Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
Danger Mouse, the amazing mashup artist, producer, and half of Gnarls Barkley, is unable to release his newest album due to legal battles with his label, so he’s embracing piracy to get his music heard. After “legal battles,” Danger Mouse’s new album has been shelved by his label, EMI. But fearful that his work would…
Reader Christopher Cooper spotted a suspicious furry, blue-trenchcoated, yet friendly fellow lurking around the British Museum in London, confirming my suspicion that “England” really is an imaginary place found only in children’s books. [Thanks, Chris!]
Possibly the smallest street-legal car in the world, the 39-inch high, 26-inch wide, cheekily-painted project was made by a British man out of one of those coin-operated children’s rides. Car modder Perry Watkins took the frame of the “Postman Pat” children’s ride and mounted it on a quad mini-bike, using its 150cc engine. The car…
After the European Union smacked Intel with a $1.45 billion fine for breaking antitrust laws, AMD responded in the most mature way possible: By mercilessly rubbing it in on the front page of its site. https://gizmodo.com/intel-smacked-with-staggering-1-45-billion-fine-in-eur-5252046 Aside from the large EU flag flying on its front page, AMD also includes an extensive amount of information…
Windows 7 is free for now, and works extremely well on netbooks. That said, installing the OS on these tiny laptops—especially low-end models—can be daunting. Here’s how to do it, the easy way: https://gizmodo.com/windows-7-release-candidate-1-available-right-now-5240211 If the Release Candidate is any indication (and it should be), then Windows 7 will be a nice upgrade for any…
Wolfram Alpha, the dorktastic computational search engine, got off to a bit of a rocky start when it launched last night. At least its first fail message had the foresight to include a HAL reference. https://gizmodo.com/wolfram-alpha-launches-tonight-at-7pm-cst-5255681 As it’s an alpha, we’re not too bothered that it’s run into some overload problems. Hey, at least people…
Just like an American tourist in Europe, this German robot is completely lost and can only understand basic gestures like emphatic pointing to help it to its destination. Like a nerdy, non-adorable version of the Tweenbot, the ACE (Autonomous City Explorer) is designed to find its way to a specific urban location, relying on the…
Boing Boing Gadgets has six of the hundreds of thousands of gadgets Doraemon—the Japanese anime gadget cat—pulled out of his magic pouch over the years. Above: the Polaroid-esque Voodoo Camera. [Boing Boing Gadgets]
‘Cause once you go ‘bot, you never go back. The rest of this definitely NSFW Shogun Warrior photoshoot from a 1977 issue of Gallery magazine is over at io9. NSFW: https://gizmodo.com/long-before-megan-fox-there-was-a-brunette-who-really-5256608 [io9]
Light performance photography is impressive enough, but shoving these light performance photographs into a video and putting a Depeche Mode-like music track on it? We’re sold. [Hacknmod via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Texas inmate Derrick Ross, 38—a three-time burglary felon—has been sentenced to 60 additional years after he was caught having a cellphone in his possession. Cellphones aren’t allowed behind bars be they could easily be used to make drug deals, order hits and carry out other illegal/gang-related activity. Although the official punishment for habitual offenders for…
This week, Kotaku’s got Guitar Hero 5 news, Street Fighter figures, Punch-Out boxing controls, some artwork and a little bit of crawling. • Guitar Hero 5 will let you play four of ANY instrument • The Spy class in Team Fortress 2 is getting an update • Win a ticket to go to E3 with…
Apple’s said no background apps on the iPhone forever, citing it destroys stability and system resources. Today, three reputable publications have independently claimed that Apple is having a change of mind. What the hell? Techcrunch, Gruber and Alley Insider (Alley first) all claim to have sources that say Apple is working on and discussing just…
Suburbanites need not venture further, since your torpid bodies have grown into your automobiles. City dwellers, this is how you probably look to everyone else, stumbling around with your iPhone. What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve done while walking and Twittering about how that stupid barista yelled at you for using your phone at the…
I know this Nikon S630 is just trying to be helpful, but a little tact wouldn’t hurt. Some people’s eyes just extra squinty when they smile, OK, camera? [Flickr via BoingBoing]
Nicknamed the “Easy-Bake Oven of handheld GPS devices,” the Geomate.jr is a family-friendly device designed to get children out of the house, away from their video games and go geocaching outdoors. Supposedly easy to use for both children and adults alike, the handheld device also sports a water-resistant and shockproof design built to withstand most…
Molded like brass knuckles, this soap is perfect for punching away the memories of the night before, purifying your body and spirit with a mixture of soap and pain. [SPYE via Likecool]
Wired takes a look at the “phenomenon” of your gadgets breaking just after the warranty on them expire. A conspiracy? No. There are two components to this. One, manufacturers calculate with extreme thoroughness how long to make their warranties so they don’t have to repair a bunch of products for free. Two, it’s your brain…
Microsoft’s officially banning the Memcpy(), CopyMemory() and RtlCopyMemory() functions, meaning that if apps want to align with Microsoft’s Secure Development Lifecycle, they need to strip these out. Memcpy() and similar functions take a chunk of memory and copy it to another part of memory. This is fine when used correctly, but when used maliciously, form…
This week’s iPhone apps are all about growing up, taking control, and inheriting new responsibilities. Get a job! Kiss important peoples’ butts! Organize your shopping! Record important things! And for some reason, SLEESTAKS. First, a moment of silence for the recently departed John Mahoney, the great emcee of iPhone apps that everyone had grown to…