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The 60 days between the end of January and Saturday have given us, and other really smart people, a lot of time to think about the iPad and what it means. The Revolution Will Be Simplified The predominant strain of philosophical thought amongst pro-Pad punditry is that it’s the computer revolution we’ve been waiting for…
Current artificial-intelligence systems are typically one of two types: logic-based or probability-based. But an MIT researcher has developed a new language, Church, that combines the best aspects of each, and it’s making AI smarter than ever. The first AI researchers, back in the 1950s, thought of the human mind as a set of rules to…
I’m no techno aficionado. I like bleeps and bloops. Who cares if they’re acid house or space jam or whatever? But I can tell you this: “Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat” is amazing. And it’s from 1982. I may not know that much about techno, but specialist music website and retailer Boomkat sure does.…
Publishers HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster have signed a deal with Amazon to follow the agency pricing model for their books—the same deal publishers have with Apple for the iBookstore—allowing the two publishers to set their own books prices. This means books will probably be the same price across Amazon’s Kindle Store and Apple’s iBookstore—more…
As part of what is apparently an April Fool’s Day Prank over at Google Japan, they’ve made a pretty impressive drumset keyboard, complete with emoticon keys. The funny thing is, with all those kana characters they use over there, a keyboard with this many keys isn’t that ridiculous. I mean, they have uses for all…
Apps, obviously! But not just a few. And not just good ones, either. From the start, here’s what the iPad’s section of the App Store will be like. Plenty of developers are flaunting their blood pacts with Apple by publicizing details about their apps before iPad launch, and the results have been mixed. We’ve got…
In today’s Remainders: feats of amazement. Superman’s first comic book appearance sells for $1.5m at auction; RIM posts its most impressive quarter ever; Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet performed…over Twitter; researchers create a full-screen Braille display; and more. • An issue of Action Comics from 1938 that saw Superman’s first comic book appearance was sold for…
Making pleasing noises your ears will appreciate, and looking like dinosaur bones that have been strung up together by a crafter, this is a 21st century version (or should that be 20th century?) version of the traditional kokiriko instrument. MAKE user Edabot strung up the 34 disks with 200 washers, two bolts and four nuts…
It looks like Apple has decided to refund all rush shipping charges for iPad pre-orders after we noted that Apple was charging $12 for the same delivery day as free shipping. https://gizmodo.com/did-apple-sucker-us-with-ipad-rush-shipping-5505806 It’s not exactly clear why rush shipping was offered in the first place, since all pre-orders were due to be delivered on launch…
How strange would this be? Amazon emails you a link to a video that allows you to watch a person packing your product. Well, it just might happen. In a newly unearthed patent application, Amazon describes a process that involves recording the shipment of your product, in both stills and video, for buyers to view…
Well that pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Turns out all you need to crisp up your bacon is some tin foil, string, and a locked and loaded 7.62mm machine gun. If you like your bacon on the well-done side, you’ll want to go through 250 rounds or so, but according to the intrepid…
Click to viewMicrosoft has apparently decided that a good way to promote Internet Explorer 8 is by attacking Chrome over privacy concerns. Like, say, right here in this video. But something doesn’t add up. The claims, leveled by IE project manager Peter LePage, sound ominous: “As I start to type an address into the address…
Expensive cables are a big rip-off. No surprise there, we wrote about it at length in our “The Truth About Monster Cable” trilogy in 2007. (1, 2, and 3.) But if you’re a visual learner, Mint.com offers this helpful infographic. https://gizmodo.com/the-five-most-overpriced-cables-5422001/ Mint’s main gig is offering a beautiful online service for managing personal finances. But…
Attention, angry teens in 2001! This iPhone game’s based on the rap-rock music that you’ll listen to for a year or two! Get Linkin Park‘s 8-bit Rebellion now before you realize you have no reason to be so darned angry!
In Europe, each Apple country orders products from the mothership according to their marketing experience and expectations. According to a reliable source, Apple Germany had ordered only 75,000 iPads. Against all their predictions, they got 250,000 orders. While Apple is focused on the US launch at the moment, executives at Apple Germany are reportedly amazed…
It’s not like designer Tokujin Yoshioka just wrapped some aluminum foil around a garden chair. Oh no. He created a special fabric with similar properties to the foil, so when it’s sat on it memorizes the shape of your bum. In the picture above, the chair starts out in its non-crumpled form—but a little later…
Android 2.1 is here for Droid. That’s good! But it’s a staggered over-the-air rollout, meaning some of you won’t get it until next week. That’s bad! Fortunately there’s a way to take matters into your own hands. https://gizmodo.com/android-2-1-update-finally-live-for-motorola-droid-5505520 MobileCrunch outlines a game plan for a manual Android 2.1 update on Droid, and it’s surprisingly straightforward:…
Today’s top deals were painstakingly chosen from the myriad of super savers. The easy setup Valet router is on sale, play some new old-school Mario on the Wii for less, and hobomodo lets you read up on some American muscle. https://gizmodo.com/cisco-valet-plus-review-the-flip-camcorder-of-routers-5506047 Top Deals: • Cisco-Valet Wireless Hotspot Router for $89.99 plus free shipping (normally $100).…
People love Gmail. There are a few programs that make it better, like MailPlane, but now Google’s implementing the OAuth standard, allowing developers to access your Gmail in a new way, so we’ll probably see even more awesome Gmail apps. OAuth is an industry standard allows a third party to have secure access to your…
It looks like a vomit-inducing, brain-liquifying rollercoaster, but sadly it’s a new London landmark to be built by steel conglomerate ArcelorMittal for the Olympic Park. Called the Orbit, is almost as tall as the Great Pyramid of Giza. It will be ready for the London Olympic Games in 2012. [Dezeen]
