Jason Chen, Author at Gizmodo

The Sarcoman Robot Does Everything

When you first watch these series of videos, you think the Sarcoman robot is a breakthrough in robotics. After all, what robot can dance, juggle, play air hockey, balance a pole, and play paddle ball (not simultaneously)? But then you’d be saddened to discover this robot was controlled off camera by a human wearing a…

Tech News Jason Chen

High Definition: European PS3 Ad

We get a demonic baby, Japan gets a revelation while brushing, and Europe gets exploding furniture that touts the benefits of High Definition? It’s hard to say which region is the winner—I think we’re all losers here. PS3 Films

Tech News Jason Chen

Sync Problems Delays Cingular’s Samsung SYNC Phone

Despite already airing ads on prime time TV for the Samsung SYNC music phone yesterday, Cingular didn’t actually have any available in stores. Why? Because of a manufacturing defect that rendered the phone unable to sync to your computer to load DRM-ed Windows Media files. Oops! So yes, a phone that’s called the SYNC had…

Gadgets Jason Chen

ThinkGeek’s Battlestar Galactica-Inspired USB Snowbot

Inspired by the Centurian model rather than Number Six (damn!), this USB Snowbot has a speed-variable LED eye, adjustable arms, red or blue eyeball glow, and an evil sound to make you say “what the frak was that?” Much better than Frosty the Snowdork, this $14.99 Snowbot is the perfect present for Xmas or Cylon…

Gadgets Jason Chen

FIC’s Linux-based Smartphone

FIC’s taking more than just a page from the Linux community with its FIC-GTA001 smartphone—its taking their entire playbook. Hoping to capitalize on what is essentially free programmers for the project, FIC is releasing a Linux-based smartphone complete with an SDK (Software Development Kit). This allows end-users to develop their own programs and functionality for…

Tech News Jason Chen

Batman Projection Alarm Clock

Quickly Nightwing, to the Batmobile! The replacement commissioner, Commissioner Clock King, has thrown up a Batsignal that also shows what time it is. Apparently this new Batsignal, which is powered by both AC and AA batteries, can tell the time and wake me up in the morning after a long night of partying and pounding…

Gadgets Jason Chen

The One Second Condom

Do you lose your “happiness” thanks to your inability to apply a condom quickly? Here comes the Pronto Condom, a prophylactic with built-in applicator that allows you to apply a condom in about a second. The condoms, which go on sale in South Africa, are marketed towards people who don’t normally use condoms because they’re…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Zune Q&A: Ask

Shyness is nice, and Shyness can stop you From Zuning all the things in life You’d like to So, if there’s something you’d like to try If there’s something you’d like to try Ask me – I won’t say “no” – how could I? We’ve got some more Zune hands-on time coming up this week,…

Tech News Jason Chen

Sizemodo: Sirius Stiletto

If you’re still intent on getting a Sirius Stiletto even after resident fanboy Travis’s disappointment, take a look at this Sizemodo. Travis says “The Stiletto is less of a slender blade and more of a bulky brick,” but what does it actually look like next to a brick? https://gizmodo.com/sirius-stiletto-100-reviewed-verdict-i-am-one-disappo-212787 But if Travis the satellite radio…

Tech News Jason Chen

MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Benchmarks Are In: How Much Faster Are They?

Are the updated Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros really 39% faster than their Core Duo predecessors? MacWorld takes a look to see how much the speed boost and additional L2 cache really helped. https://gizmodo.com/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-is-here-209686 Scoring times in photoshop a full 24 seconds faster in Photoshop, and 45 seconds faster in Compressor, the Core 2 Duo…

Tech News Jason Chen

Samsung Black Carbon Hands-On

Inbetween bouts of picking his nose and reading those thousands of books he has in his office, John Biggs somehow managed to find the time to show off the Samsung Black Carbon. Featuring a 3-megapixel camera, the Black Carbon is a thin slider that has UI co-designed with Adobe. This means the $399 you spend…

Gadgets Jason Chen

HYSO Doorknob Germ Killer

After imagining he was inside a woman’s restroom—something we’ve all done at one time or…sorry, where were we?—Simon Sassoon devised a gadget that automatically kills germs on public doorknobs. Want to see what two years and $250,000 worth of investment money gets you? That’s it on the right. Every fifteen minutes, this $60 device sprays…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Analog Binary Wall Clock

Had your fill of binary clocks? Check out this analog binary wall clock, which combines traditional clock technology with the computer science nerditry that ensured you never got laid in high school. The clock looks like an actual clock, but instead of numbers or even roman numerals, you get the binary representation of 1 through…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Sony VP Says PlayStation 3 Overreached With Blu-ray

To (badly) paraphrase Stephen Colbert, the truth has a known anti-Sony bias. What with the all the various difficulties in meeting shipping numbers thanks to the Blu-ray disc system, it’s nice to see them actually admit some mistakes in their execution. Sony’s VP Phil Harrison says: …we have overreached in production of the Blu-Ray component…

Tech News Jason Chen

Questionable Gadgets: Two-In-One Film/Digital Camera

Apparently this two-in-one film and digital camera is such “amazing new technology” that it’s available only on eBay. The camera has a 35mm motorized compact camera with auto-rewind/power-rewind combined with a digital cam that takes 26 pictures at high resolution and 99 at low. For a price of only 19.99 ($38), you can own your…

Gadgets Jason Chen

How Does The Xbox 360 HD DVD Work?

Did you know the code for the Xbox 360 HD DVD player is 4.7 million lines? In comparison, Windows XP has 40 million lines of code, and the old Windows NT 3.1 has around 4-5 million lines of code. So yes, the software to play back HD DVD movies has the same amount of code…

Tech News Jason Chen

Sizemodo: Zune vs. iPod

Now that we know what the Zune can do, let’s take a look at how big the Zune actually is compared to the iPod. You may have seen the size comparison before, but not everybody has a latest generation iPod, so here’s how the 30GB Zune stacks up to the 5G, 4G, and 3G 30GB…

Tech News Jason Chen

iPod Shuffle Travel Case

Although only applicable to a select few people—2nd Gen iPod Shuffle users who also have the in-ear headphones—this mod is pretty cool. Basically, you stick your iPod Shuffle into the case that comes with the headphones after you cut out the two little pins. That’s all. So it’s not really a mod so much as…

Tech News Jason Chen

Black Sidekick 3 Soon?

Boy Genius seems to have some inside information—in the form of the actual device—that the Sidekick 3 will be coming in solid black soon. Supposedly not just a paint job, the black Sidekick 3 is black all over save for the 12 “phone” keys on the keyboard. Hit the jump to see what the phone…

Tech News Jason Chen

Zune Arts Zune Animation Home

Much better than a Zune suppository, this repository of Zune animation stems from their comingzune.com teaser site. Apparently after putting up a few videos, Microsoft had so many artists wanting to put their own Zune content online that MS just decided to make another site to dump all these videos on. Most only have a…

Tech News Jason Chen

Jason Chen

The Sarcoman Robot Does Everything

High Definition: European PS3 Ad

Sync Problems Delays Cingular’s Samsung SYNC Phone

ThinkGeek’s Battlestar Galactica-Inspired USB Snowbot

FIC’s Linux-based Smartphone

Batman Projection Alarm Clock

The One Second Condom

Zune Q&A: Ask

Sizemodo: Sirius Stiletto

MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Benchmarks Are In: How Much Faster Are They?

Samsung Black Carbon Hands-On

HYSO Doorknob Germ Killer

Analog Binary Wall Clock

Sony VP Says PlayStation 3 Overreached With Blu-ray

Questionable Gadgets: Two-In-One Film/Digital Camera

How Does The Xbox 360 HD DVD Work?

Sizemodo: Zune vs. iPod

iPod Shuffle Travel Case

Black Sidekick 3 Soon?

Zune Arts Zune Animation Home

Apple Offers Rare Olive Branch to Liquid Glass Haters

Mamdani Lifts NYC TikTok Ban for City Employees, but with Some Unusual Restrictions

Tesla Goes Ahead and Admits Its Robotaxis Are Sometimes Fully Human-Controlled

School Forced to Replace Toilets After Kids Flush Vapes

‘Scream 7’ Just Won’t Stop Making Money as ‘Scream 8’ Gets Started

The Curtain Has Closed on Meta’s Movie Rating-Inspired Content Filters

Good News! You Can Finally Change That Ridiculous Gmail Address

ExpressVPN Just Launched ExpressAI: Your Prompts Are Now Invisible

VR Just Took Another Massive Body Blow

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?

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