Jason Chen, Author at Gizmodo

Strange Automata Gallery (Robots)

We love weird robots as much as anyone else, but if we had to look at this gallery of strange automatons for more than a few minutes, we wouldn’t be able to achieve an erection again ever. Among them, Korea’s Ever-1 and the Ri-MAN human-carrying, feel-copping robot. https://gizmodo.com/koreas-ever-1-android-171553 Oh boy, here come the nightmares. Wists…

Tech News Jason Chen

Belkin XM Boombox F5X007

Combine high tech satellite technology with 1970s design with the Belkin XM Boombox. A white, water-resistant cover shields the player from the sweaty half of sweating to the oldies. The other half, no such luck. There’s no insulating against old people. Powered by 8 C batteries (who the hell has C batteries?) or an AC…

Tech News Jason Chen

802.11n Delayed Even Further

Wi-Fi Networking News got tipped off by an anonymous IEEE member (it wasn’t us, we only joined for the magazines) that the 802.11n draft is going to be very delayed. Instead of receiving the standard 2,000 comments on the draft, the committee received 12,000. Thus, the vote is again going to be nowhere near the…

Tech News Jason Chen

Turbo Charger Portable AA Cell Charger

Our husbands are always getting on us about not charging our cell phones. No longer! Using this Turbo Charge battery charger, you can stick in a simple AA battery and plug it into your phone to fill up the juice. Better yet, it comes in a lipstick-like container, not some boxy black plastic looking thing.…

Gadgets Jason Chen

DISH ViP 622 HDTV DVR Reviewed (Verdict: Convergently Great)

The TV junkies over at i4u reviewed the DISH Network HDTV DVR and found it a worthwhile purchase. The 250GB hard drive allows for 25 hours of HD programming or 180 hours of SD programming. The unique feature of this box allows two rooms to watch TV through the device without having a separate receiver…

Tech News Jason Chen

Harmony Home Automation Windows Media Center Plugin

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…

Gadgets Jason Chen

WMD Case Mod: Jack Bauer Computing

Tell me where the bomb is! The guys at bit-tech tried to create a custom-build case that looked exactly like a bomb on 24. The result? Explosive chrome goodness. The naughty bits: water cooling, a countdown-style LED, slide out motherboard, a set of vandal-resistant switches, two power supplies, and lots and lots of man-hours. Check…

Tech News Jason Chen

Princeton PTV-WWTV7 WiFi 7-Inch LCD TV

Perfect for the kitchen, bathroom, or other room where there’s no cable outlet, the Princeton WiFi LCD TV lets you enjoy the big game no matter where you are. Grabbing another snack and dropping the kids off at the pool no longer need to wait until commercials. The TV comes with a tuner that plugs…

Television Jason Chen

Samsung Patents Sliding-Clamshell Cellphone Design

Cellphone designs that hide the screen when not in use have traditionally been separated into two designs, the clamshell and the slider. People have preferred the clamshell because they’re compact, and others like the slider because they usually have large screens. Like Pandas, Samsung’s forced the two to mate for the good of the species,…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Memorex Releases Four MP3 Players And Nobody Notices

When consumers hear Memorex, what comes to mind? Most likely CDRs, DVDRs and burners, not MP3 players. But Memorex is trying wedge itself into an already tight market like your wife into her jeans from college. The most interesting design is a disc shaped player, the MMP8550, which is reminiscent of all their blank media…

Tech News Jason Chen

Vivadi Saturn HD50 50-Inch Plasma Media Center Reviewed (Verdict: Great, But Hope Your Kids Like TV More Than College)

Running at an obscene $20,000, plus another $9,400 for custom speakers, you’d think this 50″ has one Zero too many in its price. How does Vivadi justify this price? By making this a decorative unit as well as an entertainment center. Built into the wooden base is a “mega-powerful” Windows Media Center PC. Two tuners,…

Television Jason Chen

The Week In Comments

Wall Outlet Safe Or you could just put an ordinary 50-cent power box in a hole in the wall, screw an ordinary $3 wall socket kit over it, and use that as your wall safe. https://gizmodo.com/wall-outlet-safe-173835 While this would be a bit harder for you to open, it would also be a bit harder for…

Tech News Jason Chen

FCC Approves Nokia 6135i, 5500 Sport, 7370

Our friends at the FCC gave the sexy schoolmarmish nod to three new phones from Nokia. Nokia 6315: Clamshell, EVDO, 2 LCDs, 1.3 megapixel camera, speaker phone, bluetooth, USB, Video/Music on demand, MP3 and video support. Nokia 5500 Sport: Three modes, phone, music and sport. Sport has a built in pedometer with special software to…

Tech News Jason Chen

Mac OS X Driver for Xbox 360 Controller

An enterprising Mac gamer (I thought they all dual booted to Windows?) created a USB driver for your Xbox 360 controllers to use on OS X. It’s released under GPL, so if there are any problems you can go ahead and fix them yourself. Most things work, but there are still some items yet to…

Tech News Jason Chen

Vodafone Announces Sharp V201SH Cellphone for Prepaid

As far as candybar phones go, this Sharp V201SH has the looks of an emaciated teenage model that ran away from home. That is to say, it’s thin and looks good. Coming in both black and white models, like the MacBooks, the handsets sport a 1.9-inch QVGA screen. Other than that, it’s pretty bare, feature-wise.…

Tech News Jason Chen

Motorola Q and Samsung i-320 Video

Taken at Israel Tech Ed last week, the video shows off both the Motorola Q and the Samsung i-320. The Q’s UI looks pretty responsive, and the screen’s quality is pretty good. The Samsung’s keys also look interesting, with a BlackBerry-like dual purpose keys. Instead of horizontally dividing the keys, Samsung divided them vertically. You’ll…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Automatic Golf Tee

It seems fans of golf take every precaution to not get any exercise at all when playing the “sport”. Caddys to carry your clubs, golf carts to whisk you from here to there—why is Tiger Woods considered an athlete again? To this end, the Automatic Golf Tee holds 35 balls and automatically feeds balls onto…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Solar Powered Battery Charger

Out here in sunny California, people are always going out to the beach or the pool or the park. Not us though, we’re inside blogging, just the way we like it. But even indoors, we can take advantage of this solar powered battery charger to fill up all our AA’s. This charger charges four of…

Gadgets Jason Chen

BodieLobus PS2 Controller With Trackball

The controller with a funny name and even funnier appearance made a show at E3 2006, and IGN’s peepers were all over it. The BodieLobus replaces the right analog stick of the Playstation 2 controller with a trackball. By doing so, accuracy in FPS games increased dramatically. The critical difference I discovered between playing an…

Gadgets Jason Chen

LINDY WiFi and Bluetooth Finder

Similar WiFi finders are on the market—allowing you to quickly see whether there is an open hotspot without pulling out your laptop—but very few allow you to also scan for Bluetooth networks. The Wi-Fi Finder has a range of 50 meters and includes a lanyard to attach to your keychain. What’s also interesting about this…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Jason Chen

Strange Automata Gallery (Robots)

Belkin XM Boombox F5X007

802.11n Delayed Even Further

Turbo Charger Portable AA Cell Charger

DISH ViP 622 HDTV DVR Reviewed (Verdict: Convergently Great)

Harmony Home Automation Windows Media Center Plugin

WMD Case Mod: Jack Bauer Computing

Princeton PTV-WWTV7 WiFi 7-Inch LCD TV

Samsung Patents Sliding-Clamshell Cellphone Design

Memorex Releases Four MP3 Players And Nobody Notices

Vivadi Saturn HD50 50-Inch Plasma Media Center Reviewed (Verdict: Great, But Hope Your Kids Like TV More Than College)

The Week In Comments

FCC Approves Nokia 6135i, 5500 Sport, 7370

Mac OS X Driver for Xbox 360 Controller

Vodafone Announces Sharp V201SH Cellphone for Prepaid

Motorola Q and Samsung i-320 Video

Automatic Golf Tee

Solar Powered Battery Charger

BodieLobus PS2 Controller With Trackball

LINDY WiFi and Bluetooth Finder

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

Deadpool Will Deface ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Classics for a New Secret Lair

Apple’s Siri Isn’t Just Going to Use One Chatbot. It’s Going to Use All of Them

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

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?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees