Jason Chen

Universal Remote Control’s MX-980 Has Custom Graphics, 320×240 Screen, Big Price

The latest in Universal Remote Control’s line of (you guessed it) remote controls is the MX-980. It’s got a 320×240 LCD that supports custom images (BMP/JPG/PNG/GIF/Animated GIF) to represent devices, as well as RF, an on-board speaker, MSC-400 Master System Controller integration, RS232 and relay controls, a backlight, and a motion sensor to light up…

NES iPod Remote Makes Fred Savage Proud

If we were to grade a hack or a mod on nerdiness, this NES controller iPod remote would definitely be on the Dean’s list this semester. Some guy took a PIC microcontroller, shoved it into the NES controller, and somehow got it to hook up to the 3G and 4G microcontroller port in Apple’s iPod.…

Nixie Tube Clock Kit Lets You Go Retro

MAKE’s got three different DIY kits that you can buy to build your own Nixie Tube clock. If you’re not familiar with Nixie tubes, you’re obviously not reading us often enough. You can buy your own kit for $150, which is a small price to pay for something that’s too bright and will keep you…

80GB PlayStation 3 Available Now

The 80GB PlayStation 3 is finally available now, after much fanfare at E3. The 80GB will come with Motorstorm and software-based backward compatibility for $599. If you want a real good deal, you can pick up a $450 20GB PS3 that we reported about two weeks ago. https://gizmodo.com/ps3s-100-price-drop-and-80gb-version-officially-offici-276104

Fighter Jet Software Automatically Pilots Jets to Safety, Steals Glory/Girlfriend

A new software suite called Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System installed in fighter jets is designed to prevent them from crashing straight into the ground. How? By taking over when it detects that the plane is going to fly straight into the ground, usually when the pilot’s unconscious. The system can avoid 98% of plane-to-ground…

The normally $300 Sonic Impact iPod speaker dock and LCD screen is now only $75 on Amazon. [Amazon via Gadget Madness]

Sony Sends SIXAXIS Prototype to Developers, Doesn’t Have Rumble

Sony’s been passing out a slightly tweaked SIXAXIS controller to developers to work into their upcoming games. The good news is these SIXAXIS+ controllers have better motion sensing. The bad news is they don’t have rumble. Sony says this is just the natural evolution of controller development. Everyone else says give them their goddamn rumble…

With 7% of males who work at home working in the nude, chances are at least one Gizmodo editor isn’t wearing clothes as he writes. Guess which one it is today. [Boston via Fleshbot]

Gold. Plated. Vibrator.

We’re not sure what purpose there is in this $1500 gold plated Elo Vya vibrator other than to give you heavy metal poisoning, but here it is. The 18k gold plated vibrator will satisfy women (and men), but also passes its AU into your porous areas. Which can’t be good at all. But hey, it’s…

Japanese Thermal Expert Examines Xbox 360, Figures Out What’s Wrong (Hint: Everything)

Because Microsoft will never admit to any possible overheating problems with their beloved Xbox 360 design, Japanese-based Nikkei hired a thermal design expert to come examine the console. They looked at two—one made in 2005 and one repaired in May 2007. Here’s what they found: • The temperature gap with room temp was 22 degrees…

Flash Gordon Contest: Win a Super Comfortable Gamepod Home Entertainment Chair

Hey, trivia fans. Here’s your chance to win a super comfortable Gamepod home entertainment gaming chair that hooks up to your iPod, MP3 player, CD player or even your home entertainment system. There are speakers in the headrest so you can relax and “feel” the music, all the while putting your feet up on the…

SignalMap Compares Cellphone Reception Signal Where You Live

Signalmap is a neat webapp that lets you punch in your zip code and your cellphone provider and see how the reception is where you live. Not only can you use it to gauge where the best place is to make your call, you can compare the four big providers so you can see which…

How to Comment: Weekend

What’s everyone doing, gear-wise this weekend? Me, I’m fiddling around with the iPhone since I need to be writing my iPhone book all weekend. Maybe some Shadowrun on Xbox 360 thrown in, but mostly an entire weekend of work, work, work. How about you? Get any cool toys in the past week? Don’t know how…

Homer Simpson Robosapien Caught on Video

In the realm of horrible Simpsons knockoff toys, this Homer Simpson Robosapien has to be one of the worst ever. Shall we count the things wrong with it? First, it’s not even the real Homer’s voice. Second, well, it’s a piece of crap. Watch the video to see Shiny Shiny struggle to get the thing…

Custom Apps Now Possible on Helio Ocean (Opera Mini)

Not only is the iPhone getting its third-party cherry popped, the Helio Ocean is now running third-party apps now as well. The first proof of concept app is Opera Mini, the smallish browser from Opera that lets even lousy phones browse like a star. To get it to work on your Ocean (even though the…

Monster Cable for Life HDMI Upgrade Path Guarantees Format Compatibility for Life

Monster Cable’s HDMI Cable for Life program guarantees that the cable will meet or exceed all HDMI performance requirements for life or they’ll swap them. (And estimates that cables bought next month will be good for 3-5 years, until 4K and true 60 frame per second progressive signals become prevalent.) If only someone had made…

Desk Made Entirely Out of LEGO

Unlike this CEO desk, which just looks like it’s made out of LEGO but actually isn’t, this LEGO desk consists only of 35,000 pieces of LEGO bricks. Some details: https://gizmodo.com/lego-table-playful-yet-powerful-239402 * Approximately 35,000 LEGO bricks were used. This includes almost all the pieces from 32 Blue Tubs (#3033), almost 300 (!) small baseplates (8×16 studs),…

Sirius Stiletto 2 and Sportster SP 5 Coming Soon?

Straight from the mouth of Jim Meyer, Sirius’ President of Operations and Sales, comes this quasi-announcement of the Sirius Stiletto 2 and Sportster SP5: We are preparing for the launch of some new after-market products, including a new wearable product, Stiletto 2, and a new Sportster SP5. Stay tuned for more details on these exciting…

Lightning Round: Belkin iPhone Headphone Adapter

The Gadget: Belkin’s iPhone headphone adapter, which lets you use any set of headphones that don’t normally fit into the iPhone’s recessed headphone jack. The verdict: Works exactly as advertised. Fits all headphones with no audible sound quality loss. The catch: It’s mf-ing gigantic. It’s longer than the iPhone is wide, and can’t really be…

Optimus Prime Case Mod Almost Seven Feet Tall, Eats Mac Minis

Modder John entered this Optimus Prime case mod into the Extreme Tech case mod contest, and well, it’s probably the best Transformers-based case mod we’ve seen yet. It’s six feet ten inches tall, transforms into a smaller desktop mode, has a seven-inch LCD on its body, two windows on its chest (like the actual Optimus…