When Should You Buy Your Next Gadget? 
Aussie IT Pricing Inquiry Now Taking Submissions 
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Laptop Buying Guide 2012: How To Find The Right Laptop For You 
Spotify Finally Makes Its Australian Debut 
Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time The Ferrari home gymnasium, titled ‘Unica’, is a muscle caviar—an onslaught to the senses and so elite you’ll be out of pocket if you so much as glare in its direction. Constructed from nothing but the finest Italian materials, it will set you back a cool $20,290.
AU: What a day to be out of the country! Man, I wish I’d seen some of this live on TV. Here’s the US crew’s take on events…
A man who’d apparently had it up to here with his mobile phone carrier got in an armored personnel carrier and rammed six cell phone towers. He was arrested on the way to a seventh.
Since this went down in Sydney, Australia, you can rule out lousy AT&T reception on an iPhone as the cause, ditto for being “fired” by Sprint. Still, we certainly how how this poor bastard feels. Whatever particular moment of customer-service frustration triggered it, the damage was pretty massive, according to cops:
“He continued to destroy mobile tower communications sheds by crashing through the perimeter fence and colliding with structures, causing significant damage.”
The guy was charged with “malicious damage, break and enter, predatory driving and driving in a dangerous manner.” There’s nothing about theft of government property—could the tank actually belong to him? [CNN] Thanks Matt!
UPDATE: Monday comp now closed. Go watch for Tuesday (or whatever day it is you’re poking around here.)
Next Friday, July 27, Sony is holding their “Sony. Experience More” expo, where journos and trade partners check out all Sony’s sexiest new gear. This year Sony has decided they’d like to open the doors just a little further, adding some invites to the list for a special 6.30pm session… JUST FOR PEEPS LIKE YOU!
Sony knows you’re the type keen to see all those ‘next big things’, so they’ve given Gizmodo Australia 100 double passes for any readers who can make their way down to the Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, to be there.
From Sony’s official schpiel, you’re going to get the chance to get hands on with all the latest BRAVIA, VAIO, Cyber-shot, Walkman, Handycam, PS3, and Sony Pictures gear, as well as some demos showing off new OLED technology. Plus free food, drinks, and entertainment. Last year Sony showed off the power of their 4K projection technology, which was worth the visit in its own right. No doubt there will be at least one big thing on show to rock your socks off.
Not a bad Friday night out for a bunch of geeks.
We’re breaking the giveaway up with 20 a day each day this week. All you gotta do is tell us what we want to hear in the comments below…
Instructables has a step-by-step on making a ‘fire skirt’, in the form of added electroluminescent (EL) wire to the design, along with some clever use of fabrics. Design is pretty cool, but the technique can certainly be applied to any concept for wearable EL stylez.
My home made TRON outfit is that much closer to reality. It might not be as good as his, but at least I’ll look a lot better in spandex. -Seamus Byrne
Instructables Fire Skirt [Instructables]
MAKE has pointed out a very nice Apple mod, with someone stuffing a Mac mini into the classic Apple Cube housing. In itself that would be slightly better then ‘meh’, but they’ve also whacked an Airport Extreme base station and an external HDD.
But the real winner has to be the inclusion of a laser keyboard, even if only for the light show. Tres geek chic! -Seamus Byrne
Mac Mini Cube Project [via MAKE:]
Thankfully, it isn’t as embarrassing as it sounds.
When discussing the future of organised crime, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Chief Mick Keelty is clearly thinking seriously about what is in store for us in ‘the future’. So he’s not afraid to accept that criminals use serious tech faster than most of the community, and that in future this could move beyond online crime and into the realm of science-fiction. FTA:
“Our environmental scanning tells us that even with some of the cloning of human beings – not necessarily in Australia but in those countries that are going to allow it – you could have potentially a cloned part-person, part-robot,” he said.
“You could (also) have technology acting at the direction of a human being, but the human being being distanced considerably from the actual crime scene.”
Woah! When we start seeing headlines for cyborg bank heists, surely that’s going to be the same era we start hearing about masked men sweeping out of the sky to save the day. Bring on Supes! -Seamus Byrne
Top cop predicts robot crimewave. [The Age]
A spot of Eastern wisdom never goes astray, and now you can take plenty with you without having to lug a year supply of cookies with you – the fortune cookie has gone digital!
The cookie holds 1500 futures, far more than you would find if you opened every last fortune cookie on the planet. I reckon there are only about thirty different fortunes found in real cookies. At best.
This one isn’t nearly as tasty, though. -Seamus Byrne
Here’s what you missed while you were off having a weekend instead of bathing in the glow of your beloved monitor…
Kit Spitfire’s for just $150,000! Brisbane manufacturer taking the flying world by storm.
JVC introduces new noise-cancelling headphone line. Something to compete with the lush but expensive Bose?
Record breaking dual-layer plastic solar cells. Some call bullshit, others say this could be the revolution we need.
NTT DoCoMo getting set to test some 300Mb 3G. But we’re not talking for use in mobile handsets.
60GB PS3 is isn’t is being discontinued, along with hardware PS2 back compat. I’m still bitter we never got hardware back compat out here…
Up close with the Wiifit. Some video of the fitness system in action.
World’s fastest residential Internet connection. 40Gbps. Whoooooomph!!!!!
There’s a party between my first and second toe, and everyone’s invited! These LED flip flops illuminate while you walk, balancing the subtle shades of red, blue and green for all to enjoy. At under $10 a pair, you can’t afford not to pick up a pair, unless you’re one of those hoity toity consumers who won’t wear the world’s most immediate energy solution on your feet—just because the sandals are too “ugly as sin” for your champagne tastes.
AU: I just had to change the header to ‘thongs’, but the crew selling them do call them flip flops, so I’ve left that alone in the body. It does instantly turn me off wanting to buy them — really suitable for kids and beach ravers only anyway. -SB
[product via shinyshiny]
Peter Löthberg, an optical Internet guru from Sweden has managed to hook up the daddy of all home Internet connections, running at a staggering 40Gb/s.
To put that speed into perspective, it would take 0.14s to download a DVD and only 3s to get your mitts on an HD DVD. Mr. Löthberg carried out the procedure to demonstrate the viability of such speeds in a residential context.
If Internet connections do ever become this fast, your porn collection is likely to grow beyond the point you can feasibly hide it and everyone will know you for the pervert you are. That said, not everyone will have such perverse uses, certainly not the homeowner herself… Mr. Löthberg’s 75yr old mother! [Newlaunches]
