Recently at BBG Boing Boing

• LSD-discoverer Albert Hofmann wrote a letter to Steve Jobs asking him how/why LSD was useful to him. What else did Hofmann say?

• Rob reviewed the HTC Touch Pro 2. Check out the verdict.

• Steven reviewed Garmin's ultra-thin nüvi 1490T GPS unit.

• Joel reviewed the Mophie Juice Pack Air battery case for the iPhone.

• An art installation with enormous solar-powered flowers.

• A beautiful vintage world clock from 1975.

• Core77 made a bicycle. Expensive, but attractive.

• College students built a PDA-powered rig that accurately measure muscle strength.

• Joel posted a video review of the Vita-Mix 5200. Check out his mug and his mesh cap.

• Greenpeace released its annual report rating several major electronics manufacturers. How'd Apple do? What about Nintendo? Find out!

• Samsung filed a patent for a butterfly-like cell phone built with "doped polysilicon."

• If a Leatherman multi-tool doesn't have a knife, is it still a Leatherman? Hmmmm...

• We discovered a toy called the "Fighting Cock" &mdash and we're going to give one away to one lucky reader! Discuss all this and more at BBG.

The Biology of Music: Why we like what we like

As a rule, humans are very picky about their music. I don't mean stylistic choices. Whether you like country, western, or both is up to you. I'm talking about something more basic than that. A tone is a sound, like a note before it gets a specific name, and a scale is a collection of tones group... More.

Swell Season on Boing Boing Video

Download MP4 - View at YouTube Two years ago, Glen Hansard, singer/guitarist for the Irish group The Frames, and Markéta Irglová, a teenaged classical pianist from the Czech Republic, starred in a small independent film about a busker (like Hansard himself) and an immigrant flower seller on the ... More.

Major record labels gang up and screw over indie record store

A small indie record store owner in Ottawa, Canada, has plead guilty to a charge of copyright infringement for importing rare CDs from abroad. Apparently, these discs (which are themselves licensed, as far as I can tell) aren't licensed for sale in Canada, and Canadian law (apparently) bans this kin... More.

Steorn's Orbo free energy system on display

Steorn, developers of free-energy gadget called Orbo, have managed to survive for six years without having successfully demonstrated the technology in public. It must be some kind of record. But yesterday, an Orbo was installed at the Waterways Ireland Visitor Centre, and you can see a live video s... More.