Gadget News
A Requiem for WebTV
TechPinions - 8 Jul 2013 15:35
It's not too often that I am reminded of something I wrote 17 years ago and am able to read it without cringing, at least not too much. This happened over the weekend, after Microsoft quietly announced that it was ...
How a Design Trend Is Helping Prevent Wildfires in the American West
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 00:16
As wildfires escalate year by year, fire prevention is becoming even more important. And prevention doesn't always mean Smokey Bear PSAs. In fact, the lumber industry has developed a symbiotic relationship with the very ...
Microsoft Actually Considered These Idiotic Names for the Original Xbox
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 22:04
"Xbox" is a pretty good name for a console, right? Yeah, of course it is. You know what isn't? Literally everything else Microsoft considered before landing on "Xbox".
The IRS Just Accidentally Published Thousands of SSNs Online
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 18:03
You'd think the IRS would be the one organization it might be safe to trust with your precious Social Security Number. Think again. Thanks to a cock-up, the agency just put tens of thousands of the numbers out on the Int...
"Umami" Was Coined by the Inventor of MSG to Describe Its Taste
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 23:52
In 1908, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda isolated and patented monosodium glutamate, more commonly known to English-speakers of the 21st century as the often-maligned MSG. Ikeda thought that his discovery was so special t...
Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch steps down; Michael Huseby appointed CEO of Nook Media
Engadget - 8 Jul 2013 23:46
Following reports earlier this year that Barnes & Noble may be sliding away from producing its own Nook hardware, the outfit's CEO has just stepped away from his corner office. Announced in a series of shuffles, William ...
How iOS 7's Font Change Looks in the New Beta 3
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 23:44
iOS 7's switch to the Helvetica Neue Ultra Light typeface was one of the bigger design points for the new OS. But it came with a catch: It looked, in places, pretty bad on non-retina screens. The fix was simple enough. J...
Artist Creates (And Destroys) Drawings From Thousands of Pounds of Salt
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 23:33
There are plenty of artists who have spent the majority of their careers devoted to a single unlikely medium: For James Turrell, it's light. For El Anatsui, it's soda tabs. But for Motoi Yamamoto, a 47-year-old Japanese ...
Virgin Media launches Play Games portal for TiVo
Engadget - 8 Jul 2013 23:28
Many of us don't see TiVos as game consoles, but Virgin Media would beg to differ -- there have been over a million game sessions this year on its edition of the DVR. Accordingly, it just launched a Play Games portal to ...
Nokia Lumia 1020 spotted in yellow, white and black, replete with 2GB of RAM
Engadget - 8 Jul 2013 22:59
For those obsessed with obscene megapixel counts and Windows Phone, Thursday can't come soon enough. If rumors prove true, the renders shown above will be made official in around 72 hours, with the Lumia 1020 to debut in...
Why Won't the MLB Use This $100, Injury-Preventing Bat?
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 22:53
For the most part, change in habits comes to sports in waves of inconvenience. You can usually convince players to buy into some radical new tactic if it yields results, but changes that risk sacrificing performance in t...
Android's Jelly Bean contingent finally surpasses Gingerbread
Engadget - 8 Jul 2013 22:40
It's a new era, we tell ya. An era where Google can finally say that its latest build of Android is also the one being used by the greatest majority of Android users. For over a year, Android 4.1+ has been the most up-to...
The Most Influential Movies of the Last Century According to Wikipedia
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 22:40
When it comes down to it, what makes a movie "good" is a matter of taste. Even bad movies have their fans. What makes a movie "influential" is a little easier to try and brute force. Especially when you have Wikipedia on...
Cree LED Bulb Review: Nobody Needs to Know You've Gone Green
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 22:20
LED light bulbs have always been a bit like car repairs: they're either good quality or affordable, but very rarely both. And it's all very well and good that these bulbs use a fraction of the electricity as incandescent...
Imagination Tech CEO: 'the industry needs MIPS as much as MIPS needs the industry'
Engadget - 8 Jul 2013 22:05
At an earlier press event in Shenzhen, Imagination Technologies' CEO Sir Hossein Yassaie delivered a clear message: his company's $100 million acquisition of MIPS isn't a short term strategy. Additionally, he has ambitio...
Government Destroys $170k of Hardware in Absurd Effort to Stop Malware
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 21:50
This is a story about government incompetence on the grossest, most unforgivable scale. Here's how the Economic Development Administration unnecessarily spent $2.75 million to fight a common case of malware. Warning: muc...
New BlackBerry Bold 9270 spotted, runs old BB7 OS
Engadget - 8 Jul 2013 21:38
We're right in the middle of putting BlackBerry's gently priced Q5 through review testing, but the latest phone leak from Waterloo (well, Thailand actually) doesn't run BB10 at all and will presumably weigh in at an even...
August event invite teases LG's Snapdragon 800-packing Optimus G sequel
Ars Technica - 8 Jul 2013 21:35
Qualcomm's latest, greatest SoC could see its big debut in just a few weeks.
3D printing for all: Inside Chicago library's new "pop-up maker lab"
Ars Technica - 8 Jul 2013 21:30
3D printers, laser cutters, and milling machines are now open to the public.
The Navy's Advanced Guns System Fires Rocket-Powered Artillery Shells
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 21:20
The 54-caliber, 5-inch naval artillery shells fired by Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are brutally efficient at destroying surface ships, aircraft, and land targets. But they're little more than pea shooters compared to ...
How Honda Revealed The Government's Top Secret Stealth Bomber First
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 21:07
The aircraft known in popular culture as the stealth bomber was built with nearly a decade of work, billions of dollars, and total secrecy from the U.S. government. Even the contractors who worked on it didn't always kno...
The Way Stats Decide Who Gets Organ Transplants Is Flawed
Gizmodo - 8 Jul 2013 21:01
So your doctor has determined that you need an organ transplant. Now there's some important criteria that will help determine how fast you'll actually receive that transplant. But is the way the data is crunched actually...