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Stick two spheres onto a larger one, and what do you have? An opportunity to take the Mickey, and create gizmos that “borrow” someone’s trademark, that’s what… and this Mousephone looks devoid of genuine Disney marks. That said, it’s not hugely bigger than the genuine iRiver Mplayer, but crams in a tri-band GSM phone with…
If the latest update over at Gamestop is correct, we have new details on Rock Band’s upcoming stage kit, an easy way to bring real lights and fog to your otherwise fake performances. (Hey, I’m not bashing it. 99.9% of the population has failed at their dreams of rock stardom, including those who actually play…
Monsoon Multimedia, makers of Hava the other place shifter, have announced they are bringing Hava Mobile Player to S60 devices. The announcement comes Tomorrow at the S60 Summit in Barcelona, where the free app which gives S60 mobiles the ability to watch and control their Hava boxes will be demonstrated. As of now, Hava players…
This week at TreeHugger: Date centers and servers gobbled up 61 billion kWh in 2006, and that has kept growing. Microsoft Research is working on clever algorithms and sensors to help save energy and money. The second generation of biofuels won’t be made from food crops like corn, and algae is a good candidate. Green…
AT&T’s geezerphone, the Pantech Breeze, is designed with the elderly in mind. The Breeze has three big speed-dial buttons, simple menus, a loud speakerphone and large font. Now you can hear Gladys’s mahjong story and read Morty’s steamy text messages from anywhere in Del Boca Vista. A step up from the Jitterbug and the ClarityLife,…
Pitfall fans with 13-inch laptops, this is your day! Over at Etsy, one artist is selling handmade needlepoint Pitfall laptop cases. Diehard Apple fanboys will notice that the featured Pitfall screen is actually from the Apple IIC version of the game. But don’t worry PC-users, anyone who noticed that piece of trivia would be a…
Looking like something Kubrick would’ve had lying around on the deck of his movie spacecraft, this speaker is designed to add some tunes to your poolside frolicking. Submersible down to 9 feet for up to 30 minutes, it’s also weatherproof so can tolerate exposure to the elements. It connects wirelessly to a powered transmitter-dock with…
This year, 341 million touchscreens will ship worldwide. But according to research firm iSuppli, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Because by 2012, they claim that these shipments will double (682 million units) with the people of 2013 loving touchscreens even more (833 million units for a market of $6.4 billion). If you’re one of those…
The Kindle is back in stock and it’s now available for a reduced price, dropping from $399 to $359. Maybe that will help Amazon to achieve those crazy $750 million in sales by 2010. [Amazon—Thanks Françoise] https://gizmodo.com/analyst-predicts-750-million-worth-of-kindle-sales-by-390956
The March 10, 1956 Ames Daily Tribune (Ames, IA) ran this story about a local play called Futurama 2056. The entire piece appears below. Food in capsules, clothes you can throw away – these are a few of the features of the future to be seen in the play, “Futurama 2056,” which will be presented…
European engineers are now testing a new security system for side-collision accidents, which uses radar and cameras to predict an accident 230 milliseconds before it happens. The computer then activates a bar that bridges both sides of the car to transfer part of the impact energy from one side to the other. The results are…
It’s possibly container-seal design month here at Giz, but we’ve found a winner in the Snap Capp. It’s a cheap and cheerful plastic gizmo that pops onto a standard 12- or 16-ounce drinks can, and turns it into a resealable bottle, with a lid, to stop your refreshments going flat. Simplicity itself, and it’s reusable…
Panasonic’s upcoming RP-HJE900 headphones pack a little zirconia on the inside for sound quality, not on the outside for glitteriness. The “fake diamond” crystals are good for conducting sound, and are used to lower distortion. So the resulting headphones have a sensitivity of around 100dB/mW and an impressive frequency response from 6Hz all the way…
Giz reader and Batman-wannabe Suneth Attygalle has built these cool, albeit a bit goofy looking, ultrasonic batgoggles. As you can see in the video, they allow the wearer to detect the proximity of objects using just $60 in components, including welding goggles, a microcontroller and ultrasonic sensors. [Instructables]
Designer Dasha Anokhina has created a concept that takes Glo pillow‘s design to a new level: REMY is a whole dawn-simulating alarm blanket. The system monitors your sleeping movements with a bedside camera. Then, near your chosen alarm time, the blanket begins to light up with an image representing your sleep pattern, waking you as…
Chinese company Au-my has updated its Drivemocion LED car sign with a new animated version. Now you can display your anger yet more graphically, or even give flirtatious winks at other drivers. But is it a recipe for increased road friendliness, or worse road rage? Just don’t distract the following car so much they crash…
Last week, we sat down with Via to take a look at the reference design they’re hoping will be the standard for UMPCs over the next year: the OpenBook. While the raw horsepower inside (their C7 and VX800 chips) isn’t next gen (though it’ll run XP, Vista Basic or Linux), Via is pushing it as…
OmniVision is already the the largest supplier of CMOS image sensors in the world, and now its new OmniBSITM chip design promises the world’s first consumer 8-megapixel cellphone camera. The new chip uses a technique that’s been around for a while, called backside illumination, that allows more light to reach each pixel. And that allows…
The world’s biggest airport is now finished and ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The $3.5 billion gigantic dragon terminal, which is the centerpiece of the 501-square-mile complex capable of allowing 50 million passengers per year, looks even more impressive in the amazing, almost unreal photos. https://gizmodo.com/beijing-airports-olympic-terminal-looks-like-ufo-mother-306968 The new Terminal 3 has been designed to…
The SF Chronicle has a feature on VIA, outlining the low-cost, low-power CPU company’s fight against the upcoming Intel Atom. Did you know that the person in charge of VIA, Cher Wong, is also in charge of HTC? [SFGate]