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Where many see death and despair, Walmart’s executives see opportunity. Starting this week, the big-box giant is drastically expanding its stores’ electronics sections, hoping to compete head-on with the likes of Best Buy and Amazon. https://gizmodo.com/their-final-words-as-the-grunts-of-circuit-city-5146694 A senior VP for the company was blunt about their ambitions, exclaiming “Circuit City‘s business is up for grabs…
When Best Buy gobbled up Napster, Adam wondered what they could possibly do to make their expensive new liability relevant again. The answer? Go cheap. Very cheap. https://gizmodo.com/best-buy-purchases-napster-for-121-million-hopes-peop-5049936 The new plan, which goes live tonight, undercuts just about anything that doesn’t involve BitTorrent. Five bucks a month nets you streaming access to Napster’s 7-million-deep music…
On its own, it’s a stretch: the invite is green and vaguely Android-y, and there’s a faint rectangular device in the background, therefore Archos must be working on an Android MID! Right? Well, they are. https://gizmodo.com/texas-instruments-spills-the-beans-archos-working-on-a-5149903 Or, at least that’s what Texas Instruments, the guys who are apparently making a good portion of the device’s…
Microsoft, by the hand of J Allard, the guy in charge of the Entertainment and Devices (Xbox and Zune) Division, has filed for patent protection for a “Magic Wand”. What? Oh, it’s a Wiimote. From the application: The [wand’s] architecture can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation…
We saw Acer’s new netbooks last month—they’re not quite as schnice as Asus’s latest Eee, but the 11.6-inch Aspire One has a full keyboard and is $50 cheaper. Full specs and prices: https://gizmodo.com/acer-and-gateways-army-of-netbooks-led-by-11-6-inch-asp-5202891 Acer Debuts Industry’s First 11.6-inch Aspire One Netbook; Part of Thinner, Lighter Second-Generation Line New 11.6-inch Model Delivers Mobile Productivity with Largest…
The March 25, 1893 Newark Daily Advocate (Newark, OH) ran predictions of what the world of 1993 would look like. Excerpts from each of the four journalists (George Alfred Townson, Kate Field, Nym Crinkle, and John Swinton) appear below. The entire article is embedded below, or you can read it here. Substitute the word "blog"…
Designer Patrik Petersson took his dirt bike and a snowmobile into a shed, played them some Yanni, and the result is the Kvant Motorbike. Combining the important parts of each vehicle, the Kvant isn’t very practical, or even possible (anyone want to weigh in on that?), but it looks cool. For concepts like this, that’s…
Twenty-four wrongs make a right when it comes to telling time with Clock Clock. Designed by Swedish designers Humans since 1982, the Clock Clock’s 48 hands will never give you the correct time unless you take all of them in at once. But when you do… POW! Time to start telling time in convoluted a…
First of all, this whole motorized Lego theater set up is legit. Skip to about 2:30 for a behind-the-scenes look at how it all works. Second of all, this is absolutely amazing. For you NXT fans and collectors, here’s a parts list for this fantastic creation: – One Intelligent NXT Brick – One NXT Rechargeable…
This intrepid young lad has fashioned himself a robot that’s powered by an iPod touch, his incessant prodding, and some light but strangely out of place background music. As you’ll see in the video, the touch interface controls the arms and legs, and even turns the head from side-to-side. It’s kind of a dumb robot…
We got a quick, blurry look at LG’s upcoming enV Touch (aka Voyager 2) in April, and now we have the specs for this ho-hum handset: https://gizmodo.com/lg-env3-and-voyager-2-leaked-5197380 – dual WVGA touchscreen displays – full-QWERTY keypad – stereo speakers – Bluetooth – microSDHC support – 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, flash and Schneider-Kreuznach lens Don’t get…
It may not be pulled pork butt from Momofuku Ssäm Bar, but Spam gets geek points for making fun of their brand’s intarweb meaning in this recent print ad. FTW indeed. [AP—Thanks Debby]
Vail Christian High School is taking this texting-while-driving thing seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they’ve brought in one of the most realistic driving simulators ever conceived to teach kids the dangers of this practice. The simulation is simple. Students grasp the motion sensitive wheel in one hand, and a cell phone in the other.…
What could these strange new Best Buy bound phones be? No one knows for sure, but since this is the Internet, when all else fails, just say “iPhone” and watch the chatter begin. That’s what Phonearena’s Best Buy tipster is saying anyway. The evidence? Wishful thinking and another infamous Best Buy inventory screen. That the…
The latest Palm Pre release date rumor has come screaming out of a Sprint-sponsored NASCAR event, where the product placement was about as subtle as a 2,000-lb. stock car to the face. That’s NASCAR driver Tony Stewart celebrating his big win. Atop his car is a monstrous Palm Pre which, sadly, does not make calls…
I saw this picture yesterday and I just couldn’t tell what the hell it was. So I read the caption and it left me even more puzzled: STS-125 astronaut Andrew Feustel selects his next tool to use while participating in the first of five scheduled spacewalks to perform final hands-on servicing of the Hubble Space…
Sony’s new 230, 330, and 380 DSLRs were seriously leaked last week, but now they’ve been officially confirmed. One new item of interest is the starting price: $550, $650, and $850, respectively. https://gizmodo.com/new-entry-level-sony-dslrs-feature-revamped-gui-hdmi-o-5246898 With an added telephoto lens, the SAL-55200, the price goes up $200 for each camera, and Sony’s releasing a few new lenses…
The Samsung i7500, the company’s first Android handset, was recently approved by the FCC, which means we’re that much closer to seeing the Android line fleshed out a bit. https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-i7500-samsungs-first-android-phone-5229244 Like the G1, the i7500 is T-Mobile only for now, and the specs haven’t changed from the first announcement. Having passed this hurdle, the i7500…
Like some kind of cross between NASCAR and Evel Knievel, Eric Scott of Jet Pack International recently set a new speed record for jetpacks: A surprisingly-fast 61 MPH. The jetpack in question only has enough fuel (mostly hydrogen peroxide converted to water) for about 30-40 seconds of flight, so even though he claims the jetpack…
This decrepit-looking camera is actually disguised in preparation for a trip overseas: It’s intentionally damaged and taped up on the surface, but is actually in perfect working order to mislead potential thieves. Clever! [MAKE]
