Adrian Covert, Author at Gizmodo

Golden Shellback Hands-on: Phones Can Make Calls While Underwater

I just got to play with a phone that had been waterproofed using the Golden Shellback technology, and it was pretty amazing, not to mention legit. In the video above, Golden Shellback inventor Sid Martin took a Golden Shellbacked BB Pearl, started a call, dropped it in a glass of ice water, and it all…

Tech News Adrian Covert

iPhone 2.1 Firmware Currently In Beta, More GPS Features On The Way

Gear Live has word that Apple is beta testing iPhone’s 2.1 firmware and will add more GPS functionality to the phone. Specifically, the core location functions will be able to track what direction you’re moving, and how fast (for turn-by-turn navigation, maybe?). Also worth noting is that iPhone SDK 2.1 is also seeding to beta…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Lightning Review: Timbuk2 MacBook Air ‘Steve Sleeve’

The Gadget: It may be seven months late to the party, but Timbuk2’s Steve Sleeve is the latest MacBook Air sleeve to fashion itself in the likeness of a manila folder. The Price: $50 The Verdict: Let me preface this by saying THE THING COSTS FIFTY DOLLARS. Yes, it’s constructed in typical Timbuk2 fashion —…

Tech News Adrian Covert

GPS Gaming Technology Lets You Race Against F1 Pros In Realtime

iOpener’s GPS technology is made so you can take real-time data from an F1 race and use it to race against those same drivers in a video game. By placing combination of Differential GPS and an Inertial Management Unit on a car, it can track its location accurate to 30cm and get the data to…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Atmos Clock Uses Changes In Temperature As Power Source

The Atmos 561 Clock, made by Jaeger LeCoultre and designed by Mark Newson, is powered entirely by changes in temperature and sits inside a block of crystal for good measure. According to The Watchismo Times, a change in temperature of one degree celsius can power the clock for two days. A mixture of Ethyl Chloride…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Are Gadgets Getting Plainer or Will Crazy Hardware Design Come Back? The Experts Speak

We all know minimalism is currently king in the gadget design world. Fancy shapes, switches and knobs have been eschewed in favor of clean and simple designs that take a backseat to interface. So we asked Fake Steve Jobs, Bruce Sterling, Daniel Will-Harris and Yves Behar whether or not they thought there would be a…

Tech News Adrian Covert

New York Times: Analysts Aren’t So Big On The Netbook Movement

Today’s New York Times has a trend piece on ULPCs/Netbooks/Nettops/Subnotebooks/Mini PCs/*Insert Buzzword Here* and analysts who fear their low prices will spell doom and gloom for the PC industry. They cite the already low profit margins for PC sales as an example of what could drive computer companies into the red. Naturally success stories like…

Tech News Adrian Covert

First S60 Touch UI Screenshots Appear, Look Promising

A small bunch of S60 Touch UI screens popped up today over at Mobile Royale, and they don’t look half bad. The design has big on-screen buttons, clean design, and easy to read menus. The only item of concern is how narrow the header and footer bars are when the OS is in landscape mode.…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Optimus Pultius is a Leaner, Meaner, 15-key LED Pad

Fresh from the Optimus blog is the Optimus Pultius which shrinks the Optimus Maximus down to 15 keys, and is meant as an add-on to your existing keyboard setup. It’s expected to be available at the end of 2008 or early 2009. No word on pricing, but hopefully a 30 year mortgage won’t be a…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Waterproof Gadget Coating is Invisible, Mystifying, Mind Boggling Witchcraft

Golden Shellback is a coating that lets you spill, pour, or submerge your gadget in a liquid and have it survive. Golden Shellback says it will protect against oils, water-based liquids, synthetic fluids, dust and dirt. Tekzilla’s Patrick Norton shot a segment on Golden Shellback and has footage of cellphones and CB radios functioning normally…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Qik Video Streaming Goes To Public Beta, iPhone App Still Coming

Qik’s video streaming service is now open to the public as a beta version to anyone with a 3G or wi-fi connection on their compatible Symbian or Windows Mobile Phone. Qik also told Venture Beat that they are still at work on an iPhone client, though they didn’t address the possibility it would be rejected.…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Vaka Squeezable Lightbulbs Can Be Charged And Taken Anywhere

Vaka’s concept for lightbulbs revolves around silicon orbs that you squeeze to turn the light on/off, or twist to make the light dimmer or brighter. But the bulbs are also chargeable, meaning you can remove them from the fixture and take them wherever light is needed…like those village raids against the local vampire. [Yanko]

Tech News Adrian Covert

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Now Available, Fixes Data Corruption

Microsoft just made available the Power Pack 1 update for Windows Home Server, which fixes the data corruption issues users have been reporting since Home Server went live. In addition, it adds 64-bit Vista support, shared folder backup features, and improved remote accessibility. You can download it here. [Windows Home Server Blog via All About…

Tech News Adrian Covert

CherryPal PC Offers Subscription-free Cloud Computing That Runs Off Two Watts of Power

CherryPal’s cloud-based computer is unique because it offers the technology without subscription costs, and only draws two watts of power. The machine has no moving parts, and uses hardware encrpytion to provide a secure link to the cloud (which is run by Amazon). To offset the costs of the cloud server, short ads are inserted…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Terminator Teaser Trailer is Seizure-inducing Robot Carnage

This flash-happy Terminator 4 — ahem, Terminator Salvation — teaser trailer posted on io9 teaches us the film will have skull crushing, robots running around everywhere, explosions and Christian Bale looking really, really confused. Then it pulls a “One More Thing…” and breaks out the AQUA KILL-BOT, which looked pretty epic for the half second…

Movies Adrian Covert

Ferrari Going Hybrid in 2015

In case you hadn’t heard, Ferrari will have a hybrid car by 2015. Yes, this announcement is kind of inevitable and/or vague, but this is Ferrari we’re talking about. And when Ferrari starts to go green, you know you have a widespread automotive trend on your hands. [Jalopnik] https://jalopnik.com/ferrari-announces-hybrid-development-world-officially-397975

Tech News Adrian Covert

Mars Phoenix Lander Protects Itself From Bad NASA Commands

The Mars Phoenix Lander shut its robotic arm down over the weekend, refusing to follow NASA directions after “realizing” those actions would have damaged its wrist. NASA programmers had to send new code to bring the arm back to life, and are now augmenting the original code to try and get the task done. Seemingly…

Space & Spaceflight Adrian Covert

Lenovo IdeaPad U330 is Super Shiny and Slim

Lenovo launched the 13.3″ IdeaPad U330 laptop tonight at Intel’s Centrino 2 launch event, and it looked pretty nice. As far as specs go, the Centrino 2-powered device is 0.9 inches thick, under four pounds and has five hours of battery life, with a Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz P7350 at 2GHz, and Lenovo’s standard active…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Xbox Live Getting Dashboard Redesign, Mii-like Avatars Designed by Rare

Microsoft revealed today at their E3 press conference that their dashboard will be completely redesigned in the fall, with an all new avatar system similar to that on the Wii. The fully customizable avatars, designed by Rare, can be imported into other games to be used as playable characters. New channels include the My Xbox…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Lightning Review: Palm Treo 800w Smartphone

The Gadget: Palm’s Treo 800w is the updated, Windows Mobile successor to the Palm 750w. In addition to adding WinMo 6.1, the 800w brings a higher resolution screen, EVDO rev.A, GPS and Wi-Fi. Price: $250 (after 2 year contract) The Verdict: As far as Windows Mobile phones go, the 800w is a pretty good one.…

Reviews Adrian Covert

Adrian Covert

Golden Shellback Hands-on: Phones Can Make Calls While Underwater

iPhone 2.1 Firmware Currently In Beta, More GPS Features On The Way

Lightning Review: Timbuk2 MacBook Air ‘Steve Sleeve’

GPS Gaming Technology Lets You Race Against F1 Pros In Realtime

Atmos Clock Uses Changes In Temperature As Power Source

Are Gadgets Getting Plainer or Will Crazy Hardware Design Come Back? The Experts Speak

New York Times: Analysts Aren’t So Big On The Netbook Movement

First S60 Touch UI Screenshots Appear, Look Promising

Optimus Pultius is a Leaner, Meaner, 15-key LED Pad

Waterproof Gadget Coating is Invisible, Mystifying, Mind Boggling Witchcraft

Qik Video Streaming Goes To Public Beta, iPhone App Still Coming

Vaka Squeezable Lightbulbs Can Be Charged And Taken Anywhere

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Now Available, Fixes Data Corruption

CherryPal PC Offers Subscription-free Cloud Computing That Runs Off Two Watts of Power

Terminator Teaser Trailer is Seizure-inducing Robot Carnage

Ferrari Going Hybrid in 2015

Mars Phoenix Lander Protects Itself From Bad NASA Commands

Lenovo IdeaPad U330 is Super Shiny and Slim

Xbox Live Getting Dashboard Redesign, Mii-like Avatars Designed by Rare

Lightning Review: Palm Treo 800w Smartphone

Watch and Follow Live as NASA Launches Its First Crewed Mission to the Moon in 54 Years 🔴

This Is the Way to Lego’s April Releases

Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI

Amazon Facilities in Bahrain Hit Again as Iran Follows Through on Threat, Report Says

Why the PS6 Handheld Will Matter More Than the PS6

DNA Study Casts Even More Doubt on Shroud of Turin’s True Origin

Sam Witwer Is Ready for Maul’s Moment

Anthropic Can’t Cover Up Its Claude Code Leak Fast Enough

Zach Cregger Recruits Second Zach for His Aunt Gladys Spinoff

Can You Run a Computer Without RAM? Surprisingly, Yes—But You’ll Be Miserable

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?