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There are commercials so good, you’ll never forget them. There are also commercials so bad, you can’t help but remember them. Where does this Norwegian commercial that shows a creepily sadistic little boy who scalps women and catapults cats for Norway’s 1888 telephone directory/text messaging service fall then? I think the ad, which was made…
A 17-year-old pregnant teen lost her flight when TSA agents insisted she had to check her bag, which has a replica gun attached to it. For once, I’m going to defend the TSA: this girl is a naff assclown. I’m not a fan of the TSA. Sometimes their agents are overzealous bozos with a tendency…
Though were kind of, sort of, moving past the era of the butt dialing on our cellphones thanks to the advent of the touchscreen, it’s still happening to a significant degree. The worst is that it’s quite often 911. CBS 2 did some digging around and found that 20 percent of all 911 calls placed…
A woman and her daughter is suing American Airlines and flight catering company Sky Chefs for one million dollars, claiming that their airplane food killed her husband. I would sue Sky Chefs for crimes against humanity and good taste. They lawsuit claims the food was infected by Clostridium perfringens, a common food poisoning bacteria that,…
CNET is reporting that Verizon is set to release two 4G Android tablets before the end of the year. They’re the Motorola Xoom 2 tablets we heard about but re-branded as Verizon Droid Xyboard tablets. As expected, there will be two models of the Xyboard (could they have come up with a weirder name?): a…
We knew lawsuits would arise over Carrier IQ. Just a day after the Senate launched an investigation into the debacle, Carrier IQ, Samsung and HTC have been nailed with class action lawsuits that could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. As we expected, the plaintiffs go after Carrier IQ as well as Samsung and…
According to Paul Thurrott, Microsoft may discard its original plans to include support for desktop applications in their tablets. Instead, they would go for Metro-only apps, like the ones found in Windows Phone 7. I’m not surprised. If they want to make their tablets competitive with the iPad in terms of size, battery life and…
Since launch, the BlackBerry PlayBook has failed to sell, despite some crazy discounting of recent time. Now RIM is writing off $485 million in leftover stock because it doesn’t think it can recoup it in sales. Ouch. The company’s announcement today came in anticipation of its looming December 15th earnings report. In financial jargon, RIM…
For those with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, fingerprints over the screen of their tablet must be a living hell. But a team of German scientists think they can help with, of all things, a candle. Making a surface that can repel water is easy. So why is it difficult to make one that repels oil? It’s to…
Though phone manufacturers have been distancing themselves from the Carrier IQ furore, there are plenty of other pieces of software that could be tracking you, too. A team of researchers from North Carolina State University have been looking into the standard configurations on a bunch of Android smartphones from Google, Motorola, HTC, and Samsung. They…
Yesterday we explained how to check for Carrier IQ if you have a rooted Android handset. But people have been busy: now you can download an app from the Android Market to check if you’re clean. While the Carrier IQ crap continues to hit the fan, François Simond (@supercurio) has swiftly developed a free app,…
Yesterday we reported how Wikileaks has uncovered a global network of surveillance companies for hire. Now Assange is telling it like it is. Talking at a press conference, which you can watch here, he explained that “the reality is intelligence contractors are selling, right now, to countries across the world, mass surveilance systems for [iPhone,…
While phone manufacturers have been passing the buck and Carrier IQ itself tried to deny any wrong-doing over its snooping software, in a fit of honesty three providers are openly admitting to using the spying application. Of course, how far they’re willing to go in explaining how they’re using it is — unsurprisingly — limited.…
Google made good on its IDF keynote promise and announced that is has ported Android 4.0 to Intel’s x86 architecture. What does that mean? Could be that Intel tablets are on the horizon, but they still face issues with their chips’ power consumption. More speculation is available at Ubergizmo.
Hangouts is already, far and away, the best feature on Google+ and it just got a bit better. Now, users can call with their contacts through through the Hangout window. Here’s how it works. The process is actually quite simple, according to Google’s official blog, 1. Click Invite at the top of the hangouts with…
It hasn’t been a good week for Carrier IQ. First a damning video apparently illustrating the extent of what information the program collects surfaces, then everything goes to shit. Now, the company is facing a Senate investigation for potentially millions of violations of privacy laws. And this is the response? The company released its official…
Each Predator drone in the US arsenal costs between $4.5 and 10 million which puts them out of the reach of most forward-operating battalions who normally get stuck with smaller, unarmed UAVs. This new guided munitions from Raytheon is about to make those little fliers way more deadly. Smart Tactical Munitions are Raytheon-developed, guided munitions…
Things I irrationally hate in this world: keeping plastic wrap on anything, checking in at hotels, that awkward time you wait between finishing a meal and paying for it and ATM fees. Thankfully, people are trying to figure out a way to kill ATM fees… with ATM advertisements. I like it. I can’t stand paying…
Jackson Pollock is one of my favorite artists—the depth and delicateness of his paint dribblings is simply sublime. Argentinian art collective Mondongo carries on his artistic legacy but without paint. Instead, they use Plasticine—melted modelling clay. Mondongo—”tripe” for those of you who don’t speak Spanish (*raises hand*)—consists of Juliana Laffitte, Manuel Mendanha and Agustina Picasso.…
The Internet is full of horrible trolls! Like me. Launch some new product, and we’ll flock to it in an attempt to make mischief. That’s why Mike Monteiro’s Dickproofing idea [link kinda nsfw-ish] is pure genius. I asked Mike to explain the concept to me on IM. Here’s what he had to say. Mat: Dickproofing…
