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Zune 80GB Hands-on UI Video

The Seattle PI got a hands-on demo of the new 80GB Zune from Drew Peterson of Microsoft. The UI is changed—but kinda the same—and you can see how the new Zune Pad works. You can touch, hold, or even swipe across the touch-sensitive pad. The video and pictures also switch the Zune into horizontal mode,…

Microsoft Aims Zune at #2 Spot

Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Devision President Robbie Bach suffers no delusions about unseating the iPod this year. He says that the new Zune Updates can put the company into the solid #2 spot for the overall portable music player market by the end of the next fiscal year (which ends June 2008) now that the…

Your GPS Unit Can Tattle on You In Court

A lot of us gizmo goons use GPS all the time now, but it may not have occurred to many of us that our mild-mannered and innocent GPS units are constantly gathering data, including rate of speed, location, and time of day. Not that we’re ashamed of anything we’ve done or anywhere we’ve been, but…

Projection Clock Mixes Up Past and Future to Give You the Present Time

We’ve seen our share of projection clocks, but not like this futuristic bullet-shaped timepiece that tosses a clock face with Roman numerals onto your wall. Don’t worry if it’s too bright for you, you can dim that display, or even throw it out of focus if you want. Put it on the other side of…

Zune 2 Roundup

Asleep when all the Zune news was announced last night? Here’s your chance to catch up. From Zune details to UI videos, it’s all here: • More Zune 2 Details: Lossless Support, Glass Screens, Green is the New Brown • Gates Talks Zune 2 • First Video of Zune 2 and Flash Zune • First-Gen…

Gold Wedding Ring Box Has 2-inch LCD, Plays Video

As the married editors of Gizmodo can vouch for, when you ask your wife to marry you she’s not going to remember anything about the box the ring comes in, just the ring itself. However, this ring box has a 2-inch LCD that can play back 60 minutes of video or 500 photos, which means…

TerraMax Self-Driving RoboTruck to Take Soldiers Out of Harm’s Way

Self-driving cars have always fascinated me, ever since I saw a cover image of kids playing checkers in the back of an autonomous car on the cover of Boy’s Life in my elementary school library. (Checkers in a car! The future is now!) After years of waiting, the military is finally making my dreams a…

More Zune 2 Details: Lossless Support, Glass Screens, Green is the New Brown

Click to viewGoing beyond the Zune 2 and Flash Zune launch details, we just got off a conference call with Microsoft and got new details on the Zune and Zune platform. https://gizmodo.com/zune-2-and-flash-zune-official-306387 • The Zune and Zune Software now supports lossless audio. Windows Media Lossless. • Microsoft claims that the Zune is now a much…

Sonos ZoneBridge Would Complete Wireless Network

Today, the FCC leaked some info about the Sonos ZoneBridge, a wireless device with little or no practical details. But people familiar with the system understand that such a product could fill two specific needs: • Since Sonos requires one hard Ethernet connection to a router, the current system requires you to use up one…

World’s Tallest Outdoor Glass Elevator Provides Great Views, Sheer Terror

Afraid of heights? Then you’ll probably want to stay the hell away from the Bailong Elevator, a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in Zhangjiajie, China, that takes you a whopping 1,070 feet high. This stomach-dropping ride is the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world, and its future isn’t…

Toshiba to Sell Big OLEDs in 2009?

The news is that Toshiba plans to bring an OLED TV to market by 2009. IDG reported it, but the story got better when the Register repeated it, adding that the OLEDs would have 30″ panels. These would be larger than Sony’s white hot 11-incher; larger than the 21″ OLED TVs that Toshiba and Mitsubishi…

New Artificial Corneas Give Hope to the Blind

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany (the same people that invented MP3s) have developed an artificial cornea that can attach solidly to a patients natural cornea. It looks to be hugely promising for folks with damaged corneas, and having been successfully tested on adorable bunny rabbits, human trials are set to begin as soon…

Sony Ericsson W580i Available From AT&T

The w580 isn’t exactly new—we fondled it earlier this year—but it’s now officially available on AT&T. The price actually depends on your region, and will be available for $79 to $129 with a two-year contract. To refresh, it’s a Walkman phone that supports FM radio, TrackID and MusicID music recognition programs, Quad-band, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth…

AIM 6.5, out today, includes the AIM Tunes plug-in: you’ll be able to listen to any music your online buddies put into playlists, provided of course that the tracks are not locked by DRM. Net radio, we hardly knew ye. [AIM]

Nanometer-Wide PicoToilet, Plus a Gallery of Micrographs

Man, you’re going to need to have a tiny butt to use this toilet—less than a nanometer wide, to be specific. Taken with an electron microscope by nanotechnologist Kaito Takahashi, this pic not only shows the intricacies of objects that can be constructed at the nanoscale, but it also demonstrates the astonishing smallness of the…

The Future of Personal Robots (1986)

The May-June 1986 issue of The Futurist magazine ran an article titled, “The Future of Personal Robots.” An excerpt appears below. Robots can already be used to entertain young children. Their entertainment value for older children and adults, however, is for the most part limited to the intellectual challenge of programming them. But future robots…

Apple Corporate Video From 1984 Rips Off Irene Cara, is Ridiculous

This ludicrous Apple corporate video was used during the Macintosh rollout in January of 1984. It played before Steve Jobs took the stage. My, how keynotes have changed! I only wish Apple still produced comedic gems/ripoffs of current chart-toppers for keynotes like this. For the full story behind this video from the man who ripped…

Invisibility Cloak Is Here (For Really Tiny, 2D People)

US scientists have finally done it: they’ve created a cloak to hide an object in the visual light spectrum. The catch? This cloak is just 10 micrometres in diameter and only works in 2D space. But were still excited about the “locker room potential.” The device works by redirecting light rays around the object and…

Nokia Develops Eyes-Free Touchscreen Controls

Nokia has invented a way to let you use a touchscreen on a cellphone or mobile device without looking at it. It’s done with this special lid that has a slot in it with slightly raised places on it that you can use as a guide. Working with the software on the screen underneath, certain…

Apple Eyes Intel Chips for iPhone?

We’re pulling out our new SuperRumor” for this news, but according to DigiTimes, Apple is considering the recently announced Intel Mooretown chips for the iPhone. Since these Intel chips won’t see the light of day until 2009, it would certainly represent (at the very least) a second iteration of iPhone hardware. But given the specs…