Yves Behar, famous for inventing the Bluetooth Jawbone design and other gadgets, has created a water for kids that could potentially change the bottle water for kids market. Y Water gives options of four different kinds of water, including Muscle, Brain, Immune and Bone drinks.

The bottles are visually stimulating as well as 100% organic, being made of material that is biodegradable, as well as reuseable for entertainment purposes. Children are encouraged to build “Y Knots” out of the bottles, to further their own creativity.

More information can be found HERE and pictures after the jump. (more…)

I’ll admit, things in America suck right now, compared to the salad days of the late-nineties. But from the daily headlines regarding the current financial downturn, you’d think Hoovervilles are already springing up outside every major American city. As I’ve pointed out in previous posts, the hyperbole surrounding these events is laughable once you get into the meat of the stories. Like the story a few weeks back about the “ruined lives” of Bear Stearns employees, in which one executive stock options were worth a mere $28 million dollars, and lesser employees were forced to put their “weekend homes” up for sale, or another story about the California housing market in which the shrinking pool of mortgage related credit had forced one homeowner to “cut back on travel” and find other means by which to pay for his “investment properties.” Today, I found yet another golden quote, in a story with the dire headline “Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years,” which definitely sounds scary. Should we expect food riots in the streets of New York? Soviet-style bread lines at bakeries nationwide? OMG WHAT DO WE HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF NOW???! How about $20 key lime pies that now cost $25?

Steve Tarpin can bake a graham cracker crust in his sleep, but explaining why the price for his Key lime pies went from $20 to $25 required mastering a thornier topic: global economics. The owner of Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies in Brooklyn said he didn’t want customers thinking he was “jacking up prices because I have a unique product.”

“I have to justify it,” he said.

I somehow doubt that anyone who could afford a $20 key lime pie is somehow going to starve now that they have to pay $5 more. But then the story got even better:

“I was talking to people who make $9 an hour, talking about how they might save $5 a week,” said Kathleen DiChiara, president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. “They really felt they couldn’t. That was before. Now, they have to.”

For some, that means adding an extra cup of water to their soup, watering down their milk, or giving their children soda because it’s cheaper than milk, DiChiara said

Umm…have they ever heard of WATER?? It’s this thing that runs out of the faucet. And guess how much it costs?? $0.0000000!!11 But I guess if you’re poor you’re not really interested in giving your kids something healthy to drink, especially not something totally free.

This is a bit atypical of the bands that we generally choose for Synthesis Band of the Day. No horn-rimmed glasses, waifish broads with ugly indie-rock haircuts, ‘roid-bicep hardcore meatheads, striped sweater wussies or epic Dungeons & Dragons progressive metalheads. No, Phredley brings the funk-rock.

In my fledgling college days, back when tie-dye wasn’t as vomitous and my roommate’s constant Phish-Grateful Dead-Phish musical rotation didn’t drive me completely bonkers, I would have broken my left leg to check out a band like Phredley. Now bad photoshop effects kinda irk me, patchouli oil makes me want to hurl and hippie funk in general just pisses me off. But not Phredley. They’s alright.

Based around a brother-sister duo (Phred Brown on Vocals, Guitar & Horns; Alesha Brown on Keys & Vocals) and a rhythm section (Paul Loos, Drums & Vocals; Samuel Tobias Winn, Bass & Vocals) Phredley lays down funk that is far closer to the heart of nearby Detroit than that of longhair revivalists in Colorado or Vermont. And when they stray toward the pop side of the spectrum, it comes across more as radio-friendly than looking for a parking lot miracle. More importantly (for me at least), their lyrics hold water. With the aforementioned hippie-funk enthusiasts, it’s most often the lyrics that drive me to enraged hysterics; Phredley uses some clever (or nearly clever) turns of phrase. No, Phred’s not Leonard Cohen by any means, but in a sometimes poppy, sometimes rocky funk quartet, it works. Their track “The Truth About Capricorns” also has some pretty, Beatelesque, tonally complex passages. If you’re a big fan of Ben Harper/Jack Johnson/Maroon 5, or your ’70s R&B records don’t have much dust on them, do yourself a favor and look into Phredley.

While I’m really tempted to lambaste the hippies with world music, this is actually true world music, not your typical mid-40s find yourself world music. You gotta admit, the part with the water flute is super legitimate.

Music of the heavens, man, music of the heavens… Hermeto Pascoal

It should be buying the two new Thrice EPs that came out today: Fire and Water. Fire basically sounds like the music that Vikings would get fucking pumped on while braving the foamy surf to pillage the homes of barbarous seaside villagers, which i guess would make Water the soundtrack to the subsequent gentle love made to the captured concubines and assorted womenfolk. These records are so good they almost make up for the fact that their drummer has that super ghey column in AP with the fat-but-still-almost-hot broad from Morningwood. You should go see them on tour with mewithoutYou and Brand New and say whats up to these kids.

10/18 - The Filmore Detroit, Michigan
10/19 - The Filmore Detroit, Michigan
10/21 - The Pageant St. Louis, Missouri
10/23 - Myth Maplewood, Minnesota
10/25 - Uptown Theatre Kansas City, Missouri
10/26 - Fillmore Auditorium Denver, Colorado
10/27 - The Great Salt Air Magna, Utah
10/29 - Fenix Underground Seattle, Washington
10/30 - Fenix Underground Seattle, Washington
10/31 - Salem Armory Portland, Oregon
11/02 - San Jose Event Center San Jose, California
11/03 - Wiltern Theatre Los Angeles, California
11/04 - Wiltern Theatre Los Angeles, California
11/05 - Wiltern Theatre Los Angeles, California
11/09 - Pearl Concert Theatre Las Vegas, Nevada
11/10 - Dodge Theatre Phoenix, Arizona
11/12 - Cains Ballroom Tulsa, Oklahoma
11/14 - House Of Blues Dallas, Texas
11/15 - Sunset Station San Antonio, Texas
11/16 - Stubbs BBQ Austin, Texas
11/17 - Warehouse Live Houston, Texas
11/18 - Warehouse Live Houston, Texas
11/20 - House Of Blues New Orleans, Louisiana
11/21 - The Tabernacle Atlanta, Georgia
11/23 - The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre Miami Beach, Florida
11/24 - House Of Blues Orlando, Florida
11/25 - House Of Blues Orlando, Florida
11/27 - House Of Blues Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
11/28 - Disco Rodeo Raleigh, North Carolina
11/30 - NorVa Norfolk, Virginia
12/01 - House Of Blues Atlantic City, New Jersey
12/02 - UMBC Baltimore, Maryland
12/04 - Hammerstein Ballroom New York, New York
12/06 - Electric Factory Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
12/07 - Electric Factory Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
12/08 - AJ Palumbo Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
12/09 - Tsongas Arena Lowell, Massachusetts
12/11 - House Of Blues Cleveland, Ohio
12/11 - House Of Blues Cleveland, Ohio
12/13 - Arrow Hall Toronto, Ontario
12/14 - Gordon Field House at RIT Rochester, New York
12/15 - Washington Avenue Armory Albany, New York

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water….WATER TIGERS!!!!

More reasons to stay on dry land after the jump. Thanks Fark. (more…)