it.

Ask how? Because the paper weighing scale is different from other weighing scales – it is inconspicuous, almost like paper, and can be placed anywhere in the house as it is ultra-thin and flexible. The figures are depicted via large numerals flashed on an e-paper display – easy enough to let you steal a sly glance as you are walking down the hallway, for example. And you can leave the paper scale out on the floor through the day since it is waterproof and easy to clean. The flexibility aspect ensures that you can even roll it away for storage if you are not comfortable being reminded of your weight so many times in a day. Methinks this is a great design for something as simple as a scale.

Via Yanko Design.

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Why should your iPod have all the cool cases? Griffin has now released two of their most popular cases for the iPhone. For the rugged individual, there’s the multi-purpose Courier which is made of compression-molded EVA outer jacket for abrasion-resistant durability and can either wrap around the strap of your backpack or bag (up to 4 inches wide), or be secured by a industrial-strength hook & loop closure (see photo above). The detachable case fits iPod classic/iPod with video and iPod touch, and your precious iPhone. With a hidden zipper pocket for key, money, ID, and a second flapped pocket for sync cable, earphones, or whatever you need, this utiilty case is all you need to carry. 34.99 at Griffin.; now $24.01 at Amazon.

My iPhone had been envious of my iPod’s stylish Reflect case, but is now sporting its own. Made of a durable polycarbonate shell that surrounds the face of your iPhone with seamless, chrome-like protection, and a rubberized matte black back, it protects while still giving you access to all the controls of your iPhone. At $24.99 it’s a great way to dress up your iPhone.

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I just noticed this while going through the MacBook Pro specs page again, the newly released MacBook Pros feature an updated keyboard. The keyboard generally remains the same except that they updated and reshuffled some of the keys similar to the MacBooks, Apple keyboards.

The MacBook Pro keyboard gains the controls for iTunes, Dashboard key, etc. The “enter” key is also gone and replaced by another option key.

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True to form, YouTube lets everyone else do it before they do it right. That’s how you bide your time when you’re backed by Google brains and cash. Steve Chen says YouTube will add live video this year.

Tags: Live, Steve Chen, YouTube

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AppleInsider reports that a 3G iPhone might be launched by mid-year. Infineon which currently supplies the iPhones baseband chip will be providing the new solution for the 3G iPhone.

Nicolas Gaudois a global equity research analyst sent a note to clients informing that an HSDPA platform is headed for the iPhone. This will include the baseband chip and power management unit (PMU).

Quoting from the report..

“We believe this is one of the HSDPA solutions design wins management referred to as being due to ramp in [the second quarter of 2008],” he wrote. “Consistent with these checks, our Apple analyst Ben Reitzes believes that 3G iPhones will be released by mid-year.”

I hope that the 3GB iPhone will come soon. If it does and it’s still not available locally, I might go ahead and get one even though it’s not officially supported. A year is just too long of a wait. Everyone is enjoying their iPhone and I’m not. Hmph…

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Sony Vaio laptops are always lust-worthy, with the exception of the wretched hard-to-use Vaio keyboards. Still, geeks will undoubtedly sneer at the girly new 15.4 in. Graphic Splash Expressions Collection Sony has just released.

One of this line’s most noteworthy features will also strike tekkies as embarrassingly girly: for an extra $25.50, your choice of custom fonts for the keyboard, including one script. (That one must be popular because it’s backordered.)

Shown, the Flora pattern; you can also select Leaf, appropriately very Japanese, and Victorian Lace, a stylized floral that looks a bit Japanese too. All patterns come in blue, pink, and basic black.

The entry-level configuration (Intel Core 2 Duo [2.1GHz], 2 GB memory, 120 GB hard drive, wireless and Bluetooth, plus Vista, Works, Quickbooks) is a pretty reasonable $1279. But you can go up and up to faster processors, 4 GB of memory, a 300 GB hard drive, Blu-ray, and so forth and so on. 2 lines of engraving, however, are free.

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I love kitchen tools . . . just for decoration, since I, sadly, do not know how to cook. But I do love to crush things, don’t ask me why. Give me some nutmeg or vanilla beans or mustard seeds, and I’ll turn them into a fine dust with my mortar and pestle (even if a fine dust isn’t what you asked for).

If I had this Viking Mortar and Pestle from Drinkstuff.com, it could get ridiculous. I find the shape of the pestle kind of beautiful, but it actually has an ergonomic purpose - it fits more naturally in your hand. The mortar is made of beechwood, which contrasts nicely with the silvery pestle.

Costs 20GBP (about $40).

Via Kitchen Contraptions.

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How do you get away from it all without 1) time or money to take you far, far away, 2) a Holodeck, or 3) psychadelic drugs? Maybe by surrounding yourself with mood lighting created with this Room Palette Skyrium from Banpresto RelaxStyle line of products. Nine different LED color lights move through a diffuser to project different lighting themes onto walls and ceilings - like “Aurora” and “Resort Ocean.”

Scheduled for release in April - no information on pricing yet, but the original Room Palette sells for $69 at Japan Trend Shop.

Via Trends in Japan.

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