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Posts Tagged “

Christmas

clips

$5,000 in Electricity = Lots of Christmas Lights

Over the 52 festive days that this Canadian house stays eye-blindingly lit, the owner pays about $100 a day, or about $5,000. And in addition to his large donation to the power company, the owner also pulls in over $30,000 in gifts for charity. More »

bad christmas

iPod Box Has Absurd Note Inside, No iPod in Sight

Picture this: daddy buys his daughter an iPod classic for Christmas. The elated teen opens the iPod box to find nothing but the ramblings of some douche who has read one of Oprah's recommended self help books, and/or wears a Che Guevara styled military hat. Jump for the festive note: More »

guitar hero xmas

Interview With the Guitar Hero Christmas Lights Guys (With Bonus Videos)

We just talked to the two guys responsible for the Guitar Hero Office Christmas Light Extravaganza and asked them to elaborate on the process of creating such a badass light show. The two guys, Kyle and Colin Bryson, have been using equipment from National Instruments to make automated light shows already, and just took it to another level with the Frets on Fire (the PC Guitar Hero) integration. Check out the full interview and bonus video (playing Through the Fire and Flames, the hardest GH3 song) after the jump. More »

howling success

'Silent Night' for Dogs a Big Hit in New Zealand

Who says dogs had to be left out of all the Christmas cheer? Enterprising musicians in Auckland, New Zealand, recorded a special synthesized version of "Silent Night" using frequencies that are so high that only dogs can hear them. The kicker? It was a huge hit. More »

christmas

Christmas in Japan Isn't Complete Without a Laser Christmas Tree

Christmas is our favorite time of year because we're easily dazed by bright, gaudy lights—hello, Vegas—but sometimes we yearn for pupil-constricting illumination with some class. And what's classier than a 3-D laser Christmas tree? The one my mom decorated with condoms and liquor bottles two years ago, but that's about it. [via technabob]

gaming

Guitar Hero + Office Christmas Lights = Crazy Ridiculous

One of the developers at NI (we think this is National Instruments) took a guitar hero guitar, a copy of Frets on Fire (the open source PC version of Guitar Hero) and the office Christmas lights and rigged the three up to a cacophonous symphony of light and sound. More »

holiday safety

Gizmodo PSA: Don't Frack Around With Fireworks


Any of you itching to let off fireworks over the holiday season should watch this safety film that comes with love from us to you—because, no matter how big our fireworks are, we geeks need to take care. Here's "jihadi group" the Liberation Army Against Freedom showing you how not to light your firecrackers this Christmas. More »

gamers threads

Pac-Man Hoodie Has Everything You Wanted Save 100% Natural Fibers

Nothing better in the run-up to Christmas to have a Jesus lookalike modelling a Pac-Man hoodie from Hot Topic. It's a steal at $45, but why is it only 80% cotton? Nylon just makes me come out in hives, guys. [Oh!Gizmo]

xmas sales

Avoid Getting Screwed by Post-Holiday Clearance Deals

About.com has a good feature about what to look for when determining if those after-Xmas deals are worth buying. Overstock clearance deals and soon-to-be clearance price slashing are considered the best and safest for consumers because the product is expected to work properly. Open box deals and display products receive a red flag, because they could be missing parts, an expiring warranty or be older than you think. [About]

christmas miracle

Baby Jesus: Now With GPS Super Powers!

The Christianity 2.0 movement continues in South Florida, where the town of Bal Harbour received a GPS-equipped Baby Jesus statue to replace a previously stolen Baby Jesus staute. A Cincinnati lawyer donated the statue after hearing about the theft in early December. More »

mystery solved

Foot Warmers Are Only a Power Source Away

Holy crap! We've just solved one of life's great mysteries, and wanted to let you in on it. Keeping your feet warm when you cannot be bothered/are too much of a cheapskate to invest in a gadget based solution has always been a problem, but we've sussed it. Here's how: get your feet up close and personal to your PSUs. That's all there is to it. Nothing more, we promise you. More »

robots

Pleo Holiday Behavior Gives You an Xmas Dino

If you're one of the lucky ones who are getting a Pleo under the tree this year, you can enhance his "holiday" spirit with the holiday behavior pack. All you need is a blank SD card and the ability to load that up with the new programming before you shove it into Pleo's gut and reprogram him. There's even a special response when you tap him on the butt, which probably isn't anything like the response we get when we pat our fellow Giz editors around that area. [Pleoworld]

syncro-blink

Latest Wild Christmas Light Show is a Symphony of Synchronization


These animated Christmas light shows get more sophisticated every year. Case in point: this one in Valencia, California (about a 30-minute drive north of L.A.) where you can listen to its music loop broadcast over an FM frequency while you sit in your car out front. This is true artistry. Spectacular. [YouTube]

horrible christmas

We Wish You a Tacky Christmas

There are those who celebrate the holidays as a time for friends, family and merriment. There are others who feel that this time of year solely exists as a canvas for their oil paint that is horrible Christmas lights. Here are the best/worst of what you sent, depending how you look at it.

Our winners after the jump. More »

open season

Art.Lebedev Camouflage Christmas Ornaments May Disappear on Your Tree

Leave it to the Art.Lebedev Studio, maker of expensive keyboard prototypes and whimsical objets d'art, to give you a skewed take on an everyday item, and these camouflage Christmas tree ornaments are no exception. Art calls them the "SHAR-404 portable set for improvement of forest units in the face of the new approaching year." More »

geek christmas

Italian Guy Plays Jingle Bells on Graphics Card


This week we have seen the Guyzmodos' versions of seasonal hawtness—namely girls wearing fetching (and highly flammable) red and white nylon-n-fluff combo outfits. Well, Girlmodo is striking back as only it can. A cute, fully clothed geek, tastefully clad in the obligatory black T-shirt, playing Jingle Bells on a graphics card. Merrrrrry Chreeeeestmas! [YouTube via The Inquirer]

non-contest

Last Call for Crazy Christmas Lights

Do you, a loved one or a neighbor you don't know at all suffer from an affliction of either absurdly tacky or absolutely awe-inducing holiday decorations? Then this is your last call to send them in to be immortalized on the pages of Gizmodo. We need all entries by today. So procrastinators, congrats, you made it this far. Now send that picture you've had in mind to our tips@giz line labeled clearly (in a manner not relating to penis enlargement or desperate princesses looking to avenge their father's untimely death and cash 145,000,000 euros).


brightness

Fake Fur Coat Goes LED Insane

Some people light up the room naturally. Others of us need help. And adding 400 LEDs to what is pretty much the epitome of pimpwear already is the perfect fashion storm to make you the star of this year's office festivities. When first activated, the lights alter colors in sync. But over time, this synchronization wears off and the jacket becomes what firsthand accounts will surely refer to as "light vomit."

But what's legitimately neat about this jacket is that the lights are entirely hidden until you turn them on. Here's a detail shot on the fur:

More »