Tech News

New PSP Firmware Available, Too

Last night we mentioned that new PlayStation 3 firmware 2.1 was available (specs here, testing here). But we should also point out that PSP firmware 3.8 is available now as well. The big new feature? The device is now internet radio ready. You’ll also score some fancy new visualizations. No, it’s not a pocket DVR…

Elvis the RoboCat Still Figuring Out This ‘Moving Around’ Thing

Elvis the cat had a run-in with a truck that resulted in him losing the use of his back legs. Naturally, the only solution that owner and Battlebots (remember Battlebots?) engineer Carlo Bertocchini could come up with was a crazy robotic box for Elvis to be placed in to return his mobility. The best part…

PS3 Game Developer Claims to have Crossed Uncanny Valley

We’re fascinated with the battle against uncanny valley—that point in graphics or robotics where the human likeness isn’t quite reached, which in turn repulses the viewer. And while we’ve seen graphics card makers and robot designers tackling the problem before, for the first time a video game developer claims to have bridged the gap. Quantic…

Cellphones Conquer Land Lines for First Time in 2007

According to a recent piece in the NYTimes, 2007 will be the first year in which the dollars spent on cellphone subscriptions trump traditional land lines. Among other points, they site that in 2006, households spend an average of $542 on residential lines while only spending $524 on wireless services. Add another year of cellphone…

1999 A.D. Controversy

Back in April, I started posting clips from the 1967 film 1999 A.D. I never expected controversy. The video below should hopefully clear things up. Many thanks to Skip at A/V Geeks for the link. There is a fair amount of skepticism from people questioning the authenticity of material I post here on the blog.…

Sprint’s new permanent knight-in-shining-armor CEO is Dan Hesse, an insider type who’s been around the telecom industry for a while, including a three-year run as AT&T’s mobile chief. Will he turn things around and…Yawn. [Sprint] https://gizmodo.com/the-sprint-ceo-troubles-have-come-to-a-head-as-ceo-cha-308442

iPod Touch Dissected, Analyzed

While the iPod touch has been out for some time now, market-research firm iSuppli has finally completed their extremely thorough tear-down of the device. Because while Apple’s name goes on the box, about a million other names comprise the hardware itself…most of which aren’t exactly labeled “Toshiba” and “Samsung.” We’ve listed the component price breakdown…

Bone-Conduction Earring Earphones Rock Your Skull, Make You Look Weird

The new In-Tech Vibe earphones use bone-conduction to deliver music to your eardrums, all while still letting in ambient sound so you don’t get squashed crossing the street. The manufacturer claims that they are safer than other options in busy urban environments because they hang behind your ears, instead of blocking your ear canal and…

Gamestop Wii Rainchecks: How to Claim Yours

So here’s the deal on Gamestop’s Wii raincheck program: On Friday, Dec. 21 only head down to any Gamestop or EB Games in the US (PR included), viciously fight through the mob of people and make it to the register with your full $250 deposit. You have to go in person, and the rule’s one…

Brain Age Creator Developing Intelligent Toyotas for Old People

First he developed Brain Age, a hit Nintendo DS game that helps keep people’s brains fit well into their golden years. Now, the same guy, Ryuta Kawashima, is working with Toyota to make cars that help the older folks who perhaps didn’t do all the mental calisthenics they should have. The car systems, which will…

Asus Eee PC on a Plane to Japan With 16GB and Possibly Windows

Asus Japan has announced that their beloved little lappie, the Eee PC, is heading to Japan. Normally we don’t care too much about one of our toys touching down over there, but they’re also getting a new 16G(B) model, whereas our rainbow of options ends at 8G. Also, it’s rumored they’re getting Windows XP as…

For the Man Who Has Everything: Sony Blu-ray Jacket

So that special someone in your life already owns Blu-ray and HD DVD. What else could you get them this Christmas? Some might say, hey, get him Blu-ray and HD DVD movies. But those some would be wrong, very wrong. Instead we have this to offer you, an “extremely rare” official Sony Blu-ray jacket. Speculated…

Cheap, Solar-Power-Everywhere Nanosolar PowerSheets Go On Sale, Really Are Cheap

Unlike a lot of other energy-crisis solving tech that bursts into vapor at the last minute, the award-winning and groundbreaking Nanosolar PowerSheets are actually on sale today. They’re super cheap, ultra-adaptable solar panels that can be printed on the side of pretty much anything, promising solar power anywhere you want it. At today’s launch, they…

The Construction of the LEGO Millennium Falcon Part I: the Unboxing and the Licking

We got the LEGO Ultimate Collector’s Millenium Falcon and here’s a video of me getting all dorky and excited about this awesome 24-pound, 5,159-block LEGO masterpiece. This is just a teaser of what’s coming later this week: the time-lapse video of its construction by only one single dork, and the review (and in case there…

New Toshiba Clamshell Cellphone Outed by FCC Filing

Toshiba looks like it’s taking a leaf out of HTC’s design book with its upcoming G900 series smartphones, as revealed in recent FCC filings. The G910 and 920 are sleek little numbers, much shinier than the old G900 itself, and opting for clamshell form factors instead of slide-out keyboards. More info and a couple more…

Amazing Wooden Supercar Makes Burning Rubber Even More Dangerous

We’ve seen wooden cars before, but they’ve never looked quite as awesome as this supercar one-off that a team of graduate students is building. Named Splinter, the supercar is being constructed as a serious attempt to explore the uses of wood as a bulding material for vehicles, so it’s even loaded with a supercharged 600-hp…

Apple iPhone Coming to Japan

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is right now in talks with NTT DoCoMo and Softbank, negotiating the release of the iPhone in Japan. Steve Jobs recently met with NTT DoCoMo’s president and company executives have been travelling back and forth between Tokyo and Cupertino to talk about the possible deals, eat tofu tempura,…

TranslucentConcrete a Lighter Way for Load-Bearing

A mixture of traditional concrete and fiber-optics, TranslucentConcrete (not to be confused with translucent concrete—yes, I know) can be used by architects to make load-bearing walls a little more see-through than they normally are. Check the amazing effects in the gallery below. https://gizmodo.com/reinforce-your-bedside-table-here-comes-the-litracube-290521 The concrete can be cast in just about any way possible: bricks;…

PlayStation 3 DivX Playback Tested

Click to viewThe PlayStation 3 2.10 update is here, bringing with it not only Blu-ray Profile 1.1 support (which adds picture in picture among other things), but DivX and WMV playback as well. Unfortunately, DivX support means DivX support, and doesn’t include XviD as some of us hoped according to readers includes XviD support, but…

PlayStation Firmware 2.1 Update Is Now Available

According to reader reports, the PlayStation 3 firmware 2.1 is now available, complete with DivX support, WMVs, enhanced audio bitmapping and a voice changer to make you sound like Sean Connery even if your voice is like Mickey Mouse. [Thanks Joel] https://gizmodo.com/playstation-firmware-2-1-brings-blu-ray-1-1-divx-and-w-334704 Update: See our hands-on DivX playback test. https://gizmodo.com/playstation-3-divx-playback-tested-335062