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According to Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, the chances are pretty good that we’re currently existing not in the “real world,” but instead are a vast computer simulation created by a future, further advanced version of ourselves. Yeah, crazy, I know. Basically, he argues that because computing power will advance to the point where a system…
The 1949 book Television: Medium of the Future by Maurice Gorham correctly identifies, but dismisses, a concern about the visual age: voting with your eyes. Fears have been expressed lest this new reliance on television may lead to choice of candidates for their face rather than their real qualities; that the film-star types will have…
Remember those old Bluetooth laser keyboards from a few years back that projected a laser image on the desk that you could type on? Celluon’s releasing a new version of that old device, but this time it’s connected over USB instead of Bluetooth. Still compatible with Windows Mobiles, Palm OS, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows 2000/XP/Vista…
Those bullshit ionic air purifiers from Sharper Image may not help relieve your allergies, but ionic wind may help keep your computer cool. Purdue researchers demonstrated that by ionizing air and passing it over the chip, it increased airflow on the surface and cooled them down as much as 250%. The mock chip went down…
Recycling electronics is crucial, so why should recycling your old vibrators be any different? Love Honey has a new program where you send in your old, worn out, used one-too-many-times vibrator to them, and they’ll send you a brand new rabbit vibrator for half price. Half price! That’s a fantastic deal. Don’t take our word…
Robot webcams are all the rage nowadays, and this USB Robot doesn’t look to stir up the waters with “innovation.” It’s got a a low-quality VGA-ish camera (350k pixels) along with lights for eyes. The same eyes that look in disapproving horror at what you’re doing at your desk right now. You should be ashamed…
This week on the 99th episode of Coolness Roundup, Gizmodo’s Charlie White and Sci Fi Tech’s Stephen Schleicher talk about iMacs, iLife, iWork, and take a look at high-definition combo DVD players. They wrap things up with the Rapid-Fire Roundup of Cool Products, all on Coolness Roundup, a free netcast on iTunes, or you can…
So this is why the Novint Falcon force feedback controller was delayed so long? So they could work out the Fleshlight integration? All is understood and forgiven, Novint. [Slashdong via Fleshbot]
We’ve got a winner in the Flash Gordon contest. Congratulations to Jeromy Pankratz, who got the most answers right in the Flash Gordon trivia game. Proving he’s both really nerdy and really old. All the better reason to have a comfortable Gamepod chair. If you’re curious as to what the answers were, they’re posted after…
Japanese boffins are now making animations by creating small plasma balls in mid-air. The technology doesn’t use vapor or strange gases, just lasers to heat up oxygen and nitrogen molecules: up to 1,000 brilliant dots per second, which makes smooth motion possible. They could be used as street signs, advertising or to create giant plasma…
Meizu Me reports that Meizu will release a speaker dock slightly reminiscent of iPod speaker docks for their M6 player. The M6, if you recall, is a small nano-ish player that’s actually quite good, despite taking much of its design influence straight from Apple. This dock will be 88 grams and measure 208x87x86mm. That’s 0.2…
Since we first saw the “advanced amateur” Sony Alpha DSLR earlier this year, it’s been shrouded in mystery and its spec list has been rife with guesswork and conjecture. Now we’re seeing the next round of soothsaying by a flimsy Franco-rumor site, telling us that the higher-end amateur model will have a 14.4-megapixel sensor, a…
The HTC Iris, a Motorola Q-like Windows Mobile smartphone with a front face keyboard, has just been approved by the FCC. The phone has CDMA850/CDMA1900/1x-EVDO connectivity, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, a 2.4-inch screen with QVGA resolution, 2-megapixel camera, GPS and runs Windows Mobile 6. It doesn’t look like it’s the high end of the HTC phones, but…
Sony’s Bravia ads are generally pretty entertaining affairs, what with the grand scale they usually inhabit. It looks like they’re working on a new one, if the Technicolor Play Doh bunnies that have been invading NYC are any indication. It’s not all that clear what exactly these bunnies will be doing in the ad, but…
Who knew a camcorder could be so cheap, but here it is, the DXG-572V that records MPEG-4 video at “near DVD-quality” for $149. It looks to be about the same kind of recording mechanism that you’ll get on most still cameras these days, laying down 640×480 video at 30 frames per second onto an SD…
If you don’t mind looking like you’re smoking on some kind of high-tech water pipe, the iStraw can filter all kinds of creepy-crawlies out of whatever that is you’re drinking. This little magic wand can keep away even the tiniest microbes, including that dreaded cryptosporidium bug. Its maker says it “reduces up to 99.99999% of…
This week at TreeHugger: You might have been following the recent debate about surfing a black web; in spite of all the recent press, mysteries and myths still abound. We explore five of the most common. The Toshiba Portégé R500 hitting stores this month boasts a battery that lasts eight hours, but that trick isn’t…
Here are yesterday’s best stories in case you missed them, all with alternate headlines to get you lost: • Justine Gets Giganourmous iPhone AT&T Bill: Exclusive Interview and Video. • Woman Blends Real Diamond Engagement Ring. • Two Brothers Get Rudimentary Videoconferencing in the iPhone. • Jason Tries First iPhone-Native Game, Falls Asleep. https://gizmodo.com/the-madness-begins-with-a-300-page-at-t-bill-for-iphone-288887 •…
Rail passengers in the UK are to get free wi-fi access on the London to Scotland route from next year. [Silicon]
The Wii just got another update, but it just fixes some lock-up bugs and doesn’t add any new features. [Kotaku] https://gizmodo.com/heres-a-feature-we-missed-in-our-wii-firmware-update-3-287896