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Splashtop, the instant-on Linux mini-OS found embedded in many Asus motherboards as well as the Voodoo Envy 133, has been hacked to allow installation of additional apps, access to the computer’s main file system, and more. Initial impressions of the Envy have noted that Splashtop can go from off to surfing in 15 seconds with…
Via’s Nano and Intel’s Atom low-power processors are intended for slightly different purposes, but that didn’t stop HardOCP pitting them against each other in performance tests, and coming up with some interesting results. In every single benchmark, the beefier Nano beat the Atom. In particular it was 59% better in MP3 encoding tests, 37% in…
This is a one-off, but we just found it a bit amusing that Alaska Senator Ted Stevens—that guy behind the famously wonky “series of tubes” internet rant—has been indicted for allegedly failing to report $250,000 in gifts from the VECO Corporation. (The VECO Corporation is known for running the Alaska oil pipeline.) We can only…
In a recent leaked Dell PowerPoint, the very last item on the very last slide reveals a pretty neat product in the works. It’s a tiny LED projector. Just 1.1 pounds and smaller than Dell’s resident coffee mugs, we can’t wait until the “projector in the tea” pranks start. Oh, man, that’s gonna be great.…
Garmin has just made a announcement stating that the much-hyped Nuvifone GPS/cellphone product is going to be delayed until the “first half of 2009.” Apparently “meeting some of the carrier specific requirements will take longer than anticipated,” so it’s going to miss its previously mentioned slot at the end of this year. Sounds like bad…
Nintendo engineers are busily preparing new hardware, while trying not to break the concentration of Mario-in-Chief Satoru Iwata while he counts the $3.9 billion in sales and $992 million in profits they have made this quarter. “We are always preparing for the next hardware. We are under development,” he declared. However, according to Chris Morris,…
See that happy-looking lady in the pic? She’s standing in an Emirates A380 in-flight shower room, details of which have emerged after we first alerted you to this airborne luxury. The “shower spas” are pretty decently kitted-out, and the aircraft carries an extra 1,100-pounds of water to allow every one of the 14 first-class passengers…
Meridian’s 810 projector boldly claims to be the Reference Video System, and after seeing it for myself I think that’s a fair assessment. The $185,000 box (that’s right!) uses specially calibrated JVC D-ILA light engine panels to deliver a resolution of 4096 x 2400 pixels, or put simply, 10-freaking-megapixels. Compare that to 1080i’s one paltry…
Current gadget design tends to favor minimalism… but that’s simply not true for this Thermaltake V1 cooler. Ohoho no. The Thermaltake designer who came up with this must’ve been an artist in a former career. Just look at it: so detailed, organically-shaped and glittery it’s an artwork. And one you’d surely have to show off…
Sanyo’s HD700 Xacti was the then smallest 720p camcorder in the world, and we liked it. Time’s moved on and Sanyo has a new Xacti, the HD800, and it’s apparently a great leap in video quality. The new cam has an 8-megapixel CMOS sensor, and shoots 720p video at 30fps in MPEG4 format. It’s also…
Remember Dell’s DJ Ditty MP3 player? Probably not, since Dell shut its PMP shop a while back. But over at the Wall St Journal, there’s a rumor that Dell is planning on re-entering the PMP market with a new device that’s been under development and testing. The device, name unknown, has a screen and simple…
The 1963 U.S. Air Force film Space and National Security envisioned futuristic wars conducted in space. The clip above is taken from the fascinating NOVA episode, Astrospies. Many thanks to Matt Chapman of Homestarrunner.com for bringing this clip to our attention. As Matt points out, the “non-animation animation” is similar in style to many of…
The 2.42 firmware release for PS3 is now out, and you can go grab it now. You might want to wait until tomorrow morning to install it, however, since we all remember what happened with the 2.40 update. We recommend waiting until other people have canaried the situation out for you. As a side note,…
Sunday morning, Philippe Kahn of camera phone fame and Richard Clarke successfully finished their double handed record attempt of the Transpac Cup. The sleep deprived two man team survived squall after squall, cuts and bruises, waves the size of small buildings, exploding rigging, and fishing nets wrapped around their keels to arrive from SF to…
Dave McGoran of the University of West England has built what he calls the Heart Robot, a semihumanoid doll that “appreciates” affection. Covered in a variety of sensors, Heart Robot responds to your attentions with a range of expressive and, to be honest, unsettling tools: batting eyelids, a beating heart and pleasant purring, to name…
If you thought Red Bull Racing was crazy, you won’t believe the Rocket Racing League. Think NASCAR, but in the air, using planes powered by solid-state rockets flying simultaneously. The racers take off in pairs, separated by minutes, competing against the clock at the same time. That means that they will have to maneuver around…
Dynolicious is an all-purpose automotive performance meter, utilizing the built-in accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod touch to record your driving characteristics. BunsenTech, the makers of the software, claim that it can record 0-60 times within .08 of a second, accurately estimate your current speed and monitor and record any directional G force. The system…
New Apple notebooks are most certainly coming in the next six to eight weeks, and they will probably have the most extensive design overhauls in years. And the long-fabled MacBook touch might finally appear on the mortal plane. But the best rumor, we think, is that the new MacBooks will have a glass, multi-touch trackpad.…
These are the current software profits for Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony based on first-party game titles published under their banner. It’s much like the hardware situation, with Nintendo up front with an uncountable amount of money, Microsoft somewhere in the middle with a deficit, and Sony pulling up the rear with billions in the red.…
The idea of taking your current location and emailing it to one of your contacts is super simple, but super effective. If the recipient opens the resulting URL on their iPhone, it’ll pop open the GMaps app and show exactly where you are, which can then be used as an endpoint for driving directions. We…
