<![CDATA[Gizmodo: boring but important stuff]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[Gizmodo: boring but important stuff]]> http://gizmodo.com/tag/boring but important stuff http://gizmodo.com/tag/boring but important stuff <![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> deliveryman.jpgVerizon FiOS is getting an upgrade, and in typical FiOS fashion it will be rolled out s-l-o-w-l-y. The lucky users in Lewisville, Texas (seriously?) will be the first to upgrad to a 2.4Gbps download connection split between 32-64 people.

How many times have you been waiting for your new gadget to ship only to have a delivery issue? UPS just introduced a new Delivery Intercept feature. It will allow you to do things like change the shipping address or have them hold it at the shipping depot for pickup.

9 months. That's how long it took Blu-ray to grab its first 100,000 seller, Casino Royale. Not only that, but it hit this milestone faster then DVD, which took 11 months to hit that goal.

Microsoft has admitted that they are to blame for the compromised Xbox Live accounts. Their support staff was subject to pretexting. Way to go originaly blaming us dumb users, when it was actually your own staff.

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Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:14:43 EDT blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=247564&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"You're right, my camera does have 8 Megapixels!"—ripfire4
Ok, today we're trying to try something new at BbIS, connect all the stories together.

First off we have motion computing launching their LE1700 slate tablet. The highend will top out at $2200 and sports a 12.1-inch touch screen and a 1.5GHz Core2Duo processor.

Now from processors to chipsets. IBM has created an optical chipset that will allow us to move files online up to 8x faster then current methods. How fast is that? Try 160 Gigabits per second. But it looks like the parts needed won't be in great enough supply until 2010.

See where this weaving goes after the jump.

From optical to optics. Scientists at Johns Hopkins and UC: Santa Barbra are finally giving back to the lab rat community. After years of harmful tests they decided to do one where they gave rats the ability to see in color.

And speaking of vision, check out the video glasses from Lumus, the PD-20. It attempts to give you the benefits of the other typical video screens, but without the impending doom caused by blocking your vision.

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Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:29:09 EDT blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=247217&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Today in Giz: Hello Weekend ]]> Weekend, the sultry mistress, has come yet again. So to get ready, come check out what Giz has been working on all day.

First off our own lab rat, Louis Ramirez, is trying to save what is left of his lush head of hair with the Laser Comb. While there aren't any results yet, we're hopeful that some of it will grow back eventually.

The PS3 has obliterated the other folding@home competition. With only 13,000 PS3 running the program, it jumped to the number one spot counting for over 56 percent of the computing power in the program.

Last week we asked you how Adam Frucci should destroy his Motorola V710 cellphone. You voted to let it burn. And burn it did, check out the video.

And finally, we answered those lowly questions that until now, were still unanswered about the Apple TV. And as always send in any other questions, concerns, or paranoid conspiracy theories you have about any new gadgets here.

Now go and have some fun. Unless you work weekends, in that case get ready for work.

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Fri, 23 Mar 2007 20:53:03 EDT blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=246799&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]>

"Who is this now famous adult as a teenager?
A) Elton John
B) Steve Wozniak
C) Billy Jean King"
BuccoBobby
Well, it looks like those silly little portable systems from Nintendo and Sony might have something to them. Analyst David Cole is betting that by 2011 they will overtake their console brethren, and the DS will become the No. 1 selling system overall.

Microsoft wants to let everyone know that the rumor going around about Xbox Live accounts being hacked/stolen isn't true. I don't know if I believe them though. It's a tough call, since we're dealing with a company trying to save its ass and video game message boards, both of which are notorious for lying.

Find out where the Motorola Q is going and what Baseball team is going solar after the jump.

Amp'd Mobile is getting their very own version of the Motorola Q. It should be available in April for $199 bundled with the carrier's usual slew of entertainment like MTV and Comedy Central content.

Finally, the San Francisco Giants are going to become the first professional baseball team to have their stadium be powered (at least partially) by solar panels. Maybe with the added power they can add some heaters, because that park gets freezing cold.

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Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:20:01 EDT blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=246423&view=rss&microfeed=true
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Woof! Woof! Quote me!
What would make Bill Gates think that he could beat real soccer player, Rafael Marquez, at his own sport even if it was on the Xbox? Well he tried, and failed, 2-1.

Research firm, Interpret, is claiming that the reach of video games is bigger then just their sales figures. Well duh! I've played more games in my lifetime then I've owned. I'm sure you all have too. Hopefully the in-game advertisers don't catch wind of this report.

Find out who Stephen Netherton is & what the CEO of Intel is doing in Beijing after the jump.

Intel confirmed that the reason their CEO, Paul Otellini, is headed to Beijing is for a big announcement next week. Don't get too excited, rumor has it that the big announcement will only be a new chip fabrication plant in China.

And I thought that we were gadget crazed. Check out this guy, Stephen Netherton a finance director for some vegetable oil company, swindled almost $2,000,000 from company accounts. And why did he do this? In order to finance his gadget & movie obsession. Bravo sir, bravo.

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Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:52:46 EDT blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=246095&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"That's not exactly what I had in mind when you said, 'Let me introduce you to the twins'..."—synaesthetique
Still bitching about games being $60? Forbes has a breakdown of why your videogames cost what they do, even if a DVD only costs a couple cents. Complete with a handy-dandy pie chart.

IBM & Cisco are partnering up to create a new crisis management service. Where they will strap enough tech to your emergency vehicles to create a portable command center.

Find out what Yahoo! & LG are up to after the jump.

Yahoo! is showing Google its mobile claws with their new OneSearch service. Basically the ex–search engine king is trying to reestablish their dominance in the industry, even if it means switching to mobile.

Oh, and just in case you've got some non-HDTV's still lying around, it looks like those digital-to-analog converters that will keep your TV running after the big switch in 2009 will cost $60. Well, at least the ones from LG will.

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Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:15:54 EDT blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=245690&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"There, I just deleted all my big brothers saves. That'll teach him for ripping the arms off my teddy bear."—Lupison
Microsoft, like most giant tech companies, is trying to replace yet another standard with their own. This time JPEG is the target, they want to put HD Photo (HDP) in its place. MS is claiming that HDP will be able to significantly shrink file sizes, while increasing the quality. Isn't that the only direction to go with pictures?

And Tivo CEO, Tom Rogers, said that their focus this year is to lower prices. You better try that out Tom, because the Tivo user interface isn't worth hundreds of dollars & service fees any more, even with HD.

More about HD DVD, Blu-ray, and Yahoo after the jump.

Blu-ray might be on the rise in the US, but over in Europe it looks like HD-DVD is taking the cake with 85% of hardware sales in January. I wonder if this trend will continue or if it was just a temporary fluke?

Yahoo finally apologized to a woman from Kerela, India after they stole recipes off of her blog without permission. If you check out her site (most of which we couldn't make out) you can see that she had quite a protest going, way to go.

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Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:43:04 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=242730&view=rss&microfeed=true
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Drop in a caption, or the dog gets it.
Adobe wants to clear up a little misunderstanding. Some people started saying that they will ship their Creative Suite on March 27th. What they actually meant was that they will announce it on the 27th, and release it later in the Spring. So there you have it, no new Photoshop until after March 27th.

The Microsoft/Google rivalry looks to be progressing nicely. MS has got its knickers all twisted up because Google isn't adhering to copyright laws with their book scanning project. What's this? Microsoft is pissed because a competitor isn't following the rules? Hmm...

More important stuff after the jump.

On the other end of the MS spectrum, they announced that their Xbox Live service is now 6 million users strong. Although this number includes both Xbox & Xbox 360 users.

161 exabytes were generated last year of digital content. That comes out to around 2 billion 80gb iPods full of movies, photos, e-mails, and what not.

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Tue, 06 Mar 2007 16:38:18 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=242044&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]>

Geeks need captions too.
The EU & Microsoft, they are the proverbial oil & water. Microsoft is being warned that they could face more fines due to repeated defiance of the antitrust rulings set upon them a couple of years ago.

It seems like everyday another major application is considering going web based. Todays entrant is a free ad-supported Adobe Photoshop. That sounds like a bloggers dream, free access to Photoshop from any Internet enabled computer.

Find out who's becoming the tag-a-long sibling of the web & who's heating up for a recall after the jump.


Blockbuster is turning into the "me too" little brother that Netflix never wanted. Obviously looking to compete with the Netflix video streaming service, Blockbuster is in talks with Movielink about a possible buyout.

Steven Hawking in space-ace-ace! Well not quite, but he is going to experience weightlessness thanks to one of those Zero Gravity planes. It's weird, we never really thought about the fact that one of the foremost authorities on black holes, gravity, and such has never even been to outer space.

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Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:38:19 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240858&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"After gutting and stuffing his new attachment, unit 1475674 realized he may have taken the term "rabbit ear antenna" way too literally."—Strykeout
Singapore looks like it will be the setting for a new Google R&D center. It will be in good company considering Google already has facilities in China, South Korea, Japan, & Taiwan.

IBM is trying to get computer clusters one step closer to plug-and-play simplicity, by offering already assembled cluster systems. The best part is that these cluster systems can be made as small as two computers, so no company is too tiny for this program.

More about the iPhone & PS3 after the jump.

Sony is claiming that they will be able to meet customer demand for the PS3 by May 31. I wonder if that is due to falling demand or if Sony's pumping up production?

Ever since the Apple TV had been delayed, there were small but growing concerns inside our heads that maybe the iPhone could suffer the same fate. Well Apple COO, Tim Cook, went on record saying not to worry; the iPhone is still on track for June.


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Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:55:28 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240444&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"If You beat my score on Guitar Hero, I'll pee on you"—Deviant Spawn
The NBA is calling out YouTuber's who can hold their own with a basketball. All you have to do is upload videos of your best b-ball moves. The good news is that the top 10 from each week will appear on TV, the bad news is that it's on the NBA Channel.

Being a tech obsessed person your electricity bill is probably a little higher then average, but you've got nothing on Al Gore. His yearly average power consumption came to 221,000-kWh. That's nearly $1,400/month. So much for an Inconvenient Truth.

More important stuff after the jump.

The British are complaining, the British are complaining. About the price of Vista that is. They are petitioning Tony Blair to demand MS to lower the U.K. price of Vista, which currently is coming in at $254 US for just an upgrade.

In other Vista news, a bug has been found that is forcing some users to have to reactivate their operating system when they install new drivers or software. Wow the more I hear about Vista, the happier I am that I decided to stick with XP/OS X for the time being.

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Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:33:05 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=240166&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff: Percentage Edition ]]>

You know the drill, pop in a caption.
EBay has purchased 100% of internet product comparison site Shopping.com. That auction site has been on quite a buying spree lately, with recent purchases like rent.com & Marktplaats.nl which together cost over $700 million.

33.3% of Internet users in the US have used wireless internet. Wow, only 1/3? Can you remember the last time you weren't using wireless Internet. But I guess we're not the norm.

More important stuff & a poll after the jump.

Thanks to a new spambot, by the end of the 2007 around 90% of emails could be spam. Well I guess we can look forward to lots of fake stock tips and Viagra offers.

Remember that Vonage/Verizon patent suit? Well it looks like Vonage is prepared to fight. Vonage CEO, Mike Snyder, said that "we believe the Verizon patents are invalid." Well there you go, invalid. There's no stat here so we'll make one.

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

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Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:08:23 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=239792&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Any attempt to use the full exoskeleton resulted in a violent uncontrolled motion"—dieseltravis via Wikipedia
Looks like there's another crazy patent troll in the MP3 world again. Texas MP3 Technology is claiming that they invented the MP3 player. The best part is that they applied for the patent the day before the lawsuit was filed.

The Gamecube lives on? A few days ago Perrin Kaplan, VP of Marketing at Nintendo of America, was caught saying that the aging Nintendo console was no longer being produced. Well it looks like she was a little off base, since a spokesperson for Nintendo UK is refuting the entire statement.

See more important stuff after the jump.

Samsung graphics card memory is going to be getting quite the speed boost. There new memory called GDDR4 is already pushing the clock speed of some high end cards all the way up to 2,000 MHz.

If you feel like you might be addicted to the web, (Visits to Gizmodo don't count) you might want to check out China. They are mounting a public crusade against Internet addiction. Complete with shock therapy, on second thought maybe we all should stay away.

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Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:00:22 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=239382&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"That's where my financial aid went!"—PhoenixDebaser
Watch out the sky is falling! Consumer electronic spending is slowing down. Seriously though, in 2005 year over year spending rose by 7.2%, where as in 2006 it only increased by 3.6%.

Trying to pick a college where you'll be able to download tons of free songs? The RIAA has a list of what Universityies have been sent the most copyright infringement letters. Ohio University's on top with 1,287.

But for those of you might be graduating soon and are looking for a job with the next big deal, CNN has a roundup of

25 hot ass startups that could blow up this year. Here's a tip, sign on for shit pay and tons of stock.

And Google is getting closer and closer to obliterating their whole we're not competing directly with Microsoft stance. Today they launched a premium version of Google Apps that could start to pose a baby threat to MS Office. Hey the more competition the better.


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Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:00:55 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=238951&view=rss&microfeed=true
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Yuko-san enjoyed his new LittleGirl Backpack, by Sanrio, and never took it off, even to play DS Lite.—Brad
Bad news for Vonage users out there. Vonage is claiming that they don't have a plan to get around the Verizon owned patents that they are infringing on. This could result in a temporary or even permanent shut down.

Former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins is going to get $5 million in severance pay, since he was replaced by founder Michael Dell. Man, I can't wait to become a CEO of a huge corporation, get fired, and then collect my huge-normous severance package.

Apple TV could take over 30% of

the set top box market resulting in $7 billion in revenue. At least analyst Chris Whitmore from Deutsche Bank thinks so. Really? 30%? That is one hell of an optimistic view. I wonder if he really knows how many boxes are already out there?

Remember when the NHL announced that they were getting down with YouTube? It seemed like a match made in heaven, but you and I both knew something had to go awry. And something did, the NHL doesn't allow video embedding. Wasn't that the whole point of putting the videos on YouTube?

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Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:32:27 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=238571&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Gizmodo editor's new years party circa 2006"—slowreader
The YouTube movement takes another mainstream media step forward. Barenaked Ladies enlisted a bunch of YouTube "stars" that will lipsync for there new video. The cast includes the Numa Numa kid, the Diet Coke/Mentos guys, and "Brookers".

I don't know which stat is crazier, that in 2012 there will be an estimated 3.7 trillion text messages sent. Or that there will be $67 billion worth of revenue reaped from all of those messages.

Cuba, is following in the paths of Brazil & Venezuela with their

migration to open source instead of Microsoft. Cuba's main reason for the switch is because of growing fears that MS has installed back doors so that the US government can snoop around, which doesn't sound completely out of the question.

Microsoft is being sued again, this time by Virnet X. They are claiming that the big MS is infringing on a couple of their VPN patents and are looking for some obvious monetary compensation.

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Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:05:10 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=238233&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> stormtrooperlove.jpg
So THAT'S how you join the dark side!-trunk666.
According to the BBC over 62% of Music Executives believe in DRM-free downloads. And this was before Steve's anti-DRM manifesto.

Guitar Hero II Associate Producer, Ted Lange, is making some bold claims regarding downloadable content on the 360. He said in an interview that it will have more downloads available then any other game to date. I wonder if he is just talking about just Xbox games?

Remember that Russian principle that had 12 of his schools computers filled with $10,000 worth of pirated Microsoft software?

The charges have been dropped, which could have amounted to over $10,000 dollars in fines and as much as 5 years in prison.

AOL's CFO, Steve Swad, has left the company to "pursue an opportunity in the growing private-equity field". Basically the guy is just bored and wants to try his hand at something else. Wouldn't you be too if you spent the last 4 years at AOL?

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Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:18:16 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=237071&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]>

"MOM?!"—Azdak
The latest City Wi-Fi initiative looks to be a daunting one. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today called for Los Angeles to be blanketed with Wi-Fi by 2009. That's going to be a speedy turnaround if they can pull it off.

Two Dell employees are suing their employer due to an error in their clocking in system, which has resulted in wrongful pay. The interesting part is that they want to make it into a class action law suit, which could apply to over a 1,000 people.

Well it looks like you can't even trust the Better Business Bureau, thanks to a new phishing scam. Emails coming from

operations@bbb.org are actually trying to get you to download your typical malware code.

Cisco announced today that they have discovered that some of their routers are susceptible to two new vulnerabilities. Basically a hacker could bypass the IPS, which is supposed to keep out unauthorized users as well as prevent malicious code from being activated.

The WSJ has a story today about how love affects your brain, similarly to a mental illness like OCD. Complete with changes in serotonin & dopamine levels, which can have very strong effects on the brain. Happy Valentines Day.

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Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:40:38 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=236717&view=rss&microfeed=true
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Catherine Zeta-Jones REALLY likes being the spokesperson for T-Mobile.—Geisrud
No wonder Viacom has been so anal about getting their content off of YouTube, they're trying to do the same thing. Viacom is hoping that if they can control the quality and sharing privileges of the shows, then maybe people won't try and pirate them.

Bank of America is adding one more reason to be pissed off for losing your cellphone, mobile banking. Users from all the major US cell phone providers will be able to access everything from balances to paying bils.

Looks like the the preliminary 802.11n is taking off faster than anyone could have guessed.

The chairman of D-Link, Ken Kao, is now predicting that it will be the dominant player in wireless lans by the end of 2007.

The hmm... quote of the day goes to Shane Kim, the VP of Microsoft Games Studio (MGS). Kim said that "A Kameo or a Viva Pinata on a DS makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways from a franchise perspective". I know that Rare just released a game for the DS, but MGS is a whole other story.

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Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:49:40 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=236359&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> Picture%201.png
""Why is Jason Chen sticking our Gamecube down his pants?"—Mike01256
The back button (aka "select") has never really been utilized, that is until now. It looks like Bungie has found a use for it, dubbing it the "a-hole button". Basically when you're playing multiplayer Halo 3, and someone is annoying you just press the back button. Then up pops a list of all the players, scroll with the right trigger to the nuisance and Poof they're gone.

How many Laptops has the FBI lost in the last 4 years? 2? 4? Try a 160, and that's an improvement. Before the investigation was done, they were losing around 300 every 2 years. I hope none of our info was on any of those laptops.

MySpace is trying to clean up their filthy act as much as possible. This week they are trying out a new

video filtering system that will block illegal videos from being posted. Basically the system scans the video for certain "digital fingerprints" and then checks them against a database of banned videos. If yours matches up, then it's not going to show up on your page.

And on the other end of the video spectrum, Google is being shunned by a large group of media companies (Disney, Viacom, NBC Universal, etc.). Think it's because of YouTube/Google Video posting pirated videos? Nope, it's because they sold AdSense advertising space to two known piracy websites. Are you serious? Didn't anyone ever told these guys to pick their battles wisely? This is ridiculous.

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Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:45:47 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=235970&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> babytalker.jpg
"Caption! Caption!
The Wii isn't even easily available, and yet it has achieved its first million-seller: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Cisco bought Five Across, a small San Francisco based company that can add social-networking features to preexisting sites.

US Senator John McCain is trying to pass a dangerous law. He wants

ISPs to begin monitoring it's users. McCain claims this is only to thwart kiddy porn, but who's to say where the line will be drawn?

Well it looks like IBM is offloading their printing division. A deal was made with printer company Ricoh, where IBM will sell them 51%, and then the other 49% over time. The venture will be known as InfoPrint. Random fact, IBM spun off it's low-end printer division in 1991, which became Lexmark.

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Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:21:41 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=235490&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> macbreak.jpg
"Apple decides to subcontract its engraving service."—Ultim8fury
It looks like the post-Grammy download rush could pose a potential IT security risk on Monday to lots of businesses. Since many illegally downloaded songs can contain malware opening up corporate networks to new problems.

A huge blow was dealt to the Xbox Live Arcade team today, as their director, Greg Canessa left for PopCap Games. Hopefully this won't put a kink in the XBLA release schedule, which is finally moving.

And in other resignation news, Mike Volpi, Cisco's

head of routers has left the company to create a business that is 'more like him'. I don't know Mike, if I was a possible successor to John Chambers I'd say screw it to the whole "personal fit" idea.

But to end on a good note, Activision, had their best quarter ever. Of course how could you not, when you own: Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, & Call of Duty.

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Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:55:23 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=235141&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]>

Don't forget a caption, and to send any pictures that you find to Ben@gizmodo.com
Judging by the fact that you're at Gizmodo, it's safe to assume that if you wanted a Gmail invite you would have one by now. But on the off chance that you didn't or you know someone who wants to, Gmail accounts are now open for anyone and everyone. And if you think that Apple's latest commercials were the end of their digging at Vista, guess again. Reports are coming in that they are preparing an Apple Store assault on the competing OS. Look for more anti-Vista in store ads and for the the Mac Specialists to be armed with even more OS X propaganda. Elsewhere around the tech world, Cisco Systems push for a more consumer recognizable brand seems to be paying off. Their year-over-year for last quarter was up 40%, or 540 million dollars. Looks like the Human Network idea is working. Now onto the other end of the spectrum. Communication company Nortel announced that they are laying off nearly 3,000 more people, bringing them down to 34,000 employees. That's a far cry from their tech-bubble days where the company had over 95,000. ]]>
Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:30:11 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=234778&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> Electric%20Darwish-vert.jpg
Caption! Caption!
Remember Brian Emmett? The guy who forfeited a "free" trip to space, because he couldn't afford the taxes. Well it looks like he might get another chance, thanks to Benson Space. Benson is hiring Emmett as a consultant to their upstart in exchange for being a test passenger in a sub-orbital flight. And IBM is getting closer and closer to being rid of its PC division connections. IBM sold over 25% of its shares in Lenovo. And if you remember correctly Lenovo was the company that IBM sold their PC division too. Also it looks as though CEO 'Phoenix' Michael Dell is going to be around for at least a couple more years. In a leaked internal memo from Dell himself, he claims that not only will he be around for several more years, but he will also try and cut out a lot of the bureaucracy that has begun to plague the company. Researchers from the University of Arizona have begun a study on what the rising sea levels could mean for coastal cities. Basically they claim that if the levels rise 1 meter, you can say goodbye to Miami, New Orleans, and Bangladesh. However you'll have until around the year 2100 to get out before the water should be that high.

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Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:45:18 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=234449&view=rss&microfeed=true
<![CDATA[ Boring but Important Stuff ]]> goofycamera.jpg
"Phil was so envious of Adam's iPhone that he literally blurred his face in anger."—Brad
If you think the Digital Divide is big in America, just check out Africa. Where less then 1% of Africans have access to broadband internet. Even South Africa only has .4% of their population on DSL, their only high-speed option. Hopefully Wi-Max will be able to send this continent forward. And if you're online bank account gets robbed don't go blaming your bank, they tried to protect you. A study being released at the Symposium on Security and Privacy, claims that a surprisingly high amount of people ignored the various warnings that they might be the victim of online bank phishing. Now onto Sony, in a sign that it is one step closer to finally submitting to Apple for portable media dominance, Sony released their own iPod Dock/Speaker system. How this must pain the old Sony Walkman marketing guys. Finally, if you're still planning on moving to your lunar home on the Moon in a couple decades you might want to think twice. Scientists recently found out that the Moon can accumulate huge amounts of static electricity. But Ben who cares it's just static electricity. Well how does 4,500 V sound to you? That'd fry your dog Astro on his space walk.

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Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:23:40 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=234079&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Buzz: Hello strange creatures, we come in peace

Woody: *SMACK* That's US you idiot. Andy must have left PhotoBooth running."—synaesthetique


So this may not be tech related, but it scared the shit out of me. 80% of U.S. families in 2006 did not buy or read a book. Wow I knew that we were reading less and less but 80%? And Disney seems to be able to rake in money no matter what format their movies are in. They announced that they've sold over 1.3 million movies on iTunes alone. That's a lot of DRM'ed movies. eBay on the other hand is killing virtual sales. They are saying that you can no longer auction off "virtual goods" as real products. Maybe they should set up a site specifically for auctioning nonexistent products? And the Microsoft train-wreck continues to churn, it seems that some copies of Vista's Home Premium edition are coming with invalid registration keys. If you're going to go crazy with registration security, at least make sure that the codes work. ]]>
Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:10:31 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=233558&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Behold! The core of Windows Vista!"—Ben Zvan
Michael Dell is back in charge. Kevin Rollins, the now ex-CEO announced that his resignation is effective immediately. Hey maybe they'll even bring back the Dell kid, wait isn't he in jail? And for you game addicts that aren't quite over the loss of E3, maybe this will cheer you up a bit. The Tokyo Game Show is officially on board for 2007 and will be bigger then ever. There will even be a fourth day this year. Now for the early Vista adopters, there seems to be a speech recognition vulnerability where your computer can be hacked and then tell itself to delete your files. This sounds like the beginning of the AI take over to me. Finally we've got the Super Bowl score a couple days early, well according to Madden 07 at least. Madden is predicting Colts over Bears, 38 to 27. Whatever, if isn't the Steelers I just don't care! ]]>
Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:15:15 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=233285&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Oh, you meant audible not ediable..."—kokei

If you're in Germany, don't forget it's Google Mail not Gmail. Google was denied access to the name Gmail in Germany thanks to Daniel Giersch, who created his own mail system "G-Mail". And it looks to be an international day here at the Giz, a giant Russian telecom satellite blew up during it's lift off. And just to prove it to you, here's a link to the video. Now onto PS3 theft. First off if you're going to steal a PS3, you should have done it a few weeks ago when you could actually get some money for one. But if you still have the urge, at least have the common sense to get out of the heating ducts. Unlike a certain 23-year-old Chicago resident. And finally, goodbye Pentium. Intel is officially killing off the line this year. So that means no more Celeron D's, Pentium D's, or Pentium 4's. The murders should be complete by May.

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Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:59:04 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=232915&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Dude, I just totally pwned this n00b on WoW. What's that? Oh, yeah, I'm totally wearing our Bluetooth killer. Free advertising in the office before we go public."—mbodey

So I've got some friends that refuse to join sites like MySpace or Facebook, mainly because they're afraid of how it could affect their future careers in politics. Well it looks like they might just be onto something, the National Security Agency funded a paper on how social networking sites can help filter out national threats. Excuse me while I go change my facebook page real quick. Well it's one step forward, one step back for MS. It seems as though it was only yesterday that Vista got out the door, and now there are reports of the OS going too far with security. So far that it isn't allowing access to some family oriented online games. And as expected Sony's profits took a huge hit thanks to that money sponge, the PS3. Even though other parts of Sony doubled their profits this year it still wasn't enough to pull Sony out of the mud. And finally do you hear that? It's your inbox getting a little less full, if you live in South Korea that is. A spam duo was arrested for allegedly sending out over 1.6 billion spam messages. And don't forget if you've got some hilarious gadget pics that the world has to see send them to ben@gizmodo.com.

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Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:02:13 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=232646&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Hi my name is Eric Nece. You may have seen me on MTV hits like The Real World and The Grind. Today, I'd like to talk to you about a great new product..."—Mbodey

Remember a couple of days ago when I said that the AACS wasn't worried about people pirating HD DVD & Blu-ray? Well hackers beware they are taking legal action now. And for you Wii owners out there, today was a very good day for the Virtual Console. Mario Kart 64, Contra 3, Comix Zone, & Bonanza Bros. all came out, so go get some Wii Points. And the "Poor Bastard of the Day" is Brian Emmett, who won an Oracle Java coding contest. The prize? A free trip into space. The problem? That it will still cost over $25,000 in taxes, $25,000 that he doesn't have. Come on Emmett this is space we're talking about here, sell some shit on Craigslist. Now I know all about economies of scale, the more you make the cheaper the cost of production should be. This is insane though, DVD players can now be found for less then the DVD's you play them on. I've only found this to be true in London though, has anyone verified this in the States as well?

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Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:20:07 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=232292&view=rss&microfeed=true
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Hey guys, toss in your captions & check back later today.
So it seems like Microsoft's IPTV software isn't getting that stellar of a start. First we heard that Verizon had to go back and redo some of the code just to make it work with their FiOS TV. Now we're getting wind that "code issues" are responsible for AT&T's IPTV delay. I'm hoping they get this fixed up because I sure am sick of my Comcast subscription, and was hoping this could spur another non-satelite player in San Francisco.

And Sen. Hillary Clinton is apparently the queen of Yahoo! Answers. A couple of days ago she put up a question, and in response she got over 35,000 replies. Damn. I couldn't imagine checking on 35,000 responses to one of Gizmodo's posts.

HP just seems to be hit with one problem after another. But they definitely caught a break here. Their Pretexting (Getting personal info under false pretenses) Lawsuit was dismissed. Some thought that this would drum up worries again after last years espionage problems, but they lucked out with this one. Lets see how long, until someone else tries to leach some money out of them.

And finally we've been hearing all over the place about how Blu-ray & HD DVD's DRM is being cracked and that the sky is now falling. But there's at least one group that's not worried, the AACS. Why, you ask? Because those next gen discs are way too big to be pirated around the web. Well lucky for them nobody is speeding up download speeds or increasing Hard Drive space, wait a second.

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Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:06:54 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=231896&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Is this where I stand in line for a ps3?"—yoooooon
So the most misleading headline of the day goes to California Gets Fuel Cell 'Fire Engine'. I originally thought that Cali had bought some bad ass giant Fuel Cell powered firefighter. But instead it's just a Mercedes F-Cell, used for fire surveying. It can go over 80 MPH and only needs to fill up every 100 miles or so.

Next up a writer over at Newsweek seems to be worried that with Guitar Hero being so fun and all, that there won't be any incentive to actually learn the real guitar. Last time I checked most people who learn how to play the guitar don't learn it because it's fun, they learn how to play to get groupies.

And there is finally some information on how this Google Video/YouTube deal will pan out. Google's saying that pretty soon Google Video will be search only and you can instead dump all your video exclusively at YouTube. But if you can already search on YouTube, then why keep Google Video around at all?

And I knew the mobile phone market was big, but this is just ridiculous. In 2006 over one billion mobile phones were shipped. No wonder we're getting more and more unexplainable diseases.

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Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:44:54 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=231572&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Dad, you N00B! You totally effed up my damn WOW configuratin!"—charman

Well for all you solar addicts there's a new kingpin in town, Tesco USA. Yes that's right, the American devision of the British supermarket chain has commissioned Solar Integrated Technologies to build them the biggest roof-top solar panel in the world. And keeping with the goodwill theme, Microsoft is setting up a version of the Windows Live search engine called Click4TheCause. This site will donate $.01 per search until March 31, 2007 to a charity that helps refugees. Now it couldn't be all good news, could it? Mark Cuban, the same guy who has been claiming that anyone who would buy YouTube is a "moron" is now also saying that BitTorrent sucks for consumers. Now Mark this wouldn't have anything to do with that company HDNet that you own, would it? And finally Verizon has decided that in 2007 they will start focusing on apartments for their FiOS service. And as someone who is both an apartment dweller & eagerly awaiting FiOS, I can confidently say "It's about frickin' time!" ]]>
Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:25:47 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=231224&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"If you think this phone is cool, just wait, I'm pooping out another one just like it!"—Matto
Finally someone has written an article discussing a largely overlooked idea that the iPhone could hone in on, mobile gaming. I mean it may not be a DS killer, but it could at least be a worthy adversary.

Now onto the first backdating probe not having to do with Apple in a while, "Grand Theft Auto" publishers Take-Two seem to be in a mess of trouble now with their stock options.

And right now might be a good time to go give your wife/husband a kiss, because according to a recent study two thirds of Americans prefer their computer to their spouse. Ouch!

As for your kids, Myspace, the same people who cause a good portion of child abductions is now participating in the Amber Alert program. I guess they're trying to even out their karma or something.

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Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:27:03 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=230905&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Despite her age, the girl already knew that a proper mouse should not have just one button."—Rusdude

Ok ,so I know that you all have to be completely sick of hearing about how "awesome" Second Life is from every Joe Journalist & Ian Idiot. Well thankfully there's a new website, GetAFirstLife.com, that's ripping on those second life morons. On a side note their ad system is done by Google, who ironicly placed ads Second Life on their page.

We've heard this was coming again and again, so I guess It was only a matter of time until it happened. Cingular, Sprint, & Verizon are all apparently testing out advertisements for your cell phone. So not only will your cellphone give you radiation, but now it will give you commercials as well. Look for the ad systems to be rolled out in about a year. More after the jump.


As if that wasn't enough the US supposedly is responsible for over a third (34.2%) of the internets malicious code. That means that all that spam and malware you've been complaining about just might be coming from the good ol' US of A.

And from the way back machine comes an email form 2003, between Microsoft men Jim Allchin & Amir Majidimehr. Where Allchin suggested a possible partnership with, wait for it, wait for it...Apple Computer (I know that it's Apple Inc. now but this was 2003, remember?). Well that was a close one, could you have imagined what kind of weird step children that partnership could have created? I mean the HP/iPod deal was bad enough, but MS?

And as always toss in some captions in the comment section.

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Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:00:58 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=230541&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Official Gizmodo Dress Code: Wife Beater tanktop and boxers."—UglyFrog
So today we're finally getting word of some GPU's that won't break the bank, but will still play nice with Vista. AMD is rolling out the ATI Radeon X1050, now you can get your Aero Glass on without spending too much.

Next up Motorola's quarterly sales are falling through the floor. How bad are they? well last year their net profit was $1.2 billion and this year their at a dismal $624 million, ouch.

On to the Xbox 360, Microsoft has finally loosened their death grip on file sizes for Xbox Live Arcade games. Previously 50 MB was as big as they could get, but now they can go as high as 250 MB or with MS's permission all the way to 450 MB. Hopefully the developers don't get lazy with their new found freedom.

And in another sign of the apocalypse it turns out that the iPod Nano is a good indicator of currency fluctuations. What Country gets shafted the hardest for a 2 GB Nano? Brazilians, who shell out $327.71 (US) per Nano.

Well that wraps up another 'Boring but Important Stuff', and just like yesterday don't forget to toss in some captions for the Pic of the Day.

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Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:57:53 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=230060&view=rss&microfeed=true
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"Attack of the 50ft woman screams, 'I LOVE 'THE OFFICE!' "—yoooooon

First off, Microsoft is adding two options when purchasing Vista. The first is that you can download vista over the internet, and the second is a new Family Pack option. Apparently HP has now squeezed by Dell for the Worlds largest PC vendor title. Also, rumor has it that RIM is going to bring a brand new interface along when they release the BlackBerry 9000. And in the "It's about time" section, the kid in that YouTube video that was tasered over and over is finally suing UCLA. And to round out our first ever 'Boring but Important Stuff' post is Moneual Lab's Baroque, a million dollar jeweled-out Home Theater PC.

And as you can, see we have a new section; Picture of the Day. And we're going to need lots of great photo's and captions. So feel free to toss some captions into the comments section and email Ben@gizmodo.com lots gadgety photos that you've taken or found. We'll post the best caption after an hour or so everyday. So get to work.

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Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:17:45 EST blongo3 http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=229752&view=rss&microfeed=true