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According to this ad on a Comcast customer bill, a new “Extreme” tier of Comcast’s cable internet, err, Xfinity service could roll out within the next week. https://gizmodo.com/comcast-rebrands-itself-as-xfinity-seriously-thats-5463652 The service facts from the billvertisement? • 105Mbps down, 10Mbps up • $200/month • $250 installation fee (required) • June 1st launch However, when the customer called…
My Desk Is 8-Bit is a frothingly good—and self-explanatory—short film made by Alex Varanese. The stop-motion was inspired by Michel Gondry, R-Type, and every significant furniture day dream I’ve had in the last six years. I’m just saying: the day I can play Space Invaders on my Ikea Jonas is the day my life is…
It sounds random, but Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry is claiming that Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, will be joining Apple during their WWDC keynote. It’s not completely crazy though—Bill Gates jumped onstage back in 1997 at Macworld. https://gizmodo.com/12-years-ago-today-bill-gates-showed-up-at-a-stevenote-5331578 So what will Ballmer be evangelizing about during Apple’s big iPhone 4 reveal? Err, Visual Studio…
Much like Robocop, the Android was a man once. Now, he just spends his days posing for geeks. He looks adorable—that’s his job—but inside there’s pain, loss and regret. Available in t-shirt or poster formats for $19. [ExpodedAndy]
Last December, One Laptop per Child’s XO-3 tablet was an impossible dream: semi-flexible plastic, multitouch, sci-fi thinness, all for $75. And while a partnership with Marvell helps breathe life into XO-3, it won’t resemble winter’s fantasy device. https://gizmodo.com/olpc-xo-3-an-impossible-75-fantasy-tablet-i-want-to-b-5432351 That’s not a bad thing! Even at that first announcement, OLPC chief Nicholas Negroponte indicated that it…
Time to get excited about Acer’s phone offerings. The Stream will be running Android 2.1 when it goes on sale, though it’ll also include a “brand new” UI, said to be a “stunningly fluid 3D” skin. Specs-wise, it’s got a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with 512MB RAM, and 2GB internal storage (with an 8GB microSD card…
Combining form and function (and just a little dash of nerdlinger-ness), these USB cufflinks actually have 2GB of flash memory each. That’s 4GB of secret documents you could be carrying with you. How very James Bond. [Cufflinks via Red Ferret]
This goes some way to explaining why employees at Foxconn may be killing themselves. According to The Telegraph, Foxconn pays 110,000 Yuan ($16,100) to the family of each person who dies. That’s ten years’ salary, on average. https://gizmodo.com/12th-foxconn-employee-jumps-becomes-10th-to-die-5548983 Basic monthly wages start at 900 Yuan a month ($130), so the 110,000 Yuan ($16,000) pay-out to…
If you don’t want to bang down ten notes for the full-fat Chinatown Wars iPhone app, this free “Lite” version is worth checking out. It provides a good taste of the Nintendo DS game, with the first three missions playable. https://gizmodo.com/grand-theft-auto-chinatown-wars-hits-the-app-store-5450582 The $10 version offers all levels, plus the minigames, and while the controls are…
Despite Foxconn allegedly asking all employees to sign contracts promising not to kill themselves, another worker has jumped out of a building window. This came hours after Foxconn’s CEO was boasting to press of the fabulous facilities at the factories. https://gizmodo.com/foxconn-asks-employees-to-sign-promise-not-to-commit-su-5548566 It appears the Olympic-sized swimming pool just isn’t enough to keep workers happy. The…
Regular readers will know that Acer’s been planning ereaders and tablets for some time, but the Dubai-based Shufflegazine saw Acer’s CEO fondling what looks like an ereader (check out the QWERTY keypad)—despite him calling it an Android-powered tablet. https://gizmodo.com/acer-aims-for-chrome-os-netbook-this-year-to-spite-micr-5456161 According to Shufflegazine, CEO Gianfranco Lanci said the tablet measured 7-inches, has a color screen, and…
The to-ing and fro-ing of the Avatar 3D launch increased in noise today, with HDGuru.com reporting that the 3D Blu-ray will be bundled exclusively with Panasonic 3DTVs. We’d previously heard it’d be tethered to the purchase of Blu-ray players also. HDGuru.com is pointing at a August/September launch for the disc, which is earlier than previous…
Barnes & Noble’s free eReader app is here, and shockingly, it’s probably the best ebook app on the iPad, for now. Better than Kindle, and better than iBooks. https://gizmodo.com/the-barnes-noble-ereader-ipad-app-is-on-the-way-but-5491048 It’s kind of a cross between Apple’s iBooks app and Amazon’s Kindle app, bringing the best (and worst) of both into a single app, with a…
You’re 25 and life is tough. You got laid off at work. Your girlfriend dumped you. You ate three KFC Double Downs last week…unironically. You need to get behind the wheel of a Thrustmaster Ferrari Wireless GT racing game controller. https://gizmodo.com/kfc-double-down-sandwich-destroyer-of-touchscreens-5515565 Every crisis deserves a sports car. And Thrustmaster’s Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia…
Despite the fact that it’s opt-in and has decent privacy settings, I find Google Latitude’s location history dashboard a bit creepy. It now gives step-by-step views of where I’ve been and even knows how many total miles I’ve traveled. https://gizmodo.com/google-latitude-gets-creepy-with-location-history-and-a-5401786 I will admit that the little feature that explains how many miles one has traveled…
Vladimir Grashnov died of cancer, possibly contracted due to radioactive poisoning. Konstantin Dimitrov was assassinated while on a date. Konstantin Dishliev was gunned down during lunch. All three were assigned a cursed phone number: 0888 888 888. Grashnov was the CEO of the mobile phone company who first issued the number, Dimitrov ran a drug smuggling empire,…
If this was the past 18 months for Android then the next 6 months of Android will “blow your mind”. [AndroidTapp] https://gizmodo.com/google-the-next-6-months-of-android-will-blow-your-mi-5546246
The Firefox Home iPhone app will allow you to sync your desktop browsing sessions to your iPhone. This means that you’ll be able to access your Firefox history, bookmarks, open tabs, and Awesome Bar right on your iPhone. Sure, it won’t be like having an actual mobile Firefox browser, but at least it’ll make life…
In 1915—one year into World War I—bullets were too expensive to use in air-to-air combat pilot training. Camera manufacturer Thornton-Pickard had a great idea: Make a machine gun that used film—the Mark III Hythe Machine Gun Camera. The Mark III Hythe Machine Gun Camera’s design followed the Lewis Gun blueprint, a light automatic machine gun…
Artist Neil Richards has created a set of 10 posters, one for each Dharma station on and off (and really off) the Island. They’re an awkward dimension for your desktop, but work GREAT as a smartphone wallpaper. [Flickr via Bestbookmarks]
