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According to HD Guru, Sony’s not content with its less-than-number-one status in flat panels, so it’s planning to claw its way back into consumers’ hearts with deep price cuts on all of its 2008 models next month. The other guys, like Samsung, LG and Sharp, are already planning their own price war counter-attacks. And then,…
A fourth circuit element called memristor (the first three being resistors, capacitors and inductors) has been proposed since 1971, but HP labs has finally made a working physical model of the thing. What’s so special about this type of circuit? It remembers how much charge previously flowed through it, leading to applications like modeling and…
Any hope that the pay-what-you-want release of In Rainbows would set a precedent for Radiohead albums of the future has been dashed. Tortured treehugger and all-round good bloke Thom Yorke set the record straight yesterday, calling the band’s decision to let their fans agree on a price on their last release a “one-off.” “It was…
After rumors of an extreme price-drop and black glossy appearance, new details about the iPhone 3G keep dripping like Princess Peach’s bathroom faucet: a New York-based TV station has got exclusive details, pointing out in its news ticker that Apple’s wonderphone will feature “unlimited movie downloads.” The channel’s rumor record is practically flawless, as demonstrated…
Following up on the news of HTC launching its most important product of the year next month, GSMArena dug up some more info on two phones they think will be unveiled there, the HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch Find. According to MSMobiles, the HTC Touch Find seems to a version of the HTC Touch…
In this week’s Giz Explains—if you haven’t noticed, it’s a weekly series that breaks down a sticky piece of tech into something more digestible for people whose bellies aren’t quite made of nerd steel—we’re looking at plasma TVs. Plasma. It just sounds sci-fi. The basic explanation of how plasma sets work is that they’ve got…
This plastic and metal husky with baby blue sneakers is one of the many weird and wonderful robotic entries at Chiba’s Techno-Frontier 2008 symposium. Doesn’t work as complex and chilling as the mindblowing BigDog, but at least the robo-husky won’t try to poop everywhere. [Robot Watch] https://gizmodo.com/new-video-of-bigdog-quadruped-robot-is-so-stunning-its-368651
Does the world really need another steam powered anything? And if it does, would an electronic newspaper be the most appropriate thing to be steam powered? We don’t have any answers for these questions. All we know is that this Japanese setup can turn a page in all of 15 seconds, making it a whole…
A robotic wheelchair that loads itself into its owner’s car using the same principles as a spaceship does when docking, has been developed by a team from Pennsylvania. An on-board computer uses LIDAR, or light detecting and ranging, to position the chair when it is loaded into a vehicle—exactly the same technique used by the…
In a move that’s sure to make the EU giddy at the possibility of levying more fines, Microsoft’s been circulating some internal memos brainstorming ways to better connect the next version of Windows with the next version of Windows Live. The author dreams of a system where each user can log into their Live accounts…
Far more serious than beaming a salted snack advert into space, scientists at Pennsylvania State University in State College suggest that if we really want to catch the attention of aliens, then we should cover half the moon in mirrors, and send coded flashes of light into space. Always assuming ET’s not too bored by…
If you wanted a sure sign that the Orwell-ization of Great Britain is underway, then look no further than this. Lollipop ladies, those kindly old women who man the main roads next to school, similar to the US crossing guard, have been issued with video cameras to record lollipop rage—as school-side road rage is known.…
TmoNews has gotten their hands on a seemingly internal T-Mobile doc discussing their imminent 3G plans. As tipped, it’ll launch in NYC tomorrow and 20+ major markets by the end of the year. One thing to note, in the doc it discusses the “great call quality” and “more network availability” 3G will offer, not hot,…
Researchers at USC’s Information Sciences Institute produced this amazing pyramid, around 30 microns across, which may one day be used to deliver precise micro- or nano-doses of medication. The structures, dubbed “voxels” are made of silicon, cut into flats and then folded up and sealed to enclose tiny volumes of space inside. The team hasn’t…
Toshiba TVs (in Japan) will be the first to feature good old Dubbly’s newest technology, Dolby Volume, a smart system aimed at leveling off eardrum-shattering sources and content—hopefully eradicating the twin evils of loud-ass TV commercials and poorly-mastered MP3s. Here’s how it works: The system “continually monitors (or ‘listens’ to) the audio at all times…
This little box from JWD does pack in a fair number of functions: 2-inch 220 x 176 TFT screen, built-in lithium battery, speakers, 1GB of memory, MP3, WMA and MP4 playback, FM radio and alarm clock. It can even record the radio or a line-in audio source, and has an SD slot for expansion. It…
Costume National, purveyors of sleek, minimal-yet-glam clothes for people like me, has the perfect argument for not mixing clothes and technology, if you get my drift. A pair of the fuckiest fuck-me booties does not need to come with a stair counter screwed onto the ankle—a smaller (obviously) version of those machines that, I believe,…
Giz is a big fan of the secret passageway, but this sub-staircase version really is the mutt’s nuts. A cross between a drawbridge, a private jet and something that, to kids, is straight out of Indiana Jones and the Duplex of Suburbia, the concealed hidey-hole is just one of a series of designs from Creative…
Just the other day Casio came up with some colorful retrotastic G-shocks, and now the Baby-G is getting a color treatment, with a neat zooming display. The BG-2000/2001 series come in white, yellow and orange with shiny wrist bands and complimentary colored LCDs that you can customize in five styles. There’s also that auto-zoom function…
Milan’s Salone di Mobile always has a bunch of concept gadgets designed by tech companies, and this is one of Yamaha’s efforts. It’s a keyboard-in-a-folder, and is the perfect tool for busy musicians and composers. Travellers stuck in the same train carriage as someone carrying this should thank their lucky stars that Yamaha didn’t make…