Jason Chen, Author at Gizmodo

Dolby Volume Nixes Loud Commercials

Dolby’s Volume technology (capital V) is designed to be added to TVs, DVDs, and other equipment in order to normalize volumes when watching TV. Instead of being bombarded by loud ads—purposely introduced by ad makers to have volume only on the LOUD end of the range—Dolby Volume makes sure all sound gets outputted at an…

Tech News Jason Chen

Wowpen Anti-Carpal Tunnel Pointer Gets Less Vaporish

Despite seeing the pen at CeBIT in 2006, CES was the first we’ve heard from Wowpen in nearly a year. The pen looks like a pen, but works like a mouse with either PCs or Macs. https://gizmodo.com/cebit-06-anti-carpal-tunnel-wowpen-159814 There’s even a built-in laser pointer, optional flash memory, and “silver nano” technology to keep germs away. If…

Tech News Jason Chen

DIY Aerated Mousepad for $35

If you’re a sweaty beast like Travis, you know how difficult it is keeping your hands dry when you’re at the computer. Lucky enough for you, someone’s come up with a way to make an aerated mousepad for only $35 and some material. First you need some steel mesh from a trashcan, an antec laptop…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Stream iTunes To Your Wii With Orb

With a simple hack to Orb’s streaming software, a Swedish Wii owner made his iTunes stream music and photos directly to his Wii. Thanks to Orb’s acceptance of third-party addons, they’ve accepted this as an official feature. All you have to do is download Orb to your Windows-based PC and you’re set. At our count,…

Tech News Jason Chen

Asus Pegasus Guides You Like a Sexy Stewardess

We don’t have much in terms of details for this Asus PDA phone other than it looks pretty sleek with its brushed metal finish and aluminum borders. The 0.6-inch thick phone runs Windows Mobile (we’re guessing smartphone edition), plus has a jog dial and an on-board GPS. So yes, until the official announcement is thrown…

Tech News Jason Chen

Alltel Celltop Widgets Hands-On

Apple’s not the only one with a widget-capable phone. Alltel’s Samsung u520 has celltop built-in, which means you can get weather, stocks, and sports scores with only a few clicks. The response time is pretty decent for a cellphone, and the graphics are actually quite good. As you can see in the video, each cell…

Tech News Jason Chen

Windows Mobile Crossbow Leaked Gallery

Apparently someone on the Windows Mobile team (or one of Microsoft’s partners) got a little itchy and has been leaking pre-release builds of Windows Mobile 6 (Crossbow) onto the internet. With a little googling and/or bittorrenting, you can be the proud owner of a 50~60MB install file to place on your own phone. So what’s…

Tech News Jason Chen

Choose Your Own iPod Adventure

Good news everyone! Those Choose Your Own Adventure books you loved to read while stuffed into a locker as a kid are finally making their way to the iPod. The CYOA titles come in two forms, e-book and audio book. With the e-book, you read normally and choose pages when prompted. As an audiobook, the…

Tech News Jason Chen

Belkin Battery Backup Brings Bonus Bulb

Not only does this Belkin Battery Backup give you six outlets, four of which are battery supported—it also has a built-in flashlight as well. This means that when your power is out, the light powers on automatically, letting you know exactly where your UPS is so you can reach under your desk and remove the…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Any Media iPod Uploader Takes the Computer Out of iPod Videos

If ripping shows and re-encoding them into iPod format so you can watch them on the road sounds like too much hassle, this Any-Media iPod Uploader should be just the thing for you. All you have to do is plug in an RCA connection—TVs, VCRs, and DVD players have them—hit record, and the iRecord will…

Gadgets Jason Chen

MobiBLU’s D5 Video Player

The upcoming D5 Video player looks like a devilish version of the Zune, with its horizontal LCD and clickwheel for right-handed navigation. The D5 will be light, in true MobiBLU fashion, and come with a 2.0-inch LCD, FM tuner, FM/Voice recording, MP3/WMA playback, and weigh only 51 grams. Unfortunately it’s a flash-based, coming in 1…

Tech News Jason Chen

How Does Jeep’s Waterfall Show Work?

If you’ve been to any auto show with Jeep in attendance, you’ve probably seen that fancy waterfall thing they use to write the word “Jeep”, “Toyota Sucks”, and draw pictures. But how does it work? Think of it as an ink-jet but with water that you can program patterns into. It’s a bit less impressive…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Slim Down Without Working Out With Ultrashape

A new technology called Ultrashape gives plastic surgeons a non-invasive way to get the fat out of your body. Instead of cutting you open and sucking out the lard, Ultrashape uses ultrasound to “break down” fat cells so your body can expel them the next time you expel something. Sounds a bit like the side…

Gadgets Jason Chen

BlackBerry 8800 and 9xxx Series Details on Cingular

Here are a few more details on the BB 8800 and 9xxx series phones heading to Cingular. First off, the 8800 is scheduled for mid-February, but will have no camera, no Wi-Fi, and just about the same keys as the 8700. The 9xxx however, will have Cingular’s HSDPA 3G, a microSD card slot for backup…

Tech News Jason Chen

Japanese Vintage Sake-Serving Robot

If you’ve got 1,050,000 Yen ($8,722) to spare, how about a handmade sake serving robot from Japan? Made out of cherrywood and porcelain, these things are handmade and crafted over 40 tireless days and 40 sleepless nights. The Karakuri Automata was originally made hundreds of years ago during the Edo period of Japan (1603 to…

Tech News Jason Chen

Rumor: PS3 Warranty Voided Because User Didn’t Use Sony Licensed Cables?

This may or may not be true—since it’s taken from a forum post—but AVS Forum user seems to have discovered a bit of a caveat in Sony’s PlayStation 3 warranty. When ragedogg69’s PS3 broke, he discovered that it was no longer under warranty because he was using a generic set of component cables instead of…

Tech News Jason Chen

Price Protectr Saves You Money

Have you ever purchased a gadget only to have it drop in price the week after? Now you can make sure you get a pricematch/refund with Price Protectr. Just plug in the item you bought online, start tracking, and get notified by email when something drops in price. Price Protectr supports Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit…

Gadgets Jason Chen

How To Get Out Of Your Cellphone Contract By “Moving”

With all the recent news about getting out of your cellphone plan from a txt message change, we’re reminded of another method we’ve heard. The trick? To move to an area where that provider has no coverage. Reader Applejuice (not to mention other people we’ve heard from) had a friend who got out of her…

Tech News Jason Chen

NASCAR Inspired Robo Vacuum

Seeing as NASCAR is supposedly the nation’s most widely watched sport, there’s much reason to design a Robotic Vacuum to service the needs of fans. Priced at $280, the Track Vac has five pre-programmed vacuuming patterns, a NASCAR Pit-station charger, and the word NASCAR emblazoned everywhere. We can’t say much for its performance, but it’s…

Gadgets Jason Chen

HTC Vox Sliding Smartphone Spy Shot

Here’s what we belive to be the first shot of the HTC Vox slide-out QWERTY smartphone. One suggestion to the tipster though: could you possibly make this any blurrier? We can still tell it’s a phone. Maybe you should put this through photoshop and smudge it up a little bit so that we can’t tell…

Tech News Jason Chen

Jason Chen

Dolby Volume Nixes Loud Commercials

Wowpen Anti-Carpal Tunnel Pointer Gets Less Vaporish

DIY Aerated Mousepad for $35

Stream iTunes To Your Wii With Orb

Asus Pegasus Guides You Like a Sexy Stewardess

Alltel Celltop Widgets Hands-On

Windows Mobile Crossbow Leaked Gallery

Choose Your Own iPod Adventure

Belkin Battery Backup Brings Bonus Bulb

Any Media iPod Uploader Takes the Computer Out of iPod Videos

MobiBLU’s D5 Video Player

How Does Jeep’s Waterfall Show Work?

Slim Down Without Working Out With Ultrashape

BlackBerry 8800 and 9xxx Series Details on Cingular

Japanese Vintage Sake-Serving Robot

Rumor: PS3 Warranty Voided Because User Didn’t Use Sony Licensed Cables?

Price Protectr Saves You Money

How To Get Out Of Your Cellphone Contract By “Moving”

NASCAR Inspired Robo Vacuum

HTC Vox Sliding Smartphone Spy Shot

What’s Actually the Best Way to Get a Good Night’s Sleep? We Asked Scientists

Game to Lose Online Mode After Its Server Partner Pivots to You’ll Never Guess What

This $400 (Not) AI Keychain Is Pointless, Extravagant, and Weirdly Lovable

New Getaway Means Subaru Has an Electric SUV in Every Size

pCloud Easter Special: One Payment, Lifetime Storage for Entire Family (68% Off)

Getting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared of

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Humanity’s Epic Return to the Moon 🔴

NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission Blasts Off

Disney’s Robot Olaf Dying Is the Funniest Thing to Happen in 2026

Kia’s EV3 Is Headed to the US This Year With Up to 320 Miles of Range

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?