Gadgets

Dealzmodo: Lite-On PC Blu-ray Drive $130

While we think you should wait to buy a standalone Blu-ray player until the 2.0 (“full profile”) spec hits to get interactivity and picture-in-picture, there’s no reason to wait for a PC drive, except for the price to drop. Newegg has a 12X Blu-ray drive from Lite-on for a pretty cheapo $130. Just remember you…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

NSA Gets the Best AT&T Coverage Around

Yes, this is real, and spectacular. The Billboard Liberation Front has launched an “improvement” campaign on AT&T billboards in the SF area “to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants” with their massive warrantless domestic spying program (explained by a cute bear). We’re waiting for some “Yes, the NSA can…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

USB Speedometer Measures WPM From Super Slow to Court Reporter Speed

We can see this USB typing Speedometer being extremely useful for young typists who want to improve their speed, or Brian Lam if he ever wants to type faster than three words per minute, but it’s a USB gadget that plugs into your computer and tells you how fast you’re typing. If you want to…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Diebold Accidentally Leaks 2008 Election Results Early

Diebold, the company run by unscrupulous Republicans that manufactures crappy, easily-hacked voting machines, has done a bang-up job of pretty much destroying many people’s confidence in the legitimacy of the democratic process. No one is better at calling out such depressing aspects of our country with biting humor like The Onion, who here tell us…

Gadgets Adam Frucci

What Went Wrong With Sharper Image

Now that Sharper Image declared bankruptcy and plans to close down 90 out of its 180 stores, us (vibrating) armchair quarterbacks are all trying to figure out why the store shut down. The Washington Post explores, and says that the chain’s downfall came because it remained the same—stainless steel tools that streamlined “your life by…

Gadgets Jason Chen

DORmino Mouse Feeds on Laptop Heat for Power

Designers really are exploring every corner of the laws of physics to bring you eco-friendly products nowadays— this latest design even makes use of the waste heat kicked out by a laptop. The DORmino concept uses an oversized mousepad to soak up the warmth, which embedded electronics convert and transmit to power a wireless mouse.…

Gadgets Kit Eaton

Stop! Why It Still Isn’t Safe to Buy Blu-ray

Click to viewBy now you know waaaaay too much about Toshiba’s format-war surrender, the death of HD DVD at the hands of the larger Blu-ray armada. You may even be eying the Blu-ray players mounted proudly in point-of-sale displays at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. Pricing hasn’t come down to HD DVD player levels—and with those…

Gadgets Wilson Rothman

SatNav system for Zimmer Frames for Those Senior Moments

So, gadgeteers, this is what we will be reduced to riding around on by the year 2080. Developed by the University of Arnhem-Nijmegen in Holland, the Zimmer SatNav is for either olds, amnesiacs or for people whose sense of direction is so poor that they get lost on their way to the bathroom. It’s Luddite-friendly,…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

Researchers Transmit Optical Data at 16.4 Tbps Over 1,500 Miles

FiOS, you ain’t got nothing on this: Alcatel-Lucent researchers in France have successfully transmitted optical data at an absolutely blazing speed of 16.4 Tbps over a distance of over 1,500 miles. The transmission was done with the goal of achieving a 100 Gbps Ethernet connection, which, as I’m sure you’d agree, is a goal we…

Gadgets Adam Frucci

Mythbusters’ Kari Byron Chops Down Trees with a Gatling Gun in 45 Seconds

Click to viewGirls and guns: discuss. Kari Byron and a Dillon M-134D minigun—wowzers. The Mythbusters presenter aimed at a tree with the weapon (3,000 rounds per minute, or 50 per second) and flipped the switch. Watching the cartridge shells pour out of the gun as she thfrpfttttts away at the tree is like watching a…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

Banpresto Skyrium Lamp Brings Northern Lights, Psychedelia to Your Living Room

Banpresto’s new Skyrium lamp might be just the ticket for those who like to enhance their trips to psychedelic dreamland with some whacky ambient lighting. Its diffusing lens and nine multicolored LEDs project ethereal cloud patterns onto walls and ceilings, with selectable themes to match your drug of choice mood. The whole thing can be…

Gadgets Kit Eaton

Is This The Best Mantrap I’ve Ever Seen?

For when a lasso won’t do, may I recommend The Trap, an art installation by This Is Collective, a bunch of rather clever designers. The embroidered steaks on the bedspread, means it will only work on meat-eating sewing freaks, ladies. The Trap was on show at the Come Up To My Room installation in Toronto…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

NASA’s New Glorious 3D Moon Map to Help Next Lunar Landings

When astronauts return to the Moon in a few years they’ll be using NASA’s new 3D lunar maps. Produced using Earth-based radar measurements, the maps of the south polar region show details as small as 60 feet across and record heights to within 15 feet&mdash 30 times more accurate than previous surveys. Hopefully this will…

Gadgets Kit Eaton

Night Before Christmas Mobile Light Comes Out 299 Days Early

I’m not sure whether this Night Before Christmas mobile night light will work for Tim Burton fans who are scared of the dark. Switch the $21.99 light on and little silhouettes of Jack Skellington and his chums will glide silently across your bedroom ceiling all night long. The light, which looks like a crystal ball,…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

Wall-Mounted Zuse Toaster Turns—and Burns—Bread into Art

Who needs paintings when you have a Zuse? Attach the chrome toaster to the wall, feed a slice of bread through the slot and then, rather like an old-fashioned matrix printer, your toast comes out with a pixellated design burnt on the front, thanks to a library of images saved on its memory chip. The…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

Bamboo Cell is Degradable Concept, Pandas’ Phone of Choice

Dutch designer Gert-Jan van Breugel has come up with the idea of a degradable cellphone. Remove the antenna, battery and print board, chuck the bio-plastic and bamboo body of the phone on the compost heap, and in a few weeks, bamboo seeds inside the phone will grow and turn your former communication device into a…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

Put on Your 3D Glasses for Samsung’s 3D-Ready Plasma TV

Korea is first port of call (well, it would be, wouldn’t it?) for these 3D-ready plasmas from Samsung. Available in two sizes: 42; and 50 inches, the PAVV Cannes 450 has a 30,000:1 ratio and 3D content support, and will work with high-performance PC-supporting 3D software and 3D glasses. And there’s even a super-expensive, HD…

Gadgets AddyDugdale

Brookstone Accepts Your Temporarily Worthless Sharper Image Cards For 25% Discount

You know that $100 Sharper Image gift certificate you got for Christmas? The one that’s now not being accepted while the company’s going through bankruptcy proceedings? Turns out you can head to Brookstone, the other purveyor of fairly useless light-up gadgets that you stick up your nose to generate ozone, and get 25% off any…

Gadgets Jason Chen

Turbine Ad Showcases a Bored, Possibly Brain Damaged Troublemaker

This ad for Epuron Wind Power won the prize for best film advertising at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes this past summer, and you can see why: it’s downright wonderful. While we’ve recently seen the destructive power of the wind as it wreaks havoc on one poor turbine, it’s nice to see the wind…

Gadgets Adam Frucci

Dreamworks Still Tied to HD DVD’s Corpse By Toshiba Contract

Okay, so one big studio actually hasn’t made the jump to Blu yet: Dreamworks, which was paid $100 million to join HD DVD back in August. As we had pieced together in our closed-door analysis, they can’t break rank until Toshiba lets them. Says Dreamworks chief: “It really is in their court at this point…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

Dealzmodo: Lite-On PC Blu-ray Drive $130

NSA Gets the Best AT&T Coverage Around

USB Speedometer Measures WPM From Super Slow to Court Reporter Speed

Diebold Accidentally Leaks 2008 Election Results Early

What Went Wrong With Sharper Image

DORmino Mouse Feeds on Laptop Heat for Power

Stop! Why It Still Isn’t Safe to Buy Blu-ray

SatNav system for Zimmer Frames for Those Senior Moments

Researchers Transmit Optical Data at 16.4 Tbps Over 1,500 Miles

Mythbusters’ Kari Byron Chops Down Trees with a Gatling Gun in 45 Seconds

Banpresto Skyrium Lamp Brings Northern Lights, Psychedelia to Your Living Room

Is This The Best Mantrap I’ve Ever Seen?

NASA’s New Glorious 3D Moon Map to Help Next Lunar Landings

Night Before Christmas Mobile Light Comes Out 299 Days Early

Wall-Mounted Zuse Toaster Turns—and Burns—Bread into Art

Bamboo Cell is Degradable Concept, Pandas’ Phone of Choice

Put on Your 3D Glasses for Samsung’s 3D-Ready Plasma TV

Brookstone Accepts Your Temporarily Worthless Sharper Image Cards For 25% Discount

Turbine Ad Showcases a Bored, Possibly Brain Damaged Troublemaker

Dreamworks Still Tied to HD DVD’s Corpse By Toshiba Contract

‘Butt Birth’-ing Rhinoceros from Ace Ventura Sequel Sold at Auction for a Whopping $60,000

The Ryan Gosling Sci-Fi Streak Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Study Challenges Popular Theory on Why Primordial Bugs Were So Darn Huge

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway’s Mystery’s Sci-Fi Film Has Its First Trailer

Scientists Just Found the Salt Limit That Pushes Your Heart to the Breaking Point

White House Social Media Just Had Its Covfefe Moment

Roborock F25 Ultra Steam Wet Dry Vacuum Is Now at Its Lowest Price, but Only During the Spring Sale Window

This $450 Semi-Dumb Phone Is Barely Even a Phone

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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