Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
The biggest chokepoint in technology is a single roadblock: batteries. Amidst all of the amazing advances in the last 50 years, battery tech has remained fundamentally unchanged, engineers incrementally squeezing out a few extra drops of power from old tech each year. With better batteries, you wouldn’t just be able to make it through the…
I can’t speak for everyone in the room, but I’m not all that excited about the possibility of the iPod nano returning to its long, skinny origins. Originally repulsed by the latest iteration of nano, the deformed, squat body won me over the first time I actually held it in my hand. And it instantly…
Nothing Earth-shattering here, but you might like to know that Sony has refreshed their Nav-U line of GPS units with the NV-U94T, NV-U84, NV-U74T and NV-U44. Their $400 NV-U94T is the new top model, thinner than ever and sporting a 4.8″ touchscreen with gesture recognition. Other features include stereo Bluetooth audio streaming (A2DP), hands-free calling…
In November of 2005, Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC CTO Mary Lou Jepsen traveled to Tunisia for the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society, where they were able to present a “working” $100 laptop concept to Kofi Annan, UN secretary general. No longer did the machine rely on that pop-up rear-projection display; it was…
Garmin’sdropping four new models to the higher-end 7×5 lineup with the nüvi 755T, 765T, 775T and the 785T. All models will include lifetime traffic alerts via NAVTEQ Traffic and Bluetooth connectivity, but the updated 7×5 series will include the most exciting new features: a 4.3″ touchscreen, a 3-D transparent view of buildings, and lane assist.…
It’s not open to the press or public yet, but our own fearless Jesus Diaz just might be on the IFA (think CES in Germany) floor now, snooping as booths are completed and new gadgets make their first appearances. And if he’s able to find anything, you’ll be the first to know. (Well, technically he’ll…
Hey guys, John Mayer here. I just wanted to let you know about my new laptop messenger bag. Because when I’m not having lights-off sex with women you could only dream about or double-douching it with twin Bluetooth headsets, I always make sure my fans are buying the latest in John Mayer branded gear. Oh,…
For those keeping up with Immersion’s many legal battles over their patented rumble technology being used in console controllers, the company has finally settled with Microsoft…again. You see, Microsoft used Immersion’s rumble in their 360 controllers without paying. Immersion sued, and Microsoft paid up. But then Sony used the rumble tech as well to make…
Quite simply, the Smoke Turret is the most dangerous-looking fog machine on the market. Five feet tall and swiveling 180-degrees on its tripod base, the turret’s six barrels utilize a 90psi air compressor to fire smoke for up to 15 feet. On top of that, a strobe light is concealed in the gun sight for…
This is on the rumor-ier side, but Brian from Kotaku’s man deep, deep in Japan has dropped him a tidbit about a new DS that might be in the works-one that bumps up screen sizes and finally replaces the top screen with a touch screen. The Nintendo DT, perhaps? Anyway, this certainly won’t be hitting…
Samsung’s taking its large-capacity 1.8-inch HDs (found inside the Macbook Air, iPod, etc) and throwing them into this sleek bus-powered credit-card-sized casing, which looks to be about as small a form factor we’re going to see for a 1.8-inch drive. They’re only available in Asia at the moment, and on the high end (120GB) they’re…
Over at BoyGeniusReports they’ve got hold of images and specs of Samsung’s upcoming A837 cellphone, due on AT&T, and it’s a gruff one indeed. It’s a quad-band, HSDPA-enabled phone, with push-to-talk, aGPS, MP3 player, Bluetooth and a 1.3-megapixel cam. Its military-spec design and toughness make it stand out from similar phones, but not as much…
When an FCC filing reveals a company’s product, there’s usually this awkward silence from all corporate parties involved who wait for an arbitrary date to make any real announcements. Microsoft, proving that they do indeed read the internet, has admitted their plans to release a 120GB Zune and teased developments to come: You’ve probably all…
Click to viewSome scientists at University of Manchester in the UK and Dolby Canada in Vancouver have worked out a way to capture 3D info of complex-textured objects really simply with a camera flash. You should care about this because it’s likely to make the textures applied to characters and objects in computer games way…
When the guys at Infurious Comics created Murderdrome (Death Race without the cars, looks like) and submitted it to the App Store as a free download, Apple told them that it did not “satisfy their ‘community standards.'” Apparently, a super-cartoony depiction of someone getting decapitated and having his head used as a handball was enough…
It’s a PS3 extravaganza!! All day, Amazon will be offering Gold Box deals on PS3 items. Sadly, there’s only one piece of hardware in the sale, the Logitech Driving Force GT Racing Wheel. We’re not sure how much the controller will be going for since the deal hits at 1PM Eastern, but it might be…
For the first time in history, an unmanned machine has engaged and destroyed another unmanned machine in real combat. It sounds like science fiction, but it happened a week ago in Iraq, when a MQ-9 Reaper killed a remote controlled vehicle carrying a bomb. The MQ-9-operated by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron-destroyed the…
While Apple’s been playing their trademark guy-with-the-finger iPhone commercials overseas, one has contained the simple slogan “all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone.” It’s kinda cute. And it’s very Apple. But the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has also decided that it’s very untrue and banned the commercial from airing in its current…
It was way back in February when we first alerted you to DLO’s upcoming Homedock, but now there’s more info available. The Homedock HD Pro is an upscaler dock that can add 1080i or 720p output to your iPod through an HDMI cable to your TV, and it’s going to be demoed at the upcoming…
Microsoft has a teaser up on their hardware site with the tagline “Say Goodbye to Laser.” Most likely a hint regarding the upcoming Sept. 9 Microsoft event, we can only assume that Microsoft has developed an alternative to the near-perfect laser mouse or maybe made a breakthrough in “optical” media. (Well, one of those choices,…