Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
OLED screens are pretty awesome all around, but they have more than a few Achilles Heels to overcome before they’re accepted into the mainstream. That said, one of the hurdles has allegedly fallen this weekend, thanks to new research out of South Korea. According to the AP, South Korean scientists have developed an efficient “true…
As a cream and sugar kind of guy—that’s a “regular” to we Yanks in Boston—getting a cup of coffee that’s consistently at the “right” temperature is a crapshoot at best. If there’s not enough cream, I’ll scald myself with a fresh cup. Other times there’s not enough; I’ll get sidetracked, and then go back to…
Maybe I’m just writing this because I’m hungry, but damn if I’m not excited about the Zagat To Go app for iPhone that launched this week. Zagat may sometimes offer too many suggestions, but I find it useful when I limit geography, or as a resource for validating my own foodie guesswork. This version shows…
As far as we can tell, this watch doesn’t actually stab your wrist at all, which is a shame, because anything that advertises itself as an acupuncture bracelet had better be breaking some skin. Which it doesn’t, but there’s a healthy amount of BS being tossed your way should you put it on and try…
IntoMobile just posted this video of a guy doing two-finger drawing on a T-Mobile G1 Android phone, hacked last night by a sharp developer who goes by the handle RyeBrye. We haven’t seen any multitouch apps to date, so it’s nice to see the functionality present, though, as you will see in the vid, not…
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in October that he had no knowledge of the “Vista Capable” debacle that’s since spawned a class-action lawsuit, but a federal judge wants him to testify in the case anyway. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman smacked down Microsoft’s earlier claims that Ballmer shouldn’t have to testify, and wrote Friday that…
This may be the first good news Motorola’s had in a long while: A feller named RJ Richard down in the New Orleans suburb of St. Tammany Parish was on his lawnmower in his backyard when something struck him hard on the chest. When he pulled his Moto RAZR out of his breast pocket to…
Samsung’s eerily similar touch screen handset for Verizon Wireless, the Omnia, is ready for your fingerprints. Well, it will be ready when it launches on December 8 for $250 (after $70 rebate). Eager beavers can get a hold of it early online on November 26. While it looks like the Instinct, the spec sheet is…
The tech we see above ground in New York City is undeniably cool, but underground, where the wild things are, things are not going so smoothly. A giant aquifer, completed in 1944, is leaking up to 36 million gallons of water a day. For New Yorkers, who on average use 150 gallons per day, that’s…
Our friend Gary Merson at HD Guru has compiled a list of super great prices on top-branded HDTVs, like a Samsung 40″ Series 5 1080p LCD at Circuit City for $800, a Sharp 46″ 1080p for around $900 at Best Buy, and a 50″ Panasonic 720p plasma for $988 at Sixth Avenue Electronics. If you…
The army of groveling subordinates I’ve surrounded myself with each Sunday can retire, as I’ve found a machine to replace them: The Applause Machine by artist Martin Smith. The ingenious device produces instant applause at the touch of a button. Martin created the machine “for when your ideas are great but no one else agrees.”…
And those pesky physicists said lightsabers weren’t possible. Peshaw, I say, pe-shaw. I say this because Scottish scientists have created a miniature device that attacks individual cancer cells using a cylinder of light. A two millimeter saber of light, or light saber, if you will. The pinpoint accuracy (no Force powers necessary!) will allow doctors…
If you haven’t heard the news yet, iPod touch users were denied Google Street View when the firmware 2.2 update dropped this week. Sad. But here’s some happy: iPod Touch Fans site member timmyj9 cooked up a hack to enable the feature. If XML editing and jailbreaking are music to your ears, you can do…
We’ve seen some cool POV display setups in the past, like this bicycle spoke Obama propaganda message, but I don’t recall one that could both amaze a person and take their limbs off at the same time. Called the “Display from Hell,” that’s pretty much what this thing does, all while projecting POV images using…
Once again, anything Apple can make, the enterprising Dev Team can break: the brand-new firmware 2.2 has been jailbroken. QuickPwn should take care of everything, unless you’re one of those unfortunate owners of the second-generation iPod touch, in which case you’re out of luck at the moment. But everything else seems to be running fine—anybody…
I’m live from Virgin America’s Beta run of their Wi-Fi service, over San Francisco, and there are a few things you should know about how its going to work when most airlines go live in 2009. And yes, I am posting this live from 15k feet over the Pacific Ocean. 1. Your last bastion of…
Most of the new desktops featuring Intel’s impressive Core i7 processor are straight-up gaming powerhouses, with pricetags to match. That’s why I’m so pleased to see a glowing review of Dell’s Studio XPS, which starts at a very affordable $950. DesktopReview took it for a spin and found that, despite one or two small problems,…
British photographer Robbie Cooper used stills from the video taken by his RED camera to show that look of total concentration achieved by kids as they play some particularly absorbing video games, including Grand Theft Auto IV and Call of Duty 4. Cooper had the kids look at a reflection of the game in a…
I stumbled across a few deals on HDTVs today, so I thought I’d be a nice guy and group them all up for you. First up is a deal from Amazon: buy any qualifying Samsung TV along with this Samsung Blu-Ray player and get $200 off, which means Amazon is essentially paying you four bucks…
AP reports that the Department of Defense has, at least for the time being, banned USB flash drives and is collecting all Pentagon-owned drives from the entire department. The Pentagon hasn’t issued an official statement, but a spokesman did say that they are dealing with a “global virus” that affects such external storage. Apparently, Department…