Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
In a small apartment Crystal, Minnesota, a history teacher spent his nights dreaming up ways to bring his subjects to life. It wasn’t until his two math teacher roommates helped turn his ideas into code that Oregon Trail was born. City Pages has an in-depth look at Oregon Trail creator Don Rawitsch, and the game’s…
Of all the major attractions at the 1964 World’s Fair it seems Ford’s Magic Skyway receives the least amount of chatter, ink and pixels in 2011. It wasn’t moved to Disneyland like Carousel of Progress or It’s A Small World, and it wasn’t a sexy sequel like Futurama II. But it looked like quite the…
The folks at Mashable have gotten their hands on a “confidential fact sheet straight from the Googleplex” which describes a new Google product: Google Offers. It appears to be a group buying service similar to Groupon and LivingSocial. The documents discovered by Mashable explain the basic idea behind the service: Customers receive an email describing…
It’s not the calculator your mom bought you in 5th grade, it’s an iPhone 4 case with a retro decal. The calculator doesn’t actually work (it’s not even three dimensional) but still pretty cool for $19.50. [Etsy via Chip Chick]
The Verizon iPhone’s official and it’s almost here. That makes it entirely reasonable for Verizon to make a ridiculously dramatic commercial to remind us that there are still weeks to go before the agonizingly long wait is actually over. [Engadget] https://gizmodo.com/the-verizon-iphone-is-here-5730527
Eric—it’s been great. We’re going to miss you as CEO of one of history’s most important and influential companies. But we’ll also miss you for the strange, creepy, absurd, and downright dumb things you’ve uttered. Below, our favorites: https://gizmodo.com/what-does-googles-new-boss-mean-for-you-5739125 1. “One person’s definition of evil is another person’s different definition.” 2. “One day we had…
In 1959, the US Army began building an immense complex underneath the frozen surface of Greenland. It would be a center of research, to the benefit of mankind! It would also be a great place to launch Cold War nukes. http://viddler.com/v/ The installation was named “Camp Century”—instead of after some famous dead American—because, as an…
Every time I travel, I find myself staring longingly at unavailable power outlets—if only I could just slip in my USB-powered gadget for just a few moments! Thanks to the clever FlipIt! charger though, such woes are over. As you can see in the image, FlipIt! simply slips between an outlet and another plug to…
In a wholly unexpected move, Eric Schmidt is stepping away from his position as Google CEO to make room for co-founder Larry Page. Schmidt will move into an Executive Chairman role. But why? And what does it mean for you? According to Schmidt: Larry will now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths,…
Let’s say you want a 4G phone, because 4 is one more G than your current phone has. If you’re deciding between Sprint’s finest—the HTC Evo Shift and the Samsung Epic 4G—you’re gonna want to watch this. Both phones are sliders, both are on the same network, and by outward appearances seem pretty much identical.…
I’m sure this will deeply anger Senator Al Franken: Verizon’s challenging the FCC’s net neutrality rules in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, saying it’s “deeply concerned by the FCC’s assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself.” https://gizmodo.com/the-fccs-net-neutrality-announcement-the-good-the-bad-5703253 Guess Verizon wasn’t…
Seems comedian Seth Rogen used comedic license when recalling his conversation with Lucas about 2012’s doomsday. Never! Lucas’ rep did say however that George is “an adamant believer that the world is flat, that Stonehenge was built by aliens…” https://gizmodo.com/george-lucas-believes-the-world-will-end-in-2012-5737546 …and that the sun revolves around the Earth.” His Lucasfilm representative Lynn Hale told Wired.com…
Earlier this week, in the Norwegian town of Rakkestad, 13-year-old Walter Eikrem was walking home from school when he crossed paths with a pack of wolves. With his life on the line, he had to think quick. He blasted Creed. “At first, I thought it might have been the neighbor’s dogs,” Walter told a Norwegian…
Today’s deals include a 6 core HP desktop, a pack of 4 Plantronics headsets, and a free digital copy of Betty Crocker Soups Cookbook. It’s not too early to start planning for Valentines Day. This sounds like a great deal. Top Deals • HP Pavilion Elite HPE-560Z AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2.7GHz Six-core Desktop…
A spiked metal ball attached to a length of chain? A curved dagger designed especially to stab around an opponent’s shield? See them both, plus many more, in full combat action in the 6-part original television event known as Spartacus: Gods of the Arena that is premiering tomorrow night on Starz. Spartacus: Gods of the…
You’ve probably not heard of Spotify yet. That’s ok—it’s still relatively new over here in Europe, where I live. But I can say in the year I’ve used it, I’ve never touched iTunes or used BitTorrent once. It’s a music-streaming service, free to download—though they’ve tried making it a bit “exclusive” so you have to…
Worried that your Samsung Vibrant was going to be stuck with Android 2.1 forevermore? Worry not! T-Mobile’s chief marketing officer Cole Brodman told PCMag that Vibrant users can expect to see the Froyo upgrade starting tomorrow, with all users getting bumped within a few weeks. Going forward, Brodman explained, T-Mo hopes to keep all handsets…
You just can’t help yourself, can you? After a night of ruinous drinking, you come home and dial that ex, wailing for them to take you back. Or maybe you need to kick the Angry Birds addiction. Lock ‘er up! Or, as the Cell Phone Lock Up‘s sellers envision, torture your friends with the thing:…
Samsung’s just made the Galaxy S 4G official, though they’re offering up curiously few details. It’s coming to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network—Samsung’s first to support the full 21Mbps—it’ll have a Super AMOLED display and it’ll run Android 2.2. [Samsung]
Apple’s products are notoriously difficult to open and repair—surprise, they want you to buy new stuff!—but this is especially ridiculous. During repairs, they’re replacing the iPhone 4’s Philips screws with weird new ones for which no screwdriver exists. Yeah, Apple’s effectively making it impossible for you to open up your iPhone. Here, according to iFixit,…
