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Testing the Brain Machine

Mitch Altman is a mad engineer, the kind of guy who invents things designed purely to question social norms. He achieved notoriety for creating the TV-B-Gone, a tiny device that will shut down most TVs by flipping through a couple hundred known remote-control “off” signals at the touch of a button. And now that he’s…

Canadian Robot Conquers Space

The looming 12-foot tall robot Dextre (pronounced “Dexter”) just hitched a ride on the Space Shuttle Endeavour to be assembled on the International Space Station. When he’s put together, the Canadian robot will be able to take on high-risk activities, like changing out components, that would otherwise require a spacewalk by the astronauts. Dextre’s arms…

Japanese Oral Grip Machine Tortures, Improves Smiles

The Japanese are not unfamiliar with using gadgets to improve their appearance, but this Oral Grip Machine just looks and sounds too painful to be used while not inundated with sake. It’s a couple pieces of plastic you shove in your mouth to work your oral muscles out with for four minutes at a time,…

Urban Outfitters (proprietors of all things hip, ironic, and kitsch), is now offering some cool bobble heads in honor of the Star Wars episode of Family Guy [swongled.com]

8 Unstoppable Rules For Writing Killer Short Stories

Short fiction is the “garage band” of science fiction, claims Tor Books editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden, so it’s time to step on that fuzzbox and thrash as hard as you can without knocking over your mom’s weed-trimmer. Actually, I think Nielsen Hayden was referring to the fact that you can try more crazy experiments in…

Nokia N78 US 3G Version Leaked on FCC

We only just heard about the Nokia N78 last month, but it’s already making its way to the US by way of the FCC. It’s got a 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, AGPS, Xenon flash, Wi-Fi and FM radio. Wireless Info points out that the 3G supported seems to be AT&T’s (seeing as, you know, AT&T is…

[www.foobies.com] Testing if this share tool works. -JC

Facade Vase: Recycle Your Water Bottles as Flower-Holders

The Facade Vase from Orcadesign is a wool slip-on cover that lets you turn an unwanted plastic bottle into a minimalist vase. It’s a design that will clearly please eco-friendly types and cheapskates too. We can see the conversations now: “Here you go, honey, I’ve got you a flower and (glug, glug) a vase!”… “Oh,…

Samsung’s YP-S2 Pebble MP3 Players Probably Hurt When Thrown

These Samsung YP-S2 Pebble MP3 players look quite similar to the Creative Zen Stone (because they both look like small rocks), and hold about 1GB of MP3s and WMAs. They’ve got about 10 hours of playback, but don’t do a whole lot else (other than looking and feeling like rocks). They’ll be available in the…

X-Men 3’s Ratner Wants His Own Private Superhero Team

Not content with almost tanking the X-Men franchise with X-Men: The Last Stand — Killing Cyclops off-screen, Brett? Really? — Brett Ratner is now turning his attention to more superpowered teenagers for his next project, Harbinger. Paramount Pictures have optioned the popular 1990s comic series after Ratner expressed interest in “start[ing] a superhero franchise from…

LG Glimmer Touchscreen Phone Official on Alltel

LG’s touchscreen + keypad cellphone we saw yesterday just got official for Alltel (whose logo was already prominently featured on the phone anyway, so it’s not much of a surprise). You’ll be able to buy your own starting March 13. https://gizmodo.com/lgs-glimmer-phone-has-touchscreen-keypad-heading-to-366480 Alltel Wireless launches the exclusive Glimmer by LG Touch screen phone combines music and…

$5000 Nikon D3 Dropped 15 Feet Onto Concrete, On Camera

One owner of a shiny Nikon D3, $5000 of flagship DSLR goodness, decided that it was a ripe target for some destructive testing. So, he dropped it 15 feet onto a bricked walkway. Yes, that’s not too far off a two-story drop. Onto something damn hard. We found this idea so traumatic, gentle Giz readers,…

Britney Spears Is Our Future Champion

This anime superheroine isn’t the latest Japanese import, it’s Britney Spears, restyled into an assassin/spy/freedom fighter from a future dystopia for her next music video, “Break The Ice.” Britney’s Aeon Flux riff makes her just the latest over-produced, programmed and processed songstress to reach for a dystopian future image, after Janet Jackson’s much-maligned depiction as…

All-Knowing Ninjas Bring Back The Killer Tomatoes

It’s the remake that the world has been waiting for, by a creative team that the Internet already adores: Attack of The Killer Tomatoes is heading back to theaters, courtesy of the people who bring you Ask A Ninja, Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine. The original 1978 movie spawned a franchise of sequels (culminating in…

The Hulk’s Greatest Foe: Edward Norton?

Sure, we’re won’t like him when he’s angry, but just what is Bruce Banner angry about? According to rumors, it may be an argument over who gets the final cut of the new Incredible Hulk movie that’s getting Ed Norton, the new Banner, all hot under the collar and tearing up his purple pants. The…

Scientists Demo Freaky New Hacking Target: Pacemakers

A group of researchers from the Medical Device Security Center (who would’ve thought we needed one of those?) have demonstrated wireless vulnerabilities in some cardiac monitor-pacemakers that may allow someone to remotely deactivate them while they’re implanted in a patient. Now that’s what I call malicious. Properly called “implantable cardiac defibrillators,” the devices are used…

New Casio G-Shocks Love Solar, Color, World Peace, Etc

Continuing our obsession with recapturing the worst of the ’80s in wristwatch form, these new Casio G-Shocks are more than a little fantastic. Aside from their classic G-Shock form, a solar panel under the face constantly recharges the watch so it’s ready to automatically illuminate whenever you check the time. Our friends over at Homotron…

Eight Tons of Cardboard Molded Into an Imaginary Landscape

Though this looks like some kind of insane mushroom growth, it’s actually special, die-cut cardboard strips put together by the Ball-Nogues Studio for an installation at Rice University. The artists created a digital mockup of the shapes they wanted, ordered 20,000 strips of cardboard cut to the perfect prefab sizes, and put the whole thing…

Office for Mac 2008 Update Fixes Crashiness

Microsoft today released a patch for the new Office for Mac, fixing “issues that might cause Office 2008 applications to stop responding or quit unexpectedly.” I haven’t noticed any hinkiness of this nature, but I know some people have. If you are among the grouchy, then this patch is for you. [Microsoft Mactopia] https://gizmodo.com/first-hands-on-microsoft-office-for-mac-2008-339376

TiVo Getting YouTube

Good news, kind of. TiVo has just announced that their networked Series 3 and TiVo HD subscribers will be getting YouTube access through their boxes sometime “later this year.” While new media features are always a plus, TiVo’s more recent advanced service offerings (like Rhapsody integration) have been a bit buggy. Here’s hoping YouTube rolls…