Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
This Toaster Phone concept by Brazilian designer Renata Quintela is simple, cute, and it will probably make you look like a surrealist moron while using it, which is always a plus. We like the toaster charger and the fact that it comes with two sets, which we want to believe will communicate with each other,…
We’ve written our share of words on Star Wars, Star Wars LEGO, Star Wars lightsabers, Star Wars lightsaber clubs, and Star Wars iPhones…but even still, we’re not as prolifically spoken as this 3-year-old girl who recounts the Star Wars to her father. https://gizmodo.com/using-hundreds-of-lego-star-wars-mini-spaceships-to-cre-352245 Later, it’s he who tells the story behind her filming: She explained…
Why settle for a boring old MP3 player, when you can have one based on everyone’s favourite plastic toy? We mean LEGO, before you get smutty, though these brightly colored players should probably be called LEGOish since they don’t look too official—not a Lego logo in sight. With controls concealed as the raised bumps, and…
Captain Ian Wilkinson got fired after doing a crazy 322mph flyby at 28 feet over the 9,000-foot runway at Paine Field, a regional airport located next to Boeing’s Everett facilities, the manufacturing site of the new 777-300 he was flying to Hong Kong, and the 787 Dreamliner. Reportedly, first he was congratulated upon arrival (as…
While most of us would consider bringing little more than a large laptop to Starbucks, the fun-loving folks at Improv Everywhere decided to kick it old school and bring in some full sized desktops…complete with classic CRT monitors. Surprisingly enough, Starbucks was quite accommodating…even though a few customers were less than pleased. Here’s a pretty…
The new version of Botanicalls can now talk to Twitter. It uses an Arduino electronics board connected to a notebook, and some soil moisture probes crafted from a couple of galvanised nails. Your plant can then send out a Twitter alert when it’s thirsty, detect when its been over- or under-watered and let you know…
While chumby has been available in beta for a while and we had our hands on the final version last week, today is the official public launch of the little Wi-Fi beanbag, as well as the Chumby Network, with big media content partners CBS, MTV, The Weather Channel, AOL Shoutcast, Scripps and more. The network…
Never before has the futility of watching films on such a tiny screen been so well encapsulated as when Jon Stewart enjoyed Lawrence of Arabia on the Oscar stage last night. If you missed it, we won’t spoil the joke for you. But even after Stewart’s cultural nod/low blow to the iPhone, Jobs got the…
Today you can take your pick of two mid-priced high-performance Cyber-shot cameras from Sony, the 9-megapixel H50 with the 15X zoom lens for $400 and the W300, a 13.6-megapixel pocket point-and-shoot for $350. If the ladies don’t mind you lugging around something big and beefy, the H50 has a lot to offer: the zoom lens…
Researchers in Singapore have demoed a flying model that uses a strange paddle-wheel-like propeller design that was first patented in 1893. The cyclogyro’s flat whirling propeller-blades look like the comical contraptions built in the years before and after the Wright brothers flights, but could potentially be more efficient and quieter than those currently used on…
Japanese telecom company NTT is soon to launch a product that transmits data via your body, effectively turning you into a touch-technology swipe card. RedTacton is a card-like gadget that you simply carry anywhere on your person, and it transmits data via electric fields&mdash a world’s first according to NTT. The data is passed on…
Megatron has been jailed for six years and six months for a drugs crime. Not this one or this one, but Megatron Eardley-Wilmot, an Deceptimbecile from New Zealand who imported $100,000 of methamphetamine and ecstasy. His defense, according to his lawyer, is that he was a “normal guy” until “he had an accident and suffered…
Nokia’s new Morph concept phone would use nanotechnology to give it a flexible body with a transparent display that could be re-shaped depending on the user’s needs, a far cry from today’s solid and chunky devices. Even the electronics inside it would be transparent and flexible, so the whole phone may be twisted and stretched…
The August 3, 1930 Syracuse Herald (Syracuse, NY) ran the above article about the movie theater of the future, complete with robot staff. Titled, “Television Soon Will Flash Talkies Through the Ether; Theater of the Future Will Receive Its Films From Afar,” the piece opens by explaining how a single man at a central control…
James Watts spends his time putting together fantastic insect-bot sculptures, and the Solar Dragonfly is one of the best. The solar panels running down the body actually power the wings, which are then kicked into motion using a pager motor. Sure, it looks swell, but we can’t help but think the Solar Dragonfly would lose…
Pioneer is ending its production of 42-inch plasma displays, as the company hopes to focus all its attention on producing 50-inch models instead. Specifically, Pioneer will be closing the Kagoshima plant in Japan by March 2009, when it will then be put up for sale. So, if you’re interested in a factory producing 42-inch displays,…
By the look of this page from the recently released user guide for the Palm Centro, it looks like the cellphone will be getting a navy blue version, as well as an all-white makeover with gray keys. [Gadgetell]
Toshiba’s releasing two new laptops incorporating Intel’s Penryn mobile processors and, judging from the pictures, they’re both going to be big and very, very glossy. The smaller of the duo, the Satellite A300, features a 15.4-inch display, Harman Kardon speakers, a built-in fingerprint reader, and a 1.3-megapixel integrated webcam. €999 ($1,480) will get you 2GB…
Click to viewWind turbines are becoming ever more ubiquitous thanks to their gradually lowering setup costs and relatively environmentally friendly energy production. It is a bit worrying then to see this particular wind turbine exploding in spectacular fashion. Worrying may actually be the wrong adjective—I believe the correct term is omfg-exploding-wind-turbine-destruction-is-so-satisfying-tastic. Check it out by…
German start-up Loremo, of the 157 mpg diesel-powered car that showed up at the Frankfurt Auto Show last October, is now introducing a second eco-friendly flavor to their lineup—an electric version named the oh so clever… wait for it… E-Loremo. The E-Loremo features a 20KW electric engine, with short-term bursts of 40kw possible. The company…
