Tuesday, April 24, 2007
iPhone Non-News of the Day: No News is Non-News is Good News?
11:40PM Seamus Byrne | Yes, folks, it’s time for your favorite part of Gizmodo, the daily roundup where we tell you just exactly what ISN’T going on with the iPhone. Bong! Her Majesty the Queen of England has not been given an iPhone to see whether she can feed the Corgis with it or not. Bong! No iPhone was found orbiting Uranus in an Oldsmobile last week. Bong! Zapruder footage did not show man behind grassy knoll using iPhone to call Marilyn Monroe and say excitedly, “Dere you are, sweetheart, I gottim. Now it’s just you and me, babe.” Bong! Marvel Comics are not to introduce new superhero iPhoneMan (slogan: I phone, therefore I am a man with fingers; uniform: black teeshirt and jeans in easywipe spandex; catchphrase: “Boom!” So, if that was not the non-news, what is the non-news? Ah, you’ll find it hiding behind the grassy knoll that is the jump. More »
Helpful Cookies Have Nutrition Info Printed Up Front
11:35PM Seamus Byrne | As if you didn’t feel guilty enough scarfing down those last two cookies, these confections pack 260 calories each, and they’re not going to let you forget it, either, because there’s the damning information, printed right there on the cookie itself. But 260 calories? WTF? They’re big, though, weighing in at 2.1 ounces apiece, so maybe that’s worth it. Hang on a second. To make you feel even more guilty, they cost $25 for two. Huh? Oh, yeah, these are considered conceptual art as well as having that incidental attribute of being edible. We get it: more expensive than caviar, and twice the guilt. Next thing you know they’ll just go ahead and print a picture of a pig on the front of the cookie. Let’s just hope this isn’t a trend. – Charlie White Forget the box — artists print nutrition information directly on desserts [Sci Fi Tech] More »
USB Drive Looks Like a Bullet Train, Holds a Measly 128MB
11:21PM Seamus Byrne | This N700 USB drive looks like that bullet train in Japan, lovingly referred to as Shinkansen. No, it doesn’t have a whistle that blows, or travel down a track, or release a sweet odor, feed your cat do anything else but store just 128MB of data and charge you $38 for the privilege. Take off its back and you’ll see that USB plug, giving you an indication of its small size. But damn, they could’ve fit at least four gigs in there. Even so, we tip our hats to our Gizmodo Japan brethren for finding such a thing, however deficient, but still a fetching artifact. – Charlie White Shinkansen N700 USB Flash memory [Newlaunches] More »
Etsumi Display Mirror Allows Compact Camera Photos at Extreme Angles
11:20PM Seamus Byrne | The Etsumi Display Mirror is a mirror mounted in a simple mechanism that will allow you to frame and shoot your photographs at extreme angles. It works with any 2 or 2.5-inch screen compact camera: just attach the device on the back using two sticky strips and there you go, perfectly framed candid up-the-skirt photos in the subway weird angles at any time. Personally, I prefer my instant shots to be much more spontaneous. OK, that sounds just wrong: what I mean is not-framed, blurry and who-the-heck-is-that-chin-right-on-that-corner style photos. However, I can see why many people will want this ability. If you can live with opening the mirror each time and its reverse image, prepare to spend $22 plus import duties from Japan. – Jesus Diaz galleryPost('etsumimirror', 8, 'etsumimirror'); Catalog page (in japanese) [Etsumi via Impress Photo Watch] More »Adwatch: Mac vs. PC, British Style Office Posse
11:04PM Seamus Byrne | They’re using the same music from the US spots, but there’s a different attitude with these Brits. Still, same idea—the PC guy is a bit overweight, has a big nose and is just not nearly the hepcat the Mac dude is. Anyway, they just sound so, uh, polite compared with us crude Americans. They also make a good point: Office plays well on Macs. In fact, Microsoft makes tons of money selling Mac software, and last year agreed to continue developing Office for Mac OS X for five more years. – Charlie White More »
Total Health Vibrating Pet Massager: Give Your Pet a Good Time
9:12PM Seamus Byrne | Hot on the heels from last week’s dog juice catcher canine sex toy comes this vibrating pet massager. In a tasteful FootSpa aqua color, this 4.5-inch bone-shaped device apparently soothes sore muscles, relaxes, and enhances the bond between pet and owner. As do regular visits to the park, a bowl of food and a bit of attention. The blurb also says that the gizmo stimulates oil glands to give your pup a healthier coat. Let’s hope that they’re the only glands the $5.95 Pet Massager does its work on, otherwise I foresee a nation of Dogs Gone Wild if they are denied a daily happy finish. – Ad Dugdale Product Page [Puppy's Place via UberGizmo] More »
Shinshoku Watch: Complicated, but so What, it’s Flashy-Flashy
6:45PM Seamus Byrne | Without the lights, this looks like the sievey thing that goes in my juicer. With the lights going flashy-flash it looks like something from Buck Rodgers’ foppish wardrobe – let’s face it, it still doesn’t look like what it is, which is a watch. It goes by the name of Shinshoku and it consists of a metal bracelet with holes punched in it and a bunch of LED lights. And now a quick time-telling lesson. According to my Shinshoku, it’s 9.37. How do I know that? The red dots count the hours, the yellow ones blocks of five minutes, and the green ones each subsequent minute. So actually it’s not that complicated . although there are one-color versions (but don’t ask me to explain how they work, it’s FAR too early in the morning). The Shinshoku will cost you $114.05 and a bit of getting used to. – Ad Dugdale Product Page [TokyoFlash via Boing Boing] More »So I says… Oh! Hi folks!
5:45PM Seamus Byrne | Thanks to Amos for pointing out the redirect from the US site is now in full effect. Kinda caught us with our pants down, as we haven’t quite caught up with today’s feed content from the US.
Rest assured we’ll be keeping their stuff as close to live as possible, while bringing our own set of posts to the mix.
I’ll be running a few posts in coming days to ask for your input on how you want this edition to run. In the meantime, if you need to tell us we suck, there is a comment section available and you can always tell me to my inbox.
Now, on with the show…
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Gizmodo Cases: Fifty Apple Mac OS X Engineers Not Really Missing
12:10PM Seamus Byrne | Previously, in the last episode of “Burn iPhone Burn!”: anonymous Cupertino area-man going by the pseudonym of I’m Just Going to Make Up Some BS, So There!â„¢ He Who Shall Not Be Namedâ„¢ declared to Ars Technica that “Apple had 50 OS engineers working around the clock in Taipei to make sure that this shipped on time.” He argued that the problems were with Q/A and the software. Meanwhile AT&T COO Randall Stephenson said that everything was A-OK for a oh-so-great iPhone launch and J.R. discovered that Sue Ellen is really Steve Jobs’ daughter. Today, Gizmodo’s own Deep Throat in the Infinite Loop campus spills the beans about the not-really-MIA Apple gang. Discover the thrill and suspense of the missing 50 OS X engineers and much more in the all-new-but-sightly-stale-and-corny episode of our Gizmodo Series… RIGHT AFTER THE JUMP! More »
Designer Motorola headsets you can’t have
11:43AM Seamus Byrne | These sexy new Bluetooth headset designs from Motorola won’t be available in stores any time soon. As part of the launch of the new H800 Slider Bluetooth Headsets, these concepts were shown off to highlight the laser etching possible on this new line.
The H800 is comfortable too. Comes with three ear hooks to help get the right fit, and the headset features 6 hours talk and 8 days standby. The slider gets the mic closer to your mouth, plus powers down for extra battery life when not in use.
Sadly, they are right when they tell us that as good as these designer options look, they just don’t sell. At least, not during the product launch window, and only ever in limited numbers. The black licorice model is safe like a big city law firm.
You can see the laser etching is there on the main line, but still very corporate. Maybe the others are too brash — only allowed at work on casual Friday?
Do you like these? Enough to wear them?
Close ups of the concept designs found after the jump.
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