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Linksys Wireless Home Audio System Streams All Around Your House, Secretly Aspires to Kill Sonos

Linksys’ new Wireless Home Audio system is very similar in function to Sonos’ streaming home audio system, and on specs alone, manages to out spec the latter in some areas. The Wireless Home Audio system comes in a variety of form factors, including standalone CD players with touch panels, hubs that connect to your home…

Linksys Media Hub Babysits Your Video, Music and Pics, Streaming Locally and Remotely

The Gadget: Linksys’ Media Hub seems like a server, since it backs up data, gathers your media files automatically, and streams media over IP, but it’s more like a super functional NAS drive with RAID support. The Skinny: The Media Hub NAS drive is built on top of a custom linux platform that works with…

As Macworld Fades Into CES…

As our warriors move from the beachheads of SF to the trenches of LV, here’s today’s recap, and reminder that the war week is far from over: It’s been the easiest thing for everybody in the universe to say that Apple’s Macworld 2009 keynote lacked not just Jobs but luster. We did feel a distinct…

Flying Duck Hunter Robot Will Appease PETA But Not Your Cold, Killing Instincts

Who wants to hunt some ducks? I said, WHO WANTS TO HUNT SOME DUCKS?? Available this spring, the Duck Hunter is like a WowWee Dragonfly mixed with a lightgun shooting game. The duck launches from your IR blaster, charging in just 10 seconds from a few AAs in the pistol. When the poor, robotic duck…

Lenovo IdeaCentre 600 All-in-One and Motion Controller Hands On: Ain’t No Wii

In person, Lenovo’s IdeaCentre 600 all-in-one PC is not as beautiful as we’d hoped, with a bulbous ass. But its do-it-all remote, with Wii-like gaming, is exactly like we expected: crap. https://gizmodo.com/lenovo-ideacentre-600-thinnest-hottest-all-in-one-p-5123151 We tried to play the IdeaCentre’s motion tennis game for the most direct Wii Sports comparison, but no one knew how to get…

$199 Sign Language Translator…OK, Video Dictionary

The Sign Language Translator’s name may be a tad misleading (it doesn’t actually translate anything), but as a pocket ASL video dictionary, it’s a neat enough idea. Featuring a 3,500 word dictionary (more words will be downloadable, we’re promised), this seemingly retrofitted PMP is navigated via stylus. You type in the word that you’d like…

Disco-Bots Are Just Using Lightsabers To Express Their Bouncy Rhythms

There’s so much to love about this-clip from War Of The Robots. The tongue-flirting. The lightsaber-duels. The disco-bots. But really, it’s all about the sound effects.

First Look at The Sharper Image’s New Direction: Cheap iPod Docks

We reported last month that The Sharper Image would be rebranding itself as a gadget maker here at CES, and now we have our first hands-on with their cheap iPod docks. Welcome to the future! https://gizmodo.com/sharper-image-to-relaunch-at-ces-2009-5108452 Yes, now instead of a store in the mall to buy your stepdad a spatula mixed with a thermometer,…

I would urge interested readers to hunt down Robert Silverberg’s beautifully written short story “Lion Time in Timbuctoo”. It has a 20th Century CE dominated by Muslim Turks, Africans, Incas, Aztecs, and various Asian powers due to the Black Plague killing three-quarters of the European population rather than the 1/4 or 1/3 that died in…

Chart Reveals Future of the Air Force Lies in the Blogosphere

As part of a new campaign to interact with bloggers, the Air Force has issued this complicated flow-chart to teach officers how to comment on blog posts. Wired’s Noah Shachtman has a great post on this over at Danger Room, explaining how it fits into the Air Force’s broader strategy to engage with people online…

Pandora iPhone App Hits 2.0, Gets Even Snazzier

Pandora’s personalized internet radio player is one of our favorite iPhone apps-and tonight it got better, adding a snazzy Coverflow-like song history, bookmark previewing, in-line artist bios and a playback progress bar (finally). https://gizmodo.com/gizmodos-20-essential-iphone-apps-5084887 You can also take your track-based stations (previously only generated via artist and e-mail them to friends, just like the artist…

Eee Keyboard: An Entire Touchscreen Home Theater PC

We spotted some Asus keyboards last week, but none were nearly as potentially awesome as the official Eee Keyboard. Featuring wireless HDMI, it’s a “fully functional PC” with full QWERTY and a mini secondary touchscreen. Asus was vague as to if/when we’ll actually see the Eee Keyboard come to market (though we’re pretty sure it’s…

Build Your Own Giant Atari Joystick Lamp

Who hasn’t dreamed about owning a giant Atari joystick lamp? Seriously, its right up there with winning the lottery. The good news is that you can make it happen with a little hard work. This DIY project seems a bit time consuming—so you really have to want it. However, the man behind it was able…

Fastmac’s Mac-Specific Blu-ray External Drive Is Slim and $99

The boys at Crunchgear spotted an intriguing portable Mac-intended “Blu-ray SuperDrive” from Fastmac-and while it’s not swathed in unibody aluminum, it looks like a pretty good get for $99. Updated: It’ll also write DVDs (at 8x)-no BD writing though. Crunch says it requires an external power brick, which kind of nullifies the “portable” aspect. Still,…

You’ve Got Mail From Half-Digested Children

Poor little kiddies have been gobbled up by artist Alex Pardee’s nightmarish monsters, and will be in an adorably gruesome and intricate art show this week. Check out our haunting gallery. We got a special sneak peek at Chadam artist Alex Pardee’s latest show, “Letters From Digested Children.” Its creepy brilliance all hinges on the…

WowWee Spyball Looks Like Death Star Torture Ball, But Transforms and Shoots Upskirt Pics

Like the Rovio, WowWee’s Spyball is a Wi-Fi-enabled spycam robot. But it transforms from sorta conspicuous ball to spycam for surreptitious shots. You can connect ad-hoc via Wi-Fi or over the internet. https://gizmodo.com/wowwee-rovio-everything-the-aibo-should-be-341107 The Spyball™ spy-cam is a remote controlled, Wi-Fi enabled, transforming robotic ball that introduces an element of play to telepresence functionality. Affordable,…

WowWee Cinemin Pico Projectors Are Tiny and Cheap

WowWee’s Cinemin pico projectors fit any situation you’d be pico projecting in. The Swivel is a candybar that angles 90 degrees; the Stick’s tinier and takes SD cards, and the Station’s an iPod dock station. They’re also legitimately attractive pieces of hardware, rare for kit that’s supposed to be “affordable.” And, wait, WowWee makes stuff…

WowWee Joebot Has Joementum, But Roborover Is a Late Bloomer

WowWee actually imbues its new robots with some personality: Joebot is dancing rhythm robot that responds to beats (he beatboxes!), while the Roborover explorer starts out shy and gets bolder over time. Cute. HONG KONG – January 6, 2009 – WowWee, an Optimal Group company (NASDAQ:OPMR), announced its newest line of innovations scheduled for release…

Asus T91: Your 1-inch Thick Convertible Eee PC

The Asus T91 is an intriguing netbook from Asus. Just 2lbs in weight, it features an 8.9″ convertible touchscreen display and Atom processor. Pricing/availability are yet unannounced.

She Won’t Date You Because She’s Monogamous with Her Pink Spider Robot

The only come-hither looks this lady has are reserved for her spider robot, who is her lover and life companion. Who wouldn’t want to marry a pink spider bot, anyway? Aimé Jalon is a concept designer based in France who has worked on several videogames, and also does a lot of concept art in his…