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So it turns out that the huge HTC Magnum actually is, of course, a prank cooked up by the guys at Pocketpt in Portugal as a Carnival stunt. Built from an HTC X7500 and a boring old HP monitor, it seems it got a lot more attention on the intertubes than originally intended. [Pocketlint]
Here's a batch of 13 new images from the movie about the greatest gadget tinkerer and playboy of all time: Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. And while all of them are great and make our legs shake in anticipation, there's something wrong going on in there. Let's review:
Slot Intempo's little dongle into your speaker's iPod dock, and you can stream music to it from your Bluetooth-ready phone, PC or non-iPod MP3 player. The 61 x 51 x 10mm BTA01 is compatible with any Bluetooth v1.2 device and speakers with standard iPod dock, and has a range of up to 10 metres. Handy if you need a remote music system or if somehow you've got an iPod speaker, but no iPod. Available now for £39.99 ($87) [PocketLint]
Nestled in the hills above Hollywood is a glass house that boasts one of the coolest open-air home theaters I've ever seen. You can flop on one of the sofas and watch a movie on an enormous screen, one of the outer walls of the guesthouse of the Hagy Belzberg-designed Skyline residence. A couple more mouthwatering pics after the jump.
Sony's latest, smallest member of the Bravia LCD TV family is, sadly for fans of multicoloured rabbits, destined only for Japan. Shame, as the XDV-D500 sounds good. Find out just how good under the gallery.
We are looking for an early morning intern, which means someone from Europe or Asia. This is not a writer's job, although super-interns may eventually become Giz writers, if they are good. Read on for the job description and the requirements:
AU: This is for the US Giz site. If you think you've got what it takes to cut the mustard, send 'em your details.
Dutch student Chung Dha Lam (as far as I know, no relation to Blam) has tried to solve the problem of unmemorable business cards by animating his designs with a simple trick. Using a jacket with printed vertical stripes and cards with some cleverly sliced-up images printed on them, Lam's gizmo animates as you slide the card out of the jacket—easy and effective, as you can see from the video below.
The nuvifone won't be available until the third quarter of 2008, but Garmin has already dropped a couple videos showing its product off. One of them is a bit dull, you know the sort of stuff, portentious voiceovers talking about "putting more power in the hands of the people." The other one, however, is marketing genius, showing three typical Garmin customers, John, Joey and Suzi, and how they would use their phone. GYAC, it's not John or Joey spending their time shopping and lunching. [NaviGadget]
3ga has just announced the JB7 digital jukebox, which allows the user to directly rip CDs to its internal HDD, negating the use for a PC. Standard rip time is less than five minutes, and the JB7 is available in either 40GB (US$586) or 80GB (US$625) flavours. Other features include alarm clock mode, USB connectivity, 30 watts per channel amplifier, remote control and support for various music compression storage formats. Sure, the JB7 is neat, but at those extortionate prices? We think not. [Tech Digest]
Billed as the first communications glove, the G-Cell glove is a collaboration between glove manufacturer Swany and experimental development company Texsys GmbH. The design, with its integrated microphone, speaker and a couple of buttons to make calls, is clearly aimed at winter sports enthusiasts. Here's what the G-Cell has got:
Hasbro's Room Tech Clock, which looks like a mix between an iPod and a Goomba, is an alarm clock with a wireless link to the shroom-shaped Room Tech Lamp. When the alarm goes off, two things happen; the alarm clock will either stomp its fists on the table making an awful racket, play back the radio or pump out tunes from a connected MP3 player. Secondly, the Room Tech Lamp, which is styled like a shroom-Martian hybrid, will be activated, bringing illumination to your dank, dingy room.
The PSP is becoming a formidable platform with gaming, Skype, music and video all under the hood, but what if the standard battery does not cut it? Sony Japan has just announced a 2200 mAh battery pack for the PSP slim, which will allow up to 7-11 hours of continuous gaming and 7-11 hours of video playback.
While the hot and heavy 700MHz a(u)ction is anonymously taking place behind closed doors, we do know a couple of big things have happened. That potential winning bid from Thursday was punked down by a surprise total bid of $4.74 billion. This is juicy because it indicates Google has probably been outbid—assuming it was the party that pushed the bid past the $4.6 billion open access reserve, as it had promised—most likely by Verizon, using some slightly complicated rule shuffling with the regional licenses comprising the block.
Annalee Newitz, editor of io9, posted some controversial photos of a robot on the scene of a suicide bombing in Israel. One of the worst shots includes the robot rolling over the bomber's corpse to check if the body is rigged with a second batch of explosives. Readers are calling her names for posting such intense photos. But I think they're wrong. WARNING: This post has very disturbing photos.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 3:37 PM on February 6, 2008
Okay, we're not saying that wireless technology gives you tumors. The jury's still out on that one. What we are saying is that rather than go through the painful process of setting up a wireless network to stream you're Hi-Def porn collection illegally bittorrented home movies (the only legal type in Australia, really) from your PC to your TV, why not try streaming it through the powerlines?
The Billion BiPAC 2070 (sounds like an evil robot from the future) is a 200Mbps Ethernet over power plug that lets you stream content through the copper in the walls rather than the air. Because it's so fast, there's no need to worry about buffer streams or interference like you would with a wireless router.
You get two HomePlugs in a box for $229, which automatically creates an extended network. Grab a couple more for different rooms of your house and anybody can log onto your new super fast ADSL2+ network as well.
Of course, to stream your video, you'll still need a separate box, like an Apple TV or a Netgear EVA8000. But as far as setting up a home networks go, this sounds about as easy as plugging in a powerpoint. Stay tuned for a review in the coming weeks.
[Billion]
The Spice Gun by Chinese designer Zhu Fei takes the rotating spice caster to a whole new level. Using an air bag that compresses when the trigger is pressed, the Spice Gun allows for the bottom of the seasoning bottle to be hit by the handspike, blasting seasoning all over your food. Details on on the Spice Gun are scarce. But if celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse were to use this thing, he would have to change his catchphrase from BAM to BANG. [designboom via dvice]
Hollywood wants ISPs such as Verizon to help filter and block the illegal transfer of copyrighted content. Unlike AT&T, Verizon is telling Hollywood to kiss its ass. Verizon EVP of Public Affairs Tom Tauke says they won't consider Hollywood's call to action for three reasons.
My electric bill for December was intense. I was out of the city two weeks of the month, and it was still $175. I live by myself in a one bedroom in a moderate climate. I think I need to start unplugging all my power strips when I leave home. Except the Sling, cable modem, router and TiVo's power strip, of course.
TV-B-Gone + 30 infrared LEDs + mineral crystal lens + blue LED laser-like precision aim + PVC tubes + black paint = Judgement Day. And this time it's personal, punks. [hacked gadgets]
The 1000mm Sigma we saw at PMA is nothing compared to this ultra rare Canon zoom. The retailer B&H photo has one of these, a 1200mm, F5.6 USM lens. They've been around since 1993, but are made to order at the rate of 2 per year, and there are less than 20 in existence. What the hell does 1200mm give you on a 35mm camera? A 2 percent field of vision. The cost? US$99,000.00...USED. Shot of the zoom vs a standard 50mm lens, post jump. [B&H, thanks to everyone who sent this in.]
Even though a Leica rep explicitly told us at PMA that there would be no M9 or M10—Leica plans to perpetually upgrade the Inspector Gadget of digital cameras, the M8, instead—some customers received a letter from the big L that a full-frame M camera is on the way.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 12:59 PM on February 6, 2008
APC is reporting that Telstra has made an announcement in conjunction with the new Labor Government that they will be switching on ADSL2+ at 900 exchanges across Australia. The agreement comes on the back of the new government deciding not to regulate third-party ISP's right to access the network.
The service will be available to 91 per cent of the population in both regional and city areas. That means that if you're with Telstra, you can now access broadband speeds of up to 20Mbps, if you're in one of the 360 exchanges where a competitor has ADSL2+ packages on offer. Everywhere else, you'll be running at 8Mbps...
...And paying for it. The cheapest new ADSL2+ plan on offer starts at $60 per month for a – get this – 600MB download allowance. It does get slightly more reasonable as you climb the scale ($150 for 60GB), but the excess usage fee is astounding - $150 per GB.
The MacBook Air's single USB port is a finicky, tight fit, and lots of stuff—like a lot of 3G modems—just can't squeeze into the space, which is a big deal for mobile-focused notebook. Om Malik had already ordered his Air before that revelation came out, so he tried to make do with Novatel's U727 USB modem for Sprint's network. And surprisingly, it fit, "without problems."
The Provia A7, developed by Hyundai Telematics, is even more souped-up than its predecessor, the horny-making A1. It starts with a slim 7" 800 x 480 LCD, adds an animated touch interface, then packs in navigation, simultaneous reception of T-DMB TV and TPEG traffic and other data, a removable battery and a freakin' gaming system...with game controller! It's all in the video, with catchy "Mappy" theme song, below.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 11:47 AM on February 6, 2008
Razer is (justifiably) known for their gaming peripherals, particularly their keyboards and mice (which you love or hate, depending on what kind of games you play). On the audio front, they're slightly less battle hardened, and, by and by, most 2.1 systems are dreck. (I'll totally vouch for Logitech's ZX-2300 setup, though.) And the Mako 2.1 Advanced Desktop Audio's' premise sounds a little gimicky: rounded satellites with 360-degree, omni-directional sound. Yet Gadget Lab says "there's nary another 2.1 system that can match the Mako's performance."
Nokia's N82, which is essentially their high end N95 in a candybar body may cost US$550, but WirelessInfo found that the slightly high price tag gets you what you paid for. Here's a summary of WiInf had to say.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 10:27 AM on February 6, 2008
Despite having a deep infatuation with a wide range of music, sadly, for me, it's an unrequited love. You see, I have the musical talent of a one-armed baboon, with the exception that a one-armed baboon could probably make a sweeter sound from its glowing red bubble butt than I could with all the musical assistance in the world.
But it's this one-sided love affair that gets me strangely excited by this time-lapse video of a digital trumpet being handmade. Not only all the intricate wiring that goes inside, but the sleek black body looks fantastic as well. And who would have thought that you could get awesome blue LED lighting in an instrument? It's probably a recipe for musical crimes against nature, but I think I'm going to have to get me one of these.
Hit the jump for a vid of trumpet maestro James Morrison jamming on his digital trumpet.
[Morrison Digital Trumpets - Thanks Stephen!]
Why should you be able to custom-build your Dell or HP computer but not a mobile phone? That's exactly the problem this this zzzPhone is going to solve, by way of them having a factory in China that will custom-create a phone especially for you.
Posted by Nick Broughall at 9:06 AM on February 6, 2008
