Gadgets

First Hands-On of Samsung’s LED Backlit HDTV LCD (Verdict: LN-T4681F Best Ever)

The LED backlighting on Samsung’s 1080p 81-series makes it the best LCD I’ve ever seen. You’ve been hearing about such a screen’s advantages for months—that it can turn off individual LEDs section to section, moment to moment, keeping blacks blacker and brights brighter—but over the last few weeks with this pre-production but final spec TV…

Is the Helio Mysto Really the Samsung U600?

The fabled Helio Mysto could actually be a Samsung U600 if the rumors coming from a source at PhoneArena prove to be correct. The rumor also states that a Helio version of the phone would switch to a CDMA receiver and EVDO, but would otherwise remain its sexy-looking self —including its super trim .42-inch profile.…

Awesome Dual Format Disc Player Imminent, Format War Only Theoretical Now?

Did you hear? The Samsung BD-UP5000 is coming with full HD DVD and Blu-ray support, including the best in class profile 1.1 support for picture in picture, etc. for BD. At $1000, it isn’t cheap. But you’ll avoid the ugly situation of having to choose between a disc player that plays Casino Royale (BD) or…

Venn Diagram Helps Your Mom Pick Up the Right PS3 for Christmas

Don’t know which PS3 to pick up this holiday season, awash in a sea of different, confusing models? Chris Kohler’s whipped up a Venn diagram to help you separate the wheat from the chaff, the backward-compatible from the gimped. An Xbox 360 version is undoubtedly right around the corner. [Game Life via BB Gadgets] https://gizmodo.com/sony-planning-price-drop-for-80gb-ps3-new-399-40gb-mo-298067

Verizon’s decided to put away the lawsuit it filed against the FCC over the open access rules governing a chunk of the 700Mhz spectrum up for auction, which were recently re-affirmed—again, not for lack of trying on Verizon’s part. [Ars] https://gizmodo.com/verizons-in-a-pissy-mood-this-week-mad-at-fcc-and-bob-299823

2009 Toyota Prius Prototype Plugs In, But NiMh Batteries Stick Around

Popular Mechanics took a prototype plug-in 2009 Prius for a short test drive, which might be the first PHEV to market. The Prius they ran around still uses the Prius’s current nickel-metal hydride battery packs—a pair, actually, with the charging system jimmied in between them—though Toyota hopes to switch to lithium ion, which are more…

Samsung F700 Coming to Verizon?

According to the folks at Crunchgear, a variant of the much hyped Samsung F700 will be making its way into the open arms of Verizon users sometime in the near future. Outside of that, no other details exist and an official announcement has yet to be made —so try and keep your excitement in check.…

Suzuki Biplane Pities Harley-Davidson

The Tokyo Auto Show is bringing us some wicked concepts, including this Suzuki Biplane motorcycle. Inspired by the classic biplane first introduced by the Wright Brothers, we’re a bit confused exactly where the twin stacked wings fit within this redesign, but who knows, maybe Suzuki has made motorcycles fly. Not to mention, there’s about a…

Samsung’s Already Awesome HD Disc Hybrid BD-UP5000 Upgraded to Profile 1.1 (Bye Bye Format Bitching)

Click to viewSamsung’s HD disc player was going to be the first to do both HD DVD and Blu-ray completely right. But now, it’s perfect: Samsung just sent us an alert saying the dual-format BD-UP5000 Duo HD player will come hardware-ready for BD Profile 1.1—at least 256MB of internal storage, secondary audio and video decoders,…

Nexspeaker Sailboat Speaker System

The Nexspeaker FS-701SW sailboat speaker system has us torn between awe and disgust. On the one hand, it’s a 2.1-channel system offering stereo sound through its two, paper-thin 7.5W sails. Plus, a 15W subwoofer is cleverly housed in the boat frame itself…there’s a bit of love in this product compared with its glowy gag USB…

Is This the Palm Treo 800W?

We’ve seen the first alleged specs, now here’s the first alleged picture of the long-awaited Palm Treo 800W. Let’s run through the leaked product test. Tiny image? Check. Pixelated? Check. Cellphone camera origin? Fail. But two out of three ain’t bad. https://gizmodo.com/palm-treo-800w-details-leaked-wm6-wi-fi-ev-do-rev-a-267549 And while we hate to get ahead of ourselves, we’re ready to celebrate…

Origo Guide Pro Fishing Watch

For those who like a little cheating with their fishing, the Origo Guide Pro fisherman watch may be a good fit. After measuring 30 hours worth of temperature and pressure, the watch will alert you to the best time to procure the species of the aquatic. Plus, it features some other handy measurements like an…

Leaked SlingCatcher Packaging Shots Reveal Specs?

Almost a year after catching wind of the SlingCatcher, The Tomo Report claims to have laid its on hands on pictures of the final packaging, which happens to splay the device’s specs. According to the box, it’ll require an HDTV, along with a USB 2.0 HDD or memory stick if you want to use SlingSync.…

The State of Free Cellphone Games: Dead?

Slate’s running a pretty solid piece bemoaning the state of mobile gaming, in particular, the genocide of free games like Tetris and Snake as developers realized “consumers aren’t going to buy the cow when they can play Virtual Milkmaid for free. It’s obvious where this line of reasoning leads: Goodbye Tetris, hello $7 Tetris.” The…

AT&T Earnings Report: Big Wireless Subscriber Gains

AT&T’s reporting Q3 revenues of $30.1 billion for a net income of $3.1 billion, nearly doubling the same quarter of last year’s $15.6 billion in revenues for a net income of $2.2 billion (which was prior to its swallowing of BellSouth for total ownage of the Cingular venture). The real nugget of interest in the…

Verizon Launches 20/20 Symmetrical FiOS Service

Heeding to the usage patterns of BitTorrent users Flickr junkies everywhere, or at least in NY, NJ and Connecticut for the time being, Verizon’s rolling out symmetrical FiOS service—20Mbps up and downstream. Available today in those locales and soon in the 13 other states where FiOS is available, the monthly fee will start at $65…

Video Hands On of the Sony Rolly in ‘Action’

Here’s a video of the Rolly demo at the Sony Building in Ginza. As you can see, it appears to have confused this nice man as much as it confuses me. Oh Sony, you’re so crazy! https://gizmodo.com/the-sony-building-in-ginza-is-a-museum-of-all-things-so-313253

BlackJack II Hands-On (Verdict: Speedy, Slim and Sexy)

We just got hands-on with the BlackJack II, the Windows Mobile Smartphone follow-up to the popular BJ1. The things we noticed: it’s thin like the original, and small enough to feel the same in your pocket as non-smartphones. The OS is Windows Mobile 6, which improves greatly on the original’s WM5, and is definitely speedy.…

Hands On the USB Microscope at Akihabara’s Thanko Shop

I got a tour of Akihabara by the wonderful people who work at Gizmodo Japan yesterday, and it was awesome. One of the first places we went was the Thanko store. Yes, the Thanko, makers of USB gadgets as dumb as they are impractical. Above, you can see me putting their USB microscope to the…

Bang & Olufsen C-Cap, Smells Like Insulin

Bang & Olufsen doesn’t just make high-end *cough overpriced cough* audio equipment, they also design medical gadgets. Their C-Cap is meant to improve medication adherence by reminding diabetics and other patients requiring injected medication when to take the next dose, while housing the medication for convenience. For instance, when it’s time for a diabetic to…