Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
E Ink, the company that invented and produces the e-ink displays for Amazon, Sony, and others, was recently acquired for $215 million—providing the means, said the company’s president, to keep color e-ink displays on track for release in 2010. The company that purchased E Ink is little-known (to me, anyway) Taiwanese company Prime View, which…
If you are interested in some wrist and arm action with the Xbox 360, the $70 Gametrack Freedom Motion Controller will be available on October 15, bundled with Squeeballs. I don’t like the sound of this. [EB Games via Kotaku] https://gizmodo.com/in2games-gametrak-freedom-motion-controller-for-ps3-and-5050431
This gigantic robotic hand is controlled by what’s called a Waldo: a small glove that has the big hand mimic whatever its doing. It’s awesome and kind of scary, as you can see by the video BotJunkie grabbed of it. [BotJunkie]
The $489, 9.7-inch Amazon Kindle DX is shipping June 10. Amazon’s filling pre-orders first, so those people who got really excited early on get them before everyone else. [Amazon] https://gizmodo.com/kindle-dx-offers-9-7-inches-of-e-ink-for-489-5242310
First seen at CES, Panasonic has announced that their DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player will be shipping this month for $800. https://gizmodo.com/this-panasonic-blu-ray-player-is-portable-5125865 That’s a hefty sum for a portable player, but if you have a long road trip planned this summer and you won’t settle for anything but the best, the DMP-B15 will provide around 2.5…
I’m usually against iPhone cases. They are the equivalent of your Grandma’s sofa plastic covers. This one I love, however. The color combination, the rotary dial, the material, and the headphones pouch on the back. So pretty and handmade. I want. [Etsy via 7Gadgets]
At the end, Susan Boyle didn’t win Britain’s Got Talent! contest. Well, at least Danny Choo’s heir Darth Jackson and his Imperial Stormtrooper zombies didn’t win either—much to Addy’s consternation, though. Enjoy the Monday morning stupidity. [Star Wars Blog—Thanks for headline, Takamofo] http://gawker.com/5268695/
As rumored, Psion’s dickish legal claim to own the word “Netbook” is officially over thanks to Intel. https://gizmodo.com/rumor-netbook-debate-ends-with-a-quiet-settlement-5273415 Psion PLC announces that Psion and Intel Corporation have settled the trade mark cancellation and infringement litigation brought in the Northern District of California relating to the ‘Netbook’ trademark registration. The litigation has been settled through an…
Before we had the great unibody fail-off of 2009, another batch of MacBooks began to falter on account of shoddy Nvidia hardware. Apple has extended their free repair offer on those laptops from two to three years after the date of purchase. From the support article: https://gizmodo.com/apple-confirms-failing-nvidia-graphics-cards-in-macbook-5061605 In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher…
It looks like Apple may be on to the “account sharing” loophole with the App Store, because iPhone 3.0 firmware is going to make you go to iTunes to re-download apps you’ve already bought. Here’s how the loophole works: Currently, you’re able to hook your friends up with free apps by logging their phone into…
The Omron HT-B551 looks like any other electric toothbrush, but inside, it’s got a tri-directional secret: an accelerometer. Hey, fancy-pants futurists! You didn’t see this one coming, did you? Omron’s toothbrush uses its accelerometer to guess what exactly it’s brushing against, whether it be soft tissue, big flat incisors, or scummy molars, and adjusts its…
Pom… Peem… Pom… Peem… Pom… Peem. Blawp. Blawp. Pom. Peem. Pom. Peem. Blawp. Blawp. Pom. Peem. Peeeweweweweweweweweweweweweweweww. Blawpblawpblawp. CGGHHHKKHKHKKH. Pompeem. Pompeem. Pompeem. Pompeem. Blawp. Blawp. Pompeempompeempompeempompeem. Blawp. Blawp. CGGHHHKKHKHKKH. Shower over. More Space Invaders soaps here. [Etsy via Technabob]
In an age of technological wonders and ingenious design, I can’t imagine why in the name of all that is holy, sacred, and made of fur, we can’t have comfortable economy seats in airplanes. Apparently, someone is thinking about that too: At the top of the seat there is a movable winged head-and neck-rest cushion;…
The British Broadcasting Corporation, television purveyor of such fine programs as Top Gear and Planet Earth, is said to be in talks with Google to bring their excellent VOD service to America. As an American who has lived in the UK for four years now, let me tell you: this is a good thing. The…
Guan Baihua—a guy in China—must know something that we don’t know. Some secret law of physics that explains why the hell his bike has no wheels, but weird metal and rubber angled pieces. Update: Actually, as a reader points out in the comments, his idea may have some merit. It’s either that or he’s just…
In their continued quest to hash out absolutely every permutation of the netbook category, ASUS has created something pretty interesting: a passively-cooled Android netbook based on the ultra-low-draw Qualcomm Snapdragon platform. From the outside, this particular model is a spitting image of the fantastic 1008HA Seashell, but this is just one of a few styles…
As Amazon slowly inches toward sealing up the entire eBook industry, Google’s getting antsy. Speaking at the BookExpo convention this weekend, a company rep stated Google’s intentions to sell eBooks by the end of the year, adding ominously, “this time we mean it.” Thing is, the NYT report on the announcement is a bit cryptic.…
Fortunately, the Pixon’s 12-megapixel claim to greatness, which guarantees you nothing at all except for the industry’s largest file sizes, is complemented by some decent specs, starting with a 3.1″ AMOLED touchscreen, 3G and FM radio. Obviously, though, the flash-equipped camera is the star of the show here, and while relentless megapixel one-upmanship is fruitless…
Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, has opened up to the public in a wide, if not total, rollout. It looks pretty good. We tested it with a familiar term, though, and something interesting happened: In the automatically generated top links for Gizmodo are months-old links to single posts about the second Bill Gates/Seinfeld ad and…
On display at Maker Faire 2009, Interactivation is a whimsical, slightly non-sensical cross between a six-way collaborative music machine and a Tesla coil, producing improvised sounds and scientific trickery from the same machine. Interactivation was created by a group called Lightning Temple, who want to use sound vibrations to promote holistic healing or something like…