Matt Buchanan, Author at Gizmodo

Google Chrome’s Getting Hardware-Accelerated 3D Graphics Powers

Google’s building their O3D plug-in—that lets browsers use hardware-accelerated 3D graphics—into Chrome. The idea behind O3D is that with hardware graphics acceleration, it’s possible for web apps to get even more intensive and sophisticated, closer to native apps—like games. Which makes Chrome OS’s web app-only approach look even more feasible. [Cnet]

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 22

Windows 7 Officially Released to Manufacturing: No Going Back Now

Probably not much of a surprise at this point, but right about now, Steve Ballmer is telling a roomful of people that Windows 7‘s been released to manufacturing. If you’re using RC1, congratulations, you’ve basically got the final product already. https://gizmodo.com/who-gets-windows-7-rtm-and-when-5319848 There are no new features, crazy backgrounds or easter eggs—or changes approaching anywhere near…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 22

Sony Thought About Giving PSPgo Dual Analog Sticks, But Opted for “Perfectly Compatible” Suckage

I love the logic at Sony: They wish now that the PSP had dual analog sticks, and thought about adding them to the PSPgo, but they didn’t want to trip up developers who’d gotten used to developing around terrible controls. https://gizmodo.com/hands-on-is-the-psp-go-too-small-5276226 Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida told Game Informer: We also felt – like…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 22

Windows Mobile’s Biggest Booster HTC Going to Android for Half Their Phones Next Year

Nearly a third of HTC’s phones this year run Android—more than I thought—but by next year, half of HTC’s will be Android. Exciting, since it makes us dream of a next-gen Hero running something like a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, which would be magical. (See what I did there?) Which is not a great sign for…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 22

Synaptics ClearPad 3000 Means 10 Fingers Multitouching Your Phone, Crazy New Gestures

The iPhone probably doesn’t use Synaptics’ original ClearPad capacitive screen multitouch technology, but maybe Apple will use the ClearPad 3000, since it registers ten fingers simultaneously. I hope they steal this three-finger crumple gesture at least, it’s so cool: The ClearPad 3000 is Synaptics’ new top-of-the-line capacitive touchscreen, designed for high-end phones, gaming systems (PSP…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 22

Plastic Logic Makes Same Mistake as Apple, Ties Their Touchscreen Ebook Reader to AT&T 3G

Plastic Logic’s giant touchscreen ebook reader makes Amazon’s Kindle look like ancient Egyptian technology, and the Barnes & Noble digital bookstore closes its serious content gap. Too bad though they’re using AT&T’s 3G network for over-the-air downloads. https://gizmodo.com/plastic-logic-e-book-reader-video-tour-and-hands-on-5271693 The most obvious and logical explanation is that Verizon’s terms for data were too onerous and expensive,…

Commerce Matt Buchanan Jul 22

Why Amazon’s Power to Delete Books Is Absolutely Horrifying

Editors from Columbia’s Science and Technology Law Review explained to us a year ago the pitfalls of not owning your Kindle books, a fact that Amazon revealed to be more horrifying than we thought. Guess what? It’s worse. https://gizmodo.com/amazon-kindle-and-sony-reader-locked-up-why-your-books-369235 Slate’s Farhad Manjoo points out more reasons (bothered from Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain) why we…

Commerce Matt Buchanan Jul 21

Microsoft Plotting Stores With Former Apple Retail Genius

The guy who engineered the Apple Store‘s primo real estate strategy is now helping Microsoft plan their retail assault on Apple Store as a consultant. So opening next door with 8x Genius power is just the beginning. [Techflash via TUAW] https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-opening-shops-right-next-to-apple-stores-this-5315454

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 21

Apple on Their Relationship With AT&T

Apple COO Tim Cook on their relationship with AT&T during Apple’s earnings call: “I think it’s an excellent relationship and we’re very happy with it.” So I guess the jabs Apple threw at WWDC 2009 were friendly ones. https://gizmodo.com/apple-made-a-lot-of-money-as-traditional-ipods-march-5319722 Answering another question about the iPhone being constrained by carriers with limited capacity (read: AT&T) Tim…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 21

Apple Made a Lot of Money as “Traditional” iPods March to Extinction

Surprise, Apple made a boatload of money the past three months. What’s interesting is that iPhone sales are up a massive 626 percent vs. the same quarter last year, but iPod sales dropped. iPhone ascends, iPod falls. Updated live. To fill in some numbers behind the percentages, that’s 10.2 million iPods and 5.2 iPhones. Mac…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 21

Steve Jobs’ Colorful Past, Rendered in Salvaged Logos

I think computer makers should pull a Starbucks and bring back their classic logos, at least for one year. It would remind everybody of happier, more vibrant times. [univac/Flickr via Gadget Lab]

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 21

Samsung BD3252 Blu-ray Home-Theater-in-a-Box Actually Kind of a Deal for $800

A year ago, a thousand bucks got you a Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box that’s downright primitive today. For $800, Samsung’s HT-BD3252, packs in a Blu-ray player with Netflix and Pandora streaming, 5.1 surround (1000 watts), an iPod dock and a Wi-Fi dongle. https://gizmodo.com/first-listen-panasonic-sc-bt100-blu-ray-home-theater-i-387623 SAMSUNG UNVEILS ENHANCED HOME THEATER SYSTEM WITH BLU-RAY CREATING POWERFUL HD EXPERIENCE FOR CONSUMERS…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan Jul 21

Did You Know 802.11n Isn’t a Final Spec?

Given that wireless N routers have been around for two years now, you’d be forgiven for thinking the 802.11n standard was set in stone a longass time ago. Not true! It’ll be finalized by September, according to the chairman of the IEEE 802.15 working group on Personal Area Networks. Which doesn’t mean a whole lot…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 21

HTC Hero Review: Ambitious, But Tragically Flawed

It’s the Android phone we’ve been waiting for. Almost. The HTC Hero is as much a champion for HTC as it is for Android: It’s the first genuinely gorgeous piece of hardware running Android, and the Sense UI is the most ambitious, polished software HTC has developed yet. It doesn’t have a carrier in the…

Reviews Matt Buchanan Jul 21

This Isn’t a Litter Box, It’s a Router

It’s a $2000 router, actually. Oh sorry, an outdoor $2000 router. That’s because Ruckus Wireless’s ZoneFlex 7762 uses dynamic beam forming and adaptive meshing with wireless N. Dynamic beam forming, you say? Why yes. Ruckus says that its dynamic beam-forming antennae automagically find the best way to shoot the internet waves, so it has 3-4x…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 20

Universal Hopes You’ll Actually Watch Blu-ray Special Features If They’re iPhone Apps

As many collector’s editions DVDs as I’ve bought, I’ve never watched the special features. Which might be why Universal is turning them into apps for your iPhone, and letting you use it as a virtual remote for your Blu-ray player. Fast and the Furious on July 28 will be the first Blu-ray movie to go…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 20

Good News: Palm’s Working on the Pre’s Gaming Problem

A June 29 job listing indicates that Palm plans to eventually rectify the Pre’s lack of gaming of powah—they’re looking for someone to “design, implement, debug, and optimize frameworks for game development” who has “knowledge of 3D graphics, including hardware graphics pipelines and programmable shaders.” https://gizmodo.com/palm-webos-mojo-sdk-sadly-impotent-badass-games-are-im-5317216 The bad news is that it suggests their gaming…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 20

Whoa, Apple and RIM Make a Lot of Money

Surprise, Apple and RIM actually make a lot of money despite selling only 3 percent of the world’s cellphones. Together, they pull in 35 percent of the industry’s operating profits. An analyst suggests that if iPhone and BlackBerry’s marketshare climbs to 5 percent, they’ll rake in something like 58 percent of the industry’s operating profits.…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 20

Time Warp Backs Up Your Time Machine, Er, Backups to Amazon’s S3 Service

One of the more interesting, ways to keep your precious Time Machine backups safe: Time Warp is a $25 app (free while in beta) that compresses and encrypts your backups, then uploads them to your Amazon S3 account. Amazon S3 runs 15 cents per GB to store, 10 cents per GB to upload, and 17…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 20

The Month in BlackBerry Apps: Too Sunny to Work Edition

Hey guys, it was too nice this weekend to sit inside and round up apps for you. So sowwy! Inside we’ve got illicit messengers, “disruptive” Twitter apps and bloggy blog blog goodness. BlackBerry Messenger 5.0: It’s a leak and installing it is at your own risk, but if you’ve got a relatively recent BlackBerry—anything after…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 19

Matt Buchanan

Google Chrome’s Getting Hardware-Accelerated 3D Graphics Powers

Windows 7 Officially Released to Manufacturing: No Going Back Now

Sony Thought About Giving PSPgo Dual Analog Sticks, But Opted for “Perfectly Compatible” Suckage

Windows Mobile’s Biggest Booster HTC Going to Android for Half Their Phones Next Year

Synaptics ClearPad 3000 Means 10 Fingers Multitouching Your Phone, Crazy New Gestures

Plastic Logic Makes Same Mistake as Apple, Ties Their Touchscreen Ebook Reader to AT&T 3G

Why Amazon’s Power to Delete Books Is Absolutely Horrifying

Microsoft Plotting Stores With Former Apple Retail Genius

Apple on Their Relationship With AT&T

Apple Made a Lot of Money as “Traditional” iPods March to Extinction

Steve Jobs’ Colorful Past, Rendered in Salvaged Logos

Samsung BD3252 Blu-ray Home-Theater-in-a-Box Actually Kind of a Deal for $800

Did You Know 802.11n Isn’t a Final Spec?

HTC Hero Review: Ambitious, But Tragically Flawed

This Isn’t a Litter Box, It’s a Router

Universal Hopes You’ll Actually Watch Blu-ray Special Features If They’re iPhone Apps

Good News: Palm’s Working on the Pre’s Gaming Problem

Whoa, Apple and RIM Make a Lot of Money

Time Warp Backs Up Your Time Machine, Er, Backups to Amazon’s S3 Service

The Month in BlackBerry Apps: Too Sunny to Work Edition

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Anonymous Sources Detail Sam Altman’s Alleged Untrustworthiness in New Report

Steven Spielberg Still Wants to Make a Horror Film ‘Someday’

Waymo Has Stopped Testing Its Robotaxis in New York City and No One Knows What Happens Next

Samsung Pushes Monitor Deals Further, the 34″ ViewFinity Hits a Record Low at Nearly 40% Off

The Best Anti-Meta Smart Glasses Are About to Have Tough Competition

The Artemis 2 Mission Is Leaning in on the ‘Project Hail Mary’ Love

Here’s How Many Americans Have Ever Thought About Shooting Someone Else

As Meta Flounders, It Reportedly Plans to Open Source Its New AI Models

Insignia 65-Inch 4K UHD Smart Fire TV Matches Black Friday Pricing at Nearly 40% Off, Big Screen at Portable Monitor Prices

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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