God only knows how many times I've needed an ejection seat in bars. Too bad that these Martin-Baker Mk7s—used in the hand-made $225,000 Phantom Bar—don't work for real. The whole thing is so tacky that is cool.
OK, it's not cool. I just like the seats, scavenged from McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom Jets and fully restored. Still, whoever buys this thing, I need an invite to try it. I do some really good caipirinhas that will actually make the Mk7 fly. [Phantom Werks via CrunchGear]
Apple's Inevitable September Keynote...The Tragic Death of a Sprint Marketing VP...TV-B-Gone Goes Global...
OK, so last week, one guy at AllThingsD says that a music-oriented (non-tablety) Apple keynote will take place the week of September 7th. Since the 7th happens to be Labor Day, there's one day eliminated off the bat. Today, another guy at AllThingsD cites different but still unnamed sources "insisting" that the day is Wednesday, Sept. 9, and that there will be no tablet. It's believable, so why isn't it "news"? Because it's just slightly more firm than what (we) already ran, and it's not firm enough to put on toast and call a sandwich.
Stay tuned for actual news on this, cuz when it breaks—when the date is firm and we know who's MCing this thing—you know where to be. [AllThingsD]
For all of the things that Sprint tends to get wrong, marketing isn't one of them. They have always had great commercials, were quick to figure out how to reach audiences on the web and yes—I'll fully admit—cite some damn good-looking 3G testers, from time to time. It was therefore especially sad to hear today that Sprint's corporate brand marketing VP, Thomas Murphy—the man behind the NASCAR sponsorship and the charitable Sprint Foundation—was killed in a nasty automobile accident. He was driving his family through Snowmass Canyon near Aspen when a rock "the size of a briefcase" fell off of a cliff ledge and smashed into the windshield of his Chevy Tahoe. It's a horrible tragedy, and we offer our condolences to his family. [KC Star via BoingBoing]
People who appreciate Gizmodo's darker side will rejoice that the DIY TV-B-Gone kit can now knock out any TV made for the North America/Asia and European/UK markets. Nobody is safe from your temporary extermination of their viewing pleasure! Since it's already been available in US form—and since as a stunt it might be past its prime—we didn't rush to post it, but if you want one, go ahead. You know they work. [Adafruit]
When the time came to spread pesticides over his rice field, this farmer faced a choice: lug around a heavy poison-filled backpack in the sweltering heat, or spray the chemicals from an RC helicopter. He made the right decision.
According to the source, crops in Japan are tiny and scattered throughout residential areas. Dusting the crops by plane, therefore, is impossible. Farmers normally tend the crops with pump activated backpack sprayers, but where's the fun in that? Kudos to this guy for figuring out a way to both spray the field and fly an awesome toy around all morning.
If the farmer ever finds himself with any bigger pests to deal with, he should talk to this guy about how to add a little more firepower to the rig. [Japan Probe]
Have a jailbroken iPhone but long for the exciting new Sense UI seen on the HTC Hero? A new theme brings Sense to the iPhone, though the skin is, unfortunately, only skin-deep.
The homescreen looks pretty good, with HTC's trademark flipping clock (although the skinned clock doesn't actuall flip), weather, and three customizable apps, with the icon for the sliding app tray just to the right. The dialer is also skinned, with the fat-finger-friendly Android number keys, but that's mostly it—the apps themselves aren't skinned, and neither is the list of apps. But it'll definitely give a fresh coat of paint to the iPhone if you're tired of the homescreen, as long as you don't expect the iPhone UI to be as totally changed by Sense as Android's was. [Redmond Pie via Engadget]
Scott Jarvie has created this beautiful lamp, made of hundreds of stripped drinking straws. The result is a gently colored light. Now we only need a thousand Mojitos and a lot of sucking power. [Mocoloco]
Yeah, you can ogle a vortex cannon on the screen, or you can gather up $200 in supplies and make your own shoulder-fired, dry-ice-launching BFG. That's short for Big Fucking Gun.
A bit of dry ice, water, a PET bottle, and a lot of balls to actually try this out are the main ingredients for this cannon which can supposedly shoot a rubber chicken as far as 80 meters (that's roughly 250 feet). All I'm seeing in the video though are soup cans and an odd guy named Benny, so your millage may vary.
Disclaimer: We will not be held responsible for any damages, injuries, or death caused by this cannon. Please launch soup cans responsibly. [Vimeo via HacknMod]
Microsoft's set a date, laid out their prices and started taking orders, but cheapskates: don't fret! You've still got until the 20th to get a near-finished version of the OS for free. Which you should, for all kinds of reasons.
The obvious ones: Microsoft is still using this to test for bugs, so you using a late-stage Release Candidate now equals faster security and usability updates after Windows 7 later. But more importantly, you get to try Windows 7 for an extended period now—you'll have until March before Microsoft starts forcefully shutting your computer down every two hours—before you commit to buying. Thursday may be your last day to nab an official download, but even then, Microsoft says they'll be handing out license keys for a while; you'll just have to supply your own copy of Windows. Microsoft is practically asking telling you to torrent Windows.
You should try it now, but wait to buy—prices will almost certainly come down before or after launch—maybe not very soon, but certainly before your RC expires and/or becomes an aggressive annoyance.
A few things to chew on while Windows 7's works through its prerelease "awkward phase:"
• A full review of the final, soon-to-be-released version of Windows 7, in case you're still not convinced that a free copy of the best version of Windows, ever, is worth downloading.
By 2013, San Francisco is planning to construct 360 new Muni bus stops that'll further the causes of both solar power and blanketed Wi-Fi at the same time.
The stops, which should cost around $30,000, may seem expensive, but they'll be pretty energy-efficient. The energy not used by the stops will be fed into the city's power grid, and the stops themselves will use LED lighting, nearly four and a half times more efficient than the current fluorescent. Is it shameful to admit that I'm way more excited about blanketed Wi-Fi coverage than energy efficiency? Because I am. [Popular Mechanics]
Technically, it's not a laser, but something called spaser. Instead of photons, it uses plasmons, a particle only 44 nanometers across. It could push CPUs' speeds to hundreds of terahertz, according to Mark Stockman, professor of physics at Georgia State:
The spaser works about a thousand times faster than the fastest transistor, while having the same nanoscale size. This opens up the possibility to build ultrafast amplifiers, logic elements, and microprocessors working about a thousand times faster than conventional silicon-based microprocessors.
This new method treats light in a different way than traditional optical CPUs, which are "difficult to miniaturize because you can't contain photons in areas smaller than half their wavelenght." In other words: Optical CPUs won't fit in current electronics. Plasmonic devices, on the other side, can concentrate these nanoparticles in spaces similar to current processors. [Technology Review]
In the years that Post-its have existed alongside laptops, there hasn't been a single alternative to pasting the sticky papers around screen bezels. Right? Not quite, but no one told that to this contestant on ABC's Shark Tank.
Leading us to believe that she has never used a Mac OS or Vista computer, which have sticky widgets baked in, her half a million dollar idea is to create "a sticky pad for sticky notes." Yes, the invention is a $10 board that attaches to the side of a laptop screen to hold Post-its in one central area.
In convincing the hosts to give her $100K for a 20 percent investment in her company, she evidences the fact that 56 million laptops will be sold in the U.S. this year alone. Ah yes, now it makes so much more sense. Someone please tell her each of those laptops are capable of downloading Post-it's very own software. [ABC's Shark Tank]
Despite all of them being counted as a single model, this fact is still impressive: The iPhone is now the number one camera in Flickr, the most popular image network. It's also the only cellphone in the top 5.
I've to admit that I used to tote my DSLR or a point-n-shoot everywhere, and now I don't thanks to the iPhone. Whenever I need a snap, I just take out the iPhone and fire away. I miss the quality and flexibility of my real cameras. And I really wish the iPhone had a camera as fast and good as a nice point-n-shot. And I really really REALLY wish for instant camera access and a physical shutter button. But even with all those missing features, it's oh-so-much more convenient. And most of the time—I hate it sometimes—I just care about the moment.
On top of that, once I started using the iPhone like a Lomo or a Holga—having CameraBag helps—and just catch whatever was going on, I stopped worrying about megapixels, aperture, and ISO settings. So I'm not surprised about the Flickr phenomenon. [LA Times via PocketLint]
Surely you have heard rumors about cellphones wreaking havoc around electronics and flammables, but this guy claims that calls to his Sony Ericsson PDA (P910 perhaps?) light up his Maytag Magic Chef oven—and he has video to prove it.
When Andrei Melnikov's Sony Ericsson PDA is within about two feet of the stove, an incoming call will make the Maytag Magic Chef stove beep, and the digital display will light up, indicating that the broiler is on high.
Open it up and you'll see the gas flames streaming out of the broiler's burners as it begins cooking anything inside it in 500-plus degree heat.
A Maytag repairman acknowledged the problem and told Melnikov that he needed to order "a suppressor" that would take 7-10 days to arrive. He claims that that this is the first time Maytag has heard of the issue and they are currently looking into it. It's also the first time Melnikov has dealt with it in the years that his family has owned the stove and the phone. Still, a glitch like this is pretty damned unsettling. [1010 WIns via MyFoxDC via Fark]
Today's available gadgets features the debut of Sprint's green phone. That's green as in eco-friendly, you can have it in blue if you want.
• Sprint's eco-friendly Samsung Reclaim went up for sale yesterday. In essence, it's a dumbphone that's made out of corn. That may not sound like much, but if you're looking for a full QWERTY phone to just send texts and make calls, you could do worse. John's initial impressions indicate that the Reclaim handles basic functions well, and the green design will let you feel a little less guilty if you decide to upgrade to a smartphone. The reclaim is available now for $49 with new two-year contract. [Sprint]
By 2013, San Francisco is planning to construct 360 new Muni bus stops that'll further the causes of both solar power and blanketed Wi-Fi at the same time.
The stops, which should cost around $30,000, may seem expensive, but they'll be pretty energy-efficient. The energy not used by the stops will be fed into the city's power grid, and the stops themselves will use LED lighting, nearly four and a half times more efficient than the current fluorescent. Is it shameful to admit that I'm way more excited about blanketed Wi-Fi coverage than energy efficiency? Because I am. [Popular Mechanics]
OK, I admit it. Watching a baby getting knocked down by a camera flash makes me laugh, but seriously: Moms and dads everywhere, pointblank flash shooting on your baby's eyes is not a good idea.
No kidding. Babies' eyes are not good targets for intense lights at close range. Heck, I'm not a good target either. [College Humor—Thanks Blakeley]
Yikes. Here's a video taken from the front of a freight train as it barrels head-on into another freight train. No one was killed, thankfully, but you can see a dude bailing from the oncoming train right before it hits.
This wreck happened at 5:54 AM on Wednesday, June 24th, 2006 between two Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains. As I said, no one was killed, but the crew on the train with the camera was seriously hurt. Good lord. [Neatorama]
Of course, like a fine wine, what constitutes quality for an audiophile is largely a matter of personal opinion. Dr. Dre wants to bring his brand of quality to the masses, but whether or not people will pay premium prices for it remains to be seen. So, out of curiosity, I am wondering how many of you would classify yourself as an audiophile. For those that do fall in that category, let us know what you look for in superior sound quality.
I came today to Gawker's office—under 95º heat and 95% humidity—to find Julia, our brilliant office assistant, typing inside a Slanket, hiding her shorter-than-short shorts. My first reaction: "What the hell are you doing?" Her explanation was good.
"Listen," she said, "I have to come to the office in the subway, with this horrible heat and humidity killing me. That's why I wear shorts. But then, when I come to the office we get this summertime sub-zero air conditioning, blowing at full, and I freeze! That's why I got the Slanket."
She is so right. She may not look as pretty as without the Slanket, but it's actually freezing here. This is the irony of spending summer in NY or any other city in the world: You go through your day suffering artificial winter in t-shirt and shorts, only to be toasted a minute later as you go down to grab a sandwich.
So as I write these lines and feel the hypothermia coming in, the frostbite on my feet—only protected with Havaianas—I wish I had a Slanket too. Definitely the ultimate accessory for summer in the city.
The iPhone is no stranger to gaping security flaws, but this one's a doozy: You know how when you delete emails, you expect them to be, well, deleted? On iPhone 3.0, that's just not how things work. This is bad.
You can watch the whole insincere deletion process play out above, but here's a handy guide so you can follow along at home. Turn off your device radio and Wi-Fi connection for maximum OH GOD:
1.) Find a message with a memorable subject line, and delete it. 2.) Go to your trash, and remove the message from there. 3.) Check whatever IMAP folders may be listed on your device—this works with POP too—and make sure your message is really not there. 4.) Flick over to the main Spotlight search screen, and search for the subject line on that message that shouldn't exist 5.) Be shocked and confused when you find that not only can you see the subject line in a simple search—you can still view the entire message. Your email-based illicit affairs are ruined.
I've tested this, and it works. I even restarted my iPod for good measure, and the message was still in the index, and still accessible by search, despite not appearing anywhere in the main Mail interface. As far as I can tell, there is no way to completely delete emails from iPhone OS 3.0, which isn't just strange, it's a disastrous security flaw.
Still, a few things don't really add up here. The video submitter says he can find emails from months ago, but surely this would result in creeping storage consumption, and has to stop sometime. I mean, doesn't it? And even if these messages are just hiding out in some secret folder or something, and can be deleted by some obscure method, this isn't how a mail client should behave, at all.
Try this yourselves and see if you can find any clues as to what's going on here: I'm as alarmed as I am stumped.
UPDATED: An internal tipster has provided us with proof that Apple is fully aware of this issue and will probably be including a fix in iPhone OS 3.1. [CultOfMac]
Modern consumer cameras can manage almost anything you throw at them, but sometimes even the swankest DSLR just won't do. In photography, when the conditions get crazy, the cameras get crazier.
Here are ten cameras designed to capture the kinds of images that humans by all means shouldn't be able to see, and that you and I will probably never have the opportunity—or need—to shoot.
We know almost nothing about this device of any substance. It could be a prototype. It could be on an assembly line now. But it's a tiny, touchscreen MID that runs Android. And it's pretty much distilled hotness.
Estimated to be about 4.5-inches long and 3-inches wide (while still managing a very slim profile), Pocketables has made out two buttons on the top of the device and a promise of SD storage. Otherwise, the design is one of pure simplicity with just the right touch of Apple plagiarism.
If it indeed exists and the price is right, this rig could be a pretty fun open-source hand-sized tablet...an Android Chumby without so much Chum. [Pocketables via CrunchGear]
We've been all about the air lately, but sometimes we just forget what some do to give us our future areo technology. The inventor of the Jetpod flying taxi, Michael Robert Dacre, died yesterday while testing his latest twin-engine aircraft.
Crashing in Taiping, Dacre died on his fourth run. According to a witness, the jet shot up about 200 meters into the sky before veering to the left and crashing into flames.
I'm gonna say that this, while an incredible tragedy, is going to set back the plans to have the eight-seat flying taxi ready by 2010. [The Star via Engadget]
Dealzmodo kicks off the week with great bargains on storage. There's an amazing deal on a trio of Sandisk SD cards, and check out one of the best prices we've ever seen on a 1TB external hard drive.
Young Nicholi makes web videos. Not so unique! But he shoots and uploads all of them in the 5th Ave Apple Store in NYC. OK, that's a bit more original.
Nicholi has made boatloads of lip sync videos at the store, and it's funny to see people milling around behind him and wondering just what the hell he's up to. Hey, you've gotta admire his boldness. [YouTube via Boing Boing]
According to Digital Daily, Palm's next WebOS phone, the Eos (aka "Pixie"), will probably drop sometime in 2010—refuting earlier rumors that it would launch before the holidays.
However, it does support grumblings flying around this past June regarding Palm putting the Eos on ice because of Pre sales concerns. Unless the hardware isn't there, it seems that having both the Pre and the Eos in the pipeline against the iPhone this holiday season would be to Palm's advantage. [Digital Daily]
Steve Jobs is a private man, so only those very close to him ever get a look inside his home. Privacy shmivacy! Here's our exclusive look inside, revealing some downright surprising aspects of the bearded one's personal life.
Giant portrait of Steve Jobs - Jobs has a gigantic portrait of multiple versions of himself deep in thought in his living room. He uses it as inspiration when he's hit a mental block. It's entitled "Bottomless Pools of Thought" and he had it commissioned from iconic British artist Damien Hirst for $7,000,000. [REDACTED] prototype - Steve gets the first prototype of any gadget Apple is currently working on so he can put it through its paces. If this [REDACTED] passes his stringent tests, it'll hit the market sometime in 2012. It's the first [REDACTED] to integrate a [REDACTED], which is sure to make the fanboys flip out. Currently, he's got it placed between three crystals for his standard "aura" test to see if its design gives off a positive energy. Heart of an Indian beggar child in a display case - Steve went on a vision quest in India back in the 70s. Essentially, he wandered around Mumbai on a combination of mescaline, mushrooms and huffed Scotchguard. While under this influence, he murdered a beggar child with his bare hands. He keeps the heart as a reminder that he is the master of his own destiny. Awkward ergonomic desk chair with no back - Jonathan Ive gave this to Steve back in 2003 as a Christmas present. Jonny told him it promoted good ergonomics, but Steve just likes it because it proves that he doesn't need to lean back on anything; he can support himself just fine. Mirror over the bed - This isn't for sex—Steve insists on sleeping alone, as anyone sharing the bed with him "disturbs the purity of [his] dreams." It's so the first thing he sees in the morning is himself. Unopened charity solicitation letters - Steve gets loads of letters from various charities hoping that he'll use some of his vast wealth to better their cause, be it vaccine research or college scholarships. He uses them as kindling for the fires he lights in his massive hearth, after removing the stamps for his stamp collection. Servant family - A Guatemalan family lives in the basement of the Jobs home. They do all of the cooking and cleaning and are paid in iTunes gift cards. Steve Ballmer voodoo doll - Steve's been working on this for years. Rather than sticking him with pins, he soaks the doll in boar sweat during Ballmer's public appearances. Surveillance monitors - Steve has cameras installed in the homes of all of his employees to make sure they aren't leaking product details or discussing them with their families. He keeps watch over all of them personally. Tibetan prayer flags, Buddha statue, incense, Koran, etc. - Steve keeps objects from many religions around his home. He isn't religious, but spiritual. He believes in the deity that lives within himself. Himself and nobody else.
Just a taste of Japan's still-fantastical cellphone market can be seen in the Sharp Mirumo 934SH. It's a waterproof clamshell that's pretty ordinary, until you realize its display is dual-sided.
Flip it open, and you have an ordinary, full color clamshell. But closed, its "memory" LCD takes advantage of a low-power backside that's black and white only.
This outer display can be programmed to support a number of apps and animations, but the most notable is definitely its rudimentary (but effective) self-portrait preview. Instead of displaying your actual face on the screen, you just see whether or not your mug is properly framed. (You know, before you flip open the phone to check yourself out in full color.) I'm still partial to touchscreens that eliminate the need for a dual-sided display entirely, but the Mirumo 934SH is certainly neat. [+D Media via DVICE]
Anyone can fake a screenshot. Heck, anyone can fake an Apple Tablet—this is a lot easier. These screenshots of Chrome OS—with a Mac OS X-inspired dock—may be real, but they may be fake for a couple of reasons.
First, the rumor is that Chrome OS will have a new windowing system. Basically, a windowing system where there are no windows, and all apps run always in full screen mode. Second, who in hell uses CRT monitors at Google or anywhere else? That just seems weird.
Still, it's polished. I like the simplicity, and the always present search field. Makes me wish that Mac OS X Spotlight was connected to the internet at all times. [Mashable]
Dr. Dre, Interscope Chairman Jimmy Lovine and HP have teamed up in an effort to reconstruct the entire "digital music ecosystem" starting with a new line of laptops, software and headsets under the Beats by Dr. Dre brand.
"I just want our product to sound better," Iovine said. "The record business committed many, many mistakes in the last 10 years, and I'm right in there. One of them was letting its product get degraded. It's one thing to let it get stolen, it's another to allow it to be degraded because then you really don't have a chance...video games and TV quality are getting better and the quality of our work is getting lower. If that happens, then music will become disposable. That's something we can fix."
Their goal, it seems, is to educate the iPod-owning public about what music should sound like so that we may rise up and demand this sort of quality in the future. Details on the product line have not been released, but we do know that they will feature a premium price tag—a major barrier for adoption beyond the hardcore audiophile. While I agree that the public puts up with sub-standard sound quality in many cases, the best way to make a technology mainstream is to make it affordable. [CNET via BusinessWeek]
This crazy contraption is a "Coital Model," something used by condom manufacturers to determine when condoms break. Yes, that's a big old penis on there. Uh, sexy?
Over a period of 7 years, broken condoms returned to a supplier (SSL, Durex) via consumer complaints were examined to determine the cause of failure. Also, some consumers who reported breakage but did not return condoms were sent a questionnaire on the causes of breakage. Finally, theories proposed for the mechanism of breakage were investigated on a laboratory coital model. RESULTS: Nearly 1000 (n=972) returned condoms made from natural rubber and polyurethane were examined. Visible features on those that were broken, were classified. Evidence combined from examining returns, questionnaire responses and the coital model strongly suggests a single predominant mechanism of failure we named "blunt puncture," where the tip of the thrusting male penis progressively stretches one part of the intact condom wall until it ultimately breaks.
Wait just a goddamned minute. People mail in their broken condoms?! What in the holy fuck? I'm as big a fan of providing feedback to manufacturers when products don't work as advertised, but that's downright disgusting. [NCBI ROFL via io9]
Thanks to written eyewitness accounts and mechanical drawings left behind by the artist, Leonardo da Vinci's fabled mechanical lion walks again after 500 years.
Originally designed to entertain the King of France, the robot has been recreated as part of an exhibit at the Chateau du Clos Luce in France—Leonardo's last residence.
Using those drawings as well as the written descriptions of the lion, master maker of automatons Renato Boaretto recreated the animal for the Chateau du Clos Luce, where it can be seen as part of a Da Vinci exhibition that lasts until January 31, 2010.
Boaretto's lion, which is life-size, is wound up by hand like an old-fashioned clock. Then, it takes about 10 steps forward, shakes its head from side to side, opens and closes its jaws and wags its tail up and down.
A secret mechanism is built into its mane so that when a particular spot is stroked, a trapdoor swings open on the lion's flank and several fleur de lys pop out.
Described in the Reuters article as "the George Lucas of his time" Leonardo was famed for winning over crowds with mechanical "special effects" (although, there is no evidence to suggest that he tinkered too much with his past successes and ended up disappointing his fans). [Reuters]
Personal theory: Man has a natural propensity to question what he reads but believe anything he sees in neat infographic form. And this is one heck of an infographic, comparing budget airlines (like Southwest) to traditional companies like Delta.
(Click on the image to see it bigger.)
I have no idea whether or not all of the stats are true, but I believe the shit out of them. Peach versus baby blue is the new good versus evil. Apply haphazard census information to a bathroom guy graphic and it's un-freggin-questionable. That's the bathroom guy, after all. He's never abused my trust by leading me into a women's restroom only to laugh and laugh while recording the event for a little YouTube subscriber bait.
That's restraint.
Having flown both types of carriers, I'd have never known that a company like Air France has 10x the staff of a company like EasyJet. And I don't know the last time I was served a meal on a non-international flight, no matter how large or expensive the carrier or ticket. [Flickr via Digg]
While the version number is still reading 2.5, some of the screenshots on the App Store are telling a different story. Hopefully, this is an indicator that Facebook 3.0 is on its way. [iTunes—Thanks Josh!]
At first glance, this ruggedized steel box looks kinda lame, but because it bolts to furniture from the inside (using supplied mounting parts), it actually wouldn't be a bad way to protect your 17-inch-or-smaller laptop in communal living situations.
For its $80, the DormVault also comes with a combination lock, but I'd probably invest in something a little more heavy duty as that looks to be the weakest link in the rig. Neat idea, though, assuming you're actually able to go about drilling holes in things.
Features • Rugged steel construction • 16' x 13" x 5" • Weighs 9 pounds • Laptop Safe for Dorm Room or Apartment • Attaches to Furniture • Holds up to 17" laptops and Personal Accessories • Comes with mounting brackets, multiple-size bolts, wingnuts and combination lock
Good news: According to Yann Lafargue, PR guy at TomTom, the incoming TomTom GPS Car Kit will work with the iPod touch, enabling full GPS capabilities in Apple's smart multimedia player:
Oui, je confirme et il fonctionnera avec un iPod Touch ou d'autres logiciels de navigations concurrents. Pour la disponibilité, je ne peux pas répondre.
It will work with the iPod touch and other competing GPS (iPhone OS) software. I can't comment on availability.
In other words, the car kit contains a full GPS, which apparently will not only work with the iPod touch, but also replace the iPhone's GPS with a faster, more accurate unit. [Mac4ever via Macenstein]
Howard Stringer hasn't managed to tame the 1000-armed octopus that is Sony just yet, but we like the man's way of thinking. And being named Sony Ericsson's new Chairmen of the Board (starting October 15th) certainly can't hurt the Ericsson end of things. Neither can Sony Ericsson's new chief. [Sony Ericsson]
With all due respect to Flava Flav and his giant clock, this is more my speed. Although I can't help but notice that the chain is too short to let him play it while wearing it. [Facehunter via Kottke]
This means that TiVo HD and TiVO HD XL owners will be able to use i.TV as a full remote control, replacing those serviceable but ultimately kind of lame standalone apps that they'd been stuck with up until now. While the prospect of a true all-in-one remote app is pretty exciting—though it's firmly just a prospect, since i.TV is simply offering a framework, not developing remotes themselves—the app has a few other new features going for it, including push notifications to remind you when flagged programs are coming on, and iTunes integration, which lets you initiate iTunes purchases from within i.TV's schedule interface.
Prior versions were free, and this one should be too, as soon as Apple lets it through the gates, which is expected to happen within a few days, or, you know, not. For now, enjoy a teasey video: [i.TV via BGR]
Remember back in school when you built some contraption to drop an egg without spilling yoke everywhere? Well Pop Mech essentially did the same thing, but they used a laptop.
After wrapping a Dell Inspiron 1545 in an exoskeleton of foam-core boards, pipe insulation and tennis balls (hence the protruding, rounded edges), the laptop could be dropped from a distance of 8 feet and live to tell the tale. (There's a non-embeddable clip of the testing over at their site.) Just how many times the computer could survive such a drop is unknown. Then again, if you're repeatedly dropping your precious machine from the peak of your reach, you may be a big enough douchebag to deserve any karma that foam alone cannot assuage.
Also of note, a FoodSaver vacuum sealer in "pulse" mode is absolutely perfect for waterproofing a cellphone in a snug-fitting plastic skin—you'll just need to rip your phone from the bag when you want to recharge it. [Pop Mech]
Early this morning, the final Delta II GPS rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. And man, did it look beautiful. Head over to WCBS 880 for the full gallery. [WCBS 880 via Current]
Someone at Cupertino is a fan of the criminally short-lived Arrested Development, as evidenced by this entry in the iPhone dictionary of "Mayonegg." Don't get it? Here's a clip to put it in context.
Update: OK, so it looks like someone was just typing "Mayonegg" into their iPhone a lot and the dictionary learned it. Not as exciting, but I'm leaving this post up because I love that clip so much. [The Triumph of Bullshit]
At least from audience response I've spotted on Twitter, District 9 may be the saving grace of mostly lousy summer science fiction. Here's a look behind the scenes compliments of Wired.
Director Neill Blomkamp shares his thoughts on his casual presentation of special effects while WETA Workshop designer Greg Broadmore talks about designing the aliens and their weaponry (specifically, why their weapons can be painted bright orange).
This clip isn't a hardcore look into the movie, but it's a nice bit of fluff to help you relive the alien invasion that you may have enjoyed last weekend. Or you could skip the clip and get back to work. Because that alternative sounds great. [Wired]
The 6-ounce Verbatim InSightportable HD has an always-on display that shows its name and remaining capacity even while disconnected. However, I just posted it because I can serve some Brie and Reblochon on it. Hmmm, cheese.
The 6 x 3.4 x 0.63-inch USB 2.0 InSight is a 2.5-inch drive running at 5400rpm, with an 8MB cache. Not the fastest things ever, but kind of nice for $120 (320GB) and $150 (500GB), gooey cheese not included.
Verbatim Launches InSight™ Portable USB Hard Drives with an Always On Display
InSight™ Hard Drive Displays Drive Name and Available Free Space, Even when Disconnected
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—With the announcement today of its new InSight(TM) Portable USB Hard Drives, Verbatim(R) Americas, LLC, the world's leader in storage media technology, takes hard drive design to a new dimension. The sleek, durable enclosure is enhanced with a premium piano black finish that will appeal to professional as well as home users. Additionally, the InSight Portable Hard Drive features an Always On display, which automatically calculates and continuously displays the customizable drive name and available free space, even when the drive is disconnected from the computer. Shipping now, the palm-sized external hard drive will enable Windows(R) and Mac(R) users to instantly add 320GB or 500GB of stylish, removable capacity to their notebook or desktop systems.
"The new enclosure design for InSight Portable Hard Drives adds a touch of elegance to the external hard drive product category," says Charles Klinker, Verbatim's Director of Marketing, HDD Products. "Users have the option to personalize their drive's name, e.g., TUNES&PICS, which, along with the free space, shows on the 32 x 128-pixel display even when the drive is unplugged from the user's computer. The ability to quickly glance at several drives and identify the one that has pictures of the kids, your music collection or video library, for example, adds a level of convenience not previously available in portable hard drives."
Both 320GB and 500GB-capacity drives include Nero BackItUp Essentials, a complete data protection solution, allowing full, automatic system backup and restore functions. Easy-to-use, the software guides the user to set up scheduled backups by date and/or time. Nero BackItUp Essentials also features data encryption with password control options, providing data security and peace of mind when traveling or storing the drive.
Designed to fit easily on a desktop or to be taken on-the-go, Verbatim's new InSight Portable Hard Drives weigh less than 6 ounces (164 g), and measure 6 in. X 3.4 in. X 0.63 in. (153 mm x 87 mm x 16 mm).
The 2.5" drives have a 5400rpm spindle speed and 8MB of cache memory to optimize performance. Equipped with a USB 2.0 port, the bus-powered drives achieve high-speed transfer rates of up to 480MB/sec.
Backed by a 5-year limited warranty, InSight Portable Hard Drives deliver unique functionality, safety, security, and reliability to all computer users.
Availability and Pricing
Designed for Windows Vista, XP or 2000 and Mac OS 9.x or higher systems, Verbatim InSight Portable Hard Drives are available through Verbatim retail partners such as Best Buy. Suggested retail prices are US$119.99 for the 320GB drive and US$149.99 for the 500GB drive. Backed by a 5-year limited warranty, the complete package includes the InSight Portable Hard Drive, a USB cable, Nero BackItUp Essentials Software for Windows, and a Quick Start Guide.
Sony Ericsson has taken leadership in the music phones and the camera phones with the Cybershot and the Walkman, but there are some weaknesses in the smart phone segment and we need to restore that
To translate: Sony Ericsson has spent the last five years desperately striving to dominate a segment of cellphones—dumbphones—that nobody really cares about that much, and that reasonably-priced smartphones have made obsolete. Congratulations on figuring out this painfully obvious thing, large company! Now hurry up with that Rachael. [WSJ]
Woot's original Sore Thumbs shirt sold out, so they've reprinted it for $20. But can you name all of the classic game controllers here? (If you can't, we have a larger shot and the answer key.)
From the designer: Atari 2600, GCE Vectrex, NES, NES Max, Magnavox Odyssey, Colecovision, Atari 7800, NES Advantage, Mattel Intelivision, Atari 5200, Sega Master System, NEC Turbografx-16, Nintendo Super Family, Panasonic 3D0, Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, Sega Genesis 6 Button, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Sony Playstation Dual Analog, Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Sega Saturn 3D, XBOX Controller S, Wavebird, Wii, Sega Dreamcast, XBOX "Duke," XBOX 360, Wii Classic, and Gamecube.
Not content with stealing a UK woman's laptop, iPhone, Nintendo DS and handbag—a shithead burglar has logged into her Facebook account, leaving messages like "on my new laptop", "listening to music on my new phone feels so good."
The illiterate low-life went on to mock:
"I have the laptop, phones ok but a bit scratched itll do, tv was rubbish so I left it , ds was a bonus, now to the porn shop, thankyou toshiba is my favourite make".
The sick scenario is a cautionary true tale to think twice about what data you store on your laptop, and a reminder that you should use some basic security to protect it. [Telegraph via TechRadar]
With the Pirate Bay set to close in the next few days, one anonymous user has put together a single massive archive of all 873,671 torrent files hosted on its servers.
Remember: this is a torrent file index, not the petabytes of data they link to.
The anonymous uploader who compiled this huge torrent told TorrentFreak that he wanted to have a backup of the site in case all torrents mysteriously disappear after the site is sold. "I suppose I want us to have assurances. If the TPB deal disappoints us, we can just put it up again," he said.
Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay is also hosting what it calls "the $675,000 mixtape"—a collection of the 30 songs that student Joel Tenenbaum was found guilty of sharing, and then fined that amount for.
So Dell's made-for China Mobile Mini3i looks confirmed. But it's no smartphone. Apparent hands-on reports suggest it's a 2G device, with no 3G or Wi-Fi. However, it does have that 3.5-inch touchscreen and Micro SD card slot we heard about.
The Mini3i runs the Android-based Open Mobile System (OMS), and according to the report, was shown at China Mobile's event for its new application platform.
The write-up goes on to say that two volume adjustment keys and a mini USB port are on the left side of the capacitive touchscreen, which has a resolution of 360 by 640. The back of the phone has a large Dell logo, Micro SD card slot, and 3.2Mp camera with what looks an LED light.
Still no word on an official release date, but if you're China, it looks like you won't have to wait long. [Mobile-163 (translated) via Cloned in China via Engadget]
Many virtual rev-heads knew it was coming, but Logitech has now officially replaced its G25 Racing Wheel with the G27. The update adds shift-indicator LEDs that you help know when to up/down gear, and more programmable buttons on the wheel.
The 11-inch, leather-wrapped wheel now has a total of six buttons (three for each thumb), compared to just two previously. This, and the shift-indicator LEDs on the six-speed gear stick are the core of the updates. Dual-motor force feedback returns, along with steel gas, brake and clutch pedals.
The G27 works with supported games under Windows XP/Vista, and on the PS3 or PS2. It should be available this September, for the same $299.99 asking price as its predecessor. [Logitech]
Not Hulu…Hula! As in the Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu dancers. A crew of 40 started a hit and run Hula at Pier 39 on Saturday, made their way downtown, and made a fun visit to the Apple Store:
From all reports, everyone got a kick out of it, but when the smiling dancers made their way across the road to the Westfield shopping mall afterwards, security there gave them the boot. Kill joys! [SFist and San Francisco Chronicle]
By 2013, San Francisco is planning to construct 360 new Muni 
Technically, it's not a laser, but something called spaser. Instead of photons, it uses plasmons, a particle only 44 nanometers across. It could push CPUs' speeds to hundreds of terahertz, according to Mark Stockman, professor of physics at Georgia State:
By 2013, San Francisco is planning to construct 360 new Muni bus stops that'll further the causes of both solar power and blanketed Wi-Fi at the same time.
OK, I admit it. Watching a baby getting knocked down by a camera flash makes me laugh, but seriously: Moms and dads everywhere, pointblank flash shooting on your baby's eyes is not a good idea.
We've been all about 
According to Digital Daily, Palm's next WebOS phone, the Eos (aka "Pixie"), will probably drop sometime in 2010—refuting earlier rumors that it would launch before the holidays.
Someone at Cupertino is a fan of the criminally short-lived 
Woot's original 
Not content with stealing a UK woman's laptop, iPhone, Nintendo DS and handbag—a shithead burglar has logged into her Facebook account, leaving messages like "on my new laptop", "listening to music on my new phone feels so good." 
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