In this installment of Synthesis Blog’s The Next, I’d like to introduce you to this: The Old. The next innovations will not actually be innovations at all, but rather, revisitations of old ideas. For instance, remember when everything used to be really big? Like computers would take up the whole room and your TV was actually considered furniture? The scientific retrograde minds over at Innovage are cashing into the retro-cool bigiturize trend early with the Jumbo Universal Remote.

Had enough of losing your iPods and cell phones because of their diminutive size? You can simply MAKE EVERYTHING BIGGER? Start with the Jumbo Remote, which is virtually impossible to lose.

Features:
* Manages up to eight separate devices
* Compatible with most major brands of AV components
* Code search button discovers device codes automatically
* Programmable power OFF timer
* Extra-large soft-touch buttons for easy navigation
* Jumbo-sized—never misplace your remote control again
* Requires two AA batteries (not included)

Ask Grandma, she’s stoked on the big buttons. No more straining eyesight or digging through the couch for her. Go big. Go Next.

Merriam-Webster has decided that “w00t” is not only an actual word, but their Word of the Year 2007.

I’m abandoning English and switching over to Hungarian this instant.

Ewe’ll be sorry

A giant python bit off more than it could chew when it tried to swallow a pregnant ewe. It got stuck on a road this week after swallowing the ewe in the Malaysian village of Kampung Jabor, about 200 kilometres east of Kuala Lumpur. The six-metre reptile weighing 90 kilograms was too laden to move, making it easy for firemen to capture it, said a local daily newspaper.