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Peter Houghton takes his metaphors a bit too seriously. The first lifetime recipient of a Jarvik 2000 ventricular assist device (i.e. an artificial heart) is grateful for the fact that he’s, you know, alive, but thinks he’s lost his emotions since getting the fake ticker. Dude, your emotions come from your brain, not from your…
From the Embarrassing Obituaries Dept.: a 20-year-old student in Shanghai was killed when his computer electrocuted him. Apparently, it was very hot outside, yet Wu refused to turn the AC on. His computer was overheating, so rather than go with the AC, he took the case off to let it breath. His sweaty legs hit…
This Wiimote knockoff spotted at a local Wal-Mart doesn’t feature IR or accelerometers, but it does have a pretty sweet (.5 inch?) LCD screen for a football game. “Daddy, why didn’t Santa get me a Wii for Christmas?” “But Joey, Santa did get you a Wii.” “This isn’t a Wii! This is Satan!” Whatever it…
There’s been a major Skype outage since 3 a.m. PST due to a “software issue”—it’s expected to be back up in the next “12 to 24 hours.” [TechCrunch]
Clamshells make up 79% of the US market for cellphones, so it’s no surprise that Helio is introducing one to its lineup starting today. Here’s the unboxing, with Sizemodo to come. Earlier: The Helio Fin is a Magnesium-Cased Samsung Ultra Flip Phone!
If you’re one of the dozen people in the world who still wears a watch, you might have already been lusting after this Ulysse Nardin Tellurium J. Kepler masterpiece, one of just 99 to be made in the world. It’s named after Johannes Kepler, the 14th/15th-century astronomer who was one of the first scientists to…
Where others use watercolors, one man uses metal. This artist (if you know his name, hit the comments) re-creates masterpieces using nothing but nails. The process appears to utilize a computer grid to map dots onto plyboard—we’re betting a projector and pencil is used—after which the artist nails thousands of metallic dots onto his “canvas.”…
Now that hapless Gizmodo intern who spilled hot coffee all over Chen’s famous pants can rest easy, because here’s a set of coffee cups that link together, making it possible to carry a sextet of steaming beverages at the same time. So there you go, cherished intern—you can serve the entire Giz writing team in…
Today the compact disc (or “CD” as the hipsters are calling it) turns 25. I know how you feel, CD. After 24, when you can rent a car and trash the shit out of it for only like an extra $50 in insurance, it’s all downhill. But since Philips and Sony developed your form and…
This week at Uncrate: We plow through our unkempt facial hair with the Braun Pulsonic Shaver, count down the hours until the weekend on the Tic Watch, and give our brains a rest for the duration of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for DVD. We also make like a pirate…
With a range of 40 feet—that’s 25 feet more than a Taser&mdasj;the Avurt IM-5 personal protection launcher will keep away anyone you don’t want near you from getting too close. It’s simple to work: aim at the chest of a large, blond man in a stadium, pull the trigger and the man will be too…
Netflix just lowered its prices on the “three DVDs out at-a-time” plan again, taking it down a buck to $15.99 a month. Our jaws dropped as we saw the above notice in our inbox, because it was just three weeks ago when Netflix had lowered the price to $16.99. Hey, keep those price reductions coming,…
We wrote about Meebo’s iPhone compatibility right after the iPhone was launched—and it wasn’t so great. Consider that a thing of the past. Meebo’s just released an iPhone-only IM webapp that’s just as good as Meebo for the desktop. We’ve actually tested it on our iPhones, and can say it’s the best chat app on…
The internet is buzzing about Microsoft’s announcement to replace NEC’s 10MB of 90nm embedded DRAM with TSMC’s 10MB of 90nm embedded DRAM in their Xbox 360 console. After all, there is a new company involved! And we’ve been expecting Microsoft to start implementing smaller chips in their Xbox, which should lead to lower power consumption,…
University of Vermont’s Josh Bongard just won the 2007 TR35 Young Innovator award for his self-modeling robots. His starfish can learn how to walk with no programming at all, just knowing the properties of their parts. The results —as you will see in the video after the jump—are quite pathetic to watch, but I am…
If anyone does weird LCD TVs, it’s Hannspree. And, while I can understand the importance of fire truck- and french fries-shaped TVs, I am not entirely convinced about Time Square, a 12-inch LCD TV with built-in clock, thermometer and hygrometer, whose dials swing open to reveal speakers. There’s a four-in-one A/V connection (composite, S-Video, audio…
Thinking of buying that super-expensive graphics tablet? Maybe you don’t need to, because Suck is offering this digital pencil that mimics the human finger, allowing it to be used on touchpads. Using a pencil is more intuitive than drawing with a touchpad, but I’m not sure how useful this is actually going to be, cute…
If infinite legroom and no carry-on limits appeal to you, then you’re in luck, because the Russian government is selling off Anotonov AN-124s cheap. You can probably grab yourself a bargain with one of the enormous planes, which can carry a load of 150 metric tons. There’s even a bedroom for the pilots, which you…
Austin band Spoon have collaborated before with yellow robot Keepon, but their new video, for “Don’t You Evah” gives us a little more than the first one. Keepon’s creator, Hideki Kozima, costars alongside the little blob of sunshine, and there’s a whole load of robot cameos toward the end. If you want more of the…
According to fellow Indian journo and Giz reader Aswin R, someone in India is selling sexy touching time with the iPhone using Facebook’s marketplace. Not selling the iPhone itself, just 15 minutes to “see/touch/feel” the JesusPhone under supervision. I guess some people would do it, maybe hoping to cure some illness. Like acne. Or bunions.…
