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We’ve seen the Nook Tablet rooted before, but this has to be the easiest process out there. All you need is a 2GB SD card, a computer that runs Windows, and a Nook Tablet with tablet software version 1.4.1 or earlier. https://gizmodo.com/nook-tablet-rooted-android-free-for-all-coming-soon-5861258 The detailed instructions are posted on the XDA Developers Forum, and we’ve got…
For purist photographers, there is no alternative to the optical viewfinder. Current LED screens are, by comparison, like looking though the bottom of a bottle. But could this tiny, high-res display change that? This new MicroOLED display, originally developed with military and medical heads-up displays in mind, can deliver a fairly impressive 5.4 megapixel (2560…
When landing a helicopter, I guess there are a few basic rules to follow. Make sure you don’t land on people likely comes first, but a close second is probably to avoid landing near things that stand a good chance of getting blown away. This pilot didn’t remember that part. Apparently recorded in northwestern Libya,…
A post on Facebook has received over a million comments, which is believed to be a first. Sadly, it was achieved by 107 fans of the game Frontierville who hit the 1,001,291 comment mark with a lot of two-letter posts. The record attempt has been submitted to Guinness for appraisal, but as yet there’s been…
Cooperation is a rare thing in the cut-throat world of technology, but some of the world’s biggest email providers are teaming up to help cut the incidence of phishing scams. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, AOL and plenty more are backing something called Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC).…
I don’t know what it is about new data centers, but they all seem to resemble the evil lairs of Bond-movie villains. Google’s latest, based in a disused paper mill in Finland, is no exception. Joining the ranks of the Norwegian fjord-cooled data center in a cave and Facebook’s $700 million Arctic server farm, Google’s…
Continuing its bold, brave and surprisingly successful e-Reader battle with Amazon, Barnes & Noble is soon to launch its fifth Nook device. Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a long feature piece on the book seller. Tucked away, two-thirds of the way through, was a tantalizing nod toward the company’s future tech: “At…
Since the feds shut down Megaupload, there’s been concern about what would happen to the user data stored using the service. Turns out that it may just be deleted, as early as this Thursday. https://gizmodo.com/feds-kill-megaupload-updated-5877612 Associated Press reports that a letter, filed in the case on Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern…
Bjork’s fifth album, Vespertine could come out 10 years from now and it would still sound startlingly ahead of it’s time. Quiet, meditative and stark, the LP is absolutely perfect for these winter months. “It’s Not Up To You” was maybe sorta supposed to be a proper single on the album, but for whatever reason,…
When it comes to the kitchen, simplicity reigns supreme. Cooking gadgets and tools are novel, but more often than not, they’re better in concept than actuality. The Twist Whisk, which transforms from a flat whisk to a balloon whist, appears to be a bit of an anomaly. When you twist the handle, the teflon-coated steel…
Remember that civil lawsuit looming over the heads of some of the top Silicon Valley companies for conspiring not to poach each other’s employees? The latest juicy tidbit to leak from that involves Steve Jobs sending Eric Schmidt an email demanding that Google stop stealing. https://gizmodo.com/doj-says-apple-google-pixar-and-intel-conspired-to-no-5877929 Reuters say the email, sent in 2007, was quickly…
Life has a fantastic collection of images from the photographer Fritz Goro, who spent the middle of the 20th century documenting all the weird and wonderful ideas coming from the worlds of science, technology and industry. Holograms, Exosuits, lasers, factories, laboratories and strange looking fetuses are all blessed with Goro’s magic touch. You should really…
How do you fit a humongoid Anglepoise lamp in your home? Reduce it down to two-dimensions and pack it full of LEDs, of course. Forged of birch and steel, Giles Godwin-Brown’s Nepa Lamp will sit flat on a wall, or spin out into the third dimension and totally screw with your head. I love it.…
According to Symantec, 13 apps from three developers—many in the official Android Market—have been carrying malicious chunks of code called Android.Counterclank, and are suspected of running on as many as five million phones, stealing info and running ads against the will of the device’s owner. ComputerWorld, speaking to Symantec, learned that the apps have been…
One of the things I love computers for is how they have democratized the access to things that once were only attainable by a very few. This World War II short film called The German is a perfect example. In the film, “a British fighter pilot pursues the german ace that shot down his friend…
There are lots of recycling programs that will happily salvage the raw materials from your outdated electronics. But if you still can’t let your old 386 go, maybe Rodrigo Alonso has another solution for you—turn it into gaudy furniture. His N+ew, or No More Electronic Waste, stools are composed of a small mountain of defunct…
It is a crime against humanity, at least those who cook, that Meike Harde’s beautiful Quix handheld mixer only exists as a concept prototype. Because it somehow improves upon every one I’ve ever used with a design that’s actually simpler. Instead of exposed buttons that can let food in, a sealed silicone membrane located on…
Designed to be a soft interactive toy for kids, rather than a protective case for your tablet, Totoya’s plush creatures completely swallow and protect your iPad while providing a peek at its display through a couple of strategic holes. Instead of plastic googly eyes, an accompanying free Totoya app creates a set of more life-like…
You know the economy is really going to bloody hell when ATMs start to pay bank customers with dead rodents, which is exactly what happened to this guy on the right. He got his cash and the dead Mickey on the left. His name is Gholam Hafezi and he was visiting his daughter in Ersboda,…
Hearing Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, José Andrés, and April Bloomfield talk about their favorite kitchen tools won’t make you a better chef. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. Andrés puts the situation in terms we can relate to. Tools consist of two parts: “the software and the hardware… the hardware is simple.”…
