Tech news, analysis, culture, business, security, and more
There’s no way I can construe this as being a gadget, really, but I feel it’s my duty to realize when to step outside of our editorial boundaries and talk about hamsters piloting other, larger robot hamsters. This is one of those times. In fact, I think that HamGear may be even cuter than the…
Although it isn’t nearly as cool as the Roland Digital Accordion in my book, Yamaha has announced a digital trumpet called the ‘EZ-TP’ that lets you blow like it were a real brass instrument, or just hum a melody and let it convert it to a trumpet-like sound. Rumors that the trumpet’s mother was a…
It would take a lot to separate me from my clickity-clack IBM bent-spring keyboard, but this Logitech diNovo would almost do it. It’s wireless, for one—something that I rarely thought I’d use but find I like quite a bit when I do (we’ve got other machines here with older wireless Logitechs, just not my main…
ThinkSecret is reporting that Apple may announce a speed-bumped iBook tomorrow, with up to a 1.3GHz G4 inside, and possibly Airport Extreme standard. They’re also mentioning the possibility of a U2-edition iPod, with a special look (probably just something inscribed on the back, if previous special editions are any indicator), as well coming “pre-loaded with…
Sony’s miniscule Cybershot DSC-U30 2-megapixel camera is on sale at Amazon for just $100. It won’t replace a real camera—it doesn’t even have optical zoom—but as a good-quality shooter that can fit into any bag or pocket, it’s a pretty good deal. I wonder if they’re discounting it because it wasn’t selling well or if…
Looks like the Clie PEG-VZ90 is coming to the US market, in contrast to what we told you in September. Of course, Sony isn’t bringing it themselves, but you can get it from importer Dynamism, whom we love dearly for their tendency to bring the hotness from Japan, while also crying at their often way-high…
The BlackBerry 7270 (7290 pictured) is being shown off at the Gartner ITXPO Symposium by Research In Motion (RIM). The 7270 incorporates 802.11 support for both voice and data applications, and while it’s only going to work with RIM’s backend (targeted mainly at big corps) it seems to portend other 802.11 VoWLAN devices in the…
CES has confirmed that Bill Gates will be giving the pre-show keynote at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, a move that many are interpreting as the date Microsoft will finally unveil the Xbox 2. The PowerPC and ATI-powered development boxes are already in the hands of many developers, so it’s reasonable to expect something soon, and…
An Oregon man found a group of U.S. Air Force men at his door, warning him to keep his television turned off or face a $10,000 fine. It seems Chris van Rossman’s Toshiba—something like this MW24FM1 model with the built-in DVD and VCR—had been broadcasting on an international distress frequency, which was picked up by…
UK retailer Carphone Warehouse has announced a deal with music label EMI to launch Robbie Williams’ next album on an MMC card, in addition to the standard online and CD release, specifically for use in mobile phones and PDAs. Not only will it have versions of all the songs, but it will also have video…
Even though I am of the persuasion that portable video players should be as small as possible, even I can’t deny that the DVX-POD 7010 is a nice looking beast—and I’d not just saying that because it looks like a distended iPod. A native 720 by 486 widescreen resolution is seriously hard to hate on,…
It took real will power to resist buying these plastic Super Mario Bros dioramas from J-List, but I already had indulged in the perfectly useless Hello Kitty Desktop Vacuum, so I’m just going to have to let the go. For $30 or so (after shipping), you can have all six of the 3D pixel scenes…
It is perhaps a little unwieldy in shape, but the Graphic-DMM will turn any CompactFlash- or PCMCIA slot-equipped PDA or notebook into a full-function, dual-channel digital multimeter. Not only does it allow all the normal multimeter functions, but features software that helps troubleshoot problems, record data, and compare results from the two independently-grounded channels. Multimeters…
For those of you who fetishize all things Japanese but have the lingual talent of a turnip, your future pilgrimage to Japan just got a whole lot easier. NEC has made a handheld device which takes what you say in English or Japanese, translates it, and then speaks the translation for you. The whole process…
Olympus contacted us to confirm that those two hot m:robe players, the M-500i [right] and the M-100 [left], are indeed coming to the us, at $500 and $250, respectively. I think they’re both overpriced, especially the M-100, considering how many $200 5GB players are out there already (or even the $250 20GB Archos player coming…
Among other changes to the U.S. Navy’s dress code—like making skirts optional for women and allowing them to purchase their own, more stylish purses instead of using horrendous government-issue bags—sailors in working uniforms will now be able to wear cell phones, PDAs, and other gadgets. When on “official business,” sailors must wear their gear on…
Damn, how’s that for a prediction? I just said a couple of hours ago that information about PalmOne’s new Treo 650 would leak out this week, but I didn’t think it would be from PalmOne themselves. This article at InternetNews sure sounds a lot like a product launch, although it doesn’t exactly have all the…
What’s better than USB flash drives shaped like sushi? Nothing. This will probably be our last post ever. Sushi USB [SorobanGeeks]
If you’d like to know what one of those new Mini Apple stores look like, well, they look like this. (Thanks, Goopy!) Full Size Image [Gizmodo] Looks like the employees are using the Vocera Communication Badges, too. How very Sterile Trek of them. Mini Stores: Airports, Self-Service and Trekkie Comlinks [CultOfMac] https://gizmodo.com/vocera-communications-badge-8903
As older-generation iPods start to creak and die, it’s good to see companies other than Apple spring up to address the eventual failings of the much-jostled hardware. Now I’ve never used these guys before, so don’t take this as a recommendation, per se, but iPodMods had announced a price drop on their iPod LED replacement…