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Slingplayer for Mac received an update today to 1.0.7, offering improved video quality, easy toggling between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio, and the ability to register and store your Slingbox ID online. For those unaware, Slingplayer lets you watch streaming video over the internet from any source connected to a slingbox. Some of these features,…
I’ve come to the conclusion that despite childhood fantasies, I will never be passionate or self-loathing enough to run a marathon. However, I could track a friend via SMS. This Sunday, the Dallas White Rock Marathon will implement a pretty cool feature for participants and their friends/families. While most modern marathons track runners with (RFID?)…
For only $55, Addonics claims that this tiny gadget can easily turn any USB storage device into a full-fledged Network Attached Storage (NAS) server with support for both SMB and FTP access. All you have to do is pop it into your USB storage drive (also works as a print server), attach an Ethernet line…
I get what MSNBC was trying to do with this list—warn its mainstream readers about potential social pitfalls with technology—but the contents of the list are just too condescending even for their target audience. Here’s a sampling that convinces us this is kind of a lazy list. • Bluetooth: Yeah, no crap Bluetooth makes you…
After EFiX USA mentioned plans to sell Mac clones, OS X dongle maker and parent company ASE quickly killed those plans and sent their U.S. distributor to bed without dinner, according to Tom’s Hardware. https://gizmodo.com/efix-usb-dongle-will-boot-and-install-os-x-on-any-pc-s-5016227 Davide Rutigliano, CEO of Art Studios Entertainment, issued a personal statement, mentioning that he was shutting down the project immediately…
Instant democracy is getting closer. In 2011, Estonians will be able to elect their representatives using cellphones. How would it work and, more importantly, will it actually work? Raul Kaidro, who is the spokesman of the SK Certification Center in Estonia, says that it will be easy and secure: The voters will just need to…
While robots haven’t invaded Broadway just yet, they are taking the main stage in a Taiwanese rendition of The Phantom of the Opera. At the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, two robots will take the lead in the famous musical. The “male” and “female” robots can both walk and are equipped with silicon…
The developer of the previously rejected “Pull My Finger” iPhone app just got good news from Apple: there’s a NSFW category coming for these types of programs. Sam, the developer, says that Apple didn’t want to reject it initially, but they were still trying to figure out how to organize these types of apps—the slightly…
We thought Sony was clever, but here’s the original “Blu-ray” device. It’s a copier, duplicating large mylar maps by using ammonia and photosensitive paper to transfer the image. And here’s a pile of its product: From what I can tell, a similar if not identical “blueline” machine can be used to produce whiteprints. (Feel free…
With so much financial strife, it sounds insane to splurge on an HDTV now. Good thing there are 40″ or bigger sets to be had for under $900. But which ones don’t suck? To find out, we grabbed five HDTVs you can find on the street for under $900—some require a little snooping to find…
While not as blatant as the noose lamp, these adjustable hanging lanterns have a similar deadly vibe about them. https://gizmodo.com/noose-hanging-lamp-illuminates-rooms-darkens-spirits-5065953 Mathias Hahn’s concept is interesting enough—a cool looking lantern that can be height-adjusted by sliding it up and down the rope—but I can’t help but envision someone swinging from this thing or tripping over the…
About the only way a guy my size can use a netbook is with one hand. Seriously, those things can be super tiny. But what do you think? How small is too small? Are Netbooks Too Small? ( polls) Results from “Do You Think You Can Tell The Difference Between Standard Def, 720p and 1080p?“…
Man, I really miss all the fun you can have in the snow. Snowball fights and forts, snowboarding, school cancellations…those were good times. If only I had gadgets like this back then. Snow-Baller: Nothing beats a good old-fashioned snowball fight when the conditions are right. You know—when the snow is wet enough to be densely…
The maker of the ViDock Gfx ExpressCard adapter solution has just come out with another adapter to connect up to six displays via USB. https://gizmodo.com/lightning-review-vidock-gfx-display-enhancer-adds-two-5031028 The dongle comes at $130 and can support 1680×1050 or 1600×1200 on both Macs and PCs. It’s compatible with the latest MacBook and MacBook Pros, for those of you who…
Some dumbass spent $240,000 on Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from the first two Star Wars movies. Didn’t that guy realize that there’s no such thing as a lightsaber and that it doesn’t work?? https://gizmodo.com/buy-lukes-original-lightsaber-for-185-000-gizmo-anima-5098989 Other props sold at the auction include the head of C-3PO for $120,000 and Marlon Brando’s costume from Superman for $72,000. But…
If there’s one thing that makes me vomit in my mouth, it’s plastic gadgets painted silver. It’s not the plastic. I like plastic fine. And although I prefer solid molded colors, painting plastic with other colors is ok, too. It’s just that the overriding reason for painting a plastic device silver is to make it…
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet tested pre-beta Windows 7 release 6956 against Vista RTM and Vista SP1. Win 7’s snappy boot time and dominance in other tests suggest that a good OS is on the way. Early on, we showed you completely non-scientific evidence of Win 7’s pleasingly fast boot time. (Shutting down is another matter—my…
Defending his corporate pals the free market, famed pretzel aficionado and President George W Bush is saying no no no NO to free national Wi-Fi. His Commerce Secretary makes his case: This mandate would likely lead to congested and inefficiently used broadband. Yeah. There you have it. He doesn’t even explain how that would happen.…
The creators of Ecofont want to save you ink by drilling tiny holes in your print. Good idea? Well, while it’s free to download and use, Treehugger’s testing found that the Ecofont, though readable, really just prints the text lighter. In our guesstimation, you could probably recreate the ink savings of Ecofont by printing your…
We took one look at the electricity-free Hourglass Coffee Maker and thought it a simplistic, design-forward product. And then we examined the brewing process… To be fair, the basic concept of the Hourglass is simple. You put grounds to soak in the bottom, then you flip it to filter your coffee into the empty chamber.…