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Goofy gadget masters Hammacher Schlemmer are back at it again with a Photograph-to-Digital-Picture Converter that takes your old paper snapshots, and well, digitizes them. Now we know what you’re thinking—isn’t this just a scanner with a more complicated name?—and at first, I was inclined to agree. But digging deeper I found that this may not…
With the news from Seagate today that it had shipped its billionth hard drive, I got to thinking about the mahoosive amount of storage space that all those drives represent. Then I wondered, “How much drive space do I have around the place?” and after opening cupboards and drawers, I tallied the lot to what…
In 2005, a control room for the A and C subway lines in NYC caught fire. “No larger than a kitchen,” the room held 600 relays, switches and circuits that keep track of trains and keep everything running. Officials originally thought it would take three to five years to get the lines back to normal…
Guitar Hero lost some of its luster when Rock Band came along and improved on the concept by adding drums and a microphone, making the game more versatile and party-friendly. Now Guitar Hero hopes to steal the show once again by reinventing itself as…Rock Band? Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told Portfolio that the upcoming GHIV…
We already know that Netflix has partnered up with LG, but a recent conference quarterly call has revealed that there are three other players in the mix: https://gizmodo.com/netflix-and-lg-bring-netflix-movie-streaming-to-tvs-339845 At this point, I can tell you we have LG plus three additional partners actively working on integrating our technology into their products. Three of the four…
The Mickey MP3 player that we’ve shown you when it was only available in Korea, and again when it was gold-plated, is finally making its way to the US today, with one slight caveat: “This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm.”…
This—what’s the word I’m looking for?—aberration of a pair of pants designed by Erik de Nijs (nope, me neither) is, I guess, designed for the Geek at Heart. They incorporate keyboard, mouse and a pair of knee-height speakers, and someone’s already done the joke about the joystick being located behind the fly buttons. I’ll refrain…
The RoboCup soccer tourney gets all the publicity, but the RoboCup Rescue competition kicking off this week in Germany is thrilling in a more macabre way: Each year the rubble-strewn maze gets more and more complicated, as robots use AI and all their mechanical faculties to locate (though not necessarily recover) dolls that scream, wriggle…
Yesterday, I showed you how Dell irresponsibly ships tiny flash drives in gigantic boxes, giving the finger to the environment. Well, Dell isn’t the only offender when it comes to wasteful shipping habits. Above, reader Paul shows us how WalMart.com decided to ship a flash drive to him. And NewEgg? It’s even worse. https://gizmodo.com/walmart-com-and-newegg-join-dell-in-the-irresponsible-s-382545 Reader…
Apple’s filed a patent on their upcoming iPhone instant messaging app, detailing exactly what it’s going to look like and how it’s going to behave. While most of the images show an iChat-esque (and current SMS-like) interface, there are some interesting tidbits we picked up from the text. One, there’s mention of “graphics, photos, audio…
This AC wall adapter is no ordinary AC wall adapter. It’s loaded with an A/V recorder that can save 66 hours of footage to its 2GB microSD card. And even if the wall socket is turned off, a built-in lithium ion battery will keep shooting for 3 hours of glorious, socket-height footage. Yes, that’s the…
Honda has developed a gadget that they say could make walking easier for the elderly and others with weak leg muscles. The aptly named Walking Assist Device is a 6 lb. motorized belt with hip sensors that gauge how much help the wearer will need. The motor then gives the wearer an appropriate boost, lengthening…
Sure there are other ways to enclose old 2.5″ drives, but have you ever seen a more elegant one for 29 bucks? The Addonics Snap-In ExDrive25 promises hot-swappable connections via USB 2.0 and eSATA (if your PC can support it). Since eSATA can’t power the drive via the bus—not yet anyway—you’d have to buy the…
When he was a boy, Father de Carli had the same dream that most kids have: jump off the ground and reach for the sky. But when he grew up, instead of taking flight lessons, he literally did that. He jumped and flew with the help of a thousand party balloons. His first try was…
This week at TreeHugger: In Ben Wilson’s Monowheel, you actually site inside the wheel. I wouldn’t want to ride through puddles… China’s biggest battery maker, BYD, has decided to get into the electric car market: The E6 Crossover electric car is its third announcement just this year. Watch out Detroit! And finally, meet Voltzilla. An…
Happy Earth Day everyone! Instead of urging you to recycle all those gadgets that will otherwise leak poison into our planet, we’d rather offer you a more positive, less obvious story to whet your Earth Day appetite. Sila Sutharat runs a Thai chicken stand outside of Bangkok. He roasts 50 chickens a day. And he…
According to DigiTimes, recent Hong Kong purchasers of the new Asus Eee PC 900 (it’s that Eee with the bigger screen) found that their batteries weren’t as nice as those given to reviewers. Speaking from experience, that sort of thing happens all the time. Real world testing is always more rigorous than reviewer testing. But…
Dr. Paul Bevilaqua is the aerodynamicist who designed the F-35B shaft-driven lift fan years ago at Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin’s advanced technology program. His invention changed short-take off and vertical-landing (STVOL) planes forever, making the Lightning II the first supersonic aircraft with this capability. To honor him, Lockheed Martin has released this new video, in…
A handy little gadget for those of you who prefer to buy second-hand cars rather than brand spanking new models that smell of plastic, Westfalia’s paint-thickness tester will let you know if the vehicle has had a paint job—which can often mean it’s been involved in a crash somewhere down the line. Here’s how it…
I got this picture from our Tips mailbox just after reading Wired’s article on Fanboys, Ernie Cline’s odyssey of a group of diehard Star Wars fans who break into Skywalker Ranch to steal a copy of Episode I before opening day. Reader Rye Clifton explained what it is, much to Addy’s disbelief: https://gizmodo.com/the-biggest-star-wars-collection-in-the-galaxy-357908 I just…