Tech News

Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt Can Do Simultaneous Voice and Data…Unofficially

According to an internal Verizon document procured by Phandroid, the HTC Thunderbolt will be able to do simultaneous voice and data, though Verizon “cannot promise the experience will be one that is consistent with [their] brand.” But how? They won’t be advertising the functionality, and the document asks Verizon peeps not to reference it to…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

Parking Garage Car Detector Sparks Privacy Panic

Searching for your lost car in the mall parking lot ranks high on the list of modern hells. But a new system, built from a mesh of networked cameras, tracks the vehicles of confused shoppers. Super convenience or ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE? The surveillance system, deployed at shopping center Santa Monica Place, records your car’s license plate,…

Privacy & Security Sam Biddle

Suicide Bomber Blown Up by Happy New Year Text

Most New Year’s Eve texts are of the drunken “eyhehyyy happy nye yearrr!” variety—incoherent and maybe a little annoying. But they don’t blow you apart, as happened to a would-be Russian suicide bomber. Those SMS triggers are risky! While waiting at her safe house before a planned holiday attack on Moscow’s Red Square, a woman—believed…

Tech News Sam Biddle

The Watch That Comes From a Future In Which You Still Have No Money to Pay For It

This spiffy watch is called La Clé du Time—the key of time. They should have called it Le Watch That Le Batman Would Use to Kill Le Superman. It seems that Mathias Buttet—the designer for Swiss watch manufacturer Hublot—has found a stash of kryptonite and is decided to use it all in these new watches.…

Tech News Jesus Diaz

News Corp’s iPad-Only Paper The Daily To Launch Next Wednesday

News Corp’s kinda much anticipated iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, will launch next Wednesday, according to NYT’s Jeremy Peters. Apparently the announcement will come at an event at the Guggenheim museum in New York, and Peters says Apple’s VP of Internet Services, Eddy Cue, will be on hand. Hopefully that means The Daily will bring iTunes…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

Terraforming Maui: The Hawaiian Sugar Industry’s Technological Revolution

Claus Spreckels, successful sugar refiner and capitalist, had already revolutionized the process of cubing sugar when he set about reorganizing Maui’s dry plains into lush tracts of cane. This is how he modernized Hawaiian sugar production and monopolized its distribution. Spreckels’s major [irrigation] ditch was the Haiku Ditch, constructed by Japanese workers using hand drills…

Tech News Jessica B. Teisch

The Appgun Turns Your iPhone Into an Augmented Reality Rifle Sight

Who’s actually using their iPhone to call people? I’m not! And in an effort to help the iPhone better serve its true purpose—you know, a wacky augmented reality gaming machine—we now have the Appgun. Pew pew. The Appgun, a plastic accessory which uses the iPhone as an augmented reality sight for shooting games, will cost…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

The Massively Intimidating Size of the Internet Visualized

The internet! We’ve all spent enough time burrowing down the rabbit hole to know that it’s really, really big. But it’s not until you give its manifold parts some perspective that you understand how truly massive it is. And this infographic from Focus isn’t just about general girth, either. More than one in ten people…

Social Media Brian Barrett

Skype Mac Video Group Chat Now a Ripoff at $5 Per Day

The best part of the recent Skype beta was its battle royale video chatting. But the beta label is gone—and now the (free) fun is too. Group chat will now cost $4.99 per day, or $8.99 a month. https://gizmodo.com/skype-5-0-windows-beta-has-10-way-video-calling-5628892 This sucks, and seems like a terrific way to discourage use of what was hitherto one…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Utah Bioweapon Defense Facility Locked Down Over ‘Serious Concern’ (Updated)

It’s probably nothing, but Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground — where the Army tests biological weapon defense systems — is on lockdown and no one can leave. “We are working […] to resolve a serious concern within the Test Area.” (Updated) Via ksl.com, a statement from Dugway Proving Ground: Wednesday, “during a routine inventory of sensitive…

Tech News Jeff Neumann

AT&T Posts Record Numbers, but iPad Activations Lagging

So, completely unsurprisingly, AT&T pulled a ton of revenue last quarter—$31.4 billion. Chalk that up in part to the 4.1 million iPhones they activated. But don’t chalk it up to the paltry 442,000 tablets switched on. The 442,000 figure includes both iPads and Android tabs—and since we figure the latter has been relatively negligible in…

Tech News Sam Biddle

For the Love of God, Make This Snow Scraper a Reality

Over at Quirky, the Snowdozer, a collapsable, double-bladed snow scraper, currently has 145 of the 1200 preorders it needs to go into production. Is there any conceivable cause more important for you to get behind this morning? As the snow piled up here in New York last night, I watched out my window as people…

Tech News Kyle VanHemert

You Probably Shouldn’t Use Your iPhone as a Ping Pong Paddle

Just like you shouldn’t kickflip your skateboard grip-taped iPhone case, please don’t whack balls with these cases. But, in traditional red, green, blue and black color options, you can at least display your team-colors for $30. [Incase via BookofJoe] https://lifehacker.com/put-grip-tape-on-your-iphone-to-never-let-it-slip-again-5740603

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Gerber Fit Multi-Tool Crams an LED Plus Nine Tools Into Its Aluminum Shell

Can you believe this multi-tool costs just $30? With its sleek looks, nine tools plus a 25-lumen LED, it’s bloody good value for those late-night fumblings as you try and break into your own house. Pre-order now. [KnifeCenter via Werd]

Tech News Kat Hannaford

HTC’s Next Android Phone Leaks Out in a Series of Photos

Today, photos of HTC’s rumored flagship phone leaked to Engadget after it was spotted in Taipei on a crowded train platform (picture below the jump.) We received another shot of the phone ourselves, with the tipster calling it the “Saga.” Looks like a HTC employee was a little too confident when playing with his as-yet-unannounced…

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Lose All Dignity With This Front-Worn iPad Cradle

I don’t care if this frontpack makes an iPad easier to use while standing on train or not. I’m not going to look like this big of an asshole for the sake of convenience. Adding financial insult to emotional injury, the Assero Defender apparently costs $130. Really? [Assero via Cnet via CrunchGear]

Tech News Adrian Covert

New Yorkers Could Be Fined $100 For Yapping on Cellphones While Street-Crossing

This isn’t the first time Senator Karl Kruger‘s proposed a ban on cellphone-use and listening to MP3 players when crossing the street. The motion didn’t get passed in 2007, so let’s hope the same happens again. [CBS via Gawker] https://gizmodo.com/ipod-and-cellphone-ban-coming-to-nyc-234615

Tech News Kat Hannaford

Did Steve Jobs and Apple Help Create One of the World’s Earliest Social Networks?

In the 1970s, before Twitter, Facebook or Friendster, two men electronically arranged to transport a helicopter motor using an Apple computer and modem Steve Jobs gave one of the men. From that interaction, a community called The Well was born. According to the BBC, Dr. Larry Brilliant was a World Health Organization officer and friend…

Tech News Adrian Covert

The NGP Is Sony’s Super-Powered Playstation Portable

The Sony PSP2 has arrived under the codename NGP. It has a 5-inch OLED touchscreen, dual analog sticks, front/rear cameras,a touch-sensitive panel on the back of the device used for control along with a quad-core CPU and GPU. (Updated) https://kotaku.com/the-psp2-is-here-dual-analog-sticks-touch-sensitive-o-5744485 Update: Turns out the internal magic of the PSP2 lies in its quad-core ARM Cortex…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Weed-Firing Catapult Discovered at U.S.-Mexico Border

There’s not much to add to this AP story: “Pot-firing catapult found at Arizona-Mexico border”. It’s a catapult. It fires pot. National Guard troops spied on drug smugglers using it to shoot marijuana over the border, then seized it. Here’s a spy video of the pot being catapulted by smugglers, taken on Friday evening. And…

Tech News Adrian Chen

Verizon’s HTC Thunderbolt Can Do Simultaneous Voice and Data…Unofficially

Parking Garage Car Detector Sparks Privacy Panic

Suicide Bomber Blown Up by Happy New Year Text

The Watch That Comes From a Future In Which You Still Have No Money to Pay For It

News Corp’s iPad-Only Paper The Daily To Launch Next Wednesday

Terraforming Maui: The Hawaiian Sugar Industry’s Technological Revolution

The Appgun Turns Your iPhone Into an Augmented Reality Rifle Sight

The Massively Intimidating Size of the Internet Visualized

Skype Mac Video Group Chat Now a Ripoff at $5 Per Day

Utah Bioweapon Defense Facility Locked Down Over ‘Serious Concern’ (Updated)

AT&T Posts Record Numbers, but iPad Activations Lagging

For the Love of God, Make This Snow Scraper a Reality

You Probably Shouldn’t Use Your iPhone as a Ping Pong Paddle

Gerber Fit Multi-Tool Crams an LED Plus Nine Tools Into Its Aluminum Shell

HTC’s Next Android Phone Leaks Out in a Series of Photos

Lose All Dignity With This Front-Worn iPad Cradle

New Yorkers Could Be Fined $100 For Yapping on Cellphones While Street-Crossing

Did Steve Jobs and Apple Help Create One of the World’s Earliest Social Networks?

The NGP Is Sony’s Super-Powered Playstation Portable

Weed-Firing Catapult Discovered at U.S.-Mexico Border

Fitbit Versa 4 Drops to a Record Low as Google Makes Another Push into Fitness Smartwatches Following the Pixel Watch

JBL Boombox 4 Speaker Didn’t Stay at Full Price for Long as Amazon’s Spring Sale Pushes It Close to Used Pricing

Final Call: Get NordVPN at $266 Off + Amazon Gift Card (Few Days Left)

C-3PO’s Head From ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Sold for a Cool Million

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Delivers Fast Speeds, Low Monthly Prices and Cash Back

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

Deadpool Will Deface ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Classics for a New Secret Lair

Apple’s Siri Isn’t Just Going to Use One Chatbot. It’s Going to Use All of Them

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Let us help find what you are looking for...