Retromodo: Gizmodo's Bill Gates Interviews Through History

Bill Gates puts up with us, having granted us three interviews in the past three and a half years. It's an intense experience: Bill isn't always fond of making eye contact, and is known to snap at reporters who ask dumb questions. After all, he's not just the Andrew Carnegie—or Emperor Palpatine—of his time. He's also a guy who gets interviewed a hell of a lot, and doesn't stand for bush-league Q&A. But we have always enjoyed the guys company and even have had the opportunity to make him laugh a few times. Here's a quick look back at our three Bill interviews, in a Retromodo re-run fashion: More »

The Weight Is Over: Extra-Thin TVs Hit the Scales

This year's CES TV competition wasn't about how big TVs could be, but how thin they could get. Samsung, JVC, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sharp, Pioneer and developer LG.Philips were all showing off their rendition of belt-tightening in the flat-panel age. Some of you perceptively noted that up against a wall, inside a cabinet or on a stand, a 1" thick TV looks the same as a 20" thick TV, let alone a 5" thick set, so like big frickin' deal. We're with you. The truth is, while thin is sexy, the untold story is how much less this new crop of TVs will weigh. Both LCD and plasma will weigh substantially less in the coming years. How much less? Plasma will definitely drop more than LCD, but in both cases, the weight loss is astonishing. Jump for awesome chart: More »

The Best of CES 2008

CES is filled with thousands of gadgets and lots of people to talk to. But most of these "new" products are really just moderate updates. So in case you missed the goodies in the wave of CES news, here's just our favorite stuff after the jump. Yes, lazy people—life takes care of you again! More »

Giz Banned For Life and Loving It: On Pranks and Civil Disobedience at CES

A Gizmodo writer has been banned from CES for a prank. But when I see some fellow press damning us for the joke, I feel sorry for them: When did journalists become the protectors of corporations? When did this industry, defined by pranksters like Woz, get so serious and in-the-pocket of big business? This is totally pathetic. More »

We've shown you snippets throughout the week, but we wanted you to have access to the full 20 minutes, too, so you can catch every little nugget from the conversation, and see how the chat evolved to the point where Bill could be frank and open about all things Microsoft. It's in YouTube so you can share it or do whatever. Just remember it's long, so you may want to get a beverage or a snack before pressing play. More »

Wireless HDTV Proliferates Across CES Show Floor

Blasting HDTV from one place to another without wires is a revolutionary concept that made evolutionary strides at CES 2008. We found numerous companies showing the technology that's able to move luscious HDTV video either across the room, or in some instances, through walls and around the house. More »

Top 10 Booths of CES 2008

Wandering around the CES show floor, you have to laugh when the elaborate multi-million dollar structures designed to convince you of a company's credibility are called "booths." Step with us through the most exquisite, best-designed and overall most awe-inspiring of all we saw this week in this top ten gallery of the Best Booths of CES. And yeah, we called them booths, but some might even be elevated to gadget status. More »

Hands-on With FyreTV, the Best Porn in the Living Room Solution Yet (NSFW)

FyreTV, the guys who are releasing a nondescript set-top-box that streams IPTV adult video straight into your living room just gave us a hands-on demo with their machine. Here's what we think: it's the best thing we've seen yet to bring you on-demand porn over the internet into your living room. More »

Confessions: The Meanest Thing Gizmodo Did at CES

CES has no shortage of displays. And when MAKE offered us some TV-B-Gone clickers to bring to the show, we pretty much couldn't help ourselves. We shut off a TV. And then another. And then a wall of TVs. And we just couldn't stop. (And Panasonic, you're so lucky that 150-incher didn't have an active IR port.) It was too much fun, but watching this video, we realize it probably made some people's jobs harder, and I don't agree with that (Especially Motorola). We're sorry. [Thanks to Phil Torrone for the gear, video, editing and mischief by Richard Blakeley]

Holy Crap: Did Bill Gates Just Say Windows Sucks?

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Blu-ray-to-PSP Movie Transfers: How It's Gonna Work

When we heard about Blu-ray-to-PSP movie transfers getting all official we got pretty excited, even though the announcement was a little skimpy on the details: How big are the files? How long will it take to download a movie? How odious is the DRM? Most importantly, when? Well, we've got 'em all right here. More »

Rumor Smashed: Microsoft Is NOT Considering Blu-ray Support

With the HD DVD ship sinking fast in the fickle minds of press and public, the assumption is that everyone left on board is lining up to jump. Reuters had a story that played like Microsoft—one of HD DVD's biggest backers—is on the verge of doing so, based on a quote from Albert Pennello, marketing manager for Xbox hardware. Let us count the ways he told us in a sitdown that the story was wrong, and when HD DVD really is buried in Microsoft's mind. More »

Ten Reasons We're Doomed: CES Edition

Oh, CES. You are a disgusting, bloated beast oozing everything that makes this industry horrible. Nay, everything that makes our culture horrible. Sure, to you fine readers it might look like it's all product announcements and good times, but that's far from the truth. In reality, it's a vile clusterfuck of nerds, sluts and suits; a deadly combo. Let me give you some reasons why CES signals the downfall of our society, if you can stand it. More »

Chandler Blinkers III Drowns at Panasonic's Waterproof Camera Showcase Tank

Today, a tragic event of dramatic proportions hit CES 2008 in Las Vegas: Chandler Blinkers III, affectionally known as Pit by everyone at Panasonic, died in the water tank at their booth. According to the press conference held by the company, the circumstances are still unknown and police is still investigating. "He was there one moment, happily swimming, and then... then poof... gone. He was belly up. I can't start to tell—" said Panasonic spokeswoman Rosa Fernández before she couldn't hold her tears anymore and left the stage. At this time, workers are still emptying the tank where Mr. Blinkers had stayed for the past five days showcasing that, indeed, some Panasonic cameras are what Engadget's Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block technically classified as "waterproof." More »

iRiver iAMOLED Hands On

We got our hands on that pretty iRiver iAMOLED Photo Tank, and it's plenty handy. The only problem is, the most appealing aspect of it is its active matrix OLED (AMOLED) screen, and in this mockup, it wasn't working yet. The real thing won't see the light of day until Q3, but until then, we'll just ogle this gallery of the palm-sized player. More »

Microsoft's Brainwashing Children's Book: Mommy, Where Do Servers Come From?

"Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?" is a children's book dedicated to "Helping Your Child Understand the Stay-At-Home Server." At first we snarked at this over-the-top marketing propaganda. But then it made us crap our pants with laughter.

FCC Chairman Kicking Cable and Wireless Ass in 2008

The initials F-C-C don't usually engender excitement, but at least according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, it's ground zero for most of the broadcasting, wireless and high-bandwidth landline innovations we'll see in the next couple years. Martin spilled on everything from the 700MHz auction to a rumored DirecTV/Dish network merger. (Seriously.) They covered a lot of stuff, here's the Cliff's Notes: More »

Super Cute iriver Wing UMPC Is Also Super Tiny

Scale is everything: We knew iriver's Wing touchscreen UMPC was seriously compact, but didn't know just how small it was. It's still a complete prototype—you're looking at dumb plastic, and the top half even sorta fell off the hinge—but we convinced them to pull it out of the glass case so we could do a quick sizemodo. We just hope it actually comes out at this size.

Hands On iriver Aplayer vs. iPod nano: Thinner, More Gorgeous

After seeing the sexy press shot of iriver's new flash-based Aplayer (which also crams in voice recording and an FM tuner), we totally couldn't resist making the iriver guys pull it out of the case to stack up to a 2nd-gen nano we had on hand. Results? Judge for yourself. More »

Media Player Knockoff Hall of Shame

I just ventured into the bowels of the International Pavilion, a separate building beyond the North Hall that's home to tons of tiny booths of companies from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Basically, it's full of power supplies, shitty digital picture frames and knockoffs. So many knockoffs. Take a look through our gallery and try to spot ripoff versions of the iPod nano, touch, and classic, the Sidekick, and even the Ocean. All high quality, I'm sure. More »

Laser beams, battle axes, shotguns and more, no weapon is too crazy for CTA Digital's Wii accessories. Check out the gallery to see them all. More »