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We know JJ Abrams is a Star Wars fan. He now says he included R2-D2 in Star Trek, and Paramount is running a contest for astromech spotters. We think we got him in two places: One is on board of the Enterprise, doing his thing. Yes, it may be a stretch to put R2 reprising…
Airlines don’t officially compete on being the most efficient at stripping away your remaining tatters of dignity. No, the new battleground is in-flight Wi-Fi. I’m somehow unsurprised the worst airline in the country is winning. https://gizmodo.com/live-in-air-10-things-you-need-to-know-about-in-flight-5096868 That’s right, AirTran is winning on two fronts. AirTran will be the first carrier to offer Wi-Fi on every…
Despite unimpressive 25fps QVGA resolution, I have to agree with Akihabara’s assessment on this Thanko waterproof camera—it will be a hit with the perverts. For the rest of us, this 22g camera would be great for snorkeling trips or mounting on top of an R/C car or plane for capturing some unique video. No word…
These leaked photos of the ZuneX (ZX-1000) may or may not be Microsoft’s handheld device that combines the Zune with the Xbox. But we do have specs. And it may be a phone. Mimbee.tv’s got a grainy shot from a conference that may or may not be real, a shot of a guy holding a…
Tesla, which makes an electric Roadster and is hoping to make an electric Sedan, just sold 10% of itself to Daimler. According to the numbers (we only know that it’s “double digit millions”), Jalopnik speculates that Tesla’s valuation is actually less than Twitter. [CNN Money via Jalopnik] https://jalopnik.com/tesla-now-worth-less-than-twitter-5260866
Screw Wii Sports and the Balance Board. If you really want to sweat your weight off you only need a NES, a Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out! cartridge and a properly wired boxing dummy: I wanted something I could actually play as if I was punching the person I was playing. This led me to modifying my…
Ravage used to transform from a cat into a cassette, but those weird, tapey things are a little old for fans of the bold, new, LeBouf’d version of the franchise. How about a USB drive? In flash drive form, he’s neither terribly compact nor inconspicuous, but this toy isn’t meant to be a great Transformer—it’s…
If you fantasize about a laptop stand that is flexible enough to get into any position, you might be interested in the Nottable from designer Nelson Motta. The arm features three joints than can be rotated 360-degrees and bent up to 90-degrees. Because of it’s versatility, users can comfortably use 10-17-inch laptops whether they are…
Next gen USB is one step closer to reality with the introduction of the first USB 3.0 host controller chip for PCs. The new NEC’s µPD720200 chip is backwards compatible and supports speeds of 5 Gbps. [Wired]
Palm what? A better look at HTC’s custom Android “Donut” build for Hero shows us just how buttery smooth and slick Android can be, and it’s incredible. https://gizmodo.com/its-official-palm-pre-coming-june-6th-for-200-5260704 The widgets have the tang of HTC—if you’ve used a Touch Diamond or Pro, they’re familiar—but they seem to have a grace they don’t on Windows Mobile.…
Created for the Imagine RIT festival at the Rochester Institue of Technology, this video is a testimony of the power of dominoes—which apparently can turn on a photocopier—and office boredom. We like. [DRB]
From the Voodoo1 in 1996 to the wallet-and-pixel crushing Nvidia GeForce GTX 285, Maximum PC recounts the entire history of 3D graphics in ultra-gory detail. A fantastically nerdy way to kill 30 minutes. [Maximum PC]
You see that table on the right? That’s not a table, it’s a PC. Well… I guess it’s sort of a table too. But it’s also a PC. Meco offers a series of home theater PCs that look more than worthy enough to go in your average living room. The Vista-based, quad-core and i7 systems…
Sprint has formally announced that the Palm Pre will be available on June 6th for $199.99 on a two-year contract, after rebates. Interestingly, that’s two days before Apple’s next big event and probable product launch. https://gizmodo.com/wwdc-keynote-monday-june-8th-10am-as-expected-no-ste-5252095 Also announced were the stores that’d be carrying it: far from a Sprint Store exclusive, the Pre will be…
My Phone, Microsoft’s new over-the-air backup system for Windows Mobile phones, is available for free in a public beta. Jason called it “fairly good” and even “fancy“, so it’s definitely worth a try. [WM Dev] https://gizmodo.com/windows-mobile-my-phone-impressions-its-a-fancy-backu-5154692
When I hear the phrase “e-ink watch,” I feel like the product will be totally unwearable for anyone not wanting to be instantly branded a dork. But the new Phosphor line gets legitimate style points. Much less conservative than Phosphor’s previous line, these watches have a cool kind of bold newsprint look to them, really…
I liked everything about Dell’s Latitude 2100 netbook—I think it’s designed pretty smartly for its target K-12 audience—except for the price. It’s $370, which is a bit high for an education netbook, no? It’s “student-rugged,” meaning it doesn’t meet any kind of ruggedized specification, but it’ll take more of a beating than a regular notebook,…
Parsons student Justin Blinder created the Arduino-based Snoozy the Sloth stuffed animal as “an intimate, yet passive, toy interaction that relaxes and comforts a user.” Cuddly, or creepy? Snoozy the Sloth from Justin Blinder on Vimeo. The sloth doll uses an Arduino microcontroller, two diaphragm pumps, and a latex glove to act as the “lung;”…
If your fingers are just itching to make a cheap and basic PC, here’s a pretty geeky hack that’ll help you transforms a OpenWRT router into a working PC. You’ll need a Linux based router with USB ports that you can load firmware onto, a USB keyboard and DisplayLink—this one is a Samsung U70—Linux open…
Pets can be difficult to photograph. Once, someone quoted me $1000 for a pet portrait! The NYTimes has a long interview with Li Ward on how to do it best. Ward is a photographer of pets for Fat Orange Cat Studios. The photos are ok. But she’s got some good advice over there: I also…
