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This work-in-progress Dashboard implementation (seen here running through the SDK) looks like it’s coming along nicely; I just can’t decide if it’s something I’d want. What do you guys think? It’s done by the same guy who brought Leopard’s “stacks” feature to your bottom row of icons. It looks like it’s running smoothly with a…
While a cloud floating overhead is traditionally heralded as a bad omen, the 2057 “Happy Clouds” released over London were simply meant to “cheer people up a bit.” Artist Stuart Semple released these smiley-shaped, pink-tinted clouds to celebrate London industry. Comprised of helium, soap and vegetable dye, a total of 2057 clouds were launched at…
While Lockheed Martin’s VH-71, the new Presidential chopper, is the latest greatest thing floating on five blades, Obama couldn’t be less enthusiastic, according to a recent Q&A: https://gizmodo.com/next-gen-presidential-helicopter-now-flying-george-w-275623 The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me. (Laughter.) Of course, I’ve never had a helicopter before — (laughter) — maybe I’ve been deprived and…
We’ve all heard of Nintendo’s SNES-like Classic Controller for the Nintendo Wii. Now the company has announced a similar, enhanced pad that should be out (somewhere) in time for summer. The Classic Controller Pro is essentially the Classic Controller beefed up with extra shoulder buttons, hand grips and more widely spaced analog sticks. While at…
Yesterday’s 10″ slimline Acer Aspire One leak wasn’t rich with info, leaving us nothing but our own speculations. Luckily, some guy got a hands-on with the machine, and took plenty of notes. https://gizmodo.com/acer-aspire-one-slims-down-slightly-5160014 An anonymous tipster passed on these hands-on photos along and full spec list to NetbookNews, though we can’t confirm its authenticity: Housing:…
Ok, this is even cooler than we expected: a Nokia N800, loaded with VMWare’s MVP hypervisor, is seen here running Windows CE and Android, at the same time. This is a big deal! https://gizmodo.com/vmware-pushing-virtual-machines-for-smartphones-will-s-5083023 What you’re watching is, admittedly, virtualization. The MVP hypervisor is a small (20KB) “bare metal” virtual machine which runs beneath the…
Anyone who bought the $400 unlocked developer G1 is in for a nasty surprise: Google, citing piracy concerns, won’t allow those handsets to access paid Marketplace apps. https://gizmodo.com/sim-and-hardware-unlocked-g1-available-to-developers-5103402 The problem lies in the phone’s full software permissions. Consumer Android phones download paid content to a private, hidden apps folder, inaccessible to the user. Thing is,…
12-year-old Max Wallack submitted this amazing “Home Dome”—a homeless shelter made from plastic, wire, and packing peanuts—to a recent “Trash to Treasure” design contest. Based on a Mongolian yurt, it’s warm and includes a bed. The project both helps divert materials from landfills and gives the homeless a place to sleep (though I wonder how…
Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce us to the real enemy. You thought your robot overlords would resemble Skynet? No, my friend. What you should be fearing is this: obedient, discontinued machine puppies. [Robot.Impress]
Nothing screams something special for the missus like the chance for you both to cheat death together. Get on this Tanarg two-seated flying thing and you won’t be able to pry her off you. The air recreational vehicle is a two-seater trike from Air Creation. It’s built on a modular wire-mesh structure and gets its…
Ameritech’s (late 1980s) concept video The Electronic Home envisions the futuristic world of HDTV and videophone, as well as internet-like services that allow you to make restaurant reservations (at a cartoonishly stereotypical Italian restaurant), shop for kimonos (because your shirt is made of giant playing cards), or buy a house (with your Atari joystick). The…
You know how running a three-legged race doesn’t make you or the guy you’re strapped to run any faster? LG’s Versa snaps together two things LG does reasonably well—texting and touchscreen phones—into a single, modular freak of nature that you can swap out the parts on, like Robocop in Robocop 3. Meaning it’ll be like…
This business card idea is undoubtedly clever, visually suggesting to people that they just Google your name for contact info. But do you want to encourage people to do so? If you happen to be John Mahoney, people will think you’re some old guy that appeared on Frasier. If you’re Adam Frucci, your dance moves…
As if the Prius weren’t green enough, Toyota plans to go even greener for the future by creating a car—the 1/X plug-in hybrid—using a bioplastic body made out of seaweed. Named the 1/X (pronounced 1-x’th) after the fraction of its carbon footprint compared to other vehicles, the hybrid is greener than others not only because…
Sony’s slick-looking X1000 Walkman line popped up for preorder on Amazon UK with a release window of 2-5 weeks. That means we should be seeing the touchscreen, OLED player before the end of March. https://gizmodo.com/sony-walkman-x-series-is-surfable-touchable-and-shuts-5125117 The 16-gigabyte NWZ-X1050B will cost £214 (~$300) and 32-gigabyte NWZ-X1060B will cost £283 (~$400). Looking forward to the X1000 making…
Believe it or not, Nokia is the number one smartphone maker in the world, on the back of its Symbian platform. Now the handset giant wants to move into laptops. Speaking to Finnish reporters, Nokia’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the company is “looking very actively” at diving into the laptop market. With the increasing convergence…
Another geeky man looking for a ball and chain, another mega geektastic proposal—not with iPhone apps, Zunes or video games—this time, it involved Lego. https://gizmodo.com/iphone-app-paves-way-for-proposal-5153187 It took Troy Cobb a month of planning and prepping to set up the perfect proposal for his girlfriend, Lacey Williams, who shared his love of Lego. With a custom-made…
On its own, the Hello Kitty McDonalds watch is yet another landfill-bound plastic chotchke. Not very green thinking. Luckily, Instructables has put together a handy how-to for turning yours into a cool custom timepiece. All it takes is an Xacto knife, super glue, triangular head screwdriver, and a printout of the picture you want—and of…
Whoa, these are card readers? Mundane but necessary gadgets deserve essentialized designs, and SanDisk’s new ImageMate All-in-One and Multi-card look a lot like Neil Poulton’s bare, black and glossy hard drives for LaCie. https://gizmodo.com/lacie-adds-neil-poulton-designed-external-hd-to-classy-330900 They’re promising some speedy transfer times with the All-in-One—up to 34MB/s with the speediest CompactFlash cards—and you can use multiple card…
Scrabble is serious business, people. That’s why it’s all the more fundamental to have an 8-foot Scrabble board in your backyard. Now: F, O, P, U, Y, E, letter of your choice. Go. F = 8 points O = 1 point P = 5 points U = 4 points Y = 4 points E =…
