A CD That Transforms Into a Mouse? Yup.

Is your CD-ROM drive sitting empty on that laptop of yours? Probably. Now you can fill your CD-ROM drive with this foldable, flat-pack mouse if it was more than just a concept for the 2012 iF Design competition by designer Taewon Hwang, but it's clever enough that we're comfortable blowing some of our imagination juice on it. 

When unfolded, the mouse is flat and round and matches the size and shape of a CD, which means that you can store it inside your computer when you're not using it. When you need a mouse, just pop it out and fold it up, and you've got what looks to be a tolerably comfortable two-button mouse with touch buttons and a scroll wheel. Also, when folded, it kind of reminds me of a 5.25" floppy. No, that's not a euphemism, kids. Get off my lawn.

Stealthy. This is something The Batman would use.

Written by Evan Ackerman
Edited by Limewit Tech Blog

Photos courtesy of Taewong Hwang

iPhone 5 - The Worlds Most Innovative Gadget. Ever.

Breaking News: iPhone5 Revealed! (Live Coverage-Video)

Live coverage enter here

Notable Features

• Will run on Higher Speed LTE networks.
• Made entirely out of glass and aluminum.
• Weighs 112 grams (iPhone 4S = 140 grams)
• A larger, 4-inch screen, showing five rows of icons with a "retina" display. The screen has 326 pixels per inch, the same as the iPhone 4S, but because it is longer it totals to 1136 by 640 resolution.
• New “A6” processor, which executives claim runs twice as fast as the previous generation.
• Three microphones.
• Improved 8 megapixel camera that can take pictures on higher resolutions. The front facing camera is now able to shoot 720p video.
• Upgraded and a more interactive Siri.
• Battery will last for 8 hours of talking on 3G networks or talking and browsing on LTE networks. The new battery lasts for 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing.

Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Try Before You Buy: The Future of Online Shopping?

One of the biggest hurdles of buying stuff online is the inability to try products out first hand before knowing whether you want to purchase it or not. But increasingly, companies are getting around that by offering a try-before-you-buy option for online goods, something Warby Parker has done successfully with glasses. YBuy, a Southern California company, has built a monthly subscription service around the try-before-you-buy model for gadgets, appliances and other products and it’s getting a big name backer in Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures is leading a $1 million Series A round investment that also includes funding from David Hanna, Chairman and CEO of CompuCredit, and Jim Patterson, Chief Product Officer at Yammer. The money will help YBuy scale up to handle a waiting list of 50,000 people, who have signed up for the service. YBuy exited public beta in January but it has been limited to a smaller group of users so far.

YBuy users pay $24.95 to try out a curated list of products, things like the iPad 3, the Xbox 360, the Jawbone Jambox or Limewit's Sony and Dell Laptop batteries. Users have up to 30 days to try out the product. If they decide to buy it, the $24.95 gets applied to the purchase price. If they don’t, they just send it back and try out something new. Shipping is free both ways. The service curates a list of products based on the tastes of a user. In addition to gadgets, it also offers appliances, such as coffee makers and blenders, and sporting goods, such as golf drivers.

The Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based company was started by Stephen Svajian, Kevin and Tim Wallin in 2009 and previously raised $750,000 from its founders and other angels.

Here's how Ybuy works:

1. Join the club

• Select products from a curated list
• Get a personal customer assistant

2. Try products

• Pay nothing until you choose your first product
• Skip a month at any time

3. Buy or return

• Return your product by the last day of the month
• Or, just keep the product and trial fees go toward the purchase

Is this the future of online shopping?

By Ryan Kim

Photo courtesy of Ybuy.com
Curated by Limewit Blog