Nothing is for free in this world. Unless of course you work for Universal and get free screenings. Then of course you try to sell DVDs of your shiesty recordings during the screenings. That’s the reason behind Universal Pictures canceling all non-executive employee screenings until further notice. According to Nikki Finke’s source:

“…some dumb fuck pirated Wanted at one of the lower lot venues.”

A Universal insider claims “some dumb fuck” shat in the apple pie for the rest of the employees and they’ve lost one of their few employee perks because of it. Though Universal itself says that the incident was not the reason that the employee screenings were shut down, it’s a little mysterious when a warning is shown during a screening of Hellboy 2. Verdict: Universal’s buggin’ out.

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This robot may not be well versed enough in sports to partake in Robot Soccer, but it’s certainly lazy enough to be a sports fan. With three different modes of control: universal remote, beacon navigation, and thermal sensor following, the RoboStool tries its best to find you, so it can take the weight off your feet or die trying.

Labeled as furniture on demand, the RoboStool was created by Norris Labs, which was kind enough to post schematics to build your very own RoboStool.  You could have it eerily stalk your guests, unwilling to let anyone take a seat without having a comfortable footrest, but you’ll probably turn it into something that can make drinks, like a robot bartender.

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An e-mail from usually-decent accessories manufacturer Proporta landed in my Inbox this morning. It was for a Universal iPod Dock that’s supposed to fit the iPhone, iPod, etc. and charge it via USB. OK. Fantastic, right?

Not really. Problem is, according to the pictures on the product page, it looks like they took a goddamned iPod cable directly from Apple (the logo is still there on the cable!) and shoved it inside a plastic housing that was mass produced in Taiwan, China or Switzerland. I mean, Apple’s official iPod Dock has an audio-out port so you can hook it up to your stereo system. Proporta’s doesn’t it looks like.

So tell me, Proporta: Why should we buy your dock for $22? I see iPod USB cables for $4 online. Buy some Play-Doh for $2 and you have yourself a Universal iPod Dock. I’m not disowning Proporta or writing them off as a company. I just want to know who thought this was a good idea.

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Everyone who travels with a laptop knows that gut-wrenching feeling when you’re far away from an outlet and your battery is at 4%, and to top it off you’re halfway through writing a report for your boss. This is not a feeling anyone wants ever, and so American Power Conversion came out with 3 Universal Notebook Batteries at CES. The 3 models are the Universal Notebook Battery 50, 70, and 90. The smallest one (the 50) retails at $100 and is supposed to provide up to 4 hours of battery life, depending on what you’re charging. What’s great about this model is that it is really small so you can take it almost anywhere without a problem. The middle one (the 70) is set to retail at $150 and is said to give an estimated 6 hours of battery life. This one is a little bigger, and it can go underneath your laptop. Now for the big daddy: the 90 is said to give a whopping 8 hours of extra battery life and is set to retail at $200. This one is just sweet because it fits under your laptop and has an LCD to tell you how much battery is left. If you’re prone to forgetting to charge your notebook, or you just are away from a charger for long periods of time, spending $200 on the big battery might be a great purchase for you. — Nick Rice

90 Watt-hour Universal Battery adds 8 hours of Notebook runtime [Gizmag]