Blue 8GB Zune Confirmed Along with a Ton of New Features
A cool new blue Zune was spotted at Fry's today, complete with some new features. The first, “Device to Cloud,” allows users to access wireless hotspots to update music collections, browse Zune Marketplace, refresh Channels (another feature), exchange favorites, and buy tagged FM songs. "Channels" are custom stations that deliver "personalized playlists" to the Zune, and the cleverly named "Games" feature is, well, about games. Rumor is a few might even come preloaded on this blue Zune. Lastly, the "Buy From FM" feature lets you listen to FM radio stations and tag the songs purchase when you sync with a PC. Full specs and other details down below. More »Mod Connects Xbox 360 QWERTY Pad to PSP, Fanboy Heads Explode
l0rdnic0, an administrator over at Acid Mods, has video of the unholy union of an Xbox 360 QWERTY with a PSP Slim. While the mod works just fine, as you can see in the video, we worry about the fanboys. Seeing something like this in action must be kind of like how Brendan Fraser's character felt we he woke up for the first time in Encino Man. It doesn't make sense. It can't make sense. Because then everything you've based you life on—every waking moment—was a lie. More »Orbiting Aliens Can Leech Internet Access From ISS Thanks to New Wifi Network
There may be a virus aboard, and the crappers were once waste distributors instead of collectors, but the one criticism we can no longer level at the International Space Station is a lack of wireless. That's because it has it now! Let astrophysics tests no longer be confined to the lab—astronauts can now complete them, blogger-style, from the comforts of their bunk.
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Apple Admits British Man Invented iPod in 1979, Uses Him to Win Patent Lawsuit
There you have it folks. The real inspiration for Apple's game-changing iPod, courtesy of the world's unluckiest Briton, Kane Kramer, 52 (not including the fifth Beatle). You see, in the dark technological days of 1979, Kramer saw a beacon of light in his IXI. Capable of playing a mind-busting 3.5 minutes of music, the IXI prototype was Kramer's ticket out of obscurity. Sadly, when he couldn't raise enough venture funding to renew the IXI patent in 1988, the device became the Zune of its time, and was largely forgotten. Fast forward to the present, when Apple, fresh from making year-over-year record profits with the iPod, needed Kramer something fierce to bail them out of a lawsuit jam with Burst.com. More »Fresh Pics of Collapsible, Portable Microsoft Arc Laser Mouse
Thanks to tipster Alex, we've got some fresh hands-on pics of the new Microsoft Arc mouse, which we got a first look of back in July. The $60 mouse folds down to half its size for easy portability thanks to what the packaging calls a "strong metal hinge," and the glossy veneer, to quote Blam, is indeed "flip and drool" worthy. More »Apple Kinda Had iPhone Copy/Paste Figured Out with Newton 15 Years Ago (But Not Really)
There's a lot of hypothesizing and App Store creating going on today because the supposedly simple act of cutting and pasting is absent from the iPhone. What's strange about all this is that Apple sorta had it figured out 15 years ago with the Newton. As the video shows, cutting and pasting with a touch screen or stylus on a Mac product, circa 1993, couldn't have been easier. Of course, back then it was with a stylus (not a finger); and then there's the fact that touching and dragging on an iPhone is reserved for the magnifier function... wait, maybe this isn't as easy as it appears. Back to the drawing board. [Boing Boing]ESPN NFL Sunday Countdown Now Features Virtual "Augmented Reality" Madden Players
Like it or not, the NFL 2008/2009 season is in full effect today. What's a jock-hating geek to do? Well, how about compromise? That's what EA and ESPN are doing with their NFL Sunday Countdown coverage today, as the two mega brands have reached an agreement that puts the Madden franchise front and center on any given Sunday. Called the EA Sports Virtual Playbook, it will combine ESPN talking heads with virtual players (see pic). What would have happened if Tom Brady threw a quick out to Wes Welker, instead of that incomplete to Randy Moss? Now ESPN can show you, thanks to the software and a special digital camera. Of course, if you're like me and hate Madden (preferring instead the blocky goodness of yesteryear's Tecmo Super Bowl), you're still out of luck. [Gamespot]Last IFA an iPhone Saved My Life
That avalanche of TVs, fridges, iPod docks, and iPod dock fridges that some people like to call IFA 2008 but I call Satan's Hell on Earth, agonized to its end this week. About bloody time. To me, the star of this fair wasn't the Sony ZX1, the Samsung X360 or even Addy's bags, but one now-ancient gadget that saved my life not one, but two times at the show: my good old trusty iPhone.
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New Dell Keyboard and Mouse Are Destined for Millions of Cubicles Across the Globe
When we're talking office PC accessories today, there's boring, and then there's Dell boring. Regular boring gets you a quick trip to irrelevancy. Dell boring, on the other hand, gets your product onto the desktops of a million cubicle drones the world over. And that's probably where we'll see these pre-release products from Dell. The safe, non-threatening design reminded TechWareLabs of Logitech, which makes sense given the G3/G5 design cues, but we at Gizmodo practically fell asleep. The LED indicator is pretty, but unless you're a typist into some serious keystroke entry porn, we imagine you can easily hold off on buying these and just use them when they show up at work in a few months. [TechWareLabs]Mitsubishi 65-inch LaserVue Rear Projection 1080p TV Priced (Expensively)
Last we left Mitsubishi's LaserVue 1080p rear-projection monster, we had size and shape, but price was a mystery. The mystery was solved today, as BitStream discovered the massive HDTV will set you back $7,000 when it ships later this month. There's still no pricing info for the 73-inch LaserVue, which was also revealed in June. The 7k figure is comparable to what manufacturers are asking for similarly sized HDTVs in the space, but this one has frickin' laser beams. And unlike military lasers, these create a feast for your eyes, instead of your stomach. [BitStream via CrunchGear]
Solar Powered Car Attempts to Circle Globe as Slowly as Possible
Another day, another golf cart size, three-wheeled solar-powered car with style ripped from the 1980's. At least with this one, the Solar Taxi, there's a record at stake, as Swiss "adventurer" Louis Palmer is taking the car on a trip across the planet without using a drop of gasoline. He'll be the first to do it, and we're hoping his example will inspire more alternative energy cars (hopefully a few have that elusive fourth wheel). The 35 MPH top speed is going to be a tough sell with us Yanks. Palmer, my man, haven't you heard? Women and men alike get hot and bothered by power and speed. More »iPhone 2.1 and iTunes 8 Available Next Tuesday, Says Ars
Ars Technica is now backtracking from its initial prediction that iTunes 8 won't be a hit in Apple's Let's Rock September 9 event. Not only iTunes 8 will be available then, but they say Apple will also release the iPhone 2.1 update that in theory will fix its huge password security flaw. Jacqui hints that the 2.1 update will have new secret features that are absent from the beta. Repeat with me: COPY PASTE COPY PASTE COPY PASTE. And fix the bloody thing. [Ars Technica]




















