Saturday, January 30, 2010

Amazon Tries To Quell Kindle Rebellion, Removes Macmillan Books

6:52PM January 30, 2010 | Matt Buchanan

Books published by Macmillan mysteriously poofed from Amazon yesterday. The reason, according to the NYT, is that Amazon is punishing the publisher for arguing that the price of Kindle books should go up to $US15. This won’t end well. More »

Hand-Mounted Mouse Or Goa’uld Weapon?

3:20PM January 30, 2010 | Rosa Golijan

Maybe I’ve been watching too many Stargate reruns or maybe the AirMouse hand-mounted input device was really inspired by Goa’uld technology. Either way, I’m sceptical about its ability to prevent repetitive stress injuries. More »

These Koosh Ball Bullets Make Getting Shot Look Friendly

2:40PM January 30, 2010 | Rosa Golijan

Look at these bullets. They’re rubbery, less lethal, “almost incapable of penetrating the body” and happen to resemble Koosh balls – a popular toy. Getting shot with these must be fun. More »

Best Buy’s “Optimisation” Update: Technically Optional, Still Dickish

2:00PM January 30, 2010 | Dan Nosowitz

An email sent to Consumerist by a Best Buy employee lays out the changes Best Buy has made in pushing their optimisation service. Basically, you can’t be forced to pay for optimisation – but the salesman won’t tell you that. More »

This Lamp May Or May Not Double As A Wormhole

1:20PM January 30, 2010 | Brian Barrett

The Getty Lamp, designed by Marcus Tremento and made from electroluminescent wire and perspex, is clearly the lighting fixture of choice for the Twilight Zone. Limited edition of 10, at least in this dimension. [Generate Design via Nerd Approved]

Software

iPhone OS 3.2: Video Calls, File Downloads, Pseudo-Multitasking?

12:58PM January 30, 2010 | Rosa Golijan

Based on an SDK which doesn’t differentiate between the iPhone and iPad, folks at Engadget say they’ve confirmed that the iPhone OS 3.2 has “rudimentary” support for video calling and file downloading. Too soon for any excitement at all? More »

Careful, Old People In Japan May Pee On Your iPad

12:40PM January 30, 2010 | Rosa Golijan

As if there weren’t enough iPad jokes already, it turns out that there’s a Japanese product – a high-tech adult nappy – called the Aipad. You can guess the pronunciation by the fact that I’m even writing about this. More »

Mobile

This Is Exactly Why I Don’t Check My Voicemail Anymore

12:00PM January 30, 2010 | Rosa Golijan

There are times when I let my voicemail fill up to the point of callers getting the “Sorry. Mailbox is full. Please try again.” message. This is why. More »

Online

Adobe Busts Out The Porn Card In iPad Flash Crusade

11:20AM January 30, 2010 | Brian Barrett

Adobe is not going to take Flash’s exclusion from the iPad lying down. Their latest salvo: enlisting their friends at Bang Brothers to show just how badly you’re going to miss Flash video on Apple’s new device. More »

Cars

First Video Of Russia’s T-50 Stealth Fighter Jet

10:20AM January 30, 2010 | Rosa Golijan

Russia’s been testing its new T-50 “Sukhhoi” stealth fighter jets and so far they’re a success. This video shows the first test flight and is supposedly also the very first time the public is getting to see the bird. More »