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Asked if Hulu would ever charge for content, Jonathan Miller recently said, “in my opinion the answer could be yes.” Who, exactly, is Jonathan Miller? The Chief Digital Officer of News Corp, which owns 27% of Hulu. Ha ha, shit. As CDO, Miller is in charge of figuring out how News Corp properties like Fox…
In the warm afterglow of E3’s various motion–control debuts, Nintendo’s MotionPlus Wiimote add-on—priced high and no longer ahead of the curve—isn’t as enticing as it once was, leaving the company in defense mode. For example: https://gizmodo.com/ps3-motion-controller-may-be-the-best-game-motion-captu-5276068 From Wii.com, an interview with Nintendo R&D’s Junji Takamoto: Iwata: I suppose the obvious question is: if it offers…
Yesterday EchoStar, makers of Dish Network DVRs, was ordered to pay over $100m to TiVo for lifting parts of the company’s DVR software. Again. Worse still, the companies were told to strip the offending capabilities from customers’ DVRs. Or not! https://gizmodo.com/tivo-gets-another-huge-court-ordered-gift-from-a-echos-5277060 The court has since issued a stay on the order, pending EchoStar and Dish’s…
Our friend Elaine in China sent us a report that Chinese police use umbrellas to thwart camera crews from shooting video at Tiananmen Square. Here’s a whole CNN report of the protest’s 20th anniversary, replete with government-endorsed in-yer-face umbrella madness: Embedded video from CNN Video [Shanghaiist]
Kotaku just got word that Nintendo plans to release a black Wii console (plus controllers and accessories) in Japan—the first color other than white to be offered. https://kotaku.com/nintendo-selling-black-wii-in-japan-this-summer-5278279 Classic Controllers, Nunchucks, Wiimotes and even the Wiimote gloves will all be available in the new color, which was one of 4 alternative colors proposed when Nintendo…
The followup to Sony Ericsson‘s slightly-pricey Xperia X1 may or may not be the phone seen in these spyshots obtained by Engadget. Thought to be the X2, the phone seems to share similar traits as its predecessor, including Windows Mobile. https://gizmodo.com/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-review-5088071 Lurking in the shadows under the codename Vulcan, the smartphone’s keyboard looks redesigned, and…
Puerile Europeans rejoice! The days of pretending your watch is a phone while playing spies are over. Because starting in July, Akihabara News claims LG will start selling their GD910 watchphone in Europe, with global distribution to follow after. https://gizmodo.com/lgs-gd910-james-bond-approved-watch-phone-to-start-prod-5125361 What global means exactly is uncertain, as there’s no mention of the US anywhere. But…
Today on Kotaku, lots of Final Fantasy XIII news! Super Mario! Castlevania! Batman! Metal Gear! • Booth babes • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow screenshots • Super Mario Bros. won’t have online play https://kotaku.com/red-hair-short-shorts-dead-eyes-e3-booth-babes-retur-5277889 • Batman Arkham Asylum preview! • Sony says Metal Gear Solid Rising will be on the PS3 at launch • Alan Wake…
One hands-on with Project Natal would make for a nice story, but it wouldn’t be complete. So we’re giving you two full sets of impressions on Microsoft’s motion-capturing E3 bombshell. Matt Buchanan tested Project Natal today, as did I. Here is his personal take on the technology right alongside mine. We did not share our…
Who needs swag?
If you’re dreading that annual family camping trip because you need to know the score—or if you just want to have a disco party where there are no electrical outlets—the Kikkerland AM/FM radio is for you. Although the green radio is solar powered, it comes with a built-in hand-crank for cloudy days and nighttime boogying.…
It looks the same, but it’s not! On the inside, anyway. The touch strip on the neck used to be analog but now it’s completely digital, so Activision says it’s now “100 percent accurate.” The strum bar has also been redesigned internally, so it’s way more durable. I didn’t actually get to hit it to…
Although the upgrades that Apple’s last-gen $999 Macbooks received last week seemed unimpressive, when benchmarked and pitted against the $1299 unibody Macbook, last-gen’s model proved to be 5% faster than its unibody counterpart at nearly every test. [PCWorld] https://gizmodo.com/white-macbooks-upgraded-with-faster-processors-more-sp-5271175
Nintendo, the ball is in your court. But unless Wii MotionPlus floats in a pool, it’s back the the drawing board. [E3@Giz]
The team at Fast Company recently visited National Cash Register‘s “Innovation Center” to get a sneek peek at some of the technology that might show up in ATMs, kiosks, and self-service systems in the (hopefully) not too distant future. The technology relies heavily on our cellphone being used to transfer data and payments—a philosophy that…
Researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences are developing a technology that could lead to a real-life Star Trek replicator. They have demonstrated that it is possible to manufacture an array of identical atomic nanostructures in controlled shapes and sizes. In their atom pinhole camera, the atoms act like photons in an optical pinhole camera,…
Apparently this was taken during the shooting of Kevin Smith movie A Couple of Dicks, but I prefer to think that this is how Tracy Morgan gets around normally. [Splash via Gawker] http://gawker.com/5277577/just-a-wednesday-for-tracy-morgan
Another prototype of the CrunchPad, Michael Arrington’s web tablet, has been revealed. https://gizmodo.com/crunchpad-photos-of-techcrunchs-delicious-web-tablet-5205929 Superfically, not much has changed from the previous prototype, except the updated CrunchPad now has an aluminum case and is 18mm thinner. The software has been updated too—as you can see in the video below—and boots directly into its Linux/Webkit-based browser. As…
WE ARE ONTO YOU, YOU WOLFRAM ALPHA BIG LIAR YOU! https://gizmodo.com/ask-wolfram-alpha-are-you-skynet-5277457 See? It’s lying its tits off. We need to unmask this big pretender son of HAL. [Wolfram Alpha—Thanks Jared]
LaCie has updated their LaCinema HD media streamer lineup with the new Play and Record models. As the names imply, the former can playback media while the latter can also function as an HD DVR. Both of these wireless media players can stream 1080p media from the network to your TV and upscale standard def…
