What’s wrong with this picture? Raw Feed reported late last week on a new yoga mat that streams audio and video. The theory is you can get yoga instruction or mood music right from the mat. Seriously, has whoever designed this ever done a yoga practice? The whole idea is to disconnect. Plus, I can’t imagine trying to twist around to see the video on the mat while trying to get into a pose. Vinyasa class anyone?

Namaste.

Last week Mari hit the beach (with her gadgets)… and now it’s my turn. We’re going to spend a few days playing in Vegas, before I head off to California for work. So I snapped a pic of some devices I’ll be bringing along (in the best backpack ever):

First up are my Shure buds - great sound and passive noise cancellation. I never leave home without them. Next is a Nokia N73 since, as you may have heard, we’re beta testing SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian OS. Then I have a new-to-me (via ebay) Bluetooth GPS puck to replace my previous GPS unit. I’m going to experiment with Telenav ($10/mo) and Google Maps (free) before investing in Windows Mobile software. Above that is my work-provided Verizon EVDO card which will see use in my Macbook Pro. I’m giving my Blackjack a breather - my current day-to-day phone and Slinging device is the Treo 750. Last up is AblePlanet’s Clear Harmony noise canceling headset (review sample) which I hope to cover in the next few weeks. Of course I’ll also have my small Panasonic Lumix with me.

Don’t expect too much out of me while I’m gone — Like my recent trip to Copenhagen, I’m planning to limit my time on the grid until I hit CA. As soon as I figure out how to turn off push email.

Quite a few products make their way through my door. Many I purchase and others are review units - like the Altec Lansing inMotion 500 above. I have to say that this is one of the very few devices I’m reluctant to let go of. (All review items are returned or given away.)

The iM500 (MSRP $130) is a sleek and sexy Apple Nano speaker dock. And despite the diminutive size, it sounds good! In fact, I prefer the audio (and looks) to the larger iM4 that I recently purchased for my XM Helix. The only real downer is that the iM500 doesn’t ship with a remote.

Now the hard part… I must give the iM500 model away. Leave one comment saying you want in. The catch is that you must provide a link to a previous comment you’ve left on ZNF, other than prior contests. (The comment date stamp is your permalink.) And if you’ve never left a comment, now you’ll have some incentive going forward.

Didn’t I say Apple would be getting social? Still nothing for Safari though… Hm. Anyhow, this is a small step in the right direction by providing personalized iTunes-related RSS feeds and graphical badges of various categories, color schemes, and sizes. Of course Apple isn’t being entirely altruistic here — they hope to mobilize customers in advertising iTunes content.

My iTunes features:

iTunes is giving you an effortless way to keep your friends up-to-date with your favorite music, TV shows, movies, and more. My iTunes widgets are simple, self-updating add-ons for your web page, social-networking profile, or blog.

Use My iTunes to share your top reviews, favorite artists, and new music, movies, and TV shows from the iTunes Store with anyone who visits your site. You can also use the My iTunes feed with any standard RSS or ATOM feed reader.

And never mind those random musical selections to the right. I have no idea who they belong to. Jerry Was A Race Car Driver? Yick!

A periodic roundup of relevant news…

• Netflix Watch Now Movie Archive Hack: Brent Evans
• Third Generation HD DVD Players Get Official: Engadget
• Watch Out For Wireless High-Def TV: CNET
• OpenMoko Neo Dev Kit Unboxing: Gizmodo
• Billboard Hot 100 Chart To Include Online Streaming: paidContent

Guess Dell isn’t done making portable multimedia devices after all, and has announced plans to acquire Zing:

In a move that reflects the renewed interest and energy being directed at its Consumer business, Dell plans to use ZING and its capabilities to continue improving the entertainment experiences it provides its customers.

What makes this doubly interesting (and perplexing) is that Zing helped design/create the Sirius Stiletto (and Stiletto 2?), Sansa Connect, and upcoming Pandora device. I doubt they’ll continue this contract work under Dell…

Knowing my love for Pandora, Dave sent me a link to Slacker a couple weeks back with a little nudge suggesting I try it out. The service has been getting ridiculously positive press reviews, and apparently the company will be launching its own hardware devices in the near future.

So how does Slacker stack up? The Web application is fabulous. It is extremely easy to set up customized radio stations based on any range of musical artists. Any artist in your list also brings up recommendations for other artists in the same genre that you can choose to add to your station. Then there’s a nifty little function called fine tuning. Fine tuning lets you decide the levels of music discovery you want to include in your channel, as well as how popular the songs should be, how often your personal favorites should be included, and what musical eras can be referenced. It sounds complicated, but in reality the fine tuning function is simple, fast and very powerful.

I’ve had some issues with Slacker crashing on me, but not enough to deter me from using the beta application. My bigger issue is that right now, I’m addicted to the Squeezebox and being able to access customized radio without my PC. We’ll have to see what happens when the Slacker hardware comes out later in the year. Whether I think it’s worth converting to Slacker will probably depend on two things:

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Metallica’s in and supposedly The Beatles are on the way over the hills and far away, so I’m glad to hear Led Zeppelin is going to California in November. Though limiting their collection to 24 tracks is still something of a communication breakdown. I’ve got a whole lotta love for these guys, but they’re leaving money on the table — Two discs in my ~15 year old box set have warped and can’t be ripped. So the song remains the same… and I’ve still got Pandora.