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Its full name is Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate, and this second-gen version of Hitachi’s EMIEW office worker robot is a lot better looking than the original. At its launch today, however, things didn’t quite go to plan, and what was meant to be a showcase in up-to-the-minute robot fabulousness turned into a…
The snow is starting to fall now but in 2009 most people won’t care about it anymore. Except maybe Al Gore. The Bearfire Resort will offer a year-round ski resort—complete with ski tracks, snowboard park, snowball caverns, ice rafts, climbing walls and bobsleds—in the middle of Texas, next to Bearfire Mountain. And the best part…
The Asus Eee 4G Surf drops quite a bit spec-wise compared with the standard Eee PC 4G for the $50 savings. Besides losing the webcam, it’s got slower, soldered RAM and a tinier battery. But if you want it anyway, Newegg’s got it now. [Newegg] https://gizmodo.com/9-takes-on-asus-eee-pc-318732
Just a reminder to keep a cool head this Black Friday and only go for the stuff you or loved ones really need. Likely, the average Giz reader doesn’t need 99% of the hardware written about on Gizmodo, as most of it is crap that does a marginally better job of whatever gadgets you already…
TrackingTheWorld has come up with a potential solution to the problem of letters that go missing in action. Letter Logger is a quarter-inch-thick device that fits into a standard number 10 business envelope and allows the US Postal Service to track its progress throughout the system alongside Google Earth. Here’s how it works. Letter Logger…
Fittingly, Samsung’s black BlackJack II will be available this Blackest of Fridays. The red one will go on sale on 12/6. Both smartphones cost $150 after rebate and 2-year contract. [AT&T] https://gizmodo.com/the-gizmodo-ultimate-black-friday-deal-guide-324697
Most of Buy.com’s Black Friday deals are crap or cheaper elsewhere—like their Sling Pro package—but we picked out the couple of nuggets for you, and they’re available today. Personal favorite is the Darth Vader/Death Star transformer with the ability to destroy a planet AND the power of the Force going for $40. Also: https://gizmodo.com/darth-vader-brings-the-force-to-the-world-of-transforme-294491 Wireless…
Amazon just announced it’s going to jump into Black Friday early, busting out a group of computer peripherals starting tomorrow (Thanksgiving). The online store will offer additional items on Black Friday, and even more on cyber Monday. All the listed items will have free shipping unless otherwise noted, and the price you’ll pay includes savings…
As suspected, Motorola has identified an issue with the battery contacts as the source of the problem on the Sidekick Slide and are currently testing an updated model. T-Mobile and Motorola hope to have the Slide back in stores next week. https://gizmodo.com/sidekick-slide-design-flaw-causes-resets-321743 UPDATED T-Mobile USA Statement on Sidekick Slide Motorola has determined that the intermittent…
God bless the Black Friday, as the format war keeps raging on thanks to it: Amazon will give you 10 movies for free when you buy the $199 Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player (or the HD-A30 or the HD-A35.) And unlike some other offers with dreadful title selection, there’s good stuff to choose from in…
In case you missed the news, the Wii’s swapping out MP3 support for AAC, killing your custom MP3 soundtracks. This little change is bundled with Photo Channel 1.1. But, it’s optional—not a mandatory system update—so you keep on keepin’ on with MP3 by blowing off the upgrade. The switch is probably due to some licensing…
When Gigabyte released their first UMPC, the U60, there was plenty to like, including the split keyboard. With the M704, Gigabyte is essentially releasing a refreshed U60 with a new look, a slightly bigger screen and a beefed-up processor. The second-gen UMPC will have a 1.2 GHz VIA processor, 768 MB of RAM, 40-60 GB…
Sprint issued a statment today, announcing an upcoming ROM update for the HTC Mogul will bring GPS and EV-DO Rev. A to the phone in Q1 2008. [Boy Genius Report]
Say you bought a Kindle. If you were to search for Gizmodo in Amazon’s Kindle RSS store, you’d notice we’re not there. That’s not because we don’t like it (although I’m not saying we do like it, either). The reasons are strictly business related, which Gaby Darbyshire, Gizmodo’s business dev smart person, explained to me…
I hope this turns into a real series of ads, if only for the schadenfreude value. It’s pretty great: Annoying guy plays with iPod touch on subway, gets his gear jacked and laments all the "sweet features" he lost, like the calendar for scheduling photo shoots with bands and stuff. Now all he can do…
Compact fluorescent bulbs get more popular every day because of their energy-saving characteristics, but their conventional corkscrew/spring design leaves something to be desired. Enter Hulger, a bunch of British designers with a bent for the unusual, who have bent those tubes around into crazy configurations, making something that once appeared rather prosaic into an artform.…
Oh, sweet contradiction—Jeff Bezos in open letter to Author’s Guild, 2002: “When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.” Amazon Kindle Terms of Service, 2007: You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute,…
Soon, pilots from all airlines flying into Israeli airspace will have to enter a numbered sequence to prove they are not terrorist hijackers. The secret code will be generated by the Security Code System, designed by Elbit Systems complete with a credit-card-sized keypad. Authorized pilots everywhere will eventually be issued keypads, 10,000 in all. For…
It’s hideous. But it’s necessary that the DIY crowd has access to an all-in-one case. The Ion V2000 has a 19-inch LCD display, limiting 350-watt power supply, slim-profile optical drive bay, a media reader, two USB ports, a firewire port, and audio ins and outs. [RedFerret]
Oh good lord. Someone has invented a fart protector. After you’ve eaten the Thanksgiving turkey equivalent of a horse, some of that tryptophan is going to eventually turn into methane, and you’re going to need some serious butt protection like this. This patented Gas Grabber anal pad uses activated charcoal to neutralize those toxic fumes,…