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Recently resigned HP CEO Mark Hurd has purportedly settled with his accuser out of court, sources told Reuters this weekend. The settlement will end legal proceedings, as the woman, a former HP contractor, has agreed to drop all complaints. There are also new details about the extent of Hurd’s relationship with his accuser, who was…
I’ve been impressed by Nils Voelker’s work before, but frankly I wasn’t sure how his new piece, a wall of 108 plastic trash bags inflated by computer cooling fans, could be that good. Then I watched the video. [NilsVoelker] https://gizmodo.com/this-creative-robot-paints-what-cars-sound-like-5556354
AndroidGuys has photos of a 4″ HTC slider set to land on Verizon sometime in 2011. That’s a ways away, but if the speculated 1.2GHz processor and CDMA and GSM compatability are for real, it’s worth getting excited about. The prototype, they say, was sporting a Vodafone SIM card, suggesting it could be an elusive…
After months of debate surrounding the iPhone 4’s antenna issues, the New York Times is reporting that Mark Papermaster, the Apple executive responsible for overseeing the iPhone’s hardware, has left the company. It’s unclear whether Papermaster, who came from IBM and was central to a non compete case between Apple and his former employer, was…
Dan Brown’s life is out of control, and he’s nervous. Dan 3.0, his new Web TV show, will put his day-to-day life in the hands of his fans. But that’s all part of the plan, and it’s very under control. The notion behind Dan 3.0 is that “groups make better decisions,” he says. (About what?…
Google knows a lot of stuff, but sometimes the most fascinating is what it knows about you. This page reveals just how it identifies social search results based on its understanding of your friends (and their friends.) [Google via BoingBoing]
Toilets weren’t the only thing on Bill Gates’ mind at yesterday’s Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe—the former Microsoft CEO also offered his vision of the future of education. The next great educational institution, he thinks, is the Internet. https://gizmodo.com/bill-gates-finds-toilets-oddly-fascinating-and-super-5606885 Of course, the internet already has a wealth of information for self-starters. But as universities continue…
Imagine a vast kingdom of rolling hills and rippling tides, cast in soothing shades of green, blue, and yellow. A kingdom that is soft and squishy. A kingdom in which the only doctrine is the Divine Right of Toes. It took the help of 30 friends for Laurens van Wieringen to construct this magical place—a…
Driving simulators can give you pedals to mash and wheels to steer, but there’s something essential about that gut feeling of actually moving. This Ferrari simulator replicates it with a gigantic robotic arm. Watch it realistically jostle one test driver: https://gizmodo.com/ferraris-new-driving-simulator-generates-more-horsepowe-5434978 The CyberMotion Simulator, built by Paolo Robuffo Giordano at the Max Planck Institute for…
Jailbreaking is truly and totally back for every iDevice, and it hasn’t been this easy for years. But with iOS 4’s new features, is it worth the (minimal) effort? 17 times yes. UPDATED: New guide here. https://gizmodo.com/the-ultimate-jailbreaking-guide-5675757 Now that multitasking, apps and custom wallpapers are standard features in iOS, it might seem like there really…
Last week, PC Pro challenged its readers to see whose rig could render a 3D graphics benchmark the quickest. An Intel engineer took the prize using a test rig overclocked to nearly 5GHz and cooled to -40 degrees Celsius. So, maybe that’s cheating a little bit. The rig’s phase-cooled, thanks to the huge freezer box…
Wired recruited Will Ferrell to help them remember some technologies that were long promised but never delivered. Among Wired’s most lamented: supersonic airlines and roboservents. Among Will’s: A birthday cake with a burrito inside. Read, and laugh, at [Wired]
Yesterday morning, the Saudi Arabian government made good on their promise to turn off BlackBerry data service over security concerns. But as of right now, BBC reports, BlackBerry service is up and running nationwide, and no one’s quite sure why. Updated https://gizmodo.com/blackberry-services-now-switched-off-in-saudi-arabia-5606204 Handsets apparently stopped working for some four hours before service was resumed, though…
James Bond would envy at the ease with which this panda was able to escape its cell. Where are the guards when you need them? [YouTube]
The AcuTouch 9500, which will be available later this year, is basically a normal massage chair until its paired with the HT Connect app for iPhone/iPad/iPod. Then it becomes a formidable, customizable machine for tackling your toughest tension areas. HT Connect doesn’t just let you control the massage chair the way current remote controls already…
Aluminium or Aluminum? Should a photo of a giant spider be placed in the entry for arachnophobia? Are Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader considered the same character? What does “pwned” mean? These are the questions which began some of the greatest edit wars on Wikipedia. Click on the image for a closer look. The numbers…
Miniature robotic aircraft could soon have insect-like eyes to go with their insect-like wings. Neurobiologists have developed an artificial bee eye, with a 280-degree field of vision, which should enable robots to see more of the world around them. Wolfgang Stürzl and colleagues at Bielefeld University in Germany wanted to capture as wide-angled a view…
We think that Bill Gates’ tongue was firmly planted in his cheek when he revealed his odd fascination with toilets during a conference earlier today, but his thoughts on the topic were quite delightful to hear. Apparently he believes that toilets are one of the “greatest under-investments” and that “we’re gonna have a breakthrough in…
Remember how annoying it was when your neighbor blasted Katy Perry at 3 a.m.? Now just imagine if his windows were literally melting the side of your house off. Low-E insulating window panes look like they’re doing just that. The incredible Low-E technology imbues glass with insulating properties on par with a thick brick wall,…
I keep expecting a family of ducks to waddle out from the reeds of this water conservation concept. A combination of sand and plant roots filter waste water while a shield of green plants to cover your nether regions. The bathroom concept design uses a process called phyto-purification to recycle and regenerate the soapy, dirty…
