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GPS maker Becker announced the Traffic Assist 7927 and 7928 today, offering a free lifetime subscription to its real-time traffic update service. The traffic service not only displays the current traffic conditions, but will reroute you for the quickest possible trip. The devices come with a mood light, built-in speakers, speed limit notifications and MP3…
I got a tour of Akihabara by the wonderful people who work at Gizmodo Japan yesterday, and it was awesome. One of the first places we went was the Thanko store. Yes, the Thanko, makers of USB gadgets as dumb as they are impractical. Above, you can see me putting their USB microscope to the…
We’re here at Moscone for CTIA in dreary downtown San Francisco. For those of you who aren’t familiar, it’s right across the street from where Apple events are held. Stick around today to see lots of phone news from new devices to new operating systems to who knows what else (probably more phone stuff). Phones!…
The rumored BlackJack II is official. The 3G-enabled Samsung BlackJack II will be available from AT&T and was presented today by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at CTIA 2007 in San Francisco. The official specs for the 2.4-inch 320 x 240 pixel screen BlackJack II look nice: https://gizmodo.com/blackjack-2-unveiled-as-samsung-i617-308857 • AT&T Video Share, the first service in…
…and getting caught in the rain. The $9,000 Runco Climate Portfolio WP-42HD outdoor plasma is built to withstand “adverse environmental conditions including temperature, exposure to moisture, dust, oils and intermittent direct water spray.” It has a sealed aluminum housing and internal ventilation, along with jacks that adhere to international weatherproof standards. It even has optimized…
Even though Transformers director Michael Bay backed down after bitching about Paramount’s choice of HD DVD over Blu-ray for all forthcoming home videos including Transformers, he couldn’t hold his tongue for long. He told USA Today that he’s pissed about the format war in general, adding specifically: https://gizmodo.com/michael-bay-backs-down-on-hd-dvd-exclusivity-rants-292209 “As a director, my critical eye is…
We’ve seen a few LEGO models that must have taken a long time to create, but this Pathfinder Space Ship by a LEGO aficionado who calls himself Grey Fang must be some kind of record. Check out the gallery, and then see the specs on the next page. DIMENSIONS: —————————- 192 x 86 studs 67…
If you have an OiNK account, one of the largest piracy music sharing sites in the world, you may have already discovered that it has been shut down. Interpol raided their offices and arrested everyone and their dogs. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, this year OiNK leaked 60 major pre-release albums.…
In Harajuku, near the bridge that all the socially awkward cosplay teenagers hang out on on Sundays, is the KDDI Design Center, a temple dedicated to Japanese phones. Inside they’ve got all of this year’s KDDI phone models, a display on futuristic phone concepts, and every phone offered by the Japanese carrier on display for…
For Mac fans, there is good news and bad news coming out today from analyst Gene Munster of investment bank Piper Jaffray. The most notable aspect of Apple’s skyrocketing popularity is the fact that the company shipped 2.16 million Macs in the third quarter of this year. The part of the analyst’s report that might…
Radio Shack, HH Gregg, FYE, Fred Meyer Stores, Ultimate Electronics and Boscov’s all got smacked with fines totaling almost $100K because they sold analog TVs that were not properly marked with a warning sticker saying that they would basically stop receiving signal (at least, not without a cable box or other kind of assistance) when…
Bang & Olufsen doesn’t just make high-end *cough overpriced cough* audio equipment, they also design medical gadgets. Their C-Cap is meant to improve medication adherence by reminding diabetics and other patients requiring injected medication when to take the next dose, while housing the medication for convenience. For instance, when it’s time for a diabetic to…
The owners of New Zealand-based boutique brewery Croucher Brewery Co. just got their laptop stolen. It was your usual crappy notebook, nothing fancy but full of valuable information for them. So valuable in fact that they have promised a free lifetime supply of their finest ale to whoever recovers it. That’s about $18,000 in beerilicious…
In the days when portable flash memory is becoming quickly commoditized, companies like Sony are obviously trying new tricks to differentiate their product. Because now Sony will begin shipping a poker game along with their Memory Stick Micro and MicroVault Midi USB keys in marked packs. The game, Midnight Hold’Em Poker, can be played on…
Here’s one more way to send photos to a digital photo frame: The Parrot DF7700 thinks it’s a cellphone—it even has its own phone number—and you can send it pics in an MMS message from any other cellphone. Its 7-inch frame (a similar 7″ Bluetooth-friendly frame is pictured here) is big enough to show you…
Warping wallpaper may be the brainchild of German surrealist artist Tom Hanke, but it’s a real product nonetheless. Coming in any pattern you wish, the warping wallpaper creates the illusion of bending and bulging to accommodate doors, windows and pictures. The catch? This wallpaper isn’t based upon space age technology, but simple science. Your walls…
Often we see extra-cool TVs roll out in Japan that we assume will never come to the US. Hitachi made us happy today by following up its Japan Wooo Ultra Thin launch with announcement of US availability, sans the “Wooo” branding. A 768-line 32″ and 1080p 37″ and 42″ models all measuring 1.5″ thick will…
iTunes now has “The Complete Led Zeppelin” available for preorder on iTunes for $99. That’s a 165-song collection plus their album “Mothership” for a Benjamin. The whole Led Zeppelin library hits iTunes Nov 13th.
We wrote about this last week, but today it’s official. From today, TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD customers will be able to enjoy a whole bunch of new services: Multi Room Viewing, which allows you to transfer programming between TiVo DVRs; eSATA, which gives you up to 600 hours’ external storage space with compatible…
Hitachi may have the thinnest production LCD but it’s a lard butt compared with Sharp’s 2.2-inch mobile LCD that’s a mere .68mm thick. For an LCD the stats aren’t even horrible. You get a 2000:1 contrast ratio, 8ms response time and 176-degree viewing angle in this 240×320 display. Intended for use in one-seg terrestrial broadcast,…