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This week on episode 106 of the Coolness Roundup, Stephen and Charlie laugh at the idea of $7250 speaker cables, talk up the Zune from Microsoft, and discuss the recent court win by the RIAA. The gurus of cool also answer listener email and offer up another rip-roaring Rapid Fire Roundup of Cool Products they’ve…
So the X-Wing rocket project failed (albeit in a spectacular manner), leaving its dedicated group of hobbyists back at square one. If you could choose what they decide to send up in the air next, what would it be? Don’t like the options in the poll? Submit your own choice in the comments. https://gizmodo.com/video-the-rocket-powered-x-wings-flight-and-death-308288 Gawker…
It’s something of a twist: instead of installers working with your home theater to give you the best sound it can deliver, the Goldmund installers use their complex acoustic modeling program, the diabolically named Proteus, to make your room as close to their ideal as they can, regardless of room size and décor. Yep, that’s…
As if we needed more proof that Microsoft exec Steve Ballmer is legitimately insane, here’s an ad(?) for Windows 1.0 where he “acts” like a crazy used car salesman, listing off the amazing features of his shiny new OS (it comes with Reversi?!). It’s fun to see while we’re coming up on the 22nd anniversary…
This week at TreeHugger: The Loremo (that’s Low Resistance Mobile) makes the jump from concept car to working prototype at this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show. Jason Lewis, one committed young man, just finished up the world’s first muscle-powered circumnavigation of the globe in a shade under 13 years. Toshiba adds another direct methanol fuel cell…
Here’s Oregon Scientific’s next trick with atomic alarm clocks that tell you the old in/out temperature and forecast, and this one has a motion sensor that reacts to your presence. When you’re viewing the Oregon Scientific Weather In Motion from a distance, it tells you the day of the week and the time in big…
I can imagine the pitch: put the X-ray of an ultra-fine boob up on the ultra-fine screen of this 5-megapixel 20″ monitor, and it will sell itself. (Med students: do mine eyes deceive me?) After all, Chi Lin Technology and the Chi Mei Group of Taiwan developed the 2048×2560 screen for medical use. Currently in…
We were intrigued when we heard that the new Zune had beefed up its TV-out settings to full DVD quality, supporting playback of 720×480 video at 30fps or 720×576 video 25fps (NTSC or PAL, in other words). All that frames per second talk along with the promise of “DVD quality” got us thinking that Microsoft…
We broke the news just last week that a new Sonos ZoneBridge would be coming after an FCC leak. Essentially a wireless bridge for your Sonos system (allowing you to reserve a more expensive Sonos base unit for use in a room that doesn’t house your router or link to stations together over greater distances),…
This crazy giant catapult, probably built by Wile E. Coyote out of two construction cranes and ACME industrial-grade rubber bands, is designed to send a man into space with no security cables or net. As you will see in the video, after surviving the bazillion-G-force launch in one piece, he has to open a parachute…
Phillips adds yet another flash MP3 player to the veritable sea of choices, releasing the Philips SA9345 that holds either two or four gigs of your favorite MP3, WMA or WMV files. Its main selling point is its slim and diminutive form factor, at a third of an inch thick and just over 3.5 inches…
If you are looking for a decent sub-$1000 laptop, it’s tempting to settle on a brand you aren’t crazy about to save the cash. That’s why we noticed the new Fujitsu Lifebook V1010. Starting at $799, the V1010 features a 15.4-inch display (1280×800 rez), Intel Dual Core 1.86GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory and 120GB…
The Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo Music, Ian Rodgers, gave a presentation to some members of the music industry last Friday at Digital Media Forum in LA. The bottom line for him? DRM is dead, and if the RIAA insists on using it, they’ll be out a partner in Yahoo. Rodgers, who ran…
Say you’ve got an old LCD that you’re just dying to keep—here’s your chance to turn it into an all-in-one. The 1″-thick VIA vm7700 has four screwholes in the back corresponding with the VESA-standard mounting bracket on the back of most monitors. Screw it on, and voila, you’ve got some invisible PC power. Here’s what…
For her birthday, a 14-year-old girl from Texas wanted an iPod. So her mother took her to the Target in Fort Worth to buy her one. After surely promising to not load the device with “devil music,” the family purchased the new $350 iPod. And then they opened it. And it was full of rocks.…
Scientists Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg have been announced as winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics, specifically for their work in “giant magnetoresistance,” the phenomenon in which small changes in magnetism can lead to large levels of electrical resistance. Still bored by giant magnetoresistance? As explained by another professor: Without it you would…
After the X-Wing rocket aficionados, here’s some cool and real rocket action: this video shows Boeing’s successful test of their Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. They launched a long-range ballistic missile from Alaska to destroy it minutes later using an interceptor missile from Vandenberg AFB in California. It’s the second test of this kind, but according…
Obeying our alarm clocks is nigh on impossible, but with the Lightning Alarm Clock the incentive to exit from slumber may be enough to get us out of bed swiftly. The plastic, butt-ugly base containing the clock dial leaves a lot to be desired—until you see the upper half. A glass tube arches across the…
We’ve seen all sorts of iPhone wannabes from China, but this SPhone is made of paper and it will be yours for just 3,999 Taiwanese dollars or $122. You may not want it, however. Not because it’s made of people but because actually, according to a Taiwanese reader, it’s made out of paper so people…
The October, 1939 issue of Amazing Stories published this painting of the atomic power plant of the future. The image can also be found in the book Out of Time by Norman Brosterman. If you look closely you can see the streamlined cars and trains of the future driving by. As noted in the book,…