A tipster sends us new details on the Motorola and T-Mobile Device, confirming that this is indeed the "Zante", and speculates that this is an interim device until the real Sidekick 4.... Read More »

The Thinkpad reserve's website just went live, and the $5000 limited edition PC's details have just become clear. It basically sounds like an X series, wrapped in leather, and bundled with an hyper-active executive service plan.

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This excellent video tests 8 new PCs for craplets in terms of trialware, drive space used, and set up times. Sony, HP and Dell are the worst offenders, although you can order a clean install of Dell's XPS PCs. There's a Mac in there, too. But you know how that ends up. –Brian Lam Is Your PC Feeling A Little Bloated? [PC Pitstop]

Since you're at Gizmodo, and given our usual demographic, there's a pretty good chance that at one time or another you wished for super powers. Well screw watching X-Men & Heroes, this Taiwanese guy and his kid actually have magnetic powers. That's right, Magneto is real and he has a kid too. Frankly we're scared since our weekly levitation classes haven't yielded any results yet. But it looks like we've got about 15 or so years before the boy really harnesses his powers.– Ben Longo The Amazing Magnetic Child! [Videoholics Anonymous]

Despite the influx of "Safari for Window's is destined to fail" comments, Apple proved that the Windows market is at least interested in trying out the web browser. In 48 hours they recorded over 1,000,000 downloads. Google isn't the... Read More »

Nothing's worst than driving behind some moron whose car is swerving 'cause they're on their cellphone (especially where it's illegal). In an attempt to end that, the Highway Safety & Technology company has created a new handheld that can automatically detect and ticket drivers who are yapping (or even worst, texting) on their cellie. The system is being used in Europe now and is expected to come to the States this fall. I don't drive enough to appreciate this, but I'm sure some of you out there will. – Louis Ramirez Product Page [via Wireless Info] (Image via TalkingDC)

Even more than than James Bond or Jack Bauer, Batman's the epitome of a guy using gadgets to the fullest. That's why we love him, and that's why we love the most recent Batman movie. Just for you, here's a sneak peek at Batman's redesigned suit from the upcoming 2008 sequel. The chest and legs are definitely different, featuring more textured armor and probably some other defensive gizmos we don't know about yet. The cowl also looks a bit changed as well. And since you couldn't tell over the Internet, we squealed like little girls while we were writing this post. Click for larger Batman.

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Those are the first shots of the newly printed buttons and stickers for the McFly 2015 movement. They're still trying their best to get Nike to issue the never-before-made Sneakers from Back to the Future II. Support the movement, sign the petition. (Video after the jump)

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This $80 iCoaster from Mega Brands is a Rube Goldberg-like toy that you can set up tracks with for marbles to roll through. The best part of the toy is the magnetic lift at the start to lift the marbles up which makes the whole setup hands-free. Best of all, it comes with Sound FX Music Studio so kids can make their own "music mix" (who knew Christina and Britney together would sound even worse), or they can just plug in their iPods and listen to pre-recorded music. Available in September. – Jason Chen NYC Toy Preview [Wired]

In keeping with our "Laziness in Domestic Chores" theme, we bring you the electric lawnmower shootout. That way we can rid ourselves of all the annoyances of gas mowers once and for all, but still keep our yards in tip-top shape. Wired tested out four of the latest electric lawnmowers on the market and broke it down real simple. What did they think?

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Boy Genius and Engadget got their hands on some renders from Danger that seem to be the upcoming Sidekick 4 and Sidekick Slide. The Slide, seen in a domain registered by T-Mobile, looks to be fatter than the regular... Read More »

Remember the Ultimate Xbox 360 Racing Setup? VRX cuts all of that do-it-yourselfness out of the equation with their VRX Triple Screen Limited Edition 001. Here's what you get.

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[UPDATE: This ain't no Flash plugin. Read on.] It's no secret that our gold standard for mobile browsers is full Youtube support. Apparently, that ain't happening because Flash is a CPU and mem hog. So opera is working on a replacement plug in so phones can get in on some mobile video plugin action.

The new technology will add video capability directly into the Web browser, so that users can see and play back video content directly in Opera. As of yet, Opera has not commented on whether or not the new native playback ability for Opera Mobile will be able to play existing Flash content.

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Man, I love Japan so much. What other country would have a game show that consists of contestants dressed in metallic spandex trying to squeeze through moving walls with holes obviously smaller than they are carved into them? Although I've gotta admit I lost some respect for those contestants when none of them just dove through the middle of the cut-out shapes. You could have fit, guys! Oh, it's OK. I can't stay mad at you. –Adam Frucci Japanese Tetris brings a new meaning to getting into a game… [Shiny Shiny]

Essentially the female version of the 8-Bit Tie, these "Stolen Jewels" designs from Mike and Maaike are pixelized jewelry that you can actually wear. Sure, they look like they're either made out of paper or cheap cloth, but it's the idea that counts. However, even though they look cool to you, if you ever get your wife these instead of real jewels, well, take a look at that video again. – Jason Chen Designer Page [via Mocoloco via Yanko Design]

Who said great gadgets need to be complicated? For instance take a look at the Foot-dustpan. There isn't a circuit, battery or hell even a moving part on the thing. But the Never again will you have to bend to the ground in order to sweep up. Just shove your foot in between the handles and boom you've got yourself a steady dustpan. Catch a pic of the unit after the jump.

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At first glance, the Universal Remote MX-810's $399 price tag would turn off people who are used to Logitech's useful, but affordable, line of universal remotes. The 810 does have RF and IR, 44 hard buttons, "easy" shortcut buttons like DVD, DVR, All On/Off and the ability to control 24 devices and 24 activities for each. Still, for almost half a grand, you'd probably expect a giant touchscreen like the Logitech Harmony 1000, and for a remote with a bunch of hard buttons, you'd probably go with a $50 low-end Logitech Harmony. But we'll reserve our judgment for when we can actually play with it. – Jason Chen Product Site [Universal Remote via Electronic House]

DARPA, the future-leaning research branch of the Pentagon, wants a legion of little robotic wireless routers with tank treads. Called Landroids (adorable!), they would be dropped in urban warfare areas and would move around on their own to blanket an area with wireless coverage. The cute little buggers would be disposable, meaning if one gets blown up, the others will rearrange themselves to make up for the loss of coverage. Say what you will about our nation's military, but at least they want to make sure our soldiers have solid access to email, YouTube and pornography. God bless America. –Adam Frucci DARPA (pdf) [via Oh Gizmo!]

This Microsoft patent for acoustic caller ID seems ingenious. Instead of relying on the phone company to ID by easily spoofed phone numbers, the system IDs by voice. That way, callers can be identified from whatever line they call from, cell, voip, landline, and gas station pay phone. Of course, that means the caller has to actually talk before the person picks up the phone. So smart, yet so dumb.–Brian Lam Patent 7,231,019: Automatic identification of telephone callers based on voice characteristics [USPTO via Wired]

Chances are I'm a little biased here (being a born and bred NYer), but this is my favorite iPhone ad to date (even if it's not official). It shows NYers throughout the city talking about Apple's incoming baby. Yeah, it has a lot of NY stereotypes and it assumes NYers have nothing better to do that sit in Union Square waiting for the iPhone, but I think it beats the official cutesy ads. And the song is catchy. What do you guys think? – Louis Ramirez Ad: New York Loves the iPhone [TUAW]

Your cameraphone is about to shed some weight thanks to the folks at Tessera. They've created a minuscule camera that's half the size of the cameras used in today's mobiles. Dubbed the OptiML WLC, the new cam can even do auto focus and features optical zoom without any moving parts. No word on what gadgets will feature the new tech, but anything that makes them thinner is welcome in our book. – Louis Ramirez Press Release [via The Raw Feed]

Stanford's entry in the DARPA Grand Challenge, the competition for self-driving vehicles, is this tricked-out VW Passat. Stanford's team is worth watching as their robo-Toureg from the last challenge came out the winner. This year's challenge is in an urban environment, and it has driverless cars navigating their way through streets and intersections with traffic. Things seem to be progressing along swimmingly for the Passat lovingly named Junior, as he managed to pass a bunch of preliminary tests yesterday that involved making his way through a busy intersection and then around a parked car. I look forward to the day when robocars can chauffeur me around, which I assume is the goal of this contest. –Adam Frucci Driver Not Included in This Performance Test [NY Times]

Since we're all such gadget freaks here, we're guessing that you use just a bit more electricity than the average Joe. So take a look at what wireless provider Orange is coming out with, a wind-powered cellphone charger. Best of all, it's really light (150g) and tiny so it should be very easy to take with you. Although there's no word yet on the exact energy specs. And now with this final piece of the puzzle, our dream to be able to blog all day from the park is complete. EV-DO? Check. Solar-powered laptop charger? Check. Now all we need is this wind-powered cellphone charger and we will be unstoppable. Too bad it's only a prototype for now. Now for the joke. What Did the Wind-Powered Charger Say to the Cellphone? Blow me. Badump, bump, tish!.– Ben Longo

Engadget HD has the story on why CableCARD 2.0—the standard that everyone's waiting for to provide bi-directional high- def cable support like video on demand—isn't here yet. Turns out the standard for bi-directional certification isn't there, and the associations... Read More »

Emo fanboy-ism can turn abruptly the other direction on occasion. Apple found that out this week as some declared this Monday's WWDC Keynote the worst ever, and that it signified the beginning of something bad for Cupertino. Some humorously found a way to blame it on Microsoft, yet again. (Poor Billy.) People, let's get a grip on reality and look at the facts.

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Japanese toymaker Take-G Toys make a set of spectacular wooden robots figures that beat the pants off the lousy wooden Russian dolls we got as kids. Each one contains some robots, some flying vehicles, and little people to go inside and pilot the things. Has any sci-fi author written anything about wooden robots before? Woodpunk perhaps? Also, let me know if anyone can find a place to buy these things. – Jason Chen Product Page [Take G via Crib Candy via Boing Boing]

You have to have a certain special kind of fetish to enjoy watching German ladies in bikinis destroy gadgets with a scowl on their face, but if anyone fits the bill, we're sure they're in our readership. These sets of videos belong to Bikinirama, three German ladies that enjoy swimwear and destroying electronics equally. The video above shows them demolishing a PowerBook, but there's monitors, CD players and record players as well. No ball breaking, but that's probably more of a hobby than something they need to be paid for. – Jason Chen Bikinirama [via Fake Steve via Wired]

For those of you born in a swamp, this Firefly Lamp will give you the "at home" feeling you can only get when you're knee-deep in marsh water. Each lamp gives you five fireflies, which may or may not be the only thing giving off light in this bulb—it's hard to tell from the picture. In any case, $99 gives you one bulb-lamp, which you should probably store in a place where you won't accidentally trip, knock over, and embed shards of glass and fireflies in your face. – Jason Chen Product Page [via Crib Candy]

This VGA Box sits between your console and your TV/Monitor in order to convert component video into VGA. This is useful for say, the Wii and PS3 that only have component but not VGA outputs, and will convert 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. It should work on most TVs and monitors supporting VGA input, and will cost you $69. It also comes with three component cables for the Xbox/Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. The reason we haven't listed the Xbox 360 above is because it already supports VGA output, and it's probably better to use the direct VGA connection than to go through this box. – Jason Chen Product Page [Total Console]

Popular Photography's Michael McNamara got his hands over the much-awaited Sigma SD14. It has been three years in the making but was the wait worth it for wondersensor Foveon X3 fans? Not really. The SD14 is great at getting amazing RAW pics at ISO 400 or lower, but once you crank up the sensitivity or use JPEG, the quality falls down dramatically. It's still better than the SD9 and the SD10, but Michael says the price is too high "for its image quality and performance." – Jesus Diaz Camera Test: Sigma SD14 [Popular Photography]

Like wearing beanies? Now you can buy a pair with a set of cans built in. Tooks' new beanies come with a hidden compartment for your headphones. The hats only work with Tooks' own headphones, so we're not sure about the sound, but at $24 it's a nice two-for-one deal. – Louis Ramirez Product Page [via UberGizmo]

US and Australian scientists tested out a new experimental jet engine over the Aussie outback this week, and it broke Mach 10. That's 10 times the speed of sound, or 6,835mph, to the laymen out there. It's a scramjet, which means it needs to be propelled up to high speed with a rocket before the engine can take over, in this case an air-breathing supersonic combustion engine. Jets of this speed definitely won't be accepting passengers anytime soon, but if and when they do you can expect to get from New York to Tokyo in a little over an hour. Holy crap. –Adam Frucci Jet engine tested at 10 times speed of sound [Reuters]

Not a huge update like 1.8 was, 1.81 will just fix a few bugs people have found since the end of May. You'll get an RGB Full setting fix as well as some various other items too inconsequential to note on the PlayStation blog. – Jason Chen PS3 Firmware Upgrade 1.81 Coming Tomorrow [PlayStation Blog]

Having trouble with the ladies? Your personality isn't to blame, I'm sure, as the fairer sex loves it when you describe funny LOL CATS images and talk about how Ubuntu Linux would take over if people would just give it a chance. No, it's got to be the lack of facial hair. Everyone knows that a thin goatee is the fastest route to a woman's heart, and if you were cruelly dealt a babyface in the card game of genetics, then what chance have you got? Japan to the rescue! Thin paste-on facial hair for the beardically-challenged, available from $15 to $28. You'll be mayor of Ladytown in no time, I'm sure. With a winning personality like that, how can you lose? –Adam Frucci Product Page [via Digital World Tokyo]

Proving they haven't forgotten about all you clamshell lovers out there, Sony Ericsson just unveiled the newly minted Z320 and Z250. The Sony Z320 gets extra points for its nice finish, simple design and the cool-looking retro display with fixed icons that light to show incoming and missed calls, messages and mute status. But then, it loses them with the 1.3 megapixel camera and 1.8" 65,000-color display. Still, it looks like it will be a nice low-end clamshell when it comes out next quarter. Then there's the Z250.

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Somehow, I can't stop watching this video. Warp 9 Craziness. – Ad Dugdale Nintendo Wiimote Theremin with Moog Little Phatty [YouTube via Popbitch]

TrustedReviews (with that name, you know you must trust them) just tested one of those mythical Solid State Drives that everybody announces but nobody actually seems to get. This 32GB Samsung SSD has an EIDE interface, which won't work with most modern laptops, but "its super fast access times are going to give you a nice boost in performance." Sounds like a good way to give a speed bump to your old notebook. – Jesus Diaz Samsung 32GB Solid State Drive [TrustedReviews]