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Not sure why it took $2,500 and a student design competition to come up with this, but Trevis Kurz has invented a smoke alarm you can change the batteries for with just a broomstick (and your arms). [Housewares]
The latest iPad/iPhone SDK not only makes it easier for developers to build universal iPad/iPhone apps, but it also appears to have support for a front-facing camera, zoom, camera flash, and video conferencing. Oh, and some snazzy accept/decline buttons. https://gizmodo.com/iphone-3-2-beta-3-sdk-simplifies-developing-universal-i-5478441 Keep in mind that the iPad SDK is the same as the iPhone SDK at…
We love figuring out how things work, but in the case of this video—a bizarre musical performance involving disembodied holographic heads—it’s probably better to just behold. OK, fine, speculate how they did it in the comments. [Make]
I get a lot of emails from cruel, annoying, persistent individuals and I sometimes don’t know how to deal with them. If I had this little extra button in my email program though, boy-oh-boy-oh-boy. I’d be even more passive aggressive. Maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t have this button after all. [Murray the…
This man, Jack Rossi, created a simulation proton pack + thrower so he can play the Wii version of Ghostbusters with as much realism as possible. This is the result. I gotta admire him for his preference of playability over having this-gen graphics. And for finding a use for all that junk he had lying…
That’s what this RBC/ChangeWave’s surveys says. Back in April 2007, fewer people were interested in buying the original iPhone compared to those wanting to buy the iPad on February 2010. Does this mean the iPad would be a bigger success? Not necessarily. It may mean that, but we don’t really know for sure. First, back…
Ten 200 ton buoys—each measuring 150 feet by 40 feet—are being installed off the coast of Oregon to build America’s first wave power farm. They’ll power 400 homes by harnessing “the energy of wave motion.” Worth $60 million? Of course, of course. Clean, renewable energy is almost always worth it. The trouble with wave farms…
Obama’s anti-trust guy thinks Google has some monopoly in them, and now so does Europe. If you remember back just a few years, you’ll recall that Europe was the big battleground that Microsoft had to fight in trying to prove that it wasn’t a monopoly, so this could be the start of some legal bad-news…
Doing the right thing by exposing a company’s shoddy product, customer service, or iffy privacy policy can have consequences. Our friends at Boing Boing just finished dealing with MagicJack and a groundless defamation suit because they were brutally honest. You can read a full account of the events along with the post that started it…
Everyone, including Apple, knows that the next logical step in making the Apple TV set-top product is embedding that technology into a TV. It’d be like all the Korean TV manufacturers putting Netflix in theirs. But Apple says no. COO Tim Cook says: Today, the go-to-market model for Apple TV is very difficult. Because it…
If you have a pair of hard-soled shoes, two pressure-sensitive LED tiles, and some baby mama drama from which you need to extricate yourself, let this Instructable be your guide and recreate the special-FX steps from Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Admittedly, I’m not sure how easy it would be to do any sort of dancing…
Every time I see any Cylon-themed object, I get nostalgia of those perfect nights watching the series in bed, and I want to see it again. This Cylon Teddy Bear is the last straw. Starbuck, here I go. [Instructables] https://gizmodo.com/lego-battlestar-galactica-cylon-minifig-beats-star-wars-5012042
During a Goldman Sachs tech conference today, Apple COO Tim Cook revealed Apple’s secret to success: High standards, and a low tolerance for half-assed proposals. Except, that wasn’t the question. Tim was responding to a question about complacency and hubris—specifically, how a company that’s been right on so many big issues can avoid it, and…
This inflatable sleeping coat would be perfect for the millions of homeless people in the world—though as it’s but a concept, the wearable sleeping bag won’t be warming anyone up anytime soon, sadly. [Reddot via LikeCool]
The iPhone 3.2 Beta 3 SDK documentation confirmed that developing OpenGL ES on the iPad is the same as developing OpenGL ES on other iPhone devices, using the “same basic capabilities as other SGX devices.” We’ve been saying that the iPad was going to use the same basic chip, a PowerVR SGX, for a while…
Some people thought I was unfair to Flash, calling it an unnecessary piece of power-sucking crap that has no real use beyond online video and advertising. So here’s the question: Apart from video, what are exactly your top Flash sites? https://gizmodo.com/farmville-is-a-perfect-demonstration-why-flash-is-stupi-5478150 Flash is not going to be used in Windows Phone 7, the iPod touch,…
Apple released their 2010 update on Supplier Responsibility today. And hey! According to Apple, Apple’s doing a great job! But given recent events, should they really have given themselves such high marks? There’s no doubt that some of what Apple’s done with their supply chain is commendable. They’ve made efforts to protect juvenile workers, and…
Actually, the Ampex VR-3000 backpack—only $42,000 for the basic recorder without accessories—with BC-300 BW Camera—just $12,685—was the only camcorder available. It changed TV forever, moving the entire broadcast television industry from film to video. The video format—invented by Redwood City-based Ampex in 1965—was called 2-inch Quadruplex, and used four magnetic heads to record both PAL…
Here’s something we can all get behind: levitating chairs for the elderly that scoot around like bumper cars. There is no way this can go badly. Created by researchers at Japan’s Kobe Gakuin University, the chairs work like an air hockey table, with high-powered air jets at the bottom of the chair creating a pocket…
In today’s Remainders: solutions! Solutions for distilling water vapor into drinkable water; keeping your lunch warm with only a USB port; beaming an entire Springsteen album to your phone in under 10 seconds, and more. Wossy Jonathan Ross, a UK television personality, isn’t the first person you’d expect to deliver the latest news on Microsoft’s…
