Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
T-Mobile is refusing to track stolen cellphones despite having the permission of both Boston police AND the victim whose phone was stolen, citing “privacy restrictions.” According to the Boston Herald, T-Mobile will only help track the stolen phone (a Sidekick, snatched from a 16-year-old by an 18-year-old) if it’s a “life or death situation”, or…
I know—a juicy sale price on a gadget is hard to resist. But the extras associated with these items are the real killers. It’s time to look beyond the tag in search of values. Game Consoles Xbox 360: Let’s say you scored an Xbox 360 Pro bundle this holiday for $240. Not bad—that’s a 20%…
XRoad’s G-Map is a 933MB app for your iPhone that gives you offline GPS for anything West of the Mississippi. Too bad its average review is two stars. The app itself is $20, and can give you directions even without Wi-Fi. It’s got standard GPS features like point of interest, location searching and 3D view,…
Plausible, but still rumor-y: Chinese paper Economic Daily News says new iMacs are coming next month, which goes with what we’ve been hearing about about Nvidia chipsets and new Intel quad-cores. [Digitimes via AppleInsider] https://gizmodo.com/new-mac-mini-will-use-nvidia-chipset-helloooo-full-hd-5114277
Winter weather and cabin fever can lead to some strange behavior. Take this tale of two thirtysomething Wisconsin brothers for instance. Apparently, a fight over a PS2 controller lead to punching, choking and stabbing. According to the Waukesha Police, the fight started over an argument about who’s turn it was to play the (unidentified) game.…
Once upon a time there was a program called Photoshop, created by the Knoll Brothers. Twenty years and eleven versions later, it basically remains unchanged. Except for the damn bloody tabs. https://gizmodo.com/adobe-cs4-photoshop-and-illustrator-review-verdict-ki-5113036 It’s not only the tool palette. It’s the entire user interface, which has remain basically the same since the 90s, after its creation…
When you want to see humanity at it’s worst, you go to the DMV. Thanks to quirky Japanese inventors, I can now monetize my mental anguish with a handy pocket-sized calculator. The Consolation Money Calculator, as it is called, has two modes: one for normal functions and one for for “consolation calculation.” In that mode,…
If you’re reading Giz, you’re likely running two displays, if not more. You could sprinkle each one with a disparate bit of geekery, or go all out with a massive multi-monitor spread. https://gizmodo.com/lightning-review-vidock-gfx-display-enhancer-adds-two-5031028 Lifehacker has an awesome reader-fueled roundup of the best places to grab wallpaper specially designed to fit your glowing triptych (or wall)…
Making a PS3 today costs Sony less than half of what it did at launch—$445, down from $840. And Sony, wouldn’t you know, still loses a bucketful of money on every system. https://gizmodo.com/ps3-a-bargain-worth-840-powerful-as-a-supercomputer-215203 So, at launch, the PS3 cost Sony about $840 to make, according to iSuppli, and they sold them for $599, resulting in…
Zodttd says iControlPad, one of the iPhone gamepad cases that we saw a few months ago, is actually heading to production. YES! Proper controls for iPhone games! https://gizmodo.com/iphone-game-pads-are-coming-to-enhance-gameplay-tenfold-5041574 The final version will be black, but contain the same layout and button count as the image above. No details on when it’s heading to production, but…
Watermelon is the best fruit, so this watermelon wrist rest screen cleaner is just about the greatest computer accessory ever. All you need is $12 and you’ll be able to get your own. Might we recommend two? You do have two wrists, and we know for a fact that you’re a dirty guy with a…
Giz winter tip: If you need to melt ice on your back porch, use this. If you use a blowtorch, you will probably set your house on fire like this dumb guy in Massachusetts. [Yahoo]
Today’s crushing blow to our self confidence comes to us from India, where a 9 year old girl has become the youngest person to ever pass a Microsoft Certified Professional examination. Click to view Naturally, this isn’t the first time the girl has been in the spotlight for her talents. Thanks to her extraordinary memory,…
I loved Voodoo Omen’s steely, austere looks, so the design of HP’s pint-sized Firebird 803 gaming tower with VoodooDNA is kind of disappointing. Oddly, it reminds me of Linkin Park. https://gizmodo.com/voodoo-omen-gaming-desktop-is-most-beautiful-ever-only-395418 The shrink ray they blasted the Blackbird 02 with works much of its magic by dumping the power supply outside of the system and…
XSKN has gone beyond the previous iPhone Nano case leak to making an entire product page littered with different colors of the supposedly soon-to-come iPhone Nano. https://gizmodo.com/did-xskn-leak-the-new-iphone-again-we-doubt-it-5110319 There’s not a whole lot to get from these photos other than the fact that the iPhone Nano looks shorter and fatter than the 3G (kinda like the…
Snapture Labs launched their SnaptureFlash product, which promises to bring an external Xenon flash to the iPhone—one of the first external accessories to work with an app—but it has a catch. The SnaptureFlash product is roughly the size of any other iPhone case, which is to say its pretty slim and light. It adds 3/8-inch…
Wood paneling and silver-painted plastic used to be cool; so I wonder when our current metal and glass gadgets will go out of style, and if so, what will future gadgets be made from? I asked several designers what they thought, but Kara Johnson, the lead of the Materials Team at design company IDEO, had…
Right after it mocks Mapple, The Simpsons finally hits iTunes. So far, it’s just the current season. I wonder if the backlog is so Steve Mobs can pee on every one. [iTunes via Macworld]
Welding goes back thousands of years, but was totally revolutionized just a couple centuries ago. Oobject has 12 awesome videos showing the evolution of welding from blue-collar craftsmen last century to laser-wielding robots today. [Oobject]
Hey guys, we need a new intern for the new year in New York City. Here’s what you need to know and what we want out of you, besides blood, sweat and the occasional tear: What You Need • Gadget love and knowledge • An alarm clock, ’cause you’ll be up early every morning •…