Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Music
Sony Rolly Rollies Into US
11:40PM Mark Wilson | With the Sony Rolly now available in Sony Style stores nationwide, things will change. The television? Dead. The internet? Deader. The fireplace? Surprisingly, effective competition if the Rolly gets too close. Americans will take to staring at this little dancing 2GB MP3 player for hours on end, sacrificing heat, food and clothing to make due with the US$400 price tag. We’re sorry to be the bearers of bad news, but now that the wheels are in motion, it’s too late to stop. More »
Entertainment
Updated Napster DRM-Free Store <3 iPods
11:20PM Mark Wilson | Napster announced the transition to all DRM-free MP3s several months back, but now their 6 million song catalog is fully up and running. Now compatible with iPods/iPhones, Napster even claims that their inventory is “50% larger than any other MP3 store,” though we’re a little confused on the math since iTunes offers “more than 6 million [songs]” themselves. Most of Napster’s catalog will be available at 256kbps bitrate, and they claim to be the first store to offer 100% MP3-formatted tracks. Anyone gonna give the service (another) go? UPDATE: Ahh, we get it. Largest “MP3 store,” not digital music store. Nice catch, commenters! More »
Gadgets
GPS Wrist Tracker Has GSM for Live Position Updates
11:00PM Gizmodo US Edition | In January we brought you some info on the SPOT GPS tracker that broadcasts live info on your whereabouts, and now just four months later there’s this new wrist-mounted gizmo that does almost the same. The Wrist Tracker is actually a multifunction device that has a GSM unit built-in, alongside the GPS tracker and data-logger, and it can be configured to send your position data via SMS at set intervals, or tracked real-time by GPRS. There’s a plain LCD screen which displays the usual GPS info, and though it’s not overly attractive it doesn’t appear massively chunky. Available recently, though there’s no info on pricing. [Coolest Gadgets via Navigadget] More »
Phones
iPhone 3G Launch Date Confirmed
10:25PM Gizmodo US Edition | We all suspected it, but now it is confirmed: someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch has told me that Apple will announce their new model at the WWDC Keynote on June 9th. The second-generation iPhone will be available worldwide right after the launch, and not at year’s end, as previously thought. The new model will also herald new sales policies in some countries. More »
Science
MIT Scientists Increase Fuel Cell Efficiency 50%
9:17PM Gizmodo US Edition | Scientists at MIT have been tackling the efficiency of next-gen power source fuel cells, and have discovered how to significantly improve it. Most current direct-methanol fuel cells use a membrane called Nafion sandwiched between their electrodes, and apparently it’s got a flaw. As well as letting hydrogen nucleii through to drive the power-generating process, it apparently also leaks methanol, lowering the efficiency of the cell. By coating the Nafion with a new material (kept secret for now) the boffins have plugged the leak and have been able to measure up to 50% efficiency increases. What’s this mean for us? Well, longer-lasting fuel cells in our future gizmos of course. [Reghardware] More »
Design
Tea Infuser Design Clips On, Catches Drips
8:05PM Gizmodo US Edition | Tea is the fuel that keeps many an editor’s brain ticking over here in the Giz office: I make mine with teabags, Blam loves the new Sorapot. So this new design is of more than passing interest: student Paul Sukphisit has reinvented the tea infuser. And it actually looks like he’s really “built a better mousetrap” with his idea, since it cures some of the ills of normal infusers. More »
Online
Google Earth Flying Bicycle Doesn’t Include Basket, E.T.
7:42PM Gizmodo US Edition | Elliott-wannabe Mike Pegg has wired his mountain bike to Google Earth’s flight simulator mode to travel all around the world while he exercises. He used a Sun Microsystem SunSPOT, a Java-programmable wireless sensor equipped with an accelerometer and a bank of pins to connect it to the other controls. The system is simple, and it works perfectly, as you can see in the video. More »
Gadgets
The NES Controller Apple Remote Hack
7:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | An amazing coffee table, a mouse… now an Apple remote? Is there nothing the classic NES controller can’t be modded into? Well, probably many things. But this one is at least simple to do and rather neat, involving a minimum of fiddling with solder and wires inside the NES. And you end up with a still fairly small Apple controller with added retro gaming chic. Are we witnessing a new modding culture to rival steampunk, I wonder? Controllerpunk? [Hacknmod— Thanks Joe] More »
Gadgets
Bong Guitar Hits All the High Notes
7:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | The guy in the leopard-skin fez is Mike Edison, a former editor of High Times. The guitar that he’s strumming on not-so-convincingly is the ChroniCaster, a bulletproof plexiglass little number, complete with bong add-on for those whose motto is Fumo, Ergo Sum. I think this is all a ploy to publicise Edison’s new book, entitled I Like Words So Much I’m Going to Give My Autobiography a Mahoosive Title So That Everyone Will Get Tired of Reading It and Just Go Out And Buy It. Hello? Is Anyone There? Please Come Back, I’m Stoned and Paranoid. No, it’s called I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World. Now, someone get him a glass of water. [YouTube via Boing Boing] More »
Design
