Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
For the eco-friendly types who prefer messenger bags (and let’s face it, that’s all eco-friendly types) over backpacks, Eclipse offers their Solar Flare Messenger Bag. Able to hold (but not charge) a laptop, the bag can juice up anything that plugs into a standard 12V car socket and will only cost you $130. Also available…
I’m hopping a plane to New Orleans this morning, so Team Single Intern will be holding the fort while I get down to CTIA. This time I’m going as a guest of Kodak to the ‘Wireless Gala,’ which I’m sure will be just as fancy as it sounds, but of course I’ll pop around the…
Logitech’s new MX518 mouse is geared towards gamers, what with its ability to process 5.8 megapixels/second and to gear the resolution down at the click of a button. The new Logitech SetPoint software lets you set as many as five levels of resolution, from 400 dpi to 1600 dpi and includes a total of eight…
Every year, trade journalists and industry executives get together to dress bikini models in futurey devices and parade them across a catwalk while people snap pictures of the technology, which just happens to reside in a pouch in front of someone’s cooch. Now the trade journalists I understand—the closest we get to gadget models is…
Hitachi has developed an adorable robot perfect for helping your geriatric friends walk. The EMIEW (“Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate,” natch) will be presented at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where robots seem to be a recurring theme. Incredibly agile and quick, the EMIEW can also recognize the voice of its master…
Here’s a pretty gnarly portable photo storage device from the Japanese company “ELEVE.” It is the “ELEVE Photo Binder 20GB,” and among other things, measures 69 x 79 x 22mm (H x W x D) or 2.7″ x 3.1″ x 0.9.” In other words, it isn’t much bigger than a MiniDisc as far as height…
What do pianos and computers have in common? They both have keyboards, provide hours of entertainment, and require a basic skillset to implement properly (oh how I wish my computer had pedals). Bringing the two even closer is the new “OWL-KB106PI” and “OWL-MOUPI” keyboard and mouse made of wood. But not just any wood; that…
I recently heard a representative from Coca-Cola’s marketing department speak, and he told me the marketing philosophy of the old CEO was along the lines of “if it moves, sponsor it. If it doesn’t, paint it red.” It is only now that this is starting to sink in with me, as Coca-Cola in Japan has…
Green House introduced the 23,800 yen “Kana M-bird” MP3/WMA/OGG player the other day, and it appears to be pretty dry besides the Dick Tracy styling and a couple oddball features. I could begin to tell you about the 512MB capacity, MP3 encoding from line-in jack, and FM tu — but I’ll stop right there, because…
Fresh out of Japan comes the “Nexx PMP-1200,” a portable media player with 3.5″ QVGA LCD and support for DivX and XviD movie playback. It has a 20GB hard drive, and what Nexx calls a “PC-like” touchscreen interface. I guess what is impressive about this unit is its format support—DivX/XviD/MPEG-1/2/4 video, MP3/WMA/AAC/AC3 (Dolby Digital)/OGG audio…
We continue to support these cellphones designed for children, even if they are eventually determined not to give kids horrible, free horsey ride-inducing brain tumors. This iCare bear from Guidetek is just a prototype, but the production model might even include GPS to let parents track their tykes every move. And with just four pre-programmed…
UK suck whiz James Dyson has announced The Ball, a new vaccuum cleaner designed about what looks like a yellow plastic volleyball. The idea of the DC15 The Ball is to speed up cleaning by “getting rid of teh forwards/backwards motion,” replacing it with a much more effecient ‘forward to the left/backwards to the right’…
In the immortal words of our muse, Jerry Maguire, as played our thetans’ muse, Mr. Tom Cruise, “You… complete us.” We just got word from our man on the ground in Austin at SXSW (codename: COCKPARTS STOLED), that Gizmodo has been selected by voters in the 2005 Bloggie Awards as the winner of the ‘Best…
Here’s a glimpse into the inner workings of the Gizmodo story selection process: The Sonic Devestator, available in both a personal handheld model and a ‘riot control’ versions, uses ultrasonic waves to induce “intense pain and discomfort in humans and animals” from a range anywhere from 20 to 50 feet. You can buy one pre-built…
Reader Chris B writes: You’ll think I’m mad but on the amazon uk page you get a release date of 29 April sometimes and the 24th June release date on others…I keep refreshing and get a different date depending on the ad banner. He’s not nuts (at least about this particular thing). I refreshed about…
Plantronics is releasing a new Bluetooth headset, code-named ‘Tahiti,’ which is designed to be both fashionable and convenient. The ‘fashionable’ part remains to be seen (it looks a bit twigs and berries, to me), but the convenience is clear: inside the foam carrying case (with included vanity mirror), are three different ways to charge the…
Product Highlights • Motorola iTunes plans [MobileTracker] Motorola iTunes ROKR phone to be shown at M3. • Russian military Bluetooth enabled headset (not Pokia) [eBay] • Microsoft Nixes MCE 2006 and Opts to Offer a Major Update to MCE 2005 [eHomeUpgrade] Reviews • HP Photosmart 8450 printer [PhotographyBlog] • Ultrasone HFI-550 headphones [DansData] Culture •…
Nokia is launching three new CDMA handsets in the US, out of which only the 6155 looks at all interesting. The 262k-color clamshell has a 1-megapixel camera, and features the new ‘Enhanced Voice Commands,’ which lets you do voice dialing and basic commands without pre-training the phone with Voice Tags. Don’t expect the 6155 out…
Grundig, probably best known for their radios, has started up a new brand called ‘Grundig Mobile,’ with the obvious end of creating cellular phones. Six new phones have been announced, including two new models designed to work on DoCoMo’s i-Mode systems. None of the phones are going to blow you away, so we won’t get…
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which conducts all of its research in tuneful four part harmony, has developed a system that uses sunlight (I actually started to write ‘solar-powered light’) pumped down fiber-optic tubes to complement an integrated system of flourscent bulbs. When there’s sufficient light outside, a sensor cuts the electric blubs, letting the light…