Gizmodo: glitches

Computer Screen Glitches Can Be a Beautiful Thing

Danny Allen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:10:00 EDT

Appreciating the look of garbled images isn't usually the top priority if your monitor or TV freaks-out (unless it's scrambled porn). But the new book, Glitch: Designing Imperfection, celebrates artists who manipulate these short-lived disturbances. Take a look:

Glitch took four years to come together, and the 200 or so artists it profiles were pulled from over 900 submissions. The images are grabbed, composited, and sometimes shaped into something altogether different, but always derived from malfunction.

Kinda trippy, and definitely techy. I'm using the first example below as my new desktop background—it sorta reminds me of an Amon Tobin album cover. The book comes out in September, and you can pre-order at: [Design Imperfection via PopSci via ffffound]

Gallery: Beautiful Computer Screen Glitches

Danny Allen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:10:00 EDT

iPod Nano Switches Left and Right Channels With Headphone Insert

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:40:00 EDT

If you have a new 4th-gen nano and a decent ear, you may have noticed something funny: After putting it to sleep, if you wake it up by inserting headphones, the left and right channels switch. I tried this with the most obvious stereo mix of all time, David Bowie's "Space Oddity," and it's really easy to duplicate yourself. While it's easy to correct, it's still definitely a weird, weird bug. Thanks to reader Matt for bringing it to our attention, and posting a thread at iLounge. Have you noticed it or any other weird glitches, like Genius' pathological avoidance of the lovely Norah Jones? (I'm serious, try it!)

Glitch Drops Google Stock Price $200 in Four Minutes, Wiping Out $62 Billion

matt buchanan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:40:00 EDT

At probably like the worst time ever for your stock to plummet harder than a meteor on a collision course with Bruce Willis, a glitch knocked $200 off of Google's stock price—that's half—in the span of four minutes as the markets were closing today. $62 billion. Erased. In four minutes. The glitch has been fixed, bringing it back to the correct price of $407, but some trades actually did go through at the bargain basement price. While they'll be repealed, it shows you that it's so crazy out there even computers are going nuts right now. [TechCrunch]

Apple Acknowledges, Attempts to Fix Macbook Pro Quirks

Gizloco — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 12:56:17 EDT

As the saying goes, you should never purchase the first version of Apple products since they have been known to ship with a few kinks that must later be worked out. As it has turned out, the MacBook Pro, for all its praises, is no exception to this old wives' tale. Users have reported issues of irregular Airport connections, screen flicker when the brightness is set to the lowest setting, and uncomfortably warm running temperature, especially over the F key. As a result, Apple, which has admitted that these issues do exist on more than an anecdotal level, has started to replace the motherboard inside the computers. Starting with revision D (serial number W8611), Apple has fixed many of the reported problems and will be replacing affected MacBooks with this newer version at customers' requests.

Apple Addresses MacBook Pro Issues [DailyTech]

Xbox Lawsuit, a Tad Premature?

tgrumet — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 09:45:37 EST

Robert Byers probably didn't play through one whole game before bringing a class action lawsuit against Microsoft's Xbox 360. This Chicago man's proposed class action claims:

The company was so intent on releasing the Xbox 360 before competing next-generation machines from Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co Ltd. that it sold a "defectively designed" product.

Basically, Bob says that the power supply and CPU overheat, messing up the heat-sensitive chips and then locking up the whole console. Which we hear does happen, although not with everyone's box. But when Bob's Xbox 360 doesn't work, then the whole production line needs to be recalled. Oh, and Bob, if you didn't already know, the only folks who get a big payout on class action lawsuits are the attorneys. So don't start counting your cash just yet. Unless you are an attorney. In which case, call me—my watch is broken and I think it's a production line defect.

Microsoft sued over alleged Xbox 360 glitch [Reuters]