October 9, 2008

Design

Lunchboxes Create the Illusion of Fine PB&J Dining

Posted by Mark Wilson at 11:40 PM on October 9, 2008

Our childhood died when we realised that our precious GI Joe lunchbox would no longer impress our friends but get us laughed at and called a baby. As we carried our brown paper bag in shame, one graphic designer mused a solution. Her lunchboxes, seen here, hold food with style, folding out to reveal a facade of dining on fine porcelain plates or even just simple plastic dishes on the beach.


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Entertainment

Discovery Channel's Time Warp: Slo-Mo Videos of Crazy Sh*t Go Primetime

Posted by John Mahoney at 11:20 PM on October 9, 2008

Overheard in a recent Discovery Channel producer's meeting: "Hey--here's a crazy idea: you know how videos of things happening in slow motion tend to blow up the internet? Let's make that into a whole show. And in HD to boot. Face punches, raw chicken exploding, champagne blowing its top (the more latent sexuality the better!)--that kind of thing. We'll start it off next week, and yeah, we'll put some pretty great interactive slo-mo videos on our website that can be controlled frame-by-frame. I don't know about you guys but I'm sold!" [Discovery Channel]


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Furniture

Venus Crystal Chair, Probably Manufactured on Krypton

Posted by Mark Wilson at 11:00 PM on October 9, 2008

Tokujin Yoshioka likes chairs as much as the next chair designer, but he's not accustomed to using standard building materials. His latest project, the Venus Chair, is not built but grown. He shapes a sponge-like substrate called polyester elastomer into a sort of chair skeleton and then submerges it into a tank to grow crystals inside and out. The result is fit for Superman, except he'd never fit in this tiny scale model. He'd need something more like this full-blown La-Z-Boy version:


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Games

PSP Getting Dual Shock 3 Support Through 'PSP Plus'

Posted by Mark Wilson at 10:40 PM on October 9, 2008

We've seen the patents and the rumours that the Sony PlayStation Portable would begin accepting the Dual Shock 3 controller. Heck, we've even seen those too impatient to wait who've modded the experience on their own. But finally, Sony has announced a new feature called PSP Plus that will allow you to play PSP (2000 or 3000 models) with your Dual Shock 3 (or SIXAXIS?) controller. But there are a few catches...


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Games

PSP Store

Posted by Mark Wilson at 10:33 PM on October 9, 2008

Sony confirmed today that the full PlayStation Store will be accessible directly through the PSP starting October 15th. Soon! [Kotaku]


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Gadgets

Eye-Fi Software Update Adds Support for Twitter, RSS

Posted by John Herrman at 10:20 PM on October 9, 2008

Eye-Fi keeps kicking arse with their wireless SD cards, adding feed publishing capabilities through Twitter and RSS in a free software update. It was only a few weeks ago that another downloadable upgrade boosted download speeds and threw in MobileMe support, adding to an already massive list of support photo sharing sites. Owners should get an Eye-Fi Manager Software update pushed through automatically, and new customers can now find the cards on the Eye-Fi website. Note to other hardware manufacturers: DO MORE STUFF LIKE THIS. [Eye-Fi via Crave]


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Science

Origami Space Shuttles Unveiled, Kids Around the World Hold Their Breath

Posted by Jesus Diaz at 10:00 PM on October 9, 2008

This has to be the dream of every kid and adult on Earth: Make a paper plane and throw it from orbit. Well, there's one lucky Japanese astronaut who is going to get nine of them, a paper space shuttle fleet which will go up to the International Space Station. Then, they will be dropped from orbit into a 400km, two-day flight to the ground. If you are thinking that these origami spacecrafts won't be able to resist the re-entry, think again: They can sustain Mach 7 speeds (8,500kph) and 200-degree Celsius temperatures.


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Computers

Asus Planning to Release Touchscreen Eee PC Within Six Months

Posted by John Herrman at 9:10 PM on October 9, 2008

Asustek executive Samson Hu has confirmed his company's plans to release a touchscreen Eee PC variant for sale by Q1 of 2009. It's not known whether the devices will look like the touch panel Eee mods that have been floating around or take the shape of a tablet, but we'll see in January when the first models are shown at CES. That's not all though — further announcements indicated that the Eee line is changing is some more subtle ways.


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Computers

New Apple Notebooks May Start At $US800, Made From Actual Bricks

Posted by John Herrman at 8:31 PM on October 9, 2008

Amidst a flurry of alleged pictures and some wise words of caution, another Mac notebook rumour has surfaced: the Inquisitr claims that, according to their source, Apple's new line of notebooks will start at $US800 and come in twelve configurations. To put that into perspective, the current range is made up of eight price points, the lowest being $US1099. A $US300 drop in MacBook prices or the likely possibility of an entirely new model are both tantalising, but some are finding reason to be suspicious:


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Software

RealNetworks Barred From Selling RealDVD Ever Again

Posted by John Herrman at 7:50 PM on October 9, 2008

Last week a judge put a temporary ban on the sale of RealNetworks' DVD backup program RealDVD, claiming that it violated the DMCA. The court has decided to uphold the ban indefinitely, and judging by the tone and nature of the judge's statements, it doesn't sound like they'll ever change their mind.


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Screens

Barack Obama's $US3 Million 'Overhead Projector' Actually Pretty Cool

Posted by John Herrman at 7:20 PM on October 9, 2008

During the last Presidential debate, John McCain delivered this line about his opponent with withering contempt:

[Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $US3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

I'm already tired of hearing these guys talk, but that caught my ear. A $US3 million projector? What does that even look like? Gearlog did some digging and found out that the appropriation was requested by the planetarium to replace an awesome (but obsolete) 40-year old Zeiss Mark VI star projector with a newer model (pictured above).


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Computers

New Pics Surface of Anonymous Apple Laptop

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 6:29 PM on October 9, 2008

Taiwanese blog Apple.Pro has put out a couple more pictures that could be related to the upcoming Macbook Pro. We're not sure if they're real or not, but there are enough photos out there to at least mostly rule out Photoshop. While the new pictures resemble case images we saw earlier, it looks to be designed for a smaller laptop and lacks their speaker grills.


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Peripherals

Kingston DataTraveler150 USB Drive Packs 32GB of Space

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 5:00 PM on October 9, 2008

Kingston has dropped a 32GB version of its DataTraveler USB drive, which could be a worthy addition to your gizmo collection if you own a netbook with limited storage (say, like the EeePC). The pocket-sized dongle measures at 7.8 x 2.3 x 1.2 cm and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. The estimated retail price is $US139, but you can get one off Newegg for $US80 right now—that's roughly $US2.22 per GB. [Newegg]


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Furniture

Disappearing Pool Table Adds Secret Agent Awesomeness To Your Game Room

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 4:30 PM on October 9, 2008

Everybody knows that no real bachelor pad is complete without a pool table, but if you want f@$#ing awesome bachelor pad status, you gotta have it rise from the floor James Bond-style. This ridiculous mod uses a side-sliding trap door in the floor and a hydraulic lift to make a pool table appear where there was none before. Wooooweee, is that your pool cue or are you just happy to see me? [Ballerhouse -Thanks A.J.!]


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Games

Sony PS3 Update Will Sell You Premium Themes

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 4:00 PM on October 9, 2008

Sony has dropped a brand-new feature on its PS3 console that will let you buy Premium themes--specialised themes that contain high-quality graphics, customised buttons, and (sometimes) special sounds. Since they cost real money, PS3 users will have an option to preview the images before deciding to drop the cash. The company plans on releasing 6 to 10 premium themes every month, which will run the gamut from anime-styled to NCAA-franchised content. It's pretty, but is it worth your penny? [Playstation Blog via Kotaku]

Science

Laptop Heat Creates Energy Instead of Burning Precious Man Parts

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 3:30 PM on October 9, 2008

Japanese engineers who were tired of sweaty nutsacks quickly draining batteries revealed a prototype of a thermoelectric device that could create electricity using heat produced from laptops, which means more renewable energy and less time being plugged into a wall.

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Games

Nintendo DSi Will Come Loaded With Extra RAM

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 3:00 PM on October 9, 2008

Nintendo's DSi will be loaded with more RAM than the DS Lite, according to Opera CEO Jon von Tezchner. In an interview with TechTree, the man responsible for web surfing on Nintendo's handheld said that Opera would be sure to use the memory boost "efficiently." That's great and all, but what does this mean for games?

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Entertainment

Indy 4 Blu-Ray Comes With 5 Different Retail Packages, Still Hurts Me Inside

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 2:30 PM on October 9, 2008

There's only one week left until the Blu-Ray release of the worst sequel ever (at least in terms of how it took my childhood and ripped out its heart Kali Ma-style), Indiana Jones and The Goddamn X-Files, and retailers have decided to go with an equally frustrating promotion gimmick. Indy-enthusiasts will have to choose between five different exclusive retail packages—getting every single piece of movie paraphernalia will be like a treasure hunt... with mediocre cinema attached!

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Gadgets

SlingCatcher Available For Purchase Now

Posted by Adrian Covert at 2:25 PM on October 9, 2008

At long last, Sling Media's powerful, media extending/streaming/projecting SlingCatcher is available for purchase, at retailers like Best Buy and Fry's, as well as from Sling directly (the product page isn't quite live yet, but should be later today). For those unfamiliar, the SlingCatcher takes a sling stream, multimedia files, or your computer desktop and plays it back on whatever television it's connected to. It can be yours for $US300 if you go here. [SlingCatcher on Giz]

Networks

Watch Cricket On Your NextG Mobile

Australian Post Posted by Nick Broughall at 2:00 PM on October 9, 2008

cricket.jpgI never understood watching cricket on your mobile phone. Other sports, sure, but not cricket. When 3 had the Ashes a couple of years ago, I tried streaming the first test match. Even with the phone plugged in, it drained the battery. that and I kept hearing what was happening from the office radio at least 15 seconds before I saw it on the mobile's tiny screen.

But maybe things have improved, now that Telstra's streaming the upcoming Indian tour to their NextG network. The tour, which starts today and runs until November 9, will cost $9.95 a month or $3.95 a day.

Not my thing, but if you're a cricket fan, and a NextG customer, hit the BigPond button to get started.

[Telstra]

Games

Hands On With The New Xbox Experience

Posted by Adrian Covert at 2:00 PM on October 9, 2008

The New Xbox Experience is ready to go live soon as part of the Xbox fall update, and after getting some quality face time with the UI and it's new features, I'm pretty impressed. The update addresses the core Xbox software on two levels: most notable is that the design of the UI received a complete overhaul, (mostly) eschewing the blades for a more immersive, intuitive, Media Center-like experience. Secondly, it adds new functionality, allowing for Netflix streaming, group-based gaming, heavily customised avatars, ripping games straight to HDD and an all new quick menu that comes up when you hit the home button.

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Games

The New Xbox Experience Cometh on November 19

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 1:47 PM on October 9, 2008

Microsoft's New Xbox Experience, the upcoming dashboard system that'll let you create avatars and social network, now has a set date for its worldwide launch--November 19. The guys from Redmond showed a completed version of the NXE at the Tokyo Game Show, and included a little Xbox-avatar Bill Gates announcing that he's "a PC." Cute.

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Gadgets

Micro-Max is 19 Tools in the Palm of Your Hand

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 1:30 PM on October 9, 2008

Like a useful little Autobot, the Micro-Max tool transforms into not just two or three, but nineteen different doohickeys for you to use. Included within its moving parts are six types of screwdrivers, two hex wrenches, a bottle opener, pliers, a file, and wire tools. If you're a DIY enthusiast, or just like really tiny and complicated things, the Micro-Max is $US13 off of ThinkGeek. [Think Geek via Random Good Stuff]

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Gadgets

Hands-Free GPS Device for the Blind Could Make You a Superhero

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 1:07 PM on October 9, 2008

The Navigation aid for the Blind headset is a GPS device, which not only works through speech recognition, but also uses obstacle detection technology that alerts the blind of any sleeping bums or other obstructions he could trip over as he is being guided to his destination.

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Software

Crack the Quantum Code With This Handy QR Code Guide

Australian Post Posted by Nick Broughall at 1:00 PM on October 9, 2008

Thumbnail image for quantumcode.jpgSo we've been pushing QR codes pretty hard here on Giz this year - what with our comp to win a PS3 a few months ago and now with Sony's Quantum Code competition. But in case you're wondering how the hell you decode a QR code, we've put together a little guide for you here, which should help everyone solve the next clue in the Quantum Code.

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Cameras

Google GeoEye-1 Satellite Takes First Pic (Is that Your House?)

Posted by Wilson Rothman at 12:50 PM on October 9, 2008

We warned you that Google would soon be snapping shots of your backyard with GeoEye-1, a military-controlled satellite with the highest-resolution terrestrial camera now in orbit. Well, yesterday at high noon Eastern time, Larry and Sergei's little baby started snapping. But according to Wired, GeoEye's communications guy says "this is the opposite of a spy satellite."

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Entertainment

Spinal Tap BD-Live Game: Equal Parts South Park, Rock Band, WTF?

Posted by Wilson Rothman at 12:20 PM on October 9, 2008

A few days ago, I mentioned that the only new special feature on the forthcoming This Is Spinal Tap Blu-ray would be a crazy game that threatens to put Rock Band to shame. It's just a BD-Java game, so there's no real chance of that, but we did get pictures that show it's at least bound to be fun for 15 minutes. Only thing, judging from the pic above and the second shot down after the jump, it looks a little like it could just as easily be the BD-Live game for Village People: Can't Stop the Music. [Original Press Release]

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Screens

Lessons Learned When Wall-Mounting TVs

Australian Post Posted by Nick Broughall at 11:30 AM on October 9, 2008

wallmount1.jpg