Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
The Pico-ITX motherboards were already small, but they are getting another downgrade in size thanks to the EPIA PX5000EG—a 500MHz board that can be cooled without the bulky fan—which helps bring the form factor down to a minuscule 3.9″ x 2.8.” As you might have guessed, the drop in processor speed from 1GHz means that…
The first third-party applications for Dash’s GPS (you know, that internet-connected smart GPS) are here, and they do some interesting things. There’s Trapster, which shows you whether there are speed traps ahead (and let you contribute trap information), Mediaguide, which shows you the last three tracks played on any FM or AM station, and WeatherBug,…
There’s no official confirmation yet, but TMONews says that T-Mobile is working on a system to let its users block SMS, MMS, email and IMs from other users one at a time through a call to customer care or a visit to a retail store. It’s unclear whether you can block calls, which would be…
According to CNET, RIM is planning to ship the newly announced BlackBerry Bold (aka 9000) with some newfangled music capability that the folks at Apple may not be all that pleased with. The program in question has been dubbed “Blackberry Media Sync”—and it will make it possible to transfer music to the phone via iTunes.…
Unlike Sony’s space headphones, which made you look like a doofus, but actually sounded great, the Soundwalk speaker vest offers no such payoff. The sound is tinny, and it’s far from personal—I assaulted people near and far with a shallow, bass-less rendition Fastball’s “The Way.” The worst part? The guy told us the U.S. Army…
Just in time for the new iPhone’s imminent release, AT&T said today that it will upgrade its 3G network to run at speeds over 20 megabits per second in 2009. That’s more than five times the current limit of 3.6Mbps, which is already fast, at least compared to EDGE. The company is currently testing its…
We’re here at the Boylston Street Apple Store for Media Day. No line outside, but plenty of reporters playing with the toys. Ron Johnson, Apple’s SVP of Retail, is here with hizonnah Mayor Thomas Menino to open the largest Apple Store in the country (confirmed!). The Mayah “loves” the store and made a joke at…
We knew we were in for good things from any company called iFeelU. Their EX2 2.2-channel body-sonic earphones promise to deliver a “home theater in your ears” with real force feedback using a second pair of conduction speakers on the back. For explosions and other big booms, these things are surprisingly great, with solid feedback…
We’ve gotten the final specs on the Eee PC competitor from MSI called the Wind. The big news is that the sub-$500 Wind will be the first 10″ laptop to pack Intel’s new Atom processor, beating Asus to the punch by a couple of months. Maybe Intel’s latest and greatest little chip will help the…
While we found Microsoft’s Surface interesting for retail contexts, it’s simply too expensive (at $10,000) for the average consumer to get all that excited about. But Microsoft has an enticing alternative to the Surface called the TouchWall—a rear-projection system constructed from just “a few hundred dollars worth of readily available hardware.” And their demonstration is…
Ruth Amos, an 18-year-old student from the UK, has come up with a simple and ingenious device for helping the elderly hobble their way up stairs with as little chance of hip-breakage as possible. Dubbed the StairSteady, it’s essentially a bar that one can hold onto as they walk up the stairs, moving up or…
Here’s the first shot of the Rock Bandesque drum kit coming to Guitar Hero IV. Scanned from the latest GameInformer magazine, it looks like there will be three main drums, two cymbals and a bass drum. All in all, it’s actually just one more drum/button than in Rock Band’s kit (which will be incompatible with…
We humbly suggest this When In Doubt, Try Another Hole shirt for your annual “please let me keep my Gizmodo” plea to your IT guy. But note that while we condone the apparel, we can’t necessarily support the advice. Lest it lead to an awkward night with your spouse, or worse still, their printer/fax. [ThinkGeek…
Over at Mertiline, you can save 50% off iPod classic accessories including GelaSkins. The savings might not sound like much when it comes to already cheap accessories, but coupled with free shipping you can score a GelaSkin for $9, car charger for $5, USB car charger for $6, alarm clock for $25, or shower adapter…
Everyone is pretty sure that Microsoft is shrinking the heart of the Xbox 360 onto one chip when the production process hits 45nm, but as we said yesterday, that doesn’t necessarily mean a slim Xbox 360 is on its way. Microsoft has officially responded to the rumor with a big “nayi”: https://gizmodo.com/xbox-360-slim-might-come-in-2009-390095 While we don’t…
The Interactive Color Cube doesn’t do anything per se, other than change color based upon its angle of rotation. Three accelerometers each control a different axis (X, Y, and Z) which directly correlate with either a red, blue or green set of internal LEDs (that “float” in a cube within the cube). The result is…
It looks like Verizon Wireless is super duper committed to open development, because they’ve just joined the LiMo Foundation board of directors. LiMo is “an industry consortium dedicated to creating the first truly open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices.” Verizon isn’t dropping support for Android (or any other OS) as a result of…
A senior manager for Samsung has said that the company will stop manufacturing laptops if it doesn’t triple sales. Sukyong Hong, the senior manager of overseas sales and marketing, claims that the Korean giant will need to shift 11 million notebooks in order for the division to remain sustainable. At the moment, Samsung has a…
Our ground PONG-snorting buddies over at Kotaku have gotten their hands on a potentially legitimate list of new functions coming with the annual Xbox 360 Spring Update. In the list we see more confirmation of the Newton motion controller, as well as hints at a news/weather service, more hard drive game data caching and four-person…
In a recent survey, 757 gay and lesbian participants were asked to rank companies by their gay-friendly factor. Apple came in first place among tech companies with 39% of participants strongly considering the brand to be gay-friendly. Among all brands, Apple came in second behind Bravo (who dominated with a rating of 52%). But alas,…