Between screaming cell phones, a CRT monitor on crack, and this tripped-out mug, my head sure is spinning today.

The Plasma Mug with Electronic Coaster is made from hand-blown glass and creates this neat lighting effect. It also responds to touch. And, it's completely usable. You can fill the mug with hot coffee or cold beverages.

Together, the unit measures 5.0 x 4.0 x 6.5 inches and sells for $15.00 on CYI.com. The Electric Coaster requires 8 AA batteries, not included.

It's been quite an exciting afternoon here at PC Magazine. Our commerce producer, Arielle Rochette was hard at work when suddenly her monitor went crazy! As you can see in the image at left (click to enlarge), it looks like someone took a bite out of her screen!

When she had more than one program displayed, the whole screen would jiggle back and forth enough to induce motion sickness. Unfortunately, the video I took didn't capture the action.

The funniest part: she was still able to work through all this. She sent an IM to Whitney, another producer, "you have to see this!" Arielle was also able to log a helpdesk ticket. It read: "My monitor has a deep wavy margin effect."

By the time our IT guy, Mel, arrived, the monitor began smoking! He quickly unplugged the mad monitor (we think it was smoking crack, possibly) and replaced it with a sleek flat screen display.

I tried to convince him that my CRT was smoking as well, but he didn't buy it.

Has this happened to anyone else out there? Any ideas, theories. . . Possible relation to Dell's exploding laptop?

See more images of this doped up display.

When it comes to wireless charging, Splashpower is the boss. And with its announcement of two new products, the Multi SplashPad and Single SplashPad, it looks like the competition might be left even further in the dust.

The Multi SplashPad will allow you to place your mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, and digital cameras (as many you can fit) onto the pad and let them charge away, with no need for wires. That's right, no more searching for outlets or cords: Just throw your Treo, D50, and iPod on that sucker and power up. The Single SplashPad will do the same thing, but only one of your devices can be charged at a time.

And just in case you have devices in the house that don't support wireless charging (also known as 98 percent of them), Splashpower will be selling accessories that you can connect to your device to let it wirelessly charge.

Splashpower is claiming a number of companies are on board to equip their products with wireless charging capabilities. Specifics on that, along with pricing and availability, will be revealed next month at CEATEC.

Post by Don Reisinger

Update: PC Magazine spoke with Microsoft and clarified a few of the fuzzy Zune details; you might want to have another look at the story, if you read it earlier. 

Not having been in attendence at Microsoft's press event this morning (actually, not having been invited--again!), we'll send you over to PC Magazine's story on the Zune announcement; it's got all the juicy details. Some excerpts:

Previously, Microsoft had confirmed that the device will be manufactured by Toshiba and will contain a 30-Gbyte hard drive and wireless capabilities. Microsoft confirmed the Zune's wireless abilities, although the company didn't officially disclose the actual technology itself. It will be manufactured in black, white, and brown. However, the Zune's price was not disclosed. It will ship during the "holiday season" this year, Microsoft said.

The Zune will only be able to share "full-length sample tracks of complete songs," which another user will be able to listen to only three times per day. If he or she likes a song, however, it will be flagged for download, and the user will be able to purchase it later. "Millions of songs" will be available to be downloaded from the Zune Marketplace, according to Microsoft. But every Zune will be preloaded with music from DTS, EMI Music's Astralwerks Records and Virgin Records, Ninja Tune, Playlouderecordings, Quango Music Group, Sub Pop Records, and V2/Artemis Records. The price of music purchased from the Zune Marketplace was also not disclosed.

Also take a look at audio lead analyst Mike Kobrin's opinion column, "The Zune Is Official, but So What?" (He's VERY opinionated!)

If someone is trying to steal your cell phone, by all means you should scream to scare the culprit away. But why waste your own lungs when the phone can scream for you?

The Mobile Manager service from Synchronica, a mobile device management company for mobile operators and enterprises, can not only remotely lock and wipe data from cell phones as soon as you report it missing, but it can also send a horror movie-like scream to your cell phone to annoy the thief. So, if you realize your phone was stolen, contact the system administrator who's in charge of your company's Mobile Manager software, to lock the data and to activate the Synchronica Scream feature for you. The thief will not be able to access your phone book, calendar, music, or any other data stored on your phone.

But, if the thief is smart enough to take out your battery, then the scream feature is useless. However, even if he puts the battery back in, your phone will still be locked and will continue to wail.

Listen to the Scream feature here. (You may want to turn down your volume because it's fairly loud!)

And while you're at it, listen to the interview with the CEO to hear the scream over and over again!

Forget scaring away thiefs. I'd so prank people with this for Halloween!

Here in NYC, most of us commute by subway, train, or bus. Sure, many brave souls do take on the traffic and the challenge of finding a free parking space. But most people I know stay off the road. Many other cities don't have 24-hour public transportation on a wide scale, so commuting by car is the only way to go. Of course, this causes quite a lot of traffic. And it's just getting worse. Better highway planning is in the works, but we need a solution now.

Enter the TrafficGauge (pictured below), now serving LA/Orange counties, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle. (Coming soon to Chicago.) It's a relatively inexpensive device ($79.95 plus subscription fees) that tracks traffic slowdowns on major freeways, updating every four minutes. You can view a on-screen map and see which roads to avoid, and which roads are less congested.

You can get this service on your cell phone in the above areas, as well as San Diego. A free Desktop PC version is available in many more cities, so you can check before you leave home or work.

Traffic receivers are available with many GPS device makers, including Magellan and Garmin, which use FM radio frequencies to receive and transmit traffic data. These devices come at a higher cost, but they cover all 50 states, rather than a select few.

So why is the TrafficGauge only available in select cities? Founder Ryan Peterson uses data from a network of wire-loop detectors that lie underneath roadways and sense automobile movement. Unfortunately many of these sensors break down and remain unfixed.

"Forty percent of all loop detectors are broken, and we don't want to launch a product unless the infrastructure meets our expectation," Peterson recently told the Christian Science Monitor.

Read PCMag's GPS reviews, including our current favorite, the Garmin nuvi 360.

Remember when I posted about the Godzillatron? Well, our very own Jason Young, president of Ziff Davis Media's Consumer Small Business Group, witnessed the Godzillatron firsthand last weekend. Here's what he had to say:

The mighty University of Texas Longhorns might have lost the much heralded grid iron showdown versus the Ohio State Buckeyes last Saturday night, but they did lay claim to clear national dominance as the owners of the world's largest full screen video board.  

The Jumbotron, aptly named Godzillatron, is a 7,370-square foot, high-definition Daktronics LED scoreboard.  It's sheer size and image clarity is nearly as inspiring as Vince Young's final dash to National Champion glory in last year's Rose Bowl. All of the sudden that 50" screen in your TV room that made you so proud suddenly inspires feelings of inadequacies.   
 
HOOK'EM HORNS!!!!

Photo taken from his Sprint cell phone.

"Wii" have also been waiting for the release date of Nintendo's Wii to be announced. According to USA Today, Wii will sell for $250 and will launch on November 19 (which is two days after the PS3). Nintendo plans to have 4 million systems total shipped worldwide by the end of this year, and 1 million shipped here in the U.S.

Wii Facts:

-System is approximately the size of 3 stacked DVD cases
-Includes Wii Remote (wireless and motion-sensitive) and Nunchuk controllers
-512MB of internal flash memory, two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wi-Fi capability
-Four ports for classic Nintendo GameCube controllers
-Two slots for Nintendo GameCube Memory Cards
-An AV Multi-output port for component, composite or S-video.
-Comes with Wii Sports game (with tennis, golf, basketball and bowling)

It's official! It's finally official! Blogging Molly and I couldn't wait for Griffin to announce its iKaraoke for the iPod. Just plug in the microphone to your stereo or wirelessly through your FM receiver, turn it on, and the lead vocals from your music will fade into the background, so that you can sing along!

You can pause the music, scan forward or backward, or temporarily add the vocals back in to help you find your place, which would come in handy when singing Destiny Child's "Bootylicious". (That song is so fast!)

Plus, iKaraoke includes "features to enhance your performance: three levels of reverb to blend vocals and accompaniment so you sound best." 

iKaraoke works with the following iPods: iPod mini, 4th Gen iPod, iPod nano, and iPod with video. Look for it this winter.

No details on price as of yet.

Look for a review in the coming months!