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Small British company Rufus Roo has created the Big Pocket Travel jacket, a lightweight parka that lets you carry up to 22 pounds of junk with you on the plane. It’s like an oversized, airline-friendly version of a Scottevest. The Travel jacket is a response to the hefty fees airlines charge for extra baggage. It…
The folks at Montreal-based Pheromone Lab designed a Lego robot whose main function was to automate photo-taking on the iPad 2. Yes, you probably could use a software tool like UI Automation for the task, but that’s no fun. The robot was built using a Lego Mindstorms kit and a capacitive stylus to press the…
Scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona designed a magnetic cloak that’ll both shield an object from an outside magnetic field and prevent an internal one from leaking out. It’s an antimagnet and it’ll have various military and medical applications. The antimagnet uses a superconducting material that blocks the internal magnetic field of an object…
Contrary to what the name and form factor might suggest, the Aladdin Vaporizer was not a tool to help you get high. Instead, according to one enthusiast of all things Aladdin, the device was used to make insects vanish. Aladdin Magic Vaporizer, kills insects, with original instructions found by Bill & Treva Courter. Made by…
Moneual took a page from the book of iRobot and created an air purifier that motors around your house, doing its dirty work while you are away. https://gizmodo.com/irobot-roomba-610-professional-series-review-5145781 The sensor-filled Rydis H800 purifier will traverse your room, cleaning when it finds a pocket of polluted air. And it’s a monster cleaner with a five different…
Schuyler Towne, a man who loves locks more than you’ll love anything, is hosting a 24-part video course on how to pick locks. With any luck, you can become the next great lock picker after watching it (or at least, get yourself in your apartment when you lock yourself out). https://gizmodo.com/watch-a-competitive-lockpicker-who-truly-loves-locks-ta-5832144 All the videos are…
Who said good music has to make sense? Good art doesn’t have to—did Picasso’s art make any sense, did Jackson Pollack’s? No, because their genius creations trasncended the thinking of the time. And that’s exactly what the B-52’s did with Rock Lobster. In 1979, the punk scene was beginning to split. It had outgrown its…
We’re all pretty excited about Windows 8. But in all the commotion last week over the new modal, Metro aesthetic, we sorta glossed over how everything actually works. The Windows Blog’s got a rundown of how the Windows 8 experience actually works. https://gizmodo.com/windows-8-slate-hands-on-its-fantastic-but-dont-sell-5839665 One big step forward is that all of the system and application…
So much news passes before our collective eyes every day that we couldn’t possibly cover it all. Mostly because much of it isn’t worth covering! But here are a some borderline tidbits we passed on, just in case. AT-AT PANCAKE ATTACK Okay, in fairness, by “attack” I mean “deliciousness,” but that didn’t quite have the…
The Beatty Family build robots. Armored robots with targeting rotating cannons. Armored robots that can detect foes using eight ultra-sonic sensors and fire 1,000 plastic or metal pellets per minute. The Beatty Family rocks. [Beatty Robotics via PC World]
New Yorkers, get ready to either cough up blood or throw your arms up in the air and make jazz hands for joy: cellphone service is hitting a select several subway stations. If you’re an AT&T or T-Mobile customer. In what might be the last joint action between the two companies before they get their…
I think I’m giving Anthony Herrera the dad of the year title. Why? Because when he brought his kids to Sequoia National Park he told them Ewoks lived there. Of course, his kids ended up being disappointed when they didn’t see any Ewoks there. But don’t worry! Herrera added Ewoks to the background of his…
Another day, another patent lawsuit. Today’s below-bridge dwelling plantiff is Taiwanese company VIA. VIA has filed suit against Apple claiming infringement of three patents they own. The patents in question are: US Patents Nos. 6253312, Method and apparatus for double operand load, and 6253311 & 6754810, Instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer…
iOS is pretty safe and secure, as there’s no known malware that’ll make your iPhone bug out and die. But! Your iPhone could act as a carrier to malware, bringing viruses to your computer without you even knowing. VirusBarrier puts a malware scanner on your iPhone so you never have to worry What’s it do?…
So here’s what you need to know about why HP fired CEO Leo Apotheker: it’s not because of the choices he made, it’s how he executed them. So TouchPad is still dead. PCs are still being shunned. And round and round and round we go. We’ve talked a bit about how former eBay CEO Meg…
If you’re impatient like I am, you want Facebook’s new Timeline right now, not in a few weeks. Fortunately, all you need to do is become a developer and you’re good to go. Note: This is in beta, if you’re concerned about privacy or having your entire Facebook history wiped off the face of the…
According to Tech Crunch, Spotify registrations is now open to all, with the first six months of the service being free and unlimited. Presumably by free, they’re referring to the freemium service being offered without limitations. [TechCrunch]
Rdio’s already on Facebook’s hours-old Open Graph. The Rdio app lists the songs you’re listening to in your News Feed or Ticker, and you can click any Rdio tracks that appear on Facebook to listen to them immediately. The app automatically connects the service to your Facebook account without downloading anything. It also automatically creates…
Penn State researchers have identified a virus that’s benign to humans but deadly to cancer. The virus is called adeno-associated virus type 2, and the scientists showed in the lab that it kills breast cancer in three stages. That’s a big deal because different stages of cancer now require different types of treatment, and it’s…
Cellular South, the largest privately owned wireless telecomm in the U.S. is changing its name to C Spire. Let’s not beat around the bush here: What is a “C Spire”? The first dozen times Cellular South CEO Hu Meena said it I swore he said “Cease Fire.” According to him, “The C is for Customers.”…
