Jason Chen, Author at Gizmodo

University of Michigan Giving Up Students to the RIAA

Bad news for students at the University of Michigan. At least twelve of you are in the process of being identified to the RIAA, according to Paul Howell, Chief Information Technology Security Officer of the University. Why’s Paul giving you up? Read the letter after the jump. For current students, you should probably not use…

Tech News Jason Chen

Samsung F700 Touch Smartphone Up Close and Greasy

Vincent over at Slashgear has a large hands-on with the Samsung F700 sliding smartphone (see comparison). The phone itself had a really good keypad and has great tactile feedback, but Vincent thinks the OS was locked because Samsung didn’t want people viewing the un-finished product just yet. https://gizmodo.com/apple-iphone-vs-samsung-f700-which-is-touchscreenier-235112 As for the finish, it’s definitely glossy…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Whose Round is it Anyway?

There are many ways you can use this Whose Round Is It Anyway “Simon” game from Gadgetz4all. You could decide that the first person to incorrectly repeat the sequence of colored lights has to buy the next round. You could also use it to decide who’s going to take the next shot. Hell, you could…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Technosexuals: We’re Heeeeeeeere!

As our khaki-wearing cousin Valleywag reported, the term “technosexual” is becoming replacing metrosexual, ruralsexual, and ludditesexual as the “sexual” term of the moment. In this video from our local news channel, some guy named Ricky explains that being a technosexual is all about having the sexiest gear and setting up wireless routers for women. If…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Rumor Rater: Wireless Wii Nunchucks

A reader sends this tip culled from the pages of our favorite magazine when we were 10, Nintendo Power. He notes, as seen on the right, that Andy Alamano, the producer of Alien Invasion, is holding a Wiimote and Nunchucks unattached. Does this mean there’s going to be wireless (Bluetooth?) Nunchucks for the Wii soon?…

Tech News Jason Chen

Driving While Texting May Be Illegal in Oregon, Washington

Lawmakers in Oregon and Washington are getting set to push a bill that will make texting (sending SMS messages) while driving illegal. It’s an extension of laws against talking on cellphones in the car, but this activity is possibly more deadly because your eyes are off the road. Despite not banning things like eating in…

Tech News Jason Chen

ThermalTake BlueOrb FX CPU Fan Shows Temp, Noise Level

ThermalTake’s original BlueOrb has been a favorite for DIY PC builders, with its great cooling and relatively low noise level. How could ThermalTake improve on that gigantic design? How about by putting a spinning LED in there that displays the temperature and noise level? On the performance side, this upgraded model does cool “a lot…

Tech News Jason Chen

Netgear 1080p Digital Entertainer HD Official

Netgear’s EVA8000 that we saw in January has finally become official. Not only does the Digital Entertainer HD have 802.11g and can stream MP3, WMV, WMA, MPEG1/2/4, AVI, WMV, and XviD, it can play back video at up to 1080p over HDMI or component. https://gizmodo.com/netgears-1080p-streamer-caught-on-video-229621 Its other cool features are a PVR extender for PCs…

Gadgets Jason Chen

LG Chocolate Media Center Only Does 2.1 Audio, But Plays Back DivX over HDMI

This pricey (£329, or $636) LG J10HD may only be available in Europe, but it looks good enough for us to start begging for it over here. The system’s only 2.1, which makes it kind of a low-to-medium end setup, but it does have two 75W speakers and a 150W sub. What’s best about it…

Tech News Jason Chen

Play With Windows Mobile 6 Without Buying a Phone

If you’re still curious about Windows Mobile 6 even after all the videos we’ve shown you, here’s a way to emulate the new OS on your PC. All you need is the Device Emulator, the Compact Framework SP1, the Windows Mobile 6 SDK, and a copy of Visual Studio 2005. https://gizmodo.com/windows-mobile-iphone-edition-the-movie-240128 The first three are…

Tech News Jason Chen

TRENDnet Wants You To Help Design a Gaming Router

TRENDnet, a second-tier player in the router business, wants you to help them design a gaming router. All you have to do is hop over to their site, tell TRENDnet what features are important to you, and they’ll never read it take it into consideration when they build their next device. For us, we prefer…

Tech News Jason Chen

Is it an Ear Infection?

Save money and spare your child from a trip to the doctor with this EarCheck ear infection diagnosis kit. Just stick it in, press the button, and you’ll be able to diagnose on a scale of 1 to 5 whether or not your kid’s in any danger. The LCD also gives you a reading that…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Zune Pro|Type Keyboard Shots Promise Ergonomic Convenience

Remember the Zune Pro|Type keyboard renders we saw last year? There wasn’t much information then, other than 32KB of memory on board, but we just got some new shots in right now. https://gizmodo.com/razer-pro-type-multimedia-keyboard-zune-dock-193958 As you can see (with more after the jump), it’s a keyboard. With a Zune dock. What did you expect? But as…

Tech News Jason Chen

Europe’s PS3’s Software Backward Compatibility Graded (It’s Not Good)

What would you do if you were a professor and one of your students got 1 out of 12 questions correct on an exam? Before you answer, let us tell you a story. You see, the Inquirer got their hands on a PAL PS3—you know, the ones that have software backward compatibility—and tested it out…

Tech News Jason Chen

Games for Windows Makes You Pay $50 a Year to Play With Xbox 360 Owners

Xbox 360 owners are already used to paying every year for the privilege of playing with their friends on Xbox Live, but now Windows get to cough up cash too. For $50 a year, Windows Live will give you—tweed jacket-wearing Windows guy—the ability to play games like Shadowrun and Halo 2 with your buddies on…

Tech News Jason Chen

802.11n Draft 2.0 Approved, Will Be Fully Compliant With Final Draft

Good news for wireless fans, as the 802.11 Working Group has just approved Draft 2.0 of the 802.11n spec. What’s left before you can hop down to the store and get your own certified gear? Just Draft 3.0 and the final spec. However, as a stopgap measure between now until then, the Wi-Fi Alliance can…

Tech News Jason Chen

Man Combines Doctor Who Obsession With Gaming Obsession to Become World’s Ultimate Nerd

This is what you get when you combine a MAME arcade cabinet with a home made TARDIS replica box. Sad, yet impressive, all at the same time. How do we know it was a man? Do you know any women who would make something like this? Q.E.D. Building a MAME console inside a TARDIS [Asciimation…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Asus A626 Ultra-Slim PDA Trades Calling for Thickness

Targeted towards the ever-shrinking market of people who buy PDAs that can’t make calls, this Asus A626 is probably one of the thinnest PDAs out there. At 1.5-cm thick, the A626 barely has enough room to squeeze in a 3.5-inch anti-glare touchscreen. Other features: Intel 312MHz processor, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, the ability to act as…

Tech News Jason Chen

Classic Ad Watch: Panasonic’s 1985 Portable Audio Lineup

What does an ad with a cassette player, boombox, laserdisc, and FM radio headphones get you? Something that’s hilarious to watch 22 years later. Panasonic’s motto was “Just Slightly Ahead of Our Time”, which makes a lot of sense. These things totally look like they’re from 1987. Classic Commercials: Panasonic [TecheBlog]

Tech News Jason Chen

Samsung Q1 Vista-based UMPC Launching at CeBIT

Attention those of you who care about UMPCs. Samsung‘s Taiwan site “accidentally” put up a shot of what they’re going to reveal at CeBIT, and among the devices is a Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC. The insides will have an Intel CPU, 1GB RAM, 60GB hard drive, a 1024×600 display, 1.3 and 0.3-megapixel cameras, QWERTY, Bluetooth,…

Tech News Jason Chen

Jason Chen

University of Michigan Giving Up Students to the RIAA

Samsung F700 Touch Smartphone Up Close and Greasy

Whose Round is it Anyway?

Technosexuals: We’re Heeeeeeeere!

Rumor Rater: Wireless Wii Nunchucks

Driving While Texting May Be Illegal in Oregon, Washington

ThermalTake BlueOrb FX CPU Fan Shows Temp, Noise Level

Netgear 1080p Digital Entertainer HD Official

LG Chocolate Media Center Only Does 2.1 Audio, But Plays Back DivX over HDMI

Play With Windows Mobile 6 Without Buying a Phone

TRENDnet Wants You To Help Design a Gaming Router

Is it an Ear Infection?

Zune Pro|Type Keyboard Shots Promise Ergonomic Convenience

Europe’s PS3’s Software Backward Compatibility Graded (It’s Not Good)

Games for Windows Makes You Pay $50 a Year to Play With Xbox 360 Owners

802.11n Draft 2.0 Approved, Will Be Fully Compliant With Final Draft

Man Combines Doctor Who Obsession With Gaming Obsession to Become World’s Ultimate Nerd

Asus A626 Ultra-Slim PDA Trades Calling for Thickness

Classic Ad Watch: Panasonic’s 1985 Portable Audio Lineup

Samsung Q1 Vista-based UMPC Launching at CeBIT

Artemis 2 Crew Become First Humans to Travel Beyond Earth Orbit Since the 1970s

Artemis 2 Day 2: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Labubus Might Be Labu-Bust After Pop Mart Posts Record Share Loss

Cursor’s New Tool Lets Users Delegate to a Team of Coding Agents

Nvidia Needs to Remind Itself What PC Gamers Actually Want

Iran Says It Hit Oracle Facilities in UAE

‘Invincible’ Season 4 Is Doing Right By Debbie

New Theory Says We’ve Been Overcomplicating the Big Bang

Marvel Might Have Finally Dealt With One of the Most Hated ‘Spider-Man’ Characters Around

China Is Trying to Grow New Forests in This Notorious Mega-Desert. It’s Working

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?