John Herrman, Author at Gizmodo

Rumor: PSP2 Already In the Works, About as Powerful as the First-Gen Xbox

Eurogamer’s Spanish outpost is claiming to have “insider sources” that know all manner of stuff about a forthcoming PSP2, which is alleged to have Xbox-like graphics capabilities. Too soon? Probably. Iffy? Quite. Intriguing anyway? Well, sure. The report is a difficult one to assess, mainly because it’s all about specific hardware components—nothing conceptual to scoff…

Tech News John Herrman

Creative “Zii” Moniker Resurfaces On Mysterious Touchscreen Media Player

Creative hasn’t really been doing much at all for the last year. Except this, apparently: here’s an FCC filing for a Zii touchscreen PMP, which shares a name their unusual system on a chip announced in January. https://gizmodo.com/confirmed-zii-stemcell-computing-is-media-savvy-system-5126090 From the patent, we can see that the Zii is a wi-fi-equipped touchscreen media player, fitted with…

Tech News John Herrman

Amazon Patent Details Ad-Supported Kindle Books

Amazon has filed a patent that describes how to take the obvious, heretofore un-stepped step of filling ebooks with contextual, timely advertising. Whether it would mean free, discounted, or tiered-price books (or none of the above) it’s an interesting idea. As you can see from the diagram above, there’s nothing terribly complex about the proposed…

Commerce John Herrman

Scientists Create Eerie Ambient Music Using Human Brains, MRI Machines

A professor at Trinity College in Connecticut has written what is essentially a MIDI player for the human brain, converting MRI imagery into a sort of bleeping, blooping ambient music. Here’s how it works: people are subjected to a range of stimuli, ranging from a series of flashing lights to a driving simulator to, well,…

Tech News John Herrman

Best Buy Testing New Section For Electric Scooters, Segways

Best Buy has started a 19-store trial of a new section for electric scooters, assisted bikes and Segways. The new business plan, in full: lure customers in with below-wholesale CDs, then pitch them to buy multi-thousand-dollar personal transportation devices favored by eccentric billionaires and mall cops. Though to their credit, this line from on of…

Tech News John Herrman

The Only Novelty Flash Drive Benchmark Roundup You Need

To summarize: Santa Claus has the lowest data rates, while the strawberry has the highest. The severed thumb is slower than it deserves to be, and the barbecued chicken beats the hamburger. In other news, I love this test. Having run similarly obsessive benchmark roundups before, Testfreaks is no stranger to flash drive testing. They’re…

Tech News John Herrman

Wiimote Tennis Serve Trainer Won’t Make You Into Roger Federer

The line between Wii games and the real-life activities they emulate is increasingly squiggly and faint, no thanks to people like this guy, who’s jury-rigged a tennis serve trainer out of his Wiimote. Its uses are limited—it exists solely to help train its user to throw a perfect serve height (A high, confident toss made…

Tech News John Herrman

Ideas We Like: iPods With Cameras

Techcrunch is reporting, via “sources in Asia,” that Apple is gobbling up huge numbers of camera sensors—the same ones used in the iPhone 3GS—for use in iPods. If Apple isn’t really doing this, they should be. First, the Techcrunch take: Apple has placed an order for a massive number of camera modules of the type…

Tech News John Herrman

CompuServe Classic Finally Laid To Rest

Have you noticed anything different about your inbox this week? Where are all the weirdly threatening chain letters from family members you’ve never met? The hyperventilating urgent FWD: FWD: FWD: messages about Barack Obama’s secret Hellenic Polytheism? Your tri-weekly update on the power of prayer, told through the perspective of your fourth cousin’s cat? They…

Tech News John Herrman

Report: Nokia Commences Mating Dance With Android, Handset Due In September (Updated)

From London’s Guardian, we get this surprising report: Nokia, (recent) full owner of Symbian, is making an Android touchscreen phone, set for unveiling at a conference in September. This would be strange! (UPDATED: Nokia denies) It’s not just that the rumor if totally out of left field—and besides, baseball lingo probably isn’t appropriate for a…

Tech News John Herrman

The Week In iPhone Apps: Childhood v3.0

Right, so bear with me here: this week our apps are all about learning new things, understanding the world around you, meeting new people, playing extremely silly games in large groups. Sort of like being a kid again! No? Ok. Pocket Universe: It’s a pinchy, zoomy, 3D star map for the iPhone and iPod Touch.…

Tech News John Herrman

Microsoft Chooses Zune’s Ad Agency to Promote Zune Phone “Pink”

Advertising firm McCann Erickson has won a lucrative advertising contract with Microsoft, beating out CrispiBLAH BLAH BLAH the point is, people—Zune advertising people—are now talking on record about Microsoft’s “Pink” project, and gearing up to promote it. From Adweek: The Office shift follows a pitch for a new Microsoft mobile offering won by McCann’s T.A.G.…

Tech News John Herrman

Psystar Emerges From Bankruptcy With New Product, Same Insane Resolve

In what is probably the most surprising non-celebrity-death story in weeks, recently bankrupt Psystar—surly maker of all things hackintosh—is now claiming to be ready for a comeback, with a new product in tow. This makes very little sense. https://gizmodo.com/psystar-files-for-bankruptcy-5270448 A superquick recap: Psystar releases the OpenMac, a $400 desktop Mac clone; people debate if this…

Tech News John Herrman

Cheap, Thin Laptops Suffering From Cheapness, Thinness

The new litter of thin, cheap laptops, as we’ve seen from Lenovo and Dell, is inherently charming, making the experience of using a cheap, portable laptop bearable for people put off by netbook tininess. There’s just one problem. https://gizmodo.com/lenovo-u350-is-pretty-thin-pretty-light-and-pretty-ch-5268846 CNET caught up with Doug Freedman, an analyst for AmTech who has been speaking to device…

Tech News John Herrman

Sonos Remote Goes Touchscreen; New System Bundle On Its Way

It’s fair to say that everyone would’ve loved it if the last remote for the Sonos wireless media systems, the $400 C100, had a touchscreen. It didn’t. Years later, the CR200 does, but it might be a bit late. https://gizmodo.com/sonos-adds-zoneplayer-zp80-to-family-146281 Oddly enough, this is Sonos’ fault in every possible way. We don’t have any specs,…

Tech News John Herrman

ASUS Eee Keyboard Blithely Glides Past June Release, Now Scheduled For August

ASUS’s touchscreen PC-in-a-keyboard was expected to land in June, according to rumors direct statements from company executives. That didn’t happen! Prices and specs are presumably unchanged, but the new release date is somewhere in August. [Techdigest via Slashgear] https://gizmodo.com/eee-keyboard-an-entire-touchscreen-home-theater-pc-5124985

Tech News John Herrman

Giz Explains: How to Choose the Right Graphics Card

There are plenty of great graphics cards out there, no matter what you’re looking for. Thing is, the odds are seemingly stacked against you ever finding the right one. It doesn’t have to be that hard. Whether you’re buying a new computer, building your own or upgrading an old one, the process of choosing a…

Tech News John Herrman

Sony X-Series OLED Walkman Shipping Now, Still $299/$399

SonyStyle.com is listing the touchscreen, OLED X-Series Walkman at MSRP, which means $299 for the 16GB version and $399 for the 32GB. From the looks of it, they’re shipping now—roughly corresponding with the 30-year anniversary of its tapey, disapproving father. [via Slashgear] https://gizmodo.com/great-sony-walkman-tv-and-print-ads-of-the-1980s-5305177

Tech News John Herrman

Dell Mini 10 Lands Full Geolocation, Navigation Options

Starting next week, Dell Mini 10 netbooks will get a new geolocation option—and not just to foil bad guys. It’s a proper A-GPS+Wi-Fi system, complete with CoPilot navigation software and network location services from SkyHook. https://gizmodo.com/laptop-cop-geo-locates-stolen-laptops-with-wi-fi-5100967 Dell’s also throwing in the Loki browser plugin for FireFox and IE, which integrates your Mini 10 with their…

Tech News John Herrman

Sony NAS-Z2000 iPod Dock Streams Over DLNA, Has One Hell of a Remote

Amidst all the business turmoil, tepidly-received new products and high-concept gaming news, it’s easy to forget that, man, Sony can still do hardware design. Exhibit A: The NAS-Z200iO media player dock, CD player, radio and network streaming device. https://gizmodo.com/why-sonys-howard-stringer-has-one-of-the-hardest-jobs-i-5302818 Its nondescript exterior belies a fairly impressive feature set: support for iPods as well as other…

Tech News John Herrman

John Herrman

Rumor: PSP2 Already In the Works, About as Powerful as the First-Gen Xbox

Creative “Zii” Moniker Resurfaces On Mysterious Touchscreen Media Player

Amazon Patent Details Ad-Supported Kindle Books

Scientists Create Eerie Ambient Music Using Human Brains, MRI Machines

Best Buy Testing New Section For Electric Scooters, Segways

The Only Novelty Flash Drive Benchmark Roundup You Need

Wiimote Tennis Serve Trainer Won’t Make You Into Roger Federer

Ideas We Like: iPods With Cameras

CompuServe Classic Finally Laid To Rest

Report: Nokia Commences Mating Dance With Android, Handset Due In September (Updated)

The Week In iPhone Apps: Childhood v3.0

Microsoft Chooses Zune’s Ad Agency to Promote Zune Phone “Pink”

Psystar Emerges From Bankruptcy With New Product, Same Insane Resolve

Cheap, Thin Laptops Suffering From Cheapness, Thinness

Sonos Remote Goes Touchscreen; New System Bundle On Its Way

ASUS Eee Keyboard Blithely Glides Past June Release, Now Scheduled For August

Giz Explains: How to Choose the Right Graphics Card

Sony X-Series OLED Walkman Shipping Now, Still $299/$399

Dell Mini 10 Lands Full Geolocation, Navigation Options

Sony NAS-Z2000 iPod Dock Streams Over DLNA, Has One Hell of a Remote

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

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

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

RAM Prices Are Threatening the Viability of the Raspberry Pi and Single-Board Computing

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?