Matt Buchanan, Author at Gizmodo

Clickity-Clackity Steampunk RSS Reader

Forget Google Reader or Feed Demon for your RSS needs, this modified telegraph sounder taps out RSS feeds using MagpieRSS PHP script to grab them and Morse2LED to make them tappable. It’s a little useless if you don’t know Morse Code, but it looks pretty sweet next to its steampunk keyboard counterpart. https://gizmodo.com/steampunk-keyboard-mod-for-brazil-re-enactments-238842 Telegraph Sounder…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

NAB President: XM-Sirius Merger “Not About the Consumer”

Today, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin hit Capitol Hill again to tell a Senate committee that the proposed merger would bring “more choice, lower prices” to consumers since it’s trying to compete with a larger ecosystem that includes traditional radio and MP3 players. Yet at NAB ’07 yesterday, NAB President David Rehr told attendees that it…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Internet Radio Rebellion Crushed: CRB Upholds Royalty Rate Hike

NPR’s and other webcasters’ efforts to roll back the crippling royalty rate hike for Internet radio stations have been gutted. A panel of judges at the Copyright Royalty Board denied their appeal, holding up “the original CRB decision in every respect,” though a slight reprieve was granted in allowing stations to pay royalties based on…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Your Tired, Your Poor: Samsung Doesn’t Want Them

Samsung’s CEO Yun Jong-yong said in a recent interview that they will be “very selective in choosing new markets” and have decided to forego the market for “the cheapest models,” generously leaving it to Nokia. Apparently, “cheap phones would not fit its brand image.” Instead, they want to sell “luxury versions” of cheap phones—wha? What…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

World Is Ending: More Girls Than Guys Online

The internet is now officially a place to pick up girls, since they outnumber guys on the internets in the US by over 6 million users. Of course, most of them look nothing like Scarlet Johansson, but we can’t all be picky. Apparently, only 66 percent of them have heard of YouTube, however. Of course,…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

If You Wear These Boxers, You Suck at Life

Kleargear, where apparently “geeks rule,” is offering these keyboard boxers for a whole $3.50 off of the list price of $19.49. If that in any way entices you to purchase a pair of boxers covered in keys—the dark ones oh-so-cleverly spell out “computer geek”—then you should not be reading Gizmodo, you should be out building…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Retro Apple Ad Flashback: You’ll Need Some Wine

For every “1984” ad or “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” promo (which have so run their course), there’s a horribly cheesy skeleton buried in Apple’s advertisement closet, like this spot from the 80s. Yeah, making “waking up to school a lot nicer” is totally hip. Dork. [via TechEBlog]

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Big Four Asking Apple for Subscription Service

Click to viewThe Big Four‘s contracts with Apple are either up for negotiation or are coming due, and MarketWatch is reporting that next week, the biggest label, Universal, is expected to push for a subscription service—as well as renew the push for “variable pricing,” i.e., higher prices for more popular tracks after Jobs shot it…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Democrats Hate America: RIAA Flack Hired for DNC

The Democrats decided to deal with the devil and hire the Director of Communications for the RIAA, Jenni Engebretsen, as their Deputy CEO of Public Affairs for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. For a party with two of its major candidates for the presidential nomination positioning themselves as populists, the move is a bit…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Wii Internet Channel and Opera Final Out Now

If you’ve been waiting for the final version of Opera for your Wii, today’s your day. Under the shop section of Wii Ware you can grab the 285 block download for free—just make sure you do it before June, when it’ll cost you 500 points to get your intertubes. Some of the new features include:…

Tech News Matt Buchanan & Brian Lam

19th-Century Vampire Slayer Kit Probably Kills 21st-Century Vamps Too

It’s unfortunate that the original auction page has been removed, because this handy vampire hunter kit put together by Ernst Blomberg provides everything you need to lay waste to unholy bloodsuckers, be they Nosferatu’s children or your neighbor’s five- year-old. This kit (which can fetch up to $12,000 at auction) has among other fun implements,…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Some CEO: Apple Mulling Subscription Service for iTunes

The CEO of Intent Media Works is telling CNNMoney that Apple is “is seriously considering a subscription offering” for iTunes based on what’s he heard in “meetings with people from Apple.” We’re skeptical. IMW is “a digital distribution system that works with peer-to-peer networks.” Why is Apple meeting with him? That aside, if he was…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

“Vista Capable” Now Means “Vista Handi-capable”

Responding to a lawsuit alleging that “Vista capable” buttons on new PCs don’t mean they’re actually beefy enough to run all of Vista’s functions (like the oh-so-fancy but oh-so-pointless Flip 3D), Microsoft has retconned clarified what the logo means. https://gizmodo.com/giznotes-249681 Original description: “Through the Windows Vista Capable program, Windows XP-based PCs that are powerful enough…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Sony Style Store, Best Buy Website Dump 20 GB PS3

For the 20GB PS3, it looks like the end is near. Sony’s official store, Sony Style, as well as the websites of Best Buy, Gamestop and EB are no longer carrying the 20GB model, instead only offering its buffer, more expensive brother. While it remains on Amazon for the time being, there’s no telling how…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Adwatch: First Apple TV Ad On, Well, TV

It’s the first broadcast ad for Apple TV, which plays content from your computer on your TV, shown on TV, that you’re watching on your computer—sorry, I think my brain just exploded, but I’m not sure if it was on my TV or on my computer. Update: Replaced ultra-meta version showing the ad on a…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

SimpleTech Revs Up New Ferrari-Designed External Hard Drives

Fabrik Inc’s dropping the latest line of Pininfarina-designed (as in Ferrari) SimpleTech-branded external hard drives. The new desktop SimpleDrives come in five colors and six sizes: fire red (160GB), pearl white (250GB), sapphire (320GB), onyx (500) and charcoal gray (750GB and 1TB), with the 160GB model starting at $100. All have a nifty blue circle…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Sheer Bubble Kitchen:The Tiniest Kitchen You’ll Never Be Able to Afford

While I don’t know if it’s a “new form of living” as the site claims, the Sheer Kitchen “and Emotion” does promise to change the way you cook. If you’re very large, probably not for the better—this bubble stuffs an entire kitchen into a space only 148 cm in diameter. The bottom half contains a…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

Gallery: 10 Coolest Lego Weapons to Slay the Easter Bunny With

Big or small, functional or not, modern or medieval, we didn’t care. If it was somehow constructed with Legos, and looked like it was capable of taking down a three-foot rabbit weighed down by Easter baskets, we grabbed it. Rabbits that large are a menace to society and need to be taken out. Some actually…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

Low Tech: Xbox 360 Easter Egg

No fancy tech stuff here, just a plain chicken egg and paint. Granted, it’s much cooler than the pink and purple pastel eggs we used to get when we younger, so if we could get those matching Wii and PS3 eggs to boot, we might just spare the Easter Bunny. This year. https://gizmodo.com/officially-a-rumor-xbox-360-to-get-msn-messenger-chat-250517 The Xbox…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

Super Mario Brothers Running On Apple TV: Video

A reader, Rusty, sent in this video of himself playing Super Mario Bros. on his Apple TV, which, in my Nintendo fanboy opinion, totally blows away those other top 5 hacks. Who cares about running XviD files—or hell, even the legit functions—when you can play Mario? He says: Standard ATV OS with a few hacks.…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Matt Buchanan

Clickity-Clackity Steampunk RSS Reader

NAB President: XM-Sirius Merger “Not About the Consumer”

Internet Radio Rebellion Crushed: CRB Upholds Royalty Rate Hike

Your Tired, Your Poor: Samsung Doesn’t Want Them

World Is Ending: More Girls Than Guys Online

If You Wear These Boxers, You Suck at Life

Retro Apple Ad Flashback: You’ll Need Some Wine

Big Four Asking Apple for Subscription Service

Democrats Hate America: RIAA Flack Hired for DNC

Wii Internet Channel and Opera Final Out Now

19th-Century Vampire Slayer Kit Probably Kills 21st-Century Vamps Too

Some CEO: Apple Mulling Subscription Service for iTunes

“Vista Capable” Now Means “Vista Handi-capable”

Sony Style Store, Best Buy Website Dump 20 GB PS3

Adwatch: First Apple TV Ad On, Well, TV

SimpleTech Revs Up New Ferrari-Designed External Hard Drives

Sheer Bubble Kitchen:The Tiniest Kitchen You’ll Never Be Able to Afford

Gallery: 10 Coolest Lego Weapons to Slay the Easter Bunny With

Low Tech: Xbox 360 Easter Egg

Super Mario Brothers Running On Apple TV: Video

AirPods Pro 3 Still at Their Lowest Price While Apple Gradually Pulls Back Amazon’s Spring Sale Offers

With Fire TV Stick 4K Max at 42% Off, Amazon’s Streaming Device Deals Build Momentum in the Spring Sale

The ‘Project Hail Mary’ Party Continues With a Manga Adaptation

No More Cheese Grater: The Mac Pro Is Discontinued

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

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

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

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