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Tech NewsCourt Rejects Studios and Networks’ Copyright Beef With Cloud-Storage DVRs
Waaay back in 2006, Cablevision planned to roll out a DVR which stored shows on Cablevision’s servers rather than on hard disk inside your set-top box. As they are wont to do, the studios and networks saw an opportunity to suck more revenue out of the system, citing obscure copyright conditions which call for fees … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech News
Rumor: Nokia Working on Zune Marketplace Integration
Zune Scene’s been tipped off by a “well placed source” inside Microsoft that Nokia is working on integrating Zune Marketplace into its phones. What’s the deal here? Would Microsoft take what they wanted to be a complete vertical solution—Zune player with Zune Marketplace with Zune software on the PC—and let other people get their hands … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Porn Studios Form Their Own MPAA To Sue File Sharers
It’s not that the major porn studios were alright with you torrenting porn vids online, it’s that they didn’t yet organize themselves to form an entity to do something about it. No longer. Think of the new organization PAK as the MPAA of the porn world, planning to target websites that host or track torrents … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
How It Feels to Fly a Jetpack
I flip the ignition switch and 250 pounds of engines, turbines and gasoline roar hello. In terms of horsepower, I was carrying a small sports car on my back. I’d like to say that I grin confidently and give the cameras a wink, like some young Chuck Yeager or Evel Knievel, but the smile leaves … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Police Drummer Stewart Copeland Lays Down Custom Interface Tones For BlackBerry Bold
I’m loving this trend of prominent and/or English rockers with ambient/prog tendencies laying down soundtracks for gadgets and software. Most famously we have Brian Eno composing the “Windows Sound” for Win 95, then Robert Fripp of King Crimson helping out with Vista’s sound set. Now Police drummer Stewart Copeland has done the same for the … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech News
Nintendo Wants To Make Wii MotionPlus As Cheap As Possible
Nintendo’s President Iwata, the man who wants US customers to believe that there will be a Wii shortage this Christmas not caused by Nintendo themselves, has just said that they want the Wii MotionPlus to be as cheap as possible because it doesn’t cost too much to manufacture. How cheap? They’re not sure yet. We … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Foxconn Building 800,000 iPhones a Week (But Quality Control Might Not Be Great)
Citing a source “close to Apple with direct knowledge of the numbers,” TechCrunch is reporting that the company who makes the iPhone 3G for Apple, Foxconn, is pumping them out a rate of 800,000 phones a week. At that rate, that’s 40 million iPhones a year. Dandy, except that TechCrunch says “there may be some … Continued
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Tech News
What You Missed Last Weekend
Seriously. Stop skipping out on Gizmodo’s weekend coverage to see The Dark Knight again. And again. And again. Sure your efforts are pushing it to the biggest grossing movie of all time, but you’re missing out on this: • There be the new terminator, caught in a screen shot from upcoming Terminator: Salvation. • Getting … Continued
By Jack Loftus -
Tech News
John Carmack Says iPhone As Powerful as Dreamcast, More Powerful Than DS and PSP Combined
We’re all for making hyperbolic statements about how powerful the iPhone is as a gaming system, but John Carmack’s taking things to the next level. As you remember, Sega has previously said that the iPhone is as powerful as their Dreamcast system, and EA has previously said that it’s more powerful than the DS, but … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Reports of PS3 2.42 Firmware Difficulties Surface
Another PS3 update, another round of complaints. It seems as if people on the official Playstation forums are having issues with discs not reading, games locking up, and fans blowing out of control under the recent 2.42 firmware update. We don’t know if it’s just uber-paranoid people who were burned by 2.40 or an actual … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech News
USBFever Reinvents iPhone 3G SIM-Eject Tool, Sells it for $3
When Apple reinvented the paperclip for the famous SIM-eject tool, it was at least a free gizmo, included in the package. USBFever clearly thought there was a gap in this market though, and have reinvented the reinvention. The new SIM-eject tool has a rubber-bung top that allows it to be stored in your iPhone 3G’s … Continued
By Kit Eaton -
Tech News
NEC Packs All Blu-ray Functions on Single Chip, Smaller Players to Come
The EMMA 3PF is the first large-scale integration (LSI) chip to pack all of the necessary Blu-ray controllers onto a single piece of silicon. The new chip performs all audio and video decoding, analog to digital conversions, and HDMI output. It supports the Blu-ray 2.0 profile and will start shipping in September 2008, allowing player … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech NewsDrum-Playing Robot Doesn’t Quite Threaten the Livelihood of Real Drummers
Seeing as drum machines are pretty ubiquitous in music these days, the idea of a machine that plays the drums doesn’t sound all that groundbreaking. But what about a robot that plays the drums? Eh? Not impressed? What if I told you it played the most rudimentary beats possible? Now are you impressed? I thought … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
Tech News
Zeemote JS1 Nunchuk Gaming Controller Bundles With Sony Ericsson W760
The Zeemote analog joystick controller for Bluetooth phones is now starting to see the light of day, at least for lucky Dutch W760 buyers, who will get it free as a promo package. This isn’t the Wii-like motion-control version the company has been promising, and still no word on U.S. pricing or availability, but it … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech NewsGadgets
BlackBerry Curve 8320 Sunset Rises on T-Mobile Today
BlackBerry’s Curve gets a “sunset” rust-color treatment, in the 8320 version available from T-Mobile from today. It’s the standard 2-megapixel cam, Wi-Fi and quad-band phone, but in this case it’s enabled for unlimited HotSpot Calling from T-Mobile hot-spots and Wi-Fi networks, including seamless hand-off to GSM if you leave the Wi-Fi signal area. It’s at … Continued
By Kit Eaton -
Tech NewsGadgets
Asus R710 GPS with Head-Up Display Demoed on Video
This is some video of Asus’ swanky new GPS model that projects data onto your windshield, saving you from distracting yourself from the road by peering at a device screen. So will the R710 make you feel like you’re flying a fighter aircraft with glitzy HUD graphics? No, not really, as it projects just some … Continued
By Kit Eaton -
Tech NewsInstaller 4 Beta For iPhone 2.0 Leaked
The folks at InstallerApps claim that they’ve come across a leaked early version of Installer.app 4, the version that works with the iPhone 2.0 software. The download link works, but the installation process requires SSH and command line work to install and is apparently still an early rough beta. So, install at your own risk … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech NewsGadgets
Circuit City Demands All Copies of Mad Magazine with Ad Parody Destroyed
In this month’s Mad Magazine, there’s an ad parody for Circuit City (Sucker City! Oh, Mad Magazine you rascal!) that takes aim at the electronics retailer. Always across the street from a Best Buy! Expensive TVs! The price always goes down right after you bought it! Wah wahhhh! I wasn’t even aware that Circuit City … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
Tech NewsExploding Billboard Advertises by Destroying Advertisement
Way back in the days of 2007, courier company Deadline Express treated their New Zealand patrons to a particularly evocative printed advertisement. It was a $14,000 billboard that featured a timer counting down to when it would blow up, proving “when Deadline Couriers gives you a time, they actually mean it.” We can’t speak for … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
MPAA Want to Bung-Up “Analog Hole,” Disable Piracy-Enabling Cable Box Outputs
Movies movies movies… we all love a good show, but the lovely MPAA is up to some pretty strange shenanigans to ensure that you get to see some shows just once—until they’re out on DVD at least. The fab guys at the Motion Picture Association of America are petitioning the FCC on behalf of some … Continued
By Kit Eaton