Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Games
Newest System Menu 3.4 Wii Update Kills Homebrew Again
11:50PM John Mahoney | Hey, Nintendo–what’s going on here? After a good year or so looking the other way on Wii homebrew (for the most part), now we’ve got two fairly serious brew-killing updates in the last month? Word from the folks at Wiibrew.org is that the latest update, System Menu 3.4, is apparently a doozy when it comes to ruining the homebrew party.
Software
Numberkey Transforms iPhone Into Sweet Wireless Numberpad
11:45PM Matt Buchanan | The best ideas really are the simplest ones. I don’t want to carry around a 17-inch notebook (does anyone?) and I’m not an accountant, but sometimes I miss the numberpad, like when I’m dropping in a credit card number or doing a stupid Excel spreadsheet, and using two hands to pound digits is just annoying next to the numpad’s one-handed zen. Enter numberkey, an iPhone app that turns it into an ad hoc wireless numberpad for your Mac using Wi-Fi. There’s a small desktop client that goes with it, but it’s all only $US1.99. And it comes with four skins to cover every style of modern Mac keyboards to keep even the most OCD weirdos happy. [iTunes via technabob] More »
Design
Colossus of Rhodes to be Rebuilt as Colossal Light Sculpture
11:30PM Kit Eaton | The Colussus of Rhodes, one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, is going to be rebuilt as an innovative light sculpture—the “world’s largest light installation” according to its architect. And it’ll be even bigger than the 120-foot original, which was destroyed in an earthquake in 226BC. More »
Business
Microsoft Stock Hits 10-Year Low
11:15PM Mark Wilson | After a Jefferies Group analyst cut Microsoft’s 2009 revenue forecasts, Microsoft’s stock fell to its lowest levels since 1998. More »
Gadgets
6.5kg Lego Safe Is Guarded by 305 Billion Codes
11:00PM Jesus Diaz | By definition, you would think that a Lego safe won’t be very safe. But, right now, and looking at the photo and features of this 6.5kg Lego Mindstorms NXT Safe, it looks like a much more secure place to guard my savings than any bank out there. All the $US34.67 of them. Seriously. Once glued, the 2.7-inch thick walls made of interlocking Lego bricks and its five double digit electronic code lock will make it impossible to break for most people. And beyond the fact that no thief would think you would be stupid enough to store your valuables on a Lego safe, the electronic code is not the only security feature. More »
Gadgets
At Gizmodo Gallery: Ancient Apple Phone Prototypes From Frog Design
10:40PM Brian Lam | digg_skin = 'compact'; digg_bgcolor = '#f1f8fa'; digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Ancient_Apple_Phone_Prototypes_From_Frog_Design'; Hello there. We’re starting to release the details of some of the things we’ll be showing off at Gizmodo gallery, and I think for our first, we’ll show off one of the most interesting and mysterious: This Frog Design made Apple prototype which I cannot find many official details of. There are photos of the concept floating around the net with a check writing program on the monochrome stylus touchscreen (1980s PayPal!) but neither Frog nor Apple can or will tell me anything about this curious machine other than it was worked on by Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frog, and The Steve, as part of the Snow White design language applied to the IIc and original Mac. It was unveiled by Esslinger’s son last year, who described the thought process going on between Jobs and his father as not only thinking about the drinking glass, but the very nature of thirst itself. It will be at Gizmodo Gallery this December 4th-7th, in NYC, along with another Apple Prototype which I will save for the exhibit itself. I hope you can come. Till then, if you know anything about this device and can give me some back story, I’d love to hear it. [Gizmodo Gallery] More »
Phones
iPhone May Take Pictures Of Your Junk and Send Them to Your Attractive Coworker
9:36PM John Herrman | The guy at the Genius Bar, you know, the one from Die Hard 4? Yeah, he told me it happens all the time. Honey, you’ve got to believe me. By the way, never go to the Apple support forums. Love you! [Apple via The Inquirer] More »
Phones
Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm Private Pre-Sale Has No Storms
9:26PM Kit Eaton | Oops. You know that pre-sale flyer that was doing the rounds to Verizon “VIPs”, the one with the BlackBerry Storm on the left hand side? Turns out that if you, a VIP, turn up at a store with that very flyer you’ll not be able to buy a Storm ahead of its launch. You won’t, in fact, be able to touch one to see what it’s like. You won’t be able to see one. There are none, apparently. All you’re able to do is get yourself put on a list for a call from Verizon on Friday so you can pre-order the phone. Okay, the flyer didn’t make definite promises…but it’s pretty much 100% misleading for Storm fans. Guess everyone has to wait for the real date. [BGR] More »
Software
HP Not Too Happy About the ‘Vista Capable’ Standards Scandal
9:07PM John Herrman | The class-action lawsuit filed against Microsoft for allegedly lowering the requirements for a “Vista Capable” sticker to appease Intel (henceforth referred to as Stickergate) has begun to turn up some dirt. Apparently HP wasn’t exactly thrilled to find out about the artificially lowered standards after they spent $US7m to bring their products up to speed, expressing their discontent in an email with lots of weird figurative talk about their collective mouth: I hope this incident isn’t a foretaste… it’s left a very bad taste with me and my team” More »
Gadgets
