HDMI Spec Updated to Ensure HD 3D Compatibility

The fine folks who work on HDMI have updated work on the 1.4 spec to make sure it can communicate all that upcoming Avatar-inspired HD 3D nonsense between display and source. Frankly, all this stuff is way over my head, and that's okay because dual-1080p streams in the home are still a ways off. From what I understand, HDMI will meet soon to discuss implementing the "Top/Bottom" format of 3D into HDMI, and the group is working to ensure that older 3D hardware will still work with the updated spec. Luckily, I have not been asked to participate in this discussion. But rest assured, HDMI is on the case. [Engadget]

Kindle eBooks Hacked!

An enterprising hacker named Labba has apparently managed to create a program that strips the DRM off Kindle-formatted ebooks, turning them into unprotected PDFs. The hack seems kind of too complicated to use right now, but Labba's working on a more consumer-friendly version as well. This isn't just hacking the Kindle to accept other formats—this is straight-up DRM elimination. Big win for hackers, not so hot for Amazon. [Engadget]

Steve Jobs Takes $1 Annual Salary for 2009

There've been a bunch of stories today about Steve Jobs' $1 salary that make it sound like a philanthropic exercise or some kind of response to the current recession—but Apple fans know that Steve Jobs has taken a $1 salary for about a decade. Of course, it's not like he needs a paycheck; his stock in Apple is valued at $1.1 billion, and his stock in Disney at $4.5 billion. Interestingly, he is usually reimbursed for miscellaneous expenses; last year, he was reimbursed $871,000, but this year only $4,000. He has been out on sick leave for a long time, but still, that's a big difference. This has been making the rounds (today I saw it on the AP, NYTimes, and HuffPo), but I'm sure you guys already knew it—so I tossed it into Remainders. [AP]

The Weather Outside Is Goddamn Frightful

Here are pictures of snow! [Boston.com]

Dell Boycotts Jersey Shore, Has No Taste

Jersey Shore is great. It's the trash TV event of our generation. Anyone that has a problem with it has a serious deficiency in the "derisive fun" section of the brain. Add Dell to that list, because they've pulled ads from the show for the usual "We don't support ethnic bashing and do not understand reality television (or fun)" reason. Who wants to boycott Dell due to their boycott of Jersey Shore? Anyone? [Engadget]

Facebook Ruins British Marriages

All those great stalking features that make Facebook so addicting apparently also make it DEADLY...to marriages. A survey found that Facebook-related findings were mentioned in 20% of English divorce papers. Here are some actual examples:

One 35-year-old woman even discovered her husband was divorcing her via Facebook.

Conference organiser Emma Brady was distraught to read that her marriage was over when he updated his status on the site to read: "Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady."

Last year a 28-year-old woman ended her marriage after discovering her husband had been having a virtual affair with someone in cyberspace he had never met.

Amy Taylor 28, split from David Pollard after discovering he was sleeping with an escort in the game Second Life, a virtual world where people reinvent themselves.

Gasp, you guys. Gasp. [Telegraph]

Apple Approves, Then Pulls NES Emulator, to Nobody's Surprise

What's surprising about this story isn't that what looks like a really fun, full-featured NES emulator app was pulled from the App Store; it's how the hell that app got approved in the first place. Nescaline (every time you think the world has run out of puns, the world proves you wrong, and you cry) was approved and removed overnight, for the simple reason that "It's an emulator." That's from the mouth of an Apple rep, although it's not like you needed that explanation—it's pretty obvious. You want NES emulation, you jailbreak your iPhone, it's that simple. Sorry to the guys of Nescaline, but maybe the app will find success on the grey market of jailbreak apps. [PCWorld]

Bacon Cups. Cups of Bacon.

Man, do I love our sister site Lifehacker. Today they have a guide to making bacon cups in a cupcake pan, which yields the most delicious dishware you've ever eaten. The BLT idea pictured here is really great, but you know there are boatloads more. How about pasta in a parmesan-cream-onion sauce in a bacon cup, for a twist on carbonara? Or filling it with a corn bread, apple and sausage stuffing? Or scrambled eggs and cheese, topped with a biscuit? I can't keep going, I'm already drooling down my shirt front. Post your suggestions in the comments! [Lifehacker]

Chicago Apple Store Has Express, Gift-Wrapped Line

The Apple Store in downtown Chicago, like every Apple Store, has a few ways to check out. You can flag down an employee, head to the checkout counter, or, in what seems new, you can head to the express line, which lets you buy non-customized Apple products quickly. Even better, that express line's products are pre-gift-wrapped. Pretty sweet! I bought my MacBook Pro from that exact store this summer, and I wish it had come gift-wrapped, even though it was all mine—there's just something about tearing open a gift-wrapped box, you know? [Business Insider]

YouTube Offers Shortened URL, Sort of

In these heady days of Twarter-domination, it's important to have a shortened URL to save precious characters. Seems like everyone's got one, and YouTube just joined in the fun—except, um, their shortened URL, Youtu.be, really isn't that much shorter. Example: youtubedotcom/watch?v=FdeioVndUhs would become http://youtu.be/FdeioVndUhs. You'll only have space for a few LOLOLOLs after that. [YouTube Blog]

BART Expands Wireless Access Under the San Francisco Bay (!!!)

This ends up gift-wrapped under the Remainders Tree of Sadness because it's local, but to SFBay residents like myself, it's great news. BART, the Bay Area's fantastic (compared to my native SEPTA, that is) regional rail system is now getting access to wireless signal while zooming under the San Francisco Bay over to Oakland, Berkeley and sites beyond. That means I'll never have to stop using data while on BART, which also means I've lost one last excuse for being out of touch with the Gizmodo monarchs, King Brian and King Jason. [BART]

Seriously You Guys, Just Buy a Kindle

Amazon really wants you to buy one. Remember that Dealzmodo from a few days back, when Amazon offered free two-day shipping on the Kindle? Now they're upping that to free overnight shipping if you buy it on December 23rd. It's in Remainders because honestly, updating this post feels like I'm advertising for Amazon, but the Kindle is still the reigning champ of ebook readers and you guys have a right to know. Now buy one. NOW. [Amazon]

iPod Touch Users Neglect OS 3.0 (Comparatively)

iPod Touch users, for whom the OS 3.0 upgrade costs $10, are upgrading in much lower numbers than iPhone users, for whom the upgrade was free. 95% of iPhone users have opted for 3.0, compared to only 55% of iPod Touch users. Frankly, I'm damned impressed that Apple managed to wrangle 10 bucks out of more than half of the huge numbers of iPod Touch users for a firmware upgrade. This could be painted as a failure, but I think it's exactly the opposite; I can't remember a single other PMP (or whatever the iPod Touch is) firmware upgrade that cost money (besides maybe those Archos add-ons, but that's not really firmware). Way to go for the Hamiltons, Apple. [iLounge]

Verizon iPhone Rumor From a Non-Analyst (Whaa?)

Analysts can blah blah blah about the Verizon iPhone all they want, but we ain't buying it until we see some hard proof. Now, Verizon's CTO made a statement that looks as if it's that proof we've been wanting:

"We have put things in place already," Melone reportedly said. "We are prepared to support that traffic."

Ah. Well, it's not exactly a confirmation that Verizon's getting the iPhone. It actually seems like another dig at AT&T's network problems—he's just saying that if a huge blockbuster handset like the iPhone were to come in 2010, Verizon's network could handle that kind of traffic. So, Remaindersed. [AppleInsider]

COFEE-Beating DECAF Software Revealed as Hoax

DECAF, which supposedly disabled Microsoft's COFEE forensics tool, has been revealed as an elaborate hoax by its creators. Looks like it was created to draw attention to the fact that COFEE is actually not as effective a tool as they'd like—in fact, the hoaxers view COFEE as vastly inferior to properly trained forensics experts. So, we, like everybody else, got duped. Seems to us that software that actually could defeat COFEE would be make a stronger statement than a hoax, but we'll never know now. [Seattle P-I]

Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 Android Phone Hits FCC

This one's simple: FCC posts are boring. They rarely give us new information, and the FCC photographers are notoriously artless. But the Xperia X10 is an exciting gadget, with its flashy Android skin, and it looks like we've got confirmation that the X10 should hit either T-Mobile or be sold unlocked, due to the support of the EDGE 850/1900 spectrum. More details as we hear more about the phone's eventual release. [Engadget]

Jesus Diaz Has Odd(ly Hilarious) Taste in T-Shirts

Three Wolf Moon is cliche. But our own Jesus Diaz has moved beyond the internet sensation to its logical sequel: Three Walrus Moon. Really, this t-shirt was just delivered to our HQ today, addressed to Jesus, and he's been elusive about offering official comment. All we can say is: Watch out, ladies.

Windows 7 Customers Are Just so Savvy

Windows 7's tech support lines have been far less busy than expected—but we can't draw any easy conclusions, like, say, "Windows 7 rulz!," because Windows online tech support has gotten much easier to use and online solutions have become more appropriate. People now know to just Google (or Bing) their problems, which probably filters out a lot of the knucklehead stuff. [CNET]

Acer's Olympic Laptop Is the Lamest Tie-In Ever

Really, Acer? You can't think of anything else to do with an Olympic-themed laptop than to slap the five ring logo on the lid? We expect better, Acer. You've come up with some phenomenal, gaudy, ostentatious and downright silly-looking laptops in the past—what's up with this one? At least slap a GO USA! sticker on the front or something. [Engadget]

Sprint Confirms HTC Hero and Samsung Moment Will Skip 2.0, Head to 2.1

In an official Tweet (ugh), Sprint confirmed that two of its Android handsets, the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment, will actually skip Android 2.0 and move straight to 2.1 when they receive the update sometime in the first half of 2010. That's sort of expected; we knew the update was coming around that time, and given the pace of Android's dessert-themed releases, certainly 2.1 would be the current release. So, not earth-shattering news, but good to see that Sprint (and Google) plan to support those phones into the future. [Slashgear]

Leaked Panasonic Four Thirds Camera Ditches the Micro

A patent from Panasonic shows what appears to be a Four Thirds camera, though not the Micro type after which we so lust. Apparently it can flip between optical and live view viewfinders with a hardware switch, and has manual sensor cleaning and anti-shake feature. Rumors suggest it may be announced at CES in a few weeks, but we'll have to wait and see. [Slashgear]

OPPO Android Concept Is All Tronned Out

So this is a pretty interesting-looking Android phone concept, what with the neon teal backlighting and spacious keyboard and all. It's supposedly due for a 2010 release, although we'll believe that when it happens, and hopefully it'll actually be running Android by then—it looks like somebody accidentally Photoshopped the WebOS dialer onto this thing. It's in Remainders because nobody really got all that excited about it; it's weird enough to be catch your eye, but not enough to make you want one. [Ubergizmo]

Top YouTube Videos of the Year Are Pretty Upsetting, Really

I'm proud to say I've seen exactly one of the top five YouTube music videos of the year and none of the top general videos. On the other hand, this is a pretty depressing-looking list—not once does the World's Best YouTube Personality of All Time appear. Plus, um, who the hell is Pitbull? [YouTube Blog]

Why Can't These People Take a Decent Video of the Nexus One?

So TheNexusOne has been posting videos of their namesake Android phone, and while that would normally deserve a bigger post, these are really just teaser videos—when we get a real, comprehensive video tour of the Nexus One, we'll be sure to let you know. But for now, we've got a video of the incoming call screen, which looks exactly like it does on Android 2.0.1, we've got the bootup sequence we've seen before, and a 15-second clip of the Tron-like (there's a Tron theme in Remainders tonight, it seems) animated wallpaper. [TheNexusOne via Android Central]

iFixit Publishes Apple Repair Manuals Under Creative Commons License

iFixit, known round these parts for their teardowns, just published five years of DIY Apple repair manuals for free under the Creative Commons license, which permits free, non-commercial use. That's over 125 manuals for Macs, iPods and iPhones, and should be a big help for anyone who's got an out-of-warranty Apple product and needs help fixing it, or for anyone who just likes to tinker. [iFixit via 9to5Mac]

Microsoft Admits to Plagiarizing a Twitter-Like Service

It was recently revealed that huge swathes of the code in Microsoft's China-based microblogging service, MSN Juku, was directly lifted from another service called Plurk. It's so blatant that Microsoft even admitted guilt:

"We are obviously very disappointed, but we assume responsibility for this situation," Microsoft said in a statement. "We apologize to Plurk and we will be reaching out to them directly to explain what happened and the steps we have taken to resolve the situation."

Plurk has decided not to sue—for now—and will instead undergo some talks with Microsoft to see how best to resolve the situation. Microsoft, for its part, says MSN Juku was built by a third-party contractor, and they've since pulled the entire site. [Seattle PI]

Comcast Unveils Streaming Video Service

Comcast just launched a partly subscriber-only Flash video service, streaming content from a selection of its partners (27 in total, including IFC, HBO and Showtime). It's called The Fan, after the fan-like UI that's used to control which shows you watch. Does anyone want to try this out and let us know how it is? It looks like most videos are free to watch at the moment. [CNET]

Reading Gizmodo May Make You Nearsighted

A recent study showed a huge uptick in nearsightedness in the last 30 years, with in increase of over 80%. The condition (full disclosure: I'm nearsighted, and am thus biased and untrustworthy on this subject) is not very well understood, but may be due to genetics or an excess of close viewing (like, say, books, or a computer screen). The tests can't conclusively prove anything, but it seems (in my totally amateur, but totally confident opinion) that staring at an LCD screen for ten hours a day may not be entirely beneficial to ocular health. [ScienceNews]

MacDonald's Orders In-Store Wi-Fi Be Completely Free, Forever

Normally we'd be really excited about a major nationwide chain offering free Wi-Fi in every store. Hell, that's why I go to Peets and not Starbucks (well, that and the vastly superior coffee). But I have to wonder: Who is whipping out a laptop in MacDonald's? Every time I go there, I just want to grab my ball of meat-grease and run away as fast as possible to scarf down my 99-cents worth of shame in private. I'm not about to take out the MacBook Pro and sip a coffee and converse with my fellow fast food patrons. But maybe that's just me. [Electronista]

Yeah, it's an Apple-dominated bunch of remainders. Maybe I'll make tomorrow's three-fourths Microsoft for some balance.

Kindle iPhone App Now Available for Over 60 Countries

If you live in one of the many countries previously ignored when it came to availability of the iPhone Kindle App, you can stop crying: The handy-dandy app can now be downloaded through the App Store in over 60 countries. If you're still somehow overlooked, then I'm very sorry and wish I could offer you a tissue. [App Store]

Apple Named Takes Best Brand, Best Ad, Best Marketer, Best Award Winner Titles

Adweek just wrapped up their "Best of the 2000s" Awards and Apple walked away with three shiny pretend trophies. One for the brand itself, one for marketing strategies, and one, oddly enough, for the "Get a Mac" ad campaign. Congrats to them, and while at it: Congrats to Gawker for taking the "Blog of the Decade" award in the same listing. Now are we done with these awards yet? [The Loop]

Google Brings Yet Another URL Shortener Into the World

As if we don't have enough URL shorteners, Google has decided to toss in one of their own making into the new versions of the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner. I'll admit that http://goo.gl/ is kinda clever and that at least there's some assurance that links won't mysteriously disappear overnight as with some tiny websites, but I still groaned when I read about yet-another-damn-URL-shortener. [Google Blog]

Man in a Chicken suit plays "What is Love" on Pianica from Ring Mod on Vimeo.

Man in a Chicken Suit Plays "What Is Love" on Melodica

If that headline isn't enough to make you watch this video, I'm really not sure if the internet is your cup of tea. Because this is exactly what the internet should be used for. [Boing Boing]

A Very Muppet Christmas YouTube Video

I am so, so glad that a lot of the first 1080p YouTube clips are Muppet-related. I am a Muppet freak. I can't count how many times I've seen The Muppet Movie and (my personal favorite) The Great Muppet Caper, and I've even seen Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D, which is a real thing, believe it or not. So as my menorah's candles slowly burn down, marking the first night of Chanukah, I am watching this Christmas-themed YouTube video and giggling, over and over again. Enjoy. [YouTube]

Nao Robot Performs Star Wars Impersonations

Nao, a pint-sized robot from Aldebaran Robotics, does a pretty good impersonation of various Star Wars characters—Darth Vader, R2D2, and more. It's pretty adorable and physically it's actually one of the more nimble robots I've seen, although nobody can seem to think of anything to do with it other than make 50-second YouTube clips like this one. Still: Cute. [Engadget]

Evil Empire Google Wants Your Email

Okay, so maybe it's not so evil—Google just wants users of its Google Voice service to allow access to both original voicemails and the transcriptions Voice supplies. Right now, there's a rating system to measure how accurate the transcriptions are, but that doesn't help Google improve the system that much. With a healthy supply of voicemails, Google could figure out how to work around tricky roadblocks like external noise and accents. So, not as evil as it sounds. [Neowin]

iTunes App Pages Redesigned

Not that much to say, really—iTunes redesigned the app pages in the Store, and, well, they look better. Bigger pictures, shorter descriptions, slicker layout. Looks nice! [Twitter]

Severed Pancake Hand Grasps Waffle With Last Delicious Ounce of Strength

You guys, HELP. There is a man made of pancakes running around without a hand, bleeding jam, and he's probably hungry since he left his waffle with the hand. Why did this amazing work of art end up in Remainders? Because despite what noted breakfast-eater Rosa Golijan thinks, Gizmodo is not typically a pancake-themed site. Disappointing, I know, but true. [Serious Eats]

Video Shows Mysterious Stranger Hiding Out in NYC Apartment Crawlspace

This is a video that's been making the rounds lately, but I've never seen it and it sparked a lot of discussion amongst the staff this morning. That it's fake we could all agree on, but exactly why—that we couldn't decide. A viral video? But for what? What could be the purpose of faking such an odd thing, besides hundreds of thousands of YouTube views? Take a look and see for yourself. [YouTube]

Free LCD TV—Nevermind the Burned-In Gay Porn

This is a pretty great prank. I'll let the Craigslist listing explain it:

My room mate thought it would be "hysterical" to pause gay porn on my TV while my girlfriend and I were on vacation for 2 weeks, thus burning and image into the screen. So...If you dont mind a sillouette of a skinny white guy taking a load in the face from the biggest black penis in recorded history forever adorning your new TV, Its yours.

Childish, yes. Hilarious, also yes. [Craigslist]

Facebook Allows Users to Gift iTunes Giftcards to Other Users

This ends up in Remainders because I am literally snoring right now, as I type this, but Facebook is now allowing users to buy and deliver iTunes giftcards through the site. You can choose which date the gift will be delivered (like, say, a birthday), which is actually a pretty nice feature. This is, unfortunately, US-only for now, because people who hate freedom enough to resist living in the Land of the Free don't deserve iTunes gift cards. [TUAW]

Seppukoo Lets You Kill Your Facebook Self

It sounds kind of interesting in theory: An entire site dedicated to eradicating Facebook profiles. It must be some kind of statement on avoiding association with social networking, right? Well, no; it's actually just another social networking site, trying to get you to cancel your account with the most popular one. It's not going so well, either—apparently only six people "killed" their profiles yesterday. [Techie]

More Analysts Make Total Speculation About a Verizon iPhone Sound Confident and Certain

Until we get some legit hard evidence, like an announcement, or a leaked photo, or screenshot, or anything at all, any and all chatter on the subject of a Verizon iPhone is just speculation. Knowing that, I have no idea how someone can claim that there's a "70% chance" of seeing it in 2010. Until somebody has something to show me, all Verizon iPhone speculation is doomed to Remainders.

That being said, there is one interesting little tidbit here: The next-gen iPhone may have an RFID reader, a technology common to Japanese and Korean phones but unheard of here in the States. An RFID reader would allow the iPhone to act as a credit card—pretty cool! [AppleInsider]

Acer's Snapdragon'ed Android Handset Gets Groped...By the Brits

We knew about Acer's 1GHz-Snapdragon-packing Android phone, the uncomfortably named Liquid A1 (it just sounds dirty to me), but as it's not been announced for us freedom-loving Amurricans, we haven't been tracking it too closely. Now it's finally out in the UK, and it's been unboxed and groped, and all in all, it's sort of disappointing. It's thicker than we'd expected, and that sexy 1GHz proc has been underclocked by about 25% for some reason we can't fathom. Luckily the video shows that it still runs buttery smooth (opening the applications tray is smoother than on my Droid) but it's still an odd choice to dumb down one of the best mobile processors on the market. Take a look at the video for more. [Engadget]

Exploding Gum Believed to Have Killed Ukrainian Chemistry Student

What in the hell is going on in Ukraine? This sparsely written article says that a chemistry student was killed recently, his jaw blown off in an explosion believed to be caused by his chewing gum. Apparently he liked to coat his gum in citric acid, but the theory is that this time he actually coated it in some kind of explosive powder that took his life. What? I mean, we're sad that he died, but what? [News24]

Microsoft Tells Journalists Not to Use or Mention Apple Products at Briefing

Google's translation of this German page is so bad that for all I know it's actually talking about holiday themed pumpkin head dances and not tech, but if I am to trust Google's remedial German, a Microsoft rep got snippy at a WinMo 6.5 briefing and told journalists present not to talk about the iPhone. In the clearest sentence available in this translation:

a journalist was warned by a Microsoft spokesman not to mention or use Apple products

That's honestly the only thing I can glean from this. It's in Remainders because first, who cares, and second, WTF, Google? Isn't English a Germanic language? This translation should be so much better! [9to5Mac]

A Glimpse at Twitter-Integrated Google Results

This is pretty simple: What will Google's new search results page look like, post-Twitter-integration? Pretty clean, if you ask me—apparently the Tweets scroll through in real time, and in the case of this particular Google query, I'd imagine they scroll for a very long, entertaining time. [Thanks, Matt!]

Time Names Droid as Gadget of the Year, iPhone Last Seen Crying in Corner

Time made their list of Gadgets of the Year and it looks like the Droid came out on top, followed by the Nook. The iPhone doesn't even get bronze and instead sits at fourth place this year. Youch. Do we even care about these lists anymore though? [Electronista]

What if Women Were as Horny and Pervy as Men?

This one made a few of us laugh like crazy, but heads up: There's definitely some man-crack visible sometime during the pole dancing sequence. Yes, that means this video is definitely NSFW unless your boss is Jason Chen and giggles right along with you.

2010's Color of the Year is Seriously Ugly

Apparently Pantone picked a color of the year already and, frankly, the description is almost as bad as the color:

Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing

I have to be honest though, I probably only dislike #15-5519 Turquoise because I prefered 2009's #14-0848 Mimosa. [Crunchgear]

(Super Gay) Ron Livingston Does Not Understand the Internet

Alright, so I'm just baiting Office Space actor Ron Livingston a bit in that headline. I don't really know or care what his sexual orientation is or whether it's super or not. I just know that he's attempting to sue an anonymous Wikipedia editor for constantly changing his entry to state that "he is gay and officially confermed (sic) it in TMZ he is gay and darn proud."

Dear Ron, I've had far stranger things written about me, ranging from implications of vampirism to suggestions that I've got an obsession with space travel. I'm not suing. You shouldn't be either. [Wired]

Windows Server and Azure Get Blended Into Server & Cloud

Microsoft has created a new Server & Cloud Division which will include Windows Server and Azure. Like the name gives away, it'll focus on both on-premise and cloud solutions. Looks like it's mainly some reorganization for now and won't affect Microsoft's roadmaps. [ZDNET]

Dell's Twitter Account Generates $6.5 million in Revenue Over Two Years

I'd laugh at Dell for employing 100 people whose job is to man the company's Twitter accounts, but apparently it's paying off in the form of $6.5 million made from Twitter promoted offers. Not too shabby, Dell! [BGR]

Apple, Why Must You Make Simon Pegg So Sad?

Twartered by Simon Pegg (star of Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Spaced, and some movie about spaceships or something) earlier today:

My Macbook Air has been in hospital for two weeks. Please, Apple Store, Brent Cross give me my baby back!!!!!

And later:

Got my old Macbook Pro to fill the void but it's lost its looks, refuses to behave and is full of shit. Like a teenager. Miss the wee one.

Dear Simon,

I know what you're going through. My own 2009 MacBook Pro has needed several major repairs since I paid Apple lots of money (so much money) for it five months ago, and each time it's been a rough separation. You'll pull through, I know it. After all, I did. Semper fi, brother.

Sincerely,
Dan. [Twitter 1, 2]

Santa: "Ho Ho Ho, Make a U-Turn, You Idiot"

Sometimes I get tired of that stern robot lady from Google that barks directions at me through my Droid, but I don't know that I've ever wished she could be replaced by Santa Claus. But Telenav went ahead and added a $1 Santa voice for its GPS Navigator, which is available for a host of phones (mostly BlackBerry, WinMo, and PalmOS, not carrier-specific). If you want Christmas cheer in a kind of weird way, it's available now. [Telenav]

What In God's Name Is Going on on the USS Enterprise

Okay you guys this Star Trek overdub is so simultaneously weird, hilarious and impressive that I don't want to spoil it by making any pithy little remarks. Suffice to say, are you for panda rape? Crazy woman! [YouTube]

Sony Updates eBook Store

Sony may think this minor change is an "Important eBook Store Update," but then, they kind of have to. They changed the name of the store, from "The eBook Store from Sony" (which is admittedly sort of cumbersome) to "Reader Store," and all new ebooks will be in the ePub standard. So why is it in Remainders? I'd tell you if my face wasn't slowly sinking into my keyboard out of boredomghhhhhgggggghhhhhhh. [Sony]

OK Go's New Music Video Reminds Me of My First Computer

OK Go, masters of both slightly quirky power pop and internet promotion, have unleashed their newest video, for "WTF." You know how on older, crappy Windows machines, images or windows would sometimes get stuck and leave trails whenever you moved them? This is pretty much like that. Fun! [Vimeo]

Apple May Have Bought Lala Bought for a Song (Oh God I Am Too Much)

As if you didn't get enough Lala-Apple news today, a new report surfaced that says Apple may have bought the streaming audio company for about 50 cents on the dollar. "But if that's so cheap, how come this story's in Remainders?" you might ask. Well, imaginary commenter, it's in Remainders because of this quick update:

A second source close to the company insists my estimate is "way off" but won't offer up other details.

We'll update on the Apple-Lala situation when we have some more solid info on what this means for us. [All Things D]

Super Mario Cross-Stitch Is Cool Enough to Get Me to Google "Cross-Stitch"

According to Wikipedia, it is "a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture." This one, to my totally untrained eye, looks really great, an elegant addition to any living room. [A Little Stranger]

Ellen Degeneres Gives Away Pixi, Nokia Booklet and Upside-Down Nook for Christmas

On her talk show, Ellen Degeneres began her annual gift giveaway with an all-tech first day. Included in the roundup: A PowerMat charger, MiFi, Palm Pixi, Nokia Booklet (the audience starts shrieking at "weighs less than three pounds" for that one—how did they guess what it was based on that?), and a B&N Nook, which she proudly holds upside-down. Pretty good roundup, really, but you should check out our Gift Guides to see what we'd have suggested. [Engadget]

Google Offering to Snail Mail a Holiday Card for Free

Google's getting into the spirit of the season and offering a neat freebie: To mail out a old-fashioned holiday postcard for you. All you have to do is fill out the recipient's info, add a message, and select a card. Basically that's about 44 cents for the stamp and maybe about a buck for the card in savings in exchange for the pleasure of handwriting a nice note. [Google via Neatorama]

About Three or So People Rejoice as Twitter Updates Its Mobile Website

Does anyone actually use Twitter's mobile website instead of an app anymore? It's always been accessible at mobile.twitter.com, but now it actually looks nicer and has nearly all of the features of the regular page. That's lovely and all, but I doubt most will ever see it. [TUAW]

One Pain-Inducing Cellphone Strap

I'm fine with the fact that some people like to put silly charms on their cellphones, but I just can't figure out how they'd avoid injury with one like this. [Deal Extreme via Nerd Approved via Dvice]

One-Touch Toothpaste Dispenser for Lazy Squeezers

Squeezing toothpaste tubes is so tough that I don't know how people do it. I'm just thankful that there's a six dollar gadget out there to do the work for me. [Giz Fever via ShinyShiny via Uber Gizmo]

Google Might Build Super-Green Power Plants

Google's been investing in solar, wind and geothermal companies for a while, so it's not particularly surprising that the company is thinking about going a step further and directly financing some green power plants. This could be a move that could push other companies to delve deeper into greener energy tech, so all the more power to Google. Good God, did I just make a pun out of that? [Wired]

Apple Tablet to Be "Shockingly" Cheap

On the latest episode of Diggnation, Internet and television personality Alex Albrecht remarked that he was shocked about 'how cheap the price point" of the Apple tablet would be. No word on how exactly he got his information or just how cheap it needs to be to shock him. [Apple Insider]

Computers Don't Really Save Hospitals Any Money

Harvard did a study to see if using computers saves hospitals money or increases administrative efficiency. The answer to both questions was a resounding "no," but I don't think that should be a surprise. Using computers in an environment like that requires maintenance and training, which naturally cost both money and time. What surprised me about the study is that it didn't look at what effect the use of computers had on actual patient services. Does it make a difference there? [All Things D]

Photo by tahitianlime

TweetBookz Made My Inner Bookworm Crawl Into a Hole

Alright, I confess: I like books and I'm a bit of a dorky geek which means that nearly any new combination of geek and lit tends to appeal to me. Except when it goes oh-so-very-wrong like these TweetBookz.

The idea behind TweetBookz is that you pay about $30 to have a bunch of your tweets made into a nicely bound book. Initially I thought that this could be neat, but then I looked at my own tweets. I somehow don't think I or anyone else would want a book full of messages to creepy people or days of the week.

But maybe I'm just a bit of a lazy, boring Twitter user. [TweetBookz via Wired]

Guy Wins Beard Contest With a Hairy Bird Cage

Jason was particularly excited about this old clip of a beard contest of some sort. I was just plain terrified.

Samurai Mario Battles Bowser and a Dinosaur

I'm not entirely certain what possessed someone to make this illustration of Mario attempting to battle a dinosaur and Bowser while dressed as an ancient samurai, but I like it. [Geekologie]

Ikea Makes an iPhone App

Good news for those who want to deck out their rooms with Ikea items, but need to see the entire catalog on their iPhone before shopping: There's an app for that. [Fresh Home]

I'll Tell You About The Audi E-Tron as Soon as I Stop Drooling

Ok, I don't think I can stop drooling long enough to type, so I'll keep it brief: Wowza. This is the Audi E-Tron which was shown off as a concept at prior car show. She's still got the 3,320 lb-ft of torque we were teased about, but now she's been photographed some more and she looks oh-so-very-nice. Check out the bright-pumpkin-orange car-shaped eyecandy over at Jalopnik. [Jalopnik]

Some analyst says that T-Mobile, and not Verizon, is going to be getting the iPhone when AT&T's exclusivity ends. The emphasis is on the "some analyst" part of that last sentence, hence the reason why we didn't post it. [Apple Insider]

This Sugur polymer clay supposedly dries in 30 minutes and hardens into a heat resistant, semi-flexible solid. It sounds quite a lot like silly putty, which has been around for half a century. Has Sugur been to space? [Boingboing]

This Japanese security system sprays a stink on thieves. The theory is, you can't wash the stink off for a week, so it's like being caught red-handed a week later. Too bad your crap's still gone and the thief can hide out for a week. [Crunchgear]

The Dell Mini 3iX just showed up in Brazil. Until this thing shows up in the US—even though this is Dell—we're not interested. [Zumo via Engadget]

Tennis "star" Andy Murray gets dumped by his girlfriend because he apparently played PlayStation 3 for 7 hours a day. So says the Sun, who has actually taken down the post that everyone is linking to for some reason. Seriously, seven hours a day? It doesn't matter if you're Andy Murray or Tiger Woods, but if you play PS3 for seven hours a day, you're knifing your relationship in the throat. [Telegraph]

This is the kinda crazy nonsense car art that went on in the '70s and '80s. I mean, we love it, but it really is nonsense. [Jalopnik]

Wait...this guy looks familiar.

The many faces of a Space Invader

Apple Said to Be Bullying, Giving Wedgies to Flash Memory Makers

Anyone surprised that Apple's been accused of practicing some, shall we say, Machiavellian business tactics? The Korea Times published a story in which anonymous representatives of Apple's major flash memory partners, Hynix and Samsung, accuse Apple of ordering more memory than needed, then buying the necessary (smaller) amount once the price drops due to that whole supply/demand see-saw. It winds up in Remainders because it's awfully insidery, and honestly we're pretty glad flash prices are so cheap (a 64GB iPod Touch would've been unthinkable three years ago). Sorry, Samsung/Hynix! If you just sock Apple one time right in the face, maybe they'll leave you alone. [Electronista]

Legendary German Camera-Maker Launches Really Boring Digital Cameras

Praktica, a camera-maker out of Dresden, Germany (hence the Vonnegut, ha ha aren't we so literary), has the stature of Zeiss and Leica in the film world. Yet the company's new point-and-shoot digital cameras are the more boring, style-less pieces of plastic I've seen in a long time. The 10- and 12-megapixel cameras feature the normal scene modes, SD/HC storage, video recording and either a 2.7- or 3.0-inch screen. They're a snore and a half and it looks like they may be Germany-only, to boot. [Engadget]

ClearPlay's Upscaling 1080p DVD Player Allows High-Definition Censorship

ClearPlay, a company known for implementing "content control" in their DVD players (basically allowing parents to turn off objectionable content), just moved into the future, sort of! It's not a Blu-ray player or a media streamer, that'd be actually timely, but it is an upconverting, 1080p DVD player—the first of its kind to feature content control. It's available now for $100. [Engadget]

Survey of Android App Developers Reveals Unhappiness With Sales

Okay so go find a heaping spoonful of rock salt that you can chew slowly as you read this story, because there are serious issues with it, but: A recent survey of Android app developers showed that the majority are not satisfied with app sales performance in the Marketplace. Most apps (over 90%) are downloaded less than 10,000 times, which is pretty minimal compared to the sales of apps in Apple App Store for Apps (apps).

Now, the rock salt. For a survey like this, you need a wide variety of developers, doing all different kinds of apps (entertainment, utility, whatever), and the survey assuredly doesn't have that—only thirty developers were polled, a low enough number that frankly I don't trust any conclusions gleaned. Besides, of course Android app sales are lower; Android hardware sales are lower, too, and the Marketplace is a lot younger and less-established than the App Store. Basically, I'm not saying it's wrong, but we really can't trust this survey. [GigaOm]

Canada Has Its Very Own Version of the AT&T vs. Verizon Ad Lawsuit

Telus and Rogers are sworn enemies in the Canadian wireless carrier arena, sort of like AT&T and Verizon but on a much more quaint, socialist and cold scale. And like our own two big dogs, Telus and Rogers have been at each others' throats recently about advertisements—Rogers has ads claiming it's "Canada's most reliable network" and that its speeds are twice as fast as any other network. Telus hit back, claiming it's not true (Telus did after all just launch a 21Mbps HSPA network) and Canadian courts actually forced Rogers to pull the offending ads, an interesting twist on the lawsuit pattern we Americans pioneered. Anyway, I know we're going to be crushed in the comments with high-larious anti-Canadian jabs, so let me pre-empt:

Igloo, cold, eh, hockey, The Arcade Fire, Bob and Dave MacKenzie, Pamela Anderson, who cares. [Boy Genius Report]

CollegeHumor Tackles Modern Warfare 2 (With Bonus Giz Appearance)

CollegeHumor just posted a video in which comedy nerds play (and are subsequently killed during) Modern Warfare 2, with a bonus appearance by our own Adam Frucci. I can exclusively report that Adam Frucci is a very old man who is several years removed from college, but the video's pretty funny despite this factual error. Discussed within: MW2's similarity to Crash Bandicoot, Dick Cheney quotes, a tax-funded sequel to Psychonauts, and why the glamorization of war is awesome. [CollegeHumor]

LG BL4 Gets Christmas Edition

You know, in America, Christmas editions are usually red and green, but in South Korea, it looks like they hang black tinsel on gold trees, because the LG BL40 Christmas edition is decked out in those colors. It's a small upgrade from the original BL40, with an 8MP camera (up from 5MP, though who knows if it's any better), a fancy case and entry into a contest with lots of prizes. It's in Remainders because only those black-and-gold-loving South Koreans can get their hands on it so far. [Engadget]

VUDU Adds Wikipedia, Possibly the World's Most Boring Update

VUDU is a pretty nice media service, built into set-top boxes and TVs and offering nice 1080p streaming, and adds to its repertoire Wikipedia integration. It's previously added Rotten Tomatoes, which is a little more obvious (and dare we say useful), and I personally might prefer IMDB rather than scrolling through prose paragraphs on my TV in Wikipedia, but it's good that Vudu is constantly updating its product. If you have to ask why it's in remainders, you probably haven't read this far: Vudu, Wikipedia, snore. [Engadget]

Phil Schiller Talks App Approval, Avoids Saying Much of Anything

There are lots of legitimate concerns about Apple's app approval (app!) policy, and in a recent profile in Business Week, Senior VP Phil Schiller goes out of his way to not respond to any of them. Yes, we understand that there are legitimate reasons for having an extensive approval process, and we even appreciate the complication-free results. But Schiller neglected to respond to any of the real problems with the process, like, say, the Google Voice ban. We're always interested to hear an Apple higher-up discuss the App Store, but we prefer it when something's actually said. [Business Week]

Microsoft Reiterates Smackdown on Pirate Xbox Users

In response to Microsoft's mass banning of Xbox Live users with pirate leanings, said pirates are contemplating hitting them with a class-action lawsuit—but Microsoft doesn't seem even a little bit scared. MS's response:

Piracy is illegal and modifying an Xbox 360 is a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use. Microsoft is well within its legal rights to ban these users from Xbox Live.

Translation: Hey, you guys down there, you piratey types? Cute lawsuit and all, but you ain't got a chance in hell of winning this.

This winds up in Remainders because the lawsuit is still, as of now, speculative—no such suit has actually been filed. Still, that's about as big an ice burn as you're likely to see from the big MS. [Kotaku]

iPhone Magnification Camera Mod Came From the Recycle Bin

Bummed about the iPhone's lack of zoom? Bummed enough to attach the lid from a pickle jar to the back of your iPhone? Here's a tutorial for how to create a multi-zoom add-on with items found in your recycle bin and a few lenses pried off deceased cameras. It's ungainly as hell, and I'm not totally sure the iPhone's camera is good enough to be worth such effort ugliness, but it does seem like it would work and it even has an external flash. And, of course, we've seen much dumber mods before. [Instructables via Engadget]

Another Anonymous Netbook/Sleeping Aid Hits Wireless Carrier

Another day, another netbook. AT&T brings the LG X120 10.1-incher Stateside to be sold, subsidized of course, through Radioshack.com and the obviously so much more hip brick and mortar version, The Shack. It'll be sold for $180 with a 2-year contract, which requires a $60 per month data charge. As far as specs, it's got a 160GB hard drive, 1GB memory, a 1.6GHz Atom and Windows XP, and in case of emergency will function as a sleeping aid so potent you might never wake up. What I'm saying is, it's in Remainders because seriously you guys, snore. [Engadget]