Insane Graphics Card Packs 2GB Memory and Six (Yes, Six) DisplayPort Ports

Rumor has it that AMD is set to announce a new, and 100% ridiculous, flagship card: The Radeon HD 5870. The 5870, if the rumors are correct, will have 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a whopping six DisplayPort ports, not to mention dual DVI ports and an HDMI. Clock speed and GPU speed are relatively normal at 4800MHz and 850MHz, respectively. It'll require two PCI-E slots, which is reasonable considering the spec excess. It ends up here in Remainders because the only source we've seen is a post on Softpedia, and while it's certainly crazy, we're not sure how big the market is for a six-port graphics card. [Softpedia via Tom's Hardware via Crunchgear]

Volcano Prevention Efforts May Result in Volcano Eruption

Geologists working in Campi Flegrei, a caldera in Naples, Italy, are concerned about the volcano's possibility of eruption, so understandably they're doing a little drilling to figure out exactly what the risk is. Unfortunately, the seven 4-km holes they have to drill could have exactly the opposite effect from preventing an eruption—there's a distinct risk that the drilling itself could trigger an eruption, which could well wipe out the entirety of urban Naples. If they hit magma, the sudden rise in temperature would vaporize their drilling liquid, causing an explosion which could in turn trigger an eruption. It's a sexy and dangerous headline, but it winds up in Remainders because, well, the risk doesn't seem all that great: 4km wouldn't even be halfway deep enough to reach any known reservoirs of magma, so it's probably a moot point. [New Scientist via Pop Sci]

Makeshift Bike Rack Attaches to Street Signs

The CycleHook is a dual-looped piece of metal that locks securely onto pretty much any signpost, creating two sweet parking spots for bicyclists. It's a pretty good idea—I'm a cyclist, and I can confirm that most cities don't provide enough spots to lock up a bike, and sometimes traffic cops get snippy when you chain up to a signpost on the sidewalk. The problem with the CycleHook is that it's not new. Montreal, for one, has had this exact design attached to parking meters for years, and I'm sure it's not the only city to have the same thought. On the other hand, Montreal's parking spots aren't pretty pink. [Wired]

PC Built Inside a Classy-as-Hell Leather and Wood Chest

We love PC case hacks. Anything you can shove a PC into, please do it, and send us pictures. There are several inviting spaces that haven't yet been used—and this here is one of them. Rob Higardea crammed a PC into this beautiful, vintage wood and leather chest. Yeah, it's got wires hanging out the back, but from the front? Pure class. I'd love one of my own, except that much class would probably stick out in my apartment more than a slab of anonymous grey plastic. [UnPluggd]

Volcano Buono is a commercial center right near Mt. Vesuvius, the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the last century.

The roof of most of the structure is what looks like a grassy knoll, a surface that holds over 25,000 plants and helps naturally insulate the interior spaces. The crater holds an outdoor theater, a market and a "sloping pine forest." In addition to the normal mall shops inside, there's also a 2,000 seat cinema, a supermarket, a hotel and a bunch of restaurants. Seriously, how cool is this thing?

[Volcano Buono via Inhabitat]

[Fotoglif]

The prosecutors also think that because the video highlights the boy's disability, it could violate Italian data protection laws. Google has yet to receive official charges, but sources have told Reuters that the employees will be charged and expect them to face trial on February 3rd 2009. The company said it's worried about the precedent this could set for censorship on the internet, and I have to agree. At least one of these employees has never lived in Italy, and furthermore, the video was uploaded to a server in the US. But on top of all that, the bigger question is how can you punish these Google employees for something one of their users did? If they do get convicted it threatens YouTube, Google Video, and just about every site with user generated content. So even though making fun of the disabled is totally uncool (and despite my proud Italian heritage) I'm going to have to mildly scold Italy for this one: not cool Italy, not cool. [Reuters via PCWorld - Image via ian larson]

The work was done as part of an Italian group project “20 Eventi.” A group of artists developed projects in the Sabina region to create a open-air museum that spans four villages. [Boing Boing]

Tissue in the urethrovaginal space of the women who were no stranger to vaginal orgasms was, apparently, thicker than in that of the non-vaginal ones. This, says Janini, is evidence that women without any visible evidence of a G-spot cannot have a vaginal orgasm.

Beverly Whipple of Rutger's University School of Nursing in Newark, the team which coined the term G-Spot, is sceptical of Janini's findings. "It is an intriguing study, but it doesn't necessarily mean that women who don't experience orgasm don't have any tissue there." She reckons that the test would benefit from having women stimulate themselves first, and then repeating the ultrasound tests, as the area is believed to swell under physical pressure.

Janini is planning to continue his studies (of course he is) but says that women should not feel despair if they are unable to have vaginal orgasms. "One clear finding is that each woman is different," he says. "This is one reason why women are so interesting." And I thought it was our brains. [New Scientist]

Andrea Monti, an Italian copyright attorney, said all music sold on major music download sites is degraded. As such, exchange across P2P networks of these files, and any equivalent type of recordings, would seem to be legal under the new law. The law does restrict the sharing for "educational or scientific" use, but prosecuting offenders will nevertheless be more problematic because of it. The president of the RIAA counterpart in Italy was said to be confident in the restraints of the new ruling, but we imagine he crapped his pants as he said that. [Ars Technica]

The connection maintained a transfer rate of 5Mbps, by using Ubiquiti's XtremeRange5 High-Power Carrier Class mini-PCI radio module, and some parabolic antennas. [Gizmag]

Disclosure: Freelancer Curtis Walker's tour was part of a junket paid for by Manfrotto. Gizmodo staff members are disgusted by the very notion of paid trips from companies; But frankly, the video was entertaining, and Curtis's fine work stands in service to the readers. This is in no way a paid advertisement for Manfrotto.

Feel free to use the comments section of this post to talk about how much you will miss me. It's OK, get your feelings out. It's healthy. We'll get through this tough time together. –Adam Frucci

The unit's made from a combination of imported Italian marble and Japanese engineering, which is great on paper since (from I remember from an art class that I took in my imagination) it's the best type of marble anywhere. Plus, those Asians have tiny hands and can get all into those electronics easier—am I right, fellow Asians?

In any case, the whole situation makes for a weird speaker system that supposedly sounds great because sound emanates like ripples on a pond. Which makes me want to pee, not rock out. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Sony via Sci Fi]

Brionvega has been making TVs for over 60 years now and some of its retro models are still available, albeit on the expensive side. The Italian company has just come out with the Alpha TV—which is still at the concept phase, so no prices, sorry—with a smidgen of retro styling (most of which is in the shiny remote control that is chunkier than Burt Reynold's moustache was—mmmmmm, dreamy) but which, on the whole, is very forward-looking.

The Brionvega was designed by V12 design, has a built-in DVD player and comes in orange, black and silver. Although they say it's still just a concept (maaaaaaan), there are hopes that the thing will go on sale around September time. There's a couple more pics after the jump.

If these come in HD, I reckon there will be a very noisy clamor for them. – Ad Dugdale

Brionvega retrostyled TV is still a concept [New Launches]

At midnight Spain, a major Sony stronghold, they were giving away half-price consoles but this morning retailers were reporting that the 600€ PS3s were not exactly flying off the shelves. An informal poll in El Corte Ingles, Spain's biggest retail chain, showed that there were still enough consoles to last until at least next week. Video of le bâteau in Paris and more European indifference/desperation after the jump.

The night before the Mayor of Madrid (he's the one looking at the la-las of the lady on his left in the picture below) was up way past his bedtime to present a cute tweenager with her first console courtesy of Banesto bank. They were selling PS3 at half the price to tout for new business (to get that offer you had to tell your employer to transfer your salary to your Banesto bank account for a minimum of 25 months). T-shirts with "My mom had her paycheck paid into Banesto and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" "I've got Playstation 3" emblazoned on the front and baseball caps were also doled out.

In Berlin, german gamers were treated to a free gig, courtesy of those nice people at Sony (thankfully, no David Hasselhoff). Italy got its consoles two days before everyone else, after retailers Darty announced that their PS3s were going on sale on Wednesday morning. Ooh, those Italians can't half be rebellious when they want to. – Ad Dugdale

PS3 Launch Leave Parisians Cold [Next Generation]

[The Cool Hunter]
[MyFlybook]