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Fanciful visions of the future were few and far between in the early 1940s. This article by Sidney M. Shalett, from the April 27, 1941 New York Times sums up why. It was on a Sunday morning – the last Sunday in April – two years ago when the great World’s Fair opened: April 30,…
Remember the most ridiculous Windows video ever? This doesn’t compare to that, but it does have Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry shilling for Microsoft’s “new” Windows 95 OS. There’s gotta be more hilarity found in watching two people who have no idea how to use computers struggle with screensavers and the upgrade process, but we…
Sony really knows how to party. It wasn’t enough to have topless ladies at the God of War II European unveiling, they had to go and decapitate a goat and put it on display. Not only that, they invited visitors to stick their hands down the neck, grab out some intestines (not the goat’s own,…
Recently I got all excited about a pretty cool-looking networked 3.1 home theater system from JVC. Since it seems most of the innovative networked products are coming from brands that aren’t as easy to find at Best Buy, and since JVC said it supported a wide range of file formats including DivX, I called it…
The last time Chris Stephenson talked about the Zune, we got a couple of possible new Zune features Microsoft was working on. Here are hints about the future of the Zune. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-sending-zune-to-fat-camp-230355 First, he emphasizes Microsoft’s plan to create a flash-based Zune in order to compete with Apple’s best selling player, the Nano. MS wants…
The NYTimes has a boilerplate article about Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google going after the cellphone. This line is interesting, though: Google has gone so far as to build a prototype phone with its own software inside, according to one person who has seen it. Question: How do you think the fact checkers worked through that…
Yes, the joy of weekend shift. That’s 3 times in 6 weeks, you know. Anyhow, I’ve got a wedding to dash off to in a bit (not mine) but I’ve been using some cool stuff on my phone that you should try. Especially if you’re at a wedding and are going to be fiddling with…
Panasonic’s new 1080p set is the best plasma ever. That’s what Gizmodo friend Gary Merson of HD Guru says. The colors were the most accurate, the 1080p signals were processed at full bandwidth with no loss of data, the black levels so deep as to be untestable, and the contrast ratio amazing. In conclusion, the…
Just a quick note reminding you that the Xbox 360 Elite is on sale today from EBGames and Gamestop. They have them in stores, but technically their website should have them as well (even though there’s still a message telling you to check back April 29). And if you’re still on the fence about whether…
Speaking of Windows Mobile 6, if you’re really in a rush to get the new OS onto your T-Mobile Dash, hit up the link at the end of the post to grab it. It’s the official T-Mobile release, so there shouldn’t be any compatibility problems from having another device’s ROM. And since it’s the official…
If you still can’t bring yourself to buy an Xbox 360 Elite—even though its HDMI gives you the best output—take a look at Colorware. Yes, the same people who are coloring up Sidekick 3s, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros are helping you enhance your Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3s. https://gizmodo.com/fully-tested-the-xbox-360-elites-hdmi-video-is-the-bes-255722 Prices start at just $99 for…
Amidst the uproar over the egregious royalty rate hike for internet radio stations, engineered by RIAA-spinoff SoundExchange and handed down by the Copyright Royalty Board, we missed a detail we should have noticed. Some commenters suggested simply listening to music under non-restrictive licenses. But apparently that won’t work. https://gizmodo.com/yet-another-reason-to-boycott-the-riaa-241376 “The recent U.S. Copyright Office ruling…
Why is that dude is smiling? Is it because he’s eating yummy toast? Is it because his hair is as silken as a Arabian stallion’s mane? Maybe. But its also possible he’s getting his mugshot taken by a shiny Apple iPhone — now uploaded to Flickr and found by internet stalker Mobile Guerilla after a…
The next time you see “bull fight in progress”, “bomb alert”, “air crash”, or “terrorist incident” on your traffic-update enabled GPS navigation, don’t be too quick to assume that’s what actually happened. Some “hackers” have discovered a way to inject RDS messages (which use the FM frequency to send traffic and weather information) into your…
It was so abnormally hot yesterday that we could walk around solely in our underwear without feeling the least bit drafty, which really made us wish we had the Home Swimmer to use in our apartment’s pool. If you’ve got a tiny pool of your own, the Home Swimmer allows you to tie yourself to…
The first commercially available Windows Mobile 6 Professional phone has just launched on Germany’s O2 (we’re not counting the WM6 upgrades you can download online and upgrade your old phones to), which means WM6 fever is just about upon us. The phone itself, the XDA Terra, is based on the HTC Herald, which is also…
Personally, I think the Illupillow looks mildly uncomfortable, but this depends on how squishy it is—if it’s overly firm I could envision some back pain after reading on this thing for a couple of hours if I’m sprawled all over it. Google Translate (tenuously) confirms that the light is both adjustable and battery powered. Since…
The NY Times reviews the new U.S. e-passport today (if you didn’t want one, apparently you’re too late). It mostly focuses on how ugly the pastiche of American iconography is, but it mentions the new embedded RFID chip holding all of your biographical info and “a digital image of the passport photograph, which will facilitate…
With 12 chrome balls and sockets for 12 light bulbs, this sputnik table lamp is perfect for lighting up your desk or a small city. Unfortunately, the bulbs are not included in the €325 (roughly $440 US by Nerd Approved’s calculations) price tag, so sending messages to outer space in Morse code by flicking the…
Apple’s confirmed forthcoming sanctuary in the Meatpacking District will take up three floors and occupy more than 32,000 square feet of the 60,000-square-foot (or 52,605-square-foot according to Apple Insider) complex, making it the biggest Apple Store in Manhattan, if not the world. (The current largest, in London, is 28,000 square feet.) https://gizmodo.com/apple-opening-third-new-york-store-255559 Apple’s not getting…