Fighting Android Makes You Feel Manly December 29, 2005
READ MORE Robots
If you’ve been wanting to get in the ring for a spar but don’t want to hurt anyone (especially yourself), this FA-1 Fighting Android Sparring Partner could be just the ticket. A Robotic, martial arts/boxing training robot, it’s made by Self Defense Technologies and is designed to move with you, giving you variable punching and defensive positions and different speeds. And when you’re done, you can take it out for a beer—no hard feelings. I’ll be interested to see how this thing stands upright, do they stick a pole in its butt or something?
Fighting Androids [sdtandroids]
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New Intel Logos On the Way? December 29, 2005
READ MORE PC
Intel’s been in the news a lot as of late, much of it relating to the possible launch of Intel-based Macs at next month’s MacWorld. So it only seems fitting that the rumor mills are a-turning, here relating to the company’s logo. Allegedly, gone will be the now-familiar “Intel Inside” sticker, replaced with a new sticker detailing the type of processor that lies within. That is, each processor family is getting its own tags. Will we be seeing one of these on Steve Jobs’s computers in a few weeks’ time?
New Intel Inside logos? [Brandscribe]
Samsung SGH i858 Gets FCC Approval December 29, 2005
READ MORE Mobile phones
There is a new little ditty from Samsung that has popped up on the FCC website for all to see. This is the SGH i858 slider phone. Biggest and best news about this: it features a 320x240-pixel touch screen. Other than that, just another phone with all of the average features: Bluetooth, expandable memory, infrared, USB, 2-megapixel camera, etc. Samsung hasn’t mentioned a peep about this phone, so it will likely have some changes made before a final release.
Samsung touch screen slider – SGH i858 [Phoneworld]
Reader Rant: Crapple December 29, 2005
READ MORE Laptops
In honor of the post-present hangover that many of you are probably trying to cure right now, Gizmodo is publishing the funniest, most harrowing stories of support line woe. Bring us your hobbled products yearning to be returned for a hefty re-stocking fee. Mail rants to gizmodobox@gmail.com with “READER RANT” in the subject line.
Scrapple from the Crapple
After years of working on a PC at my job, I finally switched to an iBook last year. We had a wonderful 367 days together, but last week, to top off a holiday depression, transit strike, and breakup, I got an error message about a start-up script followed by a gray screen every time I tried to start up my computer.
The genius of my two hours on the phone with customer support is that while we were chatting (and by “chatting,” I mean “me sitting there on hold crying hysterically”), I missed two phone calls from a 916 area code that I assumed were from someone I was expecting a call back from. Eventually, customer support had me wipe out my hard drive and reinstall the system, meaning my computer is at TekServe for at least a week while they try to recover data and my livelihood as a writer/editor from home. Today, back at a terminal at an office I sometimes work from, I looked up the number and nearly gouged out my eyes with rage. Unbelievably, I called it, and here’s what it says:
“Thank you for calling Apple Computer. From time to time we contact customers to introduce them to new products or services…”
a) We’re already in contact—on the OTHER LINE.
b) Do you have anything available that doesn’t SPONTANEOUSLY SUCK?
I’m sure this “ironic” twist wasn’t so ironic—the system probably put my number in the telemarketing queue as soon as the customer service woman input it. But, in summation, ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH. I know my story isn’t singular in its suckiness. Everyone who’s dealt with tech support has a horror story to tell, so please, help pass the holiday blahs by posting yours here. Get it out good. Let us know your pain. And hey, happy holidays!
Get Boned with the Audio Bone December 29, 2005
READ MORE Peripherals
Pegasus Corporation of Japan is releasing the Audio Bone headphones. You’ve heard of shaking baby syndrome? Well, these are like that, but for adults. These headphones send musical vibrations straight to your brain by means of the skull. Audiophiles, listen up: here is the jibberish on technical specifics.
The headphones with 80dB/mW Sensitivity, 8 Ohm impendence with 50Hz - 4 kHz frequency range weighs 60gms only.
Supposedly this brain-tumor-establishing technology creates a better stereo sound. These should be available now for around $125.
“Audio Bone” – Bone Conduction Headphones [Music Gizmos]
iKitty: The Litterbox for Your nano December 29, 2005
READ MORE Portable Media
If you’ve been crying your eyes out for an iKitty iPod case for your new nano, it’s time to bust out a smile. Speck Products is now offering this rubberized kitty-shaped case especially for the nano, available in both black and white. Made of silicone, it fits both 2- and 4-gig iPod nanos and gives you full access to all buttons and controls. Only $34.95.
iKitty [Speck Products]
Purchase options for iKitty” [Shopping.com]
iMeat: Heartburn for iPod Fans December 29, 2005
READ MORE Portable Media
If you got a Video iPod for the holidays this year, you should be thanking your lucky stars it didn’t come from the Hawaiian Keeaumoku Wal-Wart. Rachel Cambra, a mom and an employee of that Wal-Mart store, gave her son a Christmas gift which she believed to be a Video iPod she had put on layaway. But when the big moment arrived on Christmas morning and the present was ripped open, there was no iPod to be found. Just a wrapped-up piece of meat. Yes, I said meat. Not sure what kind of meat, but the fact that it was wrapped made it a little more palatable. Wal-Mart promises to replace the iPod as soon as possible and Apple doesn’t seem to have a comment. And Rachel, maybe you can make it up with a nice Christmas kebab? Just sayin’.
Update: Yes, I too find this story hard to swallow. Channel 2 News Hawaii is certainly among my most trusted sources of news. But I have yet to find anything to prove this meaty tale is spoiled. So, I’m offering a small prize to the first person who e-mails tips@gizmodo.com with evidence that this story is a fake. Be sure to write “iMeat” in the subject line.
Update #2: We have an email from someone who claims to be an insider at the Wal-mart Corp. Office in Hawaii, here is what she says:
Truth is, there was 2 more units found to have Ms. Cambra should be getting her replacement withinAs for your iMeat story-looks like Walmart is actually
at fault. I’m an investigator for Walmart’s Corp.
Office in Honolulu (we handle internal theft, shipment
shortages, barcode fraud etc).
“wrapped meat” in them and actually suspect an
ex-employee of the tampering. The 2 other units were
purchased by employees as Christmas gifts too.
the week.
No iPod for Christmas, just mystery meat [Khon]
Iqua Snake, Safer Car Cellphoning December 29, 2005
READ MORE Mobile phones
This is the Iqua Snake Bluetooth headset, a traditional Bluetooth headset with a little bit of a twist. Literally! Ha, puns are fun! It’s designed primarily to wrap around a car seat headrest for safer vehicular cellphoning. It features controls for power, volume, answer/end/reject call, redial, voice dial and automatic reconnection. Six hours of charge will provide 300 hours of standby and up to 10 hours of talk time. Yeah, it may provide safer cell phone usage in the car, but something doesn’t seem right about having a small, semi-pointy device lurking next to my skull while I’m driving a vehicle at 70 mph.
Iqua Snake – Bluetooth Headrest Handsfree [Gadgetspy_]
Skype Handset for Macs! Yes! December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
As useful as Skype is, Mac users have been on the short end of the stick when it comes to handsets. That is, until now! IPEVO is coming to the table, showing Mac users that their platform hasn’t been forgotten. The Free-1W looks as nice as anything to come out of Cupertino and comes in either Alpha (opposed to beta) White or Ultimate (opposed to Fantastic) Black. For $30, Mac users really can’t go wrong (not that they have a choice).
Skype Handset for Mac Users [eHomeUpgrade]
Circuitboard Coasters December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
Remember the kid you picked on back in high school who was winning math Olympiads and what not? You should probably give him a call and apologize this holiday season. In fact, a gift is more appropriate. So why not get him these totally radical circuitboard coasters? Made from REAL circuitboard and not painted on, these coasters are the epitome of geekdom. Now I know this is not the first time you’ve seen a circuit board used as a coaster. But all hues of the PCBoard rainbow are represented here—amber, green, blue, and others. You can net a set of six coasters for only $20. You’ll still get picked on if you use them, but at least you won’t have those ugly water rings on your wooden tables.
Circuitboard Coasters [Oh! Gizmo]
Talk About a Good Hand December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
Looking for a belated holiday gift that may surprise that avid card player? Check out this Junkin Trump Bridge deck from Mitsubishi Materials Corporation. Each card is made of 99.99% pure gold, is about 7 microns thick and weighs .73 grams. So if you’re trying to get into grandma’s will, this may be the thing that tips the scales. It takes four weeks for the cards to be made by special order and they come in a specially-made box. Obviously, prices may fluctuate according to gold prices, but right now you can get ‘em for about $3,600. Yahtzee!
BUSINESS SHOWROOM / Good hand [Yomiuri]
FineDrive M700D Packs DMB, GPS, and More December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
FineDrive is looking to take Korea by storm with its new M700D in-car multimedia system. It features GPS, video playback, and DMB for watching television while on the go. Now you won’t need a huge dish attached to the car if you’re looking to watch Battlestar Galactica. With easy navigation and few buttons, the FineDrive is a decent solution if you’re looking to break into a combo GPS/DMB unit for your ride. A small jogwheel makes it easier to navigate menus while you swerve across the highway drive. No word yet on a release date or price.
FineDrive M700D, in-car DMB and GPS [Akihabara]
Specs and pricing for currently available FineDrive GPS [Shopping.com]
Alienware Docks In Your Heart December 29, 2005
READ MORE Portable Media
Alienware has had its CE-IV MP3 player lingering on the market for quite some time now. Unfortunately, the unit hasn’t had an impact on the consumer electronics world because it is yet another MP3 player without an Apple logo. Now Alienware is releasing a somewhat affordable speaker dock for the CE-IV MP3 player. It isn’t simply just a dock, though, it’s a “2.1 Channel Portable Music Enhancement System,” which is Latin for “un-Godly huge MP3 player-holding alien rectum.” One-hundo will make this dock yours to go with the Alienware MP3 player that 99.9% of you don’t own.
Alienware’s Docking Speaker Station [OhGizmo!]
Pricing for Alienware Docking Speaker Station [Amazon]
Pricing for Alienware MP3 Players [Amazon]
GLAN Tank Media Server December 29, 2005
READ MORE Home Entertainment
Challenger, the PC power-user brand of Iodata Japan, announced its latest media server product, GLAN Tank, for January 2006. The case packs two 3.5-inch HDDs, each with 250 GB. Compared to former models it also features Gigabit Ethernet, XScale 416 MHz CPU, 128 MB memory, and four USB ports. The OS is Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 and Linux kernel 2.6.8. The server functionality allows usage of iTunes and other network player software, fileserver WebDAV, Telnet, Multicast DNS, FTP and Web publishing. The price will be around $215.
EasyShare One flickr Upload How-To December 29, 2005
READ MORE Digital cameras
Kodak’s EasyShare One is one neat digital camera. The feature that sets it apart from other digital cameras is its included WiFi support. With this, users can take a photo, then automatically have it e-mailed or stored online via a WiFi connection to the Internet. At least, that’s the idea. Trouble is, all the photos are sent to a Kodak server, from which you are forced to retrieve them. Our pals at Make have taken it upon themselves to solve this problem. They used a collection of Mac software to upload the photos automatically to flickr, and mapped the process for the world—and hopefully Kodak—to see.
HOW TO - Use the Kodak Wi-Fi Camera with Flickr [Makezine]
Jukebox on Wheels—Toyota 2box car bB December 29, 2005
READ MORE Portable Media
Toyota Japan is selling its full audio car bB with a big-time marketing campaign in cooperation with MTV. All models include the specially-developed Toyota music player that is integrated into the car as a standard feature. The high-end (Q version) is a 4WD with a nine-speaker system and costs about $16,000. The speakers and surround DSP were developed by Pioneer. It features an AM/FM tuner, CD player, supports MP3/WMA and a connection for your portable music player. The nicest feature of this car—at least to the Tokyo nightlife junkies—is the enormous amount of lighting and illumination attached to it. The control panel for the lighting and audio sits comfortably at the armrest.
Gizmodo’s Man of the Week December 29, 2005
READ MORE Mobile phones
Let’s say your Alaskan Airlines flight has to make an emergency landing because it’s got a three-foot gash in its belly. You put on the oxygen mask, and then what? If you are Jeremy Hermanns you whip out a Treo 650 and snap some pics of yourself wearing that oxygen mask. You can almost see him smiling behind the mask. Jeremy, you are Gizmodo’s Man of the Week. We salute your devotion to gadgetry.
Cell photo captures flight emergency [Lost Remote]
Maglite Going LED December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
Maglite, makers of all things police and security guards use, is venturing out into the world of LEDs. Seems a brighter, better MAG is in the works, as the company’s website is saying that in early 2006, MAG will start introducing MAG-LED products with LED technology. Made for both professional and consumer use, the new MAGs will be stylish, brighter, and are designed to last a lifetime.
MAG Product Page [via Diggdot]
Specs and pricing for Maglite LED converter [Amazon]
Pioneer’s Blu-ray PC Drive Beats New Year December 29, 2005
READ MORE Storage
To help along the proliferation of Blu-ray versus the dreaded competition of HD-DVD, Pioneer has unveiled a Blu-ray DVD disc drive for the PC. Aimed mainly at professionals—specifically high-end content users (mainly folks who work at movie studios and need to evaluate Blu-ray DVD titles during the authoring process)—it will also be marketed towards people who have TV tuners in their PCs and want to record HD content. And of course, those who just want to watch next-generation DVD movies.
The half-height BDR-101A Blu-ray Disc/DVD writer will read BD-ROM/R/RE, DVD-ROM/DVD-R/DVD-RW and +R/+RW discs. It offers the following write speeds:
BD-R/RE (2X)
DVD-R/+R (8X)
DVD-RW/+RW (4X)
Chalk another one up for Blu-ray.
Pioneer promises Blu-ray recorder for 2006 [vnunet.com]
360 Buh-Bye, Kids December 29, 2005
READ MORE Consoles
Some kid must have been one hell of a brat this holiday season. Seems a father got so fed up with his son that he sold the Xbox 360 he bought for $100. Yup. You could have netted a $100 Xbox 360 sans box if you lived near Kansas City—but without the original packaging. Why no cardboard box? The dad wanted to teach the kid a lesson, so he kept the box, filled it up with coal and gave it to him. You probably would do that too if your kid was kicking a $2,000 stereo system in a fit of rage. No updates yet on what the kid said or did after he unwrapped it, but we’re guessing his stereo system took a turn for the worse.
Dad replaces bad kid’s 360 with coal [Kotaku]
A Fitting PSP Bluetooth Dongle December 29, 2005
READ MORE Peripherals
Yes, I know, you could use any old Bluetooth dongle to support Bluetooth on your PSP. But this particular A375 Bluetooth PSP Audio dongle by Ever-e fits lovingly on the side of your PSP, making it just so much nicer to tote around. Letting you transmit high fidelity digital audio streaming to any compatible Bluetooth Stereo headphones, it can also be used on any old audio player with its 1/8-inch stereo audio extension.
Bluetooth Game Dongle [Ever-e]
Bigger LCD TVs Take Lead December 29, 2005
READ MORE TV
It’s taken a while, but it looks like 40-inch LCD TVs are now the fastest and largest-growing trend in the market (at least in Korea). With a drastic price cut in LCD larger screen prices just this month (by 12-20 percent), we can expect to see a lot more of these products in the market next year.
Sales of Samsung’s LCD TVs rose by 417.8 percent compared to a year ago. Among them, sales of 42-inch LCD TVs soared by a whopping 1,188 percent.
Now if we can just get them up to 60 inches, LCD can really give plasma a run for its money.
Sales of 40-inch LCD TVs grow explosively [Korea Herald]
Specs and pricing on 40” LCD TVs [Amazon]
Oregon Scientific Cubic Phone December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
When Oregon Scientific makes a phone, you just know it’s going to be weird. And the USB Cubic DECT Telephon doesn’t disappoint in that regard. Yup, it’s a phone for sure, but it’s also an FM alarm clock, calendar and MP3 player. And it’s square and wireless to boot. The speaker phone is powered by rechargeable batteries and you can even personalize your rings with MP3 and WMA files loaded over USB or SecureDigital cards. I don’t know what they smoke in Oregon, but yeah, I want some.
Oregon’s USB Cubic DECT Telephone [Everything USB]
Specs for more Oregon Scientific phones [Shopping.com]
Not In the Mouth, Marlon December 29, 2005
READ MORE Mobile phones
In addition to being saddled with a name like Marlon Brando Gill (or maybe because of it), a young Missouri man (pictured left) has been charged with felony assault after his 24-year-old girlfriend was taken to the hospital last week with a cell phone stuck in her throat. When she was first taken in, police thought she had stuck the cellphone there herself to keep it from good ol’ Marlon, but now, things have changed for the worse.
“Our initial press release was that she had swallowed a cell phone,” Police Sgt. Allen Kintz told the AP. “Subsequent investigation found that she didn’t swallow the cell phone voluntarily. That was what we were told initially.”Brilliant deduction. After the phone in question was removed from the poor girl’s throat, she admitted that her handsome, smart and obviously caring boyfriend had actually crammed it down her throat during a fight. Police are searching for Gill. He is 5 feet 9 inches and 180 pounds.
Ex Charged After Phone Forced Down Woman’s Throat [KOAT]
Man charged with assault by swallowed cell phone [The Register]
Forget Diamonds, It’s Huge Hard Drives That Grab a Girl’s Heart December 29, 2005
READ MORE Storage
Um, I’m not sure you should really take this advice, but it looks like a survey conducted by Consumers Electronics Association (CEA) Market Research declared Hitachi’s Microdrive 3K6 one-inch hard drive the winner in the Digital Imaging category for “girl’s best friend.” Of course, the survey was cleverly entitled “What Women Want,” and sampled more than 1,600 adults (men and women) to determine the features and functions women prefer in their consumer electronic devices. But I’m still a little flabbergasted at this result. Now, I could get into all kinds of jokes about a one-inch piece of equipment, but I’m going to refrain, given that it’s the holidays and all. So come on guys, get out there and get your best girl a microdrive already, would you?
Intel’s Extreme Edition: 65nm December 29, 2005
READ MORE PC
Intel finally decided to show off its new Extreme Edition line of processors with the release of the long-awaited Pentium Extreme Edition 955. Replacing the Extreme Edition 840, the chip has a dual-core design with a clock speed of 3.46GHz. Sure, it may not be a huge jump from the 840’s 3.2GHz clockspeed, but the processor does double the Level 2 cache to 4MB and increases the side bus clock speed to 1066MHz. It also features hyperthreading and supports Intel’s virtualization technology (the ability to simultaneously run more than one operating system on a given platform in a secure mode). But what makes this a real boon for Intel is that the 955 is manufactured using a 65-nanometer process, as opposed to the 90nm at which the rest of the industry is stuck. This, hopefully, will mean cheaper prices at the stores for us. Intel hopes to have the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 available on January 16 for $999.
Intel releases new Pentium Extreme Edition 955 CPU [Ars Technica]
Samsung to Supply Vodaphone with HSDPA Tech December 29, 2005
READ MORE Mobile phones
More big news from Samsung as the world’s third largest cellphone maker announces its plans to supply UK Vodaphone with high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) mobile phones using Qualcomm’s modem chips. These phones will let you use multimedia services, including video sharing and Web surfing, at higher speeds with lower pricing. They will also be the first to be commercially available. And of course, I feel that I must point out that we here in the US won’t actually be seeing any of this as we wait (and wait, and wait) for our 3G services.
Samsung to market new phones with Vodafone, Qualcomm [Reuters]
Mercedes S-Class Sexiness December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
The dashboard in the new Mercedes S-Class is featuring a beautiful LCD screen with a ton of features. First off, and most importantly, it will display necessary gauges, but with a flip of a switch a night vision mode is activated that will still display speedometer information along with night vision view of what’s ahead of you. Sounds like one hell of a cool idea, but I can only imagine the hijinks of this system getting compromised and you are greeted with a welcoming picture of Goatse on your dashboard someday.
The dashboard that obsoletes all others? [Autospies Via TheRawFeed]
Portable, Waterproof Electrocardiograph December 29, 2005
READ MORE Portable Media
Ever wanted to take a bath while wearing your electrocardiograph? Or did you ever just want to see how your body reacts to taking the plunge into a tub of cold pudding? Or do you really not care and are reading this instead of doing end-of-year reports? Well, you’re in luck! Fukuda Denshi Co. in Japan has started selling a portable, waterproof electrocardiograph that can be worn while the user takes a bath and records your physical condition on the fly. Of course, it can be also used outside the bath, but that’s no fun.
Product Page [Fukuda]
VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer December 29, 2005
READ MORE Gadgets
There comes a time where you must sanitize some things. Sure, I’ve dropped my toothbrush in the toilet after Mexican night, but did that stop me from using it? Of course not. But when I walked in and saw the rapidly-growing fungus on it three weeks later, I decided that instead of buying a new toothbrush for $3, I could sanitize my current one with the VIOlight toothbrush sanitizer! To use it, you throw your brush inside a stylish metal case and then let the UV lights take care of the rest of the dirty work. After that, you’re free to brush germ-free. It costs $24.95 and requires two AA batteries to run, so if OCD or germaphobia is your turf, this might be a nice investment.
VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer [Mobile Whack]
Purchase options for VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizers
Lenovo Jumping Into the Smart Phone Market December 29, 2005
READ MORE Mobile phones
We have some juicy details emerging about the Lenovo’s recent foray into the PocketPC Smartphone market. This is the ET980 phone that will be available around March of 2006. The phone will run on Windows Mobile 5.0, have a 312MHz processor, 64MB of RAM, miniSD expansion and even sport a 4-megapixel camera. Appears to only be heading to the Asian market for the time being, but with Lenovo’s in the West, this phone should make its way over eventually.
Lenovo ET980 PocketPC phone [UberGizmo]
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