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The cat brain simulation IBM supposedly pulled off has just been called out as a “PR stunt” by the leader of the Blue Brain project, who says that it’s all a “mass deception of the public.” https://gizmodo.com/it-takes-147-456-powerpc-processors-to-out-think-a-sing-5407562 Henry Markram, the Blue Brain guy, says in an email to IBM’s CTO, that the project is not…
In 2009, iPhone multitasking is a bit like apps were in the early jailbreak days. That is to say painfully, clearly possible, but simply not allowed. These jailbreak apps show how it could—and should—be done. What you’re seeing here is really the combination of two apps, standby jailbreak justifier and essential iPhone app Backgrounder, which…
Tyme Machines‘ Star Wars sculpted USB drives might not have your favorite characters available yet, in its first series, but they do have Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda and a Storm Trooper, and they’re quite good. The drives are available in 4, 8 and 16GB capacities for $30, $40 and $60, respectively. The head comes off…
Datel, a company selling memory units for Xbox 360 consoles, filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft for blocking unauthorized third party memory units. Microsoft claims innocence, as the block is meant to reduce cheating on Xbox Live, not reduce competition. Datel maintains that Microsoft is “disabling or erecting technological barriers to Datel accessories” and thereby…
Honesty: I never, in my wildest dreams, expected your slow shutter photography to be this crazy-awesome. But 74 of you turned in some humbling shots for this week’s Shooting Challenge. https://gizmodo.com/shooting-challenge-slow-shutter-photography-5407851 First Place “Smoke Signal was taken with an Olympus sp350 set to night scene. This was taken with a color changing led rave light…
So, what does it take to snatch a combined 75% of US mobile internet traffic? Two operating systems, a handful of phones, and one great browser core. https://gizmodo.com/every-mobile-browser-should-give-up-and-just-go-webkit-5271098 That the iPhone is a massive source of online traffic isn’t a surprise—that’s been apparent since the week it launched. What’s interesting here is Android’s rise, which…
Hey, we are alive! In the end we didn’t need any escape pods: The Large Hadron Collider has smashed two particle beams together for the first time. However, the unknown is still ahead of us, as they ramp things up: https://gizmodo.com/final-countdown-for-large-hadron-collider-activation-p-5015451 Next on the schedule is an intense commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam…
Never before has it been so apparent that a power tower—pretty much the laziest design in the computer industry—is being sold by a design-centric company with neither design nor power. And I’m not sure that the solution is just a refresh away. The Mac Pro was once the only viable option for a OS X…
We like cool pop-up books here. Awesome scale pop-up cardboard office? Yesplease. Designers Liddy Scheffknecht and Armin B. Wagner, I want your babies. Your cardboard babies. Sadly, the pop-up cardboard office doesn’t include a pretty sofa for siestas. [Likecool]
The third generation of Creative’s Vado HD pocket camcorder improves on the last generation’s features with better low light video recording, manual exposure adjustment, and motion detection modes, but for some odd reason only a 4GB model will be available. https://gizmodo.com/creative-vado-hd-pocketcam-v2-features-direct-transfer-5350524 Creative also claims that there has been some improvement to the audio recording quality,…
Two Dealzmodo strategies for avoiding awkward holiday conversation with your relatives: 1. Distract them with Planet Earth on Blu-ray. 2. Learn to speak in a foreign tongue with great savings on iPhone language apps. Guten Tag, Aunt Belinda! Top Deals: • 8.9″ Dell Vosto A90 Netbook with Ubuntu Linux and 8GB SSD for $184 plus…
Every photographer wants to be artsy, because if their Flickr stream isn’t fancy enough to pull in lots of “Oh, you’re so talented” comments, what’s the point? Here’s some gift ideas for aspiring artsy photographers. BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here. https://gizmodo.com/gifts-for-aspiring-artsy-photographers-5411074 Crumpler Industry Disgrace…
Hello, we’re looking for another intern to work with us in New York City, because I drink coffee faster than it can be fetched by any single person. Here’s what we’re looking for: What You Need • Gadget love and knowledge—some geekiness is definitely a good thing • Writing experience is a major plus—you should…
At -55 degrees, your phone’s dead, but unlike people, it can be revived. In fact, a Moto Krzr survived a bath in a -314.7F bucket of liquid nitrogen. More from Popular Mechanics’ winter hell phone survival test here: [PopMech]
Google Maps Navigation, even if it’s not perfect, was one of the juiciest features of Android 2.0. Today, Google’s finally set it free: It’s now available for any phone with Android 1.6 Donut, including the G1 and MyTouch 3G. https://gizmodo.com/google-navigator-for-android-review-good-for-free-but-5393935 The download is live in the App Market—just grab the newest version of Maps, and…
On paper, the Core i9 might not sound that exciting: It’s a lot like the Core i7, except built with a 32nm fabrication process and two extra cores, for a total of six. Early benchmarks, though, say it flies. Sometimes. The i9 doesn’t extract significant advantages from its pumped core count (which brings processing thread…
Instead of signing up for a monthly plan on a notebook data card, AT&T now lets you pay for chunks of data beforehand. Unfortunately, it’s really expensive. You can get a day pass of 75MB for $15, a week pass of 250MB for $30, and a month pass of 500MB for $50. The prices aren’t…
As you saw last week, HD Guru Gary Merson teamed up with Gizmodo to publish the five best TVs you can buy. Today he rounds out the list to an even 10, tossing in more picks in a wider price range, many with better availability than the tippy tops. Here’s the full rundown: [HD Guru]…
Click to viewYou think Apple is going to take its fancy phone being relegated to the Island of Misfit Toys in a Verizon ad laying down? Nope. These two new iPhone ads seem to gun right at the big V. Click to view[Engadget]
Microsoft may pay Murdoch to delist from Google. If it happens, it sets a bad precedent. Imagine if all the world’s content is exclusive to some engines and we have to search them all to find what we want? Hell! This started when Microsoft and Google paid for access to Twitter’s millions of tweets and…
