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Continuing with their spring (summer?) cleaning, the government has elected to shut down 800 of their vast collection of 2,000 data centers across the country over the next four years. Officials expect the pruning to save us billions. https://gizmodo.com/us-government-shutting-down-half-its-websites-5812115 Currently, the US spends $80 billion on information technology to run its numerous services and websites,…
It may shock you that a lot of the stuff we buy is made in China. In order to keep up with the mammoth demand for Snuggies, Shake Weights and other trappings of modern society, the Emma Mærsk makes the trip in four fewer days than the average container ship on a China-to-California run. Oh,…
Okay, so OS X Lion isn’t perfect. With that in mind, here’s our guide to help you make the most of Apple’s new OS.
Got a bad sense of direction and a thing for Sith Lords? Well, now you can scratch both of those itches with a downloadable graphics and sound effects (Sans pew pew, unfortunately) bundle for your Garmin GPS. Sure, Darth Vader’s been speaking to you through TomTom units for more than a year (two-timing bastard!), but…
The new Airplay-enabled Gallery G-17 Air is a stereo soundbar that could fit in fairly seamlessly into your room’s setup. Equipped with two Tractrix-horned 10 watt tweeters and dual 20 watt woofers, it offers a decent streaming experience for your aural needs. The unit also comes with USB and 3.5mm inputs for whenever you want…
The person we’re looking for knows tech, gadgets, the news cycle and the internet amazingly well. They’re smart, and snappy, like cybernetic whips. And they’ve got at least two years of tech journalism experience. To the requirements: • Based in Europe or Asia (native English speakers only! Obviously!). You’ll be writing from the wee hours…
Amazon Instant Video: it’s nice if you’re an Amazon Prime customer, because it’s free and is incapable of causing physical harm. That’s been about the only upside though, given how shoddy its offerings have been. Enter CBS, who’s just made things slightly less miserable over there. https://gizmodo.com/what-is-amazon-instant-video-5767054 The Amazon-CBS deal will beef up the Instant…
We’re more accustomed to ignoring flashing ads saying “your computer is infected!” but Google’s hoping people will pay attention once they start advertising the state of your computer’s health at the top of Google search pages. [Google Blog]
If your internet connection sucks too hard to download Lion—or you just want the comfort of Lion on physical media, Apple will in fact totally sell it to you that way. For $70 instead of $30, starting next month. [AllThingsD] https://gizmodo.com/download-os-x-lion-for-free-at-apple-stores-if-your-con-5814419
T-Mo’s new unlimited data plans make paying for your phone clearer and better for you as a customer. Instead of forcing you to make phone payments after you’ve paid off the subsidy, you’re just paying for what’s in your hand. Basically, your monthly phone payments will now be called an “Equipment Installment Plan,” which is…
Rarefied Airs | Apple’s Macbook Air line got a beefy upgrade, with Thunderbolt ports and Sandy Bridge processors. https://gizmodo.com/new-macbook-airs-get-hit-with-a-thunderbolt-5822966 New MacBook Airs Get Hit With a Thunderbolt Apple’s brought both sizes of the MacBook Air line straight up to what you’d expect from a laptop in 2011, adding a Thunderbolt port, but more importantly some…
The new, Thunderbolting MacBook Airs just killed the plastic MacBook, which has vanished from the Apple Store. Makes sense—with both costing a grand, who’d pick up a laptop Apple clearly stopped caring about? But we’ll miss ye. [Apple]
Two years ago, GE announced they were working on a prototype form of storage that used micro-holographic technology crammed 500 GB onto an optical disc. Now they’re able to write data onto those discs at speeds equivalent to a Blu-ray burner. https://gizmodo.com/ge-makes-holographic-storage-breakthrough-for-cheap-er-5229492 Yes, physical media is losing relevance in our day to day lives with…
Although it’s (weirdly?) not a “featured app,” OS X Lion is indeed now available for download from the Mac App Store. The 3.5GB download will cost you $30, and upgrades your Mac with over 250 new features—some of which you may be just as happy without. https://gizmodo.com/mac-os-x-lion-review-this-is-not-the-future-we-were-ho-5819418 Update: Okay, now it’s the featured app. Can’t…
Apple’s brought both sizes of the MacBook Air line straight up to what you’d expect from a laptop in 2011, adding a Thunderbolt port, but more importantly some sweet Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips—and backlit keyboards. The addition of the super-fast Thunderbolt port will future-proof any Thunderbolt-enabled gadgets you purchase in the future, and…
Apple’s kept the unibody aluminum casing of last year, and overhauled the Mac Mini inside-only, with three options starting at $599. Notable in all three models is the new Thunderbolt port, for connecting various compatible products with. https://gizmodo.com/apples-unibody-mac-mini-5563708 The base level begins with a Sandy Bridge 2.3GHz processor and 2GB of RAM, plus 500GB of…
So one of the things you’ll notice about all of Apple’s new stuff today is that they’ve got new Thunderbolt powers. What’s that mean? Thunderbolt’s a fairly new interface that’s pretty snazzy, and we explain in detail right here. [Giz] https://gizmodo.com/what-is-thunderbolt-5769321
Apple’s new Thunderbolt Display is kind of like when the Power Rangers upgraded to Thunderzords from Dinozords—they’re still just Zords (er, a display), but now with more Thunder-y power. Er, right. What’s that mean? Well, if you recall, Thunderbolt is the new interface that’s got 10Gbps of throughput in each direction. So, you can daisy-chain…
HItachi’s latest screen—something that may pop up in future phones and other portable devices—combines everything you’d ever want (and didn’t want) in one display. Meaning glasses-less 3D, 4.5 inch IPS-based LCD and a stunning 1280×720 resolution. The glasses-less 3D effect is achieved using a new lenticular lens approach as opposed to the traditional parallax barrier.…
Watching a movie set in medieval times isn’t enough to realize just how damn heavy those suits of steel actually are. Weighing between 30 – 50kg, you’d think they would impact and impede the wearer’s actions. Or did they? An article submitted to The Royal Society speculates on how the “medieval soldiers’ locomotor energetics and…
