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Sir James Dyson is more than a guy who makes unusually interesting vacuums. He makes unusually interesting fans, too! We got a (very brief) chance to talk to the man about his tech allegiances, his design philosophy, and more. https://gizmodo.com/review-dual-wielding-dyson-d31s-5349616 In all seriousness, Dyson’s legacy is about more than a few home appliances—though they’re no…
We have covered every crazy snake oil bra out there designed to improve a woman’s bust, but so far nothing that claims to alter their shape. That is until the ‘Sleeping Bust Up Bra’. Apparently, you wear it while sleeping and it magically molds your boobs to their round and perky potential. Interesting, but what…
Bedlam in the official Playstation forums: Someone slipped up and accidentally confirmed that cross-game chat may be coming in the next Playstation 3 firmware update. The post was quickly deleted, which forumgoers are taking as evidence of the slip’s truth. Cross-game text chat has been around since April, but voice chat has so far been…
Esquire has the Nth feature on unmanned air vehicles changing the face of war. The opening photo, however, is a sleek, quite unique view on the dome that houses all the sensors is a Reaper UAV. Cool, deathly design. [Esquire] https://gizmodo.com/predator-pilots-are-most-fatigued-military-flight-crews-380739
The AT&T vs. Google Voice debate has gotten much more interesting/entertaining, thanks to a letter from AT&T to the FCC, loudly trashing Google—and even the FCC themselves, for allowing Google to run rampant. There’s some serious animosity here. In the letter, AT&T outlines a lot of their specific problems not just with Google Voice but…
Today Apple released Performance Update 1.0 for Leopard and Snow Leopard, aiming to fix the intermittent hard drive problems reported by some users. We’d love to hear if it actually fixes those issues this time—let us know! [TheLoop] https://gizmodo.com/your-freezing-clicking-macbook-pro-hard-drive-just-got-5341187
Irina Alexandru‘s design is more of a coat hanger than a closet, but it’s intended to allow for the maximum amount of clothing hangers in the smallest amount of space. I just plain like the curvy double helix design. For those who are having flashbacks to biology class: Yes, a double-helix is actually nature’s clever…
Google spilled some choice Chrome OS guts yesterday, leaving us with a heap of files to sift through. The best part? They included the browser. Google’s files have been pulled, but Linux users can still download Chrome for Chrome here. https://lifehacker.com/first-glimpse-at-what-the-chrome-browser-may-look-like-5380926 The only file you can really do anything is is a .deb—that’s a Debian-based…
Opening today, Epcot’s Sum of All Thrills ride will change every time you ride. That’s because you’ll draw your design on a touchscreen computer before hopping on. Using prerendered chunks of track and a digital ruler, you can shape the path of their virtual roller coaster, bobsled track or jet flight. (Should you draw something…
This unconfirmed memo from Nexus404 says what Project Black isn’t: A phone. It also claims Black is a turnaround plan with “blazing speeds” “3x” the competition and phones from hot makers (“Nokia #1 and Samsung #2”). WTF. All the employees who received the information were required to sign confidentiality agreements. Each sector has received it…
If you thought your IT job was filled with annoying questions, try working for Florence Henderson‘s new FloH Club. It’s a telephone-based tech support service for old people. This isn’t Carol Brady’s first foray into tech support however. She was also on the front lines during the DTV conversion. Perhaps that, along with her confusion…
Layar, the first camera-based AR app to really blow us (or anyone) away, has quietly slipped into the App Store. As with the Android version, the app overlays all kinds of information onto a live view of the world around you. https://gizmodo.com/layar-first-mobile-augmented-reality-browser-is-your-r-5292748 Since OS 3.1 dropped, giving devs (almost) open access to the iPhone’s camera…
Neuroscientists at Princeton created a new way to study the neurons of the classic mouse-in-a-maze: Strap it to a suspended ball and have it run through a virtual maze. That first virtual maze? Derived from a Quake 2 level. Apparently it’s difficult to control and study the neurons of a mouse when it’s physically moving,…
In a new column on Engadget, Anand from Anandtech explains why Android phones feel slow. (Answer: They use cheaper arm chips, which also, using the same nanometer process, allows them to be smaller.) [Engadget]
What’s on my mind? I would love to work at Facebook, in their new Palo Alto headquarters, that’s what. They are located in a former laboratory, built in the 1960s. The interior looks just as pretty as the exterior: It was revamped by Studio O+A, a San Francisco-based design firm. The employees have a gourmet…
If the AllSpark came in to contact with a vintage Sega Saturn joystick, chances are that PlayStation owners everywhere would be consumed by this vengeful robo-insect. Really, this controller-gone-bug is the work of Industrial Design student James Killinger. Using just three screws from an external source, he rearranged and reattached the joystick’s parts to create…
$1.30 barely gets vending machine soda, but it’s enough to leave an NY lawyer without unemployment benefits. Her total Adsense earning of $238.75 was enough to trigger that response because there aren’t proper guidelines in place for such residual earnings. Karin (she asked Forbes to keep her last name private) was told everything from “you…
Toshiba’s upgraded their U505 and M505 notebooks with touchscreens in time for Windows 7. They’ll go for about $1000, to start with. The rest of their “new laptops” seem old. The U505 has a 13.3-inch screen, while the M505 has a 14-inch screen. Both have Toshiba’s touch UI, “Lifespace Bulletin Board” a dashboard for calendaring…
Steampunk: I’m over it. And this ridiculous Steampunk Toilet is a good example of why. I mean, come on. [NerdSalad via Technabob]
The history of technology is littered with great ideas, but you’ve got a make a distinction between the ones that are truly, timelessly great, and the ones that, well, seemed good at the time. It’s usually heartening to see a great mind recognize an error in judgment, or a personal accomplishment gone awry—that’s humility, and…
