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Alienware’s newest 17-inch barely portable notebook, the M17, looks a whole lot like their M17x beastie, but instead of rocking Nvidia SLI, it’s Alienware’s first ever ATI CrossFireX notebook, with dual Radeon HD 3870 graphics cards. ATI’s big point when I talked the new mobile CrossFireX with them is that they support DirectX 10.1 and…
Early voting rocks. Almost as much as Election Day voting, which you’ll be doing tomorrow. For now, read all the awesome articles you missed this weekend because you were too busy answering all those robocalls: • Western Digital is going to try their hand at video streaming with the WD TV HD Media Player. •…
This iBook G4 lamp was the gift from a girlfriend to a very lucky birthday boy. Essentially just an old iBook case stuffed with fluorescent lighting tubes, the simple mod recreates the glorious Pulp Fiction briefcase effect: Those who witness the full glowing beauty of the lamp must wonder if today is the day of…
In a move that’s like product convergence from the other direction, Ematic’s taken a normal low-end MP3 player and…um…bolted in a digital camera. It’s got a 2-megapixel sensor, 2.4-inch color screen and can even record video. There’s 4GB of internal memory, which you can share with MP3s, video files and your own recordings, and it’s…
FastMac has unveiled their second generation iV battery pack for the iPhone 3G, and it promises to deliver up to 24 hours of talk time, 750 hours (31 days) of standby, 20+ hours of video and almost 72 hours of audio playback time. Depending on your settings, we are talking triple or even quadruple the…
A crazy Brazilian man named Freud is so afraid of being buried alive that he’s built himself a tomb nice enough to live in, complete with TV and food. You know, just in case. It also has built-in megaphones that would allow for him to call for help just in case his body raised from…
It’s official. Circuit City is closing 155 stores, as the Consumerist broke yesterday. They’re also “reducing future store openings,” but whatever, you wanna know if your local Circuit City is gone. Here’s the complete list of stores slotted for obliteration. [Circuit City via Consumerist, Image via qnr]
Motorola’s $2000 exquisitely crafted Aura phone is a perfect eBay item: Rare, ridiculously expensive to start, it would fetch a small fortune. Which is exactly why Motorola is reportedly requiring buyers to “sign into a contract that states they can’t sell it on eBay.” They apparently keep its image of exclusivity untainted by appearing in…
You know what sounds really good right now? An artificially flavored fruit soda. But since we don’t have one, we’ll settle for the Sony and Universal joint venture called PoP. It’s an “entertainment vending machine” that uses a touchscreen interface to sell and dispense Blu-rays, PS3 Games, DVDs, CDs, and movie/music downloads for the various…
I’m 100% certain I’m not alone when I say I hate gadget packaging—specifically the armored transparent stuff that they clamshell-wrap electronic gizmos in nowadays. But an unexpected guardian angel has arrived to ease our packing woes: Amazon has just launched its “Frustration-Free Packaging” initiative. I think they should call it the “don’t rip out your…
Verizon’s data plans are about to get a lot more…aggressive. According to a leaked memo, starting Nov. 14, all new smartphones will require at least a $30 a month data plan—no more pay as you go, 1X block or 10MB/$25 data plans. People with those plans won’t be forced into the new scheme, but if…
Asus has a pretty good idea with their new Vento line of PC cases. The F11 (black) and F12 (silver) simply fold out for assembly without any tools. While some may say that a preassembled chassis is still more convenient, the Vento design cuts down on shipping costs by 30%. That’s great for the environment,…
It’s been tentative for a while, but the Nikkei is reporting that Panasonic and Sanyo have come to an agreement, and Pansonic’s buying up Sanyo. The actual act should be completed by April next year, and will result in one mega-corporation with revenues over ¥11.2 trillion (around $110 billion)—sounds like enough money to build quite…
Just listen to this announcer. Have you ever heard someone so happy, nay, spiritually fulfilled over rodent control? We’re pretty sure he was paid to do this voice over for the Victor Multi-Kill Electronic Mouse Trap, a $100 mini chamber that electrocutes 150 mice per set of batteries, but we’re also pretty sure that the…
Navigon’s just popped out a pair of new GPS units: the 5100 max and 2090S. Both these navigation aids are coming with a FreshMaps package in the purchase price—that means eight free map updates over a two-year period, and no excuse for getting lost because the roads have been re-designed since you last updated your…
RED CEO Jim Jannard is either an incredible visionary or prone to serial exaggeration. Just yesterday, he deigned to visit the RED forums, promising that “[RED is] doing things we never thought possible… When we do post, it will be very obvious why we needed a bit more time to ‘spill the beans’.” As a…
Motorola’s ZN5 cameraphone’s just hit T-mobile today, and we’re impressed: the 5-megapixel cam phone is going for as little as $99. That’s on a 2-year contract, but it’s still pretty impressive given that the phone’s quad-band, with Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio and a “proper” xenon flash unit built in. Is this another hint that…
Roku’s lovely $99 Netflix Streaming box, equipped with HDMI and optical outputs from day one, is getting Netflix HD streaming support by “the end of the year,” according to the company. With the software update users can expect access to Netflix’s entire HD library, an HD-specific, upsampled interface and “another major new feature” (Hulu?) that…
We love Brando here at the Giz, with its wonderful array of strangely useful, odd and downright weird gizmos. And though Brian didn’t quite manage to meet up with its owner recently to discuss all things gadgety, Brando’s still got some good news in this economically woeful time: from now until December 31, there’s no…
Fresh off a pretty huge round of layoffs, their Detroit office closure and a flurry of rumors about their solvency, Tesla Motors has been promised $40m in financing. Considering the fact that Elon Musk, mildly successful space invader and the owner of the company, had admitted just a few weeks ago that the company only…
