In a terse exchange with the New York Times, Melinda Gates, wife of billionaire tech playboy William Gates, says she’s all but banned Apple products from the Garden of Eden—er, her household. More »
Major Nelson, updating us on a periodic Xbox Live purge — banhammering cheaters, pirates and other folks of ill-repute, though not 12-year-olds — reminds us of Microsoft’s official policy that if you buy a used Xbox 360 that’s been banned, you’re screwed. More »
California is joining seven other states and Washington DC by imposing a full-on ban of text messaging while driving. The bill signed by the Governator himself imposes a $US20 fine for the first offence and $US50 for repeat offenders starting next year. Kind of a slap on the wrist if you ask me—but that is more than 43 other states in this country are doing. [LA Times via CrunchGear]
Like a gaggle of schoolgirls, Congress traded stories about how they too were annoyed by people using their phones before and after takeoff on flights. Well, I never! One House member relayed the story of how his delicate sensibilities were stomped all over by some woman who talked about her sex life on the phone, shortly to be one-upped by another congressman saying that his wife overheard someone receiving a “Dear John” call before takeoff. Good sir! After the jab-fest portion of this sleepover was concluded, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved, via voice vote, a bill that would make the current FCC ban on in-flight calling permanent. And then one of their dads took them out for ice cream. Best night ever. [Yahoo]
As a result of Nintendo’s loss in court to a Texas-based company called Anascape, the judge ruled that all sales of the Wii Classic Controller and the GameCube controller need to be temporarily halted until funds can be placed into an escrow account. What’s the impact on you, Joe or Dan Consumer? Starting today, July 23, all sales of those controllers AND GameCube systems will be placed on hold, meaning that you should really try and find a place to buy these accessories now if you need them soon. On the bright side, Nintendo’s Nunchuck controller isn’t affected by this ruling about analogue sticks, so you’re safe if you just want to play Wii games. [1up via Kotaku]
Way to go, Caddo School Board. You’ve won yourself the Gizmodo luddite of the week award. See, when a student films the principal of your Huntington High School fighting another student, the correct response isn’t to ban cellphones, it’s to make sure principals don’t fight with students. It was only after the student showed the clip to local media that you actually did something about the situation, putting the principal on paid administrative leave. As a side note, we would also have accepted “resigning and putting people not completely retarded onto the school board” as a correct response. [Shreveport Times via Techdirt - Image courtesy Chicspeare]
Small splinters that randomly occur in tin solder, which lace the insides of gadgets, usually result in circuits shorting out. NASA missions, pacemakers and energy plants have all failed at some point due to the phenomenon. Conservative estimates of the cost of such splinters, or whiskers as they are named, have totaled nearly $10 billion since 1940.
Preventing whiskers is a major concern to the electronics industry. The most prominent defence measure known is to use lead during the production process. Companies, excluding rogue Chinese toy manufacturers, are all being forced to slowly eliminate the use of lead in their products. More »
