Mark Wilson

Rock Band May Not Cost $199

Yesterday we reported that a Rock Band bundle had hit Amazon for a retail price of $199. We were skeptical, as Amazon (and many retailers) can jump the gun on pricing, and EA has just announced that the $199 is nothing but “pure speculation.” It does seem, however, that the bundle itself was not put…

PS3 firmware 1.9 (read about it here) is out in the US alongside PSP firmware 3.52. [qjnet] https://gizmodo.com/ps3-firmware-1-9-details-announced-best-update-yet-281234

Megaphone, Cellphone Gaming is Social

Without downloading any extra software or performing special networking, one design student came up with a viable social gaming concept for cellphones. A large screen projects a game in which people can join at any time by calling a number just above the screen. Then, using the standard touchpad (through key tones), users can control…

Everything is a Transformer

What if everything—not just guns and badass cars—transformed into a lethal robot? We’re talking, like, you pick up a box of Maxi Pads for your sweetie, and they turn into a robot in the shopping cart, saving your life during a robbery (not to mention your self-esteem). Here’s a brief glance at what such a…

Rock Band Pricing Revealed?

Just after we had a first look at the new drums from the upcoming game Rock Band, Amazon has priced the Xbox 360 bundle (so keep in mind, this isn’t necessarily final). For $200, you get the game, a mic, wired guitar and drumset. And hearts everywhere are broken. Most players will probably already own…

Solar Wind Pavilion, Gathering Place of Energy

The Solar Wind Pavilion is a design proposal for California State University to provide an ecofriendly space for students and faculty to gather. The design begins with a 150-foot wind generator that leads down to a roof featuring concentric rings of solar paneling. This rippling form represents the actual energy flowing toward the campus from…

PS3 Firmware 1.9 Details Announced, Best Update Yet?

Sony keeps chipping away at the PS3, and they’ll carve a great multimedia system out of it…even if they need 100 years. The new firmware 1.9 update just hit in Japan and we’re digging some of the new features. Here are the complete changes, and the notes on what were most excited about. • Ability…

Buffalo 56GB Solid State Portable Drive

Buffalo is taking the gloves off the solid state market, releasing a portable drive (just 57x89x14mm) that’s up to a very palatable 56GB in size. Resistant to shock and ready to tumble, Buffalo’s newest iteration puts solid state into slap-fight range of smaller portable drives. Of course, at $828 the pleasure will run you almost…

Netflix lowers their pricing to match Blockbuster’s offerings. [dvddosier]

Amp’d Mobile Shutting Down July 24, Prepayers Beware

Amp’d Mobile, after recently filing Chapter 11, has announced that they will be shutting down on July 24th at 12:01am. The announcement was made, ironically, through a text message to subscribers. For those who have prepaid for minutes or have outstanding credit, please note: https://gizmodo.com/ampd-mobile-files-for-chapter-11-265436 What happens to my Pay As You Go minutes? If…

Alter Ego Lamps Are Both Cooler Than Us

Most alter egos show a darker side—something hidden from the public because they just couldn’t handle it. But the $15 Alter Ego Lamps take a step backward in raw introspection, representing the inherent cuteness in ugliness (tophat guy) and evil (devil guy). Or maybe it’s just that, under our sweaty, pit-stained t-shirts, the writers of…

Blu-ray Signs Profit Sharing, Ruffles Some Feathers, Probably Shouldn’t

Last week, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment signed an agreement with rental company Rentrak to offer revenue sharing on Blu-ray titles. Some are calling this an aggressive move by Sony, bordering on on anti-competitive. But as far as I can tell, it’s a fair play that’s probably pretty smart. Rentrak is a go-between company for independent…

i-Limb Hand, Every Sci-Fi Movie Made Real

We were just talking about the incredible i-Limb hand the other day—a bionic hand controlled by nerve impulses—and here is one of its first videos in motion. We love when the dreams of science fiction becomes the reality of science fact…especially when it doesn’t involve robots exterminating the human race. [medgadget]

Oenophile’s Personal Winery

Here in Illinois, our ability to order wine from our favorite producers will soon be a thing of the past, outlawed to empower the confusing regional alcohol industry. That’s why “home brewing” wine through the Oenophile’s Personal Winery is so attractive. You order legal crushed, frozen grapes from the region of your choosing, and it…

Verizon’s $6 Million Fax Extravaganza Bill

Verizon, breaking the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, sent 10,145 unsolicited faxes to businesses in Louisiana, Florida and Alabama. And while they weren’t required to pay that $1,500 per violation maximum penalty, Verizon was slapped with a fee of $625 per offense—or $6 million total for these junk faxes. So we’ve got T-Mobile firing Catherine Zeta…

“I’m on record as the first guy over two hundo (I put the extra five bucks on there just for that purpose).” [fakegene] https://gizmodo.com/gene-munster-predicts-205-for-apple-in-2008-281090

Gene Munster Predicts $205 For Apple in 2008

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has moved Apple’s stock price projection for 2009 up a whole year to 2008, making Munster’s projection the highest price anyone has ever given Apple: $205 per share. Is there method to his madness? Of course. And it has something to do with our obnoxious graphic. One thing we learned…

$6,299 Hello Kitty Robot Replaces Good Parenting

While $6,299 can buy you a boatload of Hello Kitty book bags, t-shirt and keychains, that small mountain of cash will only buy you one Hello Kitty Robot. Now up for preorder, the lovable robot can chat with a child in three different personality modes: as a close friend, with the family and as a…

The Linux Lottery

Winners collect $25,000. As for the smug satisfaction of not being a pawn of Microsoft or Apple, no purchase necessary. [flickr]

Flash Memory Capacity, Officially Doubled

A startup named Nanosys claims they have found a way to double flash memory capacity. Their secret is to create metal nanocrystals to boost memory surface area like skyscrapers. And while the idea is by no means new, Nanosys has figured out how to viably bring this process into mass production—something that has thwarted research…