Comedian Stephen Colbert is hosting the Grammys, and to mark the occasion of “Song of the Year” ( Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) ), he pulled out his shiny new iPad. Notable because it’s one of the first out in the open (is he “the first?”). Also notable: No iPads in those obscene celebrity gift baskets people get for attending these things (Jay-Z didn’t even get one, Colbert mocked). And yes, this looked to be the real deal, as you could see the screen changing from portrait to landscape as the moved the iPad around. Update : Now with video.

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Portland, Oregon is so into the green movement that they’re going to cover their federal building from floor to ceiling with a 200-ft. wall made from living, breathing vegetation. The living wall is more than just a pretty facade, however, as city officials claim it will lead to savings of about $280,000 per year in energy costs. Add in some solar panels (also part of the overall $133 million plan), and the building will use about 60-65% less energy than a similar-sized office. And, being a plant, the multi-fin wall is seasonal. Designers say that in the summer its foliage will provide cooling shade; in the winter months the wall will thin, providing light when the weather cooperates. One issue yet to be tackled by architects is irrigation. Rainwater from the roof is one suggestion, while water recycled from the building’s plumbing is another. Another issue is cost. Senators John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have both criticized the project for being a complete waste of economic stimulus money (see also: The Bridge to Nowhere). Even so, the project is on track for completion in 2013. [ New York Times ]

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In this case the burning sensation is “delicious,” not “first degree and could result in your death.” And apparently it really works too, although the advertised “time to awaken” period seems a bit too long for my taste. Effective over an area of 50 feet, the Wasabi alarm can typically wake people up within two-and-a-half minutes. Update : This is a non-traditional fire alarm, for the deaf community. With that in mind, this could certainly save lives. Two years ago this alarm was but a concept. Now it’s a $560 (?!?!) reality. [ CNET via Technabob ]

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Amazon has given in to Macmillan, and will switch to a pricing model that sees bestseller and new hardcover releases offered to customers at $12.99 to $14.99. The official statement is as follows: Dear Customers: Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases. We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative. Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy! Thank you for being a customer. Well, that was quick . [ Kindle Community ]

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Boss: “Jensen, I wouldn’t wipe my ass with your TPS reports, such is my disdain for your work.” Jensen: “That’s too bad, sir, because you just did in the restroom!” You see, readers, this scene unfolded thusly because of this: It’s a machine that recycles paper into toilet paper ! And surprise, this quirky bit of tech is from…Japan! Called White Goat , possibly because someone in the inventor’s office saw one eating some paper one day and then do what animals do naturally after eating such things, the machine creates a roll of TP in about 30 minutes using 40 sheets of office paper: The $100,000 machine goes on sale in Japan this summer, and is expected to save about 60 trees annually. Your job, on the other hand, may still be beyond saving. [ Ubergizmo via Born Rich ]

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The Unclaimed Baggage Center , a real, live place where—wait for it—unclaimed airline baggage goes to market, is a smorgasbord of eclectic lost gadgets, guidance systems and diamonds, oh my: For those gadget lovers amongst us, there’s a $250,000 Navy guidance system. Maybe all the military transports were full that day? Also, there’s a camera designed specifically for the space shuttle. Perhaps someone at NASA was delivering it to a buyer (if that’s the case, we doubt the engines will be “mailed” in quite the same way). Just add some unclaimed weaponry and the Unclaimed Baggage Center might be comparable to the armies in some third world countries. For movie buffs, the original Hoggle puppet from Labyrinth was also lost and found by the Center, as was a real, live snake on a plane (rattlesnake). Indiana Jones might have been flying the day a suitcase full of Egyptian artifacts was lost and never claimed. There were also a number of unclaimed diamonds and jewels, with some of the former having been found hanging out inside a loose sock. [ Mental Floss via Consumerist ]

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The comparisons to another recently revealed tablet are unavoidable, but believe you me the similarities end with the aesthetics. Inside there’s Windows 7 , flash support and multitouch. In fact, the more apt comparison is probably “netbook,” as you can see: There’s the Atom N270 processor, running at 1.6Ghz, for example. And then there’s the 2GB of memory and solid state 32GB drive. Lastly, the replaceable battery on this 8.9-in. multitouch tablet is clocked at a mere four hours, which doesn’t seem that great (saving grace being that is replaceable). Pricing is set at $599 when it launches in March. Impatient types can buy a non-multitouch prototype for $780 right now. [ ExoPC via Engadget ]

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There’s nothing new coming your way in terms of aesthetics from MSI’s line of “C” laptops, but under the hood we’ve got Core i Series processors. One of these fellas even sports an ATI Radeon HD5470 graphics card. The full laptop line includes the CX420, CR420 and CR720. The CX420 sports the aforementioned graphics card. Beyond the chipset and the one graphics-card-sporting laptop, this line isn’t all that exciting (e.g. ho-hum 1366 x 768 14-inch display). That said, this is a budget line, and MSI could very well surprise with some competitive pricing (pricing and release date were not made available in the PR). [ MSI via Engadget ]

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Lumix will flood the market with a new series of F-line point and shoot cameras next month. Officially revealed at CES, the line already had its specs spelled out, but not pricing or release window. Now we have them: FP3 (14.1MP, 720p): $230 FH1 (12MP, 720p): $160 FH3 (14.1MP, 720p): $180 FH20 (14.1MP, 720p): $200. FP1 (12MP): $150 F3 (12.1MP, 720p): $130 All cameras are slated for a mid-February release. [ About.com via Engadget ]

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Lumix will flood the market with a new series of F-line point and shoot cameras next month. Officially revealed at CES, the line already had its specs spelled out, but not pricing or release window. Now we have them: FP3 (14.1MP, 720p): $230 FH1 (12MP, 720p): $160 FH3 (14.1MP, 720p): $180 FH20 (14.1MP, 720p): $200. FP1 (12MP): $150 F3 (12.1MP, 720p): $130 All cameras are slated for a mid-February release. [ About.com via Engadget ]

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Future comic book heroes may be referred to as Men of Spongy Steel if one researcher’s experimental metal makes it out of the lab and into real-world applications. There’s no fancy name attached to this stuff yet, so we’ll just call it steel foam for now. Name or no name, its various applications (tested in the lab) still sound incredible: Rough traffic accident calculations show that by inserting two pieces of her composite metal foam behind the bumper of a car traveling 28 mph, the impact would feel the same to passengers as impact traveling at only 5 mph. Then there’s the smash test, wherein researcher and materials scientist Afsaneh Rabiei takes a piece of steel and a piece of foam steel and smashes them both into a base plate at high speed. After the test, there’s a clear indentation in the traditional steel, while the foam shows no damage whatsoever. Energy absorption, and all that. As the article notes, metal foam isn’t exactly a new invention, but these tests show Rabiei’s may be the strongest version yet. Already scientists’ minds are swimming with applications for this super spongy steel, most notably body armor , artificial limbs, boats and airplanes. [ Live Science via Neatorama ]

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The writing was on the wall as recently as 2 a.m. this morning , and an open letter from Macmillan CEO John Sargent has confirmed everything we suspected: Macmillan books were pulled from Amazon store as part of a strong-arm tactic in the coming eBook price war. [ Publishers Marketplace via Boing Boing ]

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