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Yamaha Down-Firing Subwoofers, Compact But Packing a Punch

Sure, these Yamaha down-firing subs that will be released tomorrow don’t quite qualify as the mother of all subwoofers like the JL Audio Gotham mutha we showed you yesterday, but these are reasonably priced, with the 130-watt YST-FSW150BL costing $249.95, and the 100-watt YST-FSW050BL costing $179.95. Both have 6.5-inch drivers, pointing straight down so those…

$399 40GB PS3 Shows Up in Best Buy Listings?

Evidence for the imminent launch of a sweet-spot $399 40GB PS3 model continues to mount, the latest piece of proofage coming in the form of a Best Buy listing, which (if true) also confirms the Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray pack-in, so you can relive Peter Parkers’s emo phase in HD for free. While the slip is…

Indian Guy Sells Flights in Plane that Never Takes off

An Indian entrepreneur has come up with the ultimate low-cost airline: one that doesn’t fly anywhere. Bahadur Chand Gupta, a retired Indian Airlines engineer, bought an old Airbus 300 from an insurance company in 2003, rebuilt it, and it now sits in a Delhi suburb where people pay $4 per “trip” so they can experience…

iPhone Extreme Hidden in Apple’s iPhone Feedback Page (UPDATED)

We did this HTML code capture of Apple’s Feedback page a few minutes ago. It shows an option for the “iPhone Extreme,” which following Apple product naming convention for Airport, it could mean a faster iPhone or a new iPhone with a latex case. Or maybe, just some joke by some bored HTML programmer. What…

EcoModo – The Best of TreeHugger

This week at TreeHugger: Dealing with (and eliminating) “mystery machines” might be the best way to make IT greener. Take a closer look at this ultra-thin, protein-based, anime-inspired computer memory chip; that’s right — inspired by anime. We got some hot shots of the new Suissa computer, called Enlighten, a beautiful, endlessly upgradable machine designed…

Marantz PMD620 Professional Handheld Field Recorder Might Sound as Good as It Looks

It’s hard to tell from this pic of the $400 Marantz PMD620 Professional Handheld Field Recorder, but this relatively small solid-state device is slightly larger than a deck of cards. Despite its diminutive stature, it’s packing pro-level features that podcasters will like, recording MP3 or WAV files in 16- or 24-bit rez. Its display screen…

The pink and blue wireless Xbox controllers you may have seen around the ‘net are now on sale, for $49.99, complementing the “chill” and black controllers, not to mention all of the crazy special-edition ones. Something tells me pink ain’t gonna satisfy a true Halo 3 chick like her, though. [Xbox] https://gizmodo.com/master-chief-is-really-a-lesbian-marries-samus-nsfw-303412

Bike/Lawnmower Hybrids Make Lawn Upkeep More… Fun?

Treehugger has collected photos of some pretty strange lawnmower/bike hybrids. If you’re too cheap to buy a riding lawnmower but are too lazy to push one, these are for you. Our favorite four are below, but be sure to click through and see the rest at the source. [Treehugger]

Joost Beta 1.0 Debuts, Everybody Can Try It Now

Until late last week, if you wanted to use the potentially cable-TV-replacing video streaming service Joost, you had to have friends. But now anybody can watch Joost online from dusk until the dawn and beyond, because Beta 1.0 of the P2P (peer-to-peer) video service just hit the streets. The good news? The company’s just about…

Rocket-Powered 21-Foot-Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies (Updated: Built-in R2-D2)

Click to viewAndy Woerner and his crazy rocketeer friends have built a 21-foot long X-Wing model that can actually fly. Yes, this is a real X-Wing powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings. It blasts off in California next week, and we talked with Andy about the project, and how they…

All the Music of the Centuries (1908)

The article below appeared in the January 3, 1908 Des Moines Daily News (Des Moines, Iowa) under the title, “The Poor Past Centuries.” The piece describes a ceremony in Paris where phonographic records were buried beneath an opera house, to be opened in 2007. Sadly, I have not heard if this treasure has been unearthed…

Home Theater Mag Calls Pioneer Elite Kuro 110-FD Plasma “Greatest Flat Panel Ever”

Home Theater Magazine‘s Geoff Morrison is calling the Pioneer Elite Kuro 110-FD plasma TV the “greatest flat panel ever.” Here are the highlights: • Black level is “lower than any other flat panel we’ve ever measured.” • “Full-on/full-off contrast ratio…is nearly double that of the next best flat panel.” • Watching Pirates of the Caribbean,…

Gibson Powertune Automagically Tunes Up Guitars, Tin-Eared Guitarists Rejoice

Thanks to Gibson’s Powertune system, now even tin-eared guitarists can push a button, strum the guitar a few times, and then it’s as if a ghost has taken over the machine, turning the tuning pegs until the guitar is accurately tuned. It tunes each string to within .02 cent, which is pretty damn close to…

Asus P527 Is 2.5G GPS Smartphone Hotness

We’re fairly certain this news is from an overseas press release and not just rumor fun, but apparently Asus has a new smartphone on the way. The Asus p527 (successor to the P526) may still be limited to EDGE, but this quadband GSM phone is exciting nonetheless. In full metallic build, the P527 features Windows…

V-Moda Vibe Duo iPhone Headset Gets a Call Button

V-Moda’s Vibe Duos have been out since July, but even though they had an iPhone-friendly 3.5mm jack and an inline microphone, buyers complained about the lack of a “clicker,” a button to take calls without touching the iPhone. Well, whine and ye shall receive: the new V-Moda Vibe Duo has it, and at no extra…

Rube Goldberg Machine, Opus 2: Goldbergian Concerto Kicks Major Ass

After seeing that Rube Goldberg masterpiece we showed you yesterday, we didn’t think it could possibly be topped, but wait a doggone second. Here’s another elaborate machine, and this one actually has a dubious purpose: to unroll toilet paper. While this presentation is not a one-shot proof that this outdoor machine can make it through…

Booze Drip Saves Time, Sanity

The Booze Drip appears to take all of the fun out of drinking, deconstructing the past time to the cold, hard science of blood alcohol levels. And we know what you’re thinking: “Thanks?” But the Booze Drip does not actually circumvent your mouth with a direct vein feed for your alcohol, as one might assume…

Anti-Spam Turing Test Is Really Global Human-Powered OCR System

You know the test you have to take on Digg or Facebook, the one that proves you’re a human? You see a hard-to-read word or string of gibberish, and you type in the correct characters. Carnegie Mellon researchers decided to replace randomly generated words with actual words from ancient manuscripts, words that machines are having…

Prototype Toshiba Gigabeat Sports Dazzling Display

We had all but given up on exciting new PMPs before seeing this new Toshiba Gigabeat prototype. And while Akihabara News has technically labeled it a DAP (audio only), we’re expecting that its gorgeous OLED 3.2″ WQVGA screen will find a use for our movies and TV shows as well. Sure, the display isn’t as…

Zihotch Watch Tells Time (Literally)

In the days when intense UV radiation is of a constant threat to our eyes, looking has become a chore. That’s why the $48 rotary Zihotch Watch is so promising. You simply dial…err…pull “117” and the watch will read you the time, just like the old days when you had to call people to look…