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Over at Boy Genius Report they’re reporting that an insider has labeled the BlackBerry Thunder “in no way shape or form market-ready.” Apparently typing on the keyboard is incredibly annoying and the screen ripples at a slight touch. That’s contrary to what you’d hope after yesterday’s news, and it actually gets worse. Updated: Crackberry responds…
It’s clearly “Star Trek Comes Nearly True” time, first with the life-signs detector, and now a tiny NMR machine that’s effectively v1.0 of the medical tricorder. Scientists at Harvard Medical School have come up with a neat way to coat bacteria and viruses with nanoparticles, and have simultaneously shrunk all the detector electronics for nuclear…
Here’s a close-up look into the Tornado Intercept Vehicle, a heavily-armored, modified Ford F-450 that was used in the famous Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers. With its plates, small windows and top turret, it looks like a cross between a B-17 Flying Fortress, a Panzer tank and a Mad Max truck. The new version of the…
Some guys over at Metacafe have posted this video of possibly the best USB gizmo ever. It’s a DIY desktop USB popcorn maker. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? It uses a minimum of parts, and “high intensity heater lights” driven only by the power from your PC. I was skeptical at first…
We mentioned it back in February, and Samsung has now come good with its promise, announcing today that it’s started mass-production of 128GB SSDs. They’re of the slightly slower but cheaper multi-level cell technology, with a read speed of 90MBps and write speed of 70MBps. And Samsung claims they’ll have a life span around “20…
I play golf, but I hate the outdoors, so I’m going to move to the Netherlands, because they’re on track to open this rad, giant, indoor golf course that I can play year round. Non-golfers won’t understand what that means, but those of us in Seattle have a fairly short period that we actually get…
Blu-ray set-top players are expected to be hot sellers this upcoming holiday season, but you might want to hold off until early next year when Pioneer and Sharp team up to bring Blu-ray recorders to living rooms in America. The partnership is hardly surprising—Sharp is part owner of Pioneer—and the recorders will launch in Japan…
Packard Bell—previously referred to as Packard Hell and Packard Smell—is diving head-first into the gaming PC market with the ipower X2.0, a gaming rig that features full customization at a decent price. It’s aimed squarely at offerings from Acer and Ares. The Intel-based machines give customers their choice of ATI or Nvidia graphics, disk drives,…
Inadvertently posted to the Nokia site, the 8208 not only looks similar to the n96, the first non N-Series phone to feature a two-way slider. Part of Nokia’s music phone push, the phone features the 0-9 keys below the screen, and music player controls above the screen. In addition, the CDMA phone has a 3…
Windows Media Center still isn’t what Microsoft wants it to be, but it has its fans, and its getting an update this month that they’ve been waiting for. Word is coming down, though, that this update isn’t the one the users are lusting after, the one with H.264 and DirectTV tuner support. Instead it’s a…
This stunning aircraft-that looks straight out of a science-fiction movie in which the Nazis won WWII-is the Boeing SkyHook JHL-40. A heavy-lift rotorcraft designed to lift 40 tons, it can transport its cargo across 200 miles without refueling in adverse environments like the Arctic. According to Boeing, it will be able to reach where no…
Click to viewInstead of turning it into a jukebox, a jack-o-lantern, or worse, a web server hosting your text-only fan site, why not ship that old Mac of yours out to Melbourne, Australia where painter and street artist Satta van Daal will slap on some fanboy-approved Apple imagery as part of his iPaint myMac series.…
So you got yourself a fancy new stereo for your car. It’s all well and good while you’re driving, but when you’re out of the car you know damn well that it’s a magnet for ne’er-do-wells who are just itching to take a crowbar to your window and forcibly remove your fancy apparatus from your…
Well, if you didn’t know it was iPhone week yet, you do now. This morning we saw a Portuguese phone get blurrily unboxed, followed by a US version just a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, they’re mere teases-since you’ve read our 3G survival guide, you’ll know that your opportunity comes Friday. So the question on everyone’s…
Boy Genius’ unboxing of the iPhone 3G might not be the first in the world, but it is the first in the US, and damned if it isn’t the best, with lots of clear, shiny shots. One problem: It’s not activated, so they can’t actually dive into the phone’s functions. But it’s not like there’s…
What are nudists to do when enjoying their favorite watersports? I mean, safety is one thing, but wearing a traditional lifejacket means unsightly tan lines and breasts yearning to be free. Fortunately a Korean company has manufactured a transparent lifejacket dubbed the “Zak Nudevest” that ensures buoyancy and exposure for the discerning naked consumer. I…
Unless you’ve been in a coma for the last 2 months, discovered technology yesterday, or are just plain dumb, you’ve heard the iPhone 3G is coming out on Friday. We know some of you could care less about the nuanced intricacies of the iPhone, but it shouldn’t be any shock that will be the focus…
It’s almost here. E3. The Entertainment Ere… Elephant…something to do with games. Next week from July 14 to July 17, we’ll be providing live coverage of all the stuff that’s going down with Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony and all the other companies exhibiting their stuff on the show floor. Will Nintendo come out with yet another…
The British company behind the Juicebar are billing it as “the world’s slimmest emergency phone charger.” The device looks about as big as a cardboard coaster, but apparently it is capable of powering up a phone for up to 480 minutes of standby, or around 60 minutes of talk time depending on the device. Full…
We’ve seem more than our fair share of fascinating Wiimote mods, but few involve the Wiimote’s faithful, platonic sidekick, the Nunchuk. So one modder took the Nunchuk, hooked it up to his computer, converted the MIDI signal and piped the information into 3D Studio Max. The result is realtime, 3D motion capture of a quasi-phallic…