Update: Adidas TRON shoes stop a few feet short of are pure awesomeness.

Hearing of some Adidas TRON shoes sounds awesome enough in text. Seeing a picture like the one above is like Holy Shiat! Finding out they don’t really have any glowing light whatsoever is the kick in the pants at the end. While it’s unfortunate the TRON shoes above don’t really glow with any self illumination, the glow-in-the-dark stitching and other reflective properties play off lighting and light angles to give off the impression of glowing.

No, the they’re not as cool as they could be. Nonetheless, they’re TRON shoes that will no doubt make a statement — and all of this hype a full 6 months before the movie is even released. What are you guys doing in 6 months?

Whataya know, dreams do come true. Turns out that glowing goodness is the real deal, and made with the same material as the official TRON suits in the movie — “Elastolite” (OryonTech).

Wireless Power a little closer to mainstream, Qi standard finalized.

Nothing is perhaps more telling of an impending standardization of some hot new technology than an official “finalization” of a particular spec or standard. In this case, it’s the Qi wireless charging spec. What it means for you, the consumer, is that the flow of wireless charging devices *should* pick up now that a more concrete set of blue prints has been hammered out, effectively telling manufacturers what they can and can’t do with the spec. Mind you, the Qi spec only spells out support for up to 5w of power at a time, meaning devices will be small and ultra portable.

Initially, only Qi base stations and mobile charging solutions will work together. Hopefully over time some sort of cross compatibility will be developed so that we don’t see a major fragmenting of wireless chargers and a puzzle of different wireless specs. Such things would make it more confusing for end users. And nobody wants that.

Still, less wires we have to screw around with the better.

Another iPhone 4 attenuation post. This one backed up by independent German study.

So you’ve probably seen the Apple emergency press conference or at the very least, some pictures that showed Apple showcasing several other smartphones from competing manufacturers dropping bars just as the iPhone 4 has. Since then, phone forums across the web have exploded with people on both sides of the fence — some able to recreate the dropping bars issue and some not. In the end, it’s a moot point. Signal bars displayed on screen are useless for precise measurement. The decibel reading is the only sure fire way to see how much signal you really have.

Consumer Reports did their thing and utterly fucked up. For a company who prides itself in giving nothing more than unbiased reviews, the whole iPhone saga was a theatrical display of failure. Nonetheless, an independent german outfit, Stiftung Warentest (Google Translated) has gone on the record testing the iPhone 4 against two other unnamed smartphones. Their findings: The other smartphones do display the same signal bar drop as the iPhone 4. But here’s the important part — the iPhone 4 dropped up to 90% of it’s signal when merely touched in the corner. The other two phones had to be handled in a much firmer grip and even then only dropped at most 25% of their signal. So again, Apple’s “brilliant” design was anything but. And their horse and pony show a couple Fridays back was constructed to do nothing more than confuse the public by trying to hide the truth…yet again.

It may seem like I’m out on some crusade to kill the iPhone’s reputation. In reality, I’m not. (Besides, Apple is doing a damn fine job of tarnishing the iPhone 4′s image and their own without my help). I love the iPhone 4. It’s easily the best all-in-one package (hardware/software/cloud) in the smartphone world. But Apple made a mistake by putting the antenna on the outside and is now trying to mask their fuck up by falsely marketing their issues as a common problem shared by all. Remember ALL the other manufacturers didn’t put an un-shielded antenna on the outsides of their phones because they knew it was a terrible idea. In the end, it’s just another blow to Apple’s image. They take their own customers for idiots, plain and simple.

The saddest part is that Apple is continuing to try and mislead the public with a recent Droid X update to their signal bar saga. But the Droid X example — just like the rest — completely sidesteps the issue Apple created on its own. Speaking of the Droid X video post by Apple, anandtech has an extremely detailed (read: extremely detailed) review of the Droid X and gets down and dirty with signal attentuation. Their find: while the Droid X did suffer some signal loss from being held as the iPhone 4 has been criticized for, the Droid X’s worst moments saw a -15db drop — compare that to the iPhone 4′s -25db.

Ranting aside, give the Stiftung Warentest a read (English or not) and let me know what you think.

Galaxy S’s TouchWiz launcher ported to Nexus One

Have a penchant for choosing option (D) when there’s only really (A) (B) or (C)? Such are the folks that inhabit XDA-Developer Forums. Taking life’s lemons and making chocolate milk is their way of life. Along those same lines, Samsung may slap TouchWiz on their devices and their devices alone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have their trippy UI on your Nexus One.

The talented “rolle3d” over at XDA managed to whip up the TouchWiz UI into a handy little .apk file ready for install on a Nexus One near you. Mind you, there’s one big thing Nexus One hopefuls should know — it’s slow, as in really slow. If you’re been rockin’ ADW launcher or LauncherPro Beta/+ you’ll find that TouchWiz atop vanilla Android on the N1 is not smooth. But it’s the concept that really matters. You can have a Samsung exclusive UI on an HTC device. Hacking at it’s finest.

Anyway, hit up the thread over at XDA for the download.

BlackBerry 9780 breaks cover, void of details, lacks originality/unique design.

What would you say after seeing the new BlackBerry 9780 hardware above? It certainly is a sleek device — but so are the 9700 Bold, 9650 Bold, 9800 Slider and even the 8520 Curve. They all look very similar and have nearly identical internal specs. So what does this 9780 have to help it stand out from the crowd? While I can’t speak too soon seeing as we don’t have any specs do judge it by, I can say that the hardware is unoriginal and overworked. This same basic design has been seen on several BlackBerries that have been released in the last few weeks or are scheduled for release in the coming weeks. RIM clearly is suffering from design block.

I’d really love to get back into BlackBerries, but this isn’t going to win me over, RIM. With so many different Android handsets to choose from, iPhone 4, and Windows Phone 7 close to release, I’m not seeing much of anything here that says bleeding edge tech. It’s the same aging package with a new number. Why would I choose this device with the same styling that debuted well over a year ago.

Am I being too harsh?

Nifty: YouTube testing hybrid HTML 5/Flash video embeds.

Site owners and social bugs: how would you like it if YouTube spit out some embed code that automatically served up HTML5 or Flash versions on the fly depending on the end users’ system? New tests being conducted by the online video giant are doing just that. What it means for those who spend a lot of time copying & pasting embed code is that those who want to test out the latest in HTML5 video don’t have to choose between the two technologies. Now the code does it all on its own!

The only real big caveat to HTML 5 video still holding off mass adoption by some companies is the lack of advertising potential. HTML 5 doesn’t have a cut and dry method for easily delivering ads. In these circumstances, the hybrid HTML 5/Flash embed code defaults to Flash. Conversely , if an end user is on a system that doesn’t have Flash installed, the HTML 5 video will automatically start playing.

Have a look for yourself after the jump…

Pnoe: Loud, Proud, and in charge. [Audio speakers]

What would you do/say/think the first time you walked into a room and saw a couple of Pnoe speakers flanking the walls? A well placed expletive would certainly highlight the magnitude of the situation. Hell, these speakers are huge! They’re called “Pnoe” speakers and are all the rage in Greece (where they’re manufactured) and several other countries on that side of the pond.

The Pnoe’s claim to fame is that due to their design and performance, they make a great set of speakers for large events. Of course, this is more a “hey, only use these in massive rooms or your ears will explode” rather than a simple suggestion. Per the manufacturer, Arcadian Audio:

The Pnoe speaker, being a large horn, is more suited to listening rooms with 3m or more distance between the listener and the speakers.

It’s simple physics — don’t buy these unless you have a great room of epic proportions and can always keep unassuming humans at least 10-15ft way. Because if you don’t, the Pnoe will mutilate their ears and probably make mush out of their brains. Just sayin. Oh, and some deep pockets would be nice too. Interested parties have to contact Arcadian Audio directly for any prices. Usually such methods of sales mean you won’t be buying these on a whim in your Kmart Blue Light special.

With all that said, I want six…