Thursday, November 1, 2007
Home
$100k Home Theatre is Only 720p
11:45PM Mark Wilson | “Dude, I just spent $100,000 on the most kick arse home theatre.” “Seriously??” “Yeah, you’ve gotta come over for the game this Monday.” “I’m so there! What’s it got?” “Well, the four 42″ plasmas are sweet. But the centerpiece has to be this awesome 144-inch Draper screen with a gorgeous 720p Sanyo projector.” “Whoa! Wait…did you say, 720p?” More »
Phones
iPhone Hits Germany November 9
11:45PM Charlie White | Starting November 9th, it’ll be Germany’s turn to embrace or reject Apple’s iPhone, and T-Mobile will be the provider. Contrary to hopes of a 3G iPhone in Europe, just like here in U.S., the phones will start out using the EDGE network for data, and Wi-Fi will speed things up if there are any hotspots in the vicinity. Hit the jump for pricing details. Germans will pay €399 ($575) for the 8GB iPhone, along with a €25 ($36) activation fee, and these prices are in effect with a two-year contract. Calling plans will start at €49 ($71) per month, and except for that higher pricing, are similar to those in the U.S. [Apple Germany] More »
Random Stuff
Spock-Ear Plastic Surgery Mod is Not Logical
11:22PM Charlie White | Ever thought of getting yourself a permanent pair of Star Trek Vulcan ears? A day trip to the plastic surgeon can get that done for you. This body modification is said to enhance the music listening experience, but then, you have to go around looking like Spock to enjoy that questionable benefit. Done under local anesthesia, the plastic surgeon uses existing ear cartilage and skin to extend the top of the ear, and after three to four weeks, it’s healed up enough for you to convincingly start telling people to live long and prosper. But what if your new ears make music sound worse? There’s no word on how difficult it is to reverse the surgery. Maybe there’s a way to test out the effect before you take the plunge. Hey, all the hepcats in New York are doing it, so it must be cool. [Plasmetic] More »
Software
Porn-Induced Malware Attacks Leopard
11:10PM Mark Wilson | Apparently at least some of the Leopard security vulnerabilities have already been exploited, but only through the aid of stupid hornball Mac users. Was that childish of us to call porn-craved Mac users “hornballs” and imply that some of them are stupid? Maybe. And the image of of Justin Long doing the dirty certainly won’t fit nicely in our next Mac fantasy, but we’re just doing our job here. Security company Intego discovered that the OSX.RSPlug.A Trojan horse malware is infecting users on certain porn sites who agree to upgrade their video codec. Oh, and it’s not a simple button press, either. Users need to agree, download the file, mount the .dmg and install it on their dic- disk. When the malware is setup properly, a computer’s DNS settings will change, redirecting browsers to phishing sites and ads for porn. Cry me a river. This isn’t some dangerous Trogan horse, it’s pornographic Darwinism. [cnet] More »
Press
Pay by Touch System Tested by Petrol Stations, Grocery Store
10:48PM Charlie White | Here’s a better way to pay for stuff. By just touching your fingertip to this Pay by Touch biometric system, you can pay for anything in the ten Chicago Shell stations that are now testing the tech. So this means there’s no need to reach for that credit card or even your wallet; all you have to do is touch a certain spot on the pump or in the store, and your online credit or debit card account pays for your gas. Add this tech to Shell’s multimedia pumps currently deployed in 300 gas stations across the U.S., showing NBC programming (and advertising) as well as news, weather and sports (also with ads) from Fuel Media International, and people might start hanging out at the high-tech gas pumps for the afternoon. But so far, uptake is slow. More »
Random Stuff
Japan Tracking GPS Defense Officials With Phones
10:41PM Mark Wilson | Japan is going to start tracking their defence officials through hi-tech, James Bondish means—GPS-enabled phones. After a retired defence official admitted to playing hundreds of free rounds of golf (bought by a defence contractor) while on the job, officials of the officials have gotten upset, and decided that members of the defence ministry need to be accounted. For now, the compromise is that defence officials will carry special phones in times of emergency only, which seems like a fair compromise. But that’s not stopping those crying over spilt golf. More »
Computers
Apple Takes Cheap Laptops to Santa Rosa
9:32PM Charlie White | Guess those rumours were true about impending MacBook updates. Apple didn’t make a big deal about it, but right under everyone’s noses the company’s upgraded its popular MacBook laptops, finally goosing them up to the Santa Rosa architecture with GMA X3100 integrated video, giving those graphics a sprightly new lease on life. Santa Rosa gives the MacBook a welcome speed bump, raising the front-side bus speed to 800MHz from 667MHz. Both the white and black MacBooks get the new chipset, and the MacBook Pro, already totin’ Santa Rosa, was also annointed with a new chip and drive choice. Let’s drill down for the details. More »
Deals
Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD: $99 at Wal-Mart
9:09PM Wilson Rothman | Remember that early Wal-Mart Black Friday we told you about? It just got blacker. Wal-Mart tells us that it will be selling Toshiba’s HD-A2 for $99 over the weekend only, starting Friday. Yes, at long last, the HD DVD player that was hovering in the mid $200s will break the (definitely profit-free) $100 barrier, at least temporarily. But our source says that this is not definitive proof that HD DVD will win: Wal-Mart will have an unspecified Blu-ray deal or two as well, so keep an eye out. [Wal-Mart] More »
Music
100k iPhone Users Jailbreak’d Yesterday
7:32PM Brian Lam | Approximately 100k iPhone users, and what I’d guess as about 5-7% of all iPhone users, browsed to jailbreakme.com to put apps back on their 1.1.1 iPhones. That’s not far from the 9% owner base that Apple brags picked up 2 million Leopard copies over the first two days of sales. That’s a lot of iPhone hacking. [iPhone Atlas via Crave's Krazit] AU: I used this to unlock an iPod touch, so I think they might be forgetting there could be a large count on that side of things too. -SB More »
Entertainment
