Gizmodo: Plugin

Aftermarket Plug-In Prius Battery Causes Balls of Fire, Explosion

Jason Chen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EDT

A Toyota Prius outfitted with one of Lithium Technology Corporation's plug-in conversion kits exploded after the owner saw balls of fire in the backseat. Luckily the owner was smart enough to vacate the cars after seeing flames, but not smart enough to not drive the car even when its PHEV15 plug-in kit was experiencing "charger-related problems." Other than the fact that you should learn to be careful after installing aftermarket parts on your car, the only other thing we can take away from this story is to jump out of your vehicle when you see fire. [CRN via Daily Tech via Jalopnik]

Hymotion Prius Plug-in Conversion Kit Gives 100+ MPG For Short Distances

Jason Chen — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Like the previously released EDrive kit, this Hymotion Prius conversion package lets you convert your stock Prius into one that can be plugged in for charging. After a 4.5-hour charge time, your Prius will be able to use more battery power over about 30-40 miles in order achieve that mileage.

The kit isn't cheap—it's $9995 with three-year warranty and installation—but it is slightly cheaper than the 2006 $10-$12k price of the EDrive (we haven't been able to find a more current price). Most of us probably wouldn't pay an extra $10k on top of the $20k or so you paid for a Prius in the first place, so you might want to sit tight for factory Plugin EVs in the next few years unless you really, really need to smell your own farts now. [Hymotion]

iPhone Firmware 2.0 to Have YouTube Plugin for Safari, Says BGR

Haroon Malik — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:30:00 EDT

BGR is claiming iPhone firmware 2.0 will provide a YouTube plugin for MobileSafari.app. They aren't citing their source, but they're pretty confident in their assertion:

"You heard it here first, people! The latest version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware that was just seeded to developers has a YouTube plugin for MobileSafari.app"

BGR tends to be a solid source, but we cannot confirm this to be true without some more evidence. Nonetheless, if true, YouTube video playback from within Safari will be possible on the iPhone, without launching a separate application for the content. That sure would make surfing the web and viewing content a helluva lot easier; here's hoping BGR is bang on with this one.

Boy Genius also goes onto suggest that this may be indicative of some form of native Flash support, but we just can't raise your hopes like that. It wouldn't be right. [BGR; Thanks, Ted B. Image via Limited Edition iPhone]

Windows Mobile Face Contact Plugin Adds CoverFlow Contacts

Jason Chen — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:40:00 EDT

CoverFlow may be only semi-useful on your Mac, but imagine what it would look like on a Windows Mobile phone. Actually useful! The Face Contact plugin, which costs $14.95, displays all your contact photos in a CoverFlow-esque way in your home screen, letting you flip between people and even directly dial, text or send emails from their photo. Cool for sure, but is it worth $15? Probably not. Plus, are all your contacts actually good looking enough that you'd want to stare at them every time you pull out your phone? [Cnetx via Just Another Mobile Monday via PhoneMag]

DivX in Vista Media Center? You Can Now!

Jason Chen — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:10:09 EST

If you upgraded to Vista and wondered why your Media Center crashed every time you watched a DivX file, take a look at this. An open source plugin that uses Microsoft's FFDShow decoder makes it so you can play back DivX, Xvid, and H.264 just like you could in Windows Media Center 2005.

Porn on the couch? Why not! – Jason Chen

FFDShow Media Control [eHomeUpgrade]

Harmony Home Automation Windows Media Center Plugin

Jason Chen — Mon, 22 May 2006 14:51:43 EDT

Control fetishists rejoice! A new plugin for Harmony users is coming in just a few weeks. This updated MCE plugin allows users to load scenes, dim lighting, and control devices all with the standard MCE remote control.

Simply Automate plans to release it soon, but there's no word on whether this will cost you to upgrade.

We're just wondering what the toilet icon is for. Can you flush the toilet remotely, or just monitor the status—empty, full, overflowing— from your couch?

New Plugin for Harmony / MCE [Automated Home via eHomeUpgrade]