Gizmodo
Laptops / PCs
Blue Screen of Cake
I have no story for you, but it looks like someone has had one blue screen too many if they feel the need to memorialize. Would that all laptop errors were so delicious to fix. (Thanks, Psymonetta!) More »
In Brief
Wikipedia: Japanese Toilets
This isn't particularly new—in fact, it could be as old as the hills, if the hills were made in the '90s. But there has never been a fancy Japanese toilet control panel I haven't enjoyed looking at and this is certainly no exception. Even better, it's just a small excerpt from a fantastic article on Wikipedia that details more about Japanese toilets and their Number 2 cultural obsession than any one person really needs to know. More »
In Brief
The Wege House
For the Yo-Yo Ma types who find the insatiable and immediate urge to play a stringed instrument at the drop of a wig, all you must do at The Wege House is don rosin-powdered gloves and have at it on any of the house's integrated instruments. The House architecture becomes the resonating chamber of the instruments, with strings precisely lined, allowing you to be completely surrounded by the music.We have chosen to explore in our time on Earth an idea: Could we increase the size of the instrument and walk inside? To walk inside the instrument and play the instrument is to feel the sound in your body, within your bones and within your mind.You certainly couldn't increase the New Age Zen-meets-Honey I Shrunk The Kids philosophy. Pictures and videos give you some idea, but I can't imagine it adequately capturing the experience. More »
In Brief
Win a Free N-Gage on Kotaku
Kotaku is giving away a—now don't laugh—Nokia N-Gage QD, as well as a copy of what he calls their "best yet game," which is awesome, because there's nothing I love more than a good game of Yet. The QD is a pretty decent Series 60 phone, too, especially for free. Go win it and think of all the fun times you'll have explaining it to your friends. More »
In Brief
BlackBerry Thumb
For now, you can file the 'Blackberry Thumb' issue along side the folder where you would have kept your worries about cellphone radiation, had you not forgotten them since that tumor pressed too firmly into your hippocampus. Sure, dinking around on thumbboards probably isn't exactly the optimal use of your opposable digits, but it's likely no worse than the dreaded "Nintendo Thumb" that struck down a whole generation of good typists, who now are cursed with occasional involuntary run-ons of 'ABABSELECTSTART.' Until this doctor in the UK can actually point to a documented case of someone suffering from tendentious, I think I'll keep promoting the thumbboard as one of the best mobile input devices we have ABABSELECTSTART available. (Thanks, Aaron!) More »
In Brief
iTECH Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard Reviewed
I guess David Ciccone really wants you to read this review of the iTECH Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard, since he's sent it to me four times across two different email addresses (perseverance is the key, kids!) He's got a full-blown crush on the thing—if there were an HTML entity for rendering little flowers around something's name I think he'd use it—but I think I will remain a bit more tempered until I have a chance to play with one myself. As David says in his review, the angle of attack is important in a device like this, which is exactly the sort of thing you may not have much control over in situations where you'd want to use it. Still, undeniably dorky cool. More »
In Brief
Gawker Launches Lifehacker, Gridskipper
These are the things I hate: Powerbooks that blow up on the same day that new models come out. Windows' tantalizing burst of speed compared to my Mac, punctuated by lock-ups every few seconds. The Killers. Firefox 1.0 being less stable than Firefox 0.8. A lack of proper backups. More »
In Brief
Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505
Casio has released the new XP-P505, a 5-megapixel camera with a 5x optical lens and a 1cm macro mode (that means you can get really close to that bug or flower before you accidentally crush it). It has a decent start-up time of just under a second and can also take movies in MPEG-4 format at 30 frames per second, stored on SD/MMC memory cards. More »
Laptops / PCs
PC Air Conditioner
While many PC enthusiasts work hard to keep their fire-breathing, overclocked machines cool, I've never seen anyone try to keep cool with their PC. That's exactly what the "Personal Computer's Air Conditioner" seems to be, though, unless there's some heat exchanging going on that I don't quite understand. I have to admit there's something to it—if you're going to have a PC that sounds like an air conditioner, it might as well keep you cool. I hope it doesn't drip. More »
In Brief
Samsung Digimax V700
Samsung won't be satisfied until they've dipped a toe in every gadget pond, it seems. Their new Digimax V700 aims at this year's consumer camera target with a 7-megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom for less than $500 (and probably far less than that soon after launch). Available in three colors, the V700 should be out as soon as 'now' (although I'd wait for a proper review before picking one up. Consumer cameras in this class can vary wildly in quality). More »
In Brief
MiG-29 Instrument Panel Clock
Your lover still won't call you "Maverick"—you can at least get some ego-stroking respect from your desk. While not as fun at parties as the Geiger-triggering substances siphoned off the black market as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union, the MiG-29 instrument panel clock will keep time even at 1,800 miles per hour or while pulling multiple Gs. Siegler & Co. is selling them as part of their "Sovietski Collection" for $179.00, where they tell us the clocks are "terrific for your desk, home or office. Or, use in your plane! One-year warranty. May not meet U.S. F.A.A. requirements." More »
Laptops / PCs
Apple Powerbooks Get Minor Update (Still G4)
Apple has finally released updated Powerbooks—and they aren't G5s. Top-end processor speeds max out at 1.67GHz and include 8x SuperDrives DVD burners. The good news is that all models now come with 512MB of memory standard, although only on SuperDrive models—hopefully that's going to be typical across the Apple line. More »
In Brief
Seven Japanese Corporation Names
TechJapan has a fun (but too short!) article that details the histories of seven Japanese electronics corporations and how they got their name. Did you know, for instance, that Mitsubishi was named after the thunder god who first colonized Australia by having sex with Ayer's Rock, whose progeny went on to carve the first dive-bombing Zeros out of eucalyptus? History is fun when you make it up! More »
In Brief
Vodafone and Toshiba's Motion Sensing Phone
Vodafone Japan is getting two new Toshiba handsets, the V603T and V603SH, both of which are clamshells. The V603SH has a motion sensor, allowing users to wave it around to perform basic commands (not unlike using mouse gestures)—neat, but ultimately pointless, I fear. At the very least, it's golden, which should be worth some price premium. Its companion V603T appears to be essentially the same phone minus the motion sensing—in its case, Toshiba is focusing on the ability to pick-up analog television broadcasts (something the V603SH can do, as well). More »
In Brief
Verizon LG VX8000 Reviewed
Mobiledia has a nice review of the LG VX8000, a pedestrian-looking but otherwise very swanky clamshell that works on Verizon's high-speed EV-DO network. They seem to be pretty impressed with the capabilities that a high-speed cellular network affords, like streaming television and really fast internet (durrr). The VX8000 even has enough oomph to play 3D games, which look sort of awful compared to a PSP, let's say, but decent enough compared to the last generation of mobile gaming gear. On the flip side, it doesn't have Bluetooth or memory cards (two things that would challenge Verizon's ability to sell you content over and over and over again). More »
In Brief
Olympus R1000 Ruggish PDA
Built to withstand the hottest lava flows (or at least being placed in a Humvee's tire tracks for a press photo), Olympus has announced the world's first "Tough Digital Assistant". Configurable in both milquetoast Win CE.Net 4.2 or the hairy, bearded Linux option, it can also include both Bluetooth and 802.11b, if you chose, ruggedly transmitting radio waves capable of traversing the rockiest electromagnetic spectrum. They claim it can withstand a four-foot drop onto concrete, but strangely can't withstand concrete dropped from four feet above it (probably; they won't let us try). More »
In Brief
