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India’s long-gestating $10 dollar laptop (that’ll actually be $20) with 2GB of RAM will supposedly be revealed tomorrow. We hear it’ll be made of paper, ground fairies and unicorn blood. [Times of India via FastCompany] https://gizmodo.com/researchers-in-india-say-they-can-build-a-laptop-for-1-259658
Google Japan celebrates Chrome with this animation, showing its icon destroying clutter "Break Out" style until there’s nothing left but clean UI. If only all software UI creation was so easy. [Thanks Andrew]
Sure, Google Earth‘s satellite view of the world is expected to keep secretive governments nervous, but when both Hamas militants in Gaza and Pakistan-based terrorists have reportedly endorsed Google Earth, director John Hanke must respond. https://gizmodo.com/u-s-government-might-want-to-censor-google-earth-260265 Hanke is the guy directly in charge of both Google Earth and Google Maps, and he’s not at a…
Taking care of a baby is such a pain, what with all of the personal attention it demands. Luckily, this robotic crib does the heavy lifting for you. The Suima crib, developed at Kyuushuu University in Japan, is designed to rock your baby to sleep if it wakes up crying. It does this by sensing…
Dan Woodman bled for Microsoft—literally. He got a tattoo with their Blue Monster mascot and slogan “Change the World or Go Home.” But his loyalty could not save him from being laid off. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-laying-off-5-000-rumored-mostly-from-xbox-an-5137045 If it were me, I would be in an alley somewhere using my last $20 to have the tattoo carved off…
Valentine’s Day is still more than a week away, but when you factor in shipping, that’s really not a lot of time for the lazy shopper/lover. Today’s deals, some pertaining to Valentine’s: Cellphones • Apple iPhone 3G 8GB Phone (Refurbished) for $149 with 2-year AT&T agreement (normally $200 with 2-year AT&T agreement). • Apple iPhone…
Fortunately, I don’t use my printer nearly as much as I used to—but that doesn’t mean I enjoy paying ridiculous prices for ink. Imagine if you could replace that pricey ink with old coffee grounds? If the RITI coffee printer existed as a real-world product, you could do just that. The design calls for spent…
It looks like the Europervs got a bad case of penis envy: They are now working on a suborbital plane—in the image—similar to the SpaceShipTwo and a hypersonic passenger plane called SpaceLiner. The project—called Future High-Altitude High-Speed Transport 20XX (the XX standing for who-the-heck-knows-when-this-is-going-to-happen) has an initial investment $9.68 million to work on the concepts.…
Sony has announced “mofiria,” a biometric technology that relies on the unique vein pattern in fingers to authenticate users. Apparently, this method is more accurate than traditional fingerprint techniques. “mofiria” uses a unique method where a CMOS sensor diagonally captures scattered light inside the finger veins, making a plane layout possible. As a result, a…
The Xbox 360 HDMI audio issue is finally being fixed! There will be an Xbox LIVE update at 2AM, February 3, which will hopefully resolve any silence-over-HDMI issues people have been having since November. https://gizmodo.com/xbox-360-hdmi-sound-issue-remains-unexplained-unaddres-5143923
Crackulous, a program for pirating apps from the iPhone App Store, was just released. Great for cheapskates, terrible for independent developers trying to make a living. Updated: 4:35pm You’ll need to jailbreak your phone to get in on the fun, obviously, but the entire process seems relatively simple if you’re looking to get on board.…
Beautiful. But I bet every time I’d rack and break, I’d furrow my brow intensely wondering if they whole thing would come undone. Under the film surface, meant to emulate the felt top of a regular pool table, is safety glass. It’s 3/4 of an inch thick, and the bumpers are standard, so I suppose…
If you have an RFID-lojacked passport but don’t keep it in a faraday cage wallet, this video of Chris Paget’s war-driving exploits—plucking information off them from afar—should make you think real hard about it. https://gizmodo.com/how-to-disable-the-rfid-chip-in-u-s-passports-224321 Cruising through downtown San Francisco in his car with a $250 homebrew RFID reader setup consisting of a Symbol XR400…
Note to anyone buying a custom cake: Always print the picture you’d like recreated in frosting. Never just hand over a USB drive expecting things to work themselves out. [Cake Wrecks via The Raw Feed]
It’s not your imagination. There’s an AT&T data outage currently smiting parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Yep, AT&T is headquartered in Texas, so insert irony tag here. UPDATED. Update 2: Everything should be cool now. Update: Here’s the official blurb: “Due to a cable cut, some AT&T customers in South Texas are currently not…
T-Mobile is allowing qualified customers to purchase headsets and accessories in four-month interest-free installments. You know the economy is bad when you are buying cellphone cases in installments. The Equipment Installment Plan applies to both current and new customers and comes without any additional finance fees, interest charges or start-up fees. So, if money is…
I get a text message from a guy saying to meet him at the Outback Steakhouse at the Discovery Park in Tsuen. Ordinarily I might have passed, only this guy was Brando. Yes, that Brando. The last time I’d traveled to Hong Kong, I’d narrowly missed meeting Brando thanks to hectic scheduling on all sides.…
If you activate the Sony Vaio P’s built-in 3G EVDO connection by March 31, Verizon will give you a $200 debit card. Not too shabby. [Pocketables via jkontherun] https://gizmodo.com/sony-vaio-p-review-5131637
Google Earth 5.0 beta is live and more amazing than ever: You can travel back in time and see how a place has developed, go ocean-diving with Jacques Cousteau, and record your journeys to share. It looks really incredible, and we’re totally installing it right now. Can’t wait to see what the historical imagery turns…
Given Apple’s focus on videoconferencing with iChat AV, I always found strange that there wasn’t a front camera in the iPhone. Looking at their gigantic iPhone patent, it may be coming in the next generation: https://gizmodo.com/dissecting-apples-multitouch-patent-can-it-stop-palm-5142445 “In some embodiments, the functions may include telephoning, video conferencing, e-mailing, instant messaging, blogging, digital photographing, digital videoing, Web…
