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I’ve always been comfortable with humans’ relationship with vending machines: we feed them money, they feed us high-fructose corn syrup, everyone’s happy. Envirobank wants to upset this age-old ritual with their “reverse vending machines“. The pitch: these boxes, fashioned like regular ol’ vending machines, will eat, clean and smush your recyclable empties, rewarding you for…
The technologically-inclined NIN frontman is notoriously vocal about tech, media and censorship issues, but Apple’s recent rejection of his iPhone app really sent Trent Reznor over the edge, and onto his forums. https://gizmodo.com/heresy-apple-rejects-trent-reznors-nin-iphone-app-upda-5237936 The app was rejected for risque content, which turned out to be “The Downward Spiral”, a song that was available in the…
The NYT’s report about a new, big-screened Kindle has just been given a huge cred injection: Amazon has sent around invites for an event on this coming Wednesday. https://gizmodo.com/nyt-amazon-debuting-jumbo-kindle-as-early-as-this-week-5238814 The invite is short and nonspecific, but everyone already knows what’s coming: We’d like to invite you to an Amazon.com press conference scheduled for Wednesday, May…
Subsidized-on-contract netbooks aren’t uncommon in Europe, but they’re a rarity stateside. Now, as rumored, AT&T’s probably going to sell more Acer Aspire Ones. Costco training materials point to the 10.1″ model, available from May 11th. https://gizmodo.com/radioshack-to-sell-acer-aspire-one-for-100-with-at-t-d-5105323 The leak may have come from Costco, but it’s reasonable to assume that you’ll be able to pick up…
If you’re curious about large-scale meat-processing machinery and sanitation procedures, definitely watch this video. If you ever, ever want to eat fast food again, maybe don’t. Made to reassure the public about the safety and quality of McDonald’s meat, this tour of one of their meat providers’ factories is interesting, partly because of the complex,…
The Kindle 2 may only be a few months old, but the New York Times reports that Amazon is set to unveil a big-screen E ink reader, designed for newspapers, magazines and textbooks. Soon! UPDATED The idea of a larger, newspaper-oriented reader (including a Kindle) has been floated before, most publicly by Hearst, who proposed…
This is wild speculation at best, but the price point was simply too high to ignore: $1,000 for a no-contract Palm Pre when Best Buys get them for a trial run on June 7. Unbelievable? Probably, yes, but the other rumored price points are more in line with what we’d expect them to be. Those…
Unemployed exhibitionist metal worker Ani Niow created this fine piece of true steampunk craftsmanship, which for once actually deserves the “steampunk” moniker. Yes, it works. Sort of. Just avoid touching any exposed skin. While it technically does run off steam, Niow cautions you’ll need to wear insulated welding gloves to handle it without getting burned.…
The Japanese have vending machines dispensing treats when an emergency strikes and the British, not to be outdone, now have one that dispenses snacks when the BBC reports something bad about the economy. The machine hack is actually an art project designed and created by Ellie Harrison as part of her residency at the Plymouth…
With the launch of two new Statement devices, RipNAS now effectively owns the CD-ripping NAS market, due to the fact that there’s relatively little competition in the space. Statement comes in two varieties: The no explanation necessary SSD and the HDD. RipNAS claims the SSD version is the first of its kind. The silver box…
Poor Mr. Polar Bear. When he’s not jumping from melting ice chunk to ice chunk trying desperately not to drown, he’s avoiding the floating Russian nuclear power stations and their potential toxic waste. You read that correctly, fellow Net denizens. Coming soon, Mr. Polar Bear and his brethren will be sharing real estate with a…
How does a U.K. man deliver a baby in this age of high technology and search engines? Just point your browser to the “How to Have a Baby in a Car” YouTube video. Poof. Delivered. Reports the BBC: Marc Stephens watched the videos as a precaution when his wife Jo started to feel some discomfort.…
It’s officially air show season, which means the men and women of the USAF Thunderbirds squadron are set and ready to do crazy crap in the air for our amusement. The Thunderbirds, aka the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, are comprised of eight pilots, four support officers, three civilians, and more than 130 enlisted…
More weekly Sunday goodness from Lifehacker. Last week we brought you their list of the top malware removers, and this week it’s a fine top five list of free data recovery tools. [Lifehacker] https://gizmodo.com/lifehacker-lists-top-user-submitted-malware-removers-5228519
While the effects of the Swine Flu could be lethal, I watch this 3D visualization of the influenza type-a virus’ antigenic shift and I can’t help but to admire its hideous beauty. [Thanks Carlos] https://gizmodo.com/follow-the-swine-flu-pandemic-in-real-time-with-google-5229314
We’ve covered Google’s attempt to suck the text from every book ever written before, but here’s a recent patent filing that details the infrared technique—in glorious pictures! [NPR via Memex 1.1 via Boing Boing]
North American residents can take advantage of two cool deals from Lego today for its incredible Ultimate Collector’s Edition Millennium Falcon. One deal is $125 off. The other is 100% off, because it’s a contest. https://gizmodo.com/legos-ultimate-collectors-millennium-falcon-unboxed-no-303613 And just for kicks, here’s that amazing 12-minute stop motion assembly video we posted a while back. https://gizmodo.com/the-building-of-the-lego-millennium-falcon-the-definit-5165255 [Lego…
The image and accompanying speculation purportedly confirms that the Blackberry 8900, long since comfortable on T-Mobile’s network, is heading to AT&T this June. (Which we figured, since we’ve held one that looks just like this.) https://gizmodo.com/blackberry-curve-8900-first-impressions-kills-the-orig-5071533 And June is basically all the news has to say about this phone right now. Early indications hint that…
DJ Steve Porter is trying his hardest to revive the career of Vince. You remember Vince, right? He’s the ShamWow guy who got bitten by, and beat up, a hooker earlier this year. Pretty catchy, no? Almost made me forget he got in a fist fight with a woman of the night and got arrested.…
I Do Not Want This news to be true, but it is: Apple rejected the NIN app update for “objectionable content.” I have never felt Closer to Trent Reznor than I do today, Piggy. Updated. And just what was the bad, potty-mouthed content? Why, it was a reference to The Downward Spiral, hence the ridiculous…
