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Amazon’s restored the entire book catalog for Macmillan, the first publisher to play hard ball with them—and have its entire catalog promptly pulled from the site. The details of the deal aren’t public, but the NYT specu-reports that Amazon probably “demanded that no other e-book vendors, such as Apple, get preferential access to new titles,…
Al Franken can be a blowhard at times, but occasionally he’s the hero of the tale. Like when he rips apart Comcast CEO Brian Roberts over some contradictions in the arguments for the Comcast/NBC merger. The video’s well worth watching if you enjoy seeing a CEO flustered and stuttering, but Consumerist sums up what went…
Game Developer Research says that Apple is winning the race among handheld game developers: 19 percent write now for the iPhone and iPod touch. That’s more than double the amount of Nintendo DS and Sony PSP developers. Other interesting figures: • Handheld games are now 25 percent of the whole gaming market, up from 12…
In today’s Remainders: Fun! A whole bag of it. The iPhone becomes a digital flipbook; Google sells a $300 scarf; Ron Jeremy blames the Russians; and a Batman and Robin comic takes the words right outta your mouth. Flip Out Sure the iPhone is great for browsing the web, checking e-mail, playing games, making calls…
Publishers joining Apple’s iBooks store are turning their back on Amazon and its vision of the flat $9.99 ebook. Apple forced the music industry to charge 99 cents per song, so why are they helping publishers set their own prices? https://gizmodo.com/the-9-99-ebook-is-dead-third-major-publisher-hachette-5464742 To screw Amazon. The difference between Amazon and Apple is this: Amazon is very…
The machines that make vinyl records today are the same hulking, steaming shapers of goop that were doing it 40 years ago. Very cool. [MAKE]
TechCrunch reports that Facebook is working on a full webmail system to replace their current messaging platform, including full POP and IMAP support and a customized @facebook.com e-mail address. The codename for the new system: Project Titan. In the TechCrunch post, Arrington suggests that Facebook has been working towards a webmail service for some time,…
Apple’s sweeping “Device to Device Location Awareness” patent covers a lot of ground, not the least of which are a hint at iPhone video conferencing and the ability to locate whoever’s on the receiving end of your call. According to the technology proposed in the patent, a caller’s phone would ping the mobile device it’s…
The early outlook on the Nexus One—just 20,000 sold in its first week—hasn’t gotten any better. After a month on the market, Google’s moved just 80,000 phones. Compare that to the original iPhone and Droid launches. https://gizmodo.com/did-the-nexus-one-sell-just-20-000-units-in-its-first-w-5446975 The relative sales results, shown above and using estimates by Flurry Analytics, aren’t pretty for Google. Granted, it’s…
Loads of loot in our dealz. One of our favorite HDTVs from last year just had its price slashed, as did one of our favorite laptops. Dead Rising 2 has been delayed so satisfy your unquenchable zombie bloodlust in hobomodo. https://gizmodo.com/the-5-best-tvs-you-can-buy-5409025 Top Deals: • 15.6″ Dell Studio 15 Core i7 Laptop for $899 plus $6…
Google, who has been feeling especially touchy-feely this week, just rolled out Google Maps 3.4 which supports pinch to zoom on the Droid. The update is in the Market now so get to downloadin’ and then get to pinchin’. [Engadget] https://gizmodo.com/google-nexus-one-gets-multitouch-google-goggles-and-3g-5462591 Image: Unboxing the Verizon Droid: the Pictures, PC Mag.com
Who needs apps telling them to pick up a pint of milk on the way home, anyway? This bamboo dry erase comes in two sizes, with a bunch of assorted accessories like magnets, a letter holder and hooks. If you’d rather not have the accessories, that’ll lop $30 – $40 off the price, but I…
Dell’s Precision M6500 is the next in an increasingly long line of notebooks upgrading to Core i5, but it’ll be one of the first to also ship with an optional USB 3.0 port. The Precision M6500 currently ships with a quad-core i7 for $2,750, but starting late February you’ll be able to configure it to…
Being a lomo user, photographer Hunter Richards’s Canon 5D Mark II hack has totally made my Friday. Using a Russian lomo lens from the ’80s with an adapter, he managed to create a beautifully-shot lomo film worthy of your attention. Hunter’s description of his set-up is probably the easiest way to explain it properly to…
It’s an iBook G4 case recycled into a clock, with an Apple mouse for the working pendulum. Some nerd’s heart just exploded. And it’s surprisingly cheap, at $75. [Etsy via The Daily What]
It’s hard not to like Steve Wozniak, both for his contributions to modern computing and his jovial nature. In this recent interview, where he recounts the moment he solved bringing color to computing, you get a healthy dose of both. His description of those moments between awake and asleep when inspiration strikes is a familiar…
When AT&T announced it’s allowing SlingPlayer for the iPhone to stream video over 3G, CEO Ralph de la Vega said that Sling “revise[d] the app to make it more bandwidth sensitive.” Sling told Ars they didn’t change anything. Updated. https://gizmodo.com/slingplayer-iphone-app-finally-allowed-to-stream-tv-ove-5464089 Sling told Ars “AT&T never discussed any specific requirements with us” and that they’ve always…
You don’t need to be a big shot licensee to develop an HDMI 1.4 compatible 3D product anymore. The powers that be have released the spec for public download, which I assume means that Chinese OEMs everywhere are going nuts at the moment. [HDMI via Engadget] https://gizmodo.com/hdmi-1-4-rocks-for-six-reasons-sucks-for-four-more-5340013
Darpa, the Pentagon’s crazypants research arm, is taking shit to a whole new level: they’re pumping money into developing synthetic organisms immune to death. Oh, except for the built-in genetic kill switch. Yikes. Danger Room reports that Darpa is investing $6 million into the project, called “BioDesign.” As part of its budget for the next…
As far as practical renewable energy concepts go, these wind-powered highway lights are pretty elegant. And from my layman’s perspective, they seem to be practical and realistic. I like ’em! [Turbine Light via Inhabitat]
