Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
This project, part of MediaLab’s Seamless tech/fashion show, consists of a set of LED blocks that work in concert to display images and react to the wearer’s movements. In general, projects like these are pretty wonky but the design is cool and the concept is sound. Expect to see some morose rave kid sporting a…
Sheer madness! GB25, an SK ODM, has created a tiny flash MP3 player that acts as a VoIP phone. It doesn’t appear to use WiFI so we’re assuming it’s some sort of VoIP/Skype compatible device that turns into a handset or VoIP/Headset system when plugged into a PC. They come with up to 2GB of…
Sapphire Technology has built an ATI Radeon X850 XT PE card that uses liquid metal to cool the GPU and memory. Called the Blizzard, the card is quieter than a standard water-cooled system and apparently actually conducts heat by bathing the heatsinks in soothing liquid alloy. The website claims 65X more heat conductivity when compared…
Samsung and LG, for different reasons, are eating the global CE world’s lunch. This huge OLED TV just cements Samsungs status as South Korean Tech Painbringers. The OLED panel, which the model is so helpfully showing us is viewable from just about any angle, is a step forward in HD display design. These things are…
I’m feeling very Star Warsy today. Sorry for the pun. Anyway, Matsushita, manufacturer of just about every single optical drive in the known universe, is saying that they believe the HD DVD wars are already one and that Blu-Ray is the clear victor. Toshiba must now come and bow to the Blu-Ray Council and commit…
This 12-inch notebook is priced under $1400 and includes an Intel 915GM Express chipset with WiFi and Bluetooth. Aimed at the power portable market, this notebook features a few user-friendly features—big hard drive, optical drive, and 4-in-1 card reader—along with some more business-oriented tools like SmartCard readers and modems. Acer TravelMate 3000 [DesignTechnica]
I tend to age my bourbon in my ample gullet. However, if you wish to spend $29.95 on a massive magnet that realigns the individual molecules of your finest port, whiskey, or brandy, be our guest. Through the magic of the spheres, the Shooter Buddy will make any drink less bubbly and more better. Using…
We talked about these headphones last week and we were able to get our hands on a pair for some in-depth testing. On the whole, the form factor is quite nice. The headphones are very small and very light. They are connected with a cloth cord which will be familiar to those using Sony portable…
Dorothea Lange brought the sorrow—and strength—of Depression-era subsistence farmers to light. I believe this photo, taken at E3 by Devious, is our generation’s defining image, an amalgam of patient suffering, heartfelt yearning, and butt shaking that will echo universally through our culture. Apparently, this anonymous fellow was surfing the Innerweb and wiggling his posterior for…
These new ATI boards feature two PCIe ports and one video out, which means that those things are going to be working in parallel. No word on what this will be called—Nvidia already has SLI and they’re not sharing the name—but I like the pale mobo plate look which is a nice departure from the…
This is probably as old as the hills, but it’s nice to know kids can now experiment with smoking in a more controlled setting than I ever could. I tried to make my own tar experiments using my lungs, a bean bag chair, and assorted smoking accouterments and substances and just stank up my dorm…
Here we go. Things like this will start out slow but I’m sure someone like Triarc, owners of Taco Bell, Arby’s, and the like, will get in on the act once they realize they can probably use their delivery infrastructure to pick up old taco grease and reconstitute it into a biodiesel slurry. Anyway, the…
Not too uber-techy but these things catch my eye again and again. Based on old-timey diver’s watches, these things are massive and use a Swiss quartz movement or a Japanese chronograph quartz movment, depending on model. There is also a canteen crown guard which was used in WWII watches to ensure water resistance. I think…
Is it just me or does this phone look like one of those old TI scientific calculators from back in the day? This QWERTY messaging phone appeared as an FCC leak and appears to be designed for Cingular, assuming all goes according to plan. Standard features: quad-band GSM, EDGE high-speed data, Bluetooth, an internal antenna,…
It’s nice to see a camera with at least a little built-in memory—in this case 14MB—for image storage. The C-180, which is a standard point and shoot, has the smooth lines of robot excretion and an xD slot to hold 5.1 megapixel stills and VGA movies. Multiple modes are pretty standard, no word on the…
It’s early, it’s rainy, and the dog won’t go outside. So instead of wrapping my head around Toshiba vs. the world or some kind of crazy MP3 player, here’s a little something to look at for a little while—a Homer Simpson mouse. What makes this mouse special? Homer floats in the mouse. The principle of…
While waiting in line for a remarkably overpriced cheeseburger in the Compass Cafe, I spoke to a rep from Logitech. They mentioned that Logitech will be releasing a new mouse for gamers, along with an updated keyboard set. The mouse will be wireless and laser-based (think MX 1000), and will allow you to ratchet its…
Google is launching a personalized home page tonight, which you can view now by going to the URL below. It’s basically a custom portal of your own Google services, like a Gmail preview and Google News highlights, as well as Word of the Day, Weather, and Wired News updates (they must be pretty happy about…
A reader sent us another image from Microsoft’s Xbox 360 booth, where they are demoing real-time games powered by the Xbox 360. You can see in the picture that there is an Xbox 360 viewable through a little slot, implying that the games themselves are running on pre-production consoles, but if you actually come around…
Naw, we’re just joshing. Eagle-eyed reader Andrew sent us this super-secret photo of the real Xbox 360 – a pair of G5s churning away inside a steel cube. Therefore, it is abundantly clear that MS hasn’t ramped up their production of final units by any stretch. Could this mean a dearth of 360s come Christmas?…