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April 9th 2004

Sony Ericsson’s Virtual Product Placement

Sony Ericsson’s P900 mobile phone is a featured product inside of Ubisoft’s new game Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and one of Mobile9’s forum members grabbed a screen shot. It’s sort of sad that a high-tech super agent like Sam Fisher would use a modified commercial phone, but considering how much consumer hardware finds its way…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 9 '04

More DS Mock-Ups and the Worst Scammer Ever

More DS mockups: That would be very hard to hold. [Thanks, Ali!] This one came from Joe Balardi (as well as a few others). Joe Balardi is the worst scammer ever. Gizmodo has a bounty out for the first Nintendo DS pics, right? We get lots of images sent in with crazy, inflated tales of…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 9 '04

Rumor: Xbox 2 Hard Drive Also a Portable Music Player?

So apparently I got a sexy anonymous rumor yesterday morning, but Thunderbird’s wonky spam filtering decided it could wait to be posted until today. Regarding the Xbox 2 hard drive, I was snowboarding in Whistler, B.C. from February 19 – 26, 2004. We were in a bar called the Amsterdam Cafe in the village one…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 9 '04

Player Prices Down, Music Prices Up

Dell’s iPod clone, the DJ, dropped in price this week from $249 to $199 for the 15GB version and $299 to $279 for the 20GB. While the DJ isn’t quite the status symbol the iPod is, it does, you know, play music, and its battery life is usually around twice of the iPod’s. Good thing…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 9 '04

April 8th 2004

Gadget Website Spotlight: Dan’s Data

Dan’s Data is a website that does everything wrong: it’s ugly, irregularly updated, and doesn’t adhere to a strict set of marketing strategies and easy-to-digest technical overviews. And because of that, it’s one of techdom’s gems—a no-nonsense dissection of the insides and workings of our favorite gear. Dan’s Data eponymous founder took a break from…

Tech News Joel Apr 8 '04

Armed Forces Journal Shootout Videos

Do you want to see a 35-second slo-mo video of a blended metal bullet liberating a slab of roast beef of all cohesion? Yes. Yes, you do. The Armed Forces Journal Shootout serves as a sort of tradeshow for weapon-and-ammunition manufacturers and military buyers. AFJ was kind enough to provide streaming video of some of…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

The World’s Tiniest Violin Texting You

The AP wire has a touching story about a woman who convinced a thief to return her car via text messages. He left the vehicle in an abandoned lot, but still made off with her son’s mobile (which is how she contacted him in the first place) and a bunch of birthday presents. I’ve known…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

CVS Checks Out Cameraphone Printing

CVS/pharmacy has a new service that lets customers print pictures directly from their cameraphone, via Bluetooth or infrared. There looks to be a partnership with Nokia, but presumably any cameraphone should work. Has anyone used this service yet, and was it worth the $.29 per print? Read [Thanks, Jeff!] Update: After reading this story, Bill…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Why No Wireless On Trains?

Why isn’t there wireless internet and phone service on trains? It’s a question that many, including eWeek’s Guy Kewney, have asked. It seems the same reasons are carted out in London as they are here: No one would use it; it’s potentially dangerous to unspecified old equipment; there’s no money in it; it might incite…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

A-POC: Custom Clothes Without Sewing

Wired Mag has a story describing A-POC, a weaving system that produces a rapid-prototyping-like tubular cloth that can be cut anywhere without unraveling—allowing custom clothing to be made without any sewing. The A-POC system can be used to make a variety of materials, including structural components. If the patent-pending process takes hold, it is possible…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Matias Tactile Pro Keyboard Brings Back The Clack

A good mechanical clicky keyboard (as BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow aptly puts it, a “rattly, clackety hapticality”) is one of the single greatest investments typists can make. I swear by the old-school IBM weapons-grade models, which can be found for low dollars in junk shops (or purchased from the current licensee, whose name escapes me at…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Giganta Ray Lets Its Soul Glow

EverGlide’s subtly-named Giganta Ray brings useless hot-rod lighting techniques (developed by the same scientists who chromed the space shuttle!) to your mousepad with its six integrated blue LEDs. Surprisingly, the light doesn’t really affect the sensors in optical mice, so go ahead…get it. You’ve been waiting for this since your very first Star Trek Convention.…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Terrorists Invade Xbox Live?

Federal wiretaps for XBox Live? If the proposal the FBI has made to the FCC is approved, Xbox Live, MSN Messenger, and any other online chatting services would be legally required to have built-in back doors to allow easy access ‘wiretapping’ of IP communications. If you don’t realize why this is bad, I probably can’t…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Apple’s Snake in the Grass

As part of their development of the current iMac, Apple apparently toyed with idea of a ‘snake-arm’ computer. They were granted a patent on the idea, but fortunately had the good taste to hold off putting it into production. Mac Observer has more images. Read [via CultOfMac]

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Intel Bumps Up Pentium

Computerworld is reporting that Intel is releasing four new processors, including a 1.3-GHz Low Voltage Pentium M, the 1.1-GHz Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M, the 1.4-GHz Celeron M and a 900-MHz Ultra Low Voltage Celeron M. Intel’s Pentium M has been a very successful chip, bringing high-end performance to laptops without sacrificing battery life. Read

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Belkin TetraHub Gives USB 1.1 a Kick in the Pants

I didn’t expect to be surprised by innovation in a USB hub, but the Belkin TetraHub’s ability to split up one of its USB 2.0 channels to allow USB 1.1 devices to suckle at a full 12Mbit/s is impressive. On normal USB hubs, bandwidth is shared between each device, so that each added device impedes…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

E-Ten P300, P700 Available in the UK

Tech-Digest also mentions that the E-Ten P300 and P700 are available in the UK. The E-Ten phones are some of the most svelte Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 smartphones on the market. As you can see, they are only 200 pixels wide. Amazing what they can do these days. Read

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Lamppost Broadband

Reminiscent of the failed Richochet networks, a UK company ‘Last Mile Communications’ is working to deploy 150,000 wireless transceivers in lamp posts and signs, offering 40Mbps data connections to customers. While they don’t exactly say what standard their “pico-cell wireless technology” uses from point-to-point, they do imply that each wireless ‘post’ will be able to…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

Systemax TourBook 5112, High-End Features for Mid-Range Price

Trusted Reviews inclines their monocle towards the Systemax TourBook 5112, an Intel Centrino-based notebook with some interesting features—most notably, the addition of 802.11g networking. Built-in DVD+R burner, SD/MMC/Memory Stick reader, and IrDA (yet no Bluetooth), sex it up a bit, and the ability to use the CD-ROM drive to play audio discs without booting up…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 8 '04

April 7th 2004

That Gleam In Your Eye

The Netherlands has made itself an international reputation as the place where people put things into their body they were told specifically not to. Not content with cheap hash and disease, Dutch eye surgeons have implanted heart- and moon-shaped jewelry into the conjunctivas (the eyeball’s mucous membrane) of six women and one man, each of…

Tech News JOEL JOHNSON Apr 7 '04

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