johnb, Author at Gizmodo

When I Was Just a Little Sponsored Website…

I asked my Mother who’d sponsor me: Dice, Hersheys, Mobizzo, Slingbox, BMW, Endless Pools, Evian, Mini, Paypal Mobile, Honda, Pioneer, Intellext, Kensington, Sprint, SmartHome, HSBC Que sera, sera, whoever wants to sponsor can sponsor. https://gizmodo.com/preview/advertising-with-gizmodo-8027

Tech News Johnb

Sony Ericsson HPM-82 Walkman Phone Headset

No biggie, but Sony Ericsson released some headphones for their red-hot Walkman phones. The HPM-82 has a remote control for track control and pause/play functions, a built-in microphone, and a special in-ear design for maximum audio love. It also comes in black or orange, so it’ll be perfect for Halloween. No U.S. availability announced, but…

Tech News Johnb

Sanyo Xacti S60: Cheap 6-Megapixel Camera

How cheap is the S60? It’s only $199 and includes 21MB internal storage and runs on 2 AA batteries. While it’s not quite as impressive as similar Kodak or Sony low-ends, the Sanyo does have a 6-megapixel sensor and some sort of touch-sensitive button (I know, I know, but this one you don’t have to…

Tech News Johnb

Windows Vista Beta 2 Sucks

Columnist Gary Krakow informs the world that Vista Beta 2 “was one of the worst operating system experiences that I’ve ever encountered.” While this bit of ungrammatical hyperbole is purely subjective, we’re slowly getting the feeling that the big V is going to blow a donkey. Writing for MSNBC, Krakow informs us that the beta…

Tech News Johnb

AirPort Express Stations Frying

Over 200 AirPort Express stations have suddenly burned out, enough to make us—and others—think there might be a bit of a problem. While most of the latest Airports are impervious to this problem, it seems that if your AirPort has any of these identifiers, then you can expect a visit from the smoky electronics fairy…

Tech News Johnb

Abacus SPOT Watch Hands-On

Let’s get one thing straight. We were about to write off SPOT. The technology, while very cool, has thus far been limited to a few geek watches and weather stations that the average Joe—the guy who might want to wear a watch rather than check the time on his cellphone—would consider picking one up. That…

Tech News Johnb

Two-Seater Robo-Dolphin

As if the dolphins didn’t have enough trouble, now you’re going to try mating with this 175-horsepower robotic dolphin that seats two. At 16-feet long, the 2-Seater Dolphin contains a marine engine and a Hurth transmission for underwater and surface travel. Apparently the creaters, Rob Innes and Dan Piazza, have made a few of these…

Gadgets Johnb

Virtual Sightseeing

Those creepy, potentially-diseased heavy metal binoculars that you find at tourist spots might be going the way of the Do Do. The Virtual Sightseeing system uses a similar concept but can overlay graphics and text on any scene. Who wouldn’t want to see the colonists giving the Indians smallpox in Colonial Williamsburg! Why not relive…

Gadgets Johnb

The Long Pen in the Wild

Editor John went to BookExpo America last week and all he saw was Dr. Ruth looking like someone’s small, lost grandmother. However, he should have checked out the Long Pen, the tool Margaret Atwood invented to sign her books remotely. https://gizmodo.com/robotic-hand-helps-lazy-authors-155771 Atwood dreamed up the device when signing a UPS delivery tablet and got together…

Gadgets Johnb

Downloadable Paper Camera

Not sure why we like these paper cameras so much, but heres one you can download, print, and fold yourself. The plans come in PDF form and you simply cut it out and paste it together. It apparently accepts 35mm film and should be quite sturdy, provided you don’t breathe on it. Free downloadable Camera…

Gadgets Johnb

What’s Really In the Cube

Revealed here for the first time: Steve Jobs’ secret plan to amaze the world with his feats of derring-do and pickled, pruny handshakes! [Thanks, Garnumber]

Tech News Johnb

LiteFast: A Real Experience

A kind reader pointed out this unusual signage. He’s actually working on creating content for these things and it can display three copies of one 800×600 image around its circumferance. An internal set of LEDs spin around and it can potentially display moving and still images with little flicker. Cool? Sure. But if we can…

Gadgets Johnb

Lenovo ThinkPad T43 Review (Verdict: Reasonable)

ThinkPad has always been the Volvo of laptops—sensible, sometimes attractive, and always expensive. Well, now that Lenovo is riding the IBM ThinkPad logo like a mule, their latest models are pitching themselves into more of the Honda Fit category—sporty, fun, but underneath it’s still an Accord. That said, we have a very succinct review of…

Tech News Johnb

Tuning Fork

Whither Porn? By Brian L. Clark God bless the porn industry. Yeah, I said it, but before some of you get your panties in a bunch, know this: If you want a technology driver, you need only look to the porn industry to see where video is headed. Porn just seems to gravitate to new…

Television Johnb

The Gizmondo Story From Top to Tails

The Times has written up an excellent chronology of the whole Gizmondo mess, which tells the tale of dot-com excesses, foolish businessmen, and greed. Great stuff. Not to be a douche, but we always said Gizmondo was doomed. There was just something not quite right about that company—their hubris, their lackluster product, their inability to…

Tech News Johnb

How to Create a FireWire Network

Our lady friend at LifeHacker posted a Firewire networking how-to that we might just use next time we try to copy huge video files over an 802.11g network. The process is pretty straightforward—just grab a Firewire cable and set up a little remote login action, but the time savings are immeasurable. Geek to Live: Fast,…

Tech News Johnb

Apple Store Panorama

Dudes and dudettes: this is just a store. It’s a pretty store, sure, but it’s a big cube and, when Apple goes bankrupt in a decade, they will turn it into a Duane Reade with a really nice elevator. However, if you simply can’t get enough, here is a panoramic QuickTime image of the most…

Tech News Johnb

We Want to Work at Google

Any place where you can ride around on Segways and Pocket Bikes and still get to hang out with the freaks who used to play Magic near the computer lab in college and are now making more money than God is a place for us. Fun Mechanics (?? where are these site names coming from?)…

Tech News Johnb

MS Offers Pre-Paid Computing

Microsoft must have gotten into the Xenu Ship today because they’re going nuts. They’ve created a system called FlexGo which allows folks in developing countries to purchase “time” on free or inexpensive computers and then own the computers after a few hundred hours. That’s right: like a 1-900 number, time on your shiny new computer…

Tech News Johnb

Space Ninja Sneaks

When I was a kid, my Grandma made me a full ninja uniform complete with tabi boots. While I surely did look cool then, I can only imagine how I’d look now wearing these ninja-tastic sneaks from Asics. These are actually made for astronauts. Yeah, you read correctly. Because standard sports shoes hurt in space—something…

Space & Spaceflight Johnb

johnb

When I Was Just a Little Sponsored Website…

Sony Ericsson HPM-82 Walkman Phone Headset

Sanyo Xacti S60: Cheap 6-Megapixel Camera

Windows Vista Beta 2 Sucks

AirPort Express Stations Frying

Abacus SPOT Watch Hands-On

Two-Seater Robo-Dolphin

Virtual Sightseeing

The Long Pen in the Wild

Downloadable Paper Camera

What’s Really In the Cube

LiteFast: A Real Experience

Lenovo ThinkPad T43 Review (Verdict: Reasonable)

Tuning Fork

The Gizmondo Story From Top to Tails

How to Create a FireWire Network

Apple Store Panorama

We Want to Work at Google

MS Offers Pre-Paid Computing

Space Ninja Sneaks

Even the ‘Avatar’ Fighting Game Is Disrespecting ‘Legend of Korra’

Bluesky Has a New App, and It’s All About AI

Dammit, Jim, He’s a Doctor *And* an Action Figure!

Whatever Just Happened with ‘Fruit Love Island,’ Nobody Won

AMC Puts a Stake in ‘Talamasca’ After One Season

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

2027 Is Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Big Sci-Fi RPGs

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Ahead of the SpaceX IPO, xAI Has Now Shed All 11 of Its Non-Elon Musk Founders

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

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

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Apple Studio Display XDR Review: It Looks So Good, I Wish It Were an iMac

RayNeo Air 4 Pro Review: My Eyes Love These Video Glasses, but My Nose Disagrees

Dammit, Jim, He’s a Doctor And an Action Figure!