tests
Computers
Panasonic Toughbook Survives Tiger Attacks, Elephant Stomps, And Gunshots
2:45PM Dan Nosowitz | Most of us have no need for Panasonic’s Toughbook-30: Its specs are unremarkable and the 13.3-inch laptop weighs over 8 pounds. But then, our mortal laptops could never survive the ridiculous, almost cartoony beating Forbes gave it. More »
Music
The Great MP3 Bitrate Test: My Ears Versus Yours
2:00AM Mark Wilson | There will be no judgment in this post. No sound snobbery. I’m simply asking the age-old question: At what bitrate should we encode MP3s? And I need your help. More »
Music
Audiophile Test: Speaker Wire, AC Power Cable, Record Demagnetiser
3:20AM John Mahoney | As promised, here are more details on the unscientific audiophile gear comparisons I did in Michael Fremer’s audiocave. They range from the mildly crazy to the borderline batshit—and they were all fun as hell. More »
Press
London Clinics Begin Sending STD Test Results via Text
11:33PM John Herrman | The National Health Service in the London Borough of Hounslow, in an effort to coax young people into getting tested, is offering free self-service STD kits, with an added bonus: text message diagnosis!. More »
Vehicles
What Happens When an Aeroplane Engine Blade Gets Loose
11:00PM Jesus Diaz | Here’s a crystal-clear video showing what happens when an aeroplane engine fan blade gets loose when you fire a chicken at 250 knots into a turbojet using a chicken gun. Result: (Contained) Boom. Update: Corrected. More »
Online
Take the Geek Social Aptitude Test (GSAT) With a Handy Web App
11:20PM John Herrman | 51. I sometimes create interactive online tests inspired by recent Gizmodo posts. —Thanks, Jason! More »
Online
GSAT: The Geek Social Aptitude Test
3:00AM Adam Frucci | Face it: We’re all geeks here, and that means we all have a measure of social awkwardness. But how much are we talking here? Teaspoons or gallons? Find out with the GSAT. More »
Phones
LG Renoir Subjected to Death by Ice, Water, Wind, and Earth Tests
5:00AM Jesus Diaz | Not happy to test drive this fugly version of the iPhone, the Mobile@Mail.ru crew have pitted the LG KC910 Renoir against all four elements: Ice, Wind, Earth, and Wine! OK, water, but wine too. More »
Vehicles
11:11AM Nick Broughall | Remember back in June how Air New Zealand announced it was going to be trialling a biofuel mix in a 747 aircraft based on the jatropha plant? Well, they did it, and according to The Register, everything went off without a hitch. The plane used a 50-50 mixture of the biofuel and regular fuel in one engine, while the other three all had regular fuel running through them. They tested out a series of mid-air manoeuvres like engines stops, restarts, and got full power from the biofuel mix.
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Air New Zealand Successfully Trials Weed Biofuel
11:11AM Nick Broughall | Remember back in June how Air New Zealand announced it was going to be trialling a biofuel mix in a 747 aircraft based on the jatropha plant? Well, they did it, and according to The Register, everything went off without a hitch. The plane used a 50-50 mixture of the biofuel and regular fuel in one engine, while the other three all had regular fuel running through them. They tested out a series of mid-air manoeuvres like engines stops, restarts, and got full power from the biofuel mix.
More »
Peripherals
