Gizmodo
In Brief
In Brief
In Brief
Toyota to Build Helper Robots
While we don't foresee the Scooba being trained to wash the old and infirm, Toyota is planning on creating a set of robots to assist in day-to-day childcare and nursing home supervision. Citing a declining birthrate and an increasingly aged population, Toyota's Japanese researchers have decided that it will be easier to make silicon service monsters instead of maybe spending a few more hours a night with the wife and maybe making some more babies. More »
Laptops / PCs
Computex Coverage Round-Up
Computex 2005—which is very far away in the Mystical Land of Taipei—is essentially the Pacific Rim equivalent of the CES/old school CeBIT. More »
In Brief
Banana Cellphone Cozy
So you've just about given up on things. The wig isn't working, the biker gloves aren't getting you anywhere, and the too-small tee just is just too 1999. What do do? Wrap your cellie in a rubber banana! More »
In Brief
Batman Begins Stroller
Start the little consumers early with this branded Aprica Batman Begins stroller complete with batrang and patented Joker Sugar Teat. Yes, the Japanese have done it again: in a baffling case of tie-in marketing, this all-black Bat stroller is just a standard Aprica W-Mini Eye-to-Eye Thermo stroller with a bat logo on the side. More »
In Brief
Skin Alcohol Sensor
Inventor Dennis Bellehumeur has created a system for testing alcohol consumption through the skin which allows for spot-checking yourself before you hit the open road with too many Jack and Coke's in your tum. More »
In Brief
Are Kids Really Hot for Gadgets?
A story from the Times' news service talks up the new trend for kids: iPods (!?!). Well really, they're talking about 'gadgets' in general, talking about how the success of the iPod has made it "part of the uniform" for teenagers who know how to turn their parents' screws. So that's good, because I like talking about gadgets. But what's the next must-have piece of electronics for children? The gaming devices are selling well, but they're not must have. Increasingly, I'm thinking the iPod was an anomaly, and there isn't going to be another mass market brand breakthrough item for a while. Why? Because it's been three years and we're still talking about iPods. More »
In Brief
T-Mobile 3G: Not Until 2007
T-Mobile has finally stated when to expect their 3G high-speed wireless data service rollout in the United States:T-Mobile USA is preparing the launch of new third-generation (3G) mobile phone services — which allow video phone calls and music downloads over mobiles — in 2007, even though it has yet to make a formal decision to bid for the necessary spectrum.More »
Laptops / PCs
Falcon Northwest Mach V Reviewed (Verdict: Faster Than Necessary)
It's good to visit these top-end gaming PCs from time to time, just to reflect on what it must be like to have more money than brains. The Falcon Northwest Mach V's claim to fame are dual 512MB Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultras in SLI—and each card goes for $1k a pop. That brings the entire rig into the eight large range, including the automotive-quality paint job and liquid cooled 4GHz processor. But is it worth it? Despite PC Mag's 3.5 star rating, I can tell you right now, no. Not at all. Never, ever is. Doom 3, one of the only game engines out there that even has a mode for 512MB cards, didn't even look appreciable better. More »
In Brief
HOWTO Change Windows XP Home to Windows XP Pro
We can't vouch for this hack, because we are too lazy to try it (and we never, ever violate copyrights or EULAs), but kind reader Martin explains the process for turning an Windows XP Home install disc to a Windows XP Pro disc after the jump. More »
In Brief
Economy of Scales: Lemur Touch Pad Hands On
A custom, Star Trek-style touch screen interface for music? Jazz Mutant's Lemur sounded improbable when it was first announced last fall. It's real, though, and shipping from Cycling `74 in the next few weeks at a price that's a bit more probable for high-end touch tech: US$2500. That's likely to put Lemur out of reach of garage bands, but multi-touch could be the future for digital music making and computing in general. Traditional touch screens like the cute new Nokia 770 only let you touch one location at a time, making them a minor improvement on a mouse. But the Lemur is as pricey as it is partly because you can touch multiple locations at once. You could even play keyboard on it. My colleague in San Francisco went hands-on with this baby and met its creators last week; other "touching sessions" are coming soon. Verdict: heavy, pricey, but a glimpse of what's to come. More »
Laptops / PCs
Itronix Duo-Touch Rugged Tablet
Itronix, makers of uber-rugged tablets, have created a new Duo-Touch system which uses both a touch-screen and an active digitizer for twice the tablet excitement. Aimed at the emergency services and military market, you probably might want to consider something a little lighter provided you don't expect to be dropping yours into a pond at a slushy winter crime scene. More »
In Brief
Sony PCS-G50 Videoconference Box
Here's a product in an attractive case, with complementary peripherals, with an obtuse and uninformative name, dedicated to a single purpose that can be effectively emulated by a PC for about half the 3000€ price. Oh wow, and it's from Sony. Who would have guessed? More »
In Brief
Pokia Launches New Brand, Product: Hulger P*Phone
The boys behind Pokia have launched their new brand, called 'Hulger,' as well as their first product, the 'P*Phone.' It's a corded handset for your cell phone, just like the Pokia models were, with the notable exception that it's going to be mass produced and retailed, making those one-off eBay auctions a thing of the past. Even more exciting (or, you know, exciting at all) is news that they've got Bluetooth and VoIP models in the pipe. A working, wireless P*Phone would throw a lot of people for a loop. More »
In Brief
iRobot Developing "Battlefield Vehicle" with John Deere
The AP has a nice profile piece on Helen Greiner, one of the co-founders of iRobot, who is coincidentally also launching their next wave of home robots, the floor-mopping Scooba. While we know just about everything we need to about iRobot's current offering (the Roomba, mostly, along with the PackBot military bot), there is a tantalizing hint about their next military unit, a "semiautonomous battlefield vehicle" being co-developed by John Deere. More »
In Brief
VC-F117 Nighthawk Video Card Heat Sink
The Inquirer is all over the Computex trade show in Taiwan, including Gizmodo favorite Charlie Demerjian, the man we've insulted not once, but twice (including one to his face, which is rare honor, indeed). While all their coverage is worth a nod, check out this crazy video card heat sink called the 'VC-F117 Nighthawk,' clearly modeled after our stealth fighters by way of the Decepticons logo. It may not keep anything cool, but it will look awesome stuck perpendicular to your acrylic case window. More »
In Brief
Simple Hack Upgrades XP Home to XP Pro
German computer magazine C'T is reporting a procedure that will let you change Windows XP Home Edition to Windows XP Professional just by changing two bytes in an installation file (implying, at least to us, that it can only be done on a fresh install, not an existing one). There's no information online, though, so if anyone has the magazine and would like to give us a more detailed breakdown, we'd have 1000 dankes for you. More »
In Brief
