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Today, President Obama officially named his nominee for the new position of Chief Technology Officer: Aneesh Chopra, current Secretary of Technology for Virginia. We’ll explain who Chopra is and what his new responsibilities will be. The CTO position is linked with that of the Chief Information Officer (the recently-named Vivek Kundra), but they are two…
In Sweden, hundreds of young people are dressing as pirates and waving the Jolly Roger flag in protest of the guilty verdict handed down to the Pirate Bay’s siterunners. Sweden gets the best protests. The protest is led by led by Sweden’s Pirate Party, a political organization not officially affiliated with the Pirate Bay but…
In a survey of customer satisfaction, the computer industry as a whole scored pretty badly, with Apple the marginal best out of a not-so-thrilling bunch. The worst sector, however, was ISPs, which seem universally loathed. Apple, the best-ranked hardware manufacturer, ranked 23rd on the list out of 113, which is fine, but nothing to write…
As you can probably guess from their movies, Crank: High Voltage directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have sort of a different filmmaking philosophy that’s as dangerous and awesome as what they produce. In a recent interview, the two directors discuss their need to use handheld, consumer cameras (from RED, Canon, and Sony), as well…
We take audio very, very seriously, and so in the spirit of Listening Test, we present this video of a kitten on a turntable. [YouTube]
Did our Listening Test week light up the fire inside to dust off some old records and whip a turntable back into shape to start enjoying them again? It’s really easy, and cheap. Here’s how. If you saw our feature earlier in the week, you know Michael Fremer is crazy about vinyl. He’s been defending…
A Lifehacker reader has submitted a pretty badass Star Trek: The Next Generation desktop for Mac. It syncs with iTunes, iCal, weather, and your Star Trek underoos. https://lifehacker.com/the-lcars-for-mac-desktop-5216876 More specifically, it includes GeekTool (system stats), icalbuddy (calendar), Bowtie (iTunes), and Lynx (weather). Impressive work. [Flickr via Lifehacker]
The hippies philanthropists at OLPC are overhauling the guts of their XO-1 with the aim of keeping the portable’s battery life while increasing its capabilities. The big news is the adoption of Via’s C7-M chip, with clock speeds between 400MHz and 1GHz, that’ll add new possibilities like HD decoding and surround sound. But that’s not…
It’s been a while since we’ve heard more about the iPhone Nano, and even though it’s hasn’t shown its face yet it already has its own clone: The HiPhone Nano. From the same people who brought you the Chinese iPhone-wannabe, the HiPhone, the HiPhone Nano is currently being sold in China for $125, which is…
I love Daleks and Cybermen because they’re illogically terrifying: The clumsier the tech, the scarier they get. Nemo Gould‘s found-material sculptures unlock the same secret brain code, being cartoony and scary at the same time. Check out the videos—they’re practically immobile, but remain menacing. If you want to build a Mantis of your own (like…
Technology always helped bring the listener closer to the music. Progressing from wax tubes, to records, to cassettes, to CDs, each jump has benefited the music fan. But maybe it’s gone a bit too far. The History Admittedly, new music formats have always changed the way we listen to music. However, I don’t think any…
[polfeeds via Scoble, via Josh] WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Discusses Efforts to Reform Spending, Government Waste; Names Chief Performance Officer and Chief Technology Officer WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that Jeffrey Zients, a CEO, management consultant and entrepreneur, will join the administration as the Chief Performance Officer, and that Aneesh…
We asked, you delivered. Here are your best photos of your awesome audio gear. https://gizmodo.com/submit-your-epic-audio-setups-and-first-album-stories-t-5215606 The daddy and junior pic is a winner. [Submit your photos] https://gizmodo.com/how-to-submit-your-photos-to-the-gizmodo-flickr-pool-5202252
The first Mac botnet is already launching DDoS attacks against some website, which penetrated Macs via tainted copies of iWork ’09 and Photoshop CS4. Just like what we told you about in January. Be careful when you pirate stuff. [ZDNet via NYT] https://gizmodo.com/os-x-iwork-trojan-revamped-repackaged-rereleased-in-p-5139116
Calling all Battlestar Galactica nerds: Looking for a new mode of transportation? If you’ve got a buttload of cash—and no dignity—you can have your very own used, full-sized Raptor on May 8. The Raptor was previously being sold on eBay, but with an ending price of $28,100 after 43 bids, the auction never reached the…
These ridiculous people at National Auto Warranty Services (US Fidelis) are the only people to ever spam-call me on my cellphone. Now I know why. After I told them to take me off their call list for the fifth time, I suspected something was fishy. This Reddit user finds out that they just don’t give…
At first glance this watch appears to be nothing more than a thick, gaudy silver bracelet. But tucked between the joints are LEDs that display the time at the push of a button. If I wasn’t so sure that I would look like a complete tool wearing this, it would be something I would love…
Yes, I picked this photo out of BoingBoing Gadget’s fantastic illustrated history of transoceanic cable because it was the most obvious penis joke. This coaxial tube carried over 90,000 telephone calls simultaneously. Also worth peeking at—the underseas cable system in 1901 versus today: Cable day at BoingBoing Gadgets, it’s pretty excellent. If nothing else, you…
The Pirate Bay dudes were found guilty today. I didn’t follow the case too closely, nor am I a BitTorrent fiend. But if they’re guilty, I guess so am I. https://gizmodo.com/pirate-bay-four-found-guilty-5216062 They’re guilty, you can’t argue that they’re not. They broke the rules set by the Establishment. But the technology is based on crowdsourcing, and…
There are few groups more influential to electronic music than Kraftwerk. Spacevoyaging from Dusseldorf since the 60s, these 4 Germans are the essence of cool. Now, Tim and Eric imagine them as 1990s computer nerds. As Prefix’s Andrew Winistorfer points out, this video plays out like a giant homage to the group. The emotionless computer…
