The Xbox Spring update is going live tonight. If you've forgotten what this is all about, watch the video, or scan our full post on the fresh firmware refresh. And Ryan has neat DIYWK (Do it yourself with kitties) advice for updating without staying up past your bedtime. For your info, I'm not refreshing for a little while. I always like to make sure people aren't downloading their consoles into bricks with new Microsoft ware. You know, old Windows superstitions and all.

Release after the jump.

Read More »

Behold the Microsoft oPhone. "This phone breaks every paradigm we've ever had," earnestly intones the Microsoft employee on this video spoof shown at Mix '07, a conference held by Microsoft for Web designers, developers and decision-makers in Las Vegas last week. Judging from this video, it looks like the company might just have a sense of humor.

Breaking paradigms? That's about the only truth about the oPhone, a goofy phantasyFone that's sure to blow all those other boomerang-shaped cellphones out of the water. If they'd just equip the thing with 3G connectivity rather than the iPhone designers' choice of the woefully slow EDGE network, many people would like it better than the iPhone, no matter how crazy and unusable it is. – Charlie White

The Windows Mobile oPhone Video [InsideMicrosoft]

The new Samsung VRT front-loading washing machine is powered by the Intel Santa Rosa chipset, sporting a new Core 2 Duo T7300 processor, NVIDIA GeForce graphics, Turbo Memory, Turbo Boost, 802.11n wireless, two HDMI ports, Blu-ray recorder, multitouch-sensitive panoramic screen and runs Mac OS X.

OK, so it's just a washing machine. But a very quiet one because it uses Vibration Reduction Technology to, amazingly enough, reduce vibration from unbalanced loads. You know, like when you put 43 boxer shorts and only one T-shirt in it. Or something like that. According to Samsung, their tests show that it has "the lowest vibration and noise level of the front-loading washers tested" even while running at 1300RPM. More revolutions per minute and prices after the jump.

Read More »

Now that you know what Santa Rosa is all about, here are some of the laptops that caught our attention. We got an 13.3-inch ultraportable from Asus (along with a DirectX 10 capable gaming notebook), a Tablet PC from Fujitsu and Sony's Blu-ray packin' VAIO FZ. First at bat are the boys from Asus.

Read More »

So today marks the debut of Intel's new Santa Rosa platform. Aside from the fact that your notebook is officially outdated, what else does this mean? What does Santa Rosa offer that you're missing out on, and more importantly, is it enough to warrant buying a new lappie?

First things first, what's the deal with Santa Rosa. In an nutshell, Santa Rosa is a new platform (the consumer version is dubbed next-gen Centrino Duo while the business version is Centrino Pro) for your notebook that ushers in new Core 2 Duo CPUs, a new Mobile 965 Express chipset, Draft-N wireless and Intel Turbo memory. Collectively, these features equal 1) better performance 2) better battery life. Here's how they pull it off.

Read More »

To recap the news that leaked out of Europe yesterday, Pioneer is rolling out its 8th-generation plasmas, TVs whose black levels are 80% deeper than Pioneer's previous TVs. The end result is a 20,000:1 contrast ratio, and three times as many gradient steps. That means, in dark movie scenes, you'll see be able to see the action but also appreciate the depth of the shadows. Best of all, Pioneer says that because of the way the technology works, there's no sacrifice in panel brightness.

Under the corporate codename Project Kuro, the XGA and WXGA (768-line) panels will ship in June and July, while a full lineup of 1080p models will ship in September. Check out the gallery below, or follow the jump for screen size, price, press release and a Gizmodo interview with Pioneer home-entertainment honcho Russ Johnston.

Read More »

I have a thing for Chinese mobiles. All those cult cells that look like packets of fags cigarettes and Porsches. And now they're moving into retro phones. This one comes from a company called Yinke and it's an old-skool mobey but with all the newfangled stuff we consumer geeks love so much. Rather confusingly it's got a Mercedes badge on the back, but who am I to question Chinese craziness?

There's a 2 megapixel camera, MMS support, color display, pre-loaded games, and it even comes with a stand so that you can display it proudly wherever you might be. In homage to Chris Penn, it should come with a free shellsuit, gold neck chain and a DVD of Reservoir Dogs. – Ad Dugdale

Yinke to present its stand-type mobile phone M002 [Aving via "Ubergizmo]

Since the Apple TV set-top box does have an operating system on board, it is possible to run games on it, and Omelette 1.0 is the first one created specifically for it. It's a simple puzzle game by some dawg named Canis Lupus where you line up eggs, and as soon as you have three or more of the same color, you have yourself an omelette. Tasty.

There's a catch, though. Find out what that is, and see a screen shot of Omelette 1.0, after the jump.

Read More »

Santa Rosa this, Santa Rosa that, Santa Rosa in the soup, Santa Rosa-o-rama. Except you know who, everyone and their dogs keep pumping out new Santa Rosa-equipped laptops. Here's the glossy black Aura R70, another one from Samsung today, directly from Korea. Trusted Reviews has been able to grab a pre-production unit and their take on it is that the shiny shiny notebook is "a complete bargain."

When the Aura R70 hits the world expect 1.8GHz to 2.0GHz Core 2 Duos processors with 2 to 4MB caches and Intel 965 Express chipsets. It will also include a GeForce 8400M GS with 128MB, which has Pure Video HD processing to process H.264 high definition video and pump it to a a 15.4-inch screens and also through its HDMI port. The screen itself has 1,280 x 800 pixels, although it seems that there would be a 1,680 x 1,050 option available. More information after the jump.

Read More »

You need this night vision toilet light. Who wouldn't like to have a target to aim at when it's time to pee in the middle of the night? Turn on those bathroom lights, and it wakes you up, strains your eyes and may wake up others, too. But piss in the darkness, and you may miss altogether.

Here's a simple yet brilliant design to make your own night vision toilet light out of couple of plastic bottlecaps, a 3-volt LED, a button cell battery, a penny and a paper clip that results in a perfectly functional night vision toilet light that operates with a crude gravity switch.

So you can either make this tiny light to mark your path, illuminating your target as soon as you lift the seat, or you could take your chances and rely on dead reckoning and a perfectly unbent penis position. Hey, you could always get yourself a Jonny Glow, or one of those fancy Kohler toilets with built-in lighting.

Or wait, there's one more solution: you could be like some of our girlie men commentators and sit down to pee. Your choice, guys. – Charlie White

Night Vision Toilet [Instructables]

Phew. Snappy name, eh? So snappy there's no room on the headline for a bad pun. Lucky you, I say. Anyway, this is a new ExpressCard/54-compatible sound card that uses Creative's X-Fi Crystallizer and 3CMSS-3D technology to give your laptop surround sound. There's a 7.1-channel speaker docking module and all this creamy white goodness (which begs the question: if it's only Windows-compatible, why did they do it in white?) will cost you $106 from late May. – Ad Dugdale

Creative "XFi" of XCard/54 Correspondence [PC Watch through Google Translate]

Today is a very exciting day for Gizmodo. Serious, too. We've got all sorts of exciting cellphone news. But first something for the best communication device I can think of: the penis. This surgical stainless steel corkscrew-cum-caterpillar thingy (the Ouch! factor is lessened by its silicone rubber "comfort contact zones" )is the Extensys 4000, a "penile elongation therapy device" according to its creators, Dr Ameyda and Dr Cenilo.

The good doctors' boast is that nightly use of the Extensys 4000 over a four month period will give you an extra 1 centimeter in the trouser department. They also claim bigger and better orgasms, a higher sex drive (of course - you're going to want to show off your new willy, aren't you?) and harder erections. By the way, Ameyda is an orthodontist, but ladies, don't let your boyfriend persuade you that it will fix your teeth while it's working on him. – Ad Dugdale

Product Page [Extensys Lab]

The gigantastic high-definition Toshiba Qosmio G40 someone leaked last month

Unlike the HP Dragon, that 20-inch titan that can be used as a laptop, desktop, surf board and truck loading bay, the 17-inch panoramic Qosmio G40 is a full high definition beast. It's powered by a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of RAM, running at 1,920 x 1,200 pixel. The top of the line model comes with a Core 2 Duo T7300 processor, 320GB hard drive and a HD DVD player/recorder built-in, plus 1 GB of flash RAM for accelerated Vista operation. To complement its HDTV capability it also comes with digital/analog TV tuner (yes, that thing on the side is the antenna), remote control and four speakers, plus HDMI and S/PDIF digital AV outputs.

Enough? Not really. This technological terror even comes with more stuff, right after the jump.

Read More »

Everything's coming up Santa Rosa these days, it seems, and this is the first whiff coming from Samsung. The SENS P55 notebook is a tough-looking silver machine with 15-inch screen. As well as a fingerprint reader and TPM module, there's a speedy GeForce 8600M GS graphics chip, which might give you better gaming, if that's what you want to use it for.

Not as sexy as yesterday's fetishists' dream, LG's X-Note laptop, but good-looking specs. Right after the jump.

Read More »

Here's the deal on the Palm Treo 755: It's a 750 generation variant, running on Palm OS and Sprint instead of Windows Mobile and AT&T/Cingular/Whatever. That means its got that Sprint EVDO we know and love, even if it is at slightly slower Revision 0 speeds of 400-600 kilobits/sec.

On the hardware side of things, the phone has an Intel Xscale 312MHz proc, 128MB or RAM, and a 320x320 screen (instead of the Samsung 300MHz chip and the 240x240 screen of the Treo 750), and will come in blue and dark red in that silky velvechron finish I can't stop manhandling. On the software side of things, Palm's shipped the phone with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Bejeweled, IM for AIM, Yahoo! and MSN, and some unique Google Map integration.

Google Maps tweaks are...

Read More »

The HP Mobility Summit is going down in Shanghai as we speak, and they've just unleashed no less than 13 lappies. I don't care about any of them as much as I care about the Santa Rosa powered HDX Dragon, previously leaked, now unveiled in all its scaly glory. The 20-inch pivot hinged monster that is built to bite Acer and Dell's 20-inch lappies right on their ass. Beyond our explanation of what we like, two Giz friends happened to get video tours and reviews on day-zero.

I love this machine's design. First off, the 20.1-inch widescreen ultrabright has a generous 1680 x 1050 resolution, backlit by two lamps. A hinge let's it swivel from two places, the middle of the panel's back and the standard location, for optimal screen positioning. HP even promises to bump the res to true 1080p-capable 1920 x 1200 pixels in a future version. Secondly, the keyboard tray is so generous that it can fit a media center remote in its left side, and a built in SD/HD OTA tuner (something many vendors have abandoned.)

Laptop Mag reviewed one of the first preproduction samples, and quoted their performance results:

Read More »

It's springtime at New York University, which means the students in the Interactive Telecommunications Program truck out their graduation projects. These range from conceptual artworks (like Andrew Schneider's "Experimental Devices for Performance" shown above) to innovative interfaces and games. This gallery shows just a few of the works on display. Look for more details on the most interesting projects later tonight and tomorrow. –Noah Robischon

ITP Spring Show 2007

Look, your friends weren't telling you, so I thought I'd step in and cut the crap. You need some schooling in the ways of taking good night photos.

While we're on the tail end of our PMA camera lovefest, this spot enlightens us (hehe) on the dark art (haha... hmmm? Yeah, I'll leave) of good low light shooting. I use the Slow Sync flash mode on my compact digital a lot, and this little spot of insight explains why it is such a clever flash mode. If you don't know your rear curtain from your front, take a look.

Slow Sync Flash [Digital Photography School Blog]

Thanks Darren!
Image by Voxphoto

Down at PMA I got a chance to get up close and personal with the new Mark III update to the EOS 1D from Canon. It's a shame they have run out of numbers, because the Mark III doesn't do justice to the fact this is a complete ground up rebuild of their flagship dSLR.

There is a lot of news out and about on this camera, so here are a few features you may not have spotted elsewhere (I hadn't):

Read More »

It looks more like the Canon HV10 than a Powershot, and it is a bit of an oddity in what it can do as well. The Canon TX1 is built to house a very smart 10x optical zoom, gives 7.1Mp images AND 1280x720 HD video as well. Optical stabilisation? Damn right.

When you first pick this one up, it feels really weird and you could give up due to the awkwardness. But after a quick two minutes of play, you find the 'right' way to hold it and then the whole thing clicks. These are some non-federation steps we're seeing here, but it's worth a test drive in a store before you dismiss the strange design. This is very portable, and delivers better imaging than most compacts because it has the housing room for a really good lens. Clever, clever.

The video is nice, but you won't be getting more than a few minutes on even a 2GB card, but then isn't most video about catching a good few moments here and there? I know I don't use my old DV camcorder anymore. I catch my baby boy more often on the VGA video mode of my compact digital — easier to shoot, easier to share.

Once again, more pics below! -Seamus Byrne

UPDATE: Oh yeah! $699 too. None too shabby.

Read More »

The latest music player from Trekstor, a company who's given us the oddly shaped Vibez, has been named the Sweez. Besides weighing just one ounce, the Sweez has FM playback, 1 or 2GB storage, a neckband, plays back MP3/WMA/WAV/WMA-DRM10 and features USB2.0 support. All in all it's nothing revolutionary since we've seen so many USB stick-shaped MP3 players that our feces is starting to be shaped like them.

But hey, we're sure somebody's interested in the Sweez. Lands soon at $59 and $79. – Jason Chen

And that's Australian money, folks!

The hybrid camcorder concept is interesting, and the upgrade from 8GB drives to a 30GB is sure to grab some more attention from users. The Hitachi crew told us that while their research shows no one really uses more than a couple of hours capacity (8GB perfect), they all WANT the bigger drive. So they're giving it to ya. 23 hours capacity now on board this one.

The fact this is coming in at a hot entry range price point is nice. No confirm on the price was given, but the hint was "pretty much dead on $1000, if not less" from one of the reps. Does this one stop shop, capture-edit-output, hybrid idea do it for you? Again, more pics after the bump.

UPDATE: This is expected to hit shelves in a couple of weeks, early June at the latest.

Read More »

The message is not, "Hey, look, Panasonic has an in-dash entertainment system that supports GPS," though for $1,799, that's not a bad message for a certain slice of America who enjoys tricking out their brand new used car. No, the message is, "Panasonic is entering the US GPS market."

And unlike Sony, which dabbles in a lot of areas that it doesn't intend to dominate, when Panasonic enters a market, it plays for keeps. (See Panasonic digital cameras and Panasonic plasma TVs for recent examples.) The real question: how soon will we see a Panasonic portable, something that might give Garmin a run for its money? Paul Liao, CTO of Panasonic North America, told me that while he won't discuss particulars, the company is working on one.

Follow the jump for Strada specs and a screenshot gallery.

Read More »

If you insist on browsing the web on your Wii like some kind of stubborn myopic, now you can read your RSS feeds there as well. Google Reader just released a Wii-optimized version of their site, which you can view directly on your TV. And if you're new Google Reader, glance at the video above to see the awesome chin beard sporting Google Reader developer Chris tell you about the project. – Jason Chen

Google Reader Wii [Google]

There were a few new options in the Pentax Optio range of happy snap digitals, and the T30 was the most interesting by far. A total touchscreen interface for your settings and menus, the 3-inch screen is a goodun' and it was very simple to navigate and set the options you want.

It helps lose the clutter of buttons on the back too, though some will prefer having said clutter for quick access to all the specific functions they want. But for average punters, this could be a big winner. 7.1Mp, 3x optical, 3200 ISO... so you get some good grunt for a mid-range shooter too. All that said, not too many spec adjustments from its predecessor. You'll find it for sub $400.

More pics, front and back, after the jump.

Read More »

If you're like Adam over at Lifehacker who has a copy of Vista but a graphics card from 1997, nVidia's got you covered. The latest entry-level GeForce 7200 GS is their cheapest standalone graphics card, but still meets the requirements Microsoft's set for running Aero. It's 50% better than integrated graphics cards, which is like saying you're 50% stronger than your infant child—technically true, but nothing worth bragging about.

The card itself will be under $50 but still feature DX9 and 128MB of RAM (possibly less depending on which manufacturer you buy from), which means you'll be able to do at least a little gaming while you hoard your money away like a squirrel with law school loans. – Jason Chen

Press Release [nVidia via Slashgear]

No, not quite done yet with the PMA wrap up. So much good stuff to see, so little time to write it all up (yeah, the writing is the annoying part of the job). Anyway, some asked to see the new Pentax 645AF Digital and the sassy DA* lenses. I wasn't able to get much goss from the mouth of Pentax reps, but I've at least got some snaps for you!

Sadly, the Pentax crew from C.R. Kennedy were notably unhelpful. I tried on five occasions to get some access to the Pentax gear and get their rundown on what's hot, but I was ignored time and time again. I'm afraid I had better things to do than fight my way through their defence shields.

I did get some help on the consumer-friendly instant lines, and will explore their new touchscreen T30 in a few.

More of the very sexy 645AF shots, and the DA* 50-135mm on the Pentax K10, after the jump.

Read More »

Just a quickie to mention that in all the excitement of PMA, there was one stand that just made me weep with envy.

The Hasselblad H3D-39 was on show, with its Full Frame 48mm CCD sensor producing 39 Megapixels of technicolour magnificence. It is slow like a truck (over one second per frame), but when you make images this good it is quality, not quantity, that matters. If you have a spare $46,999 lying around, you can have one for your own studio.

These massive-yet-perfect high-res prints were the only images my camera could take at the edge of the Hasselblad event horizon. Seriously, my camera was magnetically repelled from its presence, such is its power. -Seamus Byrne

[ Hasselblad ]

No, it's not a magic eye. It's actually 426,000 cell phones, the same amount that are given the ol' pink slip every day in the United States alone.

Artist Chris Jordan thought that this number was just too big to imagine, so he decided to put it into perspective for you. To get an idea of the magnitude of this image, the full size shot measures in at 5' x 8'4". He also tries to portray less gadgety things like the amount of gun-related murders or SUV sales.

Check out the uncropped versions after the jump.

Read More »

With Lenovo and LG's Santa Rosa laptop offerings (not to mention various other PC vendors as well) almost upon us, we're left wondering what Apple is going to do. If you remember, Core 2 Duos hit PC laptops around July/August, but Apple's MacBook Pros only got them late October. Will we have to wait nearly three months for Centrino Pro? Maybe not.

A chain partner revealed to us that a new model of MacBook is coming out as soon as next week, which is pretty ridiculous if we do say so ourselves. However, since PC makers are making the transition to Santa Rosa very soon, it's not out of the question that Apple will as well—maybe as soon as WWDC. After all, it's been more than a year since the switch to Intel, and they should be pretty good with this stuff by now. What do you think? – Jason Chen

iizel, a company previously unheard of until right now has introduced some fancy LCD TVs that are capable of some pretty amazing feats. Their line of LCDs, ranging from 26 inches to 55 inches, are capable of working while submerged in one meter of water. Prices for the 26-incher begin at $2,300. The two initial questions boggling my mind are: how and why? I would assume waterproof displays would be for outdoor usage, but in the world of electronics waterproof and water-resistant are quite different. Video after the jump.

Read More »

Designed to match Kohler's WaterTile Body Spray shower nozzles, these Polk Audio SoundTile speakers give you music in the shower without having to balance a ghetto boombox precariously on the tub lip. The 4-inch by 4-inch speakers are connected by coax wires to your sound source on the outside of the tub, and have grills and drains so water shouldn't get to the delicate areas.

If you've got Kohler's other products, like the DTV II or their standalone systems, we're sure it works well with those as well. As if your teenagers didn't spend enough time in the shower. Available later in May. – Jason Chen

In addition to the P1, T650 and S500 cellphones, Sony Ericsson also announced some accessories, including the DS980 hybrid Bluetooth stereo headset. This is a stereo headset that includes a metallic mirror pendant that has an OLED display and supports up to six hours of talk time. It can work with multiple devices at the same time and will be available worldwide Q3 2007. –Travis Hudson

Press Release [Sony Ericsson]

While your standard office chair is great for when you need to file your taxes and a bean bag is great for when you're getting lazy in the living room, there's rarely a time you'll be able to use one for the other's purpose. That's why this Trey Gaming Chair is so neat, especially for dorms and apartments where space is tight.

The chair looks like a normal chair at first, but you can detatch the back or the bottom in order to turn it into a stool, a rocking chair, a tray, a tiny chair or a foot rest. All this at a price of $239, and you've got the perfect chair for college kids. – Jason Chen

Product Page [TreyChair via Gearlog]

Pioneer Europe just unveiled details on their 8th generation Plasma tech 24 hours before the US event. This is something we heard about at CES, and that HDTV lovers can get riled up about. (Go ahead, woot out loud, it makes sense this time.)

The most important pieces of the puzzle being a "new deep encased cell structure, crystal emissive layer and first surface colour filter." What that means is the new sets, part of Project Kuro ("Black" in Japanese) have a black level 80% deeper than 7th generation Pioneer plasma. Without any sacrifice in brightness, according to our sources. That deeper low end gives the TV an overall 20,000:1 contrast ratio, which should take care of some of the issues, if not all, that I had with a current generation plasma I faced off against a top line Sharp LCD.

The TVs also have an "Optimum Mode", which sounds like an advanced ambient light compensation system. In other words, it'll alter the picture output according to both the source's light patterns, as well as the lighting in your living room. I wonder if it can adjust white balance and color to compensate for the hues given off by your lava lamp collection.

The best of the model line includes a 60 and 50 inch 1080p display, with the 20,000:1 contrast ratio, "Digital Colour Filter III Plus" for the "most accurate colour reproduction in commercially available flat screen TVs" and a street date of September. Lesser models, detailed after the jump, will be available in June.

The lower end models have 16,000:1 contrast ratios, coming in 1,365 x 768 50-inch variants, and 1,024 x 768 42-inch variants, with different options like Optimum Mode, of DVB/analog TV tuners, and an aluminum stand.

These will make their way Stateside, and we'll get more info from the US event tomorrow. – Brian Lam

Project Kuro [Pioneer Europe]

Just when everyone thought non-fuel cell battery technology was stagnant, scientists at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory found a way to increase battery life by up to twice as much. Sparing you to boring technical details, essentially what they did was find a new composite structure material to place inside batteries, giving the charge-store capacity a 250 mAh/g, which is about twice as much as what you're using now.

So, not only will this improve battery life in your laptops, it'll bulk up a bunch of consumer electronics and hybrid vehicles as well. Score one for scientists. And score another for that horrible Photoshop. – Jason Chen

Scientists double the capacity of rechargeable lithium batteries [TGDaily via Slashgear]

Speaking of the Helio Ocean, we've got a new ad they're running for the Ocean's TV campaign. We don't want to describe the entire video to you here—because where's the fun, or the point in that—but it does remind... Read More »

Late Night's Conan O'Brien recently traveled out to San Francisco to shoot a week's worth of shows. During his time out there he managed to visit