Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
A chair made of torpedo-launcher parts just wouldn’t say “come hither” to techy ladies in the same way as this bed from Motoart. Dubbed Mile High, you can tell it’s aimed at the sexier end of the geek furniture market, partly as it’s marketed with a “a wonderful playground for you and your co-pilot” slogan,…
Who doesn’t want the ability to control robotic arms? Especially when the robo-arms are mapped directly to contact points and grasping-force from your own five fingers. Even though this wonderfully named MiesterGRIP does indeed give you robo-arm control, don’t expect to be lifting cars anytime soon since it appears grabbing a balloon is the most…
Over at PhoneArena they’ve got a bunch of pics that show the upcoming new Motorola RAZR phone, the VE20. Through the blur you can see the phone is mirrored, features the classic laser-cut keypad and has a touch-sensitive pad on the outer shell like the V9m. The cell has a 2-megapixel cam, a QVGA main…
The recent waterfall installations in New York will seem just like so much plain old falling water, once you’ve seen this video of a computer-controlled waterfall “printing out” amazing patterns and pictures. It’s in Canal City Hakata, which is a shopping and entertainment complex in Fukuoka, Japan, and seems to work using similar principles to…
A fire broke out in Apple’s Cupertino headquarters last night, starting on the roof of a two-story building, and severely damaging it. Initial reports suggest that the three-alarm fire at Valley Green 6 started at or near an air conditioning unit, and was phoned in by workers on site. About 66 firefighters were on scene…
Many laptop users prefer mice instead of trackpads. The promise of the laptop is untethered portability, and in that spirit Logitech has a new wireless mouse that helps keep your busy hands free, attaching to a dock mounted on your laptop when not in use so you can more easily take it from place to…
Kind of late in the summer to announce a “summer special,” but Vudu’s nice extended rental feature-which gives you a weeklong window to re-rent a flick after it expires-is now just 99 cents, or $2 for an HD flick. They’ve also got a new channel of 99 movies you can rent for… yeah, 99 cents.…
There was a game that used various tiles laid down in a certain order to control battling robots. It was a board game and it was a lot of fun. The idea was to make a path that would let your robot run a program, and that’s the (very) basic idea behind littleBits: snap-together micro-circuit…
I would argue that the most funny, edgy and entertaining writing in the U.S. does not come from The Onion, but from high school newspapers. Granted, the humor coming from the Hormonal Fourth Estate may be largely unintentional, but it can be hilarious nonetheless. As editor of the “Reviews” section of my high school newspaper…
This past weekend, a NASA-sanctioned 400-mile “personal air vehicle” race was held in Santa Rosa, CA, to see who had created the quietest, most fuel-efficient plane that’s still reasonably fast. Those involved hope pushing these ideas forward will make personal airplanes cost effective someday. These PAVs run as quiet as a pickup truck while averaging…
Chrysler is poised to be the first car manufacturer to offer built-in internet access in its vehicles. The service, called Uconnect Web, uses existing wireless data networks for internet access it then shares with devices in the car via Wi-Fi, essentially turning your car into one big hot spot. The core device, which costs $499…
While the tears spilled mourning the death of Polaroid’s instant film division are still somewhat damp, the company has a little spark of an announcement that could make hardcore ‘roiders (of the best kind) happy-the company looks like it’s finally getting serious about building its Zink instant digital printing tech into a camera. And it…
AppleInsider reports that the iPhone 3G will almost certainly be coming to Best Buy as soon as September 7th, giving the the retailer the distinction of being the first outlet to sell the device that isn’t part of its immediate family. The announcement, expected tomorrow, would bring the iPhone to 970 Best Buys around the…
Atmospheric conditions were just right early this morning in the Chicago area for the weather service to pick up motorists driving down Interstate 55 and 57 using Doppler radar. Apparently, one of these motorists was late for an important meeting because a car was clocked doing around 130 mph. It’s hard to see, but the…
Dell’s offering up a 128GB SSD for their XPS M1330 and M1530 laptops and even with the dwindling prices of SSDs, $450 doesn’t sound like a half-bad deal. [Dell via Engadget]
It’s not quite as cool looking as the Fossil Washbasin, but the Follo does have some unique features of its own. Instead of a standard drain, the Follo utilizes drainage grooves to reduce standing water. Plus, the curvy appearance is more than just eye candy-it is designed to reduce the embarrassing splashback that always seems…
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is suing e-voting machine maker Diebold, now known as Premier Election Solutions, seeking damages for the mess the malfunctioning machines caused in the super swing state in 2004 and 2006—the same machines which will, frighteningly enough, still be used to gather and/or misplace Ohio votes in the upcoming McCain-Obama…
In case you needed any extra warning, do not leave your iPhone 3G in the rain. It’s not waterproof. According to routine testing by the Fédération Romande des Consommateurs: After a few minutes in the rain the device showed a whole array of technical problems: The battery drained rapidly, the iPhone overheated, the touchscreen and…
To celebrate the not-so-bad-but-really-not-great film The X-Files: I Want To Believe, Fox has partnered with Apple to release these special edition iPod classics and iPod nanos. The pair consist of a regular 80GB classic and 8GB nano but with nice portraits of Mulder and Sculley looking very serious and mysterious etched on the back. You…
Flash! An inflatable catastrophe second only to the Hindenburg disaster has occurred in Bern Switzerland at the Paul Klee Center art museum. A house-sized inflatable turd designed by American artist Paul McCarthy broke free from its moorings in high winds after the security system designed to deflate the installation failed. Townspeople fled in terror as…
