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Basic details about Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s plans for an iPhone credit card payment service have been floating around for some time, but it appears that his SquareUp startup has finally gone live for trial users—and it looks promising. There are several apps on the iPhone designed to accept credit card payments but, as far…
At last, someone in the auto industry gets it right. Instead of using awkward wheels or joysticks, like the Mercedes’s MyCommand or the BMW iDrive, the new Audi MMI touch system just uses a touchpad for some direct finger-drawing action. https://gizmodo.com/mercedes-web-connected-mycomand-takes-on-bmw-idrive-5095486 While other systems require the driver to focus away from the road—either by selecting…
One way to ensure your handset gets seen, LG, is to whack a 12-megapixel camera on it—even if it’s probably running on your dated S-Class interface and not Android, like your GW620. https://gizmodo.com/gw620-lgs-first-android-phone-gets-official-5358727 The Arena Max has just passed through the Wi-Fi certification tract, and while LG still hasn’t officially introduced the world to its…
It isn’t much, but I have to give Target credit for trying yet another unique approach to gift cards. This time, they are attempting to make the card two gifts in one with remote control functionality. https://gizmodo.com/target-illuminates-wii-gift-cards-209559 In addition to storing money, each card can wirelessly control a tiny Christmas mouse inside a shopping cart.…
Be happy, because video calls are now legally available on the iPhone. Be sad, because it’s one way only, so you won’t be able to flash your naughty bits. Fring—a free chat client for the iPhone that supports most standards—has been updated to support video conferencing on the iPhone, using Wi-Fi. It works on Fring…
Starting today, Comcast subscribers in the Portland OR pilot market area will begin receiving notifications that they can access a usage meter via their online accounts to help avoid data overage charges. From Comcast: The meter will first show data usage being consumed in the current month. Over time, it will show the most recent…
This week on TreeHugger, artificial mountains are the green cities of the future, get a flatpack instant pop-up office, awesome new tech finds water with GPS, and IBM blows stuff up. IBM Uses Micro-Forecasting for Ultra Efficiency, Thinks Cities Should Do the Same (Video) IBM has kicked off an interesting series of short videos that…
If you wanted to get an early taste of Android 2.1 complete with HTC Sense, Hero owners can download the leaked ROM now. But you’re probably OK waiting, since this new version is still “a disaster,” according to our resident Android expert John Herrman. [XDA Developers via Engadget]
I prefer CompactFlash cards to SD, despite the bulk, for speed and durability. (Also, I shoot with big cameras that take big cards.) SD card version 4.0 fixes the speed issue, with transfer speeds of up to 300MB a second. https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-an-illustrated-guide-to-every-stupid-memo-5057252 It has a new pin for high speed data transfer, which is why it’s…
Like a giant Tokyo Flash watch, this binary clock installation at the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland, was erected by students hoping to promote the technical nature of their university. How noble. The Big Binary Clock project displays the time using 18 round windows, with the green LEDs representing the hours, the blue representing the…
Blu-ray’s latest bit of brilliance is the Flipper: a disc that’s plain ol’ DVD on one side, and Blu-ray on the other, like bolting a cassette tape on the back of a CD. Amazing. The first movies that’ll be Flippers will be new releases of the Bourne trilogy next month. Truthfully, this idea isn’t quite…
It may be a case of Apple simply protecting its brand name, but in light of all the Apple tablet rumors, we’re treating its recent purchase of the “TabletMac” trademark as yet more evidence stacking up in our favour. Taking on Axiotron, whose MacBook mod impressed us so much in our review last year, Apple…
Last week, the greatest dancers of the biped robot world assembled to battle on the dance floor. As part of the 6th ROBO-ONE GATE competition, biped robots learned and performed routines in front of a live audience. That lead robot from the Doka Project? She didn’t win. Instead, second place went to this guy from…
Remember the secret plane spotted in Kandahar? The one that looked like a Nazi stealth plane? Well, it’s been spotted again, but this time the picture is crystal clear, and it doesn’t look like anything in the US arsenal. https://gizmodo.com/the-nazi-planes-that-could-have-dropped-a-nuclear-bomb-5305249 Click to viewThere’s a possibility that it may have a canopy above the nose, which…
Any company that’s ever boasted of its green credentials can shove it in the coal burner, after hearing about Helsinki’s Uspenski Cathedral‘s data center, which will use its overheating servers to warm 500 homes joined by a network of pipes. Opening in January, the center, run by IT firm Academica, will save $563,000 each year…
How do you top Singapore’s pixelated skyscraper, Macau’s giant bunny, that twirly Danish Pavilion, and even a corporate building made from used CD cases? If you’re Romania, you build a $3.5 million giant green apple designed to encourage healthy lifestyles… https://gizmodo.com/the-pixel-cloud-skyscraper-is-a-jrpg-dream-fortress-5192526 Dubbed the GreenOpolis, the pavilion was designed by SC M&C Strategy Development, and will…
It was over two years ago when Google announced Gears, which promised to make Google services—and potentially lots more—available offline. Since then the project has moved at a creep, all but stalling entirely. Gears, it seems, has died. Mark Milian and Harry McCracken have been collecting the murder evidence, which has been mounting for months:…
Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer who assembles a sizable percentage of our consumer electronics, is planning to open a boatload of retail stores in China, where they’ll sell the smorgasbord of gear that they assemble. What will they be selling? Oh, you know, Apple products such as the iPhone, iPod and iMac as well as stuff…
Anyone remember the Sony Twirl N’ Take camera prototype from a few years back? Here’s its cellphone little brother, which can be spun around your finger, charging the battery while on the move. https://gizmodo.com/sony-twirl-n-take-camera-shoots-one-picture-per-15-seco-333680 It’s just a concept for now, thanks to Russian designer Mikhail Stawsky, who has also created a crank-ended handset. Twist the…
OK, so maybe this ridiculous “sport” isn’t a fair representation of Japan as a whole. But holy shit guys, what is the deal with this? Warning: bloody photos ahead. [Oddity Central via Geekologie via Neatorama]