An internal investigation is looking into the misuse of National Security Letters to gain access to Americans' phone records, top bureau officials tell privacy groups.

Filed under: Wearables

Air conditioned clothing is far from new, but thanks to Entrak, now the civilians in the crowd can don their own AC-equipped vest -- if you don't mind getting stared at while out in public, that is. The aptly-named ventilationVest is dubbed a "personal climate system" wrapped inside of an otherwise vanilla polyester vest, and reportedly utilizes "two battery-powered ventilation units concealed in its side pockets to circulate air" through a permeable liner. Additionally, the vest weighs just under three-pounds with all the gadgetry strapped in, and can purportedly keep a fresh breeze flowin' for a whopping eight hours sans a recharge. Unfortunately, there's no word on how much this fan-filled article will run you, and yes, it looks like that clashtastic blue will be your only color choice when ordering.

[Via MedLaunches]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

You knew it was coming: the infrared automatic toilet paper dispenser (via Boing Boing). Given the proliferation of similar devices for paper towels in restrooms, this isn't particularly surprising. What's slightly more amusing here, though, is that the company making the device, TP giant Kimberley-Clark, isn't even trying to pitch the device on environmental or other grounds: no, it just wants to save companies money by dispensing less toilet paper, since a company exec says "People generally in life will take what you give them." Apparently the company's research has shown that the optimal amount of toilet paper -- presumably from a financial aspect, and not a user-experience one -- is 20 inches' worth, or 5 standard-length sheets, so it's preset the device to dispense that amount. For generous bathroom providers, the device can be set to dispense 24 inches; cheapskates can set it to only deliver 16. Of course, they seem to be ignoring the fact that users could simply just wait for the device's timer to reset and get another 20 inches of paper, either because they need it, or just out of spite. Every industry feels the need for innovation to grow sales; whether it's actually needed or not is a wholly different matter.