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The HD DVD Promo group was dissolved today, its ashes scattered on the Island of Dead Formats. After a moment of silence, make your way to Best Buy to claim your $50 and trade in your obsolete plastic—or soak up the cheap HD goodness—if you haven’t already. [HD DVD Promo Group, Thanks Mack!] https://gizmodo.com/best-buy-pledges-50-for-each-hd-dvd-buyer-trade-ins-369594
Chase Sechrist and Dan Weatherford went to work on Toshiba’s HD-A1 HD-DVD player and, while it’s pretty much only good as a doorstop now, at least it says something nice. [Doom9’s Forum—thanks Mazyar!]
The USB HDD Dock we saw a few months ago just got a USB hub upgrade. Not only does it still take 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives in the top like a Famicom cartridge, there’s an added 4-port USB hub on the front. Because if you’re going to take up one of your machine’s precious…
This many, apparently. This was the scene in North London yesterday afternoon, as 600 cops in scary riot gear marched up a suburban street on their way to knock some thievin’ heads together. The boys in blue made a beeline for 19 businesses situated on the Blackstock Road, a crime hotspot that, coincidentally or not,…
Boy Genius has details on “Manilla,” the code name for HTC’s TouchFLO replacement interface coming on some of their Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphones. There’s the improved home screen (above), as well as the improved dialer screens, skinning of the browser and skinning of the comm manager. Our intern tells us that a bunch of these…
With all the confusion around 720p, 1080i, 1080p, HD, full HD, Blu-ray, HD DVD, ACVHD and the pesky digital television transition, thank goodness we have the fine folks who make infomercials standing in the ready to soothe our tired brains. Before watching this very important offer, we had no clue that we’d only been seeing…
A month ago, everyone wanted to vilify Intel for pressuring Microsoft into approving the crippled “Vista Capable” label for certain low-grade PCs. But new evidence suggests A) that Best Buy was instrumental in approving the sinister two-tiered Vista approach very early on and B) that all of this hare-brained scheming seems to have originated at…
If iTunes music subscriptions don’t happen, it’s not because the industry lacks interest. Universal’s already got a sub plan; Sony BMG is forging ahead with their own; and now Warner Music is investing serious resources and effort into pushing for a monthly music tax. They want $5 a month tacked onto everybody’s internet bill, and…
It’s a table. With drums built in. And other percussion instruments, you can swap around. Yey! Need to know more before you buy one to go in your student home? See the video (it’s better than the photo.) The Musical Rumba Series tables are handmade by artist Tor Clausen, and are available in four different…
A truly great idea, or a truly dangerous one? Perfect for oenophiles, or perfect for winos? This bottle by designer Viktor Pucsek lands smack in the middle of all those questions: it’s a wine bottle with built-in “glasses.” The idea of Vinho Verde is that you pop-off the portable paper cups, which also double as…
This 7000lb behemoth chandelier has a 35-foot diameter of steel, glass and acrylic. It features 328 lights. And it only uses 1120 watts of electricity. Constructed by Meyda Tiffany for the e Stanley Theater in Utica, New York, the opulence of a gigantic piece of lighting art is unquestionably more palatable when it’s not eating…
We don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but the people of Cuba today finally get the proud first-world privilege of 2-year carrier contracts, overpriced text messages, data service they’ll never use and half-empty buckets of minutes that will surely run out by the middle of the month. Until now, Cuba had the lowest cellphone…
Some might call being trapped in a small, airtight box getting buried alive. Others realize that it’s a completely rational response to the potential threats in a post-9/11 world. Featuring 1.25″ polycarbonate bulletproof plating, the Quantum Sleeper seals you into your mattress in emergency situations. You breathe filtered O2, use the built-in facilities and wait…
We’ve banned everyone. Even Strider. Have a quiet weekend folks.* *This may not be true. I think we’re having technical whoopsies on the comment front. Normal service will be resumed, etc, etc.
A secret stash of porno movies made by the East German army during the Cold War has been discovered. During the ’80s, an amateur film circle was set up in a barracks in Biesdorf, East Berlin, in order to provide blau movies for the army top brass as well as visiting dignitaries. Despite the politburo’s…
Those of you amused by the Edison recording outrage will love this: a toy gramophone kit that lets you record and play back your voice from a plastic cup. Made by Gekken, a Japanese company that produces educational toys, it uses exactly the same principle as Edison’s, with the neat use of a plastic cup…
How the hell did this travesty happen? The wrong soap in the dishwasher? Ibiza party gone awry? Nope. Sony commercial. We should have known. We’ll post the video when it’s released. [slam x hype]
Today Apple have tweaked Aperture up to version 2.1. The biggest change is an open architecture allowing third-party plugins, hopefully adding some of the picture-editing tools Aperture had been lacking. Apple are even starting you off for free with a new “Dodge and burn” plug-in, and more are due soon. Version 2.1 is a free…
According to a just-released Air Combat Command report, 30 of the F-22A Raptors delivered by Lockheed Martin use “inadequate adhesive” in their airframes. That means two things in plain language: bad glue; and big trouble. The report comes after investigators finished looking into an accident that happened last November. Part of the airframe of a…
Dell is commemorating Blu-ray’s victory by offering a Blu-ray playback (not read-write) drive in its cheap, many colored, 15.4″ laptop, the Inspiron 1525, and for a decent price. Starting at $880, you can watch BD movies on its screen (at 720p resolution) or send the video to HDTVs via HDMI. In case you’re wondering how…
