Charlie White

James Randi Offers $1 Million If Audiophiles Can Prove $7250 Speaker Cables Are Better

Click to viewOur rant about those $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables found its way to the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), and Randi offered $1 million to anyone who can prove those cables are any better than ordinary (and also overpriced) Monster Cables. Pointing out the absurd review by audiophile Dave Clark, who called the…

LED/Laser Flashlight: You Want Power? Talk to the Hand

Here’s the perfect flashlight for those candlelight presentations you’ll be giving to all the other heathens after the apocalypse. The lasers/LED combo flashlight requires no batteries whatsoever, and gets all of its power from your squeezing hand. Remember those fake ray guns you played with when you were a kid? Except for the sound effects,…

Ultra High-End Sim2 Grand Cinema C3X 1080 Projector to Ship in November

Sim2, maker of high-end fancy pants projectors, will be one of the first manufacturers to release a model using the new DLP DarkChip 4 from Texas Instruments. And get this—three of those chips will be shining inside Sim2’s Grand Cinema C3X 1080 projector, set to ship in November. Besides bringing you what the company calls…

GraGraph Earthquake Meter Lets You Know When The Earth Moves Under Your Feet

Next time you’re wondering if the earthquake of the century is starting to hit, this GraGraph earthquake meter will let you know just how bad that tremblor is, in real time. Once an earthquake starts (it doesn’t say how strong, could mean a lot of false alarms), this little alarm-clock-sized device lets out a powerful…

Joining 21st Century, Visa Micro Tag Lubricates Payment, But Not Your Ass

Credit card companies are dragging their old hairy asses into an uncertain future, finally and begrudgingly offering the convenience of payments without signature to locations everywhere. Here’s the latest evidence of that from bloodsucking Visa, with its Visa Micro Tag that lets you make micropayments without touching anything, where you nonchalantly wave this sky-blue keyfob…

Because of Microsoft Vista Lameness, Windows XP to Stay On Sale for Five Extra Months

Poor Microsoft Windows Vista. So many people think it sucks that Microsoft has extended the life of the ancient but stalwart Windows XP, originally scheduled to stop shipping in January 2008. Now the company will extend XP’s sales life until the end of June 2008, and will keep those boxes of software flowing to “emerging…

Respect The Old School Cane, For Punk Kid Smackdowns

Some of us old cane-carrying codgers don’t get no respect, we don’t get no respect at all. That’s why we need this cane with a RESPECT stamp on the business end, leaving a mark on those punk whippersnappers who want to disrespect us with their “rap music” and hepcat attitudes. Well sir, those days are…

Do-It-Yourself Roboflush Made of LEGO NXT Mindstorms

Why spend a cool $1000 or more on a touchless toilet when you can make a Roboflush mechanism yourself with a bit of programming and LEGO NXT Mindstorms? The ultrasonic sensor discovers your presence, and as soon as you’re done and gone, it sends the signal to the NXT unit which croaks out a strained…

Dice Stacking a Camera Trick? Nope, Here’s Slo-Mo Proof

When we posted an unexpectedly well-received video of dice stacking yesterday, little did we realize that this peculiar activity has been developed into an artform by some amazing magicians. Here’s a new dice stacking video from Thomas Fischbach, the same guy we saw in the video update yesterday. For those of you who thought this…

Eavesdrop Through Walls With a Do-It-Yourself Recording Spy Stethoscope

For some reason, we’re seeing a lot of spy gear making the rounds these days, and here’s yet another, an eavesdropping device you can make yourself for less than $25. This guy has replaced the earpieces on a $10 stethoscope with condenser mics from a couple of cheap-ass multimedia microphones. Then it’s no big deal…

Oppo HM-31 Turns Three HDMI Signals Into One Without Clipping or Gypping

There’s something about those initials HDMI that send some manufacturers into fits of greed, but not Oppo. The company that makes up-rezzing DVD players, two of which we’ve favorably reviewed, now announces an HDMI switch that turns three 1080p sources into one, electronically switching them with a remote control and sending those crispy clean signals…

SIM Card Spy Ear for Nosy Neighbors and Private Eyes

Are you sneaky enough for the SIM Card Spy Gear Remote Listening Device? Just take your SIM card out of your cellphone and stick it in this mysterious black box that’s about the size of a bar of soap. Hide the $85 device in an inconspicuous location wherever you want to do your listening, and…

Novatel MC727 USB EV-DO Modem, World’s Smallest, Has MicroSD Slot

Now you can hook up to wireless broadband cellular service with this Novatel Wireless Ovation MC727, the world’s smallest EV-DO Rev. A USB modem that’s soon to be available on both Sprint and Verizon. Besides just being small, this one adds an extra twist: It has a microSD flash memory slot, letting you slip in…

Aptera Electric Three Wheeler Available for Pre-Order

We heard rumblings of the electric three-wheeled Aptera over a year ago but now the company has opened up an annoying and overwrought website soliciting “reservations,” meaning you can plunk down $500 and get the right to buy either the all-electric or plug-in diesel hybrid model. The good news is, there’s a working prototype with…

Harmony 880, kick-ass universal remote available for $119.99 (plus shipping) at Dell, or $128.48 at Amazon with free shipping.

Sling Media Preparing SlingPlayer for Blackberry OS

Sling Media spreads location-shifting love far and wide, and now we’re hearing that the company is further sowing the seeds of TV everywhere by preparing SlingPlayer Mobile for the Blackberry. On the heels of the company’s announcement that it will be supporting Symbian S60 software, and after supporting Windows Mobile for over a year now,…

Incredible Dice Stacking Trick is Near-Miraculous

Who knew this kind of dice stacking was even possible? Damn, this guy is good. Are those trick dice? [Break] UPDATE: Impressed by that video? Think it’s a camera trick? On the next page, see another dice stacking video that’s even more amazing. They can’t all be camera tricks! Thanks, Andras and Thomas Fischbach, the…

Palm-Sized Cellphone Jammer Gives Public Gabbers the Smackdown

This is not the first cellphone jammer on the market and won’t be the last, but this $166 model is small enough to discreetly carry anywhere. It’s powerful enough for personal use, slam-dunking GSM calls within about a 30-foot radius. That might be just the range of earshot in a movie theater, unless there’s yelling…

Electrobike Pi Gives You 3.14 Reasons to Get Rid of Your Car

Hop on the Electrobike Pi, and through the courtesy of your two feet and its 1hp motor, no one will ever be able to blame you for global warming again. Three reasons? It’s efficient, it’s fun, it’s socially responsible and it looks cool. Okay, maybe the cool look is the “.14” reason. It still has…

Palm Centro to Sprint to the Streets in Two Weeks for $99.99

There have been spy shots and leaked official photos, and now Sprint just made it official that the Palm Centro will find itself in someone’s hot little hand on October 14 for a mere $99.99. And looky there, it’s got a surprising color slathered onto it, too. https://gizmodo.com/palm-gandolf-officially-the-centro-smallest-treo-ever-290451 Just in case everyone is completely bored…